Strange Life of a Cat

Early in the morning, Zheng Tan was sleeping with Youzi when they were awakened by a knock at the door. It was Jiao Yuan.

Finals had ended; the only thing the kids had to do was wait for the results. Feeling good about the test, Jiao Yuan was excited and was planning out his new year present.

The two kids usually slept in during the first few days of the holiday. Last night, they didn’t go to bed until midnight to watch Space Jam on a movie channel. It was only 7 am now. They were supposed to wake up at 9 o’clock, though most days, Jiao Yuan often slept till noon.

What was wrong with him today!

Zheng Tan covered his ears with his paws and curled into a ball to resume his sleep. He tried his best to ignore Jiao Yuan’s knocking and yelling at the door.

It was so cold that Zheng Tan didn’t want to leave the bed. Ever since the two kids started their holidays, he moved activities such as running and climbing trees to the afternoon, so he could sleep longer in the morning.

“Wake up, hurry! It’s snowing outside! All white! Come and play with me!”

Jiao Yuan was still shouting aloud outside. Xiao Youzi left the bed but remembered to cover Zheng Tan with the quilt.

Zheng Tan gave a yawn— no point staying in bed alone.

Time to get up!

He had grown up in a coastal city in the south where there was barely any snow in the winter. Once in middle school, he and a few friends drove illegally to another province just see snow. He had never really experienced snowy days, not even after coming here.

It was the first snow of the year.

Crawling out of the quilt, Zheng Tan shook his fur and got out of bed.

Jiao Yuan was already dressed and was washing up excitedly.

The phone rang. He left the wet towel on the shelf and hurried to answer the phone. He knew who it would be.

Jiao Yuan’s laughter could be heard from the bedroom. By the sounds of things, the children were inviting him out to play.

Zheng Tan took a dump and let Youzi wipe his face and comb his fur for him. The two kids then went downstairs after having breakfast. Zheng Tan followed.

It was freezing cold outside. He hopped at the corner of the stairwell.

Qu Xiangyang, who was going downstairs to take some pictures of the first snow, saw the crazy black cat jumping up and down on the spot. He stopped and said a quick greeting before rushing off again. Any later, the snow would be ruined.

Jiao Yuan, together with Youzi and other kids, was making a snowman on the basketball court near the quarters. His clothes were covered in snow. They must have just had a snowball fight.

Daisy, the Saint Bernard, was playing with the children. She had thick fur and wouldn’t feel cold even if she rolled in the snow. She ran after the children leaving strings of paw prints on the ground. Mighty, who was taking a walk with his owner was leashed. He licked the snow and barked and looked longingly towards the basketball court on the other side. But he was soon attracted by the two meat buns his master held in front of him and continued home happily.

Zheng Tan had no intention of joining the children. He watched along on the side. Fatty was sitting on the balcony looking at them play, with no intention of coming out. Tiger had come out and walked for a while, but he quickly moved to a corner.

It was said animal habits were related to their birth months. For example, dogs born in summer usually liked playing in water, while those born in winter would avoid even a small puddle. But the theory seemed incorrect.

The birth months of Tiger and Sheriff were very close, but their personalities were so different. The only thing they had in common was that they were both silly and stupid. At the moment, Tiger was hiding from the wind in the corner of the building, whereas Sheriff was running merrily in the snow. A child from the neighborhood removed the hood from his coat to tease Sheriff. The cat chased the kid everywhere. The only cat paw prints were all left by him.

After a while, Tiger came out from his hiding spot, trembling. He ran towards the basketball court to where Daisy was lying and panting. Tiger used the dog as a windshield and a fireplace.

Zheng Tan felt warmer after climbing a few trees. He was still a little sleepy, but the house was no place for a nap at this time. He decided to go to Papa Jiao’s office. After all, it had air conditioning with the electricity bill reimbursed by the university. During summer and winter, all the air conditioners in all the offices and the labs were on, some of which worked day and night. The school only forced freshmen to save electricity.

Zheng Tan started walking towards the Biology Department.

The snow on the road had been swept and the little that remained had melted.

