Chapter 177

That flower cat is loitering in Dongqu Dayuan.

When Zheng Tan went to drop Xiao Youzi off at school early in the morning, he saw that guy squatting by the flowerbed, facing Building B.

Yesterday the cat followed Er Mao to handle follow-up matters; presumably when it followed Er Mao back, Er Mao forcibly refused it, so it changed tactics and just squatted at the building entrance to block people.

Just like Li Yuanba once looked for an owner on his own, this cat probably has a similar plan—pick someone it likes and then show up at their door.

When it saw Zheng Tan and Xiao Youzi, the cat merely half-opened its eyes for a glance, then continued to doze with eyes narrowed. Its ears perked up, and at the sound of the access control 'ka', it opened its eyes and looked that way.

Although I don't know why this cat is clinging to Er Mao, Zheng Tan feels that getting this person to adopt a cat is no easy task. Just as Er Mao once said when he saw Zheng Tan and the others squatting in a tree, 'Cats are all a bunch of idiots,' showing his deep opinion about cats.

Today there was no sunshine, it was overcast; Zheng Tan couldn't stay in one spot to sunbathe, so he went out for a walk, originally planning to linger a bit longer, but when light rain suddenly began to fall, he hurried back. When returning to the compound, he saw the cat still squatting in the same spot, its ears twitching as raindrops fell on them.

Yesterday's weather forecast said today would be overcast, with light rain only tomorrow, but it's already drizzling now—indeed, the forecast is only good for real-time. Looking at the sky, this rain is unavoidable.

If it's raining, Zheng Tan doesn't need to go pick up Xiao Youzi at noon; he can just wait at home for the meal, as he used to do on rainy days.

When he reached the third floor, Zheng Tan listened at Er Mao's door; there were voices inside, probably on the phone. If this guy had already gotten up, he would likely go out to buy breakfast, so he couldn't possibly not know that the flower cat was squatting outside.

Forget it—whether to adopt or not is Er Mao's own business; Zheng Tan can't help him decide on this, and he can't help that flower cat. Who let the cat take a liking to this guy?

After returning home, Zheng Tan unusually didn't turn on the computer to go online; instead, he lay prone at the bedroom door, watching the rain outside grow heavier.

A 'zhengzheng' sound came from below; Zheng Tan looked over and saw that pesky bird sticking its beak out of the metal net to drink rainwater—not because it was thirsty. From Zheng Tan's understanding of it, the bird is just playing around. After a winter passed, Zheng Tan felt the bird's temperament had worsened, for it not only sings old songs but occasionally bursts into poetic recitation with great 'feeling,' supposedly learned when its owner took it to Hope Elementary and the bird picked it up from the kids there. Another thing that worries Zheng Tan is that the bird seems to have learned to swear; he doesn't know who it picked that up from, only that the bird's comprehension is too strong.

Zheng Tan lay at the bedroom door looking at the rain-soaked balcony outside; just now, while the parrot wasn't paying attention, he poked his head out and saw no sign of the cat in the flowerbed below—probably it had gone to hide from the rain.

In Chu Hua Shi, at this time of year, basically each rain brings a temperature rise; after this rain stops, we can expect another warm-up.

Unlike Zheng Tan's calmness, Er Mao appeared much more irritable.

He didn't want to listen to music anymore, took off his headphones, and Er Mao stared blankly at the rain curtain outside; the door to the balcony was open, and the wind blowing in carried outside moisture, giving a slight chill.

Er Mao lit a cigarette and smoked slowly. He had just made a phone call and was in a bad mood, then thinking of the flower cat added to his annoyance.

And just then, a somewhat hoarse, undulating voice came from outside.

"Spring rain is as precious as oil, pouring down the streets—"

Er Mao: "……"

Damn it, which lunatic is reciting poetry!

However, Er Mao also couldn't be bothered to go out and see who it was; after smoking half the cigarette, he tossed it into the ashtray, grabbed a folding umbrella, and headed out.

Zheng Tan lay watching the rain when he suddenly heard a 'ka' from the access control downstairs; he went to the balcony edge and stretched his neck to look, though he couldn't see the head, he recognized those pants.

What is Er Mao going out to do?

An hour later, the rain had basically stopped, with only a few scattered drops drifting down; many people had stopped holding umbrellas. Zheng Tan looked at the concrete path in front of the building; at this time the attached primary school had already let out, and he was waiting for Xiao Youzi and Jiao Wei to bring lunch back, but instead he first saw Er Mao—and behind Er Mao followed the flower cat!

The flower cat was a bit wet, with some black mud on its four legs, but it looked spirited enough. Most importantly, when Er Mao entered the building, the cat also followed him inside.

Is he preparing to keep it?

Zheng Tan wondered, Er Mao actually brought that cat back. He doesn't like cats, does he? What a contradiction.

After Er Mao brought the cat back, he looked at it squatting on the ground eating its boxed meal and scratched his head in worry. Why bring it back? How to raise it? He can't even take care of himself, yet he's going to raise a cat? Probably after a few days the cat will wilt.

Alas, harmful to people and harmful to cats.

It's all due to impulse.

The rain-soaked paper box, the disposable container holding leftover rice and vegetables, was also soaked in water; on the ground, a few bleached fish bones, washed down by water flowing from the slope, drifted slowly downstream… Recalling the situation then, Er Mao didn't even know what he was thinking; seeing the cat's gaze from inside the ** paper box as it hid and looked at him, he spoke up, letting the cat follow—just a tentative move. He had originally thought that if the cat ignored him he'd leave it be, but he hadn't expected the cat to actually follow, and to keep following all the way.

