Strange Life of a Cat

Zheng Tan was too concentrated on staring at the phone that he didn’t notice the three puppies and the cat all ran towards that direction.

The person finished his call, squat down and scratched the chin of the cat that was rubbing against him, then looked in surprise at the three puppies.

Seeing a stranger, the puppies didn’t immediately move close. They inched forward, then quickly backed up a few steps, the biggest one even barked twice with a dignified “woof woof”. However, due to being too small, their paces were unsteady when running, causing them to trip on their own feet and roll across the ground.

“Hey, whose puppies are these, running off to here?” The person pulled a strand of grass and planned to play around with the puppies but was intercepted by the cat next to him.

Patting his trouser, the person tucked the phone into his pocket, stood up and walked towards the three puppies.

Aware of the stranger approaching, the three puppies cried “woof woof”, turned and quickly ran back. They didn’t go straight inside the cage but ran next to the Pagoda tree and barked at Zheng Tan who was hiding on the tree.

Zheng Tan wanted to smash his head against the trunk.

‘What’s the freaking use of you guys barking at me! My plans are all ruined!’

Initially Zheng Tan had two plans in mind, one was to follow this guy and find a chance to commit the act. The other was in this exact location, waiting when he’s distracted then find a stick, knock him out and rob the phone, since Zheng Tan had already committed robbery under broad daylight, he didn’t mind doing it a few more times.

However, these two plans were now all destroyed by the three puppies!

Zheng Tan felt that after exposing himself, the chance of succeeding would diminish by a lot, so now he felt extremely displeased. Watching the three puppies that were barking beneath the Pagoda tree, Zheng Tan wanted to give them each a slap.

So f*cking unlucky!

Fang Shao Kang only came out to make a phone call, he never thought he could see three puppies. Anyhow, it’s quite a distance from the village, who would let their puppies run off this far? Guarding the orchard? Such small puppies can guard the orchard?

Besides, from what Fang Shao Kang heard from the past few days, the two dogs that were guarding the orchard was male, where would the puppies come from? Did someone catch these recently?

Fang Shao Kang followed in curiosity, this orchard belonged to the family that hosted him, he never heard the owner mentioning that they caught new puppies.

Seeing three puppies calling up the tree, Fang Shao Kang became even more confused, he tilted his head and look up at the Pagoda tree.

Although it was not that evident from a distance, but now that he got close and had a better look, he could see the black furs between the leaves.

Cat?

A dog definitely can’t climb that high, and it can’t possibly be a black panther otherwise how could the three puppies still be alive? So it could only be a cat.

However, the problem was why were the three puppies calling at the cat on the tree?

Interesting!

Zheng Tan knew he was detected and didn’t intend to jump off like that. One must be vigilant so as not to be harmed, it was much safer to hide up the tree.

The three puppies cried out for a long time but seeing that Zheng Tan didn’t make a move, they began to whine again.

Fang Shao Kang looked around and found the disguised dog cage, he became more puzzled at heart.

Despite being puzzled, Fang Shao Kang still left, the cat following him into the distance.

Zheng Tan waited for the person to walk away before jumping off the tree, the puppies stopped whining and immediately moved closer. The outcome was that each of them received a slap from Zheng Tan. Zheng Tan didn’t use too much strength, that small of a puppy, any harder Zheng Tan suspected the slap would make them dumb.

The three puppies, on the other hand, thought Zheng Tan was playing with them, they grinned from ear to ear and came closer again.

Zheng Tan felt that they were too annoying, so he climbed up the tree again. Thoughts ran in his mind, if he ever saw a villager with a phone alone, he would use blunt force to solve the problem .

Less than half an hour later, Zheng Tan saw the person walking over again. This time he had a bowl of congee in his hand, there wasn’t egg yolk inside the congee but meat.

Fang Shao Kang carried the bowl over and placed it before the three puppies.

The puppies had already smelled the scent from a mile away, they swiftly ran over and began to eat sloppily.

