Strange Life of a Cat

Most of the dwellings in this town were single-family homes instead of apartment buildings. The houses were larger and families had more freedom to do as they liked. No wonder Grandpa Jiao didn"t want to move to Chuhua.

Grandpa and Grandma Jiao cleaned out two rooms for the family. Papa Jiao and Jiao Yuan would share one, Mama Jiao and Youzi would share the other. Zheng Tan ignored the cat bed Grandpa Jiao made out of sofa cus.h.i.+ons and a paper box and ran into the Mama Jiao and Youzi"s bedroom.

Grandpa Jiao hid the fish he had bought for the occasion so that the cat couldn"t touch it.

The next day, Grandma Jiao got up early to buy breakfast. Many of the town"s specialties were not available in Chuhua. She wanted her grandchildren to try them all. However, she didn"t buy any for Zheng Tan. During breakfast, the family shared some of their food with him which angered Grandpa Jiao.

"This cat is like this all because you spoil it!"

Grandma Jiao didn"t say anything, but she appeared to agree.

Papa Jiao smiled but didn"t say anything. Arguing would just anger him more.

Zheng Tan took a bite of food, then looked up at Grandpa Jiao. He shook his tail. No matter how much the old man stared, he still got food anyways.

Grandpa Jiao picked at his rice-noodles, then threw his chopsticks on the table. He held his chest and moaned, "My stomach hurts."

Everyone was speechless.

So his stomach is near his heart, eh?

"Eat your food. Stop picking on a cat!" Grandma Jiao glared at him.

He didn"t talk anymore and picked up his chopsticks again.

"Oh yes, Mingsheng, go visit Yao Hong after breakfast. She"s in the hospital," Grandma Jiao said.

"What happened?" Papa Jiao asked, sounding shocked.

Yao Hong was his cousin and was generally very healthy. Ever since her husband found success doing business, she lived like a rich lady. She was mindful of her health normally, how did she end up in the hospital?

Grandma Jiao sighed, "I heard it was because of weight loss medicine. The hospital didn"t say, so we don"t know."

The spoke in dialect. Zheng Tan had heard it before so he picked up bits and pieces of their conversation.

How did someone end up in the hospital just because of weight loss pills, he thought to himself?

Papa Jiao thought about it, then nodded, "I"ll go visit. Weight loss pills are indeed potentially very harmful."

The birthday party was tomorrow so Papa Jiao planned for the kids to rest at home tonight. He would go visit his cousin at the hospital with his wife, along with Grandma Jiao.

That left just the kids, the cat, and Grandpa Jiao at home.

The kids were watching television. Grandpa Jiao took a walk outside before coming back with a bristlegra.s.s to hara.s.s the cat on the sofa. Zheng Tan wanted to ignore him, but the old man just wouldn"t leave him alone. Zheng Tan grabbed the bristlegra.s.s, tore it in half, and threw it aside. He went to lie down between the kids. The old man surely wouldn"t annoy his grandchildren.

Grandpa Jiao looked at the kids, then at the cat. He scoffed and said something to Jiao Yuan, then dragged over a chair and watched cartoons with the kids.

Mama and Papa Jiao came back in the afternoon. Zheng Tan went to eavesdrop when they chatted in the bedroom.

"I"m guessing it"s because of the weight loss pills. I asked and found out she was buying that really famous brand. However, I heard people over at the med school say the main ingredient of those pills was Sibutramine Hydrochloride. Some argue it"s not a very safe ingredient. In Europe, testing centers are doing another round of clinical trials involving the ingredients. It"s still on-going, but I heard there have been deaths and cardiovascular issues. I"m guessing there would be warnings against the pills sometime next year overseas. However, it"s hard to say what will happen domestically."

"She won"t admit to it," Mama Jiao sighed.

"Well, most of her symptoms match the drug"s side effects. She"s just too embarra.s.sed to admit to taking the weight loss pills. However, I believe she took what I said to heart and will act with care."

"So, that brand of weight loss pills, does it really work?" Mama Jiao was interested in the topic.

All women cared about maintaining a good figure. However, as they aged, gaining weight was almost unavoidable. Papa Jiao"s cousin, for instance, started having too many social events to attend after her family became rich. This led to her gaining weight, so she started taking weight loss pills.

