Chapter 159: The Cat Priest

Chen Zheye didn't expect to see this black cat as soon as he opened the door; originally, while boiling water to make tea, he had warmed a cup of milk intending to replace the overnight one on the balcony. Later he happened to learn that not every cat can drink milk, but seeing this black cat happily drink it each time, he kept the habit.

Seeing La Mei Shu wave at him and shake the paper cup holding milk, Zheng Tan hesitated.

To go or not?

Zheng Tan pondered.

Before this, his plan was to take a glance and leave, to get far away from here. But now, seeing La Mei Shu's kind, intensely expectant gaze, Zheng Tan's curiosity, which had been suppressed down to a mere meow, sprang back to life.

What does La Mei Shu want to do now?

Zheng Tan slowly hopped up and slipped onto the balcony.

The balcony was still the same: a cardboard box, a soft cushion, and the paper cup holding milk.

Since Zheng Tan had come over, Chen Zheye didn't put the paper cup of warmed milk outside; he turned and went inside, placing the milk in front of Zheng Tan, who had already jumped onto the desk.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the desk merely to widen his view a bit and observe the indoor changes.

Compared with what he had seen on previous visits, today this room—no, the whole house—had undergone significant changes.

The books on the shelves were gone, the display racks were empty, and from here Zheng Tan could see that the other two rooms in the house were open, but now they contained nothing; the living room floor had a few newly sealed large boxes.

On the desk sat a cup of wax-plum blossom tea; seeing the rising steam, it must have just been brewed. The jar for wax-plum blossoms was empty—this was the last wax-plum blossom tea of the season, and there aren't many wax-plum blossoms left in the neighborhood. As spring arrives and temperatures rise, wax-plum blossoms will fade from view.

Beside the teacup lay an inverted foreign-language book; if Zheng Tan hadn't just personally experienced that bizarre incident, he wouldn't have linked this relatively pleasant scene before him with that earlier event.

After looking again at the person before him, Zheng Tan noticed that, compared with his previous encounters with Chen Zheye, Chen Zheye had changed somewhat. Although he used to look quite gentle, Zheng Tan always felt that this guy was shrouded in a heavy gloom, which didn't dissipate even when he smiled. Now it was as if the sky had cleared of haze, becoming bright and pure.

When facing an apparently harmless animal, people tend to behave more naturally.

Chen Zheye sat back down at the desk. He stared at Zheng Tan for two minutes. When Zheng Tan began to feel annoyed, he finally looked away and recounted what he had done. Chen Zheye merely mentioned a few things in passing—three murder cases—but did not detail the methods, especially the Lai Er incident, which he simply summed up as "itsatrick".

Zheng Tan listened to his words and thought, 'Sure enough, just as I guessed, Lai Er's fate was brought about by this person himself—but how exactly did Chen Zheye do it?'

Trick? Deception? Sleight of hand? Magic?

Then what?

Then, there was no 'then'.

After La Mei Shu finished saying that English sentence, he lifted his teacup, then picked up the cup of tea on the table, took a sip, and continued speaking.

Zheng Tan: '……'

This disappointed Zheng Tan greatly; although the scene indeed looked terrifying and bizarre, it was impossible not to be curious—just as after witnessing a great magic trick, people wonder how it was done.

Thus, Zheng Tan's greatest curiosity lay in how Lai Er was burned, what methods Chen Zheye used to set up the trap beforehand—unfortunately, Chen Zheye simply wouldn't say.

"That piano has already been donated; the several large boxes in the living room are filled with books, also to be donated—whether foreign-language originals or Chinese-language books, they have all been anonymously given to a few middle-school libraries in remote mountain areas, where some teachers and students might find them useful……"

Chen Zheye continued speaking.

But why would he suddenly say all this to a cat? It's utterly bewildering.

Zheng Tan couldn't figure it out.

He also had no mood to drink any milk; Zheng Tan boredly glanced around, then fixed his gaze on the inverted foreign-language book beside the teacup. It was an original foreign-language reader, not English; Zheng Tan didn't know which language it was, and his focus wasn't on what the book was about, but on the illustration on its cover: in a church, a boy confessing to a priest.

Many people confess to relieve mental anguish; is La Mei Shu Chen Zheye also confessing?

No! The point is, if this guy is really confessing, why would he confess to a cat? What a pointless confession!

Zheng Tan looked at the book's cover, then at Chen Zheye sitting in the chair muttering to himself, then again at the cover, then at Chen Zheye……

Holy shit!

Zheng Tan suddenly felt the urge to flip the table.

Damn it, I'm just a cat now, not a priest—why the hell would you confess to a cat?!

However, Chen Zheye doesn't seem to be purely confessing; he looks more like he simply wants to share his psychological burden. Moreover, such things can't be told to outsiders, not even to one's closest confidants necessarily. As for why Chen Zheye chose a cat as his confidant, Zheng Tan can roughly guess—this isn't the first time he's encountered someone who talks to animals to vent pressure and ease mental strain. Obviously, to people, cats don't speak, don't understand human language, and even if they did, they couldn't relay what they heard to anyone else.

But Zheng Tan is the exception: he not only can understand, but also has some knowledge of this matter!

"ashesashes, anddustdust; inthesureandcertainhopetheresurrectionuntoeternallife……"

After Chen Zheye finished speaking, he fell silent for a moment, then took a deep breath, and a relieved smile spread across his face. He lifted his head and saw the cat crouched on the desk staring at him, looking quite surprised. Chen Zheye smiled again; he had once decided to bury these things deep inside, never intending to speak them aloud, let alone to a cat. Indeed, getting those pent-up words out felt much better. He thanked the cat; without it, he would have carried those long-suppressed words into his future life.

Suddenly thinking of something, Chen Zheye pulled a gold pocket-watch-like object from his pocket and waved it in front of Zheng Tan, saying, 'Hey black cat, what do you think I should do with this? To many people it's important, even capable of inciting betrayal, but I don't want to keep carrying it—seeing it reminds me of that nightmarish past.'

Zheng Tan was actually already impatient; having listened to Chen Zheye's endless chatter, the crucial part he wanted to hear wasn't elaborated, and now Chen Zheye kept waving the pocket watch before his eyes, making them tired, which only annoyed Zheng Tan further, so he simply raised his paw and slapped the swinging watch aside.

Chen Zheye hadn't been holding onto it tightly anyway; while speaking he was a bit distracted, and he hadn't expected any advice from the cat—he'd just spoken offhand. Suddenly he felt a tug on the chain, and when he looked, the pocket watch had slipped from his fingers and lay on the desk.

Not expecting this, Chen Zheye froze for a moment, then looked at the motionless pocket watch lying on the desk; after a few seconds he smiled in resignation, saying, 'Following your suggestion, then let it be this way.'

Zheng Tan was a bit dazed—what suggestion? What does 'this way' mean? (To be continued……)

ps: 【The following word count is not included in the v chapter】

(2.11) 2,000 characters, a bit short; I want to rest early, otherwise I'll be listless on Monday.

ps: Today someone asked me about the Lucifer and Satan issue in Chapter 145's 'Lucifer's Fall into Satan'; actually, the terminology varies across cultural backgrounds, and each version has its own.

By the way, friends interested in psychology can check out *The Lucifer Effect*.