Chapter 10: Hey hey……grass

()Zheng Tan squatted on a tree; this was a suitable spot he had finally found.

A few households were 200 meters away, with two homes still having lights on, and occasionally voices could be heard. Most of the surrounding area was farmland, but Zheng Tan could see, using the not-too-bright starlight, that there were actually few crops in the fields. This area was likely to be demolished soon.

After shifting to a more comfortable posture and lying down, Zheng Tan closed his eyes to rest, ears perked up; outside, he dared not be careless.

The last light went out, and from afar came some cat calls; occasionally, one or two dog barks sounded from the residents' side.

The temperature in the suburbs was slightly lower than in Chu Hua; the wind made Zheng Tan feel a bit cold, and that drowsy feeling was blown away by the gusts.

Just as Zheng Tan was wondering whether to find something to do, he heard a slight movement—footsteps, very light, but still discernible to a cat.

Zheng Tan looked from between the leaves toward the direction of the footsteps and saw a person wearing a loose hoodie, one hand in a pocket that seemed to hold something, the other hand carrying a small shovel, walking over.

That person wore a hat; Zheng Tan couldn't see their face or tell their gender, but usually those who dare come out alone at this time are male, right? Looking at this posture…… could they be going to kill and bury a body?

Zheng Tan's curiosity surged, but he didn't dare follow rashly; even as a cat, he couldn't be sure he wouldn't be silenced.

The direction the person headed was toward some dilapidated tile houses; that area had likely been uninhabited for a while, with weeds everywhere.

Seeing the person stop in front of a half-collapsed small tile house, Zheng Tan prepared to squat here and watch; after all, the distance wasn't great.

The person squatted in a wall corner, back to Zheng Tan, doing something unknown. Zheng Tan heard no brick striking, but there was a faint sound of glassware clinking.

Until the sky began to lighten slightly, the person finally left the ruined tile house; Zheng Tan jumped down to take a look, but didn't dare get too close, because he smelled a foul odor, like pesticide.

Zheng Tan was curious, but he valued his life more; even a cat's life is his own life.

While the residents were still asleep, Zheng Tan slipped into a household's courtyard, found a faucet and washed his paws to avoid getting pesticide-laden mud from the ruined tile house stuck on them. The water was too cold, and there was no paper towel to wipe with; Zheng Tan didn't want to lick them himself, so he looked around, glanced at the clothes hanging outside that household, and then wiped his paws on a long dress made of the best fabric, scrubbing his paw pads against it, leaving a series of gray marks. After cleaning his paws, he casually reached into that household's courtyard, hooked down a persimmon from the persimmon tree, washed it, and carried it off in his mouth.

From next door came a few dog barks; likely Zheng Tan's movements were heard by the dogs there, the sound somewhat immature, probably a young pup not yet grown.

When Zheng Tan returned to that tree, the sky was already much brighter.

Not long after, voices came from the residents' side—shouting and scolding—because of the skirt Zheng Tan had used to wipe his paws.

As the sun rose, the temperature gradually rose.

Feeling the warmth of sunlight on his body, Zheng Tan yawned, stretched, tore open a packet of thumb-sized biscuits, began his breakfast; if they were too dry, he would gnaw on the persimmon.

A brown-gray little earth dog ran out of the house and frolicked in the field; this was likely the one whose slightly immature bark we had heard earlier.

In the unmanaged field, several hens were pecking; the little earth dog ran over and chased the hens, making them cluck. One plump hen squatted motionless as the dog rushed past; after the dog passed, it paused briefly beside the plump hen, rubbed up and symbolically bit twice—likely not even breaking the skin—then resumed chasing the other hens, chasing and running ever more.

Whenever the plump hen saw the little earth dog chasing it, it immediately squatted and stayed still, each time successfully avoiding being chased around.

Sure enough, Da Pang also had great wisdom.

The little earth dog, tired from chasing chickens, trotted along the field's edge with its tongue out. Suddenly its ears twitched; it stopped, looked around, glanced toward Zheng Tan's side, then sprinted over here.

Zheng Tan bit the thumb-sized biscuit, making a crunching sound, watched the little earth dog circling the tree below while barking and running in circles, tossed down the remaining sliver of biscuit about the length of a fingernail; the dog paused, then approached, nose pressed to the ground sniffing, found the bit of biscuit in the grass, curled its tongue, and ate it.

After finishing, the little earth dog looked up at Zheng Tan chewing the biscuit in the tree, its little tail wagging happily.

Each time, Zheng Tan gnawed a thumb-sized biscuit down to a tiny bit with crunching sounds before tossing it down, then watched the little earth dog wag its tail searching in the grass, or sometimes half‑rise to catch the biscuit mid‑air.

