Chapter 181

Er Mao's phone was slapped by his "daughter" from the table into the water bucket with one paw.

By the way, at that time Er Mao, feeling out of sorts, after returning from there didn't know what to do for a while; he rarely felt motivated, picked up a bucket of water to wipe the table—he had spilled beer on it yesterday, and there were dried stains from the takeout oil soup he'd eaten earlier—watching his own "daughter" sniffing around on the table, Er Mao rolled up his sleeves, brought the bucket over, and wiped the table with the rag he had torn apart yesterday while practicing his grip.

The phone was on the bedside table, while Er Mao wiped the computer desk, Wang Bin called; the ringtone startled Hei Mi crouching nearby, and it then went over and slapped it, coincidentally hitting the answer key.

Anyone who keeps cats knows cats have a habit of pawing at things.

So, after the first paw there would be a second; Hei Mi's second paw directly slapped the phone down, and even more coincidentally, Er Mao had placed the water bucket beside the bedside table—the bedside table was where he had started wiping.

Thus, on the other end of the call, Wang Bin only heard Er Mao's shout, then a "gudong" splashing sound, and then the line went dead.

Er Mao, face fallen, took the phone out of the water bucket, looked at the dark screen, pressing power gave no response. He removed the battery, took out a hair dryer and blew on it—no use. Well, this phone is unusable.

Helplessly glancing at Hei Mi crouching on the table with an innocent look, Er Mao rubbed his forehead, suddenly somewhat understanding the complicated feelings of cat owners. However, today he didn't want to go out; he could buy a phone tomorrow. For regular contacts, a chat app would suffice, it's not urgent—just unsure who had just called him.

Wang Bin tried calling a few more times, but the other side remained unreachable. He could confirm that the shout just now was his twin brother's voice, and after hearing what Er Mao shouted, Wang Bin urgently wanted to know what this "daughter" was all about; today, while listening to his mother nag, she kept saying when Er Mao would finally get a proper girlfriend, marry, have kids, and stay home obediently, and then he heard this "bombshell".

Wang Bin doesn't like fighting unprepared; if Er Mao really caused trouble, he'd need to make preparations beforehand, otherwise there would surely be a quarrel at home. Of course. First, he must find Er Mao, but Wang Bin himself doesn't have much time to stay in Chu Hua Shi.

After calling Zhao Le to learn more, Wang Bin recalled seeing the black cat at a banquet hosted by his third uncle; he really had little impression. Using some professionals or taking tougher measures would definitely be able to find Er Mao's person, but those can't be used; otherwise they'd definitely backfire, as similar things have happened before. Ask the cat's owner? He heard that family lives in the faculty housing of Chu Hua Da Xue, basically no one around during the day, maybe just kids, and Zhao Le advises not to disturb them.

After a long silence, Wang Bin called a friend staying in Chu Hua Shi; anyway, that guy has been bored stiff lately, find something to keep him busy; if it yields nothing, Wang Bin plans to come to Chu Hua Shi next weekend when free to personally visit the cat's owner.

As Director Fang said, many who know Er Mao wouldn't think he lives in the university's faculty housing; therefore Wang Bin directly ruled out the possibility of Er Mao living around there.

On Zheng Tan's side, Zheng Tan, who had been lounging boredly like a fool in the exhibition area for most of the day, went home together with the three members of the Jiao Family. Jiao Ma had taken the two kids to participate in the activity, and by the time it was afternoon, they simply waited for the event to end and then left together with Zheng Tan. Of course, all this happened behind the scenes, and no one knew that bc, who exclusively occupied the highest cat perch, would go with Jiao Ma and the three.

As for salary settlement, Xiao Guo will naturally deposit it into the card—that's what was agreed with Jiao Ba; Zheng Tan doesn't need to worry.

After the event, over the next few days Zheng Tan had nothing to do, wandering around inside and outside the campus; soon his mood worsened. He sensed someone was monitoring him. This feeling was unpleasant.

The good thing is, the person monitoring him is an idiot.

When Zheng Tan was first being watched, someone also followed and monitored him, but that person apparently cared about cats, often trying to stay hidden; whereas this one, forget hiding, he outright tells Zheng Tan: "Hey, I'm watching you!"

Zheng Tan looked again at the young man wearing casual suit, sunglasses, hands in pockets pretending to be cool, and recalled recent events, wondering if it was because of that Green Wings Association event that he'd been targeted.

No, not at all; Zheng Tan dismissed that guess. It's not that he undervalues himself—from the situation of that day's event and the exhibition, it's clear that as a cat he currently doesn't carry much weight; besides the few people he knows like Director Fang, Old Liu, and Zhao Le who went to the venue, most of the other people with some standing were there for ulterior motives, like Ye Hao and some media and officials.

The monitor's outfit is expensive, not looking like someone short of money. Moreover, logically no one would recognize bc as the local cat that loafs around Chu Hua Da Xue all day. There are many black cats, they look alike, why single him out?

Zheng Tan stretched, jumped down from the tree, and walked along a path.

Since the sunglasses-wearing person wants to follow, let him follow—just don't regret it!

The sunglasses guy just made a bored call, probably to his girlfriend.

"……I'm not at the office right now, I'm out to relax……Yeah, spring, the season of birdsong and fragrance……Alright, I won't keep talking, I've got things to do, come here, baby, give me a kiss……"

Seeing Zheng Tan leave, the sunglasses guy hastily hung up and followed. Although he'd promised to help a friend, this was really boring; however, on the university campus he could see many attractive female students with good temperament, and a romantic encounter would be even better. Too bad, that black cat flopped onto a tree and stayed there for an hour, so he could only make calls to kill time.

