Chapter 203

Inside the folder, among the materials there was a photo; the background of the photo was Tianqiao, and the target person was an old man sitting under a black large umbrella, holding a two-stringed fiddle.

What made Ye Hao and the others uneasy was that in this photo, a black cat was squatting beside a wooden box, mouth wide open showing its sharp teeth as it yawned. The note beneath the photo in the materials stated: This cat is named Hei Tan, kept at home by a surnamed Jiao associate professor from the Life Sciences College of Chu Hua Da Xue……

Actually, even without those detailed descriptions in the materials, Ye Hao and the others already knew which cat this was. In this world, what other cat named Hei Tan could cause so much trouble?

Long Qi wanted to bang his head against the coffee table out of frustration; he had wanted to voice his thoughts, but Baizi spoke first, saying what he had wanted to say.

Really, this guy's shadow is everywhere!

Ye Hao put down the folder in his hand, placed his coffee cup on the coffee table, raised his hand to rub his brow, stayed silent for a moment, then suddenly gave a helpless smile, and picked up his phone to make a call.

"Hey, Wei Leng, help a brother out…… When can you recently bring that black cat out to meet…… What?! House arrest!!"

Ye Hao listened to Wei Leng's words on the other end of the phone, and frowned.

Damn it, if I had known earlier I would have sent someone to drag out that cat trainer and settle it quietly, to avoid all this trouble later at Chu Hua Da Xue; if that black cat were put under house arrest, when could it ever come out to talk?

After learning why Ye Hao was looking for the cat, Wei Leng decided to try going to the Chu Hua Da Xue side; the cat trainer incident had long passed, and besides, the people in the school compound don't really know the hidden details, so they probably wouldn't keep that guy locked up at home all the time, right?

Thus, one Saturday with decent weather, Wei Leng appeared at the Jiao Family residence, facing Jiao Ma, whose complexion wasn't great, and gave a harmless smile.

Although she was still reluctant inside, when Jiao Ma turned and saw Zheng Tan's expectant gaze, she still agreed to let Wei Leng take Zheng Tan out to play. Sigh, after finally being kept at home and behaving for a while, once out he goes wild again.

Hearing Jiao Ma's agreement, Wei Leng also felt relieved in his heart; if this owner had disagreed, the cat would absolutely not go to Ye Lou. Being able to agree certainly saves a lot of trouble.

That evening, in Ye Hao's villa.

Ye Hao and Baizi had already been waiting there; even Long Qi rarely stayed, as he was unwilling to see that cat. Yet he was also curious how the cat knew that person. As the saying goes, "a bear's heart and a leopard's gall"; it seems this cat's gall is not small either.

Zheng Tan had heard on the way a bit from Wei Leng about why Ye Hao was looking for him this time. However, is the "Kun Ye" they mentioned that blind old man?

I heard he was also a badass back then, from the same era as Tang Qi Ye and Nie Shi Jiu. But Zheng Tan wonders how this old man ended up doing worse than the two of them—Tang Qi Ye needs no comment, and I've heard about Nie Shi Jiu from Ye Hao and the others when they hung out at Ye Lou; someone who can raise a super cat and enjoy a high-end lifestyle obviously wouldn't be doing that poorly.

By comparison, what about this Kun Ye? Dressed in pauper's attire, fully showing his age, and still blind; even if he once was a figure who could stop gods and Buddhas, now he can only sit on Tianqiao and play a two-stringed fiddle.

Or perhaps…… the facts aren't as they appear on the surface?

Without experiencing A Jin's incident of retrieving the wallet and phone, Zheng Tan wouldn't think that old man had much ability. Now seeing Wei Leng and the others' reactions, that old man is still not simple.

Indeed, the thoughts of great figures are always hard to fathom. Take Fang Shaokang for example—clearly a super-rich tycoon, yet he once ran around the streets performing.

Each of them, like cats, is full of strange ideas.

