He shook off the water from his body, picked up a pebble to chase away the noisy parrot, and put the key and access card back around his neck on the designated tree. Then, he slid down the tree and jogged towards the Jiao family's building.
Leaping up, he swiped the access card and ran up to the fifth floor.
As it was an old building, many residents kept their gridded security doors. The Jiao family was no exception. However, the lock on their metal gridded security door was broken. Given the high security of the residential buildings and the fact that this was on the fifth floor where not many ventured, it was never fixed; the wooden door was sufficient.
The gridded security door was wide open against the wall, kept that way to avoid blocking passage. Due to its age, the door was covered in rust.
Zheng Tan jumped onto the metal grille, hooked his claws around a grille above near the lock, clung tightly, and then kicked against the wall with his legs. As the grille door swung towards the entrance with Zheng Tan on it, the rusty door hinges squeaked sharply.
Just as Zheng Tan almost reached the lock and was ready to insert the key, the door opened from the inside.
Yi Xin had borrowed Professor Jiao's computer to write his thesis till almost dawn the night before and had only gone to sleep on the couch when his bladder woke him up. After using the restroom, he had just lain down when he heard noises at the door and sprang up. Without even time to put on his shoes, he ran to the door to open it. Boss Jiao had told him that the gridded door would make a sound when his cat returned.
Yi Xin had never understood the connection between the Jiao family cat coming home and the gridded door making noise, but as he opened the door, he understood and was stunned. In front of him, a black cat was using its legs and fur-covered paws to hook onto the metal bars of the grille, with a key in its mouth, moving toward the lock as the door hinges creaked.
Zheng Tan clearly hadn't expected someone to be at home either and looked somewhat familiar.
Zheng Tan was trying to recall who this person was, while Yi Xin was in a daze. For a moment, the man and cat just stared at each other.
In the end, Zheng Tan was the first to remember the identity of the person in front of him. When he had been secretly brought to Mr. Jiao's office by Jiao Yuan, Mr. Jiao had mentioned Yi Xin. At the time, Yi Xin had been with undergraduates conducting an experiment, heading towards the communal lab with a few graduate students carrying samples as Mr. Jiao pointed him out from the window.
Now that he confirmed the identity of the person in front of him, Zheng Tan didn't interfere further. Anyone who could enter had to have Mr. Jiao's approval, and those approved by Mr. Jiao were surely trustworthy.
Zheng Tan leapt down from the grille and made a beeline for the couch.
To make sleeping more comfortable, the snacks piled on the sofa had all been moved to a chair by Yi Xin.
Zheng Tan eyed the relocated snacks and counted them. None were missing, which pleased him.
Still standing in his original spot in a daze, Yi Xin, although he had snapped out of his astonishment from the incident at the door, was now shocked again by the scene at the chair. When he had called Boss Jiao the day before, Boss Jiao had told him not to eat any of the snacks on the sofa and to eat those stored in the second compartment of the fridge if he wanted any, but not to touch those on the sofa.
At the time of the phone call, Yi Xin didn't understand, but now he did. Just now, the cat had been staring at the snacks on the chair and nodding its chin, which was actually it counting and checking, right?!
Zheng Tan paid no attention to the dazed Yi Xin; he was very hungry, tore open the plastic wrapping of the pudding, and started eating.
Yi Xin watched the black cat lying on the sofa, hugging and eating the pudding, his face twitching. Then he stepped into the bedroom to call Boss Jiao.
Zheng Tan pricked up his ears to listen to the phone call from the bedroom.
Yi Xin said "Oh, oh" twice into the phone and then turned on the speakerphone. Mr. Jiao's voice came through, "Heitan, make a sound."
Zheng Tan looked up: "Woof—"
Yi Xin: "..." That sounded a bit unusual.
"Sounds like you're in good spirits," Mr. Jiao said and then asked Yi Xin to turn off the speakerphone, as he had some other instructions for him.
Yi Xin held the phone and respectfully responded, but his expression was one of resignation. After finishing, he hung up, went into the kitchen to boil water, and brought out a white plastic tub, washing it.
Before his postgraduate studies, Yi Xin heard that when choosing a supervisor, it was best to pick one whose kids were grown and who didn't have pets, to avoid the obligations of babysitting children and pets. Back then, Yi Xin thought people were just joking, but now it was his turn. He didn't need to look after children, but this pet...
As he adjusted the water temperature, Yi Xin hoped he wouldn't frequently be sent over to take care of pets in the future. He resolved to ask for a raise once Boss Jiao returned!
When Zheng Tan walked into the bathroom, he checked the water in the tub, touching the outside of the plastic tub with his paw to test the temperature. It was neither too hot nor too cold, just right. Indeed, one involved in research was precise with temperatures. He eyed the special shampoo and the towel stacked on the low stool, and the hairdryer placed nearby. Satisfied, he jumped into the tub, splashed water on his head and then rested his chin on the edge, squinting as he began to soak.