As for Chu Hua Da Xue, Zheng Tan is quite familiar with it; he's been to both crowded and secluded spots.

As the sunglasses guy said, right now it really is the season of birdsong and fragrance.

However, in some places, birdsong does not mean fragrance.

Zheng Tan walked at a leisurely pace, enjoying the afternoon in a relaxed stroll; the bespectacled follower continued behind him until he caught a whiff of a strange smell.

This path currently has no one else; it's just Zheng Tan and the person following him, as students with classes are in lecture, and those self‑studying wouldn't choose this "Angel's Path".

Originally the sunglasses guy was leisurely observing the surroundings, remarking that Chu Hua Da Xue, true to its century‑old reputation, has excellent greenery.

He had barely finished speaking when he heard a soft "pa" on his shoulder.

The sunglasses guy turned his head to look at his shoulder; his face instantly turned green.

A lump of white and gray goo splattered onto it, and now even wiping won't remove it.

Zheng Tan sped up and ran past this stretch; he normally doesn't come this way because there are many birds. This road is also one of Chu Hua Da Xue's "Angel (shit) Road".

Just then I heard the sunglasses man behind start cursing; he must have already been hit. So Zheng Tan didn't plan to stay—those shameless birds won't hold it in just because someone's below.

Actually, not everyone who walks this way gets hit; it's just a matter of probability. But today the sunglasses man got hit more than once—a lump landed on his sleeve, reddish in color; I don't know what that bird ate.

In short, the sunglasses man's angry cursing never stopped; while Zheng Tan was secretly amused, he also gathered from his words that they involved Wang Bin and Er Mao, and what clarified things for Zheng Tan was a phone call the sunglasses man made after leaving this stretch.

"Wang Bin, I'm telling you, to help you I've gone through hardships and endured torment…" the sunglasses man said while walking and talking on the phone, his coat already taken off and balled up in his hand. After seeing the black cat jump onto a stone bench, he also found a stone bench to sit beside it.

"Didn't see Er Mao? What about the cat?" Wang Bin asked after hearing the other's litany of complaints.

"The cat is just a meter away, right nearby; rest assured, I'm watching it—I'll definitely catch that brat Er Mao." The sunglasses man said confidently.

"What was its look when it looked at you?" Wang Bin on the other end paused, then said uncertainly; he had heard Zhao Le say a lot about that black cat, knowing this cat wasn't ordinary.

"The look? What else could it be—a cat's look…"

The sunglasses man casually glanced at the nearby stone bench, and his eyes met Zheng Tan's, which looked at him like he was an idiot.

The latter part of the sunglasses man's sentence choked him up, and after a while he managed to blurt out: 'Holy shit!'

"You beast, I remember telling you to be careful when tailing someone, not to be too obvious." Wang Bin on the other end sighed.

"C'mon, it's just a cat, you guys are being so cautious… Forget it, this time it's just a coincidence; I'll keep following, and who knows when I'll see Er Mao come out." The sunglasses man hung up, took off his sunglasses, and then seriously looked at the cat on the stone bench.

"Hey, are you deliberately messing with me?" the sunglasses man asked.

Zheng Tan ignored him, crouching there pretending to be stupid. This guy, though a bit dim, meant him no harm.

After asking that, the sunglasses man gave a self‑mocking laugh, thinking he must have been made stupid by bird droppings, actually asking a cat like that.

However, the sunglasses man had a brainwave; he once heard a friend say that someone's dog, upon hearing its owner's name called, would go straight to find its owner. Could this method work? It should!

So, the sunglasses man began chanting 'Er Mao' at Zheng Tan like reciting a sutra.

Zheng Tan couldn't hold back any longer; he jumped off the stone bench and left.

The sunglasses man followed behind, and when he passed a large trash can he flung the balled‑up coat inside.

Zheng Tan tugged at his ears. He thought to himself: 'What a prodigal!'

Actually, Zheng Tan had forgotten that back when he was still human, his behavior style was pretty much the same as this guy's.

The sunglasses man followed behind Zheng Tan, about to say something more, when he suddenly caught sight of a figure and immediately sped up to run over there. Since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, he decided to cut across the lawn. The lawn around here is surrounded by metal railings, and the sunglasses man leapt over.

A single leap!

As the sunglasses man's right foot landed, he happened to step on the feces that Sahala had left this morning after breaking free of its tether and running parkour—and he still hadn't realized it.

Zheng Tan glanced over and saw that Er Mao had returned from outside, coincidentally bumping into the sunglasses guy. To be honest, it really was quite a coincidence.

As Zheng Tan jogged back to Dongqu Dayuan, Er Mao and the sunglasses guy had probably already talked for a while.

Upon reaching the third floor, the door to Er Mao's place wasn't closed tightly, and Zheng Tan could hear the voices of the two inside.

"I never thought you'd actually live in a place like this, adding culture? When writing essays, you even forgot to write the 'yi' character in 'picking up a big bargain', Er Mao classmate!" said the sunglasses guy.

"Who back then wrote their own name 'Qin Tao' as 'Qin Shou', filled two pages, got it sent back by the teacher to rewrite, yet acted all wronged and flung the notebook out for the whole class to pass around to vent their 'grievance'? Someone who writes their own name missing three water dots and doesn't even realize it has no right to say that about me!" said Er Mao.

Zheng Tan: "……"

Are these two competing to see who's more of an idiot? (To be continued…)

ps: (3.5)