Chapter 140: Cosmic Speed (Supplement 1.24)

Why Zhong Yan likes cats, this can be traced back to when he just moved here.

A single-parent family and another single-parent family formed a new household, but Zhong Yan felt no sense of belonging to this new family. At that age, it was the rebellious period when 'metaphysical' mental activity and 'physical' physiological activity coexisted.

Zheng Tan didn't know what exactly Zhong Yan had gone through; every family has its own difficult sutra, and Zhong Yan didn't elaborate, but Zheng Tan could guess from his words and expression that it certainly wasn't a pleasant memory.

At that time, after just arguing with his mother, Zhong Yan ran out of the building, loitering in the corner of the residential compound's wall, pulling grass to vent his frustration. The slanting sunlight cast a black shadow of the wall onto the ground, and Zhong Yan hid in the shadowed area at the wall's corner, only a step away from where the sunlight hit, yet he still refused to step out even half a step.

The more Zhong Yan thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt; he rubbed his reddened eyes and suddenly noticed a cat's outline on the wall's shadow cast on the ground. Turning his head to look, the backlight's glare gave him a momentary daze.

The spotted cat perched on the narrow wall, with the leisurely ease of a stroll in a courtyard, looked down on the person below the wall, as if nothing could disturb its mood.

He raised his hand to block the sunlight, Zhong Yan stepped back a bit away from the wall, changed his angle to look, and without the glare of the sun, he saw the spotted cat gazing at him. After two seconds of eye contact, the cat narrowed its eyes, turned its head, and continued walking forward.

At the instant when the cat basking in sunlight narrowed its eyes, Zhong Yan felt a comforting warmth enveloping his whole body, as if the whole world were smiling. He stood still, watching the cat walk farther and farther away in the sunlight.

When in his residential compound, Zhong Yan always seemed to be wearing a mask. Only when teasing cats did he reveal a bit of his true nature. By contrast, Zheng Tan could see that Zhong Yan's attitude toward his mother and brother was perfunctory.

People around often compared Zhong Yan with his half-brother, and summed it up in one word: 'inferior by comparison,' feeling that Zhong Yan fell short of his brother in every way.

"People's hearts—this thing—are too complicated. You cats don't understand…… Actually I don't either, just helpless. You say, every time I grow wings they get broken off, and yet they still despise me for not flying high or far—why is that? Little cat, can you understand my desperation to study and prove my ability, happily showing my middle-school exam results to them, only to be told I'm not allowed to go to Chu Hua Fu Zhong but must attend another ordinary high school together with that so-called brother? When it came time to split into arts and sciences, I originally wanted to choose arts, but that guy said. Studying arts is no good; he, a famous physics teacher, would lose face saying that, so I was forced into the 'science track.' So later I thought, why rush to prove myself? What's the point of letting myself end up bruised and bloody? Sometimes excelling too much isn't necessarily a good thing."

Saying this, Zhong Yan picked up a small pebble from beside him, glanced at Zheng Tan, and asked: "Do you know what cosmic speed is?"

Zheng Tan: "……" Cosmic speed? What is that? It sounds quite profound, but it rings a bell.

Zhong Yan casually tossed the stone in his hand upward; the stone traced a parabola in the air and landed on the ground.

"This speed can only let it do this kind of speed; intercontinental ballistic missiles can cross thousands to tens of thousands of kilometers and land elsewhere, while an artificial Earth satellite that reaches the first cosmic speed can break free of the ground and orbit the Earth. When it reaches the second cosmic speed, it can escape Earth's gravitational pull; when it reaches the third cosmic speed, it can escape the Sun's gravitational pull, leaving the solar system to enter the vastness of space. When it reaches the fourth cosmic speed, it can break free of the Milky Way's gravitational pull and fly out of the galaxy. However, before escaping, one must also consider aerodynamic heating and atmospheric drag, among other factors that could affect the outcome, to reduce risk."

Zhong Yan was talking to himself, but Zheng Tan felt a bit nauseous listening. A cat discussing cosmic speed made Zheng Tan think this kid had the demeanor of Jiao Ba and the others. Moreover, these words clearly implied something else, though he didn't know who this guy was alluding to.

At the same time, Zheng Tan could also tell from these words that this kid Zhong Yan was absolutely not pure and harmless!

This kid is very likely hiding his talent, and has been doing so for three years!

He really can hold it in. Zheng Tan can't imagine a teenager of several years old hiding his talent from the first day of high school.

Many things, Zhong Yan cannot let others know; even Ning Ge, who has helped him many times, is unaware. But keeping too much bottled up for long will turn into a neurosis, and moreover Zhong Yan is just a teenager, not a world-weary old fox, so he needs someone to confide in. Thus, the cats around have entered this listening role. Zheng Tan is merely one of them by coincidence.

Chattering away to a cat, to others he surely seems a bit neurotic, so it's no wonder the people around that residential complex look at Zhong Yan with strange gazes, and it's no wonder his mother always harbors hostility toward cats.

