Chapter 313

Shu Dong always thought he was pretty good at reading people, able to infer roughly what someone was thinking from subtle changes in their expression, but now he was puzzled.

Jiao Ba and Yuan Zhiyi, just after hearing Cai Lao Ban finish that sentence, to be precise, when mentioning Hengwu Guangchang, the two people's facial expressions became very……hard to understand. He really didn't know how to link those two people's expression changes with Hengwu Guangchang and that cat.

Looking at the two people whose expressions continued to be subtle, and then looking at that black cat, Shu Dong coughed, "Jiao Ba and Mr. Yuan, what do you think of Hengwu Guangchang? Could you say a bit? Give some suggestions, so that when Old Cai goes over later he can also avoid some trouble; I heard that place still has some particularities."

Ordinary small shops naturally wouldn't have much trouble, but if one wants to go bigger, involving some interests, it's inevitable to have dealings with certain people there, for example, the boss behind Hengwu Guangchang, Ye Hao. Shu Dong doesn't know much about the local tyrants in many inland places, has no dealings with Ye Hao, and his knowledge of Ye Hao is limited to the investigation materials his assistant gave him; besides Ye Hao, there are also some other unofficial forces near Hengwu Guangchang. Shu Dong actually doesn't approve of Cai Lao Ban choosing that place, but Cai Lao Ban insists, and he can't do anything about it, so he can only help as much as possible.

"Well…… Hengwu Guangchang……" Yuan Zhiyi wanted to speak but stopped, opened his mouth, still looked toward Jiao Ba, "Mingsheng, you say it, after all your family…… that someone is more familiar."

That someone……

Zheng Tan, when he heard them discussing Hengwu Guangchang, stopped continuing to flip over the tofu's upright ears, jumped back onto the chair next to Jiao Ba. Listening to their talk. When Yuan Zhiyi spoke, his gaze kept flicking toward Zheng Tan, and Zheng Tan didn't know what that guy was thinking again.

Jiao Ba thought for a moment and said, "Shu Dong and Cai Lao Ban have probably done some research on Hengwu Guangchang already; although I live at Chu Hua Da Xue, I don't often go there, so I may not know more about Hengwu Guangchang than the two of you."

Shu Dong picked up the cup in front of him, took a sip of tea, looked at Jiao Ba, "Do you know Ye Hao?" Not understanding Hengwu Guangchang doesn't necessarily mean not understanding the people behind it.

"I know him, but not well." Jiao Ba didn't deny it. Many things he didn't want to say, after all it concerned his own cat. But Shu Dong is too sharp. Moreover, they've only just met Shu Dong for the first time, basically not acquainted, so it's even less likely they'd say much.

Hearing Jiao Ba say he knew Ye Hao, Shu Dong felt a bit surprised. He really hadn't expected that the two people he happened to meet actually had connections there. From the information his assistant gave him, he knew that Ye Hao, who is considerably younger than him, is not easy to deal with. His methods are ruthless, which is also why he worries about Cai Lao Ban opening a shop there; Cai Lao Ban is not very smooth-talking, easily offends people. In Nan Cheng, they have a few people to back him up and give others face, but going to Chu Hua Shi, it's hard to say, even for a branch. Cai Lao Ban will definitely stay there for a while, after all it's the first branch. After so many years of friendship, he doesn't want to see Cai Lao Ban fall flat soon after going there for no apparent reason.

Of course, Shu Dong also saw that Jiao Ba had some things he didn't want to say; he just needed to know that Jiao Ba and they knew Ye Hao. His meaning was, could they arrange a meeting with Ye Hao later? Although Shu Dong could meet Ye Hao himself given his status, having an acquaintance act as intermediary would be better.

As for this, Jiao Ba didn't immediately refuse; he would need to ask Ye Hao first about the meeting. Actually, many times on Ye Hao's side, his face still doesn't measure up to his own cat's; it just depends on whether his cat feels like helping.

Zheng Tan sat here yawning repeatedly, boredly listening to the four people talk, wanting to sleep but unable to.

Probably seeing Zheng Tan's boredom, Jiao Ba said, "If you're bored, go out for a walk." After saying that, Jiao Ba recalled Zheng Tan's record of running around everywhere causing trouble, and added, "Just stay in this courtyard, don't run far, otherwise you'll be confined."

Zheng Tan could hardly hold it in; staying here listening to these few people chat was worse than going outside to find a shady spot to nap; it's too noisy here.

Seeing Zheng Tan want to go out, Cai Lao Ban, who was nearest the door, got up and opened the door a crack to let Zheng Tan out; Jiao Ba, who had originally intended to get up and open the window, seeing this, sat back down.

However, just as Zheng Tan slipped out through the door crack, the tofu followed, squeezing through the gap. In the midsummer heat, people's dogs usually crowd into air-conditioned rooms, but this guy seizes any chance to run outside and splash in the pool.

Cai Lao Ban looked at the shady spot in the yard; the afternoon sun was slanting, so the pond side wasn't in sunlight anymore. Seeing the tofu squeezing through the door gap and whining, he pulled the door open a bit to let it out, so it wouldn't make noise here.

Zheng Tan and the tofu had gone out; Mars looked pitifully at Shu Dong, who choked, "Oh well, let it go play; anyway, no one comes by the courtyard."

After the two big dogs went out, they headed straight for the pond; Zheng Tan leisurely walked to a rockery nearby, jumped up, and it was shady there.

Squatting on the rockery, Zheng Tan intended to find a place to sleep properly; today's expended stamina hasn't fully recovered yet.

Just as Zheng Tan narrowed his eyes, preparing to sleep, his ears twitched, and he heard a familiar voice.

