Strange Life of a Cat

Zheng Tan had the child’s mother to thank for knowing the side effects of these pills.

He had heard the conversation between Papa and Mama Jiao clearly and knew this was the brand of diet pills Cousin Hong was taking.

He couldn’t throw the pill capsule inside the teapot, so he found a piece of paper and hid under the bed to break apart the capsules. He needed the powder inside.

Paws were not the best tools to achieve this purpose. However, he made do. He was growing used to using his paws and breaking apart capsules was not that difficult.

He then dumped all the powder into the teapot. He added some to the teacups as well. He didn’t know what kind of tea was being brewed here and could only hope it didn’t change the effect of the pills.

He heard a noise around the stairs and quickly hid under the bed.

He didn’t know if the side effects Papa Jiao talked about would actually occur in this instance, however, he could only try.

It was the middle-aged woman again. Zheng Tan was curious, she was in her forties but was nowhere near fat. Why was she taking diet pills? He saw a box earlier in the drawer that had a lot of jewelry inside. It fine to like these things, but in her case all this gold was probably bought with money earned by trafficking children.

People generally think of women as sensitive and kind. She was a woman and should at least have some maternal instincts when facing children. What was she thinking when she stole those babies?

Maomao and the two other poor kids were only a few of the many children they had sold. Zheng Tan didn’t know how long they had been in the business, but they seemed quite familiar with it.

Zheng Tan never thought of himself as a nice person, but now as a cat, he was finally exposed to the lowest of the low.

As he was thinking, the woman sat down on the bed and started drinking her tea.

She frowned. The tea tasted funny and it had turned cold. She opened the window and poured the tea out. She then poured herself another cup. It still tasted different. However, the pedicab driver was telling her to make lunch so she drank her tea and went downstairs.

Zheng Tan could see her, but could roughly guess what she was doing by the sounds. He heard her drink the tea and took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure how much she drank and if the amount was enough to cause the side effects Papa Jiao was talking about.

It would be enough if she was weakened. Or else, he would have to look for opportunities to deal with them one by one.

Not long after, the smell of food drifted up from the kitchen. Zheng Tan was hungry, but he had gotten himself into this situation and had no choice but to endure the torture.

He thought about his next step. He didn’t really have a plan, to be honest. He was just improvising as he went along. He knew little about this group and would have to avoid exposing himself. What should he do?

It was lunch time but the elder of the group did not go downstairs to join the others for the meal. The woman brought him his food, which led Zheng Tan to suspect the man might not be able to move easily. This would be to his advantage.

It was noon. He wondered what was going on back home. What would Papa Jiao do after they realized he was gone? He remembered Grandma Jiao calling after him as he ran towards the pedicab.

Would he get into trouble when he returned?

After lunch, the group hid in the sound-proofed room to discuss something. The woman went straight to bed after she came out. Zheng Tan heard her talk with the pedicab driver about some plan for tonight.

Were they planning to transfer the baby tonight? Were they taking him out of the province to a buyer? Zheng Tan could hear the clock ticking.

The pedicab driver came into the room. He was purchasing bus tickets and came to ask if the woman needed anything. He called out her name at the door but she didn’t respond.

Zheng Tan twitched his ears. He listened to the woman’s breathing.

Were the pills working?

The pedicab driver pushed open the door after the woman didn’t respond, only to find her twitching on the bed. Her face was a purple color and she seemed to have difficulty breathing.

“Hey! What’s wrong? What happened?” the driver asked after he came to the side of the bed. Still, there was no response. The woman was running a high fever and her symptoms were scaring the driver. He ran to the old man’s room and banged on the closed door.

“Uncle Hook, open the door! We have a problem!”

The old man opened the door. He sounded nervous, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

The driver pointed to the woman on the bed, “She’s sick. Uncle, is she having a seizure?”

The old man calmed down. As long as the police weren’t here, he had no reason to worry.

“F*ck! Always a problem during critical times!” the old man swore.

