Chapter 269: Jiao Ba Is Really Impressive

After Jiao Ba stopped the small electric vehicle, he looked toward Feng Bai Jin and said, "The wind is too strong; I didn't hear clearly just now, please say it again?"

Feng Bai Jin looked at the barely swaying leaves on the tall plane trees planted along both sides of the road, somewhat unable to grasp Jiao Ba's meaning.

Last night, Feng Bai Jin and the two others all agreed that the landlord must have known his cat gave birth to kittens, which is why he valued it so much, but now it seems the landlord is still quite surprised about this?

After reversing the car to pull up beside Jiao Ba, Feng Bai Jin said again, "Your cat has given birth to kittens."

Jiao Ba: "……"

This was even more shocking than discovering a red-eyed nest rat, but after the shock, Jiao Ba knew there must be a misunderstanding—probably his male cat had picked it up from somewhere, or perhaps it really was his offspring but the mother cat was absent; either way, Jiao Ba needed to get to the bottom of it.

Not in a hurry to go back, Jiao Ba composed his surprised expression and said, "Kittens?! My cat is only a male."

"A male cat?!" This time it was Feng Bai Jin who was surprised; he had also doubted it before, but yesterday Aunt Li said only female cats protect kittens, and many male cats will outright bite kittens to death—Aunt Li had encountered several such incidents before.

Feng Bai Jin voiced his doubt.

"Adult male cats in the wild might bite other nursing kittens, but nowadays domesticated pet cats have milder temperaments; some get along well with kittens and may even help care for them." Jiao Ba said, "Are you heading back to the villa now?"

"Yeah, I have no class this afternoon; I'm getting ready to head back."

"All right. Wait for me a moment; I'll go to the courtyard, then we'll go together to have a look." Jiao Ba said.

"Okay." Feng Bai Jin parked the car at the side and waited, while also calling the villa to give them a heads-up.

Jiao Ba drove back to the compound to pick up a few things, didn't go home, briefly explained to Jiao Wei to have him help look after Xiao Youzi at noon, then went straight to the lakeside villa with Feng Bai Jin.

By then Aunt Li had already brought the kitten back from the pet center; the checkup showed it was okay, though the kitten had suffered before and was malnourished. Proper care would suffice. They would go for vaccinations in over a month.

Aunt Li bought a lot of cat food from the pet center, along with some kitten supplies. When Jiao Ba and Feng Bai Jin arrived, Aunt Li was busy in the kitchen, while the butler uncle was looking at the small booklet given by the pet center.

The kitten is no longer kept in the attic; it has been placed directly in a cleaned-out guest room. Previously, hardly anyone stayed there. Now it's been tidied up; putting it there is just right—close by for easy care.

After returning from the pet center, the kitten kept meowing. Aunt Li placed the little tiger toy from last night beside it, after which the kitten's cries gradually faded and it soon fell asleep.

Jiao Ba approached the newly made cat nest, looking at the tiny bundle lying there with the tiger toy. Judging by fur color, it was possible—the kitten's fur was a dark gray, and on close inspection one could see some spot-like patterns of a darker hue approaching black, though fur color alone isn't a reliable way to tell cats from dogs.

Jiao Ba took out his camera and snapped a few photos, then gently poked the kitten with his hand.

The kitten slept soundly; being poked a few times by Jiao Ba only made it smack its lips, twitch its mouth, shift position, and continue sleeping.

Jiao Ba stood aside, listening as Feng Bai Jin recounted in detail what had happened the previous night.

"In that case, could it be the black cat from Professor Jiao's household that was picked up?" Aunt Li, upon hearing that the landlord's cat was actually a male, softened her negative opinion of Zheng Tan and even felt he was doing a good deed.

Aunt Li thought this kitten must have been abandoned—if it were well cared for, how could it be so thin? At the same time, she felt glad, since it wasn't the landlord's cat's offspring but a stray picked up, she could keep it herself; she had been busy the previous night, brought the kitten to see a doctor this morning, and had grown quite fond of it—when she first moved in she had wondered when she'd get a pet to relieve boredom, never expecting to run into this little guy.

Seeing Aunt Li happily chattering to herself, Feng Bai Jin knew what she was thinking, but he said nothing; instead, he glanced at the contemplative Jiao Ba and asked for his opinion.

Jiao Ba's meaning was: if it were his own male cat's offspring, he would certainly bring it home to raise; adding another cat to their household wouldn't be a problem—though the place is small, a cat just needs food and shelter, and for walks it could simply follow its father. But if it weren't his, since Aunt Li wanted to keep it, let it stay here.

But how to verify?

Feng Bai Jin watched as Jiao Ba pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket, put them on, then took a bag from his pack, withdrew a cotton swab, and inserted it into the kitten's slightly opened mouth. The kitten was probably still dreaming, eyes shut, imagining the swab as some tasty treat and even biting it a few times; Jiao Ba then removed the swab, placed it in a small plastic tube, secured the tube, and sealed it with a ziplock bag.

Seeing Jiao Ba's series of actions, Feng Bai Jin opened his mouth wide beside him, feeling incredulous—this looked like they were gearing up for a DNA test!

Feng Bai Jin had never seen anything like this in his life; he had only witnessed people doing paternity tests, never a pet.

What should one say?

