Strange Life of a Cat

Zheng Tan felt that Fang Shao Kang guy was quite flaky.

That guy entered the town and when by some coincidence he walked past a bicycle shop, he suddenly came up with the idea of buying a bicycle. In fact, this rascal hadn’t rode a bicycle for a long time, even on road trips he would drive on four wheels.

The shop owner had been promoting for almost half a day, but Fang Shao Kang didn’t buy the brand new so-called most advanced design mountain bike, in the end he only bought a second-hand one.

Although it was only second-hand, it was a mountain bike anyhow. The owner was not too happy on the surface because Fang Shao Kang didn’t buy a new bike, but since he still made a sale, he checked the bike again.

Fang Shao Kang took a look at the black cat that was squatting not far from him, then at the bike that was being examined, and said to the owner: “Hey boss, add a front basket for me. ”

The bicycle store owner looked at Fang Shao Kang strangely, he probably didn’t think that anyone would propose such a demand. Usually the people who bought this kind of bike used them for sport, who would add a bicycle basket to it, to buy groceries? Either way, since the customer asked, he wouldn’t reject them, he could earn some dimes from a bicycle basket.

Maintaining work ethics, the owner asked anyways: “Do you want to install a basket to put cargo in there?”

Fang Shao Kang pondered for a second and then nodded his head, ” Yes.”

“How heavy?”

“Probably not too heavy.”

Then the owner stopped talking. If it was only for cargo and it’s not something heavy, there was no need to remodel much, a random basket installed will do.

After finishing checking and installing the basket, one took the money, the other got the goods.

Mounting the bike, Fang Shao Kang felt great about himself, it was as if he had returned to his days of youth, suddenly he started to look forward to the journey ahead.

Zheng Tan squatted on the side and watched this Fang named uncle who was being narcissistic, he couldn’t understand why this Fang guy would choose this lifestyle. From the phone call with Papa Jiao, Zheng Tan heard some hints of respect from Zhao Le’s tone, it wasn’t the false sense of affection to express politeness but real respect. This means that this Fang guy probably had some background, at least he was not short of money, but what was the cause of this thirty almost forty year old guy to choose this life experience? Making himself look like a castaway.

As Zheng Tan wandered, Fang Shao Kang already rode the bike over. He stopped before Zheng Tan, patting the basket he said with a sense of pride: “Cargo, aboard!”

Zheng Tan: “…” Cargo your ass!

They would move from this small town to another city, the next stop was a large metropolis, the road conditions would probably be much better.

Hopping inside the basket of the bicycle, Zheng Tan felt a little uncomfortable but he couldn’t tell why, either way it was nowhere near as comfortable as squatting inside the basket of the children’s bike.

Fang Shao Kang carried the luggage on his back and rode towards the direction out of the city. The road inside the city was smooth, but when you got out, it was completely different.

There was indeed a road made between this small town and the metropolis at the next stop, but it was an expressway. You can drive on that in a car, but when you’re riding a bike it was a different story.

If they couldn’t take the expressway, they would have to take the national highway, but this length of the journey wasn’t completely on the national highway. To experience the feeling of a mountain bike journey, Fang Shao Kang chose a country lane after getting out of the city, after finishing this area of country road then they would go on the national highway.

It was that section of country road upon which Zheng Tan’s experience of suffering began.

The front of the mountain bike had shock absorption design unlike normal bicycles. The owner of the bicycle shop didn’t make too many adjustments when installing the basket, therefore the stress was all on Zheng Tan.

The bicycle traveled along the country road, which was full of potholes made up of pebbles and mud. When it became turbulent, Zheng Tan felt the basket move up and down in intense movements more uncomfortable than when he rode Wei Lin’s bicycle, his head became dizzy from the shaking.

Fang Shao Kang on the other hand didn’t feel too uncomfortable, he was still in the newfangled stage and his mood was high. He was humming tunes until he felt the movements in the basket.

Zheng Tan had to jump with all his might inside the basket to catch Fang Shao Kang’s attention. When Fang Shao Kang got off the bike, he jumped off the basket straightaway. When he landed he was still slightly faint-headed and almost lost his balance.

“What’s wrong?” Fang Shao Kang looked at Zheng Tan who was scratching his ears while crouching on the side of the road, his face filled with displeasure. He looked at the basket, his lifted his hands and pulled at the basket then took a look at the front fork. It was then did he recall the words of the bicycle store owner, so that’s where the problem was.

