Chapter 228: How Did These Two End Up Here?

Jiao Ma greatly regretted having just praised her own cat too highly; now she wanted to take back her words but couldn't. In her heart she very much wanted to make the person in front of her give up the idea. She knew very well that this kind of person follows through on what they say; having said it today, who knows, tomorrow they might actually take her cat out.

"This… Teacher Tan, my cat actually causes a lot of trouble, has a big temper, and I can't control it……"

"It's fine, you also said that, this cat isn't being taken out to play for the first time, and moreover your cat is much stronger than my Ke Le; when I take him out I have to put a leash on him, otherwise on the road he might see some other cat or dog that catches his eye and jump off, but at school I don't leash him because school is safer and not as chaotic outside."

Tan Fang started speaking and rattled on with a bunch of words; after finishing he didn't wait for Jiao Ma to reply, the old man glanced at his wristwatch and said, "It's getting late, I won't disturb you any longer, I'll head back first."

Seeing Tan Fang rise to leave, Jiao Ma was thinking of quickly saying something to refuse the old man taking her cat out, but before she could speak, Tan Fang raised a hand and said, "No need to see me off, Teacher Gu, you're being too polite."

Jiao Ma: ……

After Tan Fang finished speaking, he called Ke Le, humming a little tune as he went downstairs. When he reached the third floor, he happened to see Old Man Lan coming out to throw away trash; the two knew each other and chatted all the way down. This made Jiao Ma, who had wanted to go downstairs to explain a few more sentences, immediately pull back her foot. She didn't know how to deal with these two old men.

Turning around and closing the door, Jiao Ma sat on the sofa and sighed, then looked at Zheng Tan and said, "Hei Tan, why do you always know people like this?"

Zheng Tan tugged at his ears; this question was really hard to answer.

He indeed wanted to go out for a stroll. He had already walked around the area near Chu Hua Da Xue; farther out, fewer places were visited, except the road to Jiao Yuan's school, which he had gone a bit further on. Other directions were basically unfamiliar. Of course, if Jiao Ma firmly disagreed, he wouldn't bother with that old man.

Jiao Ma stared at Zheng Tan for a while, then sighed again, got up and walked toward the bedroom. She decided to send an email to her husband, who was far away across the ocean, to talk about this matter and let Jiao Ba make a decision. It wasn't just today's thing; her cat always liked to run outside, and when Wei Leng and Er Mao had taken it out before she hadn't been very happy about it either, and now there was yet another person. If this continued, would her cat become wilder and wilder and eventually run away from home? Her office colleagues all said cats aren't as loyal to home as dogs. So Jiao Ma couldn't help but worry.

If Zheng Tan knew what Jiao Ma was thinking, he would surely feel her worry was completely unnecessary; he really didn't want to leave the Jiao family. Although the Jiao family wasn't wealthy, their home was small, and the family members had no power or influence, Zheng Tan felt very at ease here, and that was enough.

If something were to happen to the Jiao family and they needed money, the money in his card wouldn't be enough; Zheng Tan could also go out to earn money like Qi Dada does, and since even Qi Dada can make money to support the family, what reason does he have to be inferior to it?

Not knowing how Jiao Ba had replied to Jiao Ma, two days later Jiao Ma told Zheng Tan, "If you want to go out and play, go ahead, but you must pay more attention, bring the cat tag, and watch your safety."

Tan Fang indeed followed through on his word; the day before going out he told Jiao Ma, and the next day he rode his electric small three-wheeled vehicle into Dongqu Dayuan.

Zheng Tan had already been lying in wait on a tree in the compound; the Border Collie named Ke Le was just standing on the small three-wheeled vehicle, probably because he had seen the other three cats in the compound and felt excited, wanting to get down, but after Tan Fang scolded him once he stayed still; his dog neck still had a leash on, so even if he wanted to jump he couldn't get down.