Arriving at Ye Hao's villa, Zheng Tan jumped straight onto an empty sofa seat, found a comfortable posture to lie down, and waited for Ye Hao's next words—after all, Ye Hao had a request, and Zheng Tan wasn't in a hurry.

Seeing this cat brazenly looking for a spot to lie down right in front of him, Ye Hao glanced at it without a word. This cat's boldness really keeps growing, even more unrestrained than when Jueye was here.

Ye Hao handed the folder in his hand to Wei Leng; the materials inside that could not be leaked had already been extracted, and what he gave Wei Leng to look at were the recent investigation results concerning Kun Ye.

The hall was very quiet, only the sound of Wei Leng flipping through the materials and Ye Hao drinking coffee.

Ye Hao has been busy to death, prone to fatigue; lately he's gotten used to drinking coffee to stay alert, though health doctors don't recommend long-term consumption, but Ye Hao has no choice—he'll just get through this period for now, especially since being able to have a good talk with Kun Ye would certainly work, but this gentleman was notorious for being hard to talk to back then; no one knows how he'll be now after becoming like this, though it looks like there's been a big change, but nobody can say for sure. Having finally found a breakthrough, Ye Hao prepares to give it a try.

Wei Leng previously did not approve of Ye Hao's suggestion; he hadn't been active in Chu Hua Shi before, and his knowledge of Kun Ye came solely from Ye Hao. Even if he didn't know Kun Ye's current situation, suppose Kun Ye were now a toothless tiger—still a tiger, and stepping on a cat would be easy. Yet, looking at the materials in his hand, Wei Leng glanced and twitched the corners of his eyes, finally understanding why Ye Hao had this idea.

"……You even pulled Kun Ye's beard?!'' Wei Leng looked incredulously at Zheng Tan on the sofa.

Ye Hao propped his forehead with one hand; he very much wanted to agree and say: This cat being able to jump around alive is truly damn hard. But thinking of the attitude of Kun Ye described in the investigation materials, Ye Hao chose silence—what on earth does that gentleman think?

Some of the investigation materials were gathered by interviewing vendors at Tianqiao, so Zheng Tan's earlier "reckless" behavior in front of that old man is listed in the data, with plenty of routine details. Just looking at these, one cannot possibly link the old man in the materials to the once mighty Kun Ye who commanded the winds and clouds.

Either Kun Ye's temperament has changed drastically now, or he treats this cat in an unusual way.

Setting down the folder in his hand, Wei Leng leaned back against the sofa, his fingers tapping the armrest.

"How about this: you have it deliver a letter to Kun Ye to probe his attitude, and meanwhile see what this old man's temper is like now."

According to the information gathered, there was no sign that Kun Ye carried a cell phone or anything like that, nor any other contact numbers. Tang Qi Ye might have them, but Ye Hao doesn't want to go ask. Moreover, in broad daylight, Ye Hao also wouldn't want to go directly to Tianqiao to look for someone; he doesn't want to expose himself before the two sides reach an agreement, letting others know.

Hearing Wei Leng's suggestion, Ye Hao nodded, "That works too."

After deciding, Ye Hao promised Zheng Tan that this time, for helping out, he would directly give Zheng Tan a private single room on the third floor of Ye Lou, just like Wei Leng's. Of course, it will definitely be smaller than Wei Leng's, but it will be Zheng Tan's own private suite; even if he brings people himself later, there will be space, no need to borrow Wei Leng's.

Zheng Tan did not immediately express his stance. Lying in the distance in a contemplative pose, until Ye Hao placed a piece of Braille-printed short letter in front of him. Zheng Tan didn't understand it. Wei Leng explained the content of the letter; it was basically a visit request, with nothing else said.

Feeling it wasn't a big deal, Zheng Tan then expressed his stance.