The university paid special attention to the campus environment. Even though the leaves of the parasol trees that lines the roads had all fallen off, there were still many evergreen plants, such as camphor trees and pines.

It was still snowing. Not like a blizzard, but still enough to dampen one’s clothes.

A couple of students wandered around with umbrellas. They were taking pictures. They probably came from southern provinces like Zheng Tan and had never seen snow growing up.

One of the girls pushed away the umbrella passed over by a boy, “I don’t need this. I want to feel the snow.”

“Let her be. It’s so embarrassing!” Another girl said while laughing.

“It’s her first time experiencing real snow. It’s understandable.”

“Hey, look! There’s a black cat over there! Take a photo! Quick!” Someone shouted.

Zheng Tan scratched his ears and ignored them.

“I want a photo with that black cat!” The girl who wanted to feel the snow now ran to Zheng Tan. He couldn’t hide so he stopped for the girl and watched her make silly ‘V’ gestures. The girl was quite good-looking.

“I want a picture too!” One of the boys walked up.

He was not stopping for a boy. Zheng Tan walked away immediately.

The Biology Department could be seen around the corner. Just as he was ready to speed up, he heard someone mention Papa Jiao’s name.

Turning his head, Zheng Tan saw two people also walking towards the building. They smelled like hot pot and were probably just at the small restaurants near campus.

“I don’t mean to break your spirit, but without a high enough score, you probably won’t make it. In my department, most professors prefer students from our university or those with really high marks. Priority, however, is given to the former. For example, if you and I both scored barely above the line, I have a bigger chance of being accepted. There could be exceptions, but Jiao Mingsheng’s standards are quite high. A lot of students want him as their postgraduate mentor, but he has refused all recommendations. He’s quite strict. If you are just slightly above the line, you’re doomed.”

He went on and on. Zheng Tan suddenly remembered that tomorrow was the National Entrance Examination for Postgraduate students. Papa Jiao spent most of his time in the office grading finals. He also had to attend meetings on admissions and organize research projects. Besides work at the university, he still had his company to worry about. A few days ago, Zheng Tan heard Papa Jiao say that he wanted another graduate student to share Yi Xin’s workload.

“Jiao Mingsheng?” The other student was obviously confused. He was from another university, and knew little about the teachers in the Biology Department at Chuhua University. He had only heard the names of a few very well-known professors.

“I should have realized that you would know nothing about Jiao Mingsheng. It’s true that he is not that famous yet, but this year had been his year. Many students regretted not applying to him. He is an up and coming star in the academia world.”

Zheng Tan listened carefully to everything they said. He never knew Papa Jiao was a star in the rising to the students.

His fame was partly due to the project fund he received earlier in the year and partly due to Yi Xin being way ahead of his peers.

In the department, the easiest way to assess a student was to assess his SCI essays. Though there were some people who criticized this method of evaluation, it was accepted by most. Yi Xin had published two essays in only half a year. Most people attributed his success to his mentor, Professor Jiao, who had a good project and sufficient funds.

“Other famous professors either have enough candidates or know exactly who they want already. Don’t waste your effort on them. You can consider those professors with less fame. They don’t have many project topics on hand, but at least you’ll have a chance of being admitted. Anyways, I got to go. Remember to read the materials I printed for you.”

With that, the two went separate ways. The one from Chuhua University went in the direction of his dormitory, while the other went towards the Biology Department.

Zheng Tan followed him. The boy stood for quite some time on the first floor of the Bio building. He stared at the awards hung on the walls and spent some time in front of a board introducing each professor and their projects. There was also a list of the winners of the university’s academic excellence award. Zheng Tan remembered that Yi Xin had won first prize and received a scholarship of three thousand yuan.

When the student left the building, Zheng Tan noticed that he was murmuring the names of Jiao Mingsheng and Yi Xin.

Zheng Tan was curious. Ever since he had turned into a cat, his curiosity grew. He wouldn’t admit it though. To him, he was just trying to kill time.

The student went towards the bike shed. Most students were done with exams and had left the campus. The bike shed was nearly empty.

