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Mr. Jiao was a man of action. After deciding to ask Wei Leng for help, he called Wei Leng right after lunch. The timing was convenient because it was not during work hours.
Because of Zheng Tan, Mr. Jiao would sometimes chat with Wei Leng when they ran into each other. Their conversations weren't extensive, mostly centered around Zheng Tan. Aside from discussions about Zheng Tan, it seemed they also talked about other matters. Zheng Tan wasn't too clear on the details; he only knew they were about Wei Leng's future career plans.
Wei Leng had switched from using a pager to a mobile phone, so Zheng Tan no longer had to hear Wei Leng blurt out "Hello Hello Heck" every time he answered the phone.
As expected, Wei Leng agreed to come by and watch the two children that evening. He wasn't free during the day, but he was relatively available at night.
The children stayed at the hospital until after two in the afternoon. Aunt Ling came by once; she had made soup today and brought some over, so it could just be heated up in the microwave later. Also, Aunt Ling expressed a desire to have the two kids over for dinner at her house, sparing them from eating hospital boxed meals continuously. She would deliver them back home afterward.
Of course, Mr. Jiao and Jiao Ma agreed without refusing Aunt Ling's kindness.
However, after following them back to the school, Zheng Tan separated from Jiao Yuan and the others. He didn't want to go to Aunt Ling's house, where she had a little kid from her relative's family. Zheng Tan had seen that little brat grabbing Ah Huang's tail the last time. That same line repeated in his mind: clueless kids are the natural enemies of all pets.
Zheng Tan would rather eat biscuits than go to Aunt Ling's house and have his tail grabbed by a child. He couldn't be sure he wouldn't swipe with his claws if his tail was grabbed.
Standing in front of the gate to the East Family Courtyard, Zheng Tan thought it over. With nothing pressing to do for the moment, he might as well go and check on Wei Leng and then come with him later. Zheng Tan was also considering how to tell Wei Leng about that matter.
The apartments where Wei Leng rented were privately owned homes that had been converted into apartment-style housing, leased to students and young working people who had recently entered society and didn't have much financial stability. The surrounding management was rather chaotic; even if stuff got stolen, calling the police was useless. These incidents were numerous, and investigations rarely led anywhere. The one benefit was the cheap rent, which is why there were always many tenants.
Zheng Tan didn't often wander around the area where Wei Leng's rented place was; it was too crowded and troublesome. People always tried to entice Zheng Tan with string or furry toys after seeing him, oblivious that Zheng Tan was actually giving them the evil eye.
Zheng Tan arrived at the housing area around three in the afternoon. Not many people were coming and going at that time: those with jobs were at work, students were at school, and the idle were taking naps. There were quite a few stray cats around; even the landlord owned one. Cats were a common sight here, so nobody paid much attention to a black cat entering the building.
No sooner had Zheng Tan arrived on Wei Leng's floor than he heard a loud "bam." Preparing to head down the corridor, Zheng Tan stopped in his tracks and hid around the corner of the staircase to look toward the source of the noise.
A young man was curled up on the ground, clutching his stomach and groaning in pain. Wei Leng appeared, leisurely walking out with a just-peeled apple in one hand and a fruit knife in the other. He squatted down in front of the guy and patted the man's face with the knife that was still sticky with apple juice.
"You had your eye on my brand new phone, huh? Pretty bold of you to try stealing it while I was taking a nap. Do you think I'm an easy target, or just plain stupid?"
Wei Leng's tone was now completely rogue-like. The man tried to get up but was stopped by the knife Wei Leng placed across his throat.
The man attempted to speak, but Wei Leng pressed the knife down slightly.
"I don't want to hear your crap," Wei Leng said as he casually tossed the finished apple down the stairs.
Zheng Tan: "..."
Although the management around here was chaotic, that didn't mean you should just litter. Zheng Tan remembered how Jiao Yuan was fined 1 yuan from his pocket money by Jiao Ma last week for littering with a used piece of tape.
However, the next moment, Zheng Tan's ears twitched; the sound wasn't like an apple hitting the concrete directly. The ground below was cement, and it shouldn't have been the noise he just heard.
Despite his curiosity, Zheng Tan didn't immediately run to the railing to look. His main focus remained on what was happening with Wei Leng.
Looking over again, Wei Leng's knife-wielding hand remained as it was, but his other hand had begun rifling through the man's pockets.
Soon, Wei Leng pulled out a wallet. It had no ID cards or the like, but it did contain 1,000 yuan. Wei Leng took out the 1,000 yuan with a look of disdain and stuffed it into his own pocket before putting the wallet back.
Besides the wallet, there were also some lock-picking tools. Wei Leng's expression of disgust deepened, but he still placed them at his feet.
Then, Wei Leng pulled out a small white plastic bottle. He opened the cap, revealing some medicine inside, also stuffed with cotton.
Zheng Tan had heard from Mr. Jiao that if a new bottle of medicine came with cotton inside, it should be thrown away quickly after opening. Cotton placed in a medicine bottle at the factory helps to prevent pills from colliding with each other during transport, providing stabilization and absorbing moisture from the air to keep the tablets from getting damp. However, if the cotton isn't discarded after opening, it will continue to absorb moisture, potentially causing the pills to spoil from the dampness.
