Strange Life of a Cat

Zheng Tan felt that he had been stalked for the past two days.

He wasn’t sure by who, but that feeling was strong.

Zheng Tan followed Papa Jiao’s instructions and tried to avoid that Ren guy. Lately he had stopped visiting the biology building, on top of that he stopped leaving the courtyard after dark, only going out in daylight when he couldn’t resist the urge.

Usually he would go out at five in the afternoon and wait for the two kids at the primary school gate, then they would go home together. Even if he was to go out in the night, it would only be a stroll in the courtyards. He wouldn’t leave the courtyard, let alone go to the alleyway of the old residential block.

The campus was full of people during daytime since this was not a campus sealed off from the public, so the security checks on those who entered and left the gates were not strict. However, Zheng Tan couldn’t stop worrying without finding out the reason behind this feeling of being watched.

That day, Zheng Tan found a big Chinese parasol tree not far from the eastern courtyard. He climbed up and snoozed upon the branches. Being on the high ground was soothing just as he expected, his field of vision was much wider.

Zheng Tan let out a tired yawn. He didn’t sleep well last night with all the contemplation so he had to catch-up on sleep during the day.

Mama Jiao and her co-workers were collaborating on a project in the field of teaching. Jiao Yuan was going to enter junior high school in a few months time, Mama Jiao wanted to make sure she left a good impression on these high school teachers so that Jiao Yuan could benefit more at school in the future.

Other families all had elderlies or children that had not yet attended kindergarten making going to their homes inconvenient, so they decided to hold the meetings at the Jiaos’ home. As a result, Zheng Tan spent his time ambling around in daylight and when he became tired he would climb a tree and rest there. If it rained, he would seek shelter at Fatty’s house. Either way he would never stay home and face those high school teachers.

Zheng Tan was slowly drifting into sleep when that feeling of being watched suddenly returns. Zheng Tan moved his ears, not hearing any unusual noises. Around him were students that walked past, a short distance away a cleaner was sweeping the ground, an occasional car that drove through. Not far from here was a sports arena, from which cheers and acclamations could sometimes be heard.

Those were the common sounds that Zheng Tan had already gotten used to, but that feeling of being monitored still made Zheng Tan uneasy. Zheng Tan opened his eyes and surveyed his surrounding.

He still couldn’t find any suspects, but this time Zheng Tan kept an eye out for those around him who were sauntering or sitting on the benches and on the grass as well as those who were not moving hurriedly, remembering each of their faces. The opponent must be constantly monitoring him, so they were definitely not moving fast.

Getting down from the tree, Zheng Tan hid behind the canteen of a nearby classroom building. He looked around then chose a tree on the north corner of the canteen. With his back turned to the road, he continued his nap on the tree.

Soon, Zheng Tan narrowed his eye and looked towards the canteen opposite. The feeling of being watched had returned again.

The reason that he chose this canteen and this specific tree on the north corner was because he had set his sight upon the reflective glass on the canteen’s north side of the second floor. That corner on the second floor was an office and the decoration used at the time was a single side glass. Only those on the inside can see outside, if you looked from the exterior of the canteen it can work as a mirror.

Zheng Tan examined the image reflected on the glass, observing the people inside and comparing them with the faces that he had just remembered. Finally, Zheng Tan’s line of sight fell on an ordinary looking student.

The student carried a backpack and held a book in his hands, he slowly approached the canteen. During this entire process, with every two steps he took he looked towards the spot where Zheng Tan was . In the end, he came forth to the patch of grass in front of the canteen and opened his book.

When Zheng Tan had just arrived, that person was sitting and reading on the meadow not far from the Chinese parasol tree. There were many students reading on the lawn like him, he had his head down when Zheng Tan scanned his eyes through, that’s why Zheng Tan didn’t spot him.

He thought for a second before standing up and stretching, then he pretended to survey his surroundings unintentionally. As expected, that person quickly lowered his head again.

Zheng Tan crouched down again and continued to sleep while facing the classrooms. However, he never took his eyes off from the reflective glass on the canteen. Just as Zheng Tan predicted, that person looked up again at Zheng Tan, this time with a frequency of a few second intervals.

Zheng Tan was confused. Who was that person? Why was he stalking him?

Moreover, if he was stalking and the target was a cat, why was he so cautious?

Zheng Tan couldn’t understand.

Maybe now that he had gotten too famous from all the ads, somebody had set their eyes on him and wanted to kidnap him? That’s how it’s suppose to progress in the television shows. Otherwise why would somebody monitor a valueless cat this carefully?

Since he had found the suspect, Zheng Tan was prepared to go against him.

Zheng Tan had a daily routine, going out with the children, taking a walk about, and then sleeping on this tree to the north of the canteen while at the same time keeping up his counter-surveillance. He would go home and eat lunch in the afternoon, have a nap, come out with the two kids again in the afternoon, and repeat the same morning routine again.

Sometimes when he feared his intentions would be discovered, Zheng Tan would change locations, some supermarkets and food stores had the same single-sided glass. It was not Zheng Tan being too overcautious, it was because of that person’s careful surveillance even on a mere cat that made Zheng Tan’s heart sank to the bottom.

