Seeing that Zheng Tan was getting along "well" with the kittens, Prince decided to try his luck again. He jumped into the pen.
The five kittens reacted in the exact same way as before. They arched their backs and hissed. Except now, because Zheng Tan was by their side, they felt as if they had support and acted even more aggressively. They huddled by Zheng Tan"s side, making it hard for him to move.
Prince took two steps in their direction, and the kittens hissed harder. At the same time, they squeezed closer to Zheng Tan.
Zheng Tan was deeply annoyed. He didn"t understand: why must the kittens come so close? He was stiff from maintaining the same position for too long. His annoyance reached peak level. So he took it out on Prince.
Zheng Tan pinned down his ears and stared at the American Shorthair making its way over with ice cold eyes. He was planning to give it a good beating if it didn"t go away.
Seeing this, Mr. Guo hurriedly called out to his cat. By the looks of it, Prince was definitely not doing the ad. The kittens were not giving him a chance.
Seeing that "the enemy" was gone, the kittens calmed down and began playing beside Zheng Tan again. They followed him when he moved and surrounded him when he stopped. They rolled around next to him or played with his paws and tail.
Unlike the happy kittens, Zheng Tan had his moody face on. Cats did not have a lot of expressions, but anyone with eyes could tell Zheng Tan was an angry cat at the moment.
Zheng Tan looked down at the kittens playing next to his paw.
Kitten paws were soft. They were a soft pink under the light, unlike the rough paws of cats. Zheng Tan ran every day and climbed trees, his paws were even more rough.
Zheng Tan looked at the little paws waving in the air. He raised one of his own paws and touched it to compare sizes. Kitten paws were tiny. They were smaller than the center cus.h.i.+on on his paw, but they were so soft.
Ka Ka ka.
Flash lights accompanied the sound of a camera.
Zheng Tan looked over. Mr. Guo was taking pictures, switching positions frequently like a monkey. Because the studio was filled with props, Mr. Guo"s was often blocked, so his picture-taking pose was very awkward. It was akin to the posture that gross men used when trying to take underwear pictures of young girls.
"Boss, shall we use Charcoal for the ad?" The employees were very eager. It seemed that the black cat was the one for the job. The store"s cats were not even close to being able to complete the job.
"Charcoal it is. Get everything ready. Let"s start!" Mr. Guo was very excited. "This ad will surely win us lots of orders."
The ad Mr. Guo had in mind was simple. A cat found a litter of abandoned kittens, so it brought them cat food. Here, two kinds of food were being advertised: canned kitten food and a milk based treat. Both products were produced and sold by Mr. Guo"s store. Both pa.s.sed quality checks with flying colors, which was why Papa Jiao agreed to let Zheng Tan do the ad.
Mr. Guo"s biggest worry used to be that the kittens could not get along with the cat. However, he soon realized that it was also a problem when the kittens liked the cat too much. They refused to stay put in the prop nest. Even if they stayed put for a second, they ran out the moment they saw Zheng Tan.
But this was still easier to deal with compared to if the two parties didn"t get along. Even better, the kittens appeared to genuinely like the food. This increased Mr. Guo"s confidence in his product.
The photo shoot took four hours. What followed was post production, which had nothing to do with Zheng Tan. He wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
The weather, however, was not letting him have his way. The sky had darkened, and it started to rain, even though the forecasts predicted a clear day.
Mr. Guo called Papa Jiao to inform him that he would be taking Zheng Tan home when it stopped raining. It shouldn"t rain for long. He would have the cat back before nightfall.
So Zheng Tan had to stay in this G.o.dd.a.m.n studio. The silver lining was that the kittens were tired out by the photo shoot and were asleep at the moment. There was a heating pad under their bed. Their mother was not here; they could catch a cold sleeping alone in this weather.
Originally Mr. Guo wanted Zheng Tan to go accompany them. Afterall, no heating bed could actually compete with a real cat.
Zheng Tan ignored Mr. Guo and pretended to take a nap. He was not going to babysit any longer.
During break time, the employees got delivery. Knowing that Zheng Tan didn"t eat cat food, Mr. Guo got Zheng Tan a serving of chicken rice.
As everyone ate, the door of the studio was suddenly thrown open.
"Guo Xiaoming! Help!"
A woman came in. She appeared to be young, but looked extremely distressed. She had an umbrella and her hair was all down. Zheng Tan couldn"t see her face with all that hair and the black-rimmed gla.s.ses she had on.
She had a pet travel bag which she managed to keep dry though she was dripping wet.
Mr. Guo almost choked when he saw her. "I told you Yanzi, my name is Guo Mingyi, not Guo Xiaoming. Also what"s up with you?"
"Help! My Li Yuanba is sick." She put her umbrella down and ran over.
Hearing the name Li Yuanba, Zheng Tan almost spat out the piece of chicken he was chewing.
What must the cat look like to deserve a name like that? [1]
Zheng Tan looked over curiously, wanting to see the cat inside the bag.
"How come? I thought you said your cat was quite healthy." Mr. Guo went over to an empty table. He didn"t want to check on a cat where everyone was eating.
