Strange Life of a Cat

Jiao Yuan switched through all the channels but didn"t find anything he wanted to watch. Just when he planned to take a nap on the couch, Youzi poked him and said, "Charcol didn"t come home."
Jiao Yuan sat up, he suddenly wasn"t sleepy anymore. He looked around and saw their cat wasn"t around.
"Grandma, where"s Charcoal?" Jiao Yuan asked.
Grandma Jiao slapped her leg, she almost forgot about it. She hurriedly told them what happened.
"Charcoal ran away?" Jiao Yuan jumped off the sofa in disbelief.
"Charcoal would never do that," Youzi said.

The two kids were about to go out to look for the cat, but Papa Jiao stopped them. He asked Grandma Jiao, "You said Charcoal was staring at someone?"
A guilt-ridden Grandma Jiao answered, " Yes. He was staring at someone who stopped to buy cigarettes at the convenience store."
Papa Jiao then asked a few more questions, which Grandma Jiao answered.
Papa Jiao went into his room to make a call. Afterwards, he told Jiao Yuan and Youzi to stay up at home.
"What is it?" Grandpa Jiao asked. He was a curious person, if Papa Jiao didn"t explain everything to him, he would be bothered for the rest of the day.
"I asked about the middle-aged woman who took the baby Maomao to the parking lot. My car was parked there so Charcoal, who was in the car at the time, must have seen something. Eyewitnesses state that the woman took the baby to a man on a motorcycle. Maybe Charcoal saw the driver. He wouldn"t just run away. The person who bought cigarettes at the convenience store is highly suspicious. I"m going over there now to see what I can find."

Maomao was the baby"s nickname. The new lead lifted Papa Jiao"s spirits. He took his cell and left.
On the other hand, Zheng Tan, who was still inside the pedicab, was starting to feel like he had acted too hastily. He had jumped into the pedicab without any concrete evidence and now found himself trapped with nowhere to go. He didn"t even know where this cab was headed.
The pedicab finally stopped in the suburbs. The area was made up of two or three-story buildings. The pedicab drove along a dirt road and stopped in front of a house. The driver got off without checking the back. He took out his keys and entered the building.
Zheng Tan peered out of the window. He didn"t see anyone around so he jumped out and hid behind a tree. The weedy yard was perfect for hiding.

Zheng Tan examined the two-story house. It was covered in white ceramic tiles and looked exactly like the other buildings around, except the windows and doors were all shut. Zheng Tan noticed that a window on the second floor used single-sided gla.s.s. It was impossible to see inside the window from the outside.
Zheng Tan waited behind the tree for a while. Eventually, he jumped onto a tree and waited on a branch. He spied on the house through leaves.
It was quiet around. Most of the houses here were not occupied. He learned from the few people walking past this area was to be part of the new urban planning project. Those with farmland had received compensation payments and were moving away, which was why the area seemed so deserted.
Just when Zheng Tan was growing sleepy, a window opened

on the second floor and a middle-aged woman poured water out.
It was that woman!

Zheng Tan felt excited. He had not come here in vain.
The woman closed the window right away. Zheng Tan circled the house but couldn"t find a way to sneak in. The house didn"t have a backyard and the first-floor windows and doors were tightly shut. The only window open had an anti-theft screen.
He had to get to the second floor.
If he had a cellphone, it would be so much easier. He could text Papa Jiao anonymously. However, no cells were around. He couldn"t talk so calling was useless. He couldn"t tell people the address.
He was on his own. He needed to at least find out if the baby was here.

Zheng Tan didn"t hear any crying when he was circling the building, but he didn"t hear people talking either.
He could wait till night, however, he remembered Papa Jiao had said every extra moment meant increased danger. He decided to act now.
The front of the building was covered in ceramic tiles but the back was not. The surface of the wall was rough and he could climb up it. He estimated the height of the second floor.
The second- floor windows were all shut except for one. Luckily for him, that window was a normal one. He waited until there was no one around and started climbing.
He felt like spiderman moving on a wall. Thank G.o.d the surface was rough. If it was smoother, he would have a much more difficult time.
When he reached the open window, he listened for sounds. He entered after making sure no one was in the room.

The room was some sort of a storage room. It was full of paper boxes. It seemed that it had been a while since anyone cleaned the room. There was a layer of dust on the boxes.
The door was closed, but luckily the lock was broken. Zheng Tan managed to open the door just enough so he could slip out.
He listened intently for movement but heard none. He came to the next room. It was small with only a bed inside. On the bed was women"s clothing. He didn"t see any baby products.
Odd. Where was everyone?
He had seen the driver come inside and he knew the woman was here. Why couldn"t he hear any sounds?

He searched the floor. Only one door was tightly shut on the second floor. Zheng Tan pressed his ear against the door. He could hear faint noises. The room was soundproofed.
He could feel the floor shake as someone walked closer and quickly hid under a bed in the next room. The next moment, the door opened. Zheng Tan could hear talking. There were two men and a woman.
The woman must be the middle-aged woman. One of the men was the driver, the other sounder older than them both.
Zheng Tan heard them mention something about big cargos and small cargos and something about treating an illness.
The woman was complaining. The three seemed in disagreement.

It took Zheng Tan a while to figure out large cargo meant boys and small cargos meant girls. It must be cant among traffickers. However, it made him deeply uncomfortable hearing them refer to humans as cargo.
The group had three babies on their hands, two boys and a girl. However, one of the boys got ill when he was transported here. They didn"t want to take the child to the hospital, partly because it would cost money, partly because they risked exposing themselves. They had left the baby under the bridge. Zheng Tan guessed it was that was the baby Papa Jiao and Grandpa Jiao had left home at 4 am to see.
The girl had been given too many sleeping pills and was slow to respond. The pills had most likely damaged her brain.

Zheng Tan remembered those people that shot dogs with tranquilizers. They never took the time to figure out the correct dosage for each dog which meant many dogs were killed just like that. It was the same with children. If the traffickers weren"t careful, kids could easily die. Even if the children survived, the pills often had negative effects on their brain. Babies were even more at risk because of how fragile they were.
That was what the three were fighting about.
The person who sounded older was blaming the man and woman. He said he already had buyers lined up, however because of these two, they lost forty thousand yuan.
Zheng Tan didn"t know how they found buyers but learned that the price of the boy was thirty thousand and the girl was worth ten thousand. The man said the price the buyer offered was very high. They still had a baby boy, but they still lost the opportunity to earn forty thousand yuan.

Forty thousand for two lives. Two lives of babies who couldn"t even talk yet.
Zheng Tan felt sick in the stomach. These people were devils.
At the same time, he was infinitely glad. The last baby boy must be Maomao. The good-looking baby boy they got yesterday the old man described matched the baby Papa Jiao was looking for.
He had found the right place and he had found the culprits, but how would he contact Papa Jiao?
Zheng Tan couldn"t think of a way.
The room door closed again. The woman and the driver left. The old man stayed inside. Maybe he was contacting new buyers or negotiating prices.

The driver smoked a cigarette before going downstairs. The woman came into the room in which he was hiding. She was searching inside a box. From the sounds of it, she was looking for jewelry.
Then the woman left and went downstairs too. Zheng Tan listened for people before coming out from under the bed. He surveyed the room.
He didn"t think he could deal with all three of them. They seemed like the worst of the worst. He couldn"t afford to act impulsively.
He shook his whiskers and squinted.
Suddenly a box on the table caught his eye.
Weight-loss medicine?
He looked at the pot of tea sitting nearby and took out the medicine.
It was time to cause some trouble!