The previous landlord never said pets weren't allowed, and besides, many people in the compound keep pets, so there's no need to worry. Er Mao thought. This flower cat isn't as smart as the black cat upstairs; being too smart makes people uncomfortable, yet this flower cat isn't terribly stupid either—it can save him some trouble.

Thinking that way, it's not bad; anyway, I'm idle and bored now, so I'll first keep it—this cat is probably just a passing fancy, and if it wants to leave after a while I'll just open the door and let it go. For now… let's leave it like this.

Having decided to keep it, Er Mao still faces many problems. Looking at the stains on the cat's body, he frowned.

Unable to think of a good solution, Er Mao decided to go upstairs and ask the household on the fifth floor how they usually keep cats. At this time, that little girl and the student named Jiao Wei should be home.

When Er Mao came over, Zheng Tan was eating.

When asked about cat food, Jiao Wei didn't really know; it was Xiao Youzi who answered, briefly but clearly, in just one sentence that directly cleared Er Mao's doubt.

Xiao Youzi suggested Er Mao go to the 'Mingming Ruci' Pet Center; there they have professional guides and sell various related items, and they can also help bathe pets.

Having gotten the solution, Er Mao immediately took the just-fed flower cat and rushed to Xiao Guo's place.

Upon arriving at the location, Er Mao realized there was more to do than he thought—vaccinations, deworming, and so on all needed to be handled. He knew nothing about it, so he left it all to the veterinarians and staff there; he just had to pay.

A staff member took out a registration notebook and recorded: 'Name?'

"Wang Ming." Er Mao boredly played with his phone, not looking up.

The girl in charge of registration gave Er Mao a strange look: 'Does your cat even have a surname?'

"Huh? You're asking for the cat's name?"

"Of course, sir, you just signed your own name a moment ago."

"Cat's name…" Er Mao fell silent for two seconds. Thinking of the black specks on the cat's nose like grains of rice, he said: 'Hei Mi, its name is Hei Mi.'

"Age?" the girl asked again.

"I don't know either; I just adopted it today." Er Mao shrugged.

The registration girl showed two dimples and said, 'Sir, you really have a kind heart!'

Er Mao: "……hehe." Being told for the first time that he was kind-hearted made him feel awkward.

The girl was very enthusiastic; of course, while answering Er Mao's questions she didn't forget to promote her pet center's products—cat climbing frames, scratching boards, toys, cat food, etc.

Er Mao took the product catalog the girl handed him, flipped through it, picked out some items, and planned to check the actual goods later. The rented place is only that big, so there's no need to buy anything too large—just keep it simple. However, cat food must be bought, so he wouldn't have to keep thinking about it; in the kitchen he couldn't make cat food himself.

As he flipped through, Er Mao suddenly paused at an advertisement on a certain page of the cat food introduction, seeming uncertain; he leaned in for a closer look, then glanced at the small line of text beside it.

"blackc?"

The girl smiled and began to introduce: 'This is our pet center's star cat, a cat model our boss hired at high salary; it appears in many pet magazines, oh, also on some online forums, and it has lots of bc fans.'

"bc fans? A cat model?! Pah, giving it a high-end foreign name just to pretend I don't recognize it?! This is clearly that upstairs guy!"

Although Er Mao always says he dislikes cats, his ability to identify them is actually not bad; even if he couldn't tell at first glance, after looking at a few more pictures he had already equated the cat in the ad with the one upstairs.

He curled his lip, flipped a few more pages, and discovered that in the ad pictures, the prices for this black cat's food were more than double those of other cat foods—some even several times higher.

That bit of money isn't much to Er Mao, but he wondered why those few ad categories featuring that black cat cost so much!

Er Mao pointed to the serious black cat face on the ad and asked the little girl his question.

The little girl answered professionally, 'Because these categories are all high-quality guaranteed, and they'll soon be exported overseas.'

Exported? Don't kid me!

Er Mao didn't believe it at all.

However, flipping through the later pages showing the cat food prices with blackc ad images, Er Mao stroked his chin, thinking that stuff is worth a lot!

'Can you deliver here?'

'Large items or orders reaching a certain amount can be delivered to your door; our pet center's service will absolutely put your mind at ease.'

They even switched to using the polite 'you' directly.

Anyway, money wasn't an issue, so Er Mao ticked off several types of cat food advertised upstairs, as well as the cat nest and scratching post he had liked earlier.

'Will these work?'

'Sure!' the girl smiled wider; if their sales succeeded, they'd get no commission, but they'd earn reward points, and when monthly salaries are settled, there will be a bonus.

'No need for a sample?' the girl asked.

'No need—if my cat refuses to eat it I'll throw it to blackc and let it eat it all up in front of me!' Er Mao snorted. 'That stuff's ad—would it dare not eat it itself?!'

The girl only thought Er Mao was joking, asked a few questions, filled out a form for him to check, handed it to the picker, then went on to register the next customer.

Er Mao sat bored, noticing a few cat food flyers on the nearby shelf; one had that black cat's portrait. He pulled out that flyer, folded it, and put it in his pocket. This is all evidence. (To be continued...)

ps: (3.1)

【The following word count does not count toward the v chapter】

Recently, entertainment-themed webnovels are really hot; I'd like to recommend a friend's book 《Advancing Entertainment Star》 by author Dadi Huakai.

Zhang Xiangbei, reborn into a parallel world, after opening the door to his previous life's super-strong memory,

Hit songs, famous dramas, online games, animations—nothing but better, never the best.

Young man, start your series of little-guy advancements.