Thus, the next Sunday afternoon around three o'clock, Zheng Tan came to Tianqiao at his usual time, with Wei Leng following not far behind to watch, preventing any accidents. Meanwhile, Ye Hao and the others watched the progress from somewhere in a building.

Zheng Tan also felt a bit nervous, placing the bank-card-sized envelope he was holding in his mouth onto Kun Ye's leg. This envelope was only taken by Zheng Tan after Wei Leng and Ye Hao repeatedly assured it was clean; he had no choice, his intermittent germophobia flared up.

The old man looked as if he were about to play the two-stringed fiddle; after Zheng Tan put down the letter, he opened the envelope, felt the characters on the paper, then placed the letter in his pocket, hugged the two-stringed fiddle, didn't play it, and just sat there with eyes closed, as if asleep.

Zheng Tan sensed no malice from the old man toward himself, so he boldly went to the wooden box nearby to see how the old man's business was doing today.

Just looking, Zheng Tan noticed something was off.

Damn it, there are actually game coins!

Which little brat threw these in?!

Lifting his paw and flipping through, Zheng Tan discovered there were plenty of these game coins; no wonder it felt like there were more coins today than usual—turns out they're all fakes!

These game coins resemble one-yuan coins in some cases, and half-yuan coins in others; if you're not careful, it's easy to mix them up with real money—no wonder Jiao Yuan complained at home that day about someone at school using game coins to buy steamed buns, and the steamed bun seller hadn't noticed.

Without hesitation, Zheng Tan stretched out his paw and scooped the game coins one by one out of the box, tossing them outside; for a while the clinking of game coins hitting the ground was nonstop. On Tianqiao, especially where the old man sat, anti-slip material was laid; the tossed game coins didn't roll far, their landing points basically stayed clustered near where Kun Ye sat, and the nearby small vendors didn't dare come over to check. Moreover, the weather was too good, the sun was blazing at this moment, many people held up sun umbrellas and wore sun hats as they hurried to and fro, paying no attention to other details, just taking it as the cat playing—cats, after all, aren't they all like this clumsy, paw‑fidgeting sort? Even if someone noticed the game coins on the ground, they'd just chuckle and walk away. So for a while, no one pointed out the actual situation.

The old man originally leaning against the railing heard the sound of game coins landing, his ears twitched slightly, and the stiffness on his face eased a bit—though others found it hard to notice.

Zheng Tan, on the other hand, scooped up the game coins with gusto, making a clatter inside the wooden box; meanwhile, Wei Leng standing not far away and Ye Hao anxiously watching from a certain building didn't see that these were game coins extremely similar to real money, nor did they even think along those lines—seeing Zheng Tan's behavior, they almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

"……Boss, is that cat courting death again?" Baizi stood behind Ye Hao with a stiff face and said.

If that old man were in a bad mood, having originally planned to accept the visit but then changed his mind and refused, what would we do? Baizi thought about it and felt it was a real pain in the ass.

Ye Hao's face twisted; he now somewhat regretted, wondering if he shouldn't have entrusted this matter to that cat—whether he not only gained nothing but also earned enmity.

Wei Leng squatted at the corner of the Tianqiao bridge steps, anxiously scratched his head, then looked over at the cat energetically scooping up coins over there, feeling a stomachache. It must be that the breakfast he ate this morning was off.

"Young man, want some steamed cake?" the steamed-cake vendor auntie, smiling all over, looked at Wei Leng, the gold tooth in her mouth glinting in the sunlight.

Wei Leng: "..." His stomach hurt even more.

Compared to Wei Leng and Ye Hao's tangled feelings, Kunye, sitting there, readjusted his posture and started playing the erhu.

To others, there seemed nothing wrong, but if A Jin were here, hearing the tune Kunye is playing now, he would surely sigh, "Grandpa, you're in a great mood!" (To be continued...)

ps: (3.25) I originally planned to release chapters 2 and 3 together, but so far only half of chapter 3 is written, it's already late, Monday is busy, so I decided to go to sleep first.