Chapter 261

Jiao Ba left after giving his instructions and didn't return all night; rumor had it that those leaders and senior figures had pulled him aside to discuss matters, since that red-furred mouse hadn't been fully identified yet but was now being treated as a treasure by researchers in those related fields, and as the one who first discovered the red-furred mouse, Jiao Ba ought to have a say, yet over there he was being pulled along and couldn't get away, and he didn't sleep a wink all night.

Those people usually keep regular early-to-bed, early-to-rise habits, but once they encounter something they're interested in, they get excited; pulling all-nighters in the lab when they were young was commonplace, and though they're older now and can't usually stay up, this time they made an exception. So they neither leave nor rest, and Jiao Ba shouldn't expect to rest either.

Early that morning, Zheng Tan rose with the three members of the Jiao Family; Jiao Ma had bought breakfast for the two kids and Zheng Tan, and they were eating when a person about twenty years old walked in.

"Hello, Teacher Gu!" the person said with a smile, quickly glancing around the room, his gaze lingering on Zheng Tan for a moment before shifting away, as if searching for something.

"It's Xiao Li, right? I already knew—he's in the washroom." Jiao Ma led that person toward the washroom.

Zheng Tan was gnawing on an egg when he saw that person put on gloves and head toward the washroom, realizing what his goal was. Early in the morning, everyone was eating, yet he came running in to move feces—how impatient can you be! Scientists really are a peculiar breed.

When Xiao Li, having put on his gloves and taken the box, came out and saw Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi staring at him, he looked a bit embarrassed; he also knew he'd shown up at the wrong time, but there was nothing he could do. Orders had come from above, so he had to carry them out. He had once said he'd devote himself to science—losing a little face is nothing.

"Mom, after breakfast let's take Hei Tan to the vet; I've heard there are lots of parasites in the wild, and if he eats something bad..." Jiao Yuan said.

However, before Jiao Yuan could finish, Jiao Ma cut him off: "Eat your rice; you don't need to worry about this. After you finish, go do your summer homework." She paused, then added: "Hei Tan isn't allowed out. We'll have to wait until your father gets back to talk about it."

Jiao Ma would have liked to take Zheng Tan out to see the vet, but Jiao Ba had already told her that those people over there were now eyeing Hei Tan, so there was no way to take him out.

She watched the cat gnawing on an egg on the chair and sighed inwardly. Raising a cat is more troublesome than raising a kid! How can it cause so much trouble?! She had no interest in whatever red-colored species or new genetic discovery; she just wished the cat would behave itself—alas…

Around noon, Jiao Ba finally returned. With him were several people in their forties and fifties as well as two old men; Zheng Tan recognized a few of them, the leader being the dean of the College of Life Sciences at Chu Hua Da Xue. Previously, when this person saw Zheng Tan around the life sciences building, he showed no reaction—neither dislike nor warmth—and didn't seem like a cat person. But now, he couldn't hide his smile; from the moment he entered, his eyes were fixed on Zheng Tan, and he nodded, saying, "What a fine cat, this is a fine cat!"

Zheng Tan: "……" He couldn't bring himself to feel pleased by the praise; if they'd called him a person instead of a cat, that would be all right. Being handed a "good person" card would be stronger than a "good cat" card.

One has to admit, Jiao Ba's predictions are spot-on.

These people came over precisely to have Jiao Ba take Zheng Tan out, hoping that through Zheng Tan they could locate the red-furred mouse's territory and discover more of them—one mouse isn't enough to go around.

Someone even wanted to put a leash on Zheng Tan or cage him and take him out, but Jiao Ba refused.

Zheng Tan followed them out; many of the accompanying people were big shots in their respective research specialties within the circle, but Zheng Tan felt no sense of honor whatsoever and had no time to look at anyone else; he was pondering how to act dumb later, how to do it more naturally, more like a normal cat playing dumb.

As the group walked, they drew plenty of stares; on the base, young teachers or researchers working there rarely got to see one of these big names, but now they appeared all at once, crowding around and unable to call out their names fast enough, their nervousness making their speech halting. Yet these big shots now had no interest in chatting with the teachers and researchers; they were all fixated on the cat up ahead.

Reaching the end of the road, Zheng Tan stopped; going any further would mean no path—just woods and brush.

"Hey, why aren't you moving?"

"Teacher Jiao, why has your cat stopped?"

A few hotheads spoke up.

So, Jiao Ba began working on Zheng Tan in front of everyone, urging him to keep leading the way.

Zheng Tan yawned, recalled how he'd dealt with A Huang's mistake back in the compound, then, imitating A Huang's manner from memory, he tilted his head, leaned his body, fell to the ground, and began rolling around on it as if nothing were amiss.

Jiao Ba: "……"

Everyone: "……"

Jiao Ba was marveling at how skilled Zheng Tan was at playing dumb—he must do it all the time.

Meanwhile, the others felt a wave of disappointment; although they truly hadn't held high hopes, there had at least been some hope, and seeing this made it seem even slimmer. They didn't realize that this person and cat were putting on an act before them—of course, nobody would believe it if it happened to them.

Zheng Tan now understood: he was just a cat, and a cat can openly play the rascal, openly act dumb, and nobody will suspect. This was his first time rolling around in front of everyone; anyway, he's thick-skinned and unafraid of being laughed at—before he'd never have been able to do it, but now rolling is better than being stared at later.

