Chapter 151: When the Black Cat Comes to Scratch the Door

After finishing a small cup of milk, Zheng Tan also felt much warmer. He shook his fur, stretched, and looked toward the balcony.

The rain had stopped, replaced by patches of white snow; at this rate the ground would soon turn white.

Seeing the cup empty, that person crouched, picked it up, and went inside. After two steps he turned his head and said to the black cat crouched in the corner, "Come in, it's cold outside."

Zheng Tan hesitated, wondering whether to go inside to get out of the wind; the wind outside seemed to be blowing even harder…

For a moment Zheng Tan had no reaction.

Seeing that, the person thought the cat didn't understand, still stood at the doorway waving and pointing at the cup that had held milk; realizing his gesture was useless, he went inside, but left the door to the balcony open.

Most of Chu Hua Shi has no heating; people are used to using air conditioners and other warming devices.

The indoor air conditioner was on; Zheng Tan walked to the doorway and clearly felt the warm air coming out of the room. Compared to outside, it was really warm inside, so after glancing at the snow‑filled sky he stepped in.

Inside, the person had taken off his coat and stood before the microwave, continuing to warm a cup of milk. When the milk was ready and he was about to take it to the balcony, he saw the black cat that had been crouched on the balcony now inside, curiously looking at the furnishings.

Zheng Tan glanced around the room and thought the person must be cultured; there was a bookshelf filled mostly with English books covering a wide range—from history and geography to industry, agriculture, medicine, etc. Such a person probably posed no threat.

The person placed the warmed milk in front of Zheng Tan. This time he didn't keep staring at Zheng Tan drinking; instead he walked to a nearby table, sat down, turned on the computer, pulled out a document, and began working.

While drinking milk, Zheng Tan observed the person. Although from his angle he couldn't see the desk clearly, he could tell the person was likely a translator, helping others translate books and articles. Whether it was his main job or a side gig, Zheng Tan didn't know.

The house had three rooms, only one of which was open—the one Zheng Tan stayed in. The other two rooms had their doors shut tight; he didn't know if anyone lived there. Inside was a drawing board over a meter long, covered with many small paper slips and sticky notes, the writing on which Zheng Tan couldn't decipher at all.

Could it be English cursive? But English cursive isn't usually this illegible. Never mind whether it's English or cursive; either way he couldn't read it.

The door leading to the balcony wasn't closed; gusts of cold wind blew in, making Zheng Tan shiver again.

The person also felt the cold wind blowing in, got up and closed the room door. While doing so he glanced at Zheng Tan, seemingly checking whether the cat would get angry after the door was shut.

Zheng Tan didn't lose his temper; instead he jumped onto the desk.

The desk abutted the window; in front of the window lay an open book with some bookmarks inside and many notes on the pages. Zheng Tan didn't sit on it—clearly it was the owner's needed book, so it was better to stay out of the way in someone else's home.

Since he couldn't crouch directly by the window to look out, Zheng Tan crouched beside the thick book, craning his neck toward the window. He just waited for the snow to stop before heading home; he couldn't stay out there forever, or else if he was late for dinner Jiao Ma would nag.

The room smelled of plum blossoms; the person's tea cup also held steeped plum blossoms. He didn't know whether those blossoms used for tea had been picked from the plum trees in the community.

After finishing his translation task, the person moved his arms, twisted his neck, looked toward Zheng Tan, saw the cat with its neck cocked and eyes unblinking at the window, smiled, took out paper and pencil from a drawer, and drew a simple sketch—from which one could tell he had studied drawing and his skill was decent.

After finishing the drawing he showed it to Zheng Tan, who had no interest; after a quick glance he went back to staring out the window. He calculated the time: in an hour it would be Xiao Youzi's school‑out time, and he planned to stay at most half an hour; after that, regardless of whether snow was still falling or how hard it was, he had to leave.

Fortunately, half an hour later the snow had lessened considerably; although it was still drifting, it wasn't as fierce as before, which was tolerable.

Zheng Tan moved his neck, stretched, and after holding the crooked‑neck pose too long felt some soreness. Having jumped down from the desk, he stood before the door, lifted his paw and tapped it, then looked at the person.

The person had noticed when Zheng Tan jumped down from the desk; seeing his posture he smiled faintly and said, "You want to leave?"

Saying that, he opened the room door to let Zheng Tan out.

Zheng Tan could open the door himself, but in front of someone he had only met once he didn't want to show off too much.

Moreover, Zheng Tan felt the person seemed to like smiling, yet there was always something uneasy behind the smile—he couldn't say why, just a gut feeling.

