Chapter 200: If You Dare Throw Me, I Dare Pick It Up

The next day, when Zheng Tan went to Jiao Wei's family's small restaurant for lunch at noon, he saw A Jin standing under a tree at the entrance.

Yesterday A Jin lost his phone and wallet, and didn't immediately contact his acquaintances; later Zheng Tan directly brought him to Jiao Wei's family's shop.

Jiao Wei's mother's enthusiastic attitude made A Jin feel embarrassed; he wanted to leave an IOU note or something, but Jiao Wei's mother said: "Hei Tan brought him over, what money should we still take? This meal is on me, Auntie!"

Now Jiao Wei's mother has some idea about certain matters, having also heard a bit from Jiao Wei; her attitude toward Zheng Tan is completely unlike how she treats the cats back in his hometown village. Having run this business for years, she has some discernment—A Jin doesn't seem like a bad person, and besides, a meal costs only ten or so yuan; there's no need to quibble over so much, and it's good to earn some merit.

After eating at the shop last night, A Jin slung his guitar and headed toward the Central Plaza; actually, if Zheng Tan hadn't brought him here, he would have first gone to the plaza to sing, then wait until he earned a bit of money at night to fill his stomach.

This noon, Jiao Wei's mother had just finished washing the vegetables and was sitting at the doorway resting; when the time for school to let out arrived, people started to increase, and she would be busy until about one o'clock, so she planned to rest a bit during this lull, not expecting to see A Jin.

A Jin came over to eat; this time he paid himself, and also bought some fruit with the money he earned last night as a thank-you gift. After spending that money, he had little left, so he kept only the bus fare, planning that if things really got tough, he would take a taxi back to get some money and come out again. He had to be glad that when he went out he hadn't brought his ID, bank card, etc.; his wallet only contained the two thousand yuan he had taken out when leaving. Losing the money was just losing money, but losing the cards and ID would be more troublesome.

When A Jin came over at noon, he ran into Er Mao, who was coming to the shop to pick up food; he had seen Er Mao twice before and knew this person was very familiar with Wei Leng.

Er Mao often runs to the Ye Lou area with Qin Tao and the others; Wei Leng had also told him about A Jin and his band, and he had even gone to listen to a few performances, recognizing A Jin; even if he weren't sure, seeing the cat necklace hanging from A Jin's neck would confirm it.

Now the weather has warmed up, Er Mao also doesn't sleep in; every day at this time he comes over to pick up his dinner. He had specially bought two insulated boxes from the supermarket. He handed over the empty insulated box he was holding, then received the insulated box filled with food that Jiao Wei's mother passed over, set it aside, didn't rush to leave, and sat down to chat with A Jin for a while.

Upon hearing that A Jin had lost his wallet and phone, Er Mao expressed his thoughts. Nowadays there really are many thieves on the road, especially around the school and the commercial street; A Jin's situation is not uncommon.

"How about I lend you some?" Er Mao said casually.

A Jin politely refused. The last time he saw Er Mao, that person was with a few spoiled rich kids; he suspected Er Mao himself was one of them, and people of that type, if they speak inappropriately, might provoke resentment.

"Oh." Er Mao, not minding the refusal, said, "I was just saying; I actually didn't bring a single cent when I went out."

A Jin: "……"

"But..." Er Mao stretched, "If you're familiar with that cat, clinging to its thigh will keep you from starving."

After saying that, Er Mao stood up, picked up his lunch box, and left, without encountering Zheng Tan and the others who came later.

Although Er Mao's last words sounded like a joke and seemed bizarre to bystanders, A Jin knew it was the truth. Seeing the boss and boss's wife's attitude toward Zheng Tan at the small restaurant, A Jin couldn't help but feel in his heart that this person hasn't yet managed to get by relying on the cat; look at others, what big face they have!

The day before, Zheng Tan had left A Jin alone in the shop and didn't look after him, while he himself went to pick up Xiao Youzi; he hadn't expected to see A Jin again when he came over at noon today.

A Jin greeted Zheng Tan, then left the shop without disturbing Zheng Tan and the others eating lunch. He intended to wander around Chu Hua University; he had never attended university, so strolling through this prestigious school was also nice, a rare trip.

In the afternoon, when Zheng Tan went out preparing to go for a stroll, he ran into A Jin idling around the school; A Jin even suggested letting Zheng Tan show him around the campus, but Zheng Tan decided to go try the blind old man at the overpass instead, ignoring A Jin's words.

Seeing no reaction from Zheng Tan, A Jin thought the cat didn't understand his words, but seeing Zheng Tan walk outward, he thought it over and followed. Thus, one person and one cat arrived again at the overpass.

After getting on the overpass, what surprised A Jin was that not far from the blind old man, leaning against the railing, lay his own wallet and phone that he had lost yesterday.

He asked a person selling mangoes from a basket, and learned that the phone and wallet had been placed there by the blind old man when he came over this morning.

A Jin opened the wallet and saw that not a single cent was missing. The phone was powered off; after turning it on, all functions were intact, and the contacts list had not been cleared.

Not only A Jin, but Zheng Tan was also shocked—could this old man really be a big shot? He had heard some of this from listening to Wei Leng and Ye Hao chat; without connections or skills, it would be impossible to so easily find lost items.

But what puzzled Zheng Tan was, don't they say that impressive people have impressive tempers? Why isn't this old man like that? I pulled his whiskers yesterday, yet he showed no reaction, and afterward no one came to cause me trouble.

When Zheng Tan and A Jin arrived, the old man was playing the erhu.