Zheng Tan twitched his mouth, despite being a little displeased that the puppies easily trusted this person and even began to eat, it also saved him from running out at night and stealing food for them.

The three puppies ate in a fury, soon the bottom of the bowl was showing, they even licked the bowl clean.

“Wow, there really are dogs here!” A young man of around twenty years of age walked over with a shovel. Seeing that the puppies had backed away, he pondered then placed the shovel aside with a smile, and walked back empty-handed.

“Finished planting trees?” Fang Shao Kang asked.

“Finished, I wonder how the so-called new species of tangerine would turn out.” The young man wiped his sweat, leaned against the trunk, and said.

“These dogs don’t look like native dogs.” Fang Shao Kang pointed at the three puppies who were playing with each other.

“Yeah, they’re mixed breed, mongrels. The Dogo owned by the village chief’s son probably gave birth to these. I heard yesterday that they threw the puppies away, I never thought that I would see them here.” The young man lightened his mood while talking about this, the tiredness that he had from planting the trees was swept away.

“Dogo? I remembered someone saying that the chief’s son owned two Dogos, one female and one male.”

“Yeah, haha, everyone from our village knows that the female Dogo in his household didn’t set her eyes on the male Dogo. Fortunately for a mutt, who knows whose mutt it was, so bloody capable. When the puppies were born they could use the excuse of the puppies being too young, unable to see the features to fool people around. But when they grew even bigger and bigger, they resembled a mutt even more, they would even run around. They can’t hide it anymore, and nobody was an idiot. Although everyone didn’t say it on the surfaced, but underneath they were all treating it as a joke. That family most likely felt embarrassed so they threw them away. Originally they were so proud of having Dogos, they even bought them back at a high price. Either way, now they are reduced to laughing stocks.” The young man laughed cheerfully.

“What should we do with them?” Fang Shao Kang asked.

The young man walked over and scooped up the biggest puppy.

“Yo, feisty!” If he didn’t have his guard up on, he would have been bitten by the puppy.

The puppy that was being lifted up saw that it hadn’t bitten him, low howling began to sound from his throat.

“This puppy isn’t too bad, but it’s probably not good to keep them in the village. The chief will definitely have something to say about this. I will call one of my friends later and ask them. They own a farm and said a few days ago that they want to buy dogs. I think these three are just right.”

“Your friend like this kind of dogs?”

“Not so much that he like this kind. He likes mutts the most, he often goes into the mountains to find those pure mutts to take back for training. Those pure mutts are quite robust, they understand humans and are smart enough, if kept long they would also become loyal. Plus, they are brave, hunting was not a problem, they could also be used as work dogs in normal circumstances. The dog that he kept was like this, although it didn’t look like much, but it’s skills were sure strong. Frequently caught rabbits to add to the meal, it definitely didn’t lose to those so-called exotic hounds of the world. Sadly, it was injured by someone during the new year’s celebration. That dog struggled back with a sedative needle on it’s back, it died as soon as it came home, it couldn’t make it. He was upset for a long time about that, so many months . He didn’t get another dog for this long, I only heard a few days ago that he wanted to buy a dog.”

The young man said while squeezing the bone structure of the puppy in his hands, examining it’s paws.

Zheng Tan felt that the person was perhaps quite satisfied with these puppies? Judging by their conversation, Zheng Tan felt that it was a rare chance that he had survived under the tranquilizer.

The young man continued to talk: “Real hounds are not identified through the eyes, it’s reflected through constant training. Of course, they must fit innate criteria as well. These are not so bad, if he wants them I will take it to him straightaway when the time comes, since if they’re left here it would hinder the chief’s eyes.”

The puppy that was set down shook it’s furs then rushed under the Pagoda tree, raised it’s head, and began to call at Zheng Tan, probably expressing that it was upset.

“What’s wrong with that puppy? Why is it calling up the tree?” The young man said.

“There’s a black cat up there.” Fang Shao Kang extended his finger and pointed up.

The young man shook his head, “There’s no one in the village that owned black cats. Some said that black cats bring misfortune, and didn’t keep them, even if they did have black cats they would send it away or discard it.”

