Chapter 147: The Cat's Revenge

Regarding the two kids setting off firecrackers together with the cat, the old lady thought it was fortunate that it happened in their own yard, where only family knew; if outsiders saw it and ran into a gossipy person, they'd probably cause some trouble.

In the village, these animals, being smart is fine, but being too smart isn't necessarily a good thing.

Afterwards the old lady mentioned it to Jiao Ba, who then called the two kids and Zheng Tan over and gave them a talking-to.

The firecrackers have been set off; just satisfy the urge and that's enough—Zheng Tan doesn't need to keep playing with them, just restrain himself a bit.

"Huh, Dad, is this dog's stomach upset?"

Jiao Ba pointed to the pile under the grapevine at the corner of the yard and said.

"Upset stomach?" Jiao Lao Yezi walked over to look, then said, "Indeed it is."

Compared to usual dog feces, the pile under the grapevine was much looser, yet Jiao Ba and Jiao Lao Yezi, seeing the big yellow dog squatting energetically by the coal stove waiting to "pick up scraps", noticed no sign of lethargy from diarrhea.

"It's fine; looks like he ate too much and too variably these days while preparing New Year supplies, the dog ate more along with them—just don't feed him randomly." Seeing this, Jiao Lao Yezi stopped worrying.

Villagers don't have many rules for raising dogs; cats and dogs often eat alongside people, and villagers lack the energy to monitor whether such eating harms them. In fact, most cats and dogs here don't live out their normal lifespans—many are caught and beaten, or sometimes sold for various reasons, but cats aren't worth much, so if people don't want to keep them they just let them fend for themselves. In short, cats' and dogs' lives are cheap; nobody bothers to look after them—people can't even manage it, so why bother caring for cats and dogs? By comparison, Jiao Lao Yezi is already doing quite well.

"Should we tether it nearby? It's not good to keep squatting there all the time." Jiao Ba said. If the dog squatted there, it would definitely have "leftovers" to scavenge; later they'd still be frying meatballs, and if the old lady's hand shook a bit, the dog would be happy again.

"If we tie it up at home it could whine all day… better let it out to play; no need to go look for it, it'll naturally come back at mealtime—many village dogs are like that."

"Aren't you afraid it'll be snatched by dog-catchers?"

"Who would come catch dogs in broad daylight? Besides, Laifu won't run far—he just strolls around the village, and people are watching; dog-catchers won't come at this time. At night we can tie him up at home; during the day we don't need to worry." Jiao Lao Yezi had great confidence in his dog.

Saying that, Jiao Lao Yezi walked over and shoved the big yellow dog, which didn't want to leave that spot even half a step, out the door: "Go play, come back when it's time to eat."

The big yellow dog, unwilling, tried to squeeze back in, but Jiao Lao Yezi stood in the doorway blocking it shut. After several attempts, seeing he really couldn't get in, the dog barked twice, turned, and trotted away.

"It won't throw a tantrum, will it?" Jiao Ba said, watching the departing big yellow dog, worried.

"It dares?! Throw a fit over nothing—you'll see at mealtime." Jiao Lao Yezi waved his hand, "This isn't like those pampered city cats and dogs. Speaking of which, I once heard people say city cats and dogs are quite petty and love to hold grudges, right? What's the temperament of your Hei Tan?"

"... Not bad." Jiao Ba squeezed out those three words, then after thinking added, "Anyway, it's quite good to the family."

Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi washed their hands and helped Jiao Ma make dumplings on the side; they'd helped before at home, so they didn't make them twisted—at least they still looked like dumplings rather than misshapen dough.

Zheng Tan, bored and idle, watched the big yellow dog run out for a stroll, then jumped over the courtyard wall and followed—following the big yellow dog on his stroll wouldn't get him lost.

"Aren't you going to manage that cat?" Jiao Lao Yezi lifted his chin and pointed at the courtyard wall.

