Chapter 214

Zheng Tan stared nervously at those few people until they walked away.

What are they doing here?

Zheng Tan still remembered the call that person made at Chu Hua Da Xue; just listening to the content didn't sound like anything good. The conversation of those few people just now, others couldn't hear clearly, but Zheng Tan could; however, they were only talking about trivial matters, and Zheng Tan couldn't draw any meaningful conclusion from those talks. Indeed, if it were truly important, they wouldn't be discussing it here, with everyone around.

No matter what, Zheng Tan's nerves tensed up again; even though those people had left, he remained worried. He decided to stick close to Xiao Youzi and the others these days; even if those people's target wasn't Xiao Youzi, Zheng Tan didn't dare let his guard down—there are all kinds of perverts in this world, it's better to be prepared, who knows if they might suddenly come up with some perverse idea.

Thus, Zheng Tan couldn't sleep that night; even though Jiao Yuan had caught some fireflies, it couldn't divert his attention. Watching the children who knew nothing, Zheng Tan felt oppressed in his heart—knowing too much wasn't good either.

The next morning, Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi were still sleeping in; Jiao Ma didn't disturb them, as getting a good sleep in summer is not easy.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the roof and looked into the distance. Most people in the village got up early, taking advantage of the cool before the temperature rose to get more work done.

The Gu family's side still had that pointed-tile roof structure, but the neighboring household had built a three-story small building, which looked pretty good.

On the second-floor balcony next door there was a kitten, about two months old, playing with a walnut on the balcony, flicking it about excitedly.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the railing of the neighboring second-floor balcony. The little cat was startled, but soon resumed its self-amusement.

The window of the room beside the balcony on the second floor was open; from the railing Zheng Tan could see inside—it looked like a boy's room, with some robot and toy guns and cannons, and on the desk lay a fifth-grade elementary school Chinese summer homework book.

"Big sis, what are you patting on your face every day?" A boy's voice came from another room inside the house—the same boy who had caught fireflies with Jiao Yuan yesterday.

"Toad, this is toner!" a female voice said. At the same time, there was a patting sound.

Not long after, the boy entered the room with a troubled expression. Seeing the black cat standing on the railing didn't provoke much reaction. He sat at the desk, opened his summer homework book. He had homework every day; he wasn't allowed to go out and play until he finished it, so after breakfast each morning he would immediately hole up in the room to do his homework.

He had written for less than five minutes. The boy let out a fart, then covered his stomach and ran out of the room—probably to go to the toilet.

Zheng Tan was quite curious about what these kids wrote in their diaries and essays in the homework; he often flipped through Xiao Youzi's Chinese summer homework diary and essays when he had nothing to do, anyway it wasn't anything **. They wrote about everyday life.

Jumping in through the window, Zheng Tan saw the opened part of the homework where that boy was writing today's diary entry at the very end. There, the pen wobbled as it wrote: "Every morning when I wake up I can see my older sister slapping her face in front of the mirror..."

Zheng Tan couldn't help laughing; this kid was really amusing, and he lifted his paw to flip through the earlier diary entries as well.

If you didn't flip through, you wouldn't know—this little rascal actually took his diary seriously, recording some of his past misdeeds, like on which date he dug a pit somewhere in the village, on another date he dug another, some pits already had someone fall in, and there were some places where no one ever went, left abandoned there.

Zheng Tan hadn't expected to gain this; he noted down those few places where no one had fallen into the traps yet, so that Xiao Youzi and the others wouldn't fall in when they walked that way later. Although it was just the kids' prank, not very harmful, falling into a trap would certainly not feel good.

Upon hearing approaching footsteps, Zheng Tan put the homework back where it was, then jumped out the window, returned to the Gu family's roof, and when he heard Jiao Ma calling him, he hurried down to eat breakfast.

Since the two kids hadn't had enough fun yesterday, today Gu Lao Yezi took them out to dig some earthworms, and in the afternoon they continued to go to the wild pond to catch shrimp.