“Uncle Hook, do you have medicine? We can’t just leave her like this. We already have everything planned for tonight and we need her. If I travel with those babies by myself, the police will catch me the moment I get off the bus. You said we can’t give the babies sleeping pills or else they won’t sell for a good price. She knows how to deal with babies, I really don’t!” the pedicab driver hurriedly said.

The old man spat and swore again. He told the driver to take her to a clinic nearby.

“The clinic is closed. The owner is out house hunting. I passed by the clinic on my way back today, it was closed with no one inside.”

“Then take her to a nearby hospital. Remember to try and avoid being seen.”

“I know, I know. She has makeup on today and the amusement park is far away. No one will recognize us.”

Zheng Tan watched the driver take the woman downstairs, then heard the sound of an engine starting. He let out a long sigh. Now, with only the old man in the house, he could start moving. The old man seemed to always stay in that room. How could he lure him out?

Zheng Tan check out the area downstairs. There was little furniture. The motorcycle Zheng Tan had seen at the amusement park was parked in here. There was a smaller room that was probably the driver’s bedroom. Besides being messy, the room seemed perfectly normal.

All the windows on the first floor had antitheft screens which forced Zheng Tan to give up his plan to escape through the window. He considered it then opened the front door. Even if thieves stole from stuff in the house, it wouldn’t harm Zheng Tan. In fact, he couldn’t wait for someone to come inside and discover the group’s secret.

Zheng Tan went back upstairs.

Zheng Tan went back into the woman’s room. He threw the teacup towards the window with all his might.

Bang!

The window broke, so did the teacup.

The group was cautious so their neighbors probably had no idea they were trafficking children. Zheng Tan decided to rely on outside forces since there was nothing he could do.

He looked for things he could fling at the window.

The teapot, kick if off the table!

The table, knock it over!

He pulled out all the drawers and threw the contents on the floor, including the woman’s jewelry.

The noise attracted most of the people living in the area. Some saw the door was opened and called out for the owner of the house, but there was no response. They decided against entering the house. Many families were bickering over the compensation they got from the government, fights sometimes occurred as well. No one knew the residents of this house and all decided to stay out of any possible trouble.

The old man heard the noise outside. He opened the curtains to peer outside. He hesitated but did not open the door. He called his accomplices but neither answered their phone. He could feel a storm gathering. He paced around the room and lit a cigarette. A knife lay on the table.

If the invader was only a thief, he had nothing to worry about. He just hoped it wasn’t the police. It didn’t matter if some of the stuff outside was stolen. He could make back the money very quickly.

He sat for a moment but was still nervous. He picked up a plastic bottle of Chinese wine laying on the floor. He twisted open the lid and took a few sips. With some Dutch courage, the menace in his eyes was more pronounced. Though his leg was hurt, his mind was sharper than ever.

The small room was now filled with smoke. The baby in the cradle was squirming. The effect of sleeping pills was wearing off and the baby was waking up.

Zheng Tan was fuming outside. The old man was determined to stay inside that room and the people outside were showing no signs of coming inside either. He looked at the mess he made and then at the closed door across the hall.

If the old man wasn’t coming out, he would have to break inside! The pedicab driver could be back any moment.

If the old man didn’t open the door after all the noise he made, he was unlikely going to open the door if Zheng Tan knocked. He examined the door. He could probably kick it open.

No time for hesitation.

Zheng Tan backed up several steps then took a deep breath, he accelerated, jumped up and kicked the door lock as hard as he could.

He had planned to kick the door open with three kicks, however, the door opened immediately.

With alcohol in his veins and a knife in his hand, the old man had gotten up to check what was going on outside. Just when he was about to turn the doorknob, the door flew open and hit it right on the head.

Zheng Tan heard a bang. He cautiously peered inside and saw the old man was lying on the floor. Blood was gushing out of a wound on his head. He knocked over the bottle of Chinese wine when he fell, and the 60-proof alcohol flowed onto the floor. The still burning cigarette the old man had thrown onto the floor lit the alcohol and flames erupted.