Zheng Tan squatted on a tree, which he had found with difficulty, feeling it was a suitable place.
Two hundred meters away, there were a few households; lights were still on in two of them, and occasionally human voices could be heard. Most of the surrounding area was farmland, but Zheng Tan could see, even under the dim starlight, that there were hardly any crops in the fields. The area probably was going to be cleared for redevelopment soon.
After adopting a comfortable position, Zheng Tan lay down and rested with his eyes closed, his ears pricked up in alertness—he dared not let his guard down outside.
The last light was extinguished; from afar came the occasional cry of cats and, sometimes, one or two barks from the residents' side.
The temperature in the suburbs was a bit lower than at Chuhua, and the wind made Zheng Tan somewhat cold. Any drowsiness he felt was gradually blown away by the gusts.
Just as Zheng Tan was considering whether to find something to do, he heard a slight noise. It was footsteps, very light, but a cat could still discern them clearly.
Zheng Tan peered through the leaves in the direction of the footsteps and saw a person in a loose hoodie, one hand tucked in a pocket that seemed to contain something, and the other hand carrying a small shovel walking towards him.
The person wore a hat, so Zheng Tan couldn't make out their face or gender, but he assumed that people who dared to come out alone at this hour were usually men, right? Judging by their manner... could it be that they were planning to kill someone and bury the body?
Zheng Tan's curiosity was piqued, but he also didn't dare to follow rashly. Even as a cat, he couldn't be sure he wouldn't be silenced.
The person headed towards some dilapidated tile houses. It looked like no one had lived there for a while, as the area was overgrown with weeds.
When the person stopped in front of a partially collapsed tile house, Zheng Tan decided to just squat here and watch the show—after all, the distance wasn't too far.
The person crouched down in a corner of the wall, with their back to Zheng Tan, and it was unclear what they were doing. Zheng Tan didn't hear the sound of bricks being struck, but there was a faint noise of glass objects clinking.
It wasn't until the sky began to brighten slightly that the individual left the area of the broken tile houses. Zheng Tan hopped down for a look but didn't dare to get too close because he smelled an unpleasant odor that resembled pesticide.
Zheng Tan was curious, but he valued his life more. Even a cat's life was his own.
Taking advantage of the fact that the households were still not awake, Zheng Tan jumped into the courtyard of a house, found a faucet to wash his paws, to avoid the mud with pesticide from the broken tile house. The water was too cold, and without a tissue to wipe dry, he didn't want to lick them himself. Looking around, he glanced at the clothes hanging outside the house, then wiped his paws on the skirt of the finest quality, stepping on it and leaving a series of gray prints. After wiping his paws, Zheng Tan conveniently knocked down a persimmon from the house yard's tree, washed it, and walked away with it in his mouth.
Barking from next door followed, presumably because Zheng Tan's movements had alerted the neighbor's dog, which sounded somewhat immature, likely a young pup.
When Zheng Tan returned to the tree, the sky had brightened considerably.
Soon, voices came from the residents' area, mixed with scolding, provoked by the skirt Zheng Tan had used to wipe his paws.
With the rising of the sun, the temperature gradually warmed up.
Feeling the warmth of the sunlight on his body, Zheng Tan yawned, stretched, tore open the thumb-cake bag, and started his breakfast, nibbling on a persimmon if it was too dry.
A brown-gray mongrel ran out of the house into the field merrily; this was probably the source of the youthful barking heard before.
In the neglected fields, several hens pecked for food. The little mongrel went after them, sending the hens into a frenzy of clucking. One chubby hen simply squatted down and didn't move when the dog charged over; after hesitating near the chubby hen and symbolically biting twice without even touching a feather, the dog continued to chase after other hens, running and pursuing in an endless cycle.
Every time the chubby hen saw the dog coming, it simply squatted still, averting the need to run around every single time.
Indeed, even fat ones can be clever.
The little dog, tired from chasing chickens, jogged slowly along the field's edge with its tongue stretched out. Suddenly, its ears twitched, it stopped, looked around, saw Zheng Tan, and then bolted towards him.
Zheng Tan crunched on his thumb-cake, observing the little mongrel that circled and barked around the tree. He threw down the last bit of the thumb-cake, leaving only a piece as big as a fingernail. The dog paused, then went over, sniffing the ground and rummaging through the grass to find the cake crumbs, lapping them up and eating them.