Anyhow, it’s better to be careful than sorry.

A week later, Zheng Tan discovered that this person had disappeared along with the feeling of being watched.

He’s no longer stalking?

Or was it because he had moved on to the next step in the plan?

Zheng Tan’s queries only lasted for a day.

On the evening of the next night, Zheng Tan had went out with Mama Jiao after supper. Mama Jiao went to exercise and dance with her friends while Zheng Tan took a spin inside the courtyards, teasing the dogs in the yard when he became bored.

Tiger and Sheriff were both still locked inside their house. Tiger had grown quieter after being castrated but Sheriff was not one that could stay still. At the beginning he would continue to call out when he was locked inside, but now that there was someone at home playing with him, his cries had gradually muted. He would come out sometimes during daylight, but was never allowed to go out at night.

Thus, whenever Zheng Tan wanted to find some cat to roam around with he could only find Fatty, but that wealthy-looking stout Fatty would only hang around his own balcony every time, rarely coming out for a walk.

After teasing Mighty the bulldog, Zheng wandered around the courtyard in boredom.

The time was around eight-thirty, Mama Jiao would only return from her dancing meeting at nine. Papa Jiao was at home today and Jiao Yuan’s homework had some dictation questions that required Papa Jiao’s signature after finished, so Papa Jiao didn’t go out tonight either. Hence, Zheng Tan planned to wait until Mama Jiao came back and then follow her upstairs.

As he ambled about aimlessly, Zheng Tan suddenly hear the sound of fluttering wings.

Zheng Tan moved his ears and headed towards the source of the sound. That side was already close to enclosing walls, quite a remote place in the courtyard. There were some sweet osmanthus and winter sweets trees planted at that corner, used as decorations to embellish the courtyard environment.

However, Zheng Tan and others didn’t go there often since there were too few trees over there. The branches of the existing trees were thin, not satisfying enough for sharpening claws or climbing trees. It was much more boring over here as compared to the forests around the perimeter of the courtyard. That’s why Zheng Tan, Tiger and others would rather walk a few more steps to play in the forest outside the courtyard.

But…

Zheng Tan looked at the direction where the noises of fluttering wings came from, and became confused. Was that a bird?

If it had been other cats in his position, they would have definitely ran over there. Cats don’t hunt for food, hunting was part of their nature and they would run over at any sign of birds.

Zheng Tan, on the other hand, was different. He had no interest in catching birds.

He turned and prepared to leave, but just as he took two steps, Zheng Tan heard another noise. It sounded like the sigh that a person lets out when they’re frustrated. Even though they lowered their voice on purpose, Zheng Tan could still hear it.

Zheng Tan walked around, pretending to toy with the branches while sneakily peeking at the courtyard walls with the corner of his eyes.

The street lamp was ten meters away from here, lighting only the road. It was still very dark by the trees, but Zheng Tan manipulated the advantage of being a cat and noticed a head emerging over the top of the walls.

Something’s come to play!

Zheng Tan scraped at the sticks as part of the act, then heard a series of thumps from the cage over there again. Zheng Tan used this chance to go over there and find out what it really was.

Despite being curious, Zheng Tan still paid a lot of attention to his surroundings. By all means, he didn’t want to get a beating for nothing.

The trees over here were all three or four meters tall. Although there weren’t many, when seen from the outside, you couldn’t see anything beneath the trees clearly, and those sounds had come from beneath the sweet osmanthus trees.

When he approached those osmanthus trees, Zheng Tan sniffed the smell of birds and something else in the air.

Fluttering sounds mingled with the gentle rattling of metals, just like the cat traps that Zheng Tan had seen at Qu’s house across the corridor. It was similar to the sound of Qu knocking against the rat cages.

Cage?

Cat catching?

Cat catching specifically intended to catch him?

Zheng Tan’s heart was filled with questions.

By all means, there weren’t many cases of cat catching during this time, not to mention this place was the family courtyard for the university’s internal staff. These people had nerves this thick?

Zheng Tan had already arrived under the osmanthus trees and he saw the cage as he slowly closed in. There were some leaves and other stuff to disguise the cages, one side was open, that was the opening of the cage.

The cage was about sixty centimeters long and twenty centimeters wide, a sparrow was trapped inside. It occasionally flapped it’s wings, maybe it had sensed Zheng Tan approaching , the sparrow began to thrash even more forcefully but being trapped inside all it’s efforts were worthless. It couldn’t come out and was only able to beat it’s wings inside the cage. Sometimes the struggling became so violent, it’s wings would hit the top of the cage while it was jolting, thumping against the metal bars. Aware of the “predator” getting closer and closer, it even let out a few shrieks in horror.

As Zheng Tan drew near the cage, Fatty who was napping on the balcony on the second floor of the residential building B moved his ears, his eyes snapping open. Fatty looked at the elderly lady in the room who was wearing reading glasses and stitching on buttons and bellowed “meow” at her. It sounded like the warnings that other cat gave out when encountering threats, but was also somewhat different.

