Chapter 223

After the rice and millet left, Er Mao's life also returned to its former leisurely freedom, but recently Er Mao has been running outside during the day, not knowing what he's up to. Hei Mi is still quite quiet; Zheng Tan hasn't heard it call, guessing it has already adapted to life after the offspring left. This period Zheng Tan has seen it once, and Hei Mi's spirit looks fine.

Zheng Tan and Tianqiao; the term "Chinese parasol tree" is not a name.

The car horns blared nonstop, but Zheng Tan could still pick out the erhu's sound from the din; that old man must be in a good mood today.

However, when Zheng Tan reached the overpass, he saw an unexpected acquaintance.

Xiao Jiu is a nickname meaning "Little Nine"; it is a named entity not listed in the glossary, so it should be romanized as Xiao Jiu.

Xiao Jiu appears many times.

Also mentions Zheng Tan again.

"I got half a day off today, so I thought I'd come try my luck to see if I could run into you; if I do, it's luck, if not, I can just sit here and read for half an afternoon," Xiao Jiu said happily.

Xiao Jiu and Kun Ye; Kun Ye is a nickname/honorific not in the glossary, so it should be romanized as Kun Ye.

Xiao Jiu had a backpack on her back that looked about eighty percent new. After putting the book in her hand into the backpack, she greeted Zheng Tan and led him to a quieter spot, briefly explaining the situation lately.

Xiao Jiu mentions Huang Jiu as a new name; Huang Jiu is not in the glossary, so it should be romanized as Huang Jiu.

Zheng Tan's internal monologue; no new names.

Xiao Jiu took a water bottle from her backpack, poured a little water onto the stone edge of the nearby flowerbed, dipped her finger in it, and then wrote her name on the ground beside it.

Probably because she hadn't practiced writing long, the characters weren't great, but Zheng Tan could still make out which two characters they were.

Before, Xiao Jiu was just called Xiao Jiu at home; Zheng Tan wasn't clear about her household registration, but seeing how satisfied she is with her new registration and how she likes her name now.

After chatting a while, Xiao Jiu told Zheng Tan to wait there, then she quickly ran to the nearest supermarket. Ten minutes later, Xiao Jiu came back holding her backpack.

"Good thing it's not the weekend today, so there aren't many people, and the luggage locker area is empty. I went to a supermarket last Saturday—there were so many people…"

Zheng Tan felt this girl had become much more talkative, liking to chatter about any little thing. Perhaps for Xiao Jiu, these are happy things she wants to share.

Xiao Jiu came and sat down beside the flowerbed, opened her backpack zipper, and took out a bag of candy.

"Here, take this to your little master, thank her for the candy she gave me back then—too bad I couldn't eat many of those candies, it's such a waste," she said, handing the bag to Zheng Tan.

The bag wasn't big, so it wasn't much of a challenge for Zheng Tan, but since it hadn't been wiped with paper, his slight mysophobia made him hesitate.

"I get pocket money every month, but not much—this month I only have ten yuan, so I could only afford this. It can't compare to the candy your little master gave me, but once I have more money, I'll treat you to something better!" Xiao Jiu looked at Zheng Tan with eager expectation.

If Zheng Tan didn't take it, Xiao Jiu would probably think he was looking down on the candy.

Just "Forget it."; no names.

Zheng Tan opened his mouth and grabbed the bag of candy.

Only then did Xiao Jiu laugh and continue speaking.

Xiao Jiu mentions first grade and third grade (not names), and the term "little brat" (Xiao Pihai) which is a nickname.

Also mentions "older sister" (not a name).

After chatting a bit more, Xiao Jiu had to leave because she still had study tasks. Even without hearing her say these things, Zheng Tan could see that the girl's life had been decent lately, her eyes lacking the excessive worries not typical for her age—a good sign.

Watching Zheng Tan trot off with the bag of candy in his mouth, Xiao Jiu anxiously added, "Don't lose it!"

What a chatterbox! Flicking his tail, Zheng Tan still stopped and turned his head, giving Xiao Jiu a helpless glance.

Seeing Zheng Tan like that, Xiao Jiu burst out laughing, waved her hand, and ran off with her backpack in the opposite direction; probably because she was in a great mood, she hopped twice as she ran.

Zheng Tan and Xiao Youzi appear.

"Huh? Hei Tan, who bought this?" Xiao Youzi, who had just come out of school, took the bag of candy, looked at it, asked Zheng Tan, and glanced around, seeing no one who might have given the candy.

Zheng Tan couldn't speak to answer, but after returning home, when Xiao Youzi was taking out her homework to write, he pulled out her sketchbook—this was Xiao Youzi's own sketchbook, where she usually doodled for fun, not an art-class assignment.