“The basket was uncomfortable?” Fang Shao Kang thought for a moment, “how about squatting in my bag?”

In the end, Zheng Tan didn’t get inside the large backpack, instead he stood on the backpack. He had claws which could hook onto the backpack, so he couldn’t go as far as falling off and he wasn’t shook around like he was in the basket, he could even step on Fang Shao Kang’s head.

Having his head stepped on twice, Fang Shao Kang felt that the cat must have done it on purpose, no wonder people say that cats were vengeful. He better buy a hat next time in town otherwise the cat would really revolt against him, he as the young master Fang had never been stepped on the head like this.

Off this country road and onto the national highway felt much better, it wasn’t jolting anymore, Zheng Tan could even nap on the bag for a while.

Zheng Tan had become comfortable but Fang Shao Kang began to feel the strain, the freshness had passed and he start to tire. The backpack had some weight to it plus a cat which made it even heavier.

After continuously riding for many hours, he found a spot to rest midway. When they embarked on the journey again, under Fang Shao Kang’s complaint, Zheng Tan went back to squatting in the basket to lighten the load for uncle Fang.

The national highway’s road condition compared to the country road was by all means much better, so Zheng Tan didn’t object.

So just like that, they constantly rode and stopped, only at sunset did they arrive at the city.

They found a small motel to settle in. Due to not knowing if the motel owner allowed cats, Zheng Tan was hidden in the backpack and taken in. The room wasn’t too big, a single-bed room, but other facilities were complete.

Fang Shao Kang rode the bike for half the day, and was now all worn out and about to lie down. However, before he did, he took out the DSLR and looked at the photos he took today and took some notes in a small booklet.

As Fang Shao Kang organized the photos and the records, Zheng Tan ran to the bathroom, filled the bathtub with water and adjusted it’s temperature. Then he began to immerse himself in the bath.

It had been a while since he last bathed, plus the ride in the basket today was too tiring, Zheng Tan decided to relax himself and have a good bath. The main purpose, however, was to drown the nits on his body. Towards nits, Zheng Tan was helpless. They couldn’t be eradicated completely, even if he didn’t contact any other animal he could still contract some from the grass.

He squeezed some shower gel and carelessly rubbed it on himself, then he began to swim. According to his current size, the bathtub could actually be said to be a small swimming pool for Zheng Tan.

‘After all, being human is the best, there’s not that high a chance of catching fleas.’ Zheng Tan thought in his mind.

When Fang Shao Kang finished arranging his things and entered the bathroom, he immediately saw that black cat swimming in the bathtub and looking like it was in great comfort. Hell, it even squeezed some shower gel!

Fang Shao Kang had friends that kept cats, so he heard that most cats don’t like to take a bath. Just like Zhao Le had said, this cat was very special.

‘Black cats are so abnormal.’ Fang Shao Kang secretly thought.

After Zheng Tan finish bathing, he found the blow-dryer to dry his furs. The blow-dryer was left flat on the table, he pushed the button to turn it on and adjusted to warm wind mode. Then Zheng Tan moved around, changed angles himself to dry himself. It was a little cumbersome, but at least it did the job.

Fang Shao Kang came out from the bathroom. He looked at the only bed and the black cat that was lying in the middle, and was left dumbstruck. A cat forcibly occupying his territory was freaking annoying.

The next day, the cat and the person slept till almost mid-noon.

Zheng Tan was alright, he took a bath, removed nits and had a pleasant sleep. He was filled with energy.

Fang Shao Kang was feeling very differently. He felt a sharp throbbing pain on his back and neck, his lumbar vertebrae were also aching — the aftereffects of cycling. Riding mountain bikes and traveling long distances had some special details to pay attention to, from the bike to the posture of humans, Fang Shao Kang knew nothing, so naturally this would be the result.

After eating lunch, Fang Shao Kang and Zheng Tan went out the door.

Fang Shao Kang wanted to look around and get to know this city. Zheng Tan didn’t have anything that he was particularly interested in, so he treated this as a free holiday.

The camera was hanging around Fang Shao Kang’s neck so Zheng Tan stayed inside the bag, peeping out through the zipper of the bag as usual.

At this time, many of the major inland cities hadn’t constructed their subways yet, their city development was nowhere near what it would become in a few years time.

Zheng Tan turned his nose up to many of these things right now, he only came along in boredom to look around and find some way to kill time. He had no idea what Fang Shao Kang was looking at, but he was being attentive.