"Also, you should bring it to my brother if it"s sick. I sell pet products here." He unzipped the travel bag as he spoke.
"I know you from high school. I feel better taking him to a place where I have connections." Yanzi looked very worried.
After Mr. Guo unzipped the pet bag, Zheng Tan saw Li Yuanba.
Jeez! The cat"s fur pattern could only be described as the aftermath of a fire. It was indeed unique. The cat was mostly black with patches of yellow and white.
From a cat"s perspective, Zheng Tan felt that this cat was a not easy going. It looked like it did well in fights.
This was Mr. Guo"s first time seeing Li Yuanba. He had seen pictures of the cat online before and had heard about it from Yanzi. After the two got in touch, they chatted online once. Yanzi was very happy to learn Mr. Guo had opened a pet center. She had shown him pictures of the cat and came in to buy vaccines and cat food before, but this was the first time she showed up with the cat.
"You cat…seems fierce." Mr. Guo did not pet the cat. He had enough experience that he could tell the cats current mood from its eyes. He decided it was best if he didn"t touch it, or else he would probably earn a few scratches or bites.
The cat laid there calmly. Besides giving Mr. Guo a warning look when he came close, it didn"t show any unusualness.
Mr. Guo looked at the cat, then asked: "Why do you think it"s sick?"
"He just lays there and sleeps. He used to at least go out to play. He doesn"t react at all when I play with him at home, not that he ever played much with me. He completely ignores all his toys and this has been going on for weeks. My neighbor says he"s probably sick. Guo Xiaoming, do you think he"s sick, like really really sick?"
Mr. Guo thought for a second then asked: "What about its appet.i.te? Any changes?"
"Yes. He"s eating more now."
Mr. Guo nodded. "It"s fine. Don"t worry. Li Yuanba"s just pregnant."
Zheng Tan: "…" That"s one weird sentence.
Yanzi had an even more extreme reaction. She looked at her cat as if looking at a monster: "That"s impossible. Li Yuanba can"t be pregnant. He"s a boy."
Mr. Guo rolled his eyes. "You can tell that"s not true just by its fur color. Black and Yellow cats are basically all female. The pattern is caused by random X chromosome inactivation in cells in different places of the cat"s body."
If the inactivation happened to a dominant gene, the patch of fur turns out black. If it happened to a recessive gene, the patch of fur turns out to be yellow.
Yanzi was still somewhat confused after listening to Mr. Guo"s explanation. "I"m a CS major, not a genetics major."
The two went to highschool together, but majored in different things in University.
"Did n.o.body tell you that your cat was female?" Mr. Guo was perplexed. Yanzi lived in an old apartment complex, the residents were familiar with one another and had regular interactions. Even if Yanzi couldn"t tell the cat was female, it didn"t make sense that no one realized this.
"Well… I kinda just stay home all the time. My neighbor said he"s a boy, so I named him Li Yuanba." Yanzi seemed embarra.s.sed.
Yanzi"s actual name was Li Yan. It was an ordinary name, and she was an ordinary girl. She never stood out in a crown when she was a student. This cat used to be a stray. She had found it and adopted it.
"Your neighbor? The short guy with the hair parted in the middle and the really s.h.i.+ny shoes?" Mr. Guo asked.
"Yeah. That"s him." Yanzi nodded.
Mr. Guo tucked. "That guy brought his cat in to get neutered last week. His cat was female; it can"t be neutered. The guy probably thought it was easy to tell the gender of a cat like it was easy to tell the gender of a dog."
Now realizing that her female cat was pregnant, Yanzi asked if she needed to do anything special to take care of it.
"Well, avoid giving it medicine or any chemicals, especially steroids and Bleomycin. You need to control the quality and quant.i.ty of its food intake…"
Yanzi recorded everything Mr. Guo said.
"I"ll stop here for now. Go home and look it up on the internet. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me. Leave me a message online or email me. I"m a bit busy recently, but I check my email regularly."
"Thanks so much. Ah! Are those kittens?" Yanzi finally saw the fur b.a.l.l.s in the corner of the studio.
"Yes. They"re six weeks old. They just did a photoshoot for an ad and fell asleep."
"An ad? An ad for kittens? Can I see it?"
Mr. Guo considered it and showed her the unprocessed photos.
"They"re so cute." Yanzi exclaimed. She pointed at Zheng Tan who was resting on a cat tree. "Is that black cat the father?"
"No. Their mother is a shorthair house cat, and their father is a Siberian cat."
"Then how is it getting along so well with the kittens."
"…Maybe kittens just find it approachable." Mr. Guo was curious himself.
"What a special cat. Guo Xiaoming, when my cat has kittens, I"ll bring them in for a photoshoot as well. Can I borrow that cat too?"
Mr. Guo did not answer but looked over to Zheng Tan.
Zheng Tan: "…"
He did not want to babysit kittens anymore.
Translator"s ThoughtsAlex in Wonderland
[1] Li Yuanba is the brother of a Chinese emperor. He is said to be a very strong warrior.