Zheng Tan was enjoying himself, and without noticing, the bag of thumb-sized biscuits was almost empty. Just as he was about to remark on it, he suddenly heard the sound of a lighter being struck nearby.

Zheng Tan startled—when had someone come near?!

Following the sound of the lighter, Zheng Tan looked over and saw a person dressed like a laborer; even with a change of clothes, Zheng Tan recognized them.

It was that man who was looking for the guinea pig!

The little earth dog had also just noticed the stranger nearby and barked 'woof woof woof' straight at them.

Zheng Tan curled his lip. 'You glutton, what's the use of barking now?!'

However, the little earth dog didn't last long; under that person's gaze, it tucked its tail and ran.

Zheng Tan dared not run; he wasn't confident he could escape successfully.

Using constancy to meet change, he wondered what this person actually wanted to do, or whether to pretend not to know—after all, there are many black cats in the world. Zheng Tan pondered.

The person blew a smoke ring, looked at Zheng Tan, and said: 'Even without a cat tag I recognize you. How awful, teasing a little dog.'

Numbness—indeed not easy to fool!

Zheng Tan tugged his ears, tensed his muscles. Although this person's aura was now relatively calm, his first impression of them was too bad, so he had to stay on guard.

The person smoked, casually uttered a few words, then suddenly asked: 'Were you here all last night? Did you see any strange person?'

A strange person? Could it be referring to the one in the hoodie?

'You really have seen them!'

Wei Leng read the answer from the subtle shifts in this cat's eyes and expression. Originally he had just asked a probing question, not really expecting any useful information from this cat, but to his surprise the cat had indeed seen them!

'Fine, I won't ask about anything else—I just want to know what that guy actually did, or what he hid?' Wei Leng held the cigarette in his mouth, spread his hands, indicating he truly meant no harm.

Zheng Tan thought, then lifted his chin and pointed toward the ruined tile house.

'Thanks!'

As Zheng Tan decided to make a quick exit, Wei Leng, who was walking toward the ruined tile house, called out: 'Don't go yet—I still have a few questions for you; if you run, I'll catch you and bring you back—do you believe me?'

Zheng Tan felt a flash of silver light, and a thin metal sheet was now embedded in the road before him.

Zheng Tan stared at the metal sheet still trembling in front of his paws, shook his whiskers, squatted on the spot, lifted his paw and flicked the metal sheet; his heart filled with awe, he glanced sideways at the person by the ruined tile house, and thought, 'How could something the hoodie‑wearer hid for so long be found so easily?'

Five minutes later, Wei Leng, with a gloved hand, held a brown glass jar; his other hand held a phone.

'Hey, I've got good news to tell you…… I said, there's good news…… Did you hear it? Hey…… hey…… I said your side…… damn!'

Just as this side hung up the phone, it rang again with an incoming call tone.

'Hey…… I said, this side has a few clues…… hey……'

A location description and a brief account of the matter were spoken for ten minutes, repeated over and over, leaving Zheng Tan exhausted from listening.

Zheng Tan roughly estimated that, in those ten minutes, the person spent most of the time saying three words—'hey hey'—and then 'damn'.

Wei Leng finally managed to finish explaining, relievedly shoved the phone into his pocket, 'Damn, this cheap little walkie‑talkie!'

Looking at Zheng Tan still squatting in place, Wei Leng nodded, 'Come with me for a trip—don't think about running, otherwise I'll block you at Chu Hua Da Xue; you actually live over there, right? I don't believe you'd keep staying away.'

Zheng Tan: '……' This trip out really is damned unlucky!

'You wait here, I'll go get the car.' Having said that, Wei Leng took the jar and ran.

Zheng Tan waited there for two or three minutes, then saw that person coming along the rough stone path, joltingly riding a pink-painted women's bicycle.

This damn thing is the vehicle that a big old guy 'drove' here?!

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Thanks to red00fox, Lian Dong Feng Sheng, Wan Fu, Xue¤Rongyao, Ye Wen Xiao Ciwei, lazyorange, and Ruoshui Nianhua for the rewards! Thanks to Ruoshui Nianhua for casting three rating votes! Thanks to everyone for all kinds of support and help!

Regarding the door-opening issue mentioned in the previous chapter, it will actually be written later, but since so many people are discussing it, I'll explain it here: in the past, many households had double-door setups, with a metal grille security door on the outside and a wooden door inside; using the metal grille security door to open the door is not difficult.

PS: That guy who checks 'No Lower Limit to IQ' once a day, is he interesting?

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