All one could say was that the landlord valued that cat far too much—first the attic slope, now even a full paternity test; is that necessary? Feng Bai Jin couldn't understand.

Although he thought it unnecessary, Feng Bai Jin, out of curiosity, still went along with the work, afterwards insisting Jiao Ba join him for lunch here, where they chatted about the cat. Jiao Ba didn't say much about Zheng Tan, and Feng Bai Jin didn't press further; when Jiao Ba left, he still asked him to let them know once he'd reached a conclusion.

After leaving the villa side, Jiao Ba made a trip back to the compound, but didn't see Zheng Tan—by then Zheng Tan had already taken Xiao Youzi to school, and was likely about to head out for a stroll, so Jiao Ba just returned to the compound.

In the office, Jiao Ba called Yuan Zhiyi.

"A paternity test?! Or are you testing your lucky cat?!" Yuan Zhiyi exclaimed in surprise, "Do you want to do a blood type test or a DNA one?"

Yuan Zhiyi's surprise wasn't because he thought Jiao Ba's idea was bizarre; he was just a bit taken aback. Actually, among people he knows, some have done similar testing on pets, but those subjects were usually higher-end species—Tibetan Mastiffs, for instance, which are valuable and have strict lineage requirements; also some horse racing enthusiasts conduct lineage testing on horses. The people doing such work have various roles: animal-pet kinship DNA testing, individual identity verification, creating DNA pedigrees for high-end noble lineages, DNA evidence collection and testing, and lineage testing, etc. However, so far Yuan Zhiyi has only heard of such testing for dogs and horses. As for cats, this is his first encounter.

Chu Hua Shi seemingly hasn't seen such testing companies or departments yet—not because of technical hurdles, but because, from a businessman's perspective, there's no market demand; otherwise Yuan Zhiyi would have already expanded into this area.

By contrast, human paternity testing already has a well-established template; a full procedure comes at low cost. But pets are different—take dogs: there are far too many pet breeds, and to be accurate, the experimental flow plans for paternity testing might differ by breed; designing a single scheme from scratch would be too expensive, likely tens of thousands, far exceeding most pets' worth—who would spend money on that for no reason? Recently I heard of someone who spent a fortune breeding a purebred pedigree dog, only to end up with a litter of mutts, sued, and even suggested doing a DNA paternity test on the dogs, but found the cost too high and settled privately with other methods.

"Let's do a DNA test first; I've already taken the sample." Jiao Ba said. He could of course just ask his own male cat, but having solid theoretical evidence would also put his mind at ease.

On the other end, Yuan Zhiyi paused, then suddenly said, "I almost forgot—you have your lucky cat's genetic data in the database you set up yourself! Holy cow! You were prepared for this day, weren't you?!"

Jiao Ba didn't reply, but said, "Have someone come over later to pick up the sample."

Yuan Zhiyi's company has several departments responsible for primer synthesis, sample sequencing, and related experiments; these services mainly target the various universities in Chu Hua Shi, each with a few staff handling the work.

"Sure, I'll call the person in charge of Chu Hua Da Xue over there," Yuan Zhiyi said, moving the mouse on the computer to look up who handles sample delivery here, "Right, you've dropped the 'deputy' title—when are you coming out so we can grab a few drinks together?"

"Let's talk after this is settled." Not resolving this left Jiao Ba feeling uneasy.

"Sure, I'll let you know when there's a result—don't worry, I've arranged reliable technicians to carry out this test for you."

Since it was a matter specially instructed by Boss Yuan Zhiyi, things moved quickly—no queuing by numbers—and the tester was a seasoned veteran; two days later Jiao Ba received the test results.

Comparing against the database where Zheng Tan's genetic data had long been established, Jiao Ba, after returning home that evening, summoned Zheng Tan to the room for questioning.

Zheng Tan had just finished dinner and was about to go to the villa to check on the kittens; this afternoon he had wandered around the old residential area, found that everyone had moved out, even the tabby cats were gone, and thinking of that scrawny kitten, he decided to go take a look—only to be intercepted by Jiao Ba.

"Hei Tan, the kitten you picked up—just let Feng Bai Jin and them raise it." Jiao Ba said.

"That works fine; I also think it's a good idea for them to raise it." Zheng Tan thought.

Seeing Zheng Tan's indifferent expression, even a hint of relief, Jiao Ba picked up his phone to call Feng Bai Jin, but wondering whether Feng Bai Jin had class, he dialed the villa directly. Aunt Li answered; hearing Jiao Ba say the kitten would be left to them, she was delighted and even suggested Zheng Tan come over more often to play.

While Jiao Ba was on the phone, Zheng Tan jumped onto the desk, intending to see if Jiao Ba was browsing pet forums online, but discovered a document placed beside the mouse, with some diagrams he couldn't understand.

However, although he couldn't make sense of the diagrams, he could recognize the text below.

After clearly seeing what it said, Zheng Tan felt, while vindicated and cleared of wrongdoing, also a bit embarrassed.

Jiao Ba is truly impressive! Who else would go to such lengths for a cat?! (To be continued…)

PS: (5.27) This afternoon a friend excitedly told me, "Chen Ci, do you know? In the book review section a reader said if you can catch up on the missing chapters before the World Cup, they'll livestream cutting off their…!!!!!!!!"

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