Strange Life of a Cat

The trip outside with Li Yuanba enlightened Zheng Tan somehow.

It was said that she was a stray cat, which made her more experienced than domestic cats. She could distinguish the good from the evil in both humans and animals which allowed her to be imperturbable. She was calm walking on the street yet knew how to deal with hostility.

Some people would leave when you act threatening while others might become excited. This was the case for humans. For cats, the situation was more dangerous. Strays would run away once they saw humans because they could not tell who had good intentions and who had evil ones. This became an instinct after being hurt several times.

However, Li Yuanba always knew what to do. For instance, they passed by a milk tea shop. A young couple was sitting on a nearby bench. The man motioned for her to come over. He dangled a string and made soft noises. Normal cats were always sensitive to those kind of sounds, and they loved things that swung. Li Yuanba ignored the man and walked towards the opposite direction.

Zheng Tan was curious. People had tried to motion Li Yuanba over before. She never went but she also never changed route as well. This time, she walked as far as she could from the couple after twitching her ears. Zheng Tan followed her.

Befpre they could go far, Zheng Tan heard the man make the sounds again. He looked back and found a domestic-looking cat standing on the parterre.

Attracted by the sound and the swinging rope, that cat moved a little bit closer. Immediately, the man squished his milk tea and milk tea shot out of the straw spraying the cat.

The cat managed to move in time and only a part of its fur was stained. The cat hissed angrily. If Guo was here, he would know this was a warning, and it would be better to leave the cat alone at this point.

On the contrary, the hissing excited the couple, and the man sprayed harder. The cat ran away covered in milk tea, and the couple laughed merrily.

They were trash.

The laughter was so harsh that Zheng Tan couldn’t help but pull his own ear down a little. He was itching to scratch those two ugly faces.

Li Yuanba had gone far as if nothing had happened.

Cats were not superheros. For cats looking to survive, helping others was out of the question. Their lives were too fragile.

Zheng Tan soon settled his mind and caught up with Li.

There was another couple around the corner and the man tried to motion Li Yuanba over as well. After he was ignored, he tossed a pebble at her.

What surprised Zheng Tan was that she acted completely different from before. She lowered her ears, her fur stood on end and she growled, showing sharp teeth.

That man seemed scared and didn’t dare to pick up another pebble. His girlfriend pulled his arm as if scared of being scratched. So they quickly left.

Li Yuanba reacted differently towards different people. She was not blindly aggressive, nor did she choose to blindly retreat all the time. This was who she was when she navigated the streets. She was different from other cats.

Zheng Tan was behind her, so he saw everything clearly. There was indeed a difference in temper between those two couples. Their subtle change of expressions helped her select the best way to react.

Cats that didn’t have her abilities could only avoid humans as much as possible no matter what the humans offered. They would never know if they would be sprayed by drinks or be hit by pebbles. They also wouldn’t know if their warning would work.

Given the fact that they weren’t Beverly Hills pets, nowmal cats from normal families either had to settle down or learn survivcal skills.

For a cat that couldn’t stay put, survival was not easy for Zheng Tan. He suffered from a lack of experience. He was used to thinking like a human, but now he had to change.

He didn’t know how long it would take before he could go back to his human life. If he was stuck like this for life, he needed to learn how to think and survive like a cat.

Zheng Tan was not yet ready to give up his life.

When Zheng Tan came back to the pet center after his stroll with Li Yuanba, Guo had just finished his work and was calling out Zheng Tan’s name. He thought nothing when he saw the cat come over from the back door. Unknown to him, the windows out back were now an escape opening.

Back at Chuhua University and inside the Eastern Residential Quarters, Zheng Tan felt at peace. He saw students rushing here and there, busy with year-end activities or with exams. Most of them had never experienced the cruelty of society, and most had no idea about cruelness of the society. In ten years’ time, they would be much more mature.

Experience made a person mature, not age. With no family backgrounds and no connections, if these kids were to go into society right now, they would be no match for their peers who had chosen social experience over college.

Zheng Tan jumped off Guo’s car. He saw Tiger lying on the lawn, enjoying the afternoon sun. He never left campus. To him, the place was plenty big.

Next to him was a tied up Mighty and the Saint Bernard, Daisy.

Daisy was much larger than Mighty, but he was the one who was tied. Obviously, it had something to do with their characters. He was ok around animals he grew up with, but Mighty would attempt to bite any animal he had never seen before. The residents all remember the wound on the thief’s leg, and none of them felt secure leaving Might unleashed.

As for Daisy, children loved playing with her, and people knew she was gentle, though she drooled.

Seeing Zheng Tan, Tiger stretched and meowed.

The sound he made was low and gentle which meant he welcomed whoever was coming or he was in a good mood. If the meows were louder, it meant he was complaining or making requests, such as asking for food

Zheng Tan went upstairs, and Guo followed. It was the same everytime, one walked up eagerly while the other strolled behind.

Sometimes, when Guo dropped off Zheng Tan, he would bring some pictures taken during the shoot with him. He did so this time.

