Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 407 - Chapter 407 Chapter 391 Those Monkeys

Chapter 407: Chapter 391: Those Monkeys Chapter 407: Chapter 391: Those Monkeys Four years had passed, and Zheng Tan was once again in Qi’s hometown. As he compared the outside scenery to the recollections in his mind, he noticed the village had expanded outward significantly. Even though the National Day holiday was over, there were still many people around, and the vendors around had increased in number compared to four years ago.

With careful planning and advertisements sent out, the number of tourists had increased. There were clearly many people like Wei Leng and Ermao, who chose to venture out after the peak season.

As the tourists increased, the management here also became much stricter. When Zheng Tan had visited in the past, he had seen monkeys throwing objects at each other; now, as he passed the stalls, either the monkeys behaved themselves by standing quietly by the side or performed tricks to attract customers, but there were no incidents of throwing objects like four years ago.

It makes sense, as they wanted to properly develop this area into a tourist destination, they couldn’t allow these monkeys to be overly bold. What if they threw feces and hit a tourist? That would be more than just a complaint issue.

Who would want to travel only to be hit in the face with a suspicious object?

Ermao had also asked about this problem.

Pei Liang expressed proudly, “These monkeys coming down the mountain have turned over a new leaf, not as unruly as before. These fellows are smart, they know they won’t get any favors that way, but if they behave nicely and perform a little, they can snag quite a bit of food.”

Pei Liang was driving in front leading the way, as the routes had been replanned and were different from four years ago.

Zheng Tan had expected Qi to show off wearing his tiger-skin skirt and holding “Jingu Bang,” but it turned out that Qi, having been too ostentatious recently and getting carried away, had injured himself with a falling rock and was now resting at home.

“Nothing serious, I hope?” Ermao asked.

“Nothing serious, just lay down for a couple of days and then he was jumping around again. It’s just that the elders at home are worried about the wound getting infected from his jumping, so they confined him indoors.”

When Zheng Tan saw Qi, the silly monkey was sitting on a bamboo chair at home, leg propped up, munching on something. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, but judging by his demeanor, he was lively and unbothered.

Upon seeing Zheng Tan, Qi immediately stood up from the chair, crying out from his higher position as if to intimidate Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan ignored him. He always acted like this whenever they met, nothing new.

Contrary to Zheng Tan’s disregard, Er Yuan and Wei Xiaopang seemed quite interested, led there by their father.

“Qi, this is Wei Xiaopang, this is Er Yuan, treat them well,” Pei Liang said to Qi.

Qi’s wary eyes shifted from Zheng Tan and he behaved much better towards Wei Xiaopang and Er Yuan, though he still glanced occasionally at Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan didn’t care about Qi’s little schemes; he knew Qi was no match for him and had suffered a few setbacks because of it, so he was wary, but Zheng Tan was not here to look at Qi’s monkey face. Zheng Tan thought about when he could sneak up the mountain.

Old rule – rest well on the first day, venture out the next.

Although Ermao wanted to take the kids around the village first to buy some trinkets, both children seemed more interested in the mountain, especially after hearing from Pei Liang’s youngest son that there were wild fruits to eat and even more monkeys up there. This made the children even more eager to go up the mountain.

This worked out well, Zheng Tan followed them up the mountain while Qi continued to be confined at home to recuperate.

The mountains, unlike the village, hadn’t changed much.

While Ermao and Wei Leng were taking photos with their families, Zheng Tan ran off.

“Black Coal! Don’t run too far!” Ermao shouted.

“Dad, where is Black going?” Er Yuan asked.

“Your Black has gone to play with his buddies,” Ermao said.

“Black’s buddies?” Er Yuan was curious. “Can we go see them?” She was very interested in Black’s buddies.

Wei Xiaopang was clearly interested too, no longer wanting to stay put for photos, pulling Wei Leng to go.

Wei Leng gave Ermao a punch, chiding him for his careless talk.

Ermao shrugged; he had just made it up on the fly without knowing that the kids would take it seriously and insist on going.

Looking around, Zheng Tan was already out of sight, but because he had the cat ring with a positioning feature, he wasn’t hard to find. Therefore, Ermao pulled out his phone, launched an app, and pointing at his screen said, “That way.”

Although Ermao knew where Zheng Tan was, Zheng Tan had run while Ermao was walking, also taking care of two little kids, so they were much slower.

After not visiting for four years, his memories were somewhat blurry. Zheng Tan followed fragments of his memory, tried a few times, and found the general location.

However, as he approached the steep slope, Zheng Tan encountered some resistance.

This time without Qi’s interference, which would have drawn more monkeys, Zheng Tan ran all the way, encountering a few monkeys, shaking off some trouble, and now the one currently hiding in a tree throwing fruits at him was a little monkey.

What is this monkey kid doing here, not following its mother or its tribe?

Zheng Tan glanced up at the tree; seeing him, the little monkey shrank timidly into the branches.

Seeing this, Zheng Tan didn’t have the heart to bully the weak and turned to continue towards the steep slope,

Thump!

Something hit him on the forehead.

Zheng Tan: “…”

Who said these monkeys had turned over a new leaf?!