Zheng Tan knew the weight loss pills they were talking about. He remembered the brand being very well-known for a long time. It received endors.e.m.e.nts from many stars. However, that was years ago. He hadn"t heard anything about it for a long time but didn"t know what happened. Maybe it was banned as Papa Jiao foresaw.

Zheng Tan kept listening. He was interested in the topic as well. However, his good mood was about to come to an end that night.

Mama Jiao had to break the news to him twice before he could believe his ears. A disaster was coming.

Kids, lots of them...

He suddenly didn"t want to go to the party anymore.

However, with everyone gone, Mama Jiao would never let him stay here alone. She already had his travel bag ready. She ordered the kids give him a good bath that night and for him to wear his pet collar.

Knowing what was to come, he was in a sour mood.

How f*cked up!

On October 2nd, the Grandpa and Grandma uncharacteristically wore new clothes. Mama Jiao dressed both Jiao Yuan and Youzi in their best clothes as well. It was a tenth birthday party, kids were definitely going to be the center of conversation.

That was how things were. People compared grades when young, then they compared upbringing and wealth as they grew up. When they got married, it was all about comparing kids. Jiao Yuan and Youzi were too young to understand this but Papa and Mama Jiao knew what was coming. They had bought both kids new clothes and had prepared what to say.

As for Zheng Tan, he was sitting in Mama Jiao"s bag, his ears pinned back, looking deeply upset.

It was much more crowded in the car. Mama Jiao was in the pa.s.senger seat. The kids and the grandparents were in the back. Youzi was sitting on Grandma Jiao"s lap. Zheng Tan could tell Youzi was nervous. She was about to face a room of strangers. If this was a party with the Gu family, she would at least know some people.

On the other hand, it was easier this way. Many people in the Gu family knew how Youzi"s mother sent her back to China to live with relatives while staying overseas herself. This was always brought up when Youzi showed up. Not being around the Gu family at least saved her from having to listen to everyone berate her mother.

Papa Jiao pulled into the driveway of a three-story house. There were cars there already and a lot of people standing around.

Mama Jiao got off with the kids. Papa Jiao drove the car to the restaurant nearby. The party would be held there and the parking lot was larger. With so many kids around, he was worried someone would scratch his car. To protect the new car, he decided to park it away from the house.

Mama Jiao had her bag in one hand and Youzi"s hand in her other. As for Jiao Yuan, he knew many of these people so she didn"t worry about him. He was in his early teens and Mama Jiao knew he wouldn"t want to stay by her side. He preferred to play with kids his age.

Youzi was nervous and not speaking much. Mama Jiao would sometimes tell her to say h.e.l.lo to certain people.

Many of the relations.h.i.+ps were too complex for a kid and she didn"t quite understand the dialect. She had grown up listening to English and Mandarin. However, Mama Jiao was there to help her.

"You brought your cat?!" A middle age lady looked at Zheng Tan and laughed.

"This is my family"s baby. We didn"t want to leave him in Chuhua so we brought him here. He"s a good boy and doesn"t bite," Mama Jiao said.

There was a seven or eight-years-old child standing beside the lady, who saw the cat head poking out of the bag and bit his finger before trying to pull Zheng Tan"s whiskers. Zheng Tan quickly retracted his head back into the bag.

They entered the house. Mama Jiao led the way into a room upstairs. There were a few children inside, mostly girls since the boys were having a hard time staying put indoors.

Mama Jiao introduced Youzi to the kids and left her here to watch DVDs with them. She still had to exchange pleasantries with the relatives downstairs.

There was a girl in her teens, probably in middle school, who was playing host. She brought Youzi a cus.h.i.+on to sit on and poured her some juice.

The room was carpeted, so most of the kids sat on cus.h.i.+ons on the floor. There was an infant crawling around. He probably couldn"t walk yet and was drooling as he crawled.

Zheng Tan came out of the bag and sat next to Youzi. A few kids came to hara.s.s him at first, but slowly their attention was drawn back by the television.

As he was dozing off, he suddenly felt something approaching. He opened his eyes to find the baby staring at him while making "ahahah" noises. It was impossible to understand what he was trying to say.

Urgh!

Zheng Tan twitched his ears.

The baby was giggling and trying to talk again. He crawled towards Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan felt his head hurt and got up to move away.

The baby followed him.

Eventually Zheng Tan jumped up onto a closet. It was quieter up high. No one hara.s.sed him and he could avoid the baby.