“The three puppies are probably retrieved by that black cat on the tree.” Fang Shao Kang explained.

“…Black cats are so abnormal, they even retrieve puppies.” The young man didn’t pay too much attention on whether the comment on black cats were genuine, he felt more and more pleased with the three puppies by the second, “Brother Fang, I am going back to make a call.”

“Just use my phone.” Fang Shao Kang said as he prepared to dig into his pocket for the phone.

“No need, I gotta go. Brother Fang can you help to look after the puppies, don’t let anyone take them!” When he finished speaking, the young man turned, lifting his shovel he hurried home.

After the young man left, Fang Shao Kang placed his backpack down and took out a camera from the inside. He felt that it was too hot so he took off his jacket and set it on the bush nearby. The phone that was initially in the jacket’s pocket was also taken out and placed on top, he stood up and began to take photos of the surrounding scenery with his camera.

Zheng Tan took a glance at the camera in the hands of that person who was standing under the tree. It was a DSLR, back then DSLR probably belonged to the high end product category. He plays with photography?

Zheng Tan heard that those who did photography like to run around, making themselves look like a down-and-out refugee.

Who cares if that person does photography, Zheng Tan’s concentration was mainly on that phone.

Great opportunity.

How about grab the phone and run?

Zheng Tan looked at person that was taking photos,and began to slide down from the tree. Unfortunately, the person quickly turned around and came back, he walked over to the backpack and took a bottle from the side to drink, he even poured some into the puppies’ bowl.

Zheng Tan estimated the distance between him and the phone, he planned to fish the phone away when that person became distracted, but the person kept noticing him. It was hard for him to make any moves.

Fang Shao Kang finished drinking, tightened the bottle and placed it into his back. He took the phone and looked at the time.

During the process of Fang Shao Kang taking the phone to look at the time, Zheng Tan’s line of sight also moved with the phone.

“Want to play with the phone. Here, take it, go ahead.” Fang Shao Kang said then placed the phone on the ground in front of him.

Clearly Zheng Tan’s little movement back then didn’t escape his observation.

Zheng Tan looked at the person in front of him, then at the phone on the ground.

Could it be some sort of trickery?

He would give his phone to a cat to play with? Nevertheless, if he can play with a DSLR, money probably didn’t mean anything to him.

Who cares, the priority is to get in contact!

Zheng Tan swung his hand and scooped the phone over, at the same time he was paying attention to the activities of the person in front of him. Seeing that he was only sitting there and didn’t look like he was about to move, Zheng Tan placed the phone down on the ground again.

The mobile phone screen wasn’t in color, if it was in a few years time, this phone would belong to the “thief wouldn’t give a sh*t” phone series. However, logically if a person can afford a DSLR, he probably can afford to buy the new colored screen phone that just came out. Why was he still using this phone that was already worn around the edges?

Zheng Tan didn’t spend too much time wondering about this. It was this shabby phone that made Zheng Tan extremely excited. He had went through such trouble for all that time, he climbed windows, looked for a phone and even prepared to rob one with violence, now the phone was finally before his eyes!

How could he not be excited?!

But, this phone can make interstate calls, right?

It’s probably not out of credits either?

Zheng Tan looked at the person that sat there in curiosity, he lifted his paws and began to dial.

Fang Shao Kang passed the phone over out of the mentality of looking for fun after seeing that black cat staring at his phone. Who know that the cat would really began to dial, plus the number that it dialed was an interstate phone number. It probably didn’t press it randomly, the cat meant it!

Zheng Tan excitedly finish dialing the phone number, heart palpitating, he lifted his ears and waited. His tail struck the floor with a beat to reduce his stress.

Finally, the call connected after a few tones, the other end picked up.

“Hello?”

It was the sound of Papa Jiao.

After being captured for this long, he finally heard a familiar voice!

He suddenly had the touching sensation of seeing his real family.

Zheng Tan combined all his complicated emotions in his heart into one cry: “Meow–”

Fang Shao Kang: “…”