Chapter 15: Black Charcoal, What Have You Done Again?!

In front of Zheng Tan were two puppies.

One was nestled beside A Huang, the other, which had just run over, barked twice at the side and then started biting A Huang's ear, though it didn't seem to be using much force, otherwise Huang Erhuo wouldn't be so leisurely.

Looking at these three guys, it was clear they hadn't just met today; Zheng Tan thought, the arrival of these two strange puppies must have happened during the two days he was away.

Zheng Tan jumped onto a nearby tree and lay down; the owners of these two puppies should be nearby, and he intended to find out exactly who in the East Family Estate kept them.

Half an hour later, several old men walked over leisurely, two of them holding dog leashes.

Listening to their conversation, Zheng Tan finally understood why these two puppies had appeared.

The two old men were surnamed Li and Yan respectively. The former was also a retired professor from the College of Life Sciences, researching plants, often strolling around Old Man Lan's little flower garden, so Zheng Tan was somewhat familiar with him. Moreover, Old Man Li lived on the first floor of the building where A Huang and the others resided; sometimes when A Huang couldn't get into the building, he would go straight to Old Man Li's house.

As for the one surnamed Yan, Zheng Tan had seen him a few times around the East Family Estate but wasn't familiar with him; he wasn't from the College of Life Sciences.

These past few days, the East Family Estate had experienced several theft cases, prompting the two old men to come up with the idea of keeping a dog.

Old Man Li's building hadn't had any thefts, but since they lived on the first floor, the old man was a bit worried; he called his son living in another part of the city, asking him to get a large dog over, with no other requirements—just big enough, the bigger the better for imposing presence! Don't make it as tiny as a Chihuahua, which looks unreliable.

Old Man Li's son, after receiving his father's call, pondered all night, consulted some friends for ideas; large dogs are now strictly regulated in Chu Hua Shi, registration is troublesome, but since the old man had spoken, he had to get one anyway. He didn't feel comfortable placing a ferocious large dog at his parents' home—it would be too dangerous, and besides, that place is for faculty and staff families; biting someone would be no good. After thinking it over, he finally bought a Saint Bernard from a friend—big enough, its nature is relatively gentle, not prone to barking, though it drools a bit, which is slightly troublesome.

Old Man Li hadn't studied animals much; as long as it was a big dog, that was fine. Seeing it, he immediately decided, 'This dog is not bad; let's call it Xiao Hua—easy to say!'

Zheng Tan imagined the physique of an adult Saint Bernard with a clumsy face, then thought of the name 'Xiao Hua'—really a pit…

As for Old Man Yan's side, someone in his building had been robbed; Old Man Yan lived on the second floor, hadn't lost anything, but he was still uneasy, so he called his daughter abroad for advice. Old Man Yan's and Old Man Li's standards differed; he told his daughter, 'The dog doesn't need to be big, as long as it can bite people.'

Of course, this 'biting people' doesn't mean biting residents of the estate; rather, it means that if a thief enters the home or one encounters dangerous individuals on the road, the dog should be able to protect its owner and prevent theft, unlike some dogs that look fierce but don't bark at all when a thief gets inside.

Finally, Old Man Yan's daughter, with a friend's help, got a bull terrier—the very dog Zheng Tan saw, somewhat misshapen, its fur white except for a black ring around one eye, looking as if punched, with small triangular eyes matching that face, making Zheng Tan always feel it was lowly.

Old Man Yan named this little bull terrier 'Zhuangzhuang'. Having heard that bull terriers are relatively fierce toward other animals, Old Man Yan deliberately let this little guy get familiar with the surrounding animals while young, so that even if it became fierce later, it wouldn't be fierce toward the 'internal members' of the estate.

Zheng Tan saw that this bull terrier seemed to like biting cat ears just like the noisy parrot, and it was also overly active, constantly fussing; he guessed it wouldn't be a well-behaved fellow in the future. In contrast, although still a puppy in size, Xiao Hua, which was much larger than A Huang and Zhuangzhuang, appeared far quieter; after a few whimpers, it fell asleep being licked by Huang Erhuo.

These three get along fine for now; no one knows how the two puppies will turn out when they grow up.