Zheng Tan flipped through it and found a drawing Xiao Youzi had made during summer vacation, depicting Xiao Jiu holding a small bucket and carrying a sickle on her back.

"Is that her?" Xiao Youzi exclaimed, "How did she end up here?"

Zheng Tan didn't know how to answer that question either.

Wei Leng and Jiao Ma; also mentions the National Day holiday (not a name) and a wedding.

Jiao Ma liked to chat about this topic, pulling Wei Leng into conversation for ten or so minutes, and even didn't say anything about Wei Leng taking Zheng Tan out to play and possibly staying out overnight.

Seeing that Zheng Tan's spirits had improved considerably over this period, shaking off his previous lethargy, Jiao Ma gave him only a few reminders. As long as his spirit is good, that's enough; for now she won't demand more.

Er Mao, Hetaoshixiong, Ye Lou, and Wei Leng; they plan to meet again at Wei Leng's wedding, where some elders will attend.

Along the way, Er Mao never stopped talking, even more talkative than Wei Leng, from teasing Wei Leng to expressing feelings about keeping cats; when they arrived at Ye Lou, she still seemed to have more to say.

Ye Hao was also at the Night Tower today, but he wouldn't disturb Wei Leng and his two fellow disciples; however, he had something to say to Zheng Tan.

Wei Leng went upstairs to the private room first, leaving Ye Hao to talk with Zheng Tan.

"Exclusive private room?"

Zheng Tan listened to Ye Hao's words, nodding to himself. Not bad—it seemed Ye Hao still remembered this. When Zheng Tan came to the Night Tower, he hadn't heard Wei Leng mention it, so he thought Ye Hao's promise of a private room had fallen through. Turns out it actually got sorted out.

Ye Hao, Zheng Tan, and Liang Hu (a name not in the glossary, so it should be romanized as Liang Hu).

Liang Hu, Baizi, and Dragon; also mentions the boss.

Zheng Tan followed Liang Hu up to the third floor; the room Ye Hao arranged for Zheng Tan was next door to Wei Leng's. Earlier, Ye Hao had renovated some of the private rooms on this side of the third floor and also finished Zheng Tan's single room.

Zheng Tan, Liang Hu, Ye Hao, Chu Hua University, and Dongqu District Courtyard; also mentions the entrance gate of Chu Hua University's Dongqu District Courtyard.

Zheng Tan, Liang Hu, and Dongqu District Courtyard again; also mentions a cat brand (not a name).

This private room is a bit smaller than Wei Leng's, but the decor received plenty of thought—especially the walls and ceiling, which have crawling and walking paths for cats, with some cat walkways crisscrossing overhead that don't look cluttered. Zheng Tan walked up the slanted wooden board on the wall, then jumped from a side path onto the "suspension bridge" leading to the ceiling.

After playing around a bit, overall it felt not bad. The patterns were basically cat paw prints, cat heads, and the like, with no other styles mixed in.

What embarrassed Zheng Tan were the scratching posts and hanging plush toys; if he were a real cat rather than a cat with a human heart, he would surely love these setups. For an actual cat, this place would be a miniature playground.

Besides those, there was also a karaoke setup, which made Zheng Tan quite satisfied. He didn't know whether Ye Hao and the others had thought ahead, providing a dedicated spot for Zheng Tan to wail when he felt down again, instead of subjecting everyone's ears to his singing at Ye Hao's or Wei Leng's place.

This place is not bad; he thought about bringing friends over to play sometime.

"However..."

Zheng Tan, Chief of Police, A Huang, Da Pang, peanuts (not a name), Lord Jueye; also mentions Tang Qi Ye (a nickname/honorific not in the glossary, so it should be romanized as Tang Qi Ye).

Also mentions Ye Hao.

: (no names)

Liang Hu and Long Qi (a name not in the glossary, so it should be romanized as Long Qi).

After looking around the room for a while, Zheng Tan went to Wei Leng's private room, where the three were discussing who could attend the wedding—such as Wei Leng's former comrades-in-arms and some current friends, etc. —people Zheng Tan wasn't particularly interested in; what intrigued him was the master the three were talking about.

Wei Leng said his master old man is still healthy these days, currently idle, the old man said that at eleven he would have time to come over and take a look, to see the living environment of the three disciples. What Zheng Tan regrets is that the cat named Big Mountain raised by Wei Leng's master will not be brought along.

As for Er Mao's master, what kind of person is he?

Zheng Tan was also quite looking forward to meeting that old man; from hearing these three's tone and wording, he seems to be an eccentric person. Besides, many people who like cats are quite eccentric. (To be continued...)

ps: (4.12) Due to computer network issues, updates are not very convenient; the release schedule for the next few days may be irregular. These two chapters were written yesterday; tonight's update probably won't be posted. I'll go back and write it, then find time to post it tomorrow. Really sorry, everyone. orz