Chapter 198

For Zheng Tan, the days spent at home "facing the wall in reflection" summed up in one word—boring.

The past two days he could still go online to kill time, and incidentally look up the ads he'd filmed; besides that, he just slept at home. Wei Leng came by once, but to avoid being scolded by Jiao Ma, he only went to Er Mao's place on the third floor, and Zheng Tan ran over to listen to their chat about how things developed afterward.

The cat trainer was sentenced; Wei Leng didn't say the details, but Zheng Tan learned that the cat he'd beaten and broken its leg was taken away by A Wu; hearing that the cat was too fierce and aggressive, especially after Zheng Tan broke its leg, its temper worsened, and someone even suggested to Hetaoshixiong that it should be euthanized outright—letting such a cat loose would be too dangerous. Later A Wu spoke up, saying as compensation for this incident and to get rid of the "big boss" problem, Hetaoshixiong was happy to toss that cat to A Wu.

At first, the news that A Wu forbade approaching Chu Hua Da Xue was something he himself put out deliberately to draw the snake out of its hole; obviously his goal succeeded, which is why Zheng Tan could see Guiyuan around campus during that period. After the incident settled, that person and cat disappeared somewhere unknown.

Basically, Zheng Tan spent most of these days at home getting fat; for someone who likes to wander outside, he felt quite stifled, and each day he lay on the balcony looking out, feeling wistful.

Finally, one morning after a week, having finished breakfast, Jiao Ma took Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi out; Zheng Tan tentatively followed behind them, watching Jiao Ma's expression as he walked. Xiao Youzi glanced at Zheng Tan, pursed her lips and stayed silent; Jiao Yuan, meanwhile, grinned and snickered.

Zheng Tan followed them all the way to the first-floor access control; when the three went out and saw Jiao Ma show no reaction, he shamelessly darted out just before the door locked.

Looking again at Jiao Ma's face, it wasn't great, but more so it was resignation.

"Don't cause trouble, don't meddle—if you run into a thief later, don't rush after him; catching thieves is for police and dogs, what are you, a cat, going to do by charging in?" That night really scared Jiao Ma, otherwise she wouldn't have stayed angry for so long.

Although this was a lecture, it also meant that Jiao Ma temporarily allowed Zheng Tan to go out. If Jiao Ma weren't still watching, Zheng Tan would surely have jumped up excitedly and done a few somersaults—somersaults aren't hard for a cat.

After dropping Xiao Youzi off at the elementary school attached to the university, Zheng Tan watched Jiao Ma and Jiao Yuan leave until they disappeared from sight, then he sprinted onto the nearby lawn, leaping up and down. Over the past week he'd felt his whole body rusting from being cooped up; now that he'd run around, he felt much more relaxed.

He teased a few gray magpies. Zheng Tan walked along the flowerbed, and when he reached the staff activity center he heard voices there, plus one that was unusually familiar.

Zheng Tan jumped onto a windowsill and peered inside; he saw that pesky bird perched on a towel rack, bobbing its head and swaying as it sang kunqu excerpts along with the retired teachers. No wonder the guy's tone has been weird lately and he keeps singing opera—turns out he's been learning from those old men and women.

Da Pang's grandmother was also in there; Da Pang would squat nearby, and the general would occasionally run over to tease him twice, then get slapped away.

Zheng Tan couldn't understand those operas and had no interest in them. In the morning he didn't go far, just strolled around the campus; only in the afternoon did he decide to head outside for a run.

Some people, after being confined for a long time, want to run farther the moment they go out—and Zheng Tan is one of them.

He still chose the old street where Jiao Yuan's school is located; previously the farthest he'd gone along this road was the area around La Mei Shu's residence, but today Zheng Tan decided to walk a bit farther ahead.

The pace of urban construction is accelerating; after not seeing it for a while, Zheng Tan felt there were some changes again.

When he reached the residential compound where La Mei Shu used to live, Zheng Tan thought it over, climbed over the wall, and came to the front of that building.

Swish—

At the familiar window, the sash was pulled open, revealing a stranger's face, along with some snippets of conversation. The balcony also held some potted plants instead of the former cardboard boxes. This place must have been sold to someone else.

Since nobody recognized him, Zheng Tan didn't linger any longer; he left the compound and continued forward according to his planned route.

The farther he went, the more obvious the difference from the old street became—whether shops or walls, they exuded a new-era vitality.

When there was no wall, Zheng Tan walked along the edge; occasionally someone would give him an extra glance, but most people hurried past, too lazy to notice a cat that looked unremarkable.

After walking a stretch, Zheng Tan saw a Tianqiao ahead.

The sidewalks on both sides of the street ahead were crowded with pedestrians, and there was no satisfactory walking path beside them, so Zheng Tan didn't plan to go further forward, but he also didn't want to turn back right away; thus he decided to walk on the Tianqiao.

Ignoring the cat‑teasing sounds around him, Zheng Tan climbed the steps on his own. At the bend of the stairs, another fruit vendor was there, with people haggling over prices.

Upon reaching the Tianqiao, Zheng Tan looked around and found it quite lively—besides a few fruit sellers, there were vendors of fried rice cakes, small toys, and so on; where were the urban management officers patrolling?

Standing on the Tianqiao, beneath his feet flowed an endless stream of traffic; to one side lay a street of mostly old buildings, many of which would someday be marked for demolition; on the other side stretched a more colorful, prosperous world, where towering modern skyscrapers exuded the aura of a great metropolis.