The tune was different from yesterday's; A Jin listened and felt it lacked that sorrowful quality and was unlike yesterday afternoon's style, instead giving a feeling of calm and strange wonder. At this time of day, with such weather and surroundings, one should clearly feel tired or irritable. Of course, for Zheng Tan, who doesn't understand music appreciation, that's another matter—whatever mood he has is whatever mood he has.

Without interrupting the old man, A Jin prepared to wait until he finished the piece before thanking him, then stepped to the side, leaning against the railing to listen attentively to the old man playing the erhu. A Jin greatly admires this blind old man; although A Jin considers himself to have cultivated some skill, it's clearly not enough—if he himself were playing and singing here, he would inevitably be affected by the piercing honking of traffic from below the overpass, with some hot-headed drivers frequently honking or holding down the horn; someone without that mindset would likely have the rest of his song blocked back into his belly by the honk after singing the first line.

Put simply, it's just a matter of mindset. But achieving what the blind old man does is not easy. Maintaining one's original heart, keeping a peaceful and tranquil mind—how difficult that is.

Of course, even if he could tolerate the noisy honking from below the overpass, A Jin wouldn't play guitar here; although he doesn't quite understand why the surrounding vendors treat this old man specially, he wouldn't steal their business, and now that the old man has returned his wallet and phone, A Jin won't come here to perform.

Zheng Tan doesn't really appreciate music; he walked up to the old man and raised his head to observe the old man's expression.

Just as yesterday, he had his eyes closed, showing no emotion on his face, so the long beard swaying in the breeze was relatively conspicuous.

However, after all, there were some misgivings. Zheng Tan decided to observe first; he temporarily refrained from pulling the whiskers, and instead squatted beside the wooden box that already held some coins and change, idly counting how much the old man had earned today.

As he was lowering his head to count the money, suddenly a shadow fell over him; Zheng Tan looked up at the person standing before him and said unequivocally that the person was standing in front of the old man, with a somewhat ostentatious and arrogant expression, accompanied by a young woman wearing revealing, eye-catching clothing; the gazes of some nearby people fell on the woman's prominent chest and her pair of pale, long legs.

"Not bad." the person said, then took out a leather wallet, pulled out a brand-new hundred-yuan bill, and tossed it casually.

Zheng Tan looked at the money fallen on the ground; the landing point was about forty centimeters away from the wooden box, not even half a meter? He then looked up at the person before him; this person seemed to have no intention of picking up the money and putting it into the box, but rather waited expectantly, presumably to see who would come over to pick up the money.

Such behavior carried an insulting meaning; among the onlookers who witnessed this scene, some planned to watch the show, some, although they couldn't bear to look, took no actual action, for they didn't want to offend someone obviously not short of money.

A Jin looked and considered whether to intervene; after all, as a wandering singer he had encountered such embarrassing situations before and had built up some immunity. But just as A Jin stepped forward, he saw the black cat squatting beside the wooden box walk over, nudge the brand-new hundred-yuan bill that was about to blow away back, then use its two front paws to clamp it and place it into the wooden box; after putting it in, the cat extended its claws inside the box and flicked about, pressing the coins atop the bill to keep them from being blown away by the wind.

Throughout this process, besides paying attention to what was happening in front of him, A Jin also felt that the blind old man's erhu piece had a subtle shift—from calm to solemn, then to comfort—but upon listening again, A Jin felt there was no real difference from before; could the same piece have such changes? A Jin wondered. He didn't know if it was an illusion.

From the moment that person threw the money until now, the old man had not stopped moving his hands to play the erhu, as if unaware of all this.

The person hadn't expected such a scene, then pulled another hundred-yuan bill from his leather wallet and threw it on the ground; Zheng Tan continued to repeat his previous action.

After placing the money into the wooden box, Zheng Tan looked at the person before him. "You dare throw money at me, I dare pick it up; anyway, we're just a cat now, not afraid of losing face. Moreover, the old man's takings today aren't great; although I haven't finished counting the money, I roughly estimate there's about eighty or so yuan, and this person just threw a hundred—might as well pick it up, might as well not."

Zheng Tan has seen plenty of people who are stupid with money, whose character is despicable and whose intelligence is frantic; the former Zheng Tan also used to do such ** things, and now thinking back, the past is unbearable to recall.

After the person threw five hundred-yuan bills in a row, the woman beside him finally couldn't hold back; she tugged at him, whispered two words in his ear, and then he, with a displeased face, snapped his leather wallet shut and put it in his pocket, hurrying away.

"Pfft—"

I don't know who started laughing, but the few small vendors around all burst into laughter.

"Hey, keeping a cat is also nice."

Zheng Tan ignored the bystanders' discussion, turned his head to look at the old man again, and still saw no change in the old man's expression.

When the time was about right, Zheng Tan left the overpass, and A Jin followed; today he had his wallet, so he would buy the chicken strips he hadn't managed to get yesterday; moreover, over the next two days he planned to wander around Chu Hua University, and while strolling there today he had found some inspiration, which A Jin didn't want to waste.

Not long after Zheng Tan left, the old man stopped his motion, then held the erhu and sat silently, waiting to leave when the sunset fell.

"Hey, this old man seems to have played for a longer time this afternoon." the mango seller said softly to the toy seller beside him.

"... Probably he's in a good mood; he earned over five hundred yuan this afternoon." the toy stall vendor said enviously.

Exactly what mood the old man is in, nobody can say for sure. (To be continued...)

ps: (3.21) I was pulled by a friend to chat about life for half a day; I had originally planned to release three chapters today, but now it seems impossible, so two chapters will do; I'll upload another chapter later.