No matter what, Zheng Tan felt that the tranquility of the East Family Estate showed signs of not returning.

At noon, Zheng Tan returned to the Jiao family and ate something; Yi Xin brought back a meal, which had cooled by the time Zheng Tan ate it, so he could only make do.

Yi Xin, after dinner, lay on the sofa to catch up on sleep; upon waking, he still had to continue working on his thesis.

In the afternoon, bored, Zheng Tan went out again; under the afternoon sun, he felt a bit drowsy. Looking around, he didn't see the other few, so he headed to the artificial lake; at this time, there weren't many people around the lake. Finding a nice spot, Zheng Tan jumped onto a willow tree, lay down, and dozed with half-closed eyes.

Since becoming a cat, Zheng Tan has developed a habit of liking to lie in high places; strangely, he has no fear of heights, nor does he worry about falling asleep and dropping from midway; he always sleeps very peacefully in the trees.

After a while of sleeping, Zheng Tan's ears twitched; he heard someone approaching. Opening his eyes and looking through the gaps in the leaves, a young woman carrying a book walked over and sat on a wooden bench not far from him, beginning to read.

Zheng Tan found the woman somewhat familiar; after thinking, he recalled she was the 'female lead' in the '8 o'clock drama' incident that the parrot had watched earlier.

Zheng Tan curiously tilted his head to look at her abdomen; perhaps her clothes were loose, making it impossible to tell she was three months pregnant. That day, Zheng Tan hadn't continued watching the drama, nor had he learned much about her situation, but seeing the current circumstances, it seemed she was preparing to give birth?

He tugged his ears; Zheng Tan didn't dwell on it further, since it had nothing to do with him—such '8 o'clock drama' affairs happen every day across China, and he had seen plenty.

He turned over, preparing to continue sleeping, but who knew—not long after, Zheng Tan heard someone approaching; the footsteps didn't sound like a man's. Opening his eyes a slit, he saw an old woman about fifty, with a stern face, resembling Old Man Lan in some ways, yet this old woman had a hint of harshness, her aura strong, seeming somewhat stern, giving a feeling of awe, like a person in a high position issuing orders.

When the old woman approached, she deliberately glanced around; seeing no one else, she then walked straight toward the person sitting on the long bench.

"Xiao Zhuo."

The old woman's expression softened considerably, her voice lowered, and Zheng Tan felt she likely didn't want others to hear their conversation, hence speaking quietly.

Could there be something unspeakable?

Zheng Tan pricked up his ears.

"Teacher Ye!"

"It's fine, just stay seated, no need to get up!"

The old woman also sat on the wooden bench, but the two didn't say much.

For no reason, Zheng Tan just felt the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

After waiting two minutes, the old woman let out a long sigh and said, 'You really decided?'

"Mm, I've decided."

"That's Project A!"

When the old woman said the three words 'Project A,' her voice was very low; Zheng Tan's good hearing barely caught it—otherwise others wouldn't be able to make out their conversation at all.

"Teacher Ye, I really have decided."

The two chatted a while longer; Zheng Tan originally wanted to clarify what this so-called 'Project A' actually was, but the two never mentioned the term again in their following talk—the content was too specialized, Zheng Tan didn't understand, it was all physics, leaving him dazed.

The hanging willow branches happened to block Zheng Tan; presumably the old woman only paid attention to whether there were people around, not whether there were other animals, so she didn't notice Zheng Tan even when she left.

When the last class ended in the teaching area, the person called Xiao Zhuo on the wooden bench finally stood up and left.

Looking at the sky's color, Zheng Tan also returned to the East Family Estate area, spending the whole night thinking about that so-called 'Project A,' feeling it quite mysterious.

The next day, Zheng Tan followed Wei Leng on a run, completed a loop, returned home after eating, then wandered to the artificial lake again, and indeed saw Xiao Zhuo once more sitting at the same spot as yesterday, reading a book, holding a pen and writing something in a notebook.

Zheng Tan thought it over, walked over, and jumped onto the wooden bench.

Xiao Zhuo noticed the movement, turned his head, and saw a black cat staring with round eyes; he smiled and continued with his unfinished task.

