Strange Life of a Cat

Zheng Tan lay prone on the couch in the living room. The tip of his tails gently shaking.

Zheng Tan liked to think in this environment; as to the shaking tail, that was a habit which Zheng Tan developed after becoming a cat. It started as an unconscious action, just like how some people liked to click their fingers against the table top when they think, Zheng Tan liked to rattle his tail tip when thinking on the couch.

Technically, most cats liked that, but not every cat would delve into the complicated questions like Zheng Tan did. This action might only be a sign to express that they were feeling relaxed, showing that they were in a good mood and was having a cozy life. Or maybe, they were all contemplating about something that was not even close to the complexity of Zheng Tan’s questions, but nevertheless unimaginable by the humans. After all, cat’s minds are hard to guess at.

Zheng Tan still dreamed of those graphics for the past few nights, but they were nowhere near as severe as the first night. Zheng Tan had already adjusted his mental state. To be correct, if Zheng Tan was still human, he would definitely not remember these scenes so distinctively, his mind would forget it immediately or pay no heed to it. But after becoming a cat, his different status and surroundings made him treat matters and deal with problems from another angle.

If he was still human, pulling a sack over and bashing someone with a brick would all be easy. He could also go and find someone to give the tattooed man a lesson, chopping hands or legs or even a penis off was nothing new, since Zheng Tan didn’t need to do it himself. However, now without all these aspects, he needed to depend on himself.

Jiao Yuan and Youzi was in the living room watching a scientific documentary on wild animals, Mama Jiao was in the bedroom knitting a jumper and Papa Jiao went out because he had something on. Outside at this moment, it was snowing heavily. The sky cleared then the snowing began again. It started in the middle of the night yesterday. This morning when they woke up, it was completely white outside. Jiao Yuan had opened the window just then to check. It was still snowing incessantly; a flurry of snow.

On the television, the awoken cheetah huddled on the grass, it was about to hunt. There were many preys on the safari like antelopes and wildebeest, but as time ticked by, it didn’t seem to be worried.

Zheng Tan couldn’t differentiate cheetahs or other species of panther; the spots on their skin looked the same to Zheng Tan. The host of the TV program had previously explained the difference in appearance between cheetah and its feline relatives, but Zheng Tan couldn’t really see it. He had only seen a panther in real life in the zoo. He couldn’t even remember what specie he had seen, so in Zheng Tan’s perception, cheetah and other panthers looked the same.

On the side, Jiao Yuan and Youzi were discussing the traits of cheetah. Zheng Tan was distracted with his thoughts on problems before and didn’t quite pay attention to the words of the TV host. He only caught a few broken words.

From Jiao Yuan and Youzi’s discussion, Zheng Tan knew that cheetahs had a black stripe extending from the corner of the eyes to the tip of the mouth, like two black tear stains. This was one of the most distinctive feature which differentiates cheetahs with other panthers. The two black stripes were beneficial in absorbing sunlight, widening its vision.

Zheng Tan felt that he had a better advantage, ‘My body is completely black!’

“Cheetahs are so patient, if it was me I wouldn’t be able to resist. So many antelopes and they didn’t even go after them.” Jiao Yuan unwrapped a candy, then passed the wrapper under Zheng Tan’s nose. “Do you like the mango flavor?”

Zheng Tan turned away and tugged at his ears, paying no attention to the rascal who had way too much time on his hands.

“They want to increase the success rate, preserve energy,” Youzi said with seriousness.

“Yes, the rule of survival in the wilderness.” Jiao Yuan summarized.

Zheng Tan rolled over and changed to a new position to lie down.

What he thought was one thing, to take action was another. It was not an easy thing for Zheng Tan to teach the tattooed man a lesson. Most importantly, Zheng Tan didn’t want to expose himself. Otherwise, there was bound to be trouble.

This meant it was probably best to act under the cover of night.

That tattooed man could be categorized as robust, probably fights often, but what severity of fight and with what combat capability? Zheng Tan was a little uncertain.

The talks made by the neighboring people at the old residence block was exaggerated, only noticing the muscles and the hideous tattoos on his torso. Zheng Tan had seen people who lived on the edge of blades. Some had tattoos, but most were covered with scars on their body. The limbs that was shown had all kinds of scars that remained after the healing of injuries. Even without scars, their grandeur, an unintentional glance couldn’t be rivaled by that cocky tattooed man.

The type of people like the tattooed man, was at most a thug, or maybe, things weren’t as complicated as Zheng Tan thought. Nevertheless, it was a must to have understanding on the target. Zheng Tan also needed to stake out, trail and observe.

Patience, wait for the opportunity, then kill with one strike.