"It's fine, it's clever." Jiao Ba wasn't worried.

After jumping down from the courtyard wall, Zheng Tan followed the big yellow dog ahead, keeping a short distance and constantly watching his surroundings. The village has many free-roaming dogs, and not every dog is friendly toward a cat.

The big yellow dog that came out of the Jiao household knew the village inside out, strolling around sniffing for food, knowing which houses would give and which wouldn't. Animals can sometimes be far smarter than people imagine, but that bit of cleverness often goes unnoticed.

A cat lying on a wooden barrel, paws tucked, basking in the sun, merely opened its eyes a slit when it saw the big yellow dog, didn't run, and after the dog walked away closed its eyes again to continue napping in the sun.

Watching the big yellow dog gather food as he walked, Zheng Tan truly admired his ability—thick-skinned with a bit of cleverness; those two traits alone would surely keep a person from going hungry.

While thinking that, Zheng Tan suddenly heard a "woof woof woof" from ahead, the barks mixed with a low growl—a warning. This sound differed from when the big yellow dog had seen Jiao Ba and others before; it carried clear vigilance and aggression, a tone that only appears when facing a confirmed dangerous person.

Sure enough, looking up, Zheng Tan saw the big yellow dog baring its teeth and yelling at a person not far away.

That person's appearance was passable, not grotesque, but combined with his all-over roguish, rascal demeanor, his impression score plummeted straight into the negatives.

That person held a toothpick between his lips, shaking his leg; seeing the big yellow dog, he wasn't afraid, gave a couple of heh-heh laughs, then picked up a half-brick from the ground and hurled it at the dog—with that force, if it hit, it would likely break several bones.

Fortunately the big yellow dog ran fast; the brick grazed the fur on his back and passed by, leaving him unharmed.

No wonder the big yellow dog's attitude toward that person was extremely poor, with a hint of wariness—this guy was clearly no good.

Zheng Tan glanced around; evidently some people had witnessed this, but they didn't bother to intervene, thinking it wasn't worth provoking that rascal over a dog.

Fortunately the toothpick man also had no intention of continuing to tangle with the big yellow dog; he smoothed his coat and walked off with his head held high, acting all smug.

The big yellow dog didn't relax until the toothpick man had walked away; looking at him, he seemed to have suffered a loss.

"Wah—"

A burst of children's crying came; Zheng Tan looked over—it was the toothpick man who had snatched two firecrackers from a kid setting them off, then played with them himself, and when he threw the firecrackers he also tossed them into someone's vegetable patch, blowing up several fine heads of Chinese cabbage.

Those nearby who saw the scene merely muttered a couple of remarks, without arguing with the toothpick man.

Zheng Tan flicked his ears, thought, better not meddle in such trivialities—Jiao Ba had told him to keep a low profile.

As mealtime approached, the big yellow dog indeed returned home right on schedule; Zheng Tan couldn't help marveling at animals' sense of time—they can't read clocks or phones like people, and at this moment most households hadn't even started eating, with no one telling him it was mealtime.

On his way back, the big yellow dog's pace was noticeably lighter, just as Jiao Lao Yezi had said—no tantrums at all.

Zheng Tan still followed close behind, watching it dash into the old house's main gate, then a few seconds later bolt back out, howling "woof woof woof" toward the interior.

Ignoring the big yellow dog, Zheng Tan went straight inside, just in time to see the toothpick man snatch a fried fish piece from Xiao Youzi's hand.

"Holy shit, your grandpa!"

Zheng Tan instantly flared up; if he hadn't seen Jiao Ba approaching, he would have gone up and slapped that jerk a few times.

Bullying others' families, Zheng Tan could pretend not to notice; but bullying his own family, he couldn't tolerate it.

Just earlier, the big yellow dog had dashed straight to the kitchen after entering; seeing the dog return, Xiao Youzi knew Zheng Tan must have come back too, so she took a freshly fried fish piece and headed toward the gate to give it to Zheng Tan, but in the main hall the toothpick man snatched the fish piece away.