Whether the man lying on the ground knew to discard the cotton to prevent moisture from spoiling the bottle's contents, Zheng Tan wasn't sure. But he felt it was more likely the man kept the cotton in the bottle to prevent noise from the pills hitting the sides when moving around during a theft. Considering the amount of cotton Wei Leng pulled out, if it had been there from the start, it seemed excessive. Additionally, the half-torn label on the bottle indicated the medicine had been purchased some time ago. Not all medicine required cotton, so Zheng Tan was more inclined to believe his own guess.
Wei Leng looked at the pills inside the bottle, tapped the man with the flat of the blade, and said, "Looks like you've used this quite a few times already, and made quite a profit, haven't you?"
"No... don't understand what you're... talking about..." the man struggled to argue, "It's just... my own... motion sickness medicine."
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"Do you think my brain is filled with chives?" Wei Leng stood up and kicked the man again.
The person on the ground continued to curl up like a shrimp.
Wei Leng had noticed Zheng Tan in the area, so he didn't continue playing around with the man on the ground. He forced out three pills and made the man swallow them, "Welcome to come back next time, but remember to bring more money. This amount is peanuts!"
The man who had been fed the pills didn't even care about the pain from the kicks as he scrambled up and rushed out, not noticing Zheng Tan standing by the stairs. Of course, the stairs were quite dark and Zheng Tan was also dark, so it was normal that he wasn't noticed.
Actually, Wei Leng's morals weren't exactly straight either. This was Zheng Tan's understanding since he had known Wei Leng.
Wei Leng could have easily taken the thief to the station or called the police, but he acted solely based on his whims and mood. This time, he probably didn't bother with the thief because it was too much hassle and a waste of his time. The thief got lucky this time.
When Zheng Tan entered the room, Wei Leng was sitting on the bed, putting the 1,000 yuan he had just extorted into his wallet. A small white plastic bottle was on the bedside table, next to it was a glass of orange juice.
Seeing Zheng Tan looking at the bottle, Wei Leng waved him over, and Zheng Tan jumped onto a chair nearby.
Wei Leng thought it was still too far away and dragged the chair next to the bedside table.
Zheng Tan just squatted on the chair and let him drag it, too lazy to jump down.
"You saw what just happened, didn't you?" Without waiting for Zheng Tan's response, Wei Leng pointed at the small white bottle and continued, "This thing is indeed motion sickness medicine, but that kid also used it to commit crimes."
Wei Leng pointed to the remaining label on the bottle, which said "Take 1 pill at a time." Only a little bit of the medicine's name was visible, and Zheng Tan didn't know what it was.
"Most motion sickness medicine makes you sleepy after taking it, but too much can cause adverse reactions like somnolence, headaches, disorientation, and even hallucinations and consciousness disorders. People are clever nowadays. Buying sleeping pills will get you noticed by the pharmacy staff, but lots of people buy motion sickness medicine without attracting attention, plus if you're caught with motion sickness medicine, you can deny the drug-related charges. Sometimes, motion sickness medicine can be a lethal weapon."
After a pause, Wei Leng stood up and poured the orange juice down the sink. It had been tampered with the medicine, "Be more cautious in the future with things given by strangers."
Wei Leng also told Zheng Tan about some medicines to watch out for or certain keywords like barbiturates, scopolamine, etc.
Medicine can cure or kill. Even a slight overdose can be problematic for humans, let alone for a cat.
After casually buying some food nearby, Wei Leng and Zheng Tan left the house. When going downstairs, Zheng Tan paid extra attention and saw the apple core Wei Leng had thrown sitting inside a plastic trash can.
Coincidence? Or was it just Wei Leng's good aim?
Wei Leng had bought a new motorcycle that was usually parked in the Family Courtyard shed when not in use, as the place where he lived was too chaotic. It was relatively safer in the courtyard. The Gatekeeper Uncle knew Wei Leng and would help keep an eye on it.
Not long after Zheng Tan and Wei Leng returned to the Jiao family, Jiao Yuan and Gu Youzi came back, brought over by Aunt Ling.
While Aunt Ling was greeting Wei Leng, Qu Xiangyang also opened his door, and the three of them started chatting. Aunt Ling had seen Wei Leng once and vaguely remembered him, while this was Qu Xiangyang's first time meeting Wei Leng.
"We feel relieved with you here!" Qu Xiangyang said.
"Qu, those scratches on your door, they're from a cat's claws, right?" Aunt Ling asked.
"Exactly! I don't even know when it got scratched. Is Heitan taking his anger out on my door? Those claw marks were deep; I had no idea Heitan's claws were that sharp," Qu Xiangyang lamented.
"Of course! 'To do good work, one must first sharpen one's tools.' To be a cat, you must have the consciousness of a cat. How can you do anything with dull claws?" Wei Leng said. Then, he turned to look at Zheng Tan lying on the couch, "Am I right?"
Zheng Tan twitched his ear but ignored them.
"Why don't you replace your door later? Next time get a steel one," Aunt Ling joked.
"I'm not changing the door. With cat claw marks on it, perhaps the mice won't dare to come? I'll leave it here to scare them off."
At night, Wei Leng boiled water for a bath, waiting for the two kids to finish bathing and get into bed before he sat down at Mr. Jiao's desk to look at the documents he had brought over and use Mr. Jiao's computer to do some research. Mr. Jiao had agreed to this, and Jiao Yuan and the others wouldn't say anything. However, Wei Leng closed the door, and Zheng Tan didn't know what documents he was actually looking at.
It seemed like there wouldn't be a chance to tell Wei Leng about that matter for the time being. After thinking it over, Zheng Tan decided to go to sleep first, to ponder how to tell Wei Leng, leaving the rest for tomorrow.