Chapter 16

()Zheng Tan had a bewildered look; he didn't even know who "Buddha

"Ah, forget it, it doesn't seem to know either." Jiao Ma returned to the kitchen to continue making dinner; she didn't think a cat could make Chu Hua Da Xue's famous Fo Ye change his attitude.

Jiao Ba sat down on the sofa and gave Zheng Tan a rough description of Fo Ye.

As soon as Jiao Ba said it was a stern-faced woman in her fifties, Zheng Tan thought of the old woman by the artificial lake.

That must be her.

Fo Ye's original name was Ye He, dean of the College of Physics; his name overlaps with that of the Qing dynasty's old Fo Ye, Yehe Nara clan; besides, he is rather stern, with a strong aura, so everyone in the College of Physics fears him; moreover, Dean Ye's husband is now the president of Chu Hua Da Xue, and at some point he was given the nickname Fo Ye.

Zheng Tan thought about Dean Ye's appearance and manner of handling things, and indeed it was quite fitting.

Jiao Ba didn't ask Zheng Tan about leaving home, nor did he pursue the matter of Fo Ye laughing; after all, Fo Ye didn't look like he was up to no good.

At dinner time the two kids woke up, their spirits much improved. The first thing the awakened Jiao Yuan did was go to the fridge to check his "treasure".

"Oh, Shit!!"

Jiao Yuan let out a wail, just as Jiao Ma, who was coming out with a plate of dishes, heard it; she put down the plate and then twisted Jiao Yuan's ear, saying, "You're swearing again, docking your pocket money by one yuan!"

"Ah, don't, I couldn't help it, it was unavoidable and understandable." Jiao Yuan rubbed his pinched ear and said.

No matter how Jiao Yuan explained, his pocket money was still docked one yuan; Zheng Tan saw him gritting his teeth while eating, guessing that tomorrow at school he'd go settle accounts with those three.

After seven days of quiet, the Jiao household became lively again, and the bustle returned.

After dinner, the two kids watched a bit of TV then went to their own rooms to review homework; having missed a week of school, they needed to catch up on some lessons, and this didn't require Jiao Ba or Jiao Ma to say—they were self-motivated.

After putting away the dishes, Jiao Ma went out to meet her female colleagues. Jiao Ma is an English teacher at a middle school near Chu Hua Da Xue; during her absence she had asked someone to cover her classes, and upon returning she would go thank them—all are residents of the staff compound, living nearby with good relations, so she bought some fruit to take over.

As for Jiao Ba, he is currently sitting at his desk reading a collection of writings.

Zheng Tan walked over and glanced at the book's cover—it was Mr. Zhou's collection. Thus, Jiao Ba's mood is not very good right now.

People always have dissatisfaction, depression, irritability and other negative emotions, but the ways of venting differ—some like to swear, some like to drink heavily, some like to fight or do strenuous exercise, etc. Zheng Tan has never heard Jiao Ba swear or use other intense exercise to vent. Because there are children at home, he rarely smokes, nor does he often drink alcohol, only having a drink when close friends come over.

Unlike others, whenever Jiao Ba feels upset and restless with no solution, he reads Mr. Zhou's collection. Zheng Tan remembers the most recent time, which was in August, when Jiao Ba was waiting for the results of the National Natural Science Foundation; at that time Zheng Tan saw Jiao Ba holding Mr. Zhou's collection and reading *The True Story of Ah Q*. Fortunately, a few days later the National Natural Science Foundation results were announced, and Jiao Ba's name appeared on the list.

As for today…

Zheng Tan jumped onto the desk and took a look; what Jiao Ba was reading today was—*On "Damn it"*.

【…After all, the times are moving forward and we cannot retreat to the era of "damn it". After much deliberation, combined with deep cultural heritage and long history, we finally found a word more elegant and civilized than "damn it", and more thrilling than "cool"—"fuck". "I fuck" was shouted out comfortably……】

Seeing this passage, Zheng Tan glanced again at the solemnly reading Jiao Ba, tugged his ear. Well, everyone has their own way of venting inner gloom; Jiao Ba's thought process is beyond him.

Zheng Tan jumped down from the desk to the balcony for fresh air; the night air was cool with a hint of floral fragrance. Before he could take a deep breath, he heard that unique singing coming from the fourth floor.

"I~planted a melon at the foot of the wall~, watering it every day~, watching it every day~, it sprouted~, bloomed~, bore a big watermelon~, big watermelon, big watermelon~hug~can't hold~~"

Zheng Tan: "……"

Hold your grandma's paws!

That parrot was holding a small watering can while watering; when it ate watermelon in summer it spat out some seeds into the flowerpot on the balcony, and unintentionally discovered a melon vine, which delighted it so much that it has been excited for a long time, and every time it waters it sings the song "Planting Melons".

Strangely enough, this melon seedling actually survived; you should know that the parrot and its owner sometimes go on business trips for weeks, with no one watering, relying entirely on heaven's will, and even if it rains it can still get some moisture.

As for fertilizing, hehe, there's plenty of bird droppings, no need to worry extra.

Zheng Tan looked over; the melon seedling has grown a lot, but he doesn't know how long this pitiful seedling's growth state will last.

While the parrot hadn't noticed him yet, Zheng Tan sneaked back to the living room, rolled on the sofa, closed his eyes and slept. Tomorrow he still has to get up early to run; lately running a full lap around the school isn't as tiring as at the start, and Wei Leng said that in a few days they'll increase training intensity and also train tree climbing. It's a heavy burden and a long road……

A good night's dream.

