Strange Life of a Cat

Chapter 22

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Papa Jiao was quick to act. Since he had already decided to ask Wei Ling to look after the children, he called him straight after lunch. Those were non-working hours, a good time to look for people.

Because of Zheng Tan, Papa Jiao would stop and chat with Wei Ling when they ran into each other. Their topic of conversation revolved mostly around Zheng Tan, but seemed to have contained other stuff as well. Zheng Tan did not know for sure, but they might have talked about where Wei Ling was going to work in the future.

Wei Ling had replaced his PHS with a cellphone, which meant that Zheng Tan didn"t have to listen to him swear anymore.

Wei Ling agreed immediately to come take care of the children in the evening. He was busy during daytime but had nothing to do at night anyway.

The two children stayed at the hospital until two o"clock in the afternoon. Auntie Ling came by with soup that Papa Jiao could just microwave. She offered to have the kids over for dinner so that they wouldn"t need to eat boxed-lunches anymore. Papa and Mama Jiao gladly took her up on the offer.

Zheng Tan followed them back to school, then parted ways from the group. He did not want to go to Auntie Ling"s place. There was a toddler at her place who was her relative"s kid. Zheng Tan had seen the little brat pull Tiger"s tail last time. Young kids were the enemies of all pets.

Zheng Tan would rather eat biscuits then have his tail pulled on. He wasn"t sure he could control himself enough to not scratch his attacker. He decided to pay Wei Ling a visit since he had nothing to do at the moment. They could head back home together later. He thought about how to tell Wei Ling that thing he thought of.

The house Wei Ling rented was a private-home that had been turned into an apartment unit. It was mostly rented by students and young people who just started work. The buildings were poorly managed and the area was quite a mess. Things got stolen all the time. Reporting it to the police was pointless. It happened so often that even if they investigated, they wouldn"t find anything. However, the rent was dirt cheap, so the area never lacked renters.

Zheng Tan didn"t come here often. There were too many people. Someone always tried to play with him by teasing him with strings and dolls whenever they saw him. They didn"t know he saw them as idiots.

Zheng Tan got there by three o"clock. People living there were mostly at work or in school. Those who were home were napping. Stray cats were quite common around here. The landlord had a cat as well. The animal was a common sight here, so no one took notice of a black cat sneaking into the building.

Zheng Tan had stepped foot onto Wei Ling"s floor when he heard a loud "bang". He stopped and peeked out from the staircase

A young man was knocked to the ground, clutching his stomach and moaning from the pain. Wei Ling walked out after him, holding an apple in one hand and a fruit knife in the other. He patted the man"s face with the knife that was still covered in apple juice.

"I see you already have your eye on my newly-bought phone, eh? You got guts. Coming over to steal my phone when I"m napping…Did you think you could bully me, or did you think I was stupid?"

Wei Ling sounded like a complete rogue. The guy tried to get up but froze when Wei Ling pressed the knife against his throat.

The man wanted to open his mouth,but Wei Ling pressed harder on the knife.

"I don"t want to hear your bulls.h.i.+t," Wei Ling said as he flung the apple core out of the window.

Zheng Tan sighed: "... ..."

The management of the building was a mess, but that didn"t mean littering was ok. Zheng Tan remembered Jiao Yuan losing one yuan of allowance due to not throwing used tape into the trash.

Zheng Tan twitched his ears. He didn"t hear the apple hit the ground. The ground outside was made of cement. The sound of apple hitting cement was not the one he just heard.

Although puzzled, Zheng Tan didn"t rush to check downstairs. He kept his attention on Wei Ling.

Wei Ling still had the knife on the man"s throat, but his other hand was digging into the man"s pockets.

He pulled out a wallet. Inside, there was no ID card, but he found 1000 yuan. Wei Ling took the 1000 bucks with a look of disgust then put the wallet back in the man"s pocket.

In addition to the wallet, he found some tools for picking locks. Wei Ling"s look of disgust deepened, but he laid the tools by his feet.

Eventually, Wei Ling found a small plastic bottle. He twisted open the cap. Inside was some medicine stuffed in by a cotton ball.

Zheng Tan remembered Papa Jiao telling him that newly bought bottles of medicine always came with a cotton ball that should be thrown away right after the bottle was opened.

The cotton ball was placed in the vials to prevent the medicine tablets from colliding together while being transported. It also absorbed moisture to prevent the drug from getting damp. But if the cotton ball was kept in the bottle after the bottle was opened, it would continue to absorb moisture, which made it easier for the medicine to go bad.

Zheng Tan wasn"t sure if the guy on the ground knew he had to take out the cotton ball. Intuition told him that he probably kept it inside to prevent the bottle from rattling when he moved. He looked at the cotton ball in Wei Ling"s hand. It was too large to have come with the original packaging. Judging from the half torn off label, the medicine was bought some time ago. Not all medicines needed a cotton ball anyways, so Zheng Tan trusted his intuition.