That was the way of survival for the safari cheetahs, and that kind of behavior was what Zheng Tan needed to learn.

Patience…

Zheng Tan looked outside the window. There was a sheen of water droplets on the window, unable to see the sceneries outside clearly, but the haziness has its benefits. If you want to know whether it was snowing, how heavy it was snowing, you had to either wipe the droplets off or push open the window to see. If you don’t, there would always be a layer of mist, the truth would become blurred.

Zheng Tan moved to the living room window, standing on the ledge and stared at the water drops attached to the glass. He leaned closer and exhaled.

One of the water beads adhered on the window began to slide down, then met other beads. The drop of water became bigger, sliding faster. When it finally reached the edge of the window, it had gathered countless water drops that attached to the glass pane.

If you treated every drop as the preparation before the action, then in the end, when the time was ripe, was it as easy as exhaling a single breath?

Shaking his tail, Zheng Tan was ready to go out for a walk, to clear his mind. The room was way too warm, too cozy, it made Zheng Tan want to fall asleep.

“Eh? Charcoal, are you going out?” Youzi said while unwrapping a sweet when she saw Zheng Tan walking towards the door.

“Come back when it is time to eat, otherwise you will starve. Anyhow if you don’t return at meal time, your serve of chicken drum is mine!” Jiao Yuan emphasized on the word “chicken drum”.

Mama Jiao had prepared three chicken drums. The two children and Zheng Tan would each get one for dinner time.

Hearing Jiao Yuan’s words, Zheng Tan snuffed through his nostril, indicating that he knew.

After leaving the building, Zheng Tan looked at the layer of snow covering the ground. When Zheng Tan walked in it, his four limbs were almost submerged. Walking outwards had some resistance. However, this, to Zheng Tan, was nothing at all.

One step after another he walked outwards. On the spotlessly white snow, a figure of black moved out from the residence building, standing out if viewed from a bird’s eye view. But it was unlikely that anyone would have to be in such a leisurely and carefree mood to come outside and watch the snow in cold air.

Zheng Tan could touch the snow on the ground when he lowered his head. A whiff of freshness greeted him.

There wasn’t much wind right now, only large snowflakes falling.

Zheng Tan looked up at the drifting snow in air, shuddering his ears, shaking off the snow that had landed on his ears then continued to move forward.

The coolness around him made Zheng Tan’s mind much clearer. The sleepiness he had piled at home was nowhere to be seen.

Just as Zheng Tan headed towards the gate of the residence area, a dog’s barking rang from a close range and right after the barking, someone was calling, “Sahara, get back here!”

What responded was Sahara’s silhouette, running further and further away, stopping at every little distance to look back at the building his home was at, howling “woof woof”. If it saw someone running after him, no matter how far the person had run, if they were to only move their feet, Sahara would run away like there was no tomorrow.

The brute normally acted just as gritty the days of the new year his house received many visitors, entering and leaving. The dog gate was often open when there were guests, since there were many people that came to visit one after another, it was difficult to regulate.

Initially, Sahara’s owner had chained him, but a kid had released the cord on the dog’s neck when he was playing. This chap took the opportunity while the guests were entering and exiting, and was able to squeeze out.

Its owner was still treating the guests, and couldn’t leave the guest behind to chase after the dog. Besides, this kind of situation had happened many times during the winter break. It was not too big of a concern, Sahara would be back in less than an hour. Nevertheless, when it returned, it would either be rolled in mud or covered by something else. Overall, it needed a thorough cleaning.

The neighbors had already gotten used to this kind of things. Every time they see this, they would have the same thought in unison: exhilarating to see and hear.

“Woof woof!!”

Woof your ass!

Zheng Tan paid no heed to it, continuing to walk towards the gate.

Sahara stood there for a second, realizing that Zheng Tan really wasn’t going to pay attention to it. It flung its tail and headed to Zheng Tan. Zheng Tan could hear the sound of its toenails grinding against the concrete floor as it moved.

When it approached Zheng Tan, Sahara suddenly rushed over and lifted his front leg and pushed Zheng Tan with his paw slantways, shoving Zheng Tan into the snow. The force wasn’t strong; it wouldn’t cause Zheng Tan to be injured.

Zheng Tan didn’t think that this jackass would make an unanticipated move. He plunged into the snow unguarded; the entire face sank in.

Blow succeeded, Sahara ran off to the distance as if frolicking.

Zheng Tan rattled off the snow on his body, swinging his head to shake off the snow on his face.

Motherf*cker! Sahara, you are freaking going to be spanked!

