Chapter 160: Discovery

That gold pocket watch wasn't large, but it should have some weight; Zheng Tan felt it when he grabbed it.

Seeing Chen Zhe's indifferent reaction, Zheng Tan thought the pocket watch was just a common everyday item in life, nothing worth being careful about. Chen Zhe didn't grip it tightly when he held it; if it were something precious, he certainly wouldn't do that. Moreover, after seeing Zheng Tan fling the watch onto the table with one paw, making a thud, he didn't go check it nervously, nor did he show any anger.

But after pondering Chen Zhe's earlier words, Zheng Tan became uncertain again.

Before this, Zheng Tan had heard Ye Hao and the others say that some material possibly in Chen Zhe's possession could overthrow Lai Er, allowing Ye Hao's group in Chu Hua Shi to eliminate a strong competitor; Ye Hao also very much wanted to obtain that material. However, when Zheng Tan eavesdropped on the video call between Lai Er and Chen Zhe, he heard nothing about a 'material'; the word 'thing' appeared instead, and this 'thing' sounded important to Lai Er, who already had some leads on it.

Thing...

Zheng Tan looked again at the gold pocket watch beside his paw. Something that could make someone betray a friend without hesitation—how could it possibly be just an everyday item?

Seeing the cat in front of him lower its head and stare at the thing beside his foot, Chen Zhe assumed it was merely curious, like reacting to a new toy, so he didn't pay much attention and continued speaking to himself: 'My father told me before the accident, if I could escape, I should leave this place far behind and start a new life; if I really couldn't get by, I could open it. But... I hate this thing; every time I see it I think of how it aroused that traitor's greed and malice. As for life, just be plain and ordinary—earning enough to get by is fine; there are so many outstanding people, I don't need to join the hustle. This world hides tigers and dragons; some are flashy, some low-key.'

As he spoke, Chen Zhe poked the cat's head with his finger, saying, 'This thing—just leave it here as you wish. Those people, whoever finds it first gets it; leave it to fate. This is also a kind of opportunity, right?'

It's your grandpa!

Zheng Tan tilted his head, avoided Chen Zhe's finger, and continued studying the gold pocket watch beside his paw to see what was special about it. The problem was, with Chen Zhe watching, Zheng Tan didn't dare do anything too unusual for an ordinary cat—like picking up the watch and opening it.

Chen Zhe suddenly remembered something, got up, walked to a cardboard box in the room that hadn't been taped shut, opened it, and rummaged inside.

Zheng Tan walked over and saw that the box contained some paper, pens, boxes, notebooks, folders, and so on.

Chen Zhe took out a plastic pencil case from the box; the case was somewhat large, with two layers—the upper layer held some colored pencils of varying lengths, and the lower layer held ordinary pencils neatly arranged from B to H.

Those unevenly sized colored pencils were given by a child from the neighborhood; Chen Zhe had drawn a pencil sketch for them once, and the child handed over his old, unused colored pencils that had been lying in a corner, thinking he already had several new sets and didn't need the old ones, so he might as well give them to this uncle who often gave candy and liked to draw.

Chen Zhe casually picked up a half-used pencil from last time, opened his sketchbook to draw, and a cat's paw rested on the edge of the paper box, keeping his attention from fully leaving the box; then, following the cat's gaze, he saw that the cat in front of him was actually looking at those colored pencils.

Colored pencil drawing?

Chen Zhe thought for a few seconds, looked at the pen he had casually taken out, put it back, and picked up another pencil.

It was a cheap pencil, and its drawing skill was far inferior to that of professionally trained artists, but Zheng Tan thought the drawing was still good—at least he felt Chen Zhe hadn't drawn him distorted.

This was also the first time in many years that Chen Zhe had drawn a colored-pencil picture.

Actually, color isn't bad, right?

After finishing the drawing, following habit, Chen Zhe marked the date and so on, then looked at Zheng Tan and said, 'Let's keep a memorial; I don't like taking photos, so I'll draw you again, so that later when I recall, I'll remember that I once knew a cat.'

Chen Zhe carefully placed the drawing into the folder, tidied up the box, sat back in his chair, and said, 'I'm leaving tonight; perhaps I won't come back later.'

Leave tonight? So sudden?! Could it be that investigators have come to the door?

After staying another ten or so minutes at Chen Zhe's place, Zheng Tan couldn't stay any longer; he had to go home.

Chen Zhe stood on the balcony, watching the black cat's silhouette dash away and disappear quickly.

The next day, Xiao Guo took Zheng Tan over to temporarily film a video for a new product's promotion; Zheng Tan didn't have free time until night, after dinner he pondered and still decided to go out. From last night until now, Zheng Tan's mind kept thinking about Chen Zhe and that gold pocket watch.

After deciding, Zheng Tan stretched, jumped down from the sofa, and prepared to go out.

"Hei Tan, are you going out to play tonight?" Jiao Ma, who was washing dishes at the kitchen doorway, said while looking this way.

Zheng Tan glanced at Jiao Ma and let out a soft 'wa wu' sound from his throat; Zheng Tan still couldn't make an ordinary cat's meow, but the Jiao family had grown used to his uniqueness—sounds like 'ao wu' and 'wa wu' were nothing unusual to them.

Therefore, upon hearing that 'wa wu' sound, Jiao Ma said, 'Come back early.'

Actually, many pet owners in daily life communicate with their pets using a normal conversational tone.