Around nightfall, Fang Shao Kang came to a square. There were quite a lot of people there, in the distance was the shopping district. There were some people dancing in the square, some were groups made up of young people, there were also some middle aged ladies.

The environment was quite rowdy, Fang Shao Kang probably didn’t want to stay here any longer, he planned to leave.

Just before he left, Zheng Tan’s attention was caught by a strum of guitar cords. Fang Shao Kang evidently noticed too, and began to walk towards that direction.

In one corner of the square, there were some young people singing and being watching nearby. Although there weren’t many, there were still some people who was throwing money before them.

Fang Shao Kang watched for a while and walked over when they were taking a rest to have a chat.

These five youngsters were not from this city and weren’t from the same place either, they met here. They got along well and prepared to form a band. They were in the age of secondary high school students, still underage. Yet, they didn’t go to school because they said they liked music too much and wanted to strike out on their own and see the world through their own eyes.

Many people in their youth had dreams of roving around and a heart of wanderlust. This sort of drifting was a yearning for freedom, a pursuit of their fantasies, there’s nothing that can stop a young, restless heart that knew nothing of the immensity of heaven and earth.

Zheng Tan vaguely remembered a drifting singer that he had seen before, twenty something years of age with a guitar on his back. He sang in every corner of the city and was sometimes invited by small bars to sing. When people think of drifting singers, it was usually “a bird of passage, lead a wondrous life” that kind of impression. As to drifting singers, Zheng Tan’s sight only fell on that dire figure and didn’t have too many memories.

That time, Zheng Tan frequented places like Clubhouses and KTV, he didn’t have the heart to listen to the howling of street performers and held a contemptuous attitude to drifting singers. Sometimes he would act as a philanthropist in front of pretty girls and scatter some money, but it wasn’t a spiritual enjoyment, to be accurate it was just a pastime.

“I need people’s appreciation, not their pity. We’re not as unkempt as people imagine, street art is not swinging some fleas out of the hair…” The youngster that was chatting with Fang Shao Kang said, sharing his thoughts.

“How much would people like you earn everyday?” Fang Shao Kang asked.

The youngster scratched his head and was a little embarrassed, “It’s unfixed. I used to earn little when I was alone, I could only get the money for a train ticket after a few days of work. But it’s better now, we only sing here for a while, we contacted a small pub the day before yesterday. We’re going to go there later and sing, it’s a little early right now we’re just practicing here.”

Fang Shao Kang looked at the coins thrown on the ground, thoughts began to ran in his mind. Before he left, he rented a guitar from a shop. It wasn’t a really good guitar, it couldn’t even compete with the ones in those kids’ hands.

At night time, they returned to the motel. Fang Shao Kang tried the guitar out, initially he was a little awkward, but slowly he began to get the hang of it, clearly he had played it before.

Zheng Tan was about to sleep when he was called over by Fang Shao Kang.

“Charcoal, let’s sell our talents tomorrow!”

Zheng Tan:”…” Why on earth would he suddenly have such an idea?

“I heard that lots of people bring their pets along to perform, they earns a lot of money. Here, I have something specially prepared for you!”

As he finished talking, Fang Shao Kang took out an empty glass container, and in his other hand a steel spoon that god knows where he had found. He struck the container with the spoon, making a “ting” jingling sound.

Glancing at the container and the spoon, Zheng Tan knew what Fang Shao Kang wanted but he pretended that he couldn’t understand.

Seeing that the cat didn’t have any reactions, Fang Shao Kang thought, ‘that’s not right, Zhao Le said this cat can understand humans. It’s really capable, anything you want to express you can just tell it, there’s no need to use food as a decoy.”

After a moment of silence, Fang Shao Kang said, “didn’t they say you were quite smart? You can’t even do this? You are not as miraculous as Zhao Le claimed.”

Prodding him into action didn’t work. Zheng Tan lowered his head and pretended he didn’t know.

“How about his, see, I don’t have a lot of spare money at hand. Just look at this motel that we’re living in, such a poor condition. Tomorrow we go and perform on the streets, if we earn a lot, we will move to a better hotel, the one with two beds in a room. One for each of us, lots of room, there’s no need to crowd or fight over pillows and sheets, much more comfortable, how’s that?”

This time Zheng Tan really started to consider. Fang Shao Kang said he doesn’t have spare money doesn’t mean he doesn’t have money, so that sentence Zheng Tan considers him to be bullsh*ting. However, Zheng Tan was completely willing to change to a better hotel, this place has flies and mosquitoes, so annoying and noisy.

