Strange Life of a Cat

Speaking of the Southern City, people would usually recall it’s almost legendary development speed.

This international metropolis had always attracted many people who had hopes and dreams.

This year, the opening of the subway, the medium and small enterprises entering the market, and the rise of strength amongst the people and other things all pushed the development of the Southern City further.

People wearing suits and carrying briefcases rushed by on the street, youngsters wearing fashionable clothing began to advocate their personality through their appearances.

Sitting inside the trunk of the ute, Zheng Tan looked up at the high rising skyscrapers.

The architecture of these backward landmarks opened up many doors in Zheng Tan’s memories. Suddenly seeing these, Zheng Tan became a little delirious not knowing which year this was.

The sunlight was a little flaring, but the weather was warm. If he was in a quite safe environment, then Zheng Tan wouldn’t taking a nap. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one.

Zheng Tan was extremely familiar with this city, other than the entertainment that he frequented, he also drove to other places. Back then he liked to wander around with a girl in his arms when he didn’t have things to do, that’s why he remembered these places.

However, since there were some time differences, this city changes by the year but compared to it’s appearance many years later, it seemed young but nonetheless lively.

The bus stops and road signs constantly informed Zheng Tan of the direction that the car was traveling to and the routes it was taking.

The ute traveled to the city center which Zheng Tan was glad to see, however the happiness didn’t last for long before the ute drove into a district.

The district was not the grandest in the Southern City, and it’s size was not comparably big.

After the ute was parked, Zheng Tan immediately jumped off and didn’t let the driver discover him.

After jumping off the car, Zheng Tan first found a place to hide. He didn’t know what the attitude of the Southern City was on treating stray cats at this time, if they saw a stray on the streets would they catch it straightaway? If he was really captured as a stray, Zheng Tan was not so sure that he could escape so smoothly every time.

It was almost near mid-day, the temperature was around twenty something degrees, a little warmer than Chuhua city.

Zheng Tan hid in a corner, moving his nose he sniffed an odor on himself, his body was also itchy, he didn’t know if it was a nits infestation. Being locked with other cats in the same cage, that many cats in the same room, the likeliness of contracting nits were high.

That’s a really troublesome issue!

He hadn’t taken a bath since he had been caught, his body was covered with dust and he probably had some blood clotted in his fur. There was a lot of half-dried or died blood stains on the shelf when he opened the dog cages, Zheng Tan unavoidably got some on himself, the smell lingered even till now. Nevertheless, on the positive side, the stain on his fur color was not too visible, so he didn’t look like he was in a really bad state. If it was white fur then things would be more complicated, it would be difficult to clean without shower gels, so Zheng Tan was quite thankful that his fur was completely black.

Zheng Tan never licked his own fur, now that no one could help him boil hot water and brush his fur he needed to find a way to solve it himself. To make himself look not like a stray he needed to keep himself clean and his fur straight.

Zheng Tan searched around the district and in the end settled with a man-made pond, that had some small fishes like Koi. The pond probably had people who cleaned it frequently, the water was considerably clean and the garden rockeries were well organised.

Taking the opportunity that there were not many people wandering outside at noon, Zheng Tan dived into the pool and swam a lap. Leaning against the rockeries he rubbed off the dirty blocks on his fur and smoothed out the knots. After rubbing, Zheng Tan played with the fish for a while, chasing them everywhere in the pond. However, Zheng Tan was not interested in raw fish and wouldn’t eat them.

Feeling that he was clean, Zheng Tan came out of the pond and shook his fur to dry the water on himself. Sometimes Zheng Tan wondered, why do cats lick their own fur when they’re wet but dogs would shake their fur with all their might or rub themselves against the ground, especially the dogs with long fur. Sahara from the eastern courtyard used to this, rubbing himself everywhere when he finish bathing, so it’s owner had to chain him every time he washes him.

Zheng Tan’s fur wasn’t long, so even if he shook he couldn’t get too much water out, when the wind blew at him it felt a little cold. He can’t get sick now, it he was sick then he would probably be treated like a plague and thrown away or disposed of using other methods. Looking around, Zheng Tan saw a household on the first floor had hung their towels on their balcony, he ran over and fished one with his claws then wiped his fur using the towel. Zheng Tan was already skilled in doing these things.

Without shower gel and the poor water quality of the pond, he wasn’t able to wash himself clean but he had to make do, it was better than not washing at all. Besides, Zheng Tan felt more refreshed after the bath.

To make his fur dry faster, Zheng Tan hopped onto a tree and found a sunny place to bask his fur.

The district was fairly tranquil with an occasional bark that could be heard, the greening wasn’t bad either, though it was not as comfortable as the eastern courtyard in Chuhua University.

Zheng Tan had developed a habit, comparing everywhere with the eastern courtyard.

Yawning, Zheng Tan changed his posture, his fur was almost dry, but the fur on his stomach wasn’t yet, so he lay on his side and continued sunbathing on a different angle.

He missed the children’s blow-dryer at the Jiaos’ home dearly.

Zheng Tan closed his eyes and rested, his ears protruding into the air. He must constantly remain alert, otherwise he would be set up again. With the previous experience of being caught, Zheng Tan didn’t dare to be careless at anytime, let alone in a completely unfamiliar environment.

Once in a while somebody walked past near him, as long as they didn’t walk towards here, Zheng Tan wouldn’t run away. He tried to conserve his energy, since these were not the days where he could just go home and open up the fridge when he was hungry.

