Chapter 236: Cat Car

When Zheng Tan came home, Jiao Ma scolded Er Mao several times. She suddenly took the cat away and was gone for two days without calling to report safety, leaving Jiao Ma constantly worried, fearing Er Mao would take their cat somewhere bad.

Er Mao stood there obediently receiving the scolding, continuously admitting his mistake.

Seeing Er Mao's sincere attitude and that their cat was fine, Jiao Ma said a few words and let it go.

Hetaoshixiong really wanted to thank the Jiao Family. In his view, Zheng Tan and the Jiao Family are tied together; not repaying a favor for a cat, still owing the Jiao Family a favor would be okay? But now it doesn't seem like a good time to speak frankly; let's wait until later, Hetaoshixiong thought.

The case is proceeding smoothly, and there is hope for promotion, but what dissatisfies Hetaoshixiong is that the rich second‑generation who caught squirrels has had no news whatsoever.

The so-called car turned out to be rented, and the ID was fake. Nowadays, the difference between ID photos and real people can be such that even if the person stands before you, you might not recognize them. All the somewhat famous rich second‑generations around have been checked, and there is simply no such person. Those who have seen the fake rich second‑generation don't even remember what he looks like; the deeper impression is of him being beaten until his nose and face are swollen, then crying with snot and tears streaming.

Zheng Tan and Heijin have met him, but unfortunately Hetaoshixiong knows it's impossible to get any information from those two unless the fake rich second‑generation appears again—Heijin would surely recognize him.

The last time they went out, Er Mao had no choice but to leave Hei Mi at the pet center; this time, when Er Mao took Hei Mi there, he especially emphasized to the staff: no Peanut Candy allowed near it, otherwise he would complain about the pet center. Actually Er Mao also wanted to change places—there are many similar pet‑care spots in Chu Hua Shi—but Hei Mi won't have it; he refuses to go elsewhere, and if taken he just keeps crying. Er Mao, hearing that sad tone, went around and still ended up sending him to the pet center.

Since this VIP customer said that, the pet center staff naturally complied. So, when going to pick up Hei Mi, they heard the staff guarantee that no male cat had been allowed near him. That made Er Mao fairly satisfied. However, after bringing Hei Mi home, Hei Mi again ignored him for three days.

Every time Er Mao sends Hei Mi to the pet center, he receives this cold treatment.

As for Zheng Tan, things have been going well lately.

After each time he goes through those unpleasant things, he always sighs that life in the compound is so peaceful and beautiful.

The weather is getting colder. Year‑round, the year‑end is approaching; after final exams, students have gradually gone home. Those still at school are packing up and will leave soon, so the campus main roads and many usually lively places are now much quieter. For Zheng Tan, this is good—no one around means he can relax and play more freely.

Recently Zheng Tan drives his little cat car out to play every day. Before, since the Jiao Family only had Jiao Ma and two children, Zheng Tan couldn't have those three carry the cat car up and down every day—the cat car is much heavier than a regular toy car, and the Jiao Family lives on the fifth floor; hauling it up and down is exhausting. If Jiao Ba were there it might be okay, but women and children shouldn't have to. So Zheng Tan only moves the cat car when Fang Shaokang comes to fetch him to go play at Old Liu's place; otherwise he never takes it out.

But now Zheng Tan can play with the cat car every day, adjusting his mood and staying warm.

This story starts from last week. Last week Fang Shaokang came to this side of Chu Hua Da Xue to find Cheng Zhong, the graduate student from the Engineering Department who originally built Zheng Tan's cat car. The reason is that Xiao Mengmeng, upon learning Zheng Tan has a cat car, wanted one for her family's rice as well; Director Fang San ye didn't hesitate and directly sought him out, asking Cheng Zhong to build another one like Zheng Tan's to take back and please his precious daughter.

Thus, Cheng Zhong has been busy building cars lately, while also comparing Zheng Tan's cat car, updating some parts, and recording parameters. After Zheng Tan finishes playing with the car each day, he just needs to drive it to the place where Jiao Wei and they play with car models. Now many students who used to play with car and airplane models have left, so Cheng Zhong set up his temporary workshop there, with two local students following him to learn. Therefore Zheng Tan no longer needs to find someone each day to move the car back to the Jiao Family.

Cheng Zhong also installed a heating device inside the cat car, and placed a layer of plush fabric on the seat for warmth. When Zheng Tan sits in the car, although his head and most of his torso are still exposed, he doesn't feel very cold.

When Zheng Tan drives the cat car on the road, some people who see it will joke a few words. They mostly just find it novel; most people think someone brought out a toy car to tease a cat, and some even think it's a good tool for walking a cat. Nobody would think it's a cat itself controlling the car.

At school, sometimes students who like mechanical toys build things and run them around; after a while, when similar things appear, everyone just glances and laughs, without thinking deeper.

The steering wheel is inside; Zheng Tan's two paws just step on it, so to outsiders the cat appears merely to be crouching inside, and they assume someone else is controlling the car, never suspecting Zheng Tan.

Today there wasn't much wind; in the winter afternoon, the sun shone warmly on his body, making Zheng Tan feel much better in mood, until……

"Hei Ge~"

Zheng Tan: "……" Ri Ri Ri!

The good mood just vanished like that.

Damn this little rabbit brat, why isn't he napping and instead running out to do whatever?!

No need to look back; just from the sound Zheng Tan knows that a children's electric four‑wheel vehicle much larger than his cat car has chased up.