Zheng Tan continued to stand aside and watch for a while, then ran off to another place to stroll; seeing that Zheng Tan's performance yesterday had been decent, Xiao Youzi and the others didn't say anything.

Actually, Zheng Tan wasn't strolling out of boredom today; he wanted to see whether that little girl from yesterday was still around.

Arriving at the spot where he had encountered that child yesterday, Zheng Tan didn't see anyone and felt a bit disappointed; just as he was about to leave, he spotted a figure walking over from afar—it was indeed that little girl from yesterday. She carried yesterday's broken bucket, and on her other shoulder she bore a sickle broken off at one end, walking toward this side.

However, as she drew nearer, Zheng Tan noticed that the child now bore fresh welts from being struck with sticks—too obvious to ignore. No wonder she seemed to have difficulty walking today.

Upon seeing Zheng Tan, the little girl didn't display yesterday's killing intent and ferocity; instead she showed a look of astonishment and oddness. She paused in place, then continued forward to yesterday's shrimp-fishing spot, took out a wooden rod, tied on earthworms, and placed them in three spots.

Zheng Tan found it rather strange how this little girl's attitude toward him had changed; he didn't approach closer, but sensed movement from the rod not far away, glanced at the girl squatting there wondering what she was thinking, scanned the surroundings, hooked a small clump of earth with his claw and tossed it over there.

The little girl, lost in thought, noticed the movement and looked over, seeing that black cat she thought was very strange; seeing the black cat glance toward where the rod was placed, she got up and walked over there.

Zheng Tan stepped back a few meters, watching the girl guard the rod for a few seconds, then he picked up a small shrimp.

After putting the rod back down, the little girl gave Zheng Tan a complex look, then walked over to the other rod.

Seeing that the girl had no hostility, and since Zheng Tan was idle anyway, he felt sorry for her and decided to help keep watch on the movements of the other two rods, so she wouldn't have to keep walking back and forth—wouldn't those wounds on her legs hurt?

Thus, gradually, the girl and the cat developed this tacit understanding: the girl guarded the outermost rod, while Zheng Tan helped watch these two nearby; the distance between the two rods wasn't far, so it wasn't hard for him. Whenever there was movement, Zheng Tan would nearby scoop up a small stone or clump of earth and toss it over, signaling to her that a shrimp had hooked on this side.

The girl's foul mood from being beaten had improved considerably; she lowered her head and saw an old shrimp approaching the several earthworms, the corner of her mouth turning up in an arc—this old shrimp looked meaty, with big claws also full of meat; her luck was good.

Just as she thought that, a clump of earth was thrown over, lightly striking her on the body, then rolled down the slope of the bank and plopped into the water with a slap. The old shrimp that had just begun to move its claws to grab the earthworms vanished in a flash. Only ripples remained on the water surface.

Little girl: "……"

Rubbing her forehead and letting out a low sigh, the little girl helplessly looked toward the black cat not far away that was raising a foreleg already bent, preparing to throw a second clump of earth, then got up and walked over.

Waiting for the shrimp over there to be caught, the girl examined the thumb-sized little shrimp tightly clamped onto the earthworm without loosening its grip. She took it off and twisted off the shrimp head. Zheng Tan hadn't seen clearly yet. In her hand appeared a plump, white shrimp meat ball that looked somewhat crystalline. This motion was clearly something she did often, very practiced.

After peeling off the shrimp meat, the little girl tossed it toward Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan gave it a disdainful glance, then walked to the side of the rod and continued to watch it.

The little girl wondered, why won't this cat eat it? She remembered that the big flowered cat next door ate this, and the cat at the village head also ate it, but just now this cat… that look was disdain, perhaps? Could it be that he thought this one was too small? But that shouldn't be—when she usually cooks shrimp to eat herself, if a cat comes by she gives it the small ones, keeping the big ones for herself. Whether raw or cooked, that cat eats everything; why does this black one behave differently?

