Strange Life of a Cat

He needed to plan out how to get a car.

Zheng Tan’s life went on as usual. He spent time with the other eastern quarter cats, went on long walks, and went to the Night Tower once in a while with Wei Ling.

Fang Shaokang visited twice. Both time, Tong Qing drove him. He didn’t stay very long either time and was only checking up on him.

Though Fang didn’t stay for long on his visits, he heard from him that Yuan Zhiyi’s company managed to land Liu as a client. He also learned that Liu’s son now had a new hobby. He loved teasing Bun with his model cars. Bun had a new hobby too, which was chasing model cars. Whenever Liu Yao played with his toy cars, Bun chased after them. This time, there wasn’t a cat there to slap him.

Liu had asked Fang to bring Zheng Tan over to his place sometime. Unfortunately, Fang Shaokang had been busy. He did mention this to Papa Jiao just in case he needed to take the cat to Liu‘s place sometime in the future.

It was November. The temperature was not yet cold in Chuhua. The weather had been good these few days, and Zheng Tan spent a lot of his time outdoors.

One afternoon, Zheng Tan left the eastern quarters and started walking along a trail leading to a group of old houses. It was said the school was planning some construction in the area, but Zheng Tan still hadn’t seen any signs of it.

Birds were roaming the area. Some flew away the moment Zheng Tan appeared. Others stayed put but kept an eye on the cat.

Zheng Tan didn’t bother trying to catch the birds. Tiger and Sheriff were into bird hunting. Fatty, on the other hand, preferred anything over moving.

Fatty’s owner seemed worried about his weight now. Every time she went on a walk, she brought Fatty along with her. However, she couldn’t walk that fast; Fatty didn’t get any exercise. People tried to tease him, but he either didn’t move or jumped onto a tree to sleep.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the roof of a building and started searching for a good place to sun bathe. He noticed quite a few cats resting on the roofs around here. Some noticed him but decided he wasn’t a threat.

These cats all looked lazy, but could all react the moment danger appeared. For instance, when they heard footsteps, the cats immediately sat up. Humans didn’t frequent the area.

Cats that were far away from the source of the noise looked up but quickly yawned and went back to sleep.

Zheng Tan was close to the trail and heard the footsteps as well. The footsteps were somewhat familiar. He looked down.

He was surprised to see Jiao Wei of all people.

Today was Monday, and Jiao Wei had class Monday afternoon.

Zheng Tan knew this because once he ran into Jiao Wei and his roommates at Jiao Wei’s family’s restaurant. They were talking about how they had class all Monday. Most of the classes were core courses as well.

Jiao Wei was not someone who skipped class, so why was he here? Zheng Tan remembered how Jiao Wei spent all his free time at the library or attending second-year courses.

Was class canceled today?

Even if classes were canceled, Jiao Wei would either help out at the restaurant or study at the library. Why was he here? He looked in a hurry too.

Zheng Tan was curious. He didn’t have anything to do at the moment, so he jumped off the roof and followed Jiao Wei. He didn’t take the trail to avoid being seen by Jiao Wei.

The area was quiet, so Jiao Wei’s footsteps were very noticeable.

Soon, however, Zheng Tan heard other noises. The noises grew louder and louder as he seemed to be heading toward the source. The noises were coming from above.

When he looked up, he noticed Jiao Wei had stopped. To avoid being caught, he immediately hid in a bush.

A few birds were pecking around when Zheng Tan suddenly appeared. The birds took off in a rush. Just when the birds flew into the air, an object flew this way and narrowly missed the flock of birds. It had managed to change course in time.

Zheng Tan noticed it was model plane. It was not well made though.

Due to the flock of birds and a mistake made by the controller, the plane flew into a giant parasol tree. It was late autumn, but the parasol tree still had most of its leaves, causing the plane to get stuck. The propeller spun, but the plane remained stuck in the tree.

Another model plane flew by.

A young man with a remote controller ran this way. He seemed to know Jiao Wei, and the two chatted for a bit. Jiao Wei didn’t seem in a hurry anymore and appeared to want to help the young man retrieve the plane.

Zheng Tan learned from their conversation that the reason Jiao Wei was skipping class had something to do with this young man or these young men. They were a group that met near here.

Zheng Tan didn’t stay to watch them retrieve the plane but ran ahead to where the young man had come. He soon heard voices and knew he was close.

He saw an old storage house like building in ahead. The building was multiple stories high and larger than the other buildings around here. It looked very old and dilapidated. There were many buildings like this on campus. Many of these buildings had historical importance to the school.

Zheng Tan had once seen a group of elderly people taking pictures in front of these old buildings. It was an event at the school. These people were all former faculty or graduates. They were here to reminisce about their days here. Some of these people were rich and famous now, and the school was willing to look after these old buildings even if only for their sake.

This building here didn’t seem important, but Zheng Tan wasn’t familiar with the school’s history. He had been here before on his walks, and this building was blocked. He had heard sounds in the building, but he hadn’t paid too much attention to it in the past. Now, it seemed, the building had some secrets.

He jumped over the fence. Zheng Tan realized some windows on the first floor were open. He couldn’t see what was happening inside, but he could tell there was plenty of action going on. He heard a buzzing noise, not unlike the kind made by Liu Yao’s model car.

Was Jiao Wei here playing with remote controlled toys every day?

Two weeks ago Zheng Tan would have thought these people childish, but he was into model cars as well now. He picked a window in the corner and peered inside cautiously.

Zheng Tan saw a young man in his early twenties sitting near the window. He was playing with a Rubik’s Cube. What amazed Zheng Tan was this young man wasn’t looking at his cube. His eyes were wandering elsewhere. If he didn’t see the cube, Zheng Tan would assume the young man was contemplating something.

The young man messed up the cube they quickly returned it to its original state. He repeated this several times without looking once at the Rubik’s Cube.

“Cheng, there’s a problem with the wheel on the plane. It’s stuck in a tree. Let’s wait a bit longer,” someone said to the young man with the cube.

He nodded.

Though some of the people inside had model planes, most were fiddling with remote-controlled cars. Zheng Tan suddenly remembered Jiao Wei had joined a club. Was this the club?