Zheng Tan didn't want to hear the little brat's whiny noises, so he sped up. Don't think Zheng Tan's cat car looks like a toy—it's fully functional; if he really wanted to speed up, it would be much faster than Jiao Ma's electric car, but at school Zheng Tan doesn't dare go wild; at most, when Fang Shaokang brings him to Old Liu's place, he races with Liu Yao a bit, and normally he drives slowly, just to adjust his mood.

Even though at school he can't raise the cat car to the speed he has in mind, it's still enough to shake off the children's four‑wheel vehicle behind.

"Hei Ge~~"

A soft, aggrieved child's voice, like it's about to cry, makes Zheng Tan want to slam the steering wheel.

Damn! He pulls this trick every time!!

He sighed, Zheng Tan slowed the cat car, and waited glumly for the children's four‑wheel vehicle to catch up.

Zhuo Xiao Mao's children's four‑wheel electric car looks rather like a cat, with cat pictures on it; viewed from the front, its headlights resemble cat eyes, and there are whiskers beside the mouth.

Some teachers at school have also bought this kind of car for their kids to play with, but most of those children are about three years old, unlike Zhuo Xiao Mao, who started playing before he was two.

For safety, the person in charge of looking after Zhuo Xiao Mao, Xiao Wan, holds the remote controller and operates the car. They won't really let Zhuo Xiao Mao control it. Zhuo Xiao Mao seems to know the car isn't under his control. Unlike other kids who often grip the steering wheel excitedly to "drive," he simply looks at Xiao Wan, says where he wants to go, starts, turns, or stops.

For example, just now. Zhuo Xiao Mao wanted to catch up with Zheng Tan, so he directly looked at Xiao Wan holding the remote at his side, then pointed ahead at Zheng Tan, meaning 'hurry up and catch up.'

After Zheng Tan's cat car slowed down, Xiao Wan walked up briskly, showing no strain or breathlessness, smiling as she watched the person and the cat. The longer they interacted, the more she felt this cat was special. In fact, when choosing a car, she showed Zhuo Xiao Mao many car pictures; the child disliked them all, pointing to a photo hanging on the wall.

Many photos hang on the wall, most of them taken when Zhuo Xiao Mao was one year old; one of them shows him together with that black cat.

Zhuo Xiao Mao wanted a black‑cat‑shaped cat car, but Xiao Wan thought black was too heavy for a child and bad for his development, so she chose orange instead; as for the somewhat "deformed" graffiti on the car, those are all drawn by Zhuo Xiao Mao himself. From the outlines of those doodles you can roughly see a cat shape, and Xiao Wan is already quite satisfied with that—after all, he's just a little kid, many children his age can't even hold a pen steady.

When Zhuo Xiao Mao's car approached nearby, the little brat laughed 'ka ka ka' and waved at Zheng Tan.

"Hei Ge!"

Stop calling me that! Zheng Tan tugged his ears, turned his head slightly to look at Zhuo Xiao Mao sitting in the car bundled like a rice ball, really wanting to go over and slap him a few times. Running out in the deep winter, he isn't afraid of the cold.

Xiao Wan followed alongside; every time Zhuo Xiao Mao saw this black cat he talked a lot more. Although his speech isn't clear now and often we can't understand what he's saying, the child speaks happily, so Xiao Wan lets him be. Zhuo Xiao Mao's learning ability is strong; Xiao Wan can tell his IQ is higher than other kids his age, though she isn't sure exactly how much higher.

Zheng Tan pulled his ears to listen to the little rabbit brat's whiny 'yi yi ya ya' for nearly half an hour, but he still couldn't grasp what the child wanted to express; the few words the child can say clearly include Zheng Tan's name as one of them, and when the child gets excited his speech becomes muddled. Still, Zheng Tan can feel that Zhuo Xiao Mao's language ability keeps improving—at least compared to last time, in a sentence Zheng Tan can make out one or two characters.

After Zhuo Xiao Mao finally got tired of playing and said he was tired, Xiao Wan took him back to rest. The wind was picking up, and staying outside too long isn't good; if Zhuo Xiao Mao hadn't insisted on going out, Xiao Wan wouldn't have given in.

After Zhuo Xiao Mao left, Zheng Tan drove the car to the old tile house and handed it over to Cheng Zhong and them. Then he decided to go out for a walk; before the Hetaoshixiong matter he had already planned to go that way but hadn't gone out yet. Now the weather is nice, Xiao Youzi and them are also on vacation, so there's no need to time picking anyone up; Jiao Ma has been busy at school grading exams and doing statistics, coming back late, dinner usually after six, so Zheng Tan can play a bit more.

Coming out of one side gate, Zheng Tan remembered that this side gate lies on the same line as the side gate of Dongqu Dayuan; when he used to take the bus he passed through here, and it's marked on the map.

After walking a distance, Zheng Tan saw the affiliated hospital of Chu Hua Da Xue, where Jiao Ma had been hospitalized before.

Zheng Tan doesn't plan to enter through the hospital's main gate; he doesn't much like the hospital atmosphere. In his memory, behind the hospital, near the inpatient department, there is a large courtyard with decent scenery, where people often walk around.

Zheng Tan doesn't intend to stay long here; the hospital always gives him a sense of oppression, and each time he comes he recalls Jiao Ma's hospitalization, so he just decides to pass through.

He jumped over the courtyard wall; the wall is somewhat higher than the fences he saw in the old street, so from here his field of vision widens a bit.

The courtyard has many evergreen tree species, which also reduces the sentimental sorrow patients feel when they see leaves falling.

At this time, not many people are walking outside; Zheng Tan didn't pay much attention, just intending to walk along the wall.

"Aiya, it's a black cat!" a voice full of disgust and panic sounded. (To be continued….)

ps: (4.25)