Strange Life of a Cat

The people walked over to a few graves and kneeled. They burnt incense then set off firecrackers.

Zheng Tan watched them. He had watched the kids go through the same process when they were staying with Mama Jiao’s family.

He was about to leave when he was spotted by a child.

The child was very excited to see a cat. He didn’t understand the importance of visiting graves and was bored. He ran over.

He tripped over a bump in the ground and fell. The thing he had in his hand flew out and landed in front of Zheng Tan.

The child’s mother came over to pick him up and dust the dirt off his clothes.

“The rooster’s gone.” The child didn’t cry but sounded very upset. He showed his mother his empty hand.

Rooster?

Zheng Tan looked at the thing that fell in front of him. It was a gold rooster-shaped keychain.

There was a ditch between Zheng Tan and the child. There was a lot of mud in the ditch and weeds growing on the side. An athletic young man could jump across the ditch easily, but no one in their group fit the criteria. The man who had chatted with Papa Jiao wore an expensive suit paired with leather shoes. He didn’t even attempt to jump.

“We could keep walking that way and see if we could cross over there,” he said.

The kid ignored his father and pushed away his mother’s hand. He pointed at Zheng Tan and said, “Kitty.”

“Yes. That’s a kitty.” The child’s mother thought he was only trying to notify her that he recognized animals now and praised him for his effort.

“Kitty!”

“Yes. It’s a black cat.” The mother patted dust off his pants then took his hand to take him away.

He pushed away her hand again and pointed at Zheng Tan. “Have the kitty throw it over. Have the kitty throw it over.”

“The kitty can’t throw. Daddy will get it for you later,” the mother explained patiently.

“Let the kitty throw.”

“The kitty can’t…”

Before she could finish her sentence, she heard movement, then saw the golden rooster keychain fall on the ground beside her.

She was speechless.

The kid didn’t know what was going through his mother’s head and happily picked up his toy. He pressed a button on the rooster and it croaked. Seeing that it wasn’t broken, the child smiled.

Zheng Tan didn’t want to help at first but the kid trusted him so he tossed the toy over. Throwing a keychain wouldn’t cause any suspicion, would it?

Zheng Tan swayed his tail then left.

“Doesn’t that cat belong to the family we met on the highway?” an old man asked.

“I don’t think so. A lot of families have cats and there are plenty of black cats around,” the mother answered.

Though they felt the cat was oddly familiar, the old man and the father didn’t say any more.

Papa Jiao planned to leave after the Lantern festival [1]. So on the fifteenth of the lunar calendar, Papa Jiao took Zheng Tan to see the old lady again.

Zheng Tan could hear the sound of Er’hu from a distance away.

He didn’t know much about music and didn’t like the sound of Er’hu in general, but he seemed to detect a bittersweetness in the music.

Papa Jiao opened the gate and Zheng Tan saw the lady playing her instrument on the chair near the door. She was old but could still play like a pro. If he hadn’t seen it for himself, he would have suspected she was playing a tape.

Papa Jiao found a chair and sat down without interrupting her playing.

Zheng Tan looked around. The three-legged cat was sitting on a wooden chair. It seemed to have gained a lot of weight since he last saw it. It appeared to be sleeping but its ears moved to the rhythm of the music. Zheng Tan could tell by the gifts on her table that a lot of people came to visit during the New Year’s celebrations.

After finishing a piece of music, the lady put down her Er’hu and looked at Papa Jiao. “You came.”

“Yes. I’m planning to leave early tomorrow morning and came to say goodbye,” Papa Jiao said.

The old lady turned to Zheng Tan. He felt the hair on his back stand up on end.

“Come here cat,” the lady waved to him.

Zheng Tan hesitated. He looked at Papa Jiao then at the old lady and twitched his ears. Oh well. Papa Jiao was here, she wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.

The lady patted her lap and motioned for Zheng Tan to jump.

Zheng Tan followed her orders.

She reached into her pocket then took out a jade pendant. There were words on it but they were written in Zhuan character and Zheng Tan only recognized one word. He had seen characters like these before but didn’t know Zhuan characters very well.

The pendant was hung on a new string that was clearly shorter than most necklaces. It was a perfect size for Zheng Tan’s neck.

The lady said to Papa Jiao, “Would it be alright to have the cat keep this for me?”

Zheng Tan twitched his ears again. She had already put the pendant on him. What good was it to ask for permission now?

Papa Jiao didn’t understand. The jade didn’t look cheap, so why was the lady giving it to a cat? If he didn’t know her well, he would have thought her crazy.

“I just want you to keep it for me. If one day you meet someone with a similar pendant, tell me. It’s my wish to see my relatives again before I die. Sadly, I don’t even know where they are.” She sighed, then asked a question as if it had suddenly come to her, “You wouldn’t mind would you?”

Papa Jiao didn’t what to say. It wasn’t like he could refuse now that the jade was already on his cat’s neck.

“Of course I’ll help you.” Papa Jiao nodded. “However, my cat likes to run around. Are you sure you want to give him your precious jade pendant? What if he loses it?”

“Well,” the lady took the pendant off Zheng Tan’s neck and handed it to Papa Jiao. “You keep it for me then. Give it back to me this time next year.”

Both Papa Jiao and Zheng Tan rolled their eyes. What the hell was this lady doing?

“Granny, I’m going abroad this year and might not be back by this time next year.” Papa Jiao explained.

“Then give it back when you come home. You’re not immigrating are you?” She looked nervous.

“Of course not.” He was sure of that. However, he didn’t know when he would be back and whether she would still be alive by them. According to the elders in the village, she was quite old.

“That’s fine then.” She saw his expression and added, “I won’t die anytime soon. Don’t worry.”

Papa Jiao coughed awkwardly.

The lady then explained how she got here forty-something years ago. It was during a famine and she was very sick when he arrived here. Her illness was cured and she had stayed in the village ever since then.

“I tried to find them but failed. I had given up a few years ago. If I couldn’t find them, then this pendant is worthless to me.” She sighed.

Zheng Tan didn’t understand. If she had given up, why was she asking for their help? It had been over forty years, everything had changed. Didn’t she have weird powers and couldn’t she just ask her gods for help?

He glanced at her but saw she was looking at him too. She gave him a long look. Zheng Tan shuddered. Did she know what he was thinking?

People say as you aged you either became shrewd or more confused. She was obviously the former.

Papa Jiao was thinking about something and didn’t notice them looking at each other. “The internet is becoming more and more developed. We could use it to look for your family.”

She shook her head. “If you find them, then it’s fate.”

She talked some more before they left. She was very talkative but never went off topic.

Zheng Tan decided to leave the pendant problem completely to Papa Jiao. He was a cat. He ate, slept, and occasionally took walks.

Early the next morning, the Jiao family left the village in their car.

Not long after they started their trip, they met the BMW again at the crossroad where they had last parted ways.

Papa Jiao didn’t stop to say hello, but when there was traffic again, the cars stopped side by side. Papa Jiao opened the window.

“So we meet again.”

“It’s fate.”

Papa Jiao smiled and accepted the man’s card.

The man’s name was Zheng Xuan and he was the CEO of a company in Nanhua city.

Zheng Xuan saw Zheng Tan and immediately recognized him to be the cat they met at the grave.

Zheng Xuan believed in fate, but he was cautious by nature. However, now he was sure fate was staring him in the eyes and his attitude changed.

[1] The lantern festival signifies the last day of the New Years celebrations.