Strange Life of a Cat-Chapter 211 - 209 Exclusive Private Room
Chapter 211: Chapter 209: Exclusive Private Room
Chapter 211 -209: Exclusive Private Room
After Big and Little Rice left, Ermao’s life returned to its original leisurely comfort. However, lately Ermao had been running around outside during the day, unknown where it was going. Heimi was quite quiet, Zheng Tan hadn’t heard it meowing, guessing it had already adapted to the life after the cubs leaving. Zheng Tan had seen Heimi once recently, and it seemed to be in good spirits.
Stretching lazily, Zheng Tan came down from the tall Chinese parasol tree. The afternoon was perfect for a nap, but today he just couldn’t sleep. Zheng Tan decided to go for a walk; it had been a while since he visited the overpass area to check on the blind old man.
The sound of car horns was incessant, but Zheng Tan could still pick out the sound of the erhu; the old man must be in a good mood today.
However, when Zheng Tan arrived at the overpass, he ran into an unexpected acquaintance.
Under the cool shade of the overpass, Xiao Jiu leaned against it, holding a book, reading. When Zheng Tan approached, Xiao Jiu just happened to look up and around, her eyes brimming with joy when she saw Zheng Tan.
“I got half a day off today, so I thought I’d try my luck to see if I could run into you. If I do, that’s lucky; if not, I’m happy just sitting here and reading for half a day,” said Xiao Jiu cheerfully.
This area was close to Mr. Kun’s place, so there were certainly people of Mr. Kun’s around, and Xiao Jiu wasn’t worried about running into any bad folks.
Xiao Jiu had a backpack on her back that looked about eighty percent new. After putting the book into her backpack, Xiao Jiu signaled to Zheng Tan to go to a quieter place and briefly talked about what had been happening lately.
“I have a new life now, my household registration is under the name of the big sister who took me in. My name is now ‘Huang Jiu’,” said Xiao Jiu.
Huang Jiu? I’m Red Wine then! Zheng Tan snickered inwardly.
Xiao Jiu took a water cup out of her backpack, poured some water on the edge of the stone border of the flowerbed nearby, dabbed her finger in the water, and then wrote her name on the ground.
Perhaps because she hadn’t been practicing calligraphy for long, her handwriting wasn’t particularly good, but Zheng Tan managed to make out the two characters.
Xiao Jiu at home was directly called Xiao Jiu, and Zheng Tan wasn’t too clear about her household registration, but it seemed that now Xiao Jiu was quite satisfied with her new household registration and liked her name.
After chatting for a while, Xiao Jiu asked Zheng Tan to wait here and quickly ran into the nearest supermarket. Ten minutes later, Xiao Jiu came back carrying her backpack.
“Good thing it’s not the weekend, not many people. The baggage storage lockers were empty. Last Saturday, I went to a supermarket, lots of people…”
Zheng Tan felt that this girl was talking a lot more now, liking to chatter about anything, perhaps because these were joyful things for Xiao Jiu, and she wanted to share them with someone.
Xiao Jiu sat down beside the flowerbed, unzipped her backpack, and took out a bag of candy.
“Here, bring this to your little master to thank her for the candy she gave me last time. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to eat many from that bag; such a waste,” said Xiao Jiu, handing the bag of candy to Zheng Tan.
The bag wasn’t large, posing no challenge for Zheng Tan, but the bag hadn’t been wiped with paper, and influenced by a touch of neatness, Zheng Tan hesitated.
“I get pocket money every month, though not much. This month I have only 10 yuan, so I could only buy this. It’s not as good as the candy your little master gave, but when I have more money, I will treat you to something even better!” Xiao Jiu looked expectantly at Zheng Tan.
If Zheng Tan didn’t catch it now, Xiao Jiu might think he was looking down on the candy.
Forget it.
Zheng Tan opened his mouth and gripped the bag of candy.
That finally brought a smile to Xiao Jiu’s face as she continued to talk.
“I can’t come every weekend. I will be busier in the future, trying to catch up on coursework. After all, I am much older than first-graders. I can’t let them look down on me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to school; I’ve forgotten some of the pinyin and characters from first grade. The sister said she hopes I can go directly to third grade. I think so too. I can’t be with those little brats two or three years younger than me. That would be too embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”
After talking for a while longer, Xiao Jiu had to leave. She had studying to do. But even without hearing all this from Xiao Jiu, Zheng Tan could tell that the girl’s life had been good lately. There was no longer as much sorrow in her eyes that was unfit for a child of her age, which was a good sign.
Watching Zheng Tan walk away with the bag of candy in his mouth, Xiao Jiu, still not quite at ease, added, “Don’t lose it, okay?”
Such a nag! Flicking his tail, Zheng Tan nonetheless stopped and turned back to give Xiao Jiu a resigned look.
Seeing Zheng Tan looking at her like that, Xiao Jiu laughed out loud, waved, and ran off in the opposite direction from Zheng Tan, perhaps because she was in such high spirits. Every now and then as she ran, she would jump up a couple of times.
Zheng Tan carried the bag of candy back, heading straight to wait for Little Youzi outside the gate of the Affiliated Primary School.
“Eh? Heitan, who bought this?” Little Youzi, coming out from school, took the bag of candy to look at it and asked Zheng Tan. She also looked around but didn’t see anyone who might have given the candy.
Zheng Tan couldn’t answer even if he wanted to. Once back at home, while Little Youzi was taking out her homework to start writing, Zheng Tan pulled out Little Youzi’s drawing book. It was her personal drawing book where she’d sketch just for fun, not her art class workbook.