“Plus, if we did earn money, we go by car to the next city and stop riding.”

Zheng Tan threw a look at Fang Shao Kang, he believed that he would stop cycling. Fang Shao Kang had a rough time cycling and didn’t want to do it again, but now he uses this as a condition. Nevertheless, even if this was the case Zheng Tan wanted to try. He’s afraid that with a twitch in Fang Shao Kang’s brain, he would plan to walk by foot, that would be a tragedy. He saw Fang Shao Kang looking through a shop that sells tent today, he probably had that idea in his mind.

Fang Shao Kang beat the glass container with the spoon twice, then placed the spoon before Zheng Tan, waiting for him to make the decision.

Zheng Tan poked the spoon, indicating that even if he was willing to try the spoon was too hard to hold.

“Oh, and there’s this!” Fang Shao Kang took out paper roll core, taped it onto the spoon with sticky tape. The paper roll was just big enough for Zheng Tan to fit an arm through.

Zheng Tan stared at Fang Shao Kang, this guy came prepared. He threaded his arm through the paper roll, when he lifted his arm the spoon was lifted at the same time, then he struck the glass container.

“Ting!”

A crisp and clear sound.

“Yes yes, just like that, now, I sing one line, you strike once.” Fang Shao Kang strummed the metal strings of the guitar and began to sing, “Twinkle twinkle little star~”

Zheng Tan:”…” So imbecilic.

Seeing Fang Shao Kang was looking at him, Zheng Tan took a deep breath, then beat the spoon at it.

“Ting!”

“Good! Continue! How I wonder what you are~”

“Ting!”

“Up against the sky so high~”

“Ting!

…

They practiced cooperating until around eleven in the night. The person next door couldn’t take it anymore and went over knocking at the doors and cursing at them, only then did the cat and the person stop.

The next day, Zheng Tan was dragged by Fang Shao Kang to continue practicing. After eating lunch at noon, they took a nap and rested, then went out the door around four with all the stuff.

The sky wasn’t dark yet, the crowd began to gather around the square.

In that corner, the five youngsters that they saw yesterday were there again. After tuning, they began to sing. The songs that they sang included music that were currently in trend as well as some classics, they were all songs that young people liked, filled with liveliness.

Fang Shao Kang looked over there, then finding a spot with no people, placed the cardboard box that he prepared at the front .

There was an opening on the cardboard box, Zheng Tan felt that it was like a donation box and he was the poor cat that needed people show mercy to.

People nearby saw the situation over here and all walked over.

This fellow, Fang Shao Kang, wore a hat, his beard hadn’t been shaved for a few days, there was no way of seeing his actual appearance. Zheng Tan felt that he must have done it on purpose.

Arranging the box, Fang Shao Kang also set a glass container on the side, then he took out a guitar. Leaning against a light post he began to fiddle with the guitar.

People’s curious eyes around here made Zheng Tan’s face heat up, whether it was being a human before or as a cat now, he had never performed in the full blaze of publicity. This made him feel awkward, it was okay when they were at the motel since there was no one watching, but now under the watchful eyes of so many people, Zheng Tan felt like the spoon weighed tons

He really didn’t want to touch that stuff!

Not far in the distance, the five youngsters finish singing “Glorious Years”, and noticed things over here.

“Hey! We’re about to start!” Fang Shao Kang notified Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan tugged his ears, it felt wrong to back out now, it felt like shirking. After some psychological development, Zheng Tan extended his arm inside the paper roll with the spoon.

The number of curious people began to gather in greater numbers, Fang Shao Kang began to strum the guitar as well, his skills were nothing compared to the youngsters’.

After the prelude, Fang Shao Kang’s bold voice sounded.

“Travel around — the lengthy road and the never-ending water~”

Zheng Tan bit the bullet, holding up the spoon and beat it against the container.

“Ting!”

“Wandering aimlessly from one village to another~”

“Ting!”

“Watching the slanted sun set and rise again~”

“Ting~”

“Long live the land and the sky as days stretched long and long…”

When Fang Shao Kang began to sing the first line, one of the young people over there that was drinking snorted the water out straightaway. No one had thought that this man would sing this song under the condition of guitar accompaniment.

The performance was terrible and the singing sucked, but the crowd grew nevertheless. Moreover, many people began to throw their money inside that box.

Zheng Tan felt that he was like an idiot, no, Fang Shao Kang and him were both idiots!

A moronic human, an idiotic cat, and this dumbass street performing experience.