Chapter 179

After going out with Fang San Ye once, Zheng Tan also understood something.

The heads of several moderately sized pet hospitals in Chu Hua Shi privately discussed establishing a cat lovers association; they had actually been talking about it for a while but had never finalized it, and this time they were able to make a decision mainly because of two recent cat-abuse incidents and the public and media reaction.

They had to set up this association, inevitably dealing with people from the environmental protection association, the bird protection association, and similar organizations; after all, the conflict between cats and birds has been growing deeper, and members of the provincial bird protection association have previously argued with several civilian cat‑loving groups. On the environmental side, some plant protection groups often complain that many stray cats run around destroying plants and the ecosystem. For this reason, when considering the association's name, the organizers screened a few options and finally decided to make the theme of this event scientific breeding and green civilization, so the association's name became greenwing Green Wing, abbreviated gw, with a logo of a green wing, in the middle a cat's paw.

No matter how the organizers of Greenwing considered it, at least when Zheng Tan first heard the name, he felt no connection to cats at all.

For the upcoming event, among the organizers, Xiao Guo's pet center had the greatest influence; over the past two years, more and more people have come to know the name "Mingming Shirui" Pet Center. As one of the organizers and also serving as vice‑chair of Greenwing, Xiao Guo is busy all day, barely having time to eat. He has to work on promotional videos, public service announcements, and sending notices—though he isn't doing it alone, each task requires his effort.

Xiao Guo knew that Director Fang and the Jiao family were acquainted. Since Zheng Tan was relatively familiar with Director Fang, Xiao Guo set his sights on this big fish, Director Fang, for the event. If Director Fang could contribute, Xiao Guo's speaking authority as vice‑chair would definitely increase significantly, because Greenwing had just been founded, there are several vice‑chairs, their powers are temporary, nobody yields to anybody, and there are people below waiting for you to make a mistake. So everyone is thinking of using this event to demonstrate their abilities and secure their positions.

Thus, Xiao Guo personally went to visit Director Fang, and out of respect for Zheng Tan's face, Director Fang didn't put on airs; he readily accepted Xiao Guo's invitation and promised to donate a sum of money. Xiao Guo can discuss the details with one of Director Fang's assistants.

After Director Fang concluded a business deal with Old Liu, he mentioned the event. Upon hearing it, Old Liu thought the reason his son had become much more lively and cheerful was precisely because of the cats, and he immediately became interested—donating a bit of money was a small matter, like spending money to buy peace of mind.

Of course, Director Fang probably doesn't have time to attend the event himself; it will be his subordinates going in his place. But for Xiao Guo, as long as this person is willing to contribute money, that is already the greatest success.

Director Fang, Old Liu, and Xiao Guo are all very busy people, whereas on Zheng Tan's side, things haven't changed much; his days are still quite comfortable, not too boring, with something to do every few days, and it's still money‑making work. Think about it—what cat could manage to earn money and support a family to this extent?

Jiao Ba, overseas, uses chat software every week to talk with this side and learn what's happening at home. However, since Jiao Ba isn't around, discussions at the pet center sometimes run into difficulties; Jiao Ma makes the decisions, but she also doesn't have much time. Xiao Guo occasionally emails Jiao Ba about cat‑food advertising problems that are hard to resolve, and earlier, when the public‑service advertisement was being handled via email, all the decisions were made by Jiao Ba.

Actually, Zheng Tan is still fairly well known in a certain small circle, but, at Jiao Ba's request, much information about him is kept confidential, kept very low‑key. Moreover, for this public‑service advertisement, Zheng Tan doesn't have many scenes because his appearance doesn't meet the requirements.

Compared with other cats, black cats always carry an air of mystery, eeriness, and dominance; Zheng Tan's appearance really doesn't evoke much pity. Therefore, to achieve the expected effect, Xiao Guo's team selected a few kittens with advantageous looks, which most easily arouse people's sympathy, especially women's.

Zheng Tan feels it doesn't matter; besides, he doesn't want to pretend to be cute just to gain favor. However, as a cat with fans, he certainly has to attend that event, just follow Xiao Guo's arrangements; those unaware won't link Zheng Tan with the cats of the Chu Hua Da Xue staff residential compound.

Because Zheng Tan is attending this kind of event for the first time, Jiao Ma can't help with anything else, so she puts effort into the meals. Jiao Ma has the invitation sent by Xiao Guo, and she will also bring the two kids to have a look, even having prepared a camera.

Many customers of the "Mingming Shirui" Pet Center have been notified of this matter; if they decide to go, the pet center will give them an admission ticket. Recently the pet center has also put up some billboards about this event and handed out some tickets.

Er Mao had become a member after spending a sum at the pet center a few days earlier, and members receive personal notifications.

"Sounds interesting, okay, keep the ticket ready for me—I'll pick it up tomorrow."

After hanging up, Er Mao waved a thin, long plastic stick with a string tied to its front end, the other end of the string attached to a plush toy. He lay on the bed, teasing the cat with this rod, watching the tabby cat leap left and right, running all over the bed.

"Daughter, Dad will take you to the cat gathering later."

