Mr. Xiao Qu lived just below a rather unique household, whose distinctive feature primarily lay in the pet owned by the householder — a blue-purple macaw belonging to a rare species.
This bird, named "General," was among the high and mighty of the parrot world. Its value was equivalent to a 100-square-meter fully furnished house in the center of Chuhua City, and its price was still climbing.
With a high IQ, proficiency in multiple languages, and an eye-catching appearance, not to mention the principle that scarcity drives up value, it would be odd if this devious bird wasn't pricey.
Unlike most of the balconies of the residential building here, the balcony on the fourth floor was entirely enclosed with thick wire mesh. The main concern was to prevent the bird inside from flying out, not for fear of its escape but because of its tendency to bully people and other animals. This fellow looked quite harmless, but it was full of mischievous tricks.
"General" had a nickname, "Cat's Worry," because it particularly enjoyed bullying cats, especially biting their ears. It was said that several cats in the school had been bitten before. Jiao Ma told Zheng Tan these things when he first arrived, urging Zheng Tan to stay alert — to beware of fire, theft, and macaws. One look at the creature's build, and a thought about the macaw's biting force, and it was clear how destructive it could be when angered.
However, after getting familiar with it, Zheng Tan learned that the bird actually picked its targets when bullying cats. The cats from the East Residential Area were fine as long as they didn't provoke it, and it generally wouldn't attack without provocation. But if it spotted a cat from the Western Family District, well, apologies were in order.
Perhaps influenced by its owner, this bird had a particular fondness for singing nostalgic old songs. Zheng Tan had only heard some of these songs in oldies documentary specials, and others he couldn't remember at all. But from the tunes alone, he knew they were quite old, as was the one he had just heard, tracing back to the '80s. And that was the least of it.
What Zheng Tan found most bizarre, though, was a particular talent this bird possessed. If a typical parrot's intelligence was on par with that of a four- or five-year-old child, then this one downstairs might well be comparable to an adult human, and a genius at that.
Why say that?
The bird downstairs was still singing softly. Zheng Tan couldn't help it; he sighed and looked up at the starry sky, then scanned the balcony, found a metal mosquito coil holder, and pushed it to the edge of the railing. Then he extended a paw and gently tapped it.
"Dang ding, dang dang, dang ding dang ding..." [So noisy!]
The singing from below came to an abrupt halt, and the next moment, Zheng Tan heard the sound of wings flapping and the "klank klank" of toes hitting the wire mesh. Clearly, the bird hadn't expected such a noise at this time and was quite excited as it ran to the edge of the wire mesh.
Soon, there was a pecking sound from below as if the bird was pecking at some kind of food packaging box.
"Da di, di di, didadada, di dida..." [You're actually there!]
Nobody would have imagined that in the middle of the night, a cat from Building B, Floor 5, of the East Family Courtyard at Chuhua University, was communicating with a parrot on the fourth floor using Morse code.
Actually, Zheng Tan wasn't particularly skilled in Morse code; he hadn't learned it for very long. The one truly adept at it was Da Pang, the seemingly most inconspicuous and lazy tabby cat.
Every time Da Pang followed him to visit relatives in the military district, or whenever the person from the military district came to see Old Mrs. Zhai, Da Pang would be tested in the use of cipher-related skills, such as Morse code communication and simple fence cipher card games. If Da Pang's performance was subpar, well, tough luck — he'd have to sit quietly in the corner.
This macaw was a devoted enthusiast of ciphers. When Da Pang was home, it would bring cards over to play fence cipher games with him; if it couldn't find Da Pang, it would look for Zheng Tan or its owner to play Morse code communication games. It was just that its owner was usually busy and didn't have much time to entertain it, so Zheng Tan bore the brunt of its mischief more often. Last week, "General" was taken to a natural reserve in another province to play, giving Zheng Tan a few days of relief.
Now that he discovered the creature had returned, Zheng Tan's mood plummeted.
[I heard Ah Huang was castrated? I saw it was even wearing an Elizabethan collar today.] "General" was still excited about finding a chat buddy in the middle of the night, without the slightest sympathy for Ah Huang.
I haven't seen it for days] Zheng Tan continued to tap on the mosquito coil holder.
Ah, such is the fate of you pet cats, truly pitiful. In the future, the East District Four Scoundrels might just become the East District Four Eunuchs.
Not every pet cat undergoes that surgery.
Stop deluding yourself and the cats.
Beat it, I'm done with you.
Don't leave! Let's chat some more, aren't cats nocturnal creatures?
It's none of your business, I'm going to sleep. And another thing, can't you sing something more fashionable?
Half a minute later, a subdued singing voice rose again from below.
"You're just like that~ flame! A blazing flame~ warming me up.~~"
Zheng Tan: "..." How I wish I could strangle you!