Wei Ling looked into the bottle, then slapped the guy with the side of the blade again. "You"ve used this quite a few times already. Must have made quite some money."

"I don"t ... don"t understand what you are saying ..." The man tried to argue, "That "s just ... my own ... motion sickness meds."

"Do I look like I"m stupid?" Wei Ling stood up and kicked the man.

The guy curled up after the blow.

Wei Ling had noticed Zheng Tan"s presence a while ago, so he didn"t argue on with the man. He took three pills out and stuffed them into the man"s mouth. "Come by again soon. Just bring more money next time. 1000 yuan can"t do s.h.i.+t. "

The guy got up immediately, ignoring the pain in his stomach. He didn"t notice Zheng Tan by the stairs. It was dark in the stairwell and he was black cat. It was normal that the guy didn"t see him.

Wei Ling wasn"t someone with upright morals either. Zheng Tan came to that conclusion.

Wei Ling could have brought the guy to the police, but he acted mostly based on his mood. He didn"t want to trouble himself with going to the police so the thief got lucky this time.

Wei Ling was sitting on the side of his bed, stuffing his newly stolen 1000 yuan inside his own wallet when Zheng Tan stepped into his place. The white plastic vial was placed on the bedside table, next to a gla.s.s of orange juice.

Seeing that Zheng Tan was eyeing the bottle, Wei Ling motioned him over. Zheng Tan jumped onto a chair.

Wei Ling still felt he was too far away so he dragged the chair by the bedside table.

Zheng Tan stayed put while he dragged the chair. He was too lazy to jump down.

"Did you see that?" Wei Ling pointed to the white vial and continued, "This thing really is motion sickness medication, but that idiot also used this to commit his crimes."

Wei Ling pointed to the half torn label, which said "One pill every time". The name of the drug was mostly torn off. Zheng Tan couldn"t tell what it was.

"Most of the motion sickness drugs make people drowsy. If taken in large doses, it could cause headaches, severe drowsiness, orientation disorders and other adverse reactions. It could even cause hallucinations and other mental symptoms. People are smart these days. They know purchasing sleeping pills will draw attention. But people buy motion sickness meds all the time, and no one at the pharmacy would take special notice. They could also deny attempting to drug their victims if they were caught. However, sometimes, motion sickness drugs can also be deadly. "

Wei Ling got up to pour away the cup of orange juice. It was laced with drugs. "You need to pay more attention in the future. Be careful of things given to you by strangers."

Wei Ling then told Zheng Tan about the types of drugs he needed to be cautious of. He also mentioned some specific ingredient or contents that Zheng Tan should know, such as barbiturates, hyoscyamine and so on.

Medicine can save people but can also kill people. A large dosage of some meds can even harm a human being, let alone a cat.

Wei Ling bought some food from nearby, then left the apartment, with Zheng Tan by his side. Zheng Tan remembered to check as they were walking out. The apple core Wei Ling tossed out was lying inside a trash can.

Was it a coincidence or was Wei Ling that good?

Wei Ling had bought a motorcycle. It was parked in the bike shed in the eastern quarters when he wasn"t using it. After all, it would probably be stolen if left in front of his building. It was safer leaving it in the quarters. The security guy knew Wei Ling and could help keep an eye on it.

Shortly after Zheng Tan and Wei Ling got home, Auntie Ling brought Jiao Yuan and Gu Youzi back.

Qu Xiangyang opened his door just when Auntie Ling was greeting Wei Ling. The three started chatting. Auntie Ling had met Wei Ling once before and remembered him, but this was the first time Qu met the guy.

"We could sleep soundly now that we know you are here!" Qu Xiangyang said.

"Hey Qu, is that cat claw marks on your door?" Auntie Ling asked.

"Yeah, it is. I don"t even know when it got there. Maybe Charcoal was letting out steam? Look how deep the scratch marks are. I didn"t know Charcoal"s claws were so sharp." Qu Xiangyang sighed.

"That"s for sure. You need to sharpen your tools before you tackle a task. A cat needs to know it"s a cat. What can it do without sharp claws?" Wei Ling looked over at Zheng Tan, who was laying on the couch. "Am I right?"

Zheng Tan ignored them.

"Are you going to change your door? How about getting a steel one?" Auntie Ling joked.

"I"m not going to change the door. It I have claw marks on the door, mice wouldn"t come by anymore, right?"

That night, Wei Ling heated some bath water and waited until the kids were bathed and in bed. He sat down at Papa Jiao"s desk and started reading the material he had brought. He had gotten permission from Papa Jiao to use his computer for some research. He had closed the door, so Zheng Tan had no way of finding out what the doc.u.ments were about.

It seemed that he wouldn"t get a chance to tell Wei Ling about the thing. Zheng Tan considered for a moment and decided to go to bed first. He would figure out how to tell Wei Ling, then leave the rest till tomorrow.

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