Chapter 300: Inner Demon

After Zheng Tan came back, he soon forgot about the orchid on the balcony. At first he hadn't figured out how to give the orchid to Old Man Lan, he just left it there and then simply tossed it out of his mind. Normally only Jiao Ma watered that little pot of orchid. Until one day Old Man Lan came to the door to inquire.

Old Man Lan ran into Gong Qin while taking a walk after a meal. When they got chatting excitedly, Gong Qin told him about something she had encountered while traveling recently. To her, it was quite amusing that a cat had pulled up an orchid and then brought it back. However, because of Er Mao's admonition, she hadn't mentioned it outside, but she brought it up in front of Old Man Lan only because the two were chatting about flowers and plants and she slipped up accidentally. Consequently, Old Man Lan, curious, stormed straight up to the fifth floor.

At this moment, only Jiao Ma was home in the Jiao household; Xiao Youzi had been called over by her classmate to help tutor competition problems, Jiao Yuan went off to play ball with his little buddies, and Jiao Ba remained busy as ever.

Seeing Professor Lan panting heavily, Jiao Ma hurriedly poured him a cup of water, fearing something might have happened to the old man.

"What's wrong, Professor Lan?" After becoming familiar, Jiao Ma wasn't as afraid of Professor Lan as before, her speech became much more casual, but seeing Professor Lan in this state she couldn't help worrying; the first thing that came to mind was: had her cat caused trouble? Had it nibbled on someone else's precious flower variety?

If Zheng Tan knew what Jiao Ma was thinking, he'd probably feel stifled to death. It's all because of that damn constable.

He had rushed up five flights in one breath; still, with Old Man Lan's frail body he inevitably ended up panting, his throat sore. After drinking water he felt much better, but without resting he immediately asked: "Did Hei Tan bring back a pot of orchid a few days ago?"

He hadn't expected it to be about this. Jiao Ma immediately felt more relieved, and she took Old Man Lan to the balcony to look at that pot of orchid.

"This is the pot." Jiao Ma pointed it out to Old Man Lan.

Zheng Tan accompanied Xiao Youzi out, then after strolling outside for a while he returned; as soon as he entered the door he heard Old Man Lan raging inside, and suddenly recalled the miserable state of that orchid on the balcony. Knowing Old Man Lan's temperament, that foul old man would surely fly into a rage. So Zheng Tan hesitated whether to retreat back outside for another walk, but thinking that only Jiao Ma was at home, he wasn't sure if he could withstand Old Man Lan's bad temper.

Forget it. One has to face it sooner or later.

Zheng Tan steeled himself and walked in. He poked his head around the door to take a peek, just in time to be caught by Old Man Lan turning around.

"Hei Tan! Come here!!" Old Man Lan shouted.

Jiao Ma's heart leapt up again, and she couldn't help worrying.

Zheng Tan dragged his feet as he walked to the balcony.

"Did you chew this leaf?! No, there are no bite marks……Could you have snapped this leaf?! Oh dear. How could you grow it like this! This can't go on……" As he went on, it was unclear whether he was scolding Zheng Tan or the person who grew the flowers.

Jiao Ma stood there with an embarrassed expression. Actually she really wanted to say it's just an ordinary pot of orchid, what's all the fuss about? But thinking of Old Man Lan's temper, she held her tongue.

Zheng Tan felt Old Man Lan had suddenly been possessed by a fit of madness, his speech lacking logic. He kept circling that pot of orchid, tormented to a wretched state, his words and actions revealing his anguish over the flower, as if someone had gouged out a piece of his flesh.

Zheng Tan snorted inwardly; the orchid that the constable had nibbled, Old Man Lan did feel sorry for but had never shown such anguish, showing how much the Iron Bone variety weighed in Old Man Lan's heart.

When Old Man Lan's "mania symptoms" subsided, the old man seemed to have made some decision.

"This pot of flower, I'll help you look after it for a while and then take it back." Old Man Lan said to Jiao Ma, and after speaking he glanced at Zheng Tan.

Jiao Ma also glanced at Zheng Tan, then said to Old Man Lan: "No problem, please take it… I'll help you carry it downstairs."

"It's fine, this little pot of orchid I can still move." He brushed aside Jiao Ma's hand offering to help, lifted the flower pot himself, and as he walked away he gave Zheng Tan a snort.

That evening, when Jiao Ba came home and learned of this, he had no objection to Old Man Lan taking the flower away; after all he wasn't someone who grew flowers, and flower cultivation is a field of study in which Professor Jiao is not particularly versed.

"I'm just worried that Hei Tan might act up emotionally; didn't Er Mao downstairs say this flower was something Hei Tan found and brought back?" Jiao Ma said.

"No need to worry, Hei Tan won't act up emotionally; you know, if a cat really wants to guard its food, others can't easily snatch it from its mouth. Likewise, if he truly cared about that pot of flower and wanted to keep it at home, Hei Tan would surely guard it flawlessly, just like his private stash." Evidently, Jiao Ba understood Zheng Tan better.

After Old Man Lan took the flower downstairs, Zheng Tan saw him only rarely over the next few days; even at his usual post-meal walk times he didn't see Old Man Lan coming downstairs to shoot the breeze with his old cronies. Zheng Tan occasionally heard those old professors talking about Old Man Lan, saying he had recently fallen into a demonic obstacle, all over a pot of flower worth only a few dozen bucks or even cheaper.

When Zheng Tan returned from his stroll and went upstairs, he saw that Old Man Lan's door on the third floor was open, so he went inside.