Zhong Yan had clearly been holding it in for a long time, while Zheng Tan, unlike other cats, doesn't just run off or fall asleep after listening awhile. Therefore, Zhong Yan talked more and more, from escape velocity to his future plans, from the Doctrine of the Mean and adapting to circumstances, to the exhilarating feeling of being a dark horse that overwhelms everyone during the college entrance exam.

"Don't even mention three years of high school; regardless of how much you've put in over these years of study, the final evaluation is nothing but the college entrance exam result—doing well means you've worked hard, you're smart, you'll succeed later; doing poorly makes you a failure…… I have to thank them for not liking to add a subject when they speak to me, so I just pretend I didn't hear those harsh words, anyway no subject is given, no one is pointing at me……"

Zheng Tan flicked his ears; subject, predicate, object, attributive, complement, etc. —the things the teacher taught back then all came back to him, and now Zheng Tan could roughly grasp what 'subject' meant, understanding a little bit of what Zhong Yan's words were trying to express.

As for this guy Zhong Yan, he speaks pleasantly, but while wearing the guise of the Doctrine of the Mean, he never forgets to look for an opportunity to step on someone twice, just as earlier Zhong Yan talked about using hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide, and dish soap to deal with his half-brother, and in the end no one placed the suspicion on him.

This guy is slyly wicked, thick-skinned, utterly shameless; perhaps because of his past experiences, he has become the way he is now.

This kid obviously wants to break free from his current family; after the college entrance exam, what then? What's his path forward? He likely has his own arrangements, though whether the plan is mature is another matter; Zheng Tan merely admires this kid's endurance. People like him always inspire apprehension; as he grows up, we don't know what he'll become.

After chattering on and sharing his secret, Zhong Yan picked up the pebble at his foot, threw it hard into the distance. The stone left his hand, drawing a long parabola in the air, and then landed behind a temporary workshop.

"Holy shit, who the hell threw that?!"

Hearing that sound, Zhong Yan turned and ran; after two steps he stopped and looked at Zheng Tan, shouting: "Run!"

Zheng Tan only heard the shouting from over there; seeing Zhong Yan's nervous expression, he realized he'd probably hit someone troublesome, got up and followed Zhong Yan out of the alley.

I truly don't know whether this kid's luck is good or bad—just like that he managed to hit a hot-tempered foreman on the construction site.

After running out of the alley, Zhong Yan leaned against a utility pole to catch his breath, glanced at the black cat looking left and right, and said: "That guy has a nasty temper; I heard he used to have some reputation on the streets. Ah, my luck is truly terrible—I never expected to hit that fellow. Good thing I wasn't caught, otherwise my plan to work over the winter break would have gone to waste."

After a moment, Zhong Yan brushed off the dust on his clothes, glanced at the sky, and walked toward the residential compound where he lived.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the wall; it was also time to go home and eat.

"I really envy you cats." Zhong Yan slowly shifted his steps, showing great reluctance about going home.

"Wouldn't it be great to be a cat?"

After dinner that night, Jiao Ba received a phone call, then said to Zheng Tan, who was lounging on the sofa watching TV: "Hei Tan, come over; Director Fang has something to say to you."

Zheng Tan was keeping Jiao Ma company watching a soap opera; today's episode happened to be about two single-parent families, and he rarely stayed awake. The child on TV, after being scolded with a sentence, burst into hysterical tears, snot nearly reaching his mouth, and just now while crying he had even spit up. Zheng Tan imagined whether Zhong Yan as a kid had been like that, when he heard Jiao Ba's call.

Zheng Tan was accompanying Jiao Ma watching a soap opera; today's episode happened to be about two single-parent families, and he rarely managed to stay awake. On TV the child was crying hysterically because he had been scolded with a sentence, his snot almost flowing to his mouth, and he even threw up while crying. Zheng Tan imagined whether Zhong Yan that kid had been like that back then, when he heard Jiao Ba's call.

Why would he call at this time?

Since the last time he saw Tong Qing, Zheng Tan hadn't heard from Fang Shaokang for a while.

Jiao Ba pressed speakerphone; Zheng Tan jumped onto the table, crouched beside the phone, lifted his paw and patted it, making a sound to tell the other party he was listening.

"Hei Tan, I've been busy lately and haven't had time for you; I'll give you a surprise later, but you need to do me a favor—well, the day before the Little New Year, you should make some preparations when the time comes."

Mr. Fang's words were half meant for Zheng Tan to hear, half for Jiao Ba; the so-called making preparations just meant letting the Jiao family know in advance, so it wouldn't be too abrupt when the time came.

Zheng Tan's attention was captured by the 'surprise' mentioned by Fang Shaokang; given Mr. Fang's disposition, this surprise certainly wouldn't be ordinary.

Before Zheng Tan and Jiao Ba could react, the other end hastily hung up; lately Mr. Fang seems indeed to be very busy.

Lying back down on the living-room sofa, Zheng Tan wondered about Mr. Fang's mentioned 'surprise' while also pondering what 'doing me a favor' meant and what scheme Mr. Fang was hatching.

He lay back down on the living room sofa again, Zheng Tan wondered at the 'surprise' that Third Master Fang had mentioned, while also pondering what 'help out' meant and what scheme Third Master Fang was hatching?