Strange Life of a Cat

They found their way by asking people for directions. The guard wouldn"t let them in, hence the phone call to Professor Jiao. He managed to slip in a word of complaint regarding the black cat during the call. "Your cat used me, then wouldn"t even lead the way."

After getting Professor Jiao"s approval, the guard relented. He asked how Fang Shaokang came to know Professor Jiao"s cat. Fang Shaokang gave some far-fetched reasons, after all, he was never going to admit to anyone that he did shows with the cat.

Fang Shaokang went on all his "clear the head" trips on his own.

He did too many bizarre things that he didn"t want people knowing. He himself didn"t care about his reputation, but the Fang family did. His family would call him frequently to remind him to watch himself and not make a fool of the family.

He stood downstairs and scanned his surroundings. The old residence quarter in the university was a peaceful place. It calmed and soothed him. No wonder the black cat was so set on returning.

As he was looking around, he felt he was being watched. He looked to his side then lowered his gaze. A fat house cat was sitting on the balcony watching him and the driver.

Before, Fang Shaokang had never been keen on cats. They were just pets, at most a nuisance. Then he met Zheng Tan. He started to realize that there existed special cats. So he pulled a blade of gra.s.s from the flower bed nearby and started to tease the fat cat.

The chubby head tilted and avoided the gra.s.s, but Fang Shaokang was not relenting. So Fatty got up unwillingly and backed up to a distance where he couldn"t be reached.

Fang Shaokang tried to stretch his arm out but he still couldn"t reach the cat. He was planning to try a stick but the old lady came out at that moment having just woken up from her nap.

"What are you doing to my Fatty?" The old lady said crossly.

"Hi. I just thought this cat was really cute. I wanted to play with it. This is my first time here actually. I"m bring Professor Jiao his cat."

"His cat? What cat?" the old lady asked. She had heard that the Jiao family didn"t want to get a new cat.

"A black cat called Charcoal. Do you know him?"

"Charcoal"s back?"

The old lady was visibly pleased when she heard Charcoal was back. Her favorite cats in the quarters were her own Fatty and Professor Jiao"s Charcoal. She was deeply upset when she heard that Charcoal had been taken. She even asked her son to help find him. Now Charcoal was back!

As they were chatting, Papa Jiao was back on his scooter with Zheng Tan in the front basket.

"Wow! It really is Charcoal. So good that he was found."

Papa Jiao parked the scooter and chatted a few words with the old lady. Then he open the front door and led the way upstairs.

As for Zheng Tan, he sprinted up the stairs as soon as the door was opened.

When he reached the third floor, he paused and saw Professor Lan"s door open. He heard activity inside.

He nudged the door open and went inside.

The floor had just been mopped. The room smelled like fresh soil. Professor Lan probably brought in a few pots of flowers. He was working on planting some new plants, leaving mud prints all around the apartment in the meantime, which was the reason he had mopped the floor.

Zheng Tan went inside. He had been running outdoors earlier so he left a trail of little paw prints on the clean floor.

Lan came over from the balcony carrying a flower pot. He seemed shocked to see Zheng Tan in his living room.

"Charcoal?" Professor Lan called out, unsure of himself.

Zheng Tan ignored him. He looked inside the apartment and didn"t see Mrs. Di. When she wasn"t here, no one could protect him from an angry Professor Lan. He looked at his paw prints and briskly turned to leave.

"Hey, you little b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You are Charcoal! Look what you did!" Professor Lan was sure of the cat"s ident.i.ty when he saw the cat peer inside the house. It was the idiot cat from the fifth floor.

Though he seemed angry, he had a smile in his eyes that Zheng Tan missed.

Fang Shaokang, who had just reached the third floor and heard Professor Lan yell, said to Papa Jiao:" Seems like your cat is quite well known, and popular too."

"Yes. Everyone in the quarters knows him." Papa Jiao laughed.

When Papa Jiao opened the door, Zheng Tan shot inside. He rolled around on the sofa then inspected the place. Most of the furnis.h.i.+ng remained the same and there was no smell of another cat.

Zheng Tan was pleased. That meant that he mattered a lot to the Jiao family.