Zheng Tan looked at the front basket of the vehicle, which held some things, so he could only squeeze in with the dog. He came down from the tree and jumped onto the cargo area at the back of the small three-wheeled vehicle; although the space wasn't large, it was enough to hold one dog and one cat, and the two bottles of alcohol placed inside didn't take up much space either, so Zheng Tan didn't feel cramped—only the Border Collie's tail kept swinging back and forth, annoying him, so he gave it a light kick.

"Woof!" Ke Le barked after being kicked, but wasn't really angry.

"Behave, Ke Le! You're riding a vehicle!" Tan Fang shouted without turning his head.

Ke Le glanced at Zheng Tan, then shifted a bit to the side. But his tail was still wagging happily; he seemed in a good mood, didn't bother with Zheng Tan, and kept looking at people and things by the roadside, occasionally barking twice at someone else's dog.

The road Tan Fang took wasn't a busy main street; after leaving the vicinity of Chu Hua Da Xue, Zheng Tan found the surroundings much unfamiliar, and he didn't even notice Ke Le's wagging tail, carefully observing the surrounding buildings and road signs; having finally made it this far, he needed to remember the route.

He turned a corner and entered a small street where stalls selling miscellaneous goods and snacks were relatively common; some people rode the same kind of electric three-wheeled vehicle as Tan Fang, but theirs carried two children, while Tan Fang's vehicle carried one cat and one dog.

That vehicle was going a bit faster; when it caught up from behind, the rider also spoke to Tan Fang, someone who often traveled this route, a familiar face, with whom they could exchange a couple of sentences.

The person's vehicle carried his own twin granddaughters; the two little girls were dressed identically, with the same little braids. From their reactions upon seeing Zheng Tan and Ke Le, one could tell that although the two looked alike, their personalities were still different.

For the few seconds the two small three-wheeled vehicles were side by side, on one side there was a cat and a dog, on the other side a pair of twins, and they stared at each other. The twin sitting closer to the vehicle seat was more lively and even wanted to reach out to tug Zheng Tan's beard, but Zheng Tan dodged. However, Ke Le went over and licked the little girl's hand, making her laugh so hard her eyes disappeared.

After all, the road wasn't wide, so the two vehicles couldn't stay side by side; Tan Fang slowed down, while the other vehicle went ahead and gradually drifted away.

Tan Fang's destination was a normal university; the school was also quite good, just a little distance from Chu Hua Da Xue, and if Zheng Tan had walked here himself it would have taken too much time, so he had never come here before.

Just a moment ago he had wondered why there were so many such small streets and shops around here; it turned out to be the vicinity of the school.

Tan Fang entered through the side gate; the guard there was already very familiar with him and even took the initiative to greet him.

When the vehicle stopped, Zheng Tan looked around and thought it should be the staff dormitory area of the school; the buildings were rather old, but newer than those in Dongqu Dayuan.

On the second floor there was an old man standing on the balcony looking out; upon seeing Tan Fang he came downstairs, still holding a chessboard and a bag in his hands.

"Wait a moment, I'll first take these two bottles of alcohol up for you." Tan Fang turned around and picked up the alcohol.

"Just leave them there, anyway no one will take them." The old man said. He didn't utter other similar polite phrases like "Why bother bringing the alcohol over?"

Before Tan Fang could go upstairs, the old man's wife came downstairs, waved her hand and told the two to go play chess; even carrying those two bottles of alcohol was no trouble for her.

"Oh my, why is there a cat again this time?" the old man asked curiously, then immediately scolded: "Did you bring someone else's house cat out? You old fool, why do you always do unreliable things?!"

"What's unreliable about it? This cat is clever; it's been very well-behaved all along the way, knows right from wrong." Tan Fang said.

"Aren't you afraid of losing it?"

"No fear. I've inquired about it. This cat is always being taken out to run around; it's gotten used to it. Weren't there cats riding buses abroad a few days ago? So don't underestimate the cat's intelligence." Tan Fang said with a look of disdain.