No longer paying attention to that overly energetic bird, Zheng Tan went back to the chair in the living room, bent his front paws over his ears, and closed his eyes to sleep.
The next morning, Mr. Xiao Qu was awakened by a loud cat's yowl from Zheng Tan, and he struggled to get up. Still in his SpongeBob pajamas, he opened the front door to let Zheng Tan out.
In reality, Zheng Tan could open the door himself, but since this wasn't his own home, he needed to be more reserved. Besides, Zheng Tan also wanted to give Mr. Xiao Qu some trouble and prevent him from sleeping soundly.
Mr. Xiao Qu, yawning and barely keeping his eyes open, opened the door to find the Jiao family's door already ajar. Hearing the noise over here, those in the Jiao family who were having breakfast gathered at the doorway.
Rubbing his eyes, Mr. Xiao Qu smiled and said, "Good morning!"
Zheng Tan headed straight for the dining table, while Jiao Ma had already gone into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for him.
Outside the door, Qu used tongs to clamp out the mouse from last night. Mr. Jiao looked and commented, "You used a tad too much force, but overall, it's not bad."
Zheng Tan tugged at his ear as if he hadn't heard and continued eating breakfast.
Jiao Ma also served Qu a bowl of vegetable porridge, inviting him to join, since it was unlikely that Qu would go buy breakfast or make it himself at this time. At the dining table, as Qu sipped the porridge, he described the mouse-catching scene from the previous night, exciting the Jiao family, particularly Jiao Ma, who talked about it to everyone she met outside.
By noon, Ah Huang was brought over by his owner, no longer wearing the Elizabethan collar.
Having not seen Ah Huang for several days, Zheng Tan noticed he had slimmed down quite a bit and appeared lethargic—something he had never seen before.
Next to them, Jiao Ma was chatting with Ah Huang's owner.
"Ms. Ling, is Ah Huang like this because he hasn't recovered from the surgery?" Jiao Ma asked worriedly.
"It shouldn't be the case. I've seen other cats who had the same surgery and they were lively the next day. However, after having the surgery, he has indeed changed a lot and no longer urinates everywhere like before."
Zheng Tan walked into Jiao Yuan's room and rolled out a large glass bead.
Hearing the sound of the glass bead rolling, Ah Huang's ears twitched, and he looked over in that direction.
Seeing there was a reaction was good. Zheng Tan had thought the surgery might have shocked him into stupidity. He bent his paw and flicked the glass bead towards where Ah Huang was lying down.
Ah Huang, listless on the ground, hooked the glass bead with his claws.
Five minutes later.
Zheng Tan watched Ah Huang in the living room playing energetically with the glass bead and was deeply moved. This clearly wasn't a cat that had taken a hit; it was just bored from being cooped up at home!
At last, on Jiao Ma's suggestion, Ah Huang was allowed to go out for a walk.
Once outside, Ah Huang reverted to his energetic self, excitedly running and howling as soon as he left the building.
"Meow-wow-wow—Meow-wow—Meow-wow—"
On the fifth floor, two women standing on the balcony were puzzled. Wasn't it said that cats wouldn't call out like this after surgery?
Knowing Ah Huang well, Zheng Tan understood that the fellow was just venting his frustration from being forced to wear the Elizabethan collar at home over the past few days and was also calling out to his buddies, nothing more.
When they reached the corner, they encountered Old Mrs. Zhai from the same building on the third floor, whom Zheng Tan and several other cats knew.
"Ah Huang?" Old Mrs. Zhai called out.
Hearing his name as he was howling with his tail held high, Ah Huang suddenly stopped, then squinted over and delicately responded with a "meow~"
Zheng Tan: "..."
The contrast felt like seeing a brawny lady cursing in the streets suddenly transformed into a delicate young woman.
Continuing to trot through the familiar woods, Ah Huang led them to a small forest next to the residential area. Da Pang and the sheriff, summoned by Ah Huang's cries, were already there.
Da Pang still had the look of someone who hadn't fully woken up, his eyelids half-drooping. As for the sheriff, he was chewing something in his mouth—probably some kind of insect.
The four cats walked a bit deeper into the forest. Zheng Tan twitched his ears as he sensed someone else was there.
Looking up, he caught sight of a patch of blue on a tree ahead.
It was the "General." The yellow crescent-shaped mark at the beak always gave Zheng Tan the impression that he was smirking.
After Ah Huang looked up and saw the "General," he opened his mouth and called out, "Meow-woo—"
Upon hearing the sound, the "General" in the tree glanced at the four cats below with those yellow-ringed eyes, and then lifted the one paw without a location ring to its beak: "Shush—"
Zheng Tan: "..."
What the heck is he sneaking a peek at now?