Flipping through it, Zheng Tan found a drawing from the summer break that featured Little Youzi with a small bucket in hand and carrying a sickle on her back.
“Is that her?” Little Youzi expressed surprise. “Why would she come here?”
Zheng Tan didn’t know how to explain the situation either.
Friday evening, Wei Leng came over to deliver a wedding invitation for his big day during the National Day holiday. Although they had previously discussed it with Jiao Ma and she said there was no need for a separate notice—too much trouble—Wei Leng insisted on delivering an invitation in person to be formal.
Jiao Ma loved this topic. She chatted with Wei Leng for over ten minutes and didn’t even make a fuss over the possibility that Zheng Tan might go out to play with Wei Leng and not return for the night.
Jiao Ma noticed Zheng Tan had been in better spirits lately and no longer had that lethargic look, so she only told Zheng Tan a few things to be careful about. As long as he was in good spirits, that was enough; everything else could wait for now.
At the entrance to the third floor, Ermao was already waiting, and Senior Hetao was on his way to the Night Building. They would have a good gathering today—next time would be at Wei Leng’s wedding, and with elders present, it certainly wouldn’t be as leisurely.
All the way there, Ermao didn’t stop talking—not even Wei Leng could match him. He teased Wei Leng, then mused over cat ownership. By the time they reached the Night Building, that little rascal was still bubbling with more to say.
Ye Hao was at the Night Building today too, but he wouldn’t disturb the gathering of Wei Leng and his two sworn brothers. However, he had something to discuss with Zheng Tan.
Wei Leng went up to the private room on the second floor first while leaving Ye Hao to talk to Zheng Tan.
A private room?
Zheng Tan listened to Ye Hao and nodded inwardly. Good, it seemed Ye Hao remembered. Zheng Tan had not heard anything from Wei Leng about it, and he thought that the promised room by Ye Hao was just an empty promise, but it turned out Ye Hao had actually taken care of it.
Ye Hao had to leave for other matters and signaled Liang Hu, the current person in charge of the Night Building, to show Zheng Tan the room.
Although Liang Hu didn’t have much interaction with Zheng Tan, he knew about the cat’s legendary events from listening to Baozi and Long Qi’s conversations. His boss wouldn’t set up a special room for a cat for no reason, so he knew to treat this seriously.
Zheng Tan followed Liang Hu to the third floor. The room Ye Hao arranged for Zheng Tan was right next to Wei Leng’s. Recently, Ye Hao had renovated some of the rooms on the third floor and made sure Zheng Tan’s own room was prepared.
Just like the door to Wei Leng’s room that used a door card, this one had a card reader too, but it wasn’t the insertable kind. It was more like the card readers at Chuhua University’s East District courtyard doors, except with much higher security and privacy. Ye Hao must have put some thought into it.
Zheng Tan watched Liang Hu holding a small round piece that was similar to the cat card Zheng Tan used in the East District, or rather, it seemed like it was made in imitation of Zheng Tan’s cat card.
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This room was smaller than Wei Leng’s, but much thought was put into the decor, especially the walls and ceiling which included paths for a cat to climb and walk. The hanging catwalks above also looked uncluttered. Zheng Tan climbed up the wooden plank on the wall and jumped onto a “suspension bridge” leading to the ceiling.
After exploring for a bit, he felt pretty good about the place overall. The designs were mostly cat paw prints, cat face silhouettes, and the like, without going for a different style.
What made Zheng Tan feel a bit embarrassed were the scratching boards and hanging plush toys. If Zheng Tan were really just a cat and not a cat with a human mind, he would definitely love these features. For a real cat, this place was like a mini amusement park.
Beyond that, there was also a karaoke setup, which Zheng Tan found quite satisfying. Perhaps Ye Hao and the others had considered that if Zheng Tan ever got depressed and wanted to howl some tunes, there would be a special place for it instead of torturing the ears of everyone at Ye Hao’s or Wei Leng’s places.
This place is pretty nice, Zheng Tan thought, I’ll bring some friends over to hang out here.
But…
As Zheng Tan lay on the soft sofa, counting with his paws, he realized there weren’t many friends he could bring over. The sheriff and Ah Huang wouldn’t come, Da Pang was always with his lady, peanut rice? Maybe. The Lord? Not familiar enough, plus the Lord had frequented this place while with Ye Hao and now that he was with Mr. Tang Qi, such places probably didn’t appeal to him much.
It seemed, his circle of friends was a bit small.
Throughout this whole process, Liang Hu observed the black cat in the room, internally remarking on how unique this cat was. No wonder Long Qi always carried an amulet.
After checking out the room for a bit, Zheng Tan went to Wei Leng’s suite, where the three were discussing who might attend the wedding—Wei Leng’s former comrades-in-arms and current friends. Zheng Tan wasn’t too interested in these people, but he was curious about the master referred to by the three brothers.
Wei Leng mentioned his master was still robust and was free lately. The old man had expressed interest in visiting during the National Day to see how his three disciples were doing in their living environments. Much to Zheng Tan’s disappointment, the cat named “Dashan” that Wei Leng’s master kept would not accompany him.
As for Ermao’s and the others’ master, what kind of person was he?
Zheng Tan was quite looking forward to meeting the old man. Judging from the three’s tone and choice of words, he seemed quite a character. Indeed, many people who liked cats were a bit eccentric. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
