Strange Life of a Cat-Chapter 207 - 206 Luck This Thing
Chapter 207: Chapter 206 Luck, This Thing
Chapter 207 -206 Luck, This Thing
Zheng Tan felt that he must have been languid and sluggish lately, with too little activity, for he was tired just from climbing the stairs. After hopping up the stairs using alternate leg thrusts, his leg muscles still ached a bit, probably from pulling too hard just now. Fortunately, he hadn’t cramped up, otherwise, he would have rolled down the stairs.
Without stopping for a rest, Zheng Tan hastened to the door where Xiao Jiu was confined, examined the keyhole of the lock, then the key. Thankfully, it seemed there was only one key matching that keyhole, so there was no need to try several keys, saving him a lot of effort.
He picked out the correct key and held it with one paw, using the strength of his hind legs once more after jumping up the stair steps. He leapt up, hooking the doorknob with the other paw that wasn’t holding the key. The key was a bit more complex than the ones for the Jiao family’s wooden doors, and Zheng Tan had to insert it a few times before it went in.
Inside the room.
Xiao Jiu lay on the iron frame bed in the room, staring at the light coming through the window, lost in thought.
The window was sealed with a security net, and the window itself couldn’t be opened at all. Even if she shouted for help, the people outside this building might not be able to hear her, and it would only draw the people outside the door to her. Xiao Jiu had seen plenty of people in the village and could sense the dangerous vibe they carried. Therefore, she had been very well-behaved all the way here.
When she first arrived, those people took a tube of blood from her arm, seemingly to send to the buyer for “inspection”. In the past few days, every time they came in, it was to bring food, as if they were afraid she would get too skinny, and sometimes Xiao Jiu felt like a pig being fattened up to be sold for a good price.
Although she had only completed first grade and knew little of book knowledge, she was far from the naive other children in the village.
Her hearing was actually a bit better than many kids in the village, perhaps because she often had to find food outdoors. So, even separated by a door, she could faintly hear some of the things those people talked about. She didn’t understand things like blood types, just that she was going to be sold off because of it.
Every time she woke up, Xiao Jiu would remember her drafty house in the village.
The indifference between sisters, the favoritism of the parents when it came to their children, combined with her own personality had led to a buildup of contradictions, but even so, even though she was often beaten black and blue, even though her family never provided her with a proper bed, Xiao Jiu would still go home. Kinship was a peculiar thing.
But this incident exacerbated the conflicts, and now Xiao Jiu’s previous luck and hope were gone.
An old lady in the village once told her that people need to have faith, as it helps them through hard times. Xiao Jiu didn’t believe it before, but now that she was locked in this ten-square-meter room, she wished she had faith. But what exactly was faith? The concept of the word was still very vague to her.
Xiao Jiu glanced around and her gaze settled on the bag of candy on the table.
This was a request she made to those people after being locked up here; seeing that she was quite cooperative, or perhaps just to follow a carrot-and-stick approach, one of them went out and bought a bag of candy to throw to her. However, Xiao Jiu thought that the candy wasn’t as tasty as the Naitang she had a few days ago. Looking at the production date on the bag, it was over a year old. Definitely what that kid in the village who always strutted around in pretty dresses would call “cheap goods”.
Xiao Jiu counted her wishes on her fingers. If she could get out, she would definitely work hard to earn money to buy candy. If she could get out, she would make a lot of money to buy her own house, and, well, keeping a cat wouldn’t be bad either. If she could get out… she would never go home again.
Just as she was considering what other wishes she might have, Xiao Jiu heard the door lock rattle. She thought it was those people and did not get up.
After a moment of rattling, the noise from the door lock ceased. However, Xiao Jiu didn’t pay attention to it.
A while later, the door lock started making noise again, this time with the sound of a key turning in the lock.
Creak—
The faint sound of the door opening was distinct in the quiet room.
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Xiao Jiu frowned, turned her head to look towards the door, ready to see what those people were planning to do this time.
At the door… there was no one.
With a sense of something amiss, her gaze dropped downward.
A black cat.
Xiao Jiu: “!!!”
Her first reaction upon seeing the black cat at the door was to rub her eyes, her face full of disbelief.
It was beyond her imagination that she would see this cat at this time.
How could it be here?
Where were those people?
Why did it have a key?
How did it open the door?
But Zheng Tan didn’t wait for Xiao Jiu to think too much. Seeing that the girl in the room looked okay, he bolted out and, after running a few steps, looked back at Xiao Jiu, signaling for her to leave quickly.
Without time to think too much and not even bothering to remove the key from the door, Xiao Jiu hastened to follow. All she wanted was to leave this place as soon as possible, and for some reason, she felt that she would be safe following this cat. She never even considered the possibility that this black cat might be in cahoots with those people.
Zheng Tan descended the stairs and looked around cautiously when he reached the stairwell entrance, twitching his ears. ‘Sickle’ was still bathing inside, but should be finished soon, while ‘Snakehead’ and another person hadn’t returned, and there were no other sounds of movement on the first floor.
Seeing the alertness of the Black Cat ahead, Xiao Jiu followed silently downstairs. When she was in the village, she would sometimes eavesdrop for fun at the corners of walls, and she was still wearing the cloth shoes she used to wear in the village, so she didn’t feel any discomfort. Therefore, moving stealthily and swiftly was not difficult for Xiao Jiu.
