Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 344 - Chapter 344 Chapter 337 ZT

Chapter 344: Chapter 337 ZT Chapter 344: Chapter 337 ZT Upon hearing Kong Han’s words, Zheng Tan’s body stiffened.

Damn, cold sweat broke out!

He suddenly felt very guilty.

Zheng Tan turned his head to look in other directions, no longer observing Kong Han, but his ears pricked up, afraid of missing anything Kong Han might say next.

“To be precise, Professor Jiao, your cat is practically the half-lead of this film,” said Kong Han with a smile.

For most actors, “lead role” is a very appealing term. As to why it was referred to as half-lead, that had to do with the plot.

“Can you be more specific?” Mr. Jiao asked. He didn’t mind whether his own cat played the lead or a supporting role, but half-lead… it sounded like quite a significant part.

“As I mentioned earlier, the plot revolves around a grown man who wakes up to find that he’s turned into a cat…” Kong Han explained unhurriedly.

At this point, Zheng Tan thought, “…Wakes up?” Had his secret not been discovered by anyone?!

Fortunately, as Kong Han continued, Zheng Tan realized that in the script, the lead character was a young white-collar worker rather than a university student, and the transformation into a cat was not a return to the past. Furthermore, the transformations between cat and human were alternate; that is, sometimes the lead character was a cat, and other times he was still human.

The script was different from Zheng Tan’s situation, which relieved him. However, to some extent, taking on this role was basically playing to Zheng Tan’s true nature. Besides himself, he doubted any other cat could play the part better.

After briefly hearing Kong Han out, Mr. Jiao nodded. He could roughly guess the rest, but still quietly waited for Kong Han to continue.

“Since the male lead turns into a cat, the leading role is shared between your cat, Professor Jiao, and the popular young actor Shi Xiaotian. However, strictly speaking, your cat has slightly more screen time than Shi Xiaotian.”

Zheng Tan had heard of Shi Xiaotian, many of the female students at Little Youzi’s school were die-hard fans of his. This individual also came to fame after an incident with Young Master Xiao. As for his true character, Zheng Tan didn’t know yet.

“And the leading actress? Oh, sorry, it’s just a question. If it’s inconvenient, you don’t have to answer,” Mr. Jiao said.

“No problem, the female lead has been decided. Have you heard of Wei Wen? She has done a historical drama and an idol drama,” said Kong Han without much concealment. At present, not many actors had been finalized, and there remained variables. However, Yang Yi had said that they should answer the other party’s questions as much as possible because it was rare to find such a cat, and Professor Jiao did not seem like someone who would gossip.

Wei Wen? That girl wasn’t bad at all, pretty face and good figure; many people fantasized about her. Zheng Tan remembered that it wouldn’t be for another two years until Wei Wen truly rose to fame. As for the present time, she wasn’t among the stars with explosive popularity. Could it be that the upcoming film was neither of the highest quality nor a box-office hit?

Zheng Tan shook his head; everything was unknown. He had never heard of this film then.

Mr. Jiao was not a fan of chasing celebrities and had no particular impression of Wei Wen or Shi Xiaotian. He made a mental note to look them up later, as his cat was going to act alongside these people. The character of his co-stars mattered because it affected how his cat would be treated. Though he had never acted before, he had heard of the many underhanded dealings on set, and one had to be careful not to be tricked, especially since his cat could not speak up if wronged.

Kong Han and Yang Yi had a brief chat with Mr. Jiao, and it was only after Mr. Jiao nodded that they both breathed a sigh of relief. Then they took out the already-prepared contract for Mr. Jiao to review.

Over the years, a number of contracts had been signed because of Zheng Tan, granting Mr. Jiao some experience, and he carefully reviewed the clauses in the contract.

There were no traps in the contract, as Yang Yi had assured over the phone; it would not let their cat suffer a loss.

“There doesn’t seem to be any issue with the contract, however…” Mr. Jiao didn’t sign immediately after reading it but looked at Yang Yi and said, “I hope to add a clause, or perhaps sign an additional agreement.”

Yang Yi nodded, gesturing for Mr. Jiao to continue. As long as the terms were not too excessive, an additional agreement was acceptable to secure the signature.

Mr. Jiao’s proposed additional agreement was essentially a confidentiality clause for Zheng Tan.

As before, although Mr. Jiao agreed to let Zheng Tan act, he also knew about certain commercial tactics. If the cat really became a hit, there would be benefits, but the troubles might be even greater. It was not possible to let Zheng Tan truly remain incognito, so instead of using his real name, a pseudonym would be used–subtly referred to as a stage name.

Zheng Tan had a stage name, BlackC, abbreviated as BC, which had already made a little name for itself in certain online circles. If used, there was no need for Yang Yi and his team to create hype; the internet would reveal it, drawing even more attention. If celebrities needed to wear glasses and masks in public, would they have to worry about their cat being mobbed while out for a walk? Even if the film didn’t take off, Mr. Jiao preferred not to take risks and, therefore, wanted to prepare and prevent issues beforehand.

“Changing names again?” After hearing Mr. Jiao’s explanation, Yang Yi was somewhat puzzled as to why other people were always aiming for fame, but this family had such a low-profile attitude. Why bother? Yang Yi was confident in saying that, with proper promotion and some maneuvering, this cat could definitely become a superstar. He wouldn’t compare to the movie emperors and actresses among the stars, but his popularity could certainly rival that of some well-known actors because currently, there were no such renowned animal stars in the country. Even the monkey named Qi Da who had been active in TV dramas lately couldn’t compare. However, from another perspective, the family truly cared for their cat, and this was for the cat’s consideration.

