The inhabitants of the apartment below Qu’s place stood out because of their pet. They owned a parrot and not just any plain parrot. It was a very rare blue and purple macaw.
This bird was named "General", and it was the rich and handsome of the parrot world. The price of such a pet was enough to cover a 100 square meter apartment in downtown Chuhua and was still rising.
He was smart, had the ability to learn several languages, not to mention, very eye-catching. Combine that with the fact its species was near extinct, it was no wonder that the bird was expensive.
Unlike most people living in the building, the fourth floor residents had thick wires all around their balcony in order to keep it from getting out. Not that they were afraid he would fly away, but rather, he might cause trouble for other animals or even people. The bird seemed harmless, but in truth, he was a wicked bastard.
General had a nickname; he was known as “the cat bully". The name was self-explanatory. General loved tormenting cats, especially nipping at their ears. Quite a few strays in the school were made victims.
Papa Jiao mentioned these stories a lot when Zheng Tan first got here. They were meant as cautionary tales to make sure he understood to be careful of fire, careful of theft and careful of parrot.
Just looking at his size and thinking about the power of a macaw’s bite, it was easy to imagine how deadly he could be when he was infuriated.
However, Zheng Tan later found out General picked his victims. The eastern quarters cats were fine as long as they don’t initiate a fight. But a western quarters cat was not that lucky.
Influenced by his owner, the bird especially liked to sing old songs. There were some songs on his repertoire that Zheng Tan knew only from documentaries about the past. For others, he had no idea what they were, just that they were old. The song he was singing earlier, which dated back to the eighties, was one of the newer works he liked.
What amazed Zheng Tan the most was that while most parrots might had the intelligence of a four or five year old, General was the brain equivalent of a grown-up human being.
Downstairs, the parrot was still humming. Zheng Tan lost his patience. He looked up at the stars and sighed before looking around the balcony and finding a mosquito coil holder. He nudged it close to the railing and tapped on it with his claws.
"Clang clank, clang clang, clang clank clang clank ... ..." That meant ‘you’re too noisy’.
The singing stopped abruptly. Immediately, Zheng Tan heard the sound of wings fluttering and nails hitting the wires. The parrot didn’t expect to hear such noises at this time of the day; he was excited. Soon came the sound of the bird pecking on some box.
"Tack Tick, Tick Tick, Tick Tack Tack Tack, Tick Tick Tack ... ..." That meant ‘you’re up’!
Who would have known that at this hour, in building B of the Eastern residential quarters, a cat on the fifth floor and a parrot on the fourth were communicating in Morse code.
Zheng Tan didn’t know Morse code that well. In fact, he hadn’t learned until recently. The master of the language was the plain looking Fatty.
His owner in the military would test him on all sorts of code games whenever he saw Fatty. Just the easier ones, like Morse code or Rail Fence Ciphers and basic card games. If Fatty didn’t do well, the instant noodles would be waiting.
General was a big fan of puzzle games. When Fatty was home, he would always carry cards over in his beak to engage in some friendly games. When he couldn’t find Fatty, he would chat in Morse code with his owner or Zheng Tan. However, his owner was usually busy, so Zheng Tan typically drew the short straw. Last week,General was brought to a nature reserve, much to Zheng Tan’s relief.
Now realizing the guy was back, Zheng Tan was starting to feel depressed.
[I heard that Tiger was neutered? I saw him today with the cone of shame] General was to psyched to find someone to chat with at midnight to really feel sympathy.
[I have not seen him for days] Zheng Tan continued to knock out messages on the mosquito coil holder.
[Alas, such is the fate of you pet cats. How sad. To think that the Eastern quarter four musketeers is going to become the Eastern quarter four eunuchs.]
[Not every cat undergoes that surgery.]
[Stop lying to yourself.]
[What’s it got to do with you? I’m leaving.]
[Don’t go. Let’s chat. Aren’t cats nocturnal?]
[That’s none of your business. I’m going to bed and can’t you sing something newer?]
