Chapter 12: Nothing Is More Annoying Than Long-Lasting Fleas

() Shake off the water on his body, pick up a stone and chase away that noisy parrot, Zheng Tan reattached the items to his neck on the tree where he hid the key and access card, slid down the tree, and trotted toward the Jiao family building.

He jumped up, swiped the access card, and ran all the way to the fifth floor.

Since it's an old building, many residents retained the lattice security doors; the Jiao family is no exception, except that the metal lattice security door lock is broken, while the staff dormitory building has relatively high safety, and this is the fifth floor, where few people usually come up, so it has never been repaired, a wooden door is sufficient.

The lattice security door leaned against the wall, wide open, to avoid blocking people coming and going; because it's been years, the door frame is covered in rust marks.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the metal lattice door, hooked onto the lattice near the lock, clung tightly, then lifted his leg and pushed against the wall. The lattice door brought Zheng Tan toward the doorway, and the rusty door hinge emitted a sharp creaking sound.

Just as he was about to reach the lock and insert the key, the door opened from inside.

Yi Xin had stayed up until nearly dawn writing his paper on Associate Professor Jiao's computer the night before, finally falling asleep on the sofa; only when he woke up bursting with the need to urinate did he get up, use the toilet, and, still half-asleep, just lay back on the sofa when he heard a commotion at the door, sprang up, and ran to open the door without even putting on his shoes. Boss Jiao had said that when his cat returned, the lattice door would make a sound.

Yi Xin had never understood the connection between Boss Jiao's cat returning and the lattice door making a sound, but when he opened the door he realized it and stood there stunned. Before him, a black cat hooked its legs and paws onto the metal strips of the lattice, holding a bunch of keys in its mouth, and, accompanied by the creaking of the lattice door hinge, moved toward the lock.

Zheng Tan apparently hadn't expected anyone to be home, looking at him with a hint of familiarity.

Zheng Tan was trying to recall who this person was, while Yi Xin remained in a dazed state; for a moment, the man and the cat stared at each other.

In the end, Zheng Tan was the first to recall the person's identity; when he had secretly been taken by Jiao Yuan and others to Boss Jiao's office before, Boss Jiao had mentioned Yi Xin to him, saying that at that time Yi Xin was leading undergraduates in an experiment, carrying samples with several graduate students toward the shared lab, and Boss Jiao, standing by the window, pointed and told Zheng Tan.

Having confirmed the person's identity, Zheng Tan saw no need to worry further; being able to enter must have had Boss Jiao's approval, and anyone who earned Boss Jiao's approval was surely trustworthy.

Zheng Tan jumped down from the lattice door and headed straight for the sofa.

To make sleeping easier, Yi Xin had moved all the snacks piled on the sofa onto the nearby chair.

Zheng Tan looked at the relocated snacks, counted them, found none missing, and immediately felt somewhat satisfied.

Yi Xin still stood where he was, dazed; although he had snapped out of the scene at the door, he was again stunned by what he saw on the chair. Yesterday, when he called Boss Jiao, Boss Jiao had told him not to eat the snacks on the sofa, and if he wanted to eat, to take those stored in the second compartment of the fridge, but not to eat any of the ones originally placed on the sofa.

During the phone call Yi Xin hadn't understood, but now he did; the cat had been staring at the snacks on the chair, tapping its chin—it was actually counting them, wasn't it?!

Zheng Tan ignored the dazed Yi Xin; he was hungry now, bit open the plastic wrapping on the pudding, and began to eat.

Yi Xin watched the black cat lying on the sofa, holding and eating the pudding, his face twitched, then he moved his legs to the bedroom and called Boss Jiao.

Zheng Tan pricked up his ears to listen to the commotion from the bedroom where the call was taking place.

Yi Xin held the phone and said 'oh, oh' twice, then turned on speakerphone, and Boss Jiao's voice came through: 'Hei Tan, answer.'

Zheng Tan lifted his head: 'Waa—'

Yi Xin: '...' The call sounded somewhat special.

"Sounds like his spirit is still good," Boss Jiao said, then told Yi Xin to turn off speakerphone, as he had a few more things to instruct Yi Xin.

Yi Xin held the phone and responded respectfully, but his expression was helpless; after hanging up, he went to the kitchen to boil water, pulled a white plastic basin from the rack, and washed it.

Before starting graduate school, Yi Xin had heard people say that when choosing an advisor, it's best to pick one whose family has enough kids and no pets, so you wouldn't have to help look after children and pets later; back then he thought they were just joking, but now it really fell to him. He doesn't need to bring the kid, but this pet…

While adjusting the water temperature, Yi Xin thought, 'I hope I won't be constantly sent over to look after the pet; when Boss Jiao returns, I'll definitely apply for a raise!'

When Zheng Tan entered the bathroom, he looked at the water in the basin, raised his palm to touch the outside of the plastic basin to test the temperature—neither hot nor cold, just right, truly befitting a researcher, his grasp of temperature was spot on. He also glanced at the dedicated body wash beside the basin, the towel stacked on the low stool, and the hair dryer placed there, then satisfiedly jumped into the plastic basin, ruffling the fur on his head with the water, then rested his chin on the basin's rim, narrowed his eyes, and began to soak.

