Chapter 314

Zheng Tan was put under house arrest; at least before leaving Nan Cheng and Nanhua he could not freely wander around.

This was the result of a unanimous vote by the four members of the Jiao family, which can be considered quite democratic.

Of course, for Zheng Tan, the current house arrest actually doesn't have much impact on him. He is fairly familiar with Nan Cheng and Nanhua, and he won't be like newcomers who curiously wander around sightseeing. This time he saw his parents, but unfortunately the person he most wanted to see is still never seen. Perhaps this is fate; he simply cannot see himself at this point in time and space.

Actually, if he thinks calmly, Zheng Tan realizes that even if he saw his other human self at this time, it might not yield a good result. Back then, his attitude toward cats was not friendly; for a long period he thought cats were neurotic, and no cat would get close to him.

Forget it, if he can't see them, then he can't.

Old acquaintances were one factor, the weather another; Zheng Tan in the midsummer heat also feared the heat and was too lazy to go out, so he mostly stayed indoors. Jiao Ma took Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi out to play for a few days before resting, while only Jiao Ba and Yuan Zhiyi were out and about more.

In mid-August, the Jiao family returned to Chu Hua Shi; there were still many matters to attend to, and although the vacation wasn't over, they had to come back early.

Jiao Yuan and the several boys from the Xiqu Dayuan all entered the same high school this time; Chu Hua Fu Zhong is a bit far from Chu Hua Da Xue, and it is a boarding school with closed management, so Jiao Yuan only comes back once a week on weekends, meaning Zheng Tan gets to see Jiao Yuan much less often.

Xiao Youzi, who also started junior high this September, just like Jiao Yuan and the others initially, attends the junior high relatively close to Chu Hua Da Xue; the several children familiar to Xiao Youzi from the Xiqu Dayuan are also together there, so Jiao Ba and Jiao Ma can rest easy.

Jiao Ma will teach another year at the junior high. Originally she could have been transferred to Chu Hua Da Xue Fu Zhong long ago. With Jiao Ma's ability, teaching high school is no problem. Moreover, over the past three years she has often gone to Fu Zhong to substitute teach. At first it was for first-year high students, later for second-year. Sometimes she substituted for teachers who couldn't come to class due to leave. She has enough experience; the evaluation period at Fu Zhong has long been passed. But because of Jiao Yuan, Jiao Ma has not gone over. This year, Xiong Xiong's mother even came in person to persuade Jiao Ma to transfer early; policies will change somewhat, and with increasing competition, it may not be so easy to transfer. Jiao Ma agreed to stay another year teaching at the junior high. Mainly because she is not at ease about Xiao Youzi. Next year she will go to Chu Hua Da Xue Fu Zhong.

Jiao Ba is also a very busy person, with many students under him and many projects; he also has to deal with non-research matters that cannot be avoided.

This way, Zheng Tan's alone time increased a lot. During the day, Jiao Ba and Jiao Ma are not at home; Jiao Yuan comes back once a week; Xiao Youzi stays at school at noon; Zheng Tan sometimes goes out with Jiao Ma and Xiao Youzi in the morning, sees them off to school then loops back, sometimes goes with Jiao Ba to the staff canteen for breakfast, after eating he ponders how to find fun to kill time; at noon he hangs out with Jiao Wei.

Thinking about this lifestyle, Zheng Tan feels it's really boring to the point of frustration; he truly admires A Huang and the others for being able to sleep all day in the courtyard or play with their own tails, treating themselves as imaginary opponents, entertaining themselves.

Shu Dong and Cai Lao Ban came to Chu Hua Shi at the end of August and met Ye Hao. Zheng Tan at the time was lying on the sofa beside them, asleep; when he turned and stretched, he lost control of his claws and scratched a hole in the high-end sofa that Ye Hao had placed in the Victory office. Ye Hao merely glanced silently at the hole and said nothing. At that time Shu Dong felt quite surprised; he never expected Ye Hao to be so tolerant of cats. The self-proclaimed shrewd Shu Dong didn't know how many twists and turns he had analyzed in his mind; regardless of whether he guessed the true situation, at least one thing he was certain of: that black cat was special.

Shu Dong stayed in Chu Hua Shi for a few days before leaving; he planned to invest in Chu Hua Shi, so this trip was just a preliminary inspection. After finishing his business and inspection he left. Cai Lao Ban remained in Chu Hua Shi; his Shi Wei opened when school started in September, after all preparations had begun long ago, and the opening just happened to coincide with the start of school. After this meeting with Ye Hao and hearing Ye Hao's words, he also felt much more at ease. He devoted more energy to researching the tastes of Chu Hua Shi residents, determining a few dishes that fit the Chu Hua Shi style, then offering them at special prices to test the response.

The scale of Shi Wei in Hengwu Guangchang is not small; it is still two stories, with mostly private rooms on the second floor. In Shi Wei there is another door leading to the second floor; there a door separates the second-floor restaurant from Cai Lao Ban's rest area. Zheng Tan sometimes goes there and simply climbs up to the second floor to sleep in Cai Lao Ban's rest area.

Jiao Ba isn't at all worried that Zheng Tan will go hungry; for Zheng Tan there are really plenty of places to mooch meals and sleep. Sometimes Jiao Ba still reminds Zheng Tan not to eat too much, as overnutrition can also cause trouble. Jiao Ma sighs, "It's good that it's Zheng Tan like this; otherwise, if it were another cat, it would probably be hard to keep." After all, everyone in the Jiao family now spends little time at home, and their schedules really aren't suited for keeping pets.