Shaking her head, the little girl decided not to dwell on this issue anymore; if it's not eaten, then it's not eaten—she could save some rations.

"Hei Tan——"

From over there came Xiao Youzi's voice; Zheng Tan stopped guarding the rod and sprinted back. Xiao Youzi's voice didn't sound like there was danger, just calling him back.

"Hei Tan? That name is really lame, not even as good as the village's Da Hei." The little girl watched the black cat disappear, then said softly. She glanced at the other two rods, let out a long sigh, got up and went to check them.

Running back to Xiao Youzi's side, Zheng Tan heard Jiao Yuan boasting to Gu Lao Yezi, "How about it? I said Hei Tan would definitely come running back right away."

Xiao Youzi unscrewed the kettle, took out the lid and poured water for Zheng Tan; it was so hot that she feared he might get thirsty.

Zheng Tan felt pleased inside—indeed, his own family's child was the best.

Gu Lao Yezi curled his lip at the side, thinking, "It's just a cat, look how you're pampering it." But Gu Lao Yezi could only keep that thought to himself, not daring to say it outright, for he didn't want Xiao Youzi and Jiao Yuan to develop dissatisfaction toward him over this.

After drinking his water, Zheng Tan lingered there a while, then ran over to the little girl; she was also drinking water, but not from a kettle—it was a mineral water bottle, apparently used for some time.

Thus, over the following days, when Xiao Youzi and the others came out to catch shrimp, Zheng Tan would find time to go there and help the little girl watch the rods; she seemed to go to the wild pond to catch shrimp every day. However, when Xiao Youzi and the others didn't go out, Zheng Tan also stayed indoors.

One day Gu Lao Yezi took Xiao Youzi and Jiao Yuan to watch people net fish; returning from the fish pond, passing a fork in the road, Zheng Tan saw that little girl—several days without seeing her, her old wounds hadn't healed and she had acquired new ones; even if they didn't reach the bone, this flesh-and-blood suffering was too heavy for a ten-ish-year-old child.

Xiao Youzi saw that Zheng Tan was quite familiar with the little girl, noted her clothing and injuries, and took out a few milk candies from his pocket to hand over.

Because of Zhao Le, the Jiao family never lacked snacks and such; there was no need for Jiao Ma to buy them, as Zhao Le periodically had people send over goods, more than they could eat. Before summer vacation Zhao Le had again sent several large boxes of high-end milk candies. Jiao Yuan had brought them over, but because the weather was too hot, when they went out they only took a few, not many. Xiao Youzi had eaten just one today, giving the rest to that little girl. She thought, the people Zheng Tan knows should be good people.

The little girl gave Xiao Youzi and the black cat standing beside him a complex look, said "Thank you," and left. Meanwhile, Zheng Tan observed Gu Lao Yezi's expression and knew this old man must know something. However, when Xiao Youzi and Jiao Yuan asked him, Gu Lao Yezi said nothing, fearing to give the two children a bad impression.

That evening, while cooling off outside, Zheng Tan heard Gu Lao Yezi and the old lady talking in low voices about that little girl, realizing she indeed was born into that controversial figure's household, ranking ninth, the youngest of the nine daughters. To have a father who favors sons over daughters and indulges in drinking, gambling, and prostitution, who scolds and beats them at the slightest displeasure—one can only say it's their misfortune.

Zheng Tan also heard Gu Lao Yezi say that this girl would eventually be sold off by her father; fortunately she still had two older sisters above her, and once those two sisters were sold, it would likely be her turn.

From Gu Lao Yezi's tone, he also couldn't help much; the matter wasn't that simple, otherwise someone would have intervened long ago. (To be continued…)

ps: (4.4) The previous chapter should have been chapter 2000, I wrote it wrong; tomorrow I'll find the editor to fix it.