Someone over there couldn't hold back any longer, urging Jiao Ba to keep giving Zheng Tan "orders" to find the mouse; even if they couldn't find one now, just telling a direction would do, since they just wanted to know whether the cat actually remembered or knew where it had caught that red-furred mouse.

Since these people wanted to follow along, Zheng Tan decided to let them do so.

After finishing his roll, he got up, shook off his fur, and continued walking ahead as if nothing had happened, teasing birds and playing with insects along the way; since he was still outside, he might as well have some fun, because he'd be confined to quarters upon returning. He himself was fine, but those trailing behind suffered—after a circuit they were panting, the older ones already being supported by others; they knew their stamina was absolutely insufficient, yet they just wanted to see with their own eyes which direction it was, to take a few more steps. When they couldn't keep going, they'd send their subordinates ahead; even if they didn't find anything this time, later when field survey teams went out they could still have people search that direction, otherwise the vast mountain and forest areas consume enormous amounts of manpower, material, and financial resources each year with hardly any new discoveries—blundering about like headless flies, what could they possibly find? They might even lose their lives in there.

Jiao Ba kept urging them from the side, telling them not to count on Zheng Tan and just head back, but these folks were stubborn one more than the next. Until…

"This road seems to be the one we took when we previously brought students out to collect specimens," Jiao Ba said. He hadn't known earlier where Zheng Tan intended to lead them, but now he finally understood. This cat just wanted to give these people a hard time; walk a bit farther ahead and they'd realize they needed to turn back.

"Indeed!" someone who knew the area well remarked; they had sensed something off earlier, but had kept quiet.

Some still clung to a sliver of hope. When Zheng Tan led them again to the vicinity of the highway, they finally let out their breath.

After all, what could you expect a cat to do according to your wishes? If cats were really that capable, certain industries would have long since used them for training. Why bother training dogs at all? Maybe this cat just happened to bump into them by chance.

"That's just fate!" an old man panting on a stone slab said, slapping his thigh with a sigh; he felt little regret or resentment, having lived to such an age and witnessed many things—back in the day he'd even seen a sensation-causing albino bear, an albino Qushu, and so on; he'd accompanied international field survey teams into deep mountains for investigation and brought back numerous specimens of "living fossils"; now that he could even see a mouse merely suspected of being red-colored, he ought to be content.

How many people who went in for money never came out again, yet often it's only by chance that folks discover a new species or an animal on the brink of extinction. Just as that old man lamented, that's fate.

The group was exhausted to the point of death; even walking back up the highway to the base wore them out, so in the end they called for a car to come pick them up.

After returning, Jiao Ba briefed the few leaders, then took Zheng Tan out to see the vet; having disappeared for these few days, a check‑over would at least put his mind at ease.

The place where they saw the vet wasn't far from the medical room, and Zheng Tan also spotted the young man who had helped catch the red-furred mouse; he'd heard yesterday had been pretty risky, but thanks to timely treatment he'd pulled through, and now he could be seen energetically chatting up girls.

That young man was in the medical room telling several girls about how he'd caught the mouse, startling the female students with his tale; now he knew the mouse he'd snatched yesterday was a rare specimen, and he was showing it off to everyone—after all, that mouse was his catch, and the lunchbox was his too. "What, you don't believe me? Don't believe me—look at my wound! Could a normal mouse bite cause such swelling?!"

Sure enough, once the scar healed he forgot the pain; Zheng Tan looked down on him.

After the examination, the vet confirmed Zheng Tan's physical condition was still fine and prescribed some deworming medicine for him to take.

Leaving the vet's office, Zheng Tan noticed that this place was fairly close to where he'd last climbed over the wall; he thought about it and headed that way, still remembering the amber—losing it would be too regrettable.

Jiao Ba didn't say much more, just followed him outside.

Over there was a shrubbery; yesterday Zheng Tan had cut straight through it to take a shortcut.

Zheng Tan slipped into the shrubbery and followed yesterday's path, when suddenly he heard a swishing sound inside the bushes; he looked over and saw another cat there—a domestic cat—whose owner he didn't know.

At that moment, the domestic cat was bending its paws to play with something; Zheng Tan took a close look and—sure enough—it was the very amber he'd thrown away!

Zheng Tan lunged forward and slapped the cat twice; the cat arched its back and meowed twice, but feeling outmatched, it fled the instant Zheng Tan wound up for a third slap.

Zheng Tan examined the amber closely; fortunately it was wrapped in vines, otherwise it would surely have acquired many scratches from being grabbed and bitten.

He pushed the vine‑wrapped amber outward, then decided to hand it over to Jiao Ba first, since he couldn't take it himself.

"Teacher Jiao, what's your cat up to?" a security guard asked, looking over here.

Jiao Ba, unnoticed by others, gripped the object Zheng Tan had pushed out in his hand, then stood up and said to the security guard over there, "It just got into a fight; this guy just likes to bully other cats."

The security guard had obviously also seen the cat that had just bolted from the shrubbery, and he had no doubt about Jiao Ba's words; earlier this morning someone had told him to keep an eye on the movements of Teacher Jiao and that black cat, but he'd noticed nothing unusual—after all, it's just a cat; why are those people staring so hard?

Jiao Ba seemingly casually switched to a different tote bag, then placed the vine‑wrapped amber inside the bag that already held the deworming medicine.

Zheng Tan reflected inwardly: "What a sly old fox!" (to be continued…)

ps: (5.19)