For example, a family in the compound keeping a little Pekingese would, when it wanted to urinate or defecate, jump around vigorously to attract attention; its family would untie its leash, take it to the building entrance, open the access gate, and then say to it, 'Go, come back after you're done'; then the little Pekingese would rush to the grass and ornamental trees, finish its business, dig its paws a few times in the grass to express its joyful excitement, and then return to the building on its own, wagging its tail at the owner to ask for a reward. Zheng Tan felt contempt every time he saw this—seeking a reward just for pooping, utterly stupid.

After leaving Chu Hua Da Xue, Zheng Tan headed straight for the residential compound where Chen Zhe lived.

Standing downstairs, Zheng Tan saw that Chen Zhe's home had no lights on; the balcony door was closed but not locked, so taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't fully dark yet and the streetlights weren't on, he jumped up and opened the door.

The interior was empty and deserted, with only simple furnishings and utter darkness.

This is what Chen Zhe meant by 'your suggestion, 'just like that''. Heaven knows Zheng Tan at that time merely disliked the pocket watch swaying and being an eyesore, so he flung it to the side of his foot, never expecting to cause Chen Zhe's misunderstanding.

Zheng Tan twitched his ears, confirmed that no one was in the room, jumped onto the table, and saw the gold pocket watch placed on the desk of this room. The desk no longer had a computer, translation materials, various books and magazines, not even a teacup, which made the pocket watch even more conspicuous.

He walked over to the pocket watch. Zheng Tan lifted it with both front paws; anyway, no one was watching him at the moment, and walking on two legs didn't fear being discovered.

By then the sky had darkened, the interior was pitch black. Zheng Tan dared not turn on the light casually; besides, he could see the indoor scene even without light. There was no need to risk being discovered.

As he had thought, the pocket watch was somewhat heavy, not as light as it looked.

Zheng Tan fumbled a bit before managing to open the pocket watch. While opening it, he still worried there might be a trap set by Chen Zhe; although he no longer felt that creepy sensation, he still felt a bit nervous—couldn't help it, after being frightened, the aftereffects lingered.

After opening it, Zheng Tan discovered that this wasn't a pocket watch at all; it had a dial with no numbers, and only a single hand, which moved as he turned the watch left and right.

A compass?

No, it isn't; compasses usually have two ends, one N and one S, and besides, this hand isn't pointing south.

Combining the information he had heard before, Zheng Tan speculated on many possibilities; the one that excited him most was: could it be that the direction indicated by this hand hides some secret thing?

Is it the material Ye Hao mentioned, or something else?

Regardless of what might lie where the hand points, Zheng Tan dared not act rashly.

If this thing were truly that important, exactly as Zheng Tan had guessed, it would be too hot to handle.

One can only bear a burden commensurate with one's ability; the cost of overloading is severe. Zheng Tan didn't want to end up like Chen Zhe's family, and besides, Zheng Tan is now just a cat—a cat that the law won't speak for. Even the Jiao family he stays with are ordinary commoners; how could they stand against those people?

Not to mention Fang San Ye and Ye Hao's ilk; even ordinary petty thugs could put the Jiao family of three, without Jiao Ba, into crisis. Zheng Tan doesn't want to indulge in conspiracy theories or overthink, but having experienced this incident, he knows that 'accidents' really aren't that hard to happen.

Yet leaving this thing here seems wasteful too. Chen Zhe doesn't care—he has avenged his great grudge and gone to seek a peaceful life—but he doesn't care, while many others still do.

Zheng Tan twitched his ears, heard movement at the doorway, his heart jolted—this time, it probably wasn't Chen Zhe, right?

If it wasn't Chen Zhe, it was very likely those who had been searching for this 'thing' all along—possibly Ye Hao's people, or possibly others.

Zheng Tan gently fastened the thing on his paw, wrapped the chain properly, then carried it out to the balcony; fortunately, he hadn't closed the balcony door when he came in, so leaving now was convenient and wouldn't create the sound of opening a door.

Zheng Tan slipped out from the balcony, walked to the empty platform above the parking spot; good thing the angle here is favorable—the compound's lights don't reach here, and no one would notice that just now a cat had walked upright on two legs, still clutching something with its paws.

He placed the thing in his hand into a corner, then crouched in front of it to block it, and pricked up his ears to listen for any movement inside Chen Zhe's house.

Someone had definitely entered the house—not just one person—and those who came in hadn't turned on the lights; after a while, Zheng Tan heard them muttering curses under their breath, then presumably they were making a phone call to report.

Soon those people left; Zheng Tan walked to the edge of the empty platform and looked down. Three youngsters came out of the building, one of them lowering his voice to curse again, which let Zheng Tan confirm that those who had just entered Chen Zhe's house were indeed them.

After those three drove away in their car, Zheng Tan was about to retract his head when he noticed a person emerging from a parked vehicle below. Due to the angle, he couldn't see the face, but Zheng Tan felt the person was somewhat familiar—he should know him.

As that person passed by here, he raised his head to look at Chen Zhe's balcony, then seemed to sense something, and turned his gaze toward Zheng Tan, who was loitering near the edge of the empty platform close to the balcony.

Yo, still an acquaintance. After seeing that person's appearance, Zheng Tan thought.

If one were to describe Long Qi's current mood in a single sentence, it would be——the alpaca in his heart has already reached the state of myriad beasts galloping……(To be continued..)

ps: (2.12)