After eating, the dog looked up at Zheng Tan who was still gnawing on the biscuit, its little tail wagging enthusiastically.
Zheng Tan kept eating each thumb-cake until only a small end was left before throwing it down, watching the dog wag its tail as it searched through the grass or stood up on its hind legs to catch it in mid-air.
Zheng Tan was having so much fun that he nearly finished the entire bag of thumb-cakes without realizing it. Just when he was about to reflect on it, he suddenly heard the sound of a lighter flicking.
Zheng Tan was startled. When had someone come close by?
Following the sound of the lighter, Zheng Tan saw a person dressed like a construction worker. However, even with a change of clothes, Zheng Tan recognized him.
It's that man who was looking for the cavy!
The little stray dog had just noticed a stranger nearby and was barking at him nonstop.
Zheng Tan curled his lip. You glutton, what good does barking do now!
But the little stray dog didn't persist for long. Under the man's gaze, it tucked its tail and ran off.
Zheng Tan didn't dare run; he wasn't confident he could escape successfully.
It's best to respond to changes with constancy; let's see what this guy is up to, or maybe pretend I don't recognize him? After all, there are many black cats in the world. Zheng Tan pondered internally.
The man blew a smoke ring and looked at Zheng Tan, saying, "Even if you didn't have your cat card on, I'd recognize you. How mean, toying with the little dog."
Shit, he's not easy to fool!
Zheng Tan tugged at his ear, his muscles tensed. Although the man's aura seemed relatively calm now, Zheng Tan's first impression of him was so bad he couldn't help but be on guard.
The man smoked and casually made some small talk, then suddenly asked, "Were you here all last night? Did you see any strange people?"
Strange people? Could he mean that guy in the hoodie?
"You've seen them, haven't you!"
Wei Leng read the answer from the subtle changes in the cat's eyes and expressions. Initially, he had just thrown out a tentative question, not really expecting to get any useful information from this cat, but it turned out the cat had indeed seen something!
"Alright, I won't ask much more, I just want to know what exactly that guy did? Or, what did he hide?" Wei Leng said, cigarette in his mouth, spreading his hands to show he meant no harm.
Zheng Tan thought for a moment, then lifted his chin and pointed toward the dilapidated tile house.
"Thanks!"
Just as Zheng Tan decided to make a quick escape, Wei Leng, who was heading toward the dilapidated tile house, called out, "Don't leave yet, I have something more to ask you. If you run, I'll catch you and bring you back. Do you believe me?"
Zheng Tan felt a streak of silver flash by, and a thin metal plate was embedded in the path in front of him.
Zheng Tan stared at the metal plate still trembling before his paws, twitched his whiskers, squatted down, flicked the metal plate with his paw, filled with amazement, and looked sideways towards the person by the broken tile house, thinking, how could that thing the hoodie guy took so long to hide be easy to find?
Five minutes later, Wei Leng held a brown glass jar in one gloved hand and a phone in the other.
"Hey, I've got some good news for you... I mean, there's good news... Can you hear me? Hello... hello... I'm telling you on your end... damn!"
He had just hung up the phone when the incoming call tone rang.
"Hello... I mean, there's a bit of a clue here... Hello..."
He spent ten minutes describing the location and summarizing the events, repeating it over and over. Zheng Tan was tired just from listening.
Zheng Tan roughly estimated that in those ten minutes, the man spent most of his time saying three words— "Hello, hello," followed by "damn."
Wei Leng finally finished explaining the situation and, with a sigh of relief, tossed the phone into his pocket. "Damn, useless little cell phone!"
Looking at Zheng Tan, still squatting in the same spot, Wei Leng nodded. "Come with me. Don't even think about running. Otherwise, I'll corner you at Chuhua University; you live there, don't you? I don't believe you'll never go back."
Zheng Tan: "…" This trip has been a real pain in the ass!
"Just wait here, I'll go get the car." After saying this, Wei Leng ran off with the jar.
Zheng Tan waited there for two or three minutes, then saw the man navigating the rugged pebble path, bumping along on a pink-painted lady's bicycle.
This, dammit, is what this grown man "drove" over here?!