Zheng Tan glared back at the tree where the mischievous little monkey had shown over half its body before shrinking back into the branches upon seeing Zheng Tan look its way.

Zheng Tan, “…” Dammit.

Monkey kids were just as annoying as human brats.

Zheng Tan glared the pesky little monkey back into the branches, then quickly ran to the steep slope and jumped down.

He hadn’t noticed earlier, but now, coming down from the steep slope, he realized the place looked entirely different from four years ago.

Four years ago, despite the trash, there were lots of plants and a big clump of orchids. But now, although there was less trash, there were burn marks everywhere. It looked like the disaster had been a long time ago since weeds had started to grow, but the black char on the nearby rock walls was still visible. As for the original plants and flowers, they probably had perished in the fire.

He had thought he would see big clumps of orchids, more “Jade Cat Fairies.” He hadn’t expected such devastation.

No wonder he hadn’t smelled anything on the way here.

The fire destroyed not just the rare, once sensational flowers but also money. A “Jade Cat Fairy” could be worth millions; the many orchids originally here must have been even more valuable.

Mr. Lan would probably be so upset he’d end up in the hospital if he knew.

While he was thinking, a small stone hit near Zheng Tan’s foot.

Zheng Tan looked up, and it was still that annoying little monkey.

Given the situation here, Zheng Tan was already in a bad mood, and now with the little monkey making trouble, he felt even worse.

Zheng Tan planned to look carefully at the place where the orchids used to grow, and then settle accounts with the little monkey. But unexpectedly, as Zheng Tan approached, the monkey on the steep slope became more aggressive, throwing stones more frequently.

Zheng Tan paused, dodged the stones thrown by the monkey, and continued towards the spot, while also keeping an eye on the little monkey on the slope.

Seeing that Zheng Tan ignored it, the monkey became frantic. As Zheng Tan walked closer and closer, the monkey slid down the slope in its haste, almost missing its footing and falling, but luckily there were some weeds below to cushion it.

After tumbling through the weeds, the little monkey quickly ran to where the orchids once grew, standing in front of Zheng Tan and making menacing gestures. If it were any other cat, they might have run away, but Zheng Tan wasn’t fooled. He had dealt with Qi even when he was worse, so this little monkey was nothing. Lifting his foot, he lunged toward it.

Seeing Zheng Tan’s reaction, the monkey was frightened and dodged to the side, staring wide-eyed and fearfully at Zheng Tan, making noises that sounded like either calling its companions for help or yelling at Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan glanced at the terrified monkey huddled to the side, pushed aside some weeds, and looked closer. Upon inspection, he saw that indeed the orchids were gone, but there were some young shoots sprouting in their place.

Zheng Tan sniffed carefully, detecting a scent similar to the leaves of the orchids.

He sniffed again.

He couldn’t tell if they were wild or some kind of natural mutant.

But, having these few sprouts was better than complete annihilation.

The bad mood he had earlier improved slightly.

Looking at the little monkey, Zheng Tan wondered if it had been protecting these young shoots.

The monkey was now silent, just curiously watching Zheng Tan.

Some noise came from above, a few large monkeys appeared. The mother of the small monkey was among them. Seeing the young one, she leapt down, scooped it into her arms, and watched Zheng Tan warily.

Zheng Tan ignored them, checked the young shoots again, and noticed the surrounding soil was dry. He glanced around and spotted a discarded empty mineral water bottle in a corner, probably left there a few days ago.

Zheng Tan listened carefully to make sure no one was coming, then stood up, picked up the bottle, and walked to a nearby stream. He unscrewed the cap, filled the bottle with water. Sensing something, Zheng Tan turned around to find the larger monkeys watching him, the young monkey clinging to its mother, staring at his actions.

After filling the bottle, Zheng Tan screwed the cap back on and walked back. The monkeys followed him back to the slope, watching as he loosened the cap and watered the orchid sprouts.

After watering, Zheng Tan screwed the cap back on tightly and set the bottle aside.

A gust of mountain wind blew, and the empty mineral water bottle tumbled down the slope.

The little monkey, previously clinging to its mother, quickly ran to pick up the bottle, its mother too slow to stop it, probably because the monkey was usually quite mischievous.

The monkey tried to emulate Zheng Tan’s earlier actions but couldn’t figure out how to open the bottle cap, whimpering in frustration.

The larger monkeys came over, took the bottle, fiddled with it unsuccessfully, and even tried biting it open.

Zheng Tan, unable to just watch, walked over.

The monkeys down in the village were pretty clever, full of tricks and mischief, able to do just about anything. But, these mountain monkeys, which hardly ever ventured into the village, probably hadn’t encountered many things like this.

The large monkey holding the bottle saw Zheng Tan approaching, quickly threw down the bottle, and backed away.

The little monkey wanted to pick it up, but its mother quickly grabbed its tail and dragged it back.

But when Zheng Tan picked up the bottle, the monkeys stretched their necks, eyeing his actions.

Thus, by the time Ermao and the others found him, Zheng Tan was teaching these monkeys how to twist open a bottle cap. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (NovelFire.net) to vote for it. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.NovelFire.net to read.)

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