Quiet footsteps sounded, or to say, it was only the sound of feet rubbing against the grass when moving. Zheng Tan’s ears moved, this wasn’t human, it wasn’t a dog either, Zheng Tan knew the sound of dog paws walking on the ground, so it was of the same kind.

Zheng Tan opened his eyes and looked over, a white Persian cat strode over in elegant steps towards him.

Many peoples said that Persian cats was born with a pampered look, giving people a magnificent and noble feeling, like an aristocrat, nothing that native cats can compete with.

Zheng Tan didn’t care if it was aristocratic or not, in that moment he stared at the cat tag on the Persian cat’s neck. The tip of his tail swung in the air, it sounds like a good plan…

Even if his fur was clean, it still offered him no security, that was not the fastest way that people in the metropolis differentiated between domesticated cats and strays. Cat tags were like people’s ID cards, in cities like this they played a large role and could sometimes change the attitude of passer-by towards you.

With a cat tag, it proves that the owner attached great importance to the cat and also tells people that this cat has someone backing it.

To breakaway from the stray cat impression, Zheng Tan must start from a cat tag, since he didn’t have an exotic cat appearance, it would only take two rolls and some dust on him, to make people think that he was a stray.

That Persian cat didn’t know Zheng Tan’s thoughts, didn’t feel Zheng Tan’s existence and definitely didn’t know that someone was having ideas about it’s cat tag. It continued to stride it’s elegant steps towards the large trees, walked over and rubbed against the trees, sharpened it’s claws, took a piss, and circled out it’s territory. No matter how elegant a cat was, it still cannot escape some natural instincts.

Zheng Tan was no longer laying down, he quietly shifted over from the branches and waited there.

That elegant Persian cat was still immersed in it’s own little world, after it had finished circling ground it probably planned to go to the pond over there and look at the fishes. Just as it curved it’s tail and walked past the tree that Zheng Tan was sheltering on, Zheng Tan caught that opportunity and jumped over.

When he was at the eastern courtyard, Zheng Tan watched Tiger, Sheriff and others play around and fighting. He knew that cats used those techniques most frequently, either scratch, using the force of whipping a spinning top to swing slaps, or hug the opponent tight and bite at it, then landing a series of kicks with their legs.

Therefore, to prevent these situations from happening, after Zheng Tan jumped over, he rode on it’s back and didn’t give this Persian cat an opportunity to get up.

The Persian cat struggled with all it’s might, making angry sounds of “meow” but it was no competitor for Zheng Tan’s strength.

Zheng Tan pressed it against the ground while freeing a claw to untie the cat collar around it’s neck.

The cat collar was made of leather, the type that buckled up like a belt. It wasn’t the elastic one that Zheng Tan had worn before, even the cat tag was the colour of rose gold, metallically engraved.

To hold a cat down and in the same time not causing any internal injuries or broken bones, was indeed difficult to control his forces applied, especially with the long and thick fur of this cat. The arm that he pressed easily slips, Zheng Tan wasted quite a lot of energy. Just as he had expected, human hands were much easier to press a cat, cat claws were no where as agile as hands. He was almost flipped over and scratched by this cat several times when loosening the collar.

This cat looked quite mild tempered, but when it was restrained it was extremely irritable.

“Meow—” The Persian cat pressed against the ground bellowed, as if it was about to immediately scratch at Zheng Tan, it’s voice was filled with anger.

‘To hell with your meow! I am just borrowing your cat tag for some use! Play nice and hand me the tag and you will be fine.’

With that grand appearance, no one would consider it a stray even without a cat tag, besides it’s owner will definitely get it a new one after this one was lost.

To ensure his safety, Zheng Tan could only rob this buddy.

“Huh, what’re those two cats doing? Fighting?” A little girl’s voice traveled from not far from here.

Zheng Tan glanced over there, there were two little children, not as big as Jiao Yuan. The girl that just spoke was around the same age as Youzi. There was a pond between them and where Zheng Tan was at, so Zheng Tan wasn’t worried about them running over straightaway.

Beside the little girl stood a boy around ten years old, he saw the situation over by Zheng Tan’s side and immediately covered the girl’s eyes, “Oh my god, under broad daylight, shameful!”

Zheng Tan: “…”

Shame your ass!

What was that brat thinking?!

After watching the two kids run into the distance, Zheng Tan continued to battle with the collar.

After finally untying the collar on this Persian’s neck with some difficulty, Zheng Tan gripped the cat collar and retreated. However, the Persian cat didn’t attack Zheng Tan when it got up, arching it’s back and it looked at Zheng Tan cautiously then ran off, probably seeking some comfort back home.

Taking the collar in his mouth, Zheng Tan climbed onto the tree. He adjusted the tightness and made sure that he could take it off at any time, this way it looked a little looser. The shiny cat tag against black fur was too obtrusive, but it was better than nothing.

Bending his claws, Zheng Tan hooked up the cat tag and took a look, on it engraved that Persian cat’s name.

“Katy?”

This name is so freaking high-end fancy, but the problem was isn’t it odd to name their male cat with that name? Zheng Tan felt that “Caesar” was much more domineering.

Who cares, guess he had to make do.

After adjusting the collar, Zheng Tan didn’t put it on straightaway, instead he hid it somewhere then walked around the district. He found a household and climbed in to “obtain” some food to eat.

There was only one person living in that house and was taking a nap, Zheng Tan didn’t disturb that person. He came out after he was full, wearing the cat collar around his neck he walked out of the district.