At the door, Yi Xin felt a herd of ten thousand alpacas racing in his heart a hundred times over; he had seen relatives who kept cats get scratched bloody when bathing them, but this was the first time he'd seen a cat squinting its eyes, enjoying a bath.

No wonder… it's Boss Jiao's cat.

When Zheng Tan felt the water had grown a bit cool, he prepared to get up and dry his fur, but as he turned his head, he saw a sesame‑sized insect floating on the surface, its legs still moving.

Against the white plastic basin, the tiny insect was quite conspicuous.

At the door, Yi Xin was calculating the time; even without a thermometer he could estimate the water temperature in the basin, and he wondered why the cat hadn't come out yet. He poked his head in and saw the black cat staring at the plastic washbasin with a fierce, wrathful gaze.

What's going on now? Yi Xin recalled Boss Jiao's words, felt he hadn't missed anything, but still uneasy, he crept over cautiously. Soon Yi Xin's gaze fell on the insect on the water surface; as someone skilled at picking out bacterial colonies, he naturally couldn't miss such a tiny bug.

Damn, a flea!

What to do about a flea?

Kill it!

Then what?

I don't know.

Yi Xin wavered, ran to the bedroom to call Boss Jiao, and five minutes later came to a cabinet, opened the door, and inside were some household chemicals: two bottles of insecticide, one a well‑known pyrethroid‑type insecticide, the other unnamed. The one he was looking for was the unnamed bottle, which he guessed was one of the results of a joint insecticide project between the life sciences and chemical engineering institutes earlier; at present only some internal personnel have the right to use it.

Following Boss Jiao's instructions, Yi Xin sprayed some in several places indoors; as for Zheng Tan, he changed the water and soaked again.

The most annoying thing is long‑lasting fleas; there are also fleas in the grass around the staff quarters, but Zheng Tan had often played there recently without picking any up, and he hadn't expected to bring back a whole bunch this time on his trip—surely they came from the thick grass in the suburbs.

In the water, Zheng Tan killed every flea he found with his claws, not sparing even those that seemed already drowned; thus he soaked repeatedly for two hours before emerging, then rolled on the towel.

Yi Xin held the hair dryer to help blow dry the fur, saying, 'Hei Tan, Associate Professor Jiao said that insecticide is almost run out, so you… go find someone to get more, and by the way get some medicine to apply.'

Yi Xin didn't know why Boss Jiao would say that; he only told him to follow the cat when the time came.

Yi Xin gave himself a mental tear; looking after a pet is more draining than writing a thesis.

After his fur was mostly blown dry, Zheng Tan shook it out, walked to the door, and glanced back at Yi Xin.

Recalling Boss Jiao's words, Yi Xin hastily put down the hair dryer, followed, grabbed his keys, and opened the door.

Zheng Tan led the way ahead, with Yi Xin following behind.

Yi Xin's heart was full of doubts, but asking a cat would obviously be pointless, and keeping them bottled up was just as painful.

Zheng Tan went down two floors and stopped in front of a household on the third floor.

'Is this the place? I'll ask…'

Before Yi Xin could finish his mental preparation, Zheng Tan leapt up and smashed the household's lattice security door with a volleyball‑style spike.

'Bang!'

Yi Xin's hair almost stood on end; although he didn't know who exactly lived here, he knew most of the residents in the eastern staff quarters were senior staff, and he couldn't afford to offend them. A list flashed in his mind, and he now hoped desperately that none of those people lived here.

Zheng Tan didn't care what Yi Xin was nervously thinking; he struck again twice, each hit louder than the last.

After the third strike, someone inside finally responded.

'Coming, coming! Still knocking three times—do you think I'm deaf?'

The voice sounded like an old man's; it seemed somewhat familiar, and Yi Xin grew nervous.

The inner door opened, the lattice door lock was also pushed open, revealing a wrinkled old face.

Seeing this person, Yi Xin felt a chill run through his heart.

"Lan... Lan Lan Lan Professor!"

Looking at the stern-faced old man before him, Yi Xin felt the urge to turn and run.

Unfortunately, Zheng Tan didn't spare Yi Xin a glance, lifted his foot and walked straight in; he had no fear of this old man, who owed him a favor.

The interior was simply furnished, the floor still damp with water stains.

Although Zheng Tan had just showered and blown his fur dry, the fur on his paws wasn't completely dry; going downstairs he picked up some dust, and now he left muddy paw prints on the floor.

"You little bastard! I just mopped the floor!" Professor Lan snapped.

Zheng Tan flicked his ears, ignored him, and walked straight in.

Professor Lan glared at the swaggering figure's back as he walked in, then glanced at the cat paw prints on the floor, turned to Yi Xin and said, "You'll mop the floor later."

Yi Xin: "..."

Damn it, I hate bringing pets the most, especially cats!

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Thanks to Zhanmo van and lazyorange for the tips! Thanks to all the book friends who vote daily for Mo Mo~

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