The next day, facing a bowl of three-fresh noodles, Zheng Tan almost wanted to cry. Indeed, having someone at home is great—no need to eat at the cafeteria.

After finishing the noodles, Zheng Tan leisurely went to the big lawn; Wei Leng was there doing warm-ups, waiting.

"Fifteen minutes later than yesterday."

Zheng Tan ignored it, rested a while, and digested his food.

After strolling around the lawn once, he began his daily run around the school. Recently the running has made the pads of his feet much rougher; at first it was quite painful for a few days, but then it got much better.

Today's route around the school had a section different from usual; they took a more remote side path that required climbing a slope and walking stairs, increasing the distance and making it more tiring.

After running, Zheng Tan's limbs were almost scraping the ground, he was utterly exhausted, and he trudged slowly toward the east staff compound. Wei Leng followed beside him; if no one were guarding him at that moment, a little Chihuahua could take his life.

As he neared the east staff compound, Zheng Tan glanced toward the small grove; A Huang was rolling in the grass, eyes fixed on the dove on the branch. As for Da Pang, Zheng Tan scanned around— that guy was still sleeping in the rock pile.

In the weed-grown rock pile, if you don't look closely you wouldn't notice a cat crouched there, legs tucked, curled up like a peanut with its head pressing the ground, sleeping in the grass.

Zheng Tan was about to lift his foot to go over there when Da Pang's ears, which had been pressed down by his sleeping posture, sprang up instantly; he jumped to his feet, his eyelids no longer drooping, looking alertly in the direction of the road, not at all like he had just woken up.

Since Da Pang started growing sideways, his face has gotten fatter, making his head look bigger; when his fur fluffs up, his ears appear much smaller, but his hearing is still just as good.

Just as Zheng Tan was wondering, Da Pang had already come running this way, and at the same time a familiar vehicle bearing a military plate slowly drove up to the curb and stopped beside them.

The car window was gradually lowering; the glass hadn't even come halfway down when the running Da Pang leapt, slipping through the opening just enough to jump inside.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Zheng Tan wouldn't have thought this fat cat could jump so lightly, and with such precise calculation— the gap that was just opened was exactly enough for it to leap in.

However…

Da Pang, couldn't you wait for the window to be fully lowered before jumping? That's dangerous!

This little thing is just a masochist, rushing to be abused. Later when we go back, we'll probably see it squatting by instant noodles again.

While Zheng Tan was imagining Da Pang's pitiful, mournful squat by the instant noodles later, Wei Leng beside him snapped a standard military salute, holding it until the car drove away.

Zheng Tan looked doubtfully at Wei Leng, then at the departing car, puzzled.

"The former leader, after he got promoted, is now a big shot." Noticing Zheng Tan's confusion, Wei Leng said. No wonder the first time I saw that fat cat I thought it was strange—I didn't expect it to be taught by this person; the cat's behavior back then made sense. It seems that fat cat has been hiding its abilities well.

Zheng Tan was still in shock, not expecting that Da Pang's family relatives were also big shots.

Wei Leng tossed the empty mineral water bottle in his hand into the trash can. Although he's already discharged, his salute just now was purely a conditioned reflex.

"Can you jump that accurately?" Wei Leng asked.

Zheng Tan knew he was asking about Da Pang's just-made precise leap. He tugged his ear; it seemed unlikely he could make that jump himself. If the car window were fully open, he could easily jump in, but given the width of the opening just now…… the difficulty is not small; he might bump his head or trip his hands and feet.

By rights, since Zheng Tan isn't as fat as Da Pang, the difficulty should be somewhat less, but Zheng Tan has no confidence at all.

"So you're still far behind that fat cat." Wei Leng concluded. What we just saw was only the tip of the iceberg of that fat cat's abilities; he believes the cat's capabilities are definitely stronger. Although we haven't seen how it moves since coming to Chu Hua Da Xue, its keen perceptiveness, vigilance, and calculative ability, plus the fact that although it's a bit chubby it doesn't lose out to other cats in jumping power, all show that this cat is different.

"The revolution hasn't succeeded yet, comrades still need to work hard!" After saying that, Wei Leng ran off, and didn't continue running around the school like the past few days, but ran outside the school; he wanted to go meet an old friend to catch up and talk about what he'd seen today.

Zheng Tan had also caught his breath, climbed a tree in the grass, and waited until noon to go home and eat.

At the same time, Jiao Ba returned home to copy a document, and happened to see Wei Leng giving a salute into the car just earlier. He heard Yi Xin say that his family's cat had been running with someone in the morning for exercise, and Zhailaotaitai had also told him about it; he was thinking about how to investigate Wei Leng when he unexpectedly saw this scene.

Just knowing each other is enough.

After finishing copying data at home, Jiao Ba went to Da Pang's place on the first floor, and came out ten minutes later.

That evening, the Jiao Family couple talked about Zheng Tan's matter, and Jiao Ba said: "Don't worry, although the exact identity of the one called Wei Leng is unclear, he is definitely trustworthy; let Hei Tan follow him to learn some skills, so as not to suffer setbacks when going far away in the future."

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Thanks to Number Wooden Person, medical angel, Prophecy Ink van, Ophimis, Night's Chi, lx North Moon, lazyorange, nego118, s0514024, Tip from the Squinty-eyed Cat Kid! Thanks to the rating vote from Number Wooden Person! Thanks to everyone's various supports~~

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