Yi Xin, standing at the doorway, felt a herd of alpacas stampeding through his mind a hundred times over a hundred times. He had seen relatives who owned cats and suffered bloody hands from trying to bathe them; this was his first time seeing a cat squinting in enjoyment of a bath.
Such was surely... the cat of Boss Jiao.
When Zheng Tan felt the water cooling, he prepared to get up and dry off. As he turned his head, he noticed a sesame-seed-sized bug floating on the surface, its legs still twitching.
Against the backdrop of the white plastic tub, the tiny bug was quite conspicuous.
Yi Xin, measuring time in his mind without a thermometer, was puzzled as to why the cat inside hadn't come out yet. He peeked inside and saw the black cat glaring at the plastic bathing tub in a wrathful guardian's pose.
What was the matter this time? Yi Xin replayed Boss Jiao's words in his mind, feeling he hadn't missed anything but still not reassured. Carefully, he stepped forward. Soon, his gaze fell on the insect on the surface of the water. As someone skilled at selecting bacterial colonies, Yi Xin's eye couldn't miss such a small bug.
Damn, a flea!
What to do with a flea?
Kill it!
And then what?
I don't know.
Yi Xin pondered for a moment, then ran to the bedroom and dialed Boss Jiao's number. Five minutes later, Yi Xin approached a cabinet and opened its door. Inside were some household chemical products, including two bottles of insecticide—one a well-known pyrethroid insecticide, and the other nameless. The unnamed one was likely a result of a recent collaborative insecticide research project between the biology and chemical engineering departments. Currently, only a select few insiders had the right to use it.
Following Mr. Jiao's instructions, Yi Xin sprayed some in several places around the room. As for Zheng Tan's part, he changed the water and soaked again.
The most annoying thing was the fleas. There were also fleas in the grass around the residential area, but Zheng Tan often played there without getting infested. Unexpectedly, this time, after traveling afar, he got covered in fleas, definitely from the thick grass in the suburbs.
For every flea Zheng Tan found in the water, he killed it with his claws. Even those that seemed to have already drowned were not spared. After repeating this process for two hours, Zheng Tan finally got out and rolled on a towel.
Yi Xin held a hairdryer and helped dry him off. "Heitan, Professor Jiao said the insecticide is running out and told you... to go ask for some yourself, and get some medicine to apply," he said.
Yi Xin didn't understand why Boss Jiao would say that and only told him to follow the cat when the time came.
Yi Xin shed a silent tear for himself, realizing that taking care of pets was more exhausting than writing a paper.
Once his fur was mostly dry, Zheng Tan shook it off and walked to the door, turning his head to look at Yi Xin.
Remembering Mr. Jiao's words, Yi Xin quickly put down the hairdryer and followed him, grabbed the keys, and opened the door.
Zheng Tan led the way, with Yi Xin following behind.
Yi Xin's mind was filled with doubts, but since he was dealing with a cat, asking questions seemed futile and keeping them to himself was equally uncomfortable.
Zheng Tan descended two floors and stopped in front of an apartment on the third floor.
"Is it here? I'll ask…"
Before Yi Xin could finish psyching himself up, Zheng Tan leaped up and slammed his paw against the grille of the apartment's security door like a volleyball spike.
"Bang!"
Yi Xin's hair nearly stood on end. Although he did not know who lived there, he was well aware that most residents of the East Residential Area were long-standing members, and he could not afford to offend them. His mind ran through a list of names, hoping that none of them would be behind this door!
Zheng Tan didn't care about Yi Xin's anxiety; he pawed at the door two more times, each louder than the last.
After the third knock, someone inside finally responded.
"Coming, coming! Knocking three times, do you think I'm deaf?"
The voice sounded like an old man, and seemed somewhat familiar? Yi Xin grew nervous.
The inner door opened, and the lock on the security gate was released, revealing the stern face of an old man.
Seeing the man, Yi Xin felt a chill run down his spine.
"Professor... Professor Lan, Professor!"
Looking at the grave-faced elder before him, Yi Xin felt the urge to turn and run.
Unfortunately for him, Zheng Tan paid no attention to Yi Xin and strutted right into the apartment, unafraid of the old man—he owed Zheng Tan a favor.
The interior of the apartment was simply arranged, with wet spots still visible on the floor.
Although Zheng Tan had just bathed and been blow-dried, the fur on his paws wasn't completely dry. He had picked up some dust going downstairs, and now he left muddy paw prints on the floor.
"You little bastard! I just cleaned the floor!" Professor Lan cursed.
Zheng Tan flicked his ears without a care and continued inside.
Professor Lan glared at the arrogantly departing figure and then at the paw prints on his freshly cleaned floor. He turned to Yi Xin and said, "You'd better wipe that baseboard later!"
Yi Xin: "…"
Damn it, I hate hosting pets the most, especially cats!