There was a wooden shelf near the shed; next to it a wooden cable roller.

Zheng Tan saw the student drag the roller to the shelf, sweep the dust off the roller and put his bag on the shelf. He took something out and sat on the roller.

Zheng Tan hid behind some bushes and watched the student.

He put the pile of documents, which Zheng Tan assumed to be the material his friend mentioned, on his knees. The documents made a thick stack. How could the student read through it in one night?

Zheng Tan knew nothing about the Graduate school entrance exam. But it seemed as if you needed more than just knowledge to take the test.

Oh, who cared!

He wasn’t interested in the so-called test-taking skills, but his curiosity led him here. After all, he didn’t have anything else to do. He was just about to leave, when the student took out a bag of beef jerky.

Beef jerky? The pieces were huge!

His attention was totally focused on the meat and couldn’t help but inch closer. He stepped on a tree branch, and it broke, making a crisp sound.

Looking up, Zheng Tan saw the student stare at him with a piece of beef jerky still sticking out of his mouth.

The student gave Zheng Tan a piece of jerky.

He accepted the large piece of untouched jerky. He didn’t like eating food off the ground so he laid it on his arms and nibbled at it carefully.

“Wow, you can chew Inner Mongolia jerky. It’s hard…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw a familiar figure walking towards the shed. He had seen the man’s face just earlier in the Bio building and had read all about his work.

“Pro…professor Jiao?” The student stood up hurriedly. He was quite tall and firmly-built, but looked a tad nervous.

Papa Jiao intended to go to the administration hall to run some errands. However, he accidentally saw his cat gnawing on jerky on his way out. The person sitting beside his cat was unfamiliar. He was a big guy and Papa Jiao would definitely remember him if he had seen the boy before.

“You are…?”

“My name is Su Qu. I’m going to take my entrance exam here tomorrow.”

The professor realized at once that this student was from another university.

He didn’t leave immediately, neither did he eat the jerky Su Qu offered him. Instead, he stayed and chatted with the kid for a while. They talked about their profession.

Zheng Tan gnawed at his food and listened to their conversation.

He could understand the content at the beginning. After all, he had been lived with Papa Jiao for quite some time and listened to many of his classes. Eventually though, Zheng Tan was completely lost. The conversation became more or less a Q&A session.

“In the sentence ‘yes I can’, if each of the letters stood for one amino acid, what would they each be?”

” Tyr, Glu, Ser, Ile, Cys, Ala and Asn.”

“The theory behind changing in vitro B-type blood into O-type blood is…?”

“The B antigen in the membrane surface of the blood cell…”

“The reasons why the clone sheep Dolly died young?”

“First, I think, is because of the length of the telomere of the cell…”

“Light is a necessary condition in chloroplast development and chlorophyll biosynthesis. Etiolation happen to many plants in the lack of sunlight. Why is the lotus plumule still green though it never sees any sunlight?”

Their exchange was fast. However, Zheng Tan didn’t understand a thing. When he finished his jerky, the talk was over.

Yi Xin got here five minutes ago. He was planning to ride his bike back to his dorm to take a nap, only to find his boss there chatting with a stranger. The more he listened to them talk, the more he was confused. The questions Papa Jiao asked sounded like what one professor taught his students during their last class to prepare them for the exam.

Most of the time, the contents of a last lecture would show up on the exam paper. It was a secret skill possessed by students in this school. This was a public secret among the department but was still very much a real secret to outsiders. But now, Professor Jiao was bringing up some of the contents to that student. Was he leaking the exam questions?

After Su Qu left, Yi Xin asked the professor, “Sir, did you just leak the test?”

“I was merely answering questions.”

Zheng Tan was speechless.

Back in the place he rented, a naïve Su Qu was still bathing in the happiness of getting instructions from Professor Jiao. He was planning to read the material for answers to some questions he couldn’t answer tonight. He felt lucky to have had the chance to chat with Papa Jiao for so long. Did it mean that he would be accepted as long as he passed the exam?

Unbeknownst to Su Qu, soon he would be exactly like Yi Xin. A life as a part-time baby plus cat sitter was waiting for him.