Fang Shaokang sat down after going inside. He watch Zheng Tan roll around, inspect his territory and go to the bathroom, before running to the balcony and howling. In response, the cats and dogs all around the quarters started howling and barking.

Zheng Tan ignored Fang Shaokang. He was still immersed in the excitement of finally being home again. He only calmed down after howling a few times.

Everyone, attention please, I, Zheng Tan, am back!

Zhao Le had came over in the afternoon with bags of snacks. Some of them was for the Jiao children, but most were for Zheng Tan. She brought them to make Zheng Tan feel better after the ordeal he went through and to celebrate him finally returning.

For this, Fang Shaokang had laughed at her.

Mama Jiao was back early today as well. She was now teaching at the middle school and took an early leave after getting a phone call from Papa Jiao.

Both Papa and Mama Jiao were grateful towards Fang Shaokang and insisted he stay for dinner. However, he had refused their offer. He had been idle for too long and had quite a bit of business to attend to. He had to get right back into his busy schedule and couldn"t stay long.

He just planned to drop the cat back and see where it lived. He might need to call on the cat once more if he was going on one of his trips again.

Before he left, he gave the family the souvenirs Zheng Tan picked out on their way back to Chuhua and left a card as well as a platinum members.h.i.+p card of his hotel.

Though they had heard a bit about about him from Zhao Le, Papa Jiao was still surprised when he saw the card. This was a powerful person. He couldn"t help but marvel at his cat"s luck.

The Jiao family was having a cheerful night. As for Zheng Tan, he finally had people to pamper him after over a month of living on the streets. He had his fur blow dried and combed, then he got into bed with Youzi.

The next day, it took him a moment to realize where he was after waking up. He really was home.

He got up with the children and had breakfast with the family. It was a very enjoyable experience. He loved this life. It was so good not to have to steal food and worry about being chased after he was caught.

Because of what happened, the Jiao family was at first nervous when Zheng Tan went on walks. However, after seeing that nothing had happened after a few days, they relaxed.

The school had new surveillance cameras put in and security tightened. The residence quarters had new cameras installed as well. Of course these cameras were installed in public areas so as not to invade the privacy of the faculty.

Since he returned, he stayed confined in the quarters. He took walks sometimes with Fatty, Tiger and Sheriff.

Besides Fatty putting on some extra weight, Tiger and Sheriff both seemed just as they were one month ago. They seemed excited when they saw Zheng Tan again.

After walking the kids and Mama Jiao to the gate of the quarters, Zheng Tan left for a walk with his gang. At this hour, most of the people were off to work or school. No one was outside.

Zheng Tan was bored. Life here was peaceful, yes, but slightly too peaceful. Zheng Tan was only dragging himself around for the sake of it. However, he heard a sound and twitched his ears, turning to a nearby building.

This was already in the corner of the Eastern Quarters. The building he was looking at was at the innermost corner of the quarters. No one came over here even during normal hours.

Zheng Tan headed towards the source of the sound. He checked the sound source again, then jumped onto the balcony of a first floor apartment. He walked on the balcony railing towards the window, then jumped onto the window sill.

The patio doors of the bedroom were shut. So was the window, but the curtain was only half drawn. Zheng Tan could see clearly what was going on inside.

A young man and woman were pa.s.sionately kissing. They seemed like they had just come inside and had all their clothes on. However, the clothes were quickly disappearing.

Zheng Tan didn"t expect to see such a saucy scene so early in the morning and was very excited. His head was almost on the window and was watching intently.

Fatty, who was sunbathing on the lawn, saw Zheng Tan lingering near the window and became curious. Though he had gained some weight, he was still agile. He jumped on to the railing and walked to where Zheng Tan was. He tilted his head to see what Zheng Tan was looking at.

Zheng Tan sensed movement and eyed Fatty. He probably had no idea what was going on.

Soon, Tiger and Sheriff, who were catching bugs, came over as well. The four cats huddled on the window sill.

The couple inside had finished the undressing part and were mostly done with the foreplay. The man was peeling open a condom when the woman, who was lying on the bed, unintentionally looked over to the window and screamed.

She kicked the man right on the chest, sending him off the bed.

"Ah!!!! Someone is peeping!"