That day, a classmate of Xiao Youzi from the Xiqu Dayuan had a birthday and invited some classmates over to play, so Xiao Youzi would come back later; Jiao Ma went to the gym to exercise, Jiao Ba continued to work hard in the courtyard, and Zheng Tan wouldn't just stay home alone watching melodramas; instead he went out for a stroll.

After eating too much dinner, Zheng Tan didn't want to run far, so he wandered around the Chu Hua Da Xue campus and, as a side note, went to the woods at the edge of the campus to play a game on his phone.

Liuba apparently has something going on lately; he hasn't been spamming Zheng Tan with messages or calls, and Zheng Tan is also happy to have the quiet.

He yawned; after eating he gets sleepy easily, and after playing a game he didn't feel like moving, so Zheng Tan decided to take a quick nap here, then head back when the time came.

He hadn't expected that this sleep would go past the time; Zheng Tan had planned to return at nine, but he forgot to set an alarm on his phone, and when he woke up he saw it was already ten-thirty.

Zheng Tan thought, uh-oh, he'll probably get scolded when he goes back; after finally having the house arrest lifted after Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi started school, coming back late today will likely make Jiao Ba and Jiao Ma worry more, thinking Zheng Tan had only been obedient for a few days before staying out late again.

He hurriedly got up, intending to walk out of the tree hole, but Zheng Tan's ear twitched; his steps toward the outside stopped, and he carefully poked his head out of the tree hole to look outside.

Someone was coming this way.

Normally at this time there basically wouldn't be any students coming into these woods; after all, it's too late, easy to get into trouble, and the woods don't give them a sense of safety.

Anyway, that person was already approaching; Zheng Tan decided to take a look first, since his phone was left here. Although he thought nobody would climb a tree to dig out the tree hole, he still wanted to be on the safe side.

At this time, someone running into the woods had footsteps that sounded a bit sneaky; why? If it were those lovebirds it would be understandable, but it looked like two males, the surroundings were dark, yet Zheng Tan could still make out the two people coming this way using some moonlight: one about twenty, quite young, the other around forty.

The two seemed tired, panting, yet they were careful, not daring to breathe too loudly; their speech was also lowered, and Zheng Tan couldn't hear clearly—one of them spoke low and fast, with an accent not from Chu Hua Shi, so Zheng Tan could only guess a word or two from what he heard.

If faint sounds of students passing could be heard along the path leading to the side gate at the edge of the woods, these two would still stop and hide behind trees or crouch in the bushes, waiting for the students to leave before continuing on.

This made Zheng Tan even more curious; although these two's hiding skills aren't great, they're being overly cautious—what shady business are these two up to?

At a glance they're not good people.

As those two approached the tree where Zheng Tan was staying, he drew his head back into the hole, and he noticed that the older person would occasionally look up at the tree while walking.

When Zheng Tan originally chose this tree, he valued not only the hole above it but also its concealment; outside of winter, when branches and leaves provide cover, it's even safer, and normally nobody idly comes here to climb trees; so far no one has discovered this tree hole, and although a few people have been active around here, none have bothered to climb the tree.

While he was thinking, he heard the older one say something, and Zheng Tan caught words like "up in the tree," but he didn't grasp the exact meaning.

Someone below was watching him; Zheng Tan also didn't stick his head out, just pricked up his ears to judge from the sounds what the other was doing. The next moment, Zheng Tan felt someone climbing up the tree.

Zheng Tan started—really, they climbed up?!

Could they also be trying to hide something?

Zheng Tan silently cursed: Damn, if you're going to hide something, hide it; among all the trees in the woods, these two "rats" had to pick this very trunk?

Originally he hadn't planned to do anything, but now he couldn't help it; he didn't want those two to discover his tree hole where he hid things. Having finally found such a good spot to stash stuff, now someone actually wants to come muscle in?

There's not even a door!

Zheng Tan didn't react immediately upon noticing someone climbing the tree; instead he shrank further into the tree hole, trying to avoid being detected.

Probably because they feared being discovered, neither of the two turned on a flashlight or similar; using the cover of darkness, they inched their way up, one person at a time.

Feeling that person draw ever closer, Zheng Tan held his breath, quietly curled his hand, and picked up a nearby broken thin twig; its broken end was somewhat sharp.

A pair of hands appeared at the tree hole entrance, apparently belonging to the younger of the two.

Zheng Tan shrank as far as possible into the tree hole.

"Hey, uncle, looks like there's a hole!" the younger one probed the edge of the opening with his hand, then happily lowered his head to tell the vigilant person below, "Having a tree hole makes it even better for hiding stuff."

Zheng Tan understood that remark, while the older person down below said something quickly that Zheng Tan couldn't quite make out.

After the younger one finished speaking with his head down, he prepared to climb a bit higher to examine the hole more closely; but as soon as he turned his head, before he could continue climbing, a blurry shadow suddenly darted out of the tree hole in the darkness.

"Ha!" Zheng Tan shouted, and at the same time he jabbed the twig he had grasped in his claw into that person's hand.

The younger man, startled by the sudden emergence of an unknown object and that sudden strange cry, felt his legs go weak and his hand suffer a sharp pain; already nervous, the double assault caused him to fall straight from the tree. (To be continued…)