Xiao Youzi pressed her lips together, glared at the loathsome stranger before her, and hesitated whether to throw her chopsticks at him.

Seeing this, Jiao Lao Yezi also grew angry, grabbed his carrying pole and drove the man out.

As he walked out, he still shouted, "I just heard that Professor Mingsheng and his colleagues' projects are at least 1.8 million each; I came over just to see a millionaire—what are you doing?"

"Cut the nonsense—most of that money is state funds for research! Keep spouting nonsense and I'll send you to the police station!" Jiao Lao Yezi swung his carrying pole at the toothpick man.

Villagers place great importance on seniority; for the toothpick man, peers and juniors he doesn't care about, but he dares not strike elders—before, he'd hit an elder, been ganged up on by the villagers, and nearly been taken to the police station.

Although the toothpick man had been chased off by Jiao Lao Yezi, Zheng Tan's anger hadn't subsided; he was pondering when to get revenge on that guy. But tomorrow is New Year's Eve; after thinking, he decided, forget it, avoid trouble for now, and look for the toothpick man in a few days.

In the village, people eat dinner early and there aren't many entertainments, so they're used to going to bed early. Because the New Year is approaching, everyone's busy, so bedtime has been pushed back a little.

Hearing that someone's family sow had given birth to piglets, Jiao Lao Yezi prepared to go have a look. Jiao Yuan wanted to go, so Jiao Lao Yezi took him along; Xiao Youzi stayed in the room watching TV with Jiao Ma, not going to see the commotion.

Zheng Tan, on the other hand, was curious, so he ran after them.

Jiao Lao Yezi took a shortcut behind the house; Zheng Tan followed behind for a stretch, then suddenly stopped, twitched his ears, turned his head, and walked toward the sound, where he saw the toothpick man who had snatched Xiao Youzi's fish piece standing there, one hand holding a cigarette, the other gripping a mobile phone, on a call, bragging that he'd stolen a box of "torpedoes" from the market today, had tried setting off two, and their power was decent; he planned to raise the price a bit tomorrow and sell them to the village kids.

"All right, I'm done talking—old man needs to take a dump."

The toothpick man hung up his phone, fingers clamped around a cigarette, took a hard drag, then flicked the butt away as he walked into the outhouse humming a little tune.

Zheng Tan narrowed his eyes, the tip of his tail twitched twice, then he went over there.

Compared to watching a sow give birth to piglets, Zheng Tan would rather seize this opportunity to tidy up that toothpick man.

Zheng Tan ran into the toothpick man's house; based on what the toothpick man had said when he was on the phone just earlier, he found a box of torpedoes, the medium model, in his room. Zheng Tan carefully opened the box, took out two, closed the box, and ran back to the toothpick man's house's outhouse.

The sky had already darkened; at this time no one saw a cat walking upright, and the toothpick man's family were all huddled in another room with a TV, not noticing a cat had entered the house.

The village's toilets are all thatched enclosures surrounded by brick walls, built behind the house or in the backyard, with a large pit serving as a waste tank. Part of the waste tank is outside the toilet wall, making it convenient for villagers to scoop feces to fertilize vegetable fields; at the same time, this also facilitated Zheng Tan's revenge action.

The cigarette butt that the toothpick man had casually tossed outside flickered with fire in the night breeze; Zheng Tan picked up the butt and quietly approached the toilet.

Zheng Tan recalled how those brats had set off the 'fish', lit the fuse, and threw it into the toilet where the toothpick man was squatting, then turned and fled quickly; he still remembered the kid who had blown up the water barrel, whose body was splattered with foul water. He didn't feel safe unless he ran far away.

When Zheng Tan had run a certain distance and hidden behind a tall stack of firewood, the toilet side emitted a bang. (To be continued.)