Chapter 124

Jiao Yuan's class sports meet double championship joy continued; several kids prepared to celebrate a bit, not going to any big hotel, just going to Jiao Wei's family restaurant, and Xiong Xiong missed the pot-bottom meat there.

Jiao Yuan and four others, Shi Rui, plus Fu Lei, and several classmates had agreed to go together later to Jiao Wei's family restaurant; several parents wouldn't keep restricting them, those with something to do had already left, Jiao Ba said he would take a few kids over later, so not every adult needed to follow.

Before leaving school, Xiong Xiong went to the toilet; eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating are major human affairs; Jiao Yuan and the others, already with their backpacks, slowly walked toward the school gate, then waited outside the gate for Xiong Xiong.

Zheng Tan squatted on the school gate wall, watching students leave in twos and threes; some were still excitedly talking about today's events, some looked rather dejected. Meanwhile, Jiao Yuan and the others were discussing how to spend the few hundred yuan prize money they had received, which had already been counted toward the class fund, so they weren't willing to foot the bill for a meal for them; therefore, even if they wanted to buy something, they would first buy some basketballs, soccer balls, and the like.

"Let's also buy a few badminton rackets; they don't need to be top-notch, just usable." Shi Rui interjected. The girls don't really play basketball or soccer; at most they play volleyball and badminton.

A few teachers walked out the door, greeted Jiao Ma, presumably also acquainted with Jiao Ba, exchanged a few words, originally preparing to leave, but upon seeing Zheng Tan squatting on the wall, they pointed at him and asked Jiao Ma, "Is this your cat?"

"Yes, I came along this time to watch the sports meet." Jiao Ma said.

"Oh, that's good, hehe." The person said that and then left together with the others.

But Jiao Ba felt that the "hehe" in that person's words seemed to carry a deeper meaning. Puzzled, Jiao Ba asked Jiao Ma. Jiao Ma recounted some things from the opening ceremony onward, and Jiao Ba fell silent. No wonder those people said "hehe"—whose cat could jump onto the background wall of the reviewing stand in full view of everyone and lie there to watch the sports meet?

While they were speaking, Xiong Xiong ran out from inside; Jiao Ba handed him his backpack, as well as the two bottles of drink left by Xiong Xiong's mother.

"Let's go, kids." Jiao Ba greeted the group, and they all headed toward Jiao Wei's family restaurant.

Those with bicycles rode them; for those without, like Fu Lei, others gave them a ride; Jiao Ma rode her bike along with them. Meanwhile, Jiao Ba didn't drive today—there were many people around, many cars, it was crowded, no parking spots, so he only rode a small electric scooter.

Jiao Ba rode the small electric scooter, with Xiao Youzi sitting behind him; as for Zheng Tan, he continued to squat in the scooter's front basket. He adjusted to a more comfortable posture, resting his chin on the edge of the basket, watching the scenery recede.

"Hey, Jiao Yuan, your cat is really obedient; my family also has a cat, but if I put it in the basket it's like locking it up—it won't stay inside for a moment, even if temporarily; once the vehicle moves, it jumps out. So every time I take it for a shot, I have to put it in a cage and carry it. By the way, what brand of cat food does your cat eat? It looks really sturdy." A classmate of Jiao Yuan said. He also participated in the final relay race.

"My cat is a bit special—it doesn't eat cat food, it eats the same food we do; what we don't eat, it doesn't either." After a pause, Jiao Yuan added, "It also doesn't eat anything given by strangers."

However, Jiao Yuan's latter statement was obviously not entirely certain, but he had indeed never seen his own cat eat anything given by strangers.

Regarding this, Fu Lei deeply related, "Last time I gave it a fish head, it definitely didn't eat it."

"Does your cat catch mice?" that classmate continued to ask.

"Of course!"

The group chatted all the way, from "whose cat is better" to "how to avoid getting splashed by the water when pulling the big horn"—a topic with an enormous range.

Fortunately, it wasn't far from here, and they soon arrived at Jiao Wei's family small restaurant. Earlier, Jiao Ba's phone had died, so he used Jiao Ma's phone to call the restaurant, mentioned the matter, and Jiao Wei's father waved his hand, saying, "Fine, let them all come over!"

Only when the group arrived did they learn that Jiao Wei's father had hung a "closed for business" sign at the shop's entrance, specifically to entertain the few children.

Jiao Wei had already told his parents about the "sanitation fee," but he omitted Zheng Tan's special factor, attributing the main reason to Jiao Ba and Wei Leng. Therefore, the couple felt grateful, constantly thinking about how to thank them; after receiving the call today, they decisively hung up the closed sign and closed shop to properly entertain the few children.

"Where's Weiwei?" Jiao Ba looked around and asked.

"He joined some club or something lately; I don't know what he's been busy with, heard he stayed up late last night and only slept after ten this morning, probably still in the dorm; he said he'd come over later, so he should be up by now." Jiao Wei's mother, having just finished washing vegetables and wiping her hands on her apron, said.

Zheng Tan lay on a chair in the shop, while Shi Rui, Xiao Youzi, and Jiao Ma played cards outside; outside, Jiao Yuan's few little rascals either stood or leaned on their bicycles, chatting animatedly. Even Fu Lei, who usually pays little attention to others, gradually blended in.

Zheng Tan perked up his ears to listen, but soon lost interest; the kids' topics were meaningless, and he'd rather watch Xiao Youzi and them play cards.