At the time, Mama Jiao was cooking dinner. Jiao Yuan, who back from school early, was sitting on a small stool. His father sat on the couch teaching him some stuff his books did not cover. Youzi would be back later since she had joined an painting group. Auntie Ling would pick her up when she went to pick up her own child.

The conversation stopped when Zheng Tan and Guo came in. They continued after Guo left.

Zheng Tan sat on his own chair and listened to their conversation.

Papa Jiao was talking about the broken window theory.

This topic was generated because Jiao Yuan complained about people in his class copying homework. In today’s Chinese class, the teacher criticized some students who copied other people’s homework. To Jiao Yuan, people copied homework for other subjects as well. Why was this teacher the only one who couldn’t let it go?

Papa Jiao heard him complaining and decided to give him a lesson on the broken window theory.

The broken window theory believed that if someone broke a window and this window was not repaired in time, someone else may be influenced by this and believe that the behavior was acceptable. This could result in rising crime rates.

“Behavior and environment can be strongly suggestive. If the first window is not repaired in time, something worse may happen. Same with your class. If students believe that copying homework is acceptable, not only will they do this more and more, worse things could happen.”

Zheng Tan was confused why Papa Jiao was trying to explain something so complicated to an elementary school student. Back in the day when Zheng Tan was a student, he did it all. From plagiarism, to coming to class late. He had fights and even attempted blackmailing. Everything could be solved with money. Besides a light scolding from teachers, what was there to stop him?

Nevertheless, Zheng Tan still sat there listening to their conversation, but the topic had switched to business management.

“There are two types of working environments. The first type is hard qualities, including working condition, equipment and such. The other one is soft qualities such as working atmosphere, enterprise culture, interpersonal relationships and management style. Take uncle Yuan Zi for example, he pays special attention to the so called “broken windows” in his company. He is fast to take action whenever windows appear in the hard qualities of the company. As for the soft environment, a broken window could be much more destructive.”

“Every critical issue is the accumulation of smaller issues. Uncle Yuan Zi is always alert because if anything happens, action must be taken. These things can have bad influences on his company. No matter how mighty or how arrogant you are, you have to take good care of the broken windows if you want a better future.”

“The same is true with your class. You would be ashamed of being a part of this class if your class had a bad reputation.”

Jiao Yuan greed with Papa Jiao. One of the classes in his grade had a terrible reputation. At first, it was said that people were stealing pens and erasers, but both the students and teachers of that class didn’t pay much attention to the problem. Soon, money was stolen.

At this point, everyone avoided people from that class. Students of that class were always afraid of being despised.

“This kind of chain reaction could also be positive. For example, if your mom buys you a pair of socks with your favorite Transformers on it. You would try to choose to wear cleaner shoes with the socks. When you finish dressing up, you will also subconsciously try to avoid getting your clothes dirty. In this process, your personal image will improved a lot.”

“I get it now. Just like Xiong Xiong, His posture is terrible. His mother scolded him many times that his posture could keep him from growing tall. He didn’t listen because he is already one of the tallest in his class. However, one day his mother bought him nice new clothes. His mother told him that if he wore those clothes with his back straightened, he would be mare attractive to girls! It worked.”

Zheng Tan was speechless. Was she encouraging puppy love?

Having heard what Jiao Yuan said, Papa Jiao thought for a second and said, “So what you are trying to say is…”

“What I’m trying to say is: when do I get to buy new clothes for the coming New Year? I will not be satisfied with just a pair of socks now!”

Zheng Tan was speechless again. It was painful listening to them talk. How could they make so much out of a normal class phenomenon!

The custom in Chuhua ws that children all get to buy new clothes for the New Year. As for the grown-ups, it depended on their own financial conditions.

Papa Jiao knew what was coming and replied, “What kind of clothes you get and how many you get will depend on how you behave at school.”

“Ok! But will you let me decide the style of clothes I want if I am top 5 in my class?”

“I will.”

“Will you approve even if I want to buy those funky styles with spikes?”

“Not a problem at all. You can even change your hair to match your clothes.”

“Deal!”

Jiao Yuan got what he wanted so he went back to his room dragging his schoolbag. The end of the term was near, and he had to fight for his New Year’s gift.

Mama Jiao stepped out of kitchen with a dish and said to Papa Jiao, “Did he ask for things again?”

“Kids of this age are so predictable.”

“Will you really allow him to dress like that if he makes it into the top 5?”

“Don’t worry. You just need to take him to the toy gun section, and he will change his mind. He can only choose clothes or toys. He will definitely go for the toy gun. He wanted one since last year, but was only 6th in his class.”

“What if he can’t make it this time?”

“He was the one who set up the rules, and he has to be responsible for what he says. If he really failed, still buy him one but make him choose one of the smaller ones. Don’t let him think that he can get what he wants even if he doesn’t live by his words,” Papa Jiao said calmly.

Zheng Tan was worried for Jiao Yuan after hearing what Papa Jiao said. An old ox makes a straight furrow. Jiao Yuan was no match for his dad.