The old lady heard him, pausing her actions as she set down the things in her hands.

“What’s wrong?” The old lady looked at Fatty.

“Meow–”

She frowned, then picked up the phone and called the gatekeeper. When she raised her eyes again, Fatty was nowhere to be seen.

“What is really happening?” The old lady mumbled under hear breath and immediately put on her coat. She carried a torch with her and planned to find out what exactly had happened. If it was like the last time when the thief had sneaked in, Fatty would not run out by himself, but this time…

Zheng Tan stood a meter away from then cage and didn’t move any closer, he stood there and stared at the cage and watched the person on the wall in the same time. Due to the dense branching of the trees and the overgrowth of leaves as well as the row of rhododendron on the side of the road, the views from the side and top were all blocked.

Nevertheless, if Zheng Tan can’t see that person, that person won’t be able to see Zheng Tan either. For that reason, Zheng Tan planned to wait it out and see when that person would lose his patience and climb over the wall.

Just when he was thinking, Zheng Tan heard a cry of “meow”, it had belonged to Fatty and sounded like he was running towards here.

Whiz!

Fatty had already jumped over the row of rhododendron and came under the osmanthus trees. Seeing that Zheng Tan was standing before the cage, he rushed over and swung slaps at Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan’s reactions weren’t slow either, he backtracked and successfully avoided Fatty’s claws.

Fatty arched his back, the fur on his back all standing on its end. His ears lowered as he snarled at Zheng Tan then at the cage.

Zheng Tan knew Fatty was trying to warn him to get away from the cage.

Swinging his tail from side to side, Zheng Tan walked over completely ignoring the look on Fatty’s face that cried calamity was near. He lifted his paw and gently pat him in the head, then walked around the cage to the back and didn’t face the opening.

Fatty “meowed” and planned to follow Zheng Tan over, but Zheng Tan shook his tails, took out his claws to held the cage. He then lifted the cage and smashed it against the ground.

Fatty scratched his ears, clearly he didn’t predict that Zheng Tan would have such a reaction. After all, Fatty was no human. Despite being fairly intelligent his mental capacity was no match for a humans. If he was human, he would have definitely been stunned by Zheng Tan’s reaction. Lifting a cage and throwing it was not an action that a cat could do on it’s own.

After a few throws, Zheng Tan examined the cage. The cage door still remained unclosed, it looks like the contraption inside was not activated, quite a thorough design.

Zheng Tan looked around and grabbed a small stick with his paw. He then inserted the stick inside and activated some spot inside that cage.

Thud!

The cage closed, giving no time for a cat to react. If there was a cat that was playing with the sparrow inside it, it would definitely not be able to respond before the opening closes.

Fatty scratched his ears again, his hooked tail swinging in the air. He looked quite puzzled but no longer distressed like before.

After the cage had shut, Zheng Tan’s concentration was diverted to the person over by the wall, but that person was extremely cautious and didn’t flip over the wall immediately.

Zheng Tan understood, connecting the dots with the events that had occurred over the past two days. Those people stalked him for so long and even set a trap for him over here, they probably have an insight into his behavioral patterns. Their target was most likely himself!

“Awooo—” Zheng Tan cried at the top of his lungs. ‘I don’t believe you can stay this still if I called out all the residents of the yard !’ Hearing that Zheng Tan had howled aloud, Fatty began to “meow” loudly as well.

Over by the residence building many of the humans couldn’t quite make out the sound, but the pets could hear it loud and clear.

Tiger and Sheriff hearing the calls of their friends also began to roar along with them.

While the other dogs were even more cheerful as they barked “woof woof woof”, especially Might who scratched against the steel gate as it barked.

Suddenly, the entire courtyard was filled with cries of cats and dogs.

The last time that this had happened was the time that they caught the thief. Evidently, with that previous experience, the first thought that popped into the residents’ head was: someone had come to steal things again!

Yan casted the newspaper in his hands aside and hurried downstairs to open the gate for Might. “Go, get the thief!”

Mighty squeezed through in excitement before the door was opened, he let loose his feet and ran towards Zheng Tan.

Li didn’t chain his dog, seeing that Yan had let his Might loose, Li released the chains around Daisy’s neck and watched his own dog run off with Mighty. With that bulky size of a St. Bernard, it can’t just grow and do nothing with it, it must perform well in important moments like this.

Other than that two, Sahara was also release by his owner. That fellow was on fire, taking no heed of what his owner said behind him, he dashed with all his strength towards the direction that Zheng Tan and Fatty was calling at.

As for the small-sized terriers like Chihuahuas, Pekingese and Corgi owned by others, they were not released. Putting aside whether they could catch the thief or not, even if they could, with the two large breeds and a “ferocious” Mighty spearheading the attack, the small dogs that joined might even be accidentally injured.

Over by the other side, the person over the wall ,who had been concentrate on the movements of the cat trap, almost coughed out a mouthful of blood after hearing the two cats roaring at the top of their lungs.

Sh*t, why’s that cat suddenly so rowdy!

This never happened before in his career of cat catching!