He opened his eyes, looked that way, prickled his ears to listen closely, ignoring the noise made by the tofu and Mars, Zheng Tan caught a very familiar sound not far away. Though it's familiar, it's also something that exists in Zheng Tan's memory; in the years since he became a cat, he hadn't heard it at all, but now upon hearing it, he could still recognize it immediately. All sleepiness vanished.

Immediately jumping down from the rockery, he climbed a tree, using the tree to scale the wall surrounding the courtyard.

In the private room, Jiao Ba chatted with Shu Dong and Cai Lao Ban while also occasionally paying attention to the situation outside the courtyard; from his angle he could see part of the courtyard through the window. Earlier he had seen Zheng Tan lying on the rockery preparing to nap, and felt relieved, but just after turning back to chat a couple sentences and looking again, he saw that little rascal scaling the wall.

Jiao Ba's forehead veins bulged.

Just said to let it play only in the courtyard, and in the blink of an eye it scaled the wall and ran off. Indeed, confinement is still needed.

"Don't worry. I'll have someone keep an eye on it; it won't go out of their sight range. Besides the customers' private rooms, the outside corridors and some places have cameras." Shu Dong said.

Jiao Ba really wanted to tell Shu Dong, a cat isn't like a dog; you can't just monitor it whenever you want, and if you're not careful it'll disappear in a flash. Moreover, his cat has a serious record; though many things he says probably wouldn't be believed anyway.

Zheng Tan again tossed Jiao Ba's admonition behind his head; he is now following the sound over there. The buildings here aren't tall; basically they're two or three stories, and also easy to climb.

With Zheng Tan's rich experience in scaling walls and climbing buildings, he soon spotted the source of the sound, after all it wasn't far away.

At the end of a corridor, there was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties, dressed quite elaborately, standing there holding a phone and saying something. She wore a look of impatience.

"You don't look for me regarding your own son? What can I say? If you want money, I give money; if you want a house, I give a house. How can I just wash my hands of responsibility? Fine. I'm busy right now; I've got everything arranged for this afternoon, no time……"

Zheng Tan knew who she was talking to on the phone. He also knew who they were discussing.

Although he had imagined many possibilities when coming to Nan Cheng, he hadn't expected to see both of them on the same day. Three hours ago he had seen his biological father, and now he also saw his biological mother. One is always taking different lovers out to have fun; the other, whenever free, contacts several wealthy wives to exchange feelings and expand her business. As for Zheng Tan, aside from giving money, they basically never showed much care, and his own personality becoming so nasty back then was also their fault.

He couldn't articulate what he felt, nor could it be called disappointment or heartbreak; probably because he'd long known this would happen, so he had already given up hope.

The person standing at the end of the corridor hung up immediately after speaking, still keeping the same expression on her face; one look and you knew she was in a bad mood.

In Zheng Tan's memory, he seemed to have often seen such an impatient expression.

She brushed the wind-blown lock of hair from her forehead behind her ear, the woman standing there took a deep breath, looked at the surrounding scenery trying to adjust her mood, her gaze swept around and settled on the round garden sculpture pond not far from her, which is over a meter high and nearly two meters in diameter.

White lotuses are planted in the white round sculpture; the white lotuses are now in bloom.

White lotus flowers, the white sculpture pond, and, forming a stark contrast, a black cat.

The woman stood at the side of the corridor, looking at the cat standing at the edge of the pond.

The black cat squatting at the pond's edge also gazed back at her calmly.

The woman's motion of brushing her hair stalled; she felt inexplicably uneasy facing those cat eyes.

Just then, a private room door opened, and a woman in her thirties came out.

"Hey, did you finish the call? We're missing one for mahjong and waiting for you."

Zheng Tan's mother's impatient expression vanished instantly; she smiled and replied, "All right, all right, look at how eager you are." Saying that, she headed into the private room; before entering, she glanced toward the pond, then turned back, walked into the room, and shut the door.

That private room's window had curtains blocking the view; Zheng Tan couldn't see inside, but he knew which wealthy wives often hung out with his mother.

He withdrew his gaze, Zheng Tan looked at the lotuses in the pond, reached out and flicked the flower nearest to him.

Tch, still inexplicably annoyed!

Under the lotus leaves a few small fish were swimming, unknown species. After flicking the flower, Zheng Tan began tapping the small fish that surfaced, scaring them back into the water.

Because of Cai Lao Ban and Shu Dong's orders, the two people secretly watching Zheng Tan exchanged a glance.

"Is it really okay for the cat to do that?"

"Probably…… no problem…… right?"

"That's a fish the boss's son specially brought back from his travels; I heard there aren't any locally. The fish are not only nice to look at, they also don't eat leaves like the koi we used to keep. If they're gone, it'd be hard to replace them."

"But I haven't seen it eat the fish; looking at that, the cat seems just to be playing with its paws. Didn't the boss say that as long as there's no big issue, we don't need to worry about it?"

"Then wait until it actually eats them before stopping it?"

"Hmm. You have to catch the thief with the stolen goods, right? If we go over now we won't catch it in the act, and if we scare it away, what then? A cat on the run is hard to catch."

"That's true as well."

When Zheng Tan no longer wanted to play splashing fish, he jumped down from the sculpture pool, climbed over the wall and went back. As he passed the corner where those two people were standing, Zheng Tan, standing on higher ground, glanced at them—two idiots, still catching someone red-handed.

Seeing the cat leave, the two people standing where they were felt somewhat doubtful.

"How come I feel that cat just now seemed to be looking down on me?"

"……I deeply feel the same." (To be continued...)