After opening the door for Zheng Tan, the person watched him squeeze through the balcony's anti‑theft net, jump to the ground where a thin layer of snow showed a footprint. Once the black cat had walked away, he went back inside and closed the door.

Leaving the community, Zheng Tan ran toward Chu Hua Da Xue; the ground snow was a bit chilly, and passersby paid no attention to a black cat jogging on the sidewalk, their focus fixed on the thin layer of snow that had accumulated.

When Zheng Tan reached a busy intersection, he stopped due to the heavy traffic and happened to notice two police cars heading down the street toward him. He had no time to wonder, and once he could cross the road he hurried over with the other pedestrians to the opposite side.

Zheng Tan had just arrived at the gate of the attached elementary school when the dismissal bell rang.

Good, he wasn't delayed.

But at that moment the snow began to fall heavily again.

During this period, neither Xiao Youzi nor Jiao Yuan were in high spirits because Jiao Ba was about to go abroad, so they felt little excitement about the snow. The other children pouring out of the attached elementary school found the thin white layer on the ground exciting, but with so many people around and the snow so thin, a step would erase the white, leaving only slush mixed with dirt.

The snow fell for two days; when the weather cleared it melted quickly. The forecast said no rain or snow for the next few days and temperatures would gradually rise. Zheng Tan waited until the snow had mostly melted, then went out for a stroll again.

As before, he walked along the road past Jiao Yuan's school; he was currently getting to know that stretch. Just like the snowy day, he went from Jiao Yuan's school to Zhong Yan's residential compound, glanced at a construction site, then walked farther afield to familiarize himself with the area.

Without realizing it, he arrived again at that apartment‑building community.

As Zheng Tan entered the community, he happened to hear a few aunties carrying home‑bought daily goods from the supermarket say:

"Hey, has that case been resolved?"

"Looks like not; I haven't heard any progress."

"Huh, wasn't it said to be a river‑suicide? Could it not be suicide?"

"How could it be? It's freezing out, and I heard from a nephew who works nearby that the person was found naked—surely even if he wanted to kill himself he wouldn't do it that way."

Then another auntie came in from outside the community, apparently acquainted with them, stepped forward a couple of paces and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"What else? Just the thing that happened by the lake on the snowy day."

Zheng Tan listened to their chatter, recalling that on the snowy day, while hurrying back, he had seen those two police cars at the intersection—probably related to what the aunties were saying. Still, he felt those matters were too far removed and none of his business; such cases happen every day, why waste mental energy on them, and besides he wasn't the type to gossip like idle aunties just to kill time.

Zheng Tan decided to first visit the person who drank plum‑blossom tea, hoping maybe to snag another cup of warm milk.

Arriving at the same building, he looked up and saw the lights on in that person's flat; presumably he was busy working then.

He jumped onto the top of the parking spot, squeezed onto the balcony, and saw that the balcony looked different from when he'd first come a few days earlier.

The cardboard box was still there, but in the corner lay a fairly clean soft mat; beside it sat a paper cup containing ice‑cold milk.

The mat and milk hadn't been there last time; Zheng Tan sniffed the milk in the paper cup—no odd smell, and given the weather it was unlikely to spoil quickly—but he couldn't guess how many days the milk had been sitting.

Looking at the setup, someone who didn't know would surely assume the householder kept a pet.

Zheng Tan didn't rush to scratch at the door; first he sniffed around the balcony for any other animal scent, preparing himself mentally. If there were any, he'd weigh whether to scratch, especially if the resident kept a dog—better not to cause a disturbance.

Many think a dog's nose is far more sensitive than a cat's—otherwise why are there so many police and drug‑sniffing dogs but no feline counterparts? Others argue a cat's nose can match a dog's, but because of feline temperament they are hard to train, unwilling to be bossed around, and many of their innate abilities only manifest when it suits them; they disregard most human commands, so people tend to rely on dogs' scent work and get nothing from cats.

Zheng Tan didn't know whether a dog's or a cat's nose was sharper; at least he felt his own sense of smell was still pretty good, definitely much better than a human's.

After a careful sniff, Zheng Tan confirmed it was the same as last time: aside from the householder's scent, only the faint trace he'd left when he loitered boredly rubbing against the cardboard box in the corner remained. There was no hint of a young woman's presence—the guy really was a recluse.

Zheng Tan walked to the door, lifted his paw and tapped it, pondering whether to scratch twice, when he heard footsteps approaching from inside; the next moment the door opened.

Seeing the black cat at the doorway, the person's formerly neutral eyes flickered with a smile: "You've come." (To be continued…)

ps: (supplement 2.4)