After chatting with Jiao Wei's parents for a while, Jiao Ba went to the side of the table and told Jiao Ma, "I expect we'll still need to wait ten or so minutes; I'll go back to get the charger—my phone is out of power, and I still need to send these kids home later; I'm afraid that if Yuanzi has an emergency then, I won't be able to reach him."

Jiao Ma looked at her cards, nodded, indicating she understood.

Zheng Tan thought it over, stood up, jumped off the chair, and followed Jiao Ba outside; sitting here was boring, so he might as well go out for a stroll first.

Jiao Ba rode the small electric scooter, bringing Zheng Tan into Dongqu Dayuan; Zheng Tan then heard that despicable sound, and not far down below, a person stood by a tree.

Zheng Tan still recognized this person; not long after being abducted and returned, Jiao Ma had taken him to the affiliated hospital residential area, where this person lived—seemed to be called Bai Yang something, and was also a talent that Jiao Ba and Yuan Zhiyi et al. had wanted to recruit back then. Later it seemed they successfully hired him with a high salary; Zheng Tan wasn't clear on the details, and he hadn't seen this person in a long time.

Bai Yang was feeling quite gloomy today. It was a big Saturday; in the morning he still went to the company to handle some matters. He brought back two documents and, on the way, stopped by the Chu Hua Da Xue staff residential area to discuss something with Associate Professor Jiao; only after arriving here did he realize he hadn't brought his phone. He guessed he left it at the company office; he remembered a bit of Associate Professor Jiao's phone number, but when he tried calling from the guardhouse, it didn't go through. The guard said that today many people in the residential area had gone to watch the middle school sports meet, weren't at school, and would only return at mealtime.

Bai Yang checked the time; anyway, it wasn't long until mealtime, so he simply stood there waiting.

Since helping his girlfriend raise a cat, Bai Yang had become much closer to cats. Sometimes when he saw cats on the road he would stop to tease them; perhaps cat owners are naturally more inclined to get close to cats, Bai Yang had teased a few cats and felt it was not bad; today, walking into Dongqu Dayuan, standing under the tree waiting, he saw a cat walk out from the flowerbed, not like the usual cats seen around Dongqu Dayuan.

Bai Yang casually plucked a blade of grass to tease it, but when the cat was about to approach, it suddenly lifted its head, then, as if it had seen something terrifying, turned and ran away at full speed.

Bai Yang heard the movement, turned his head to look up at the tree. A blue parrot stood there, with yellow-ringed eyes, staring at him.

Although the cat was gone, seeing such a rare parrot made Bai Yang curious too; he looked around. No one was coming over, and he didn't know who its owner was.

Many parrots can say "hello," "goodbye," and the like. Bai Yang, on a whim, called out to the parrot on the tree, "Hello."

The parrot on the tree tilted its head, looked at Bai Yang, and after two seconds also called out, "Hello."

Bai Yang's interest was piqued; he had seen people teasing birds to talk at the flower-and-bird market before, and it was indeed quite fun.

"Hello." Bai Yang said again.

"Hello!" the bird on the tree replied just the same.

"What's your name?" Bai Yang asked. Actually he was just asking casually, not really expecting the parrot to understand or answer him. But, to his surprise, the tree's bird did indeed reply.

"What's your name?" the same question came from the mouth of that blue parrot on the tree.

Bai Yang stared for a moment, then laughed; this was the parrot mimicking speech.

"My name is Bai Yang." Bai Yang replied. Then he waited expectantly for the parrot to answer the same thing.

Unfortunately, Bai Yang was destined to be wrong this time.

The blue parrot on the tree tilted its head, then shook its wings.

If Zheng Tan were here, he would surely know what this despicable bird intended to do at this moment.

The next moment……

"A lone little white poplar~growing beside the guard post~~roots deep~~trunk sturdy~~guarding the northern frontier~~"

Bai Yang: "……" What the heck is this supposed to be?

At first Bai Yang found it novel, after all he hadn't seen many birds that could sing, and this bird's singing was quite standard, with clear articulation and pleasing tone; but once it started singing, this little thing wouldn't stop, repeating over and over.

The first time Bai Yang thought it novel, the second time he thought "hehe," and by the third time he found it noisy.

"Please stop singing!" Bai Yang sighed.

But the parrot on the tree merely paused for a second, then continued singing.

Bai Yang rubbed his forehead, walked a bit to the side, then took out his cigarette and lighter, preparing to smoke. Just as he lit the cigarette, Bai Yang noticed the parrot on the tree had stopped singing; he took a puff, looked over, was about to say something, and saw the parrot tilt its head again, looking at him.

Bai Yang suddenly had a bad premonition.

Indeed.

Light a cigarette~My heart is like the smoke rings exhaled~~

Bai Yang: "……"

This tune……is from the **10s, right?

Zheng Tan was sitting in the basket of Jiao Ba's small electric vehicle as he entered the courtyard when he saw Bai Yang holding a cigarette between his fingers, not smoking, standing there with a constipated look. Meanwhile, the parrot on the tree was singing, "Pour a full cup of wine~Your face is as lovely as an apple~~"

Bai Yang's face is indeed very red now, but that's definitely from anger.

Seeing Jiao Ba approach on his small electric vehicle, Bai Yang finally recovered from that state.

"Teacher Jiao, this bird is……" Bai Yang pointed at the bird that had stopped singing on the tree and asked.

"It's kept by a teacher downstairs, quite smart, likes to sing."

"Yeah, I've already experienced that." Bai Yang took a puff of the cigarette, then vigorously threw the cigarette he was holding into the trash bin by the road. Previously he thought keeping a cat was troublesome, but now he realized that, compared to that, his own cat is actually not bad. (To be continued..)