Strange Life of a Cat

Wei Ling talked all the way to the Night Tower. Zheng Tan learned that A Jin had moved up into the South District of the club. He was proving himself. His group had saved up some money and moved into a better apartment. Even their dog looked better now.

They were passionate about their music and had gathered some supporters and followers at the Night Tower. Zheng Tan was happy for them.

Long Qi and Baozi were now in charge of the construction project and someone else took over the Night Tower.

The clubhouse was packed.

Zheng Tan followed Wei Ling into their usual room. Ye Hao, Baozi, and Long Qi were all there. There were two other people in their group. One was a man called Liang Hu. Ye Hao called him Huzi. He was in charge of the nightclub now. Zheng Tan didn’t know the other man, but he was definitely someone Ye Hao trusted.

Zheng Tan behaved like he always did in front of the group. He knew Ye Hao’s people wouldn’t do him any harm.

Duke was there on the couch.

Wei Ling had mentioned that Duke had saved Tang Qiye’s life during the holidays. Someone had tried to assassinate Tang Qiye but was almost scratched to death by Duke.

Tang Qiye was very grateful and Duke was now an important member of the family.

Tang Qiye was holed up at home these days, so he gave Duke back to Ye Hao.

Zheng Tan eyed Long Qi. Sure enough, he was sitting as far away from Duke as possible.

Long Qi froze when he saw Zheng Tan. He was uncomfortable whenever these two cats were in the vicinity.

Zheng Tan was used to him acting this way. He jumped onto the coffee table and started looking for food. His activities here were eating, sleeping, and passing time.

Wei Ling sat down. He knew everyone here and was at ease.

“What are you guys talking about?” Wei Ling asked. He picked up a plate of peanuts.

There were plenty of nuts on the table. They knew Wei Ling liked these things. He especially liked the peanuts at the Night Tower. Even Zheng Tan ate more peanuts when he was here.

Wei Ling placed a peanut in front of Zheng Tan, then peeled another one for himself and waited for Ye Hao’s response.

Ye Hao handed him a folder. “Take a look.”

Zheng Tan was curious, so he went over to take a look too.

There was a picture of a young woman in the folder. The picture was taken in a club and the woman was dancing. She was quite pretty.

“Isn’t this Lai Er’s woman?” Wei Ling asked. “What did she do?”

Lai Er was a competitor of Ye Hao’s and the woman was his girlfriend. She often came to the Night Tower to make trouble.

Wei Ling read a report that was cut from a newspaper. Wei Ling frowned.

“Suicide?” Wei Ling didn’t believe what he read. “Lai Er had given her a large sum of money. She could live off that money for quite some time. She loved luxury – why would she kill herself?”

Zheng Tan wasn’t interested. He didn’t care about these things. Before he left though, Wei Ling took out another photo. Three fatties and a teenage girl in a princess outfit were in the photo.

The two men were of average height but were way over 200 pounds. In comparison, the girl was very pretty.

Zheng Tan stared at the fat man on the left.

There was something weird about him.

Ye Hao lit a cigarette and pointed at the picture. “This man’s name is Chen La. When I first came to Chuhua he was quite famous in the business circle. La Er had pulled him out of the game and gained the support of Lei Tou. Now, ten years later, no one still remembered him. Nor did anyone remember Lei Tou.

Wei Ling raised an eyebrow. Ye Hao was not a sentimental man. He was telling this story for a reason.

Zheng Tan’s ears perked up. He stuffed his mouth with peanuts and listened to Ye Hao talk.

Ye Hao said to Wei Ling, “Look at the newspaper clipping under the photo.”

Zheng Tan took a look as well. The clipping was about the incident he had heard from the ladies in Uncle Wintersweet’s neighborhood.

“Chen La had a very loyal underling who disappeared one day and was later found dead in a lake.

Wei Ling looked at the report. “The same lake as the one here?”

Ye Hao nodded. “Before the Chen family came to their end, the daughter jumped off a bridge. Chen La loved his daughter. Her dream was to become a pianist. He had named her Alice.”

Zheng Tan almost choked. He coughed and sprayed Duke with peanut bits.

Duke looked at him then shook off the peanut bits on his fur. He closed his eyes after he was done and started napping again.

Everyone was focused on Ye Hao’s words so no one saw him cough. Wei Ling eyed him but turned his attention back to the report in his hand when he saw Zheng Tan was OK.

“This woman…” Wei Ling pointed at the photo of Lai Er’s girlfriend.

“Same bridge. Same death,” Ye Hao answered.

“Interesting,” Wei Ling said.

They didn’t know the people involved in this incident so to them this was only a story.

“According to people close to her, she was acting strangely before she died,” Baozi said.

“Pills maybe? She was known to take drugs.”

“She had taken drugs for sure. The newspaper didn’t report this. La Er probably bribed them.”

“The drugs made her susceptible to hints.” Long Qi said. They had dabbled in the drug business but were now clean.

Hints? Had someone lured her to kill herself?

“I had people investigate her before and they told me she hated bridges. She would take a detour to avoid bridges. It would make sense if she was linked to what happened those years ago,” Baozi said.

“No matter what, someone targeted Lai Er and his people,” Wei Ling said.

“I was wondering if you could ask He Tao about the investigation of her death.”

Ye Hao could probably do an investigation of his own, but He Tao had better resources.

“Sure. Is there anyone you guys suspect?” Wei Ling asked.

Ye Hao shook his head and pointed to the ceiling. “Someone up high targeted Lai Er. He has made some enemies over these years. However, those people wouldn’t have taken the trouble to kill her like this. There’s someone else I suspect. Chen La and his wife died in a fire. Their daughter jumped off a bridge, but their son is still missing.”

Ye Hao pointed at the man on the left in the photo.

Zheng Tan had moved away from Duke after he coughed peanut bits on him. He looked over at the photo and blocked Long Qi’s view.

Long Qi wanted to move him away, but after some hesitation, he instead got up and changed seats.