Inside, Granny Zhai was sweeping; upon seeing Zheng Tan's face she immediately broke into a smile, waved at him, gesturing for him to come in and play.

With Granny Zhai present, Old Man Lan wouldn't fly into a rage, so Zheng Tan needn't worry that poking Old Man Lan's rage point would cause the old man to lash out at him.

Old Man Lan was in the study wearing his reading glasses, flipping through a book, while also noting something down in a notebook, muttering softly under his breath; Zheng Tan couldn't make out what he was saying, and even the few words he could hear were meaningless to him.

After Granny Zhai finished sweeping, she sat on the sofa to rest; seeing Zheng Tan standing at the study door peeking in, she softly called him down, telling him not to disturb Old Man Lan, then patted the sofa beside her.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the sofa and sat beside Granny Zhai, listening to her low muttering.

"Ah, Hei Tan, you say, what kind of orchid did you bring back? The old fellow has been studying it for days; lately even in his sleep he dreams about it, spending all day holed up in the study flipping through materials. He forgets to eat, each time we have to call him, even drag him over to eat, and we have to urge him to sleep."

Granny Zhai wasn't blaming Zheng Tan for anything; she was merely expressing a sentiment, after all similar situations had happened many times before, and after decades as an old couple she knew Old Man Lan quite well.

Zheng Tan's heart stirred; hearing Granny Zhai's words, that orchid really was different. Zheng Tan could tell the difference because he had seen the flower, smelled its scent, and the odor on the leaves is also a method of identification, but can a person discern and judge differences between leaves just by smell? Given Zheng Tan's understanding of these science-and-engineering old professors, they would likely seek more direct evidence, so the greatest possibility is that Old Man Lan spotted the difference from those few grass leaves, or noticed it when changing the pot and seeing the roots.

Anyway, Zheng Tan lacks that ability, and even the few elders at Peiliang's household haven't noticed it. All we can say is that this is truly the mark of an expert.

While Zheng Tan was listening to Granny Zhai speak, he saw three old men enter through the doorway. They were the old professors who lived in the same compound and often chatted and shot the breeze with Old Man Lan.

"Old Lan, have you found anything from your research?" a loud-voiced old man shouted toward the study.

"What's all the shouting?!" Old Man Lan took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, rose and walked toward the living room; seeing Zheng Tan lounging on the sofa, he raised his eyebrows, said nothing, and directly asked the incoming old men: "If you have business, speak; if not, hurry out, don't disturb me."

The three old men were long accustomed to Old Man Lan's manner of speaking, weren't angry, and still smiled at Zheng Tan saying: "Hei Tan, hurry over and gnaw Old Lan's pot of orchid; nibble a leaf and I'll give you a bowl of small yellow fish."

The other two old men didn't lag behind.

"I'll give two bowls."

"Add me in, I'll also give two bowls for a leaf, that makes five bowls total. Hei Tan, go!"

Zheng Tan: "..." Screw your grandpa!

One old man swayed as he walked around, went to glance at that pot of orchid, then looked at the other few pots of Iron Bone, came back shaking his head: "I really don't know what you're fussing about; aren't they all the same?"

"Anyway, they all look the same to me," another old man also said.

"Hey, will it bloom next year? Then we could see the difference," the third old man asked.

Old Man Lan gave them a sideways glance: "Next year? Hah, wishful thinking; this pot of flower will at least need three or four years to bloom, maybe longer."

Upon hearing that, Zheng Tan instantly wilted. Despite his eager anticipation, had he known this, he'd have been better off digging up the flowering plant itself; just to save a bit of effort now he'd have to wait a long time, this duration isn't even certain—maybe ten or eight years before it blooms, and by then who'd remember this pot of orchid.

However, Zheng Tan's wilting came and went quickly; anyway he wasn't especially interested in this, he was just curious about the flower, feeling it was somewhat out of the ordinary, so whatever—let Old Man Lan keep worrying about it.

Regardless of how those few professors, who are experts in their own fields but basically illiterate when it comes to orchids, were disparaging Old Man Lan, Old Man Lan merely wore a sour face and didn't truly quarrel with those "illiterates," which would be pointless self-torment.

Old Man Lan couldn't possibly go ask Zheng Tan anything; he knew you couldn't get information from a cat, so he had gone next door several times to ask Er Mao about the flower's growing conditions and such details, but unfortunately Er Mao knew nothing. After flipping through materials at home for a few days, Old Man Lan also hadn't found much useful information; now he just hopes to nurture these two seedlings well, and if they bloom he'll get closer to the truth.

After noticing the doubtful points on the orchid leaves, Old Man Lan decided to nurture these two seedlings for several more years until they bloom; yesterday he even specially went to consult Professor Jiao, who waved his hand generously and said, "Old sir, don't burden yourself mentally—just keep raising them; we're wasting them at home anyway."

Zheng Tan no longer lingered on the sofa listening to those old men spout nonsense; he went out preparing to go downstairs for a stroll, had taken only a few steps when he heard a "click" from the first-floor access control, and then two people came up. One was Er Mao, the other sounded very familiar as well.

Soon Zheng Tan came face-to-face with the people coming upstairs.

Yo ho, isn't that the "Beast" brother? What is the "Beast" brother doing running from Ming Zhu Shi to Chu Hua Shi?

However, the "Beast" brother looked in poor condition.

As Zheng Tan was looking at Qin Tao, Qin Tao also saw Zheng Tan.

"Cat brother, long time no see, I've missed you to death!" (To be continued…)