"I won't argue with you; anyway you wouldn't listen even if I said anything. In short, you'd better keep an eye on it, don't lose someone else's cat." The old man glanced at the black cat on the vehicle and said.

"Yeah, I know, I know." Tan Fang said while urging them to hurry up and play two games, "If I lose, I'll take the pot of orchids from your balcony; I ran into a friend a few days ago, and I'll bring it over as a favor."

"Hey, I don't even know who would lose more."

The place where the two old men played chess was right in a grove beside the staff dormitory area; there were stone benches and stone tables. For the elderly, sitting on stone benches was a bit chilly this season, but the two old men didn't like playing chess indoors, saying it wasn't smooth there, so they had specially prepared equipment—cushions. The bag that the old man had been carrying earlier contained just a thick cushion.

Zheng Tan could tell that the old man's physical condition wasn't as good as Tan Fang's; if he walked quickly you could see his leg had a problem, and perhaps that was exactly why Tan Fang had come by himself on his vehicle, rather than letting the old man go to Chu Hua Da Xue to find Tan Fang for a chess game.

"Woof woof!" Ke Le barked twice.

Upon hearing the bark, Tan Fang waved his hand and said, "Alright, go play by yourself at the side, don't run far."

After receiving permission, Ke Le immediately sprang off and ran through the grass, sniffing here and there, then urinated on a tree to mark his territory.

Zheng Tan was fairly curious about this unfamiliar place and intended to walk around, but soon the exuberant Ke Le caught up with him.

By listening to the conversation of the two old men over there, Zheng Tan learned that in the past, when they came here, Ke Le could not run far after burning off his energy, and since there were hardly any other dogs or cats around, he would just lie bored at Tan Fang's feet, yawning and sleeping; Tan Fang's enthusiasm for coming out here was solely to keep his own dog company.

Zheng Tan didn't feel like helping Tan Fang with the dog; seeing Ke Le following beside him, Zheng Tan tentatively flipped a branch on the ground aside, and Ke Le immediately fetched it back; Zheng Tan flipped it again, and Ke Le fetched it again, looking like he was having fun. Zheng Tan then flung the branch far away, watched Ke Le chase after it, and was just about to take the opportunity to run off when suddenly he heard a wolf howl not far away.

"Owoo—owoo—"

She extinguished the night lamp, dimly covering her shoulders

wove sparks, imprisoning them in the sediment……

This phone ringtone is truly individualistic. Zheng Tan tugged at his ears.

Just as he thought of this, Zheng Tan heard a familiar voice and lifted his foot to walk toward it.

The place where Zheng Tan was staying was on higher ground; looking down, he saw two people squatting below. They were Er Mao, who had recently been unseen, and Qin Tao, nicknamed 'Beast'.

If Er Mao sensed something, he looked up and saw a familiar cat's head; his eye corners twitched repeatedly.

Qin Tao didn't notice Er Mao's movement; he was busy answering a phone call.

"Hello… I'm at the Normal University; I heard about a certain Normal University's so‑called department belle… a birthday party? Whose birthday? I don't know… oh, her— it's been almost a month, who still remembers what she looks like… I'm not going, I've been feeling bad lately… I haven't been to work, so you don't need to come find me at the company, nor at the apartment; I've been staying in hotels lately, that's all."

After hanging up, Qin Tao started complaining to Er Mao again; seeing Er Mao's movement, he also lifted his head, and his mouth instantly formed an 'O' shape.

It's that cat! That look—just like **—must be that one! No need to check the cat tag; Qin Tao only needed to see the cat's eyes to be quite certain.

When Zheng Tan saw these two people, his thought was: These two ** how could they be here?

At the same time, when the two people below saw Zheng Tan, their thought was the same: "Damned, you can see this guy anywhere!" (To be continued..)

ps: (4.17)