Half a minute later, the singing resumed.
"You are like ~ a fire! Your flames ~ warming me. ~ ~"
Zheng Tan was speechless. One of these days, he was going to strangle the thing.
Ignoring the hyperactive bird, Zheng Tan curled up in a ball on the living room chair and hid his ears under his paws.
Early next morning, Qu was awakened by a loud and screeching meow. He mustered up some energy and climbed out of bed in his SpongeBob pajamas to let Zheng Tan out.
He knew how to open doors by himself, but this was someone else’s place, and he wanted to be careful. Besides, he decided to give Qu a hard time. The guy was not sleeping in if he could help it.
Qu yawned and opened his front door, only to find the Jiao family had theirs open as well. Apparently, they heard the noise too. The who family was gathering towards the hallway.
He rubbed his eyes and greeted them semi-cheerfully.
Zheng Tan went straight over to the breakfast table. Mama Jiao had already set out his food. Outside, Qu was showing Papa Jiao the dead mouse. “Not bad.” Papa Jiao nodded,” a bit too much force, but not bad at all.”
Zheng Tan pretended not to hear him and focused on his breakfast.
Mama Jiao invited Qu in for some vegetable congee, while he recounted last night’s events in excruciating detail to the great enthusiasm of the whole family. Mama Jiao was especially proud. She managed to mention it to everyone she met that day.
At noon, Tiger was brought over by his owner. The cone of shame was already gone.
Tiger seemed to have lost some weight and was looking a bit weary. In all the time Zheng Tan had known him, he’d never seen him like this.
Mama Jiao chatted with his owner.
"Ling, has Tiger not recovered from surgery?" She sounded worried.
"I don’t think so. Other cats that got the procedure were back to normal the very next day. He did behave better after the surgery though. At least he doesn’t pee everywhere anymore.”
Zheng Tan went into Jiao Yuan’s room and rolled out a giant glass marble.
Tiger’s ears twitched at the sound of the marble rolling. He looked up.
Well, at least that got a reaction. Zheng Tan was worried the surgery was too much for Tiger and that he had just lost it. He rolled the marble across the floor to Tiger.
The yellow cat lying listlessly on the floor caught it with his paw.
Five minutes later, it was business as usual for Tiger.
Zheng Tan looked at him running around the house playing with a glass ball and felt exasperated. The idiot was not devastated; he was just bored from being kept indoors.
Finally, under Mama Jiao’s suggestion, Zheng Tan and Tiger were let out to play.
Tiger was so excited, he ran down the hallway, half meowing, half howling.
The two women standing on the balcony were perplexed. Cats supposedly became mellow after being neutered.
Knowing Tiger, Zheng Tan understood that he was just being excited to be free from the cone of shame and be out of the house. At the same time, he was calling out to his buddies.
They turned a corner and came face to face with the elderly Mrs. Di from third floor. All the cats knew her.
"Could this be…Tiger!" Zhai old lady cried.
Hearing his name, the howling maniac suddenly stopped. He squinted and sat down. Tilting his head towards her and letting out a very soft, very dainty meow.
Zheng Tan swore it was like watching Arnold Schwarzenegger suddenly turn into Marilyn Monroe.
Along the familiar path they trotted forward, until they came to the edge of the woods near the residential quarters. There, waiting for them, were Fatty and Sheriff, summoned by Tiger’s meowing.
Fatty seemed only half awake, while Sheriff was chewing something. An insect, perhaps.
The four cats walked together into the woods. Suddenly, Zheng Tan’s ears twitched. He heard something; they had company.
Sure enough, looking up, there was the familiar flash of blue. It was General with his curved yellow beak somewhat akin to a naughty grin.
Tiger saw General too and greeted him with another meow.
The parrot looked down. His yellow rimmed eyes gave the four cats a once-over before he raised the foot without the GPS tracking device and told them to shush.
Zheng Tan was once again left speechless.
What was he up to, and what was he looking at?