The tabby cat, not understanding Er Mao's words, grabbed the plush toy, bit and pulled, and the toy's tail was bitten off.

The venue of the Greenwing event is six or seven stops away from Chu Hua Da Xue here, and along the route from Xiao Guo's pet center to the event site, seven bus stops have been set up with public‑service billboards. All the funds for this event come from donations from various parties, and even some advertising companies have waived a large portion of the fees.

Zheng Tan was brought backstage early by Xiao Guo, together with the few cats that often appear in Xiao Guo's ads, waiting to be placed in the exhibition area. Those few cats looked calm, but Zheng Tan couldn't stay calm.

Because, including Zheng Tan, several cats are wearing a small prop—a green little wing similar to the Greenwing association's logo—to represent the image of the "Mingming Shirui" Pet Center. Zheng Tan only feels that wearing these wings makes him look like a bunch of idiots. However, those few cats, presumably accustomed to being "tossed around" by Xiao Guo, aren't very interested in the little wings on their backs.

Zheng Tan restrained himself from pulling off the green wing on his back. This morning Xiao Guo even said he wanted to give the pet center some kind of image ambassador, but Zheng Tan had zero interest—whoever wants to be an image ambassador can do it; being constantly tossed around is annoying, and he just hopes today's event will end soon.

In the exhibition area, the pet center's cats just need to lie on the large cat climbing frame printed with the association's and pet center's names. As soon as Zheng Tan was brought out, he fixed his gaze on the topmost cat perch of the frame. Originally, the first cat brought over was the pet center's representative cat, the British Shorthair "Prince." Needless to say, his appearance is advantageous—he looks very sturdy.

But Zheng Tan didn't care; after "Prince" jumped onto the perch he had his eye on, without waiting for it to strike a pose, Zheng Tan also jumped up.

This cat climbing frame is custom‑made. It's a large model, each perch can hold at least three cats lying on it at the same time, so Zheng Tan's jump up doesn't look crowded.

"Prince" saw Zheng Tan and shifted sideways a bit, but Zheng Tan remained silent and unmoving, just staring at him. After a few seconds, "Prince" pressed his ears and seemed to jump down to a lower perch. Then Zheng Tan alone occupied the highest perch of the cat frame, lying there with a sullen expression; he was in a bad mood and gave nobody a good look. Yet, precisely this demeanor made passersby think: this cat has a powerful aura.

"Hey, buddy, what's the background of that black cat?" The speaker was an employee from another pet hospital, who often deals with cats and can tell from these cats' interactions who the leader is. Originally they thought it was that British Shorthair, but now it seems not. That British Shorthair just looks a bit domineering, but once the black cat jumps up, the hierarchy becomes clear.

The staff member of "Mingming Shirui" Pet Center who was arranging things exclaimed in surprise: "You don't even know this guy? BC ah!"

"BC?" the person wondered.

The pet center employee didn't elaborate, just pointed to one of the billboards nearby—it was a cat‑food advertisement made from a series of pictures that Zheng Tan had recently filmed.

"Holy cow! So it's this guy!"

After the main venue's organizers and guests delivered their speeches, a series of promotional activities began.

This event mainly promotes the TNR program to the public, giving residents who are unfamiliar with it a chance to receive relevant education. So‑called TNR stands for trap (capture) → neuter (spay/neuter) → release (return), abbreviated TNR, used to replace euthanasia management and reduce the number of stray cats and dogs, employing scientific methods to continuously control the reproduction of stray cats and dogs, which also aligns with the prevailing humanitarian spirit.

Although the TNR program isn't perfect and the association can only do so much, this method is also highly controversial, because after TNR the cats may still disturb residents, catch birds, and some stray cats and dogs may attack people and livestock. All we can say is that this event tries to give the public a proper notion of pet keeping, but if one must abandon it, please discard it in the TNR zones designated by the association.

Represented by companies such as Shaoguang Group, some well‑known enterprises also donated funds to build stray‑cat and dog rescue stations; this event also received government support, and the media were quite active. If it weren't for the recent incident, this effect might not have occurred.

Here there are many people who brought their cats to the event; these pet cats are also familiar with people, most of those brought aren't particularly afraid of humans, and with their owners nearby they remain fairly calm—only when bothered by several journalists do they retreat into their owners' arms, unlike some cats with slightly worse tempers that would extend their claws. After all, in such a setting, well‑tempered cats are preferable, and ill‑tempered ones aren't brought along. That's also why the event went very smoothly.

"Dad, quick look, it's BC!"

Liu Yao pulled Old Liu running toward the exhibition area of the "Mingming Shirui" Pet Center, because before coming Old Liu had instructed him that Xiao Liu Yao must not shout Zheng Tan's cat name in front of the crowd at the venue; instead he called out "BC," the little‑known artistic name used in that circle.

Old Liu today keeps a low profile, his attire looks quite ordinary, just like Director Fang's side; the people who speak on his behalf and make donations in the company's name are all assistants, while Old Liu happily strolls the exhibition area with his son, and Xiao Guo doesn't realize that this big boss actually showed up. (To be continued…)

ps: (3.3)