Drawing his gaze back from the distance, Zheng Tan scanned the Tianqiao; his eyes finally settled on the spot at its center, where an old man with white‑tinged hair, dressed in faded gray‑blue clothing, sat on a simple folding stool, his back against the rail; beside him lay a white cane, and above his head a large black umbrella was opened to shade him from the sun, its handle tied to the rail.

The old man cradled a erhu in his arms, and at his feet lay an opened small wooden box containing some coins and low‑denomination paper money.

A street performer? And moreover, a blind person?

While Zheng Tan observed his surroundings, the people around were also curious about this black cat; they'd been selling things on the Tianqiao for a while, and this was the first time they'd seen a cat come up alone, and it showed no fear of people, remaining very calm. He ignored the passersby's teasing noises.

Originally some folks had merely given the sudden appearance of this black cat a curious glance, then went on greeting potential customers. But when they noticed the black cat heading toward the blind old man in the middle, some stopped their hawking and turned their attention to what was happening over there.

Zheng Tan was purely curious; he'd heard Er Mao and the others talk about things like the prevalent scammers these days—lots of people feign blindness and misery to win sympathy, earning in a day as much as some office workers. But this old man—first, he didn't whine about his misery to beg from passersby; second, he didn't write on the ground or prop up pre‑written sympathetic backstories; and third… Zheng Tan felt the man was a bit odd, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly why.

Is this person really blind?

Zheng Tan approached, stopping half a meter from the old man. He crouched, tilted his head, and stared at the man sitting there with eyes closed as if asleep. He waited two minutes. The old man showed no sign of opening his eyes.

His gaze fell to the old man's open wooden box at his feet; Zheng Tan stood up, walked over, glanced at the coins inside, then looked at the old man—eyes shut, motionless against the rail—then back at the box. He lifted his paw, scooped, hooked a coin with his bent claw, and set it down.

The coin fell, striking the others and producing a clear "ding."

As Zheng Tan placed the coin, he watched the old man; when the coin rang with a "ding," he noticed the man's ear twitch. Among the people he'd seen, few could move their ears, so spotting one who could was rare. The mischievous urge that had built up during his week‑long confinement resurfaced. Anyway, as long as he didn't go too far, bystanders would just think the cat was curious about the coins in the box but couldn't actually get them out, and wouldn't read more into it.

He scooped up another coin, released his claw just before pulling it out of the box, and again heard a "ding."

The old man's ear twitched again.

He scooped again, released his claw—"ding!"

The old man's ear twitched once more.

…

After repeating this several times, Zheng Tan grew impatient—why wouldn't the old man open his eyes? Even if he truly had an eye problem and couldn't open them, wouldn't he at least speak? Or is it that he can neither see nor speak?

Even if he could neither see nor speak, at least he could hear; judging from just now, his hearing couldn't be that poor—yet when he sensed his money box being disturbed, he showed absolutely no reaction, not even a flicker in his expression.

That's far too composed.

Thinking back to when he used to perform on the streets with Fang San Ye, though he felt embarrassed, if anyone messed with his money box he'd surely go up and beat them—but this old man?

He squatted in place, thinking, his tail tip swaying rhythmically; then Zheng Tan shifted his gaze to the half‑bottle of mineral water beside the folding stool, walked over, lifted his paw, and pushed!

This was a "bad habit" he'd picked up from hanging out with Chief Jingzhang and A Huang for too long.

All that could be seen was the half‑bottle of mineral water tipping over, then rolling farther away from the old man; the bottle that had once been within easy reach of his hand was now hard to get to, given that he is blind.

Everyone nearby who saw this thought the same thing: this cat's personality is truly damn awful!

Zheng Tan couldn't care less what others thought; looking at the man still sitting there unchanged, he muttered inwardly: "This guy's just a block of wood—aside from his ear twitching, what else can he do?!"

Boring. Harassing him for half a turn yielded no response.

Zheng Tan rolled the half‑bottle of mineral water, which had rolled far away, back again; though he didn't stand it upright, he shoved it to its original spot where the old man could reach it with a dangling hand.

Just as he was about to leave, Zheng Tan noticed the old man's long chin beard, swaying side to side in the breeze. Remembering the old man's half‑day lack of reaction, his mischievous urge flared again; he leapt up and flicked the beard with his claw.

Then, still no reaction.

Zheng Tan felt that if those brats grabbed his beard, he'd surely fly into a rage; he truly couldn't fathom how this old man could tolerate it.

If the old man gave any reaction besides ear‑twitching, Zheng Tan would lose interest in teasing him; but since the old man just sat there unmoving, he ended up stirring Zheng Tan's stubborn streak, compelling him to keep reaching for the beard over and over.

Not far away, the dark-skinned uncle selling mangoes, seeing this situation, opened his mouth wide, showing a mouthful of white teeth, even forgetting to reply to passersby's price inquiries; he thought to himself: 'This cat is definitely courting death!'

Zheng Tan was busy trying to provoke a reaction from the old man, not noticing at all the changing expressions of the several nearby stall vendors.

When A Jin walked up Tianqiao with his guitar on his back, he saw that black cat he hadn't seen in a long time, bullying a blind old man. (To be continued..)

ps: (3.20)