Seeing that she didn't stop him, Zheng Tan leaned in to get a clear look at what was written in her notebook.

It was a very profound formula, plus many symbols Zheng Tan had never seen before; in short, he completely didn't understand.

As for the book beneath the notebook, entirely in English, filled with large sections of professional terminology and usage, Zheng Tan thought he could still speak a bit of English, but faced with these, he was completely at a loss.

Truly defeated!

Zheng Tan couldn't understand, but he didn't leave right away; he was genuinely curious about that so-called 'Project A,' thinking that waiting here might give him a chance to learn about it.

Thus, Zheng Tan spent the afternoon lying on the wooden bench; the old woman came by midway, saw Zheng Tan, flipped over his pet tag, and then said nothing more.

Over the next few days, Zheng Tan did morning running training, and in the afternoon he slept on the bench by the artificial lake; the old woman came by every day, staying only a few minutes, saying a couple of words before leaving; sometimes seeing Xiao Zhuo in the middle of calculations, she wouldn't disturb him, just standing there a while before departing.

This day, after finishing his morning run, Zheng Tan didn't go out wandering; he went straight back to the Jiao family. He had nothing else to do with his remaining time, just squatting on the sofa waiting. Because today was Wednesday, a week had passed, and the Jiao family members were returning today.

Yi Xin had an experiment at the institute today, wouldn't be back at noon, so Zheng Tan settled his lunch with snacks.

Looking at the wall-mounted clock, Zheng Tan felt time was passing terribly slowly.

Not until it was past three in the afternoon did Zheng Tan hear Jiao Yuan's voice downstairs, and with a whoosh he jumped off the sofa and ran to the balcony to look downstairs.

Jiao Ma, Gu Youzi, and Jiao Yuan each were holding a bag; seeing Zheng Tan's head poking out from the balcony railing, the three downstairs all laughed. After they went up the building, Zheng Tan directly opened the door and waited for them.

The three who returned home looked somewhat tired and somewhat sad, but being home let the two children's faces show relaxed expressions. After taking a shower, Jiao Yuan and Gu Youzi went back to their rooms to catch up on sleep; children tire easily, and over these few days away from home they hadn't slept well, and they were not used to being outside.

Jiao Ma was rolling out dumpling wrappers, and she would call the two children when dinner was ready.

Zheng Tan lay on the sofa watching TV; he was in a great mood, temporarily putting aside things like 'Project A' and the flowery-embarrassing Niu Zhuangzhuang, the return of the Jiao family meant he no longer had to eat lukewarm cafeteria food or rely on tasteless snacks to get through meals; everything was wonderful again.

Around five o'clock, Jiao Ba returned; after going back to school he first went to the institute to handle some matters, as Yi Xin's experiment needed equipment from the physics institute, and borrowing those valuable instruments required him, as the advisor, to step forward, so he made a trip to the physics institute.

When Jiao Ba came back, his face showed suspicion; as soon as he entered and saw Zheng Tan on the sofa, he asked, "Hei Tan, did you do something again?"

Jiao Ma, who was holding a spoon to taste the soup, hearing this became dissatisfied: "Hei Tan is so obedient and sensible; what could he possibly do to make you look suspicious? Scientists should speak with facts, don't just suspect at the drop of a hat."

"I just went to the physics institute to borrow equipment and ran into Fo Ye again, and Fo Ye actually smiled at me!" Jiao Ba said with a doubtful expression.

"A cold smile?" Jiao Ma asked.

It's no wonder she thinks that way; every time Jiao Ba goes to the physics institute to borrow equipment and encounters 'Fo Ye,' Fo Ye always responds with a furrowed brow and cold stare, as if someone owed her 1,800,000.

"No, it's a normal smile."

"A normal smile on Fo Ye is totally abnormal!"

Jiao Ma's heart skipped a beat; grabbing her spoon, she rushed out of the kitchen and looked at Zheng Tan, who was lying on the sofa with an innocent face, and said, "Hei Tan, what did you do now?!"

Zheng Tan: "..."

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Thanks to Feng Chuxu, Gu Mo... etc for their rewards! Thanks to everyone for their support~

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