Zheng Tan had checked this floor; the only way out was through the main entrance.
The main door was a thick security door, which creaked “kaka kaka” as Xiao Jiu opened it.
As soon as he heard the noise, Zheng Tan quickly darted out, and Xiao Jiu quickly closed the door behind her and ran after Zheng Tan.
Sickle, who was taking a shower, heard the noise at the main door and shouted twice, thinking it was Snakehead or someone else returning. But after a few seconds of silence outside, he suddenly had a bad feeling, opened the door to look outside, and called out twice more, to no reply.
Without bothering to dry off, Sickle ran to check several rooms while pulling on his clothes. When he ran upstairs, he found the door to the room where Xiao Jiu had been locked open, with his key still in the lock.
Meanwhile, Zheng Tan and Xiao Jiu hadn’t gone far after leaving when they ran into Snakehead coming back from shopping.
Such bad luck!
Zheng Tan cursed to himself.
Snakehead did not notice Zheng Tan; his full attention was on Xiao Jiu. As soon as he saw Xiao Jiu, he knew there was a problem with Sickle, dropped the big bag of things he was carrying on the ground, and immediately chased after Xiao Jiu.
Previously, Zheng Tan had planned to lead Xiao Jiu towards Chuhua University, where he would have support on his own turf. But now, Zheng Tan could only take Xiao Jiu in a different direction. However, where could they run to and hide from this side? Take a long detour back to Chuhua University? Probably they would be caught before they got there, so it might be better to find a place to hide.
Anyhow, the priority was to flee first.
There were a few pedestrians on the street, but Xiao Jiu didn’t cry out for help. She didn’t know if it would be of any use, or if anyone would help. Besides, she feared that it would attract more enemies.
Turn to just any passerby?
She didn’t know if those people would collude with the pursuers. In this unfamiliar environment, she was extremely cautious and didn’t trust the strangers around her. Besides, the cat ahead did not stop, so all she needed to do was to keep up with him.
Zheng Tan decided to first lead Xiao Jiu to the main street. Once there, with the crowd around, either Xiao Jiu could cry out for help or they could find a suitable place to hide—the odds of success would be great.
Xiao Jiu was still young and couldn’t keep up with Snakehead’s stamina. Snakehead was rapidly closing the distance, and if it weren’t for a man pushing a fruit stall that momentarily blocked Snakehead, he probably would have caught Xiao Jiu by now. But in that case, Zheng Tan certainly wouldn’t hesitate to leap and kick at Snakehead.
Zheng Tan slowed his pace slightly to wait for Xiao Jiu, who was trailing behind. If he got too far ahead, and she was caught by Snakehead, it wouldn’t be easy to respond quickly.
Looking back, Zheng Tan noticed that Sickle had also joined the pursuit. Although Sickle was sometimes less cautious than Snakehead, he was definitely quick to act.
While slowing down to wait for Xiao Jiu, Zheng Tan kept an eye on the surroundings, figuring out which places could serve as hiding spots.
They passed a narrow alleyway, and suddenly, Zheng Tan halted sharply, backed up to take a quick look into the alley, then dashed into it.
It was the blind old man!
It was just a fleeting glimpse from a distance, and Zheng Tan had only suspected it, but now he was sure it was him.
In that moment, Zheng Tan really wanted to shout out loud.
Blind man, oh, how much I frickin’ love you!!
Zheng Tan knew Mr. Kun’s place was still at a distance from here, and the old man had not passed this way when he had followed Mr. Kun before. But no matter, seeing the blind old man gave Zheng Tan confidence that they could escape the situation.
Ye Hao and Wei Leng had mentioned that there were actually people around the blind old man who protected him, unnoticeable by others. Those protectors were experts, and if Ye Hao and Wei Leng referred to someone as an expert, they were certainly extraordinary. They should be more than capable of dealing with Snakehead and Sickle, right?
For Xiao Jiu, in this situation, she should’ve run towards a crowded area. There was a shopping center ahead with lots of people. She could just run there and hide. But the Black Cat ahead went into the alley. Despite her confusion, Xiao Jiu still followed Zheng Tan into it.
For Mr. Kun, today, so far, had not been a pleasant day.
This afternoon there was a quarrel near the overpass, and someone was even threatening suicide, shouting about jumping off. It attracted a lot of onlookers and significantly disturbed Mr. Kun’s mood for playing erhu. So, he just packed up his belongings and left. On a whim, he strolled around the area before taking a shortcut home.
This area was much quieter, but inside there were many crisscrossing narrow paths. In some alleys, if a taxi drove in, people couldn’t walk until the car left, and some alleys were too narrow even for taxis, which made car sightings rare in this part of town.
Even though there were many alleys and some had steps, disorienting those not good with directions, it wasn’t a problem for Mr. Kun who traveled this way a few times each month.
As he was walking, Mr. Kun’s ears twitched, and he stopped in his tracks. He turned around.
The moment he turned, Zheng Tan whooshed to his side.
Luck is a mischievous thing; sometimes it can play you to death, infuriating you to the point of suicidal thoughts, but other times, it really can give a great helping hand, making you want to drop to your knees and thank the heavens. Of course, this is relative, for some it’s the latter, but for others, it’s the former situation. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast your votes and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