Zheng Tan rushed over like lightning, no longer using the same slow-moving pace that nudged through the snow. His speed was not slower than Sahara who was running ahead, also relying on his advantage of jumping to leap over the circular flowerbed that was blocking the middle of the road, cutting the straight path.

When the old gatekeeper opened the window, what came into his sight was the black cat from assistant professor Jiao’s house chasing after the mix-breed dog owned by academician Ruan’s grandson. Giving no thought to the grimace on Sahara’s face, the black cat pursed and lashed out series of slaps with his cat claws.

The old gatekeeper laughed at such a sight, recalling that the look that his son made while played the whipping top when he was young. Even at the fastest speed, he was no equal to the cat’s momentum.

“Nice slap, that Sahara guy is asking for a beating!”

The old gatekeeper drew in the windows, took a sip at the Erguotou (Chinese wine), chewed a peanut or two, clicked his tongue, and then lied down, dangling his leg and watching some show relevant to the spring festival on the little television.

Zheng Tan stood there heavily breathing after becoming tired from all of the blows he threw.

While Sahara saw that Zheng Tan stopped slapping, he drooped his tongue to breathe. Perhaps it felt a little thirsty. Sahara lowered his head, licking the snow on the ground while making sounds like “dabadaba”. It seemed that licking snow wasn’t enough, Sahara had rolled right onto the snow, rolled and rolled to a slope, then followed the gradient down.

Beneath the slope was the tennis court that belonged to the residence area, fenced off by iron wire, but the slope was about ten meters tall.

Zheng Tan saw Sahara disappear while rolling. It went over to the edge of the slope and took a look. Sahara had rolled to the bottom of the slope, shook his fur, looked at its surroundings then ran back up the slope.

Zheng Tan had originally thought that Sahara prepared to have fun somewhere else when he came up. Turned out the next minute this fellow rolled back down and seemed to think that the sliding speed was not fast enough, it wiggled as it slid down.

Zheng Tan looked at the dog who was enjoying itself, shook his head then headed for the gate.

There were not many people walking around or cars driving on campus, but there was always an odd few. The people from the security department shoveled snow wearing thick outercoats, clearing the roads that were more likely accident-prone.

Zheng Tan came to the place where the three kittens were buried. He watched from a distance away. No one had come. There was no trace of foot traffic on the snow.

Zheng Tan didn’t know how the big white cat was. The last time he saw it was when the old man had carried it away. He didn’t know where the old man lived either. However, the old man did say that he lived around here, since it was not far, they were bound to meet again in the future.

Zheng Tan strolled around some other locations on campus. He didn’t go to the forest where he climbed the trees, too far.

After sauntering through a few places, Zheng Tan looked at the time of the day and decided to take a walk to Lan’s parterre.

Zheng Tan discovered that there were many treasures in Lan’s parterre. If you look closely, you were bound to find something you want.

The new year celebration wasn’t over yet, Lan’s house constantly had visitors sparing him little time to tend to the parterre. The part that needed major care was already finished by Lan before the new year. Sometimes, he would come by to check the things like temperature and humidity in the greenhouse.

Zheng Tan kept to the old custom of going over the fence when entering.

The transparent shed was piled with a heavy layer of snow, slippery if unmindful.

This side of the shed was still heaped with wooden crates as usual. Zheng Tan didn’t jump off the transparent shed immediately, but stood on the side and looked out at the landscapes of the parterre.

Eyes closed, Zheng Tan gently lifted his head. A flake of snow fell onto the bridge of his nose, slowly melting.

The air carried the aroma of plum blossoms.

The falling snowflakes made a fine rustling sound against the tree leaves.

Zheng Tan couldn’t reach the spiritual realm like Zhou Zhuang dreams of being a butterfly, the man and the heaven becoming one. He just wanted to sit here in silence for a while, just a little while.

A sneeze broke the serenity in the parterre.

Other cats would lick their nose after sneezing, but Zheng Tan wouldn’t, still maintaining the habits from when he was human, snuffling.

Sh*t, hurry up and finish looking so you could go home. So f*cking cold! He was already wet!

Jumping off from the wooden crates, Zheng Tan found a few flower sheds, finally stopping before one which was labeled with “admittance to staff only” and a warning sign forcing people to go no further.

The shed was locked, even the windows were closed. Zheng Tan couldn’t get in from the vents, but it was fine, the purpose of this trip was only to see something.

Unfortunately, the clear shed was temperature regulated. The inner layer had a sheet of vapor and traces of water dripping, Zheng Tan couldn’t see the situation inside with clarity.

Shaking his tail, Zheng Tan sat for a while then left, waiting for the next time to visit again.

No hurry. Have some patience. There are still many things to prepare.