Of course, no matter what Yang Yi was thinking, the additional agreement still had to be signed. The agreement wasn’t excessive, and even some artists had changed their names a few times. As long as the cat could understand, it would be fine. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if they called it on set and it didn’t respond.

After thinking it over, Yang Yi nodded. “Okay then, Professor Jiao, what new stage name are you planning to give your Heitan?”

“ZT. The letter Z, and the letter T,” Mr. Jiao said, tracing the shape of the two letters in the air with his finger.

“ZT?” Yang Yi and Kong Han were puzzled. Why would they choose a name that sounded like an abbreviation?

“Right,” Mr. Jiao said. He actually felt quite helpless, as he hadn’t picked the name himself. He had always been very democratic.

The name “ZT” had been decided when Mr. Jiao mentioned the need to change the stage name again. Zheng Tan had directly stepped on the keys in front of Mr. Jiao’s computer keyboard, spelling out the letters. Mr. Jiao had even asked Zheng Tan what it meant, but since Zheng Tan played dumb, Mr. Jiao didn’t pursue it further, assuming it was randomly typed.

After everything was settled, Kong Han and Yang Yi left, declining Jiao Ma’s invitation to stay for dinner, as they had plans that evening. They had a few people to meet.

The entire Jiao family knew about Zheng Tan’s movie role, but Mr. Jiao said that they should keep it to themselves and not talk about it outside.

Jiao Yuan and Little Youzi, having dealt with similar situations many times, understood the implication all too well. However, knowing that their family cat was going to be in a movie still made the kids uncontrollably excited. They would often come together to discuss it, and Jiao Ma would sometimes join in the discussion. It was clear that they all had high expectations for Zheng Tan, and this bolstered Zheng Tan’s confidence. The decision was the right one.

Yang Yi had said that the shooting would start in September, and there was still some time left. But during the summer vacation, the Jiao family and their cat could spend more time together. Come September, they probably had to part with Zheng Tan for a while again, which was bound to be longer than the time spent shooting the documentary last year.

Since Zheng Tan had decided to act in a movie, Xiao Guo at the Pet Center needed to be informed.

Before leaving Chuhua City, Xiao Guo had Zheng Tan work a few extra shifts, of course, with overtime pay. So, in August, Zheng Tan’s frequency of working overtime at the Pet Center increased.

At the same time, Yang Yi’s documentary gave Xiao Guo a bit of inspiration. Plus, with Zheng Tan being absent for a while, Xiao Guo thought about making another documentary. Since Yang Yi had made a regional documentary, Xiao Guo planned to focus on age.

Xiao Guo was planning to make a documentary about old cats. Although seven or eight years old might seem old to many, based on the medical records and pet profiles at the Pet Center, there were quite a few cats older than seven. Therefore, Xiao Guo set the age limit for his documentary to “ten years and older.”

Isn’t the current advocacy all about harmony and positive energy?

This wasn’t a bad idea, to document touching stories of people and cats using a factual method. Having lived alongside humans for over ten years, these bonds would certainly run deep.

Xiao Guo thought that although he didn’t have the means or resources like Yang Yi to produce something very artistic, he could adopt a natural and fresh style that was close to real life.

Making this documentary about old cats could take a long time to shoot. Even during Zheng Tan’s absence, they could have something to attract customers and viewers, preventing an impact like last year when Zheng Tan went out to shoot a documentary and rumors spread all over the official website. Xiao Guo didn’t want to deal with people confronting him again.

Now Xiao Guo was getting started on the preparations for shooting “Old Cat.” The first step was to contact customers who had cats of the appropriate age at home. If the owners refused to cooperate with the shooting, Xiao Guo wouldn’t insist. Of course, most customers were quite happy about it.

However, this involved a problem. Among the customers they contacted, most were from rather well-off families who frequently brought their cats to the Pet Center for health checks. Xiao Guo, naturally knowing this, had detailed records. But other ordinary families were less likely to bring their pets for vaccinations, probably not even having had any, so they had no medical records, and Xiao Guo wouldn’t know about them. He didn’t want to choose only those from well-off families; to keep the documentary down-to-earth, it needed to be more relatable.

So, one day after working overtime, Xiao Guo casually mentioned to Zheng Tan while handing him his overtime pay in the break room. Zheng Tan often wandered around, so he must know some old cats, right?

Zheng Tan indeed thought of one. A kid named Wang Xing often came to Chuhua University to collect bottles, and with more bottles in the summer, it looked like his haul wasn’t too bad. His family’s cat met the criteria.

Zheng Tan led Xiao Guo to the old residential area where Wang Xing lived. Below Wang Xing’s apartment building, Xiao Guo glanced up following Zheng Tan’s gaze and saw the cat lying on the second-story windowsill.

Wang Xing’s family was easy to persuade. For them, being paid for filming and getting free treatment for their cat was a win-win.

After sorting everything out here, Zheng Tan then set off with his entourage for the filming crew.

The crew was the same as the one from last year’s documentary filming, and Charlie naturally continued to take on the role of “assistant.”

When Xiao Guo learned that Zheng Tan was going to adopt the stage name “ZT,” he even went out of his way to get a set of outfits, including hats and T-shirts emblazoned with a large letter “Z” for Zheng Tan’s entourage.

Zheng Tan suddenly felt that this letter was actually a bit ambiguous. Looking at the big “Z” on his entourage’s clothes and heads, one might actually think they were fans of Zorro. (To be continued. If you like this story, welcome to Qidian (NovelFire.net) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.NovelFire.net to read.)