Chapter 424: Regret

When Er Mao and the others discovered that Zheng Tan and Big Mountain were missing, the sun had already risen.

Today there was no Big Mountain–style "alarm clock"; if it were normal times, everyone would surely have noticed right away, but now, under the special circumstances, everyone's attention was focused on Peijie's matter, and the few people who had been analyzing and discussing all night had red bloodshot eyes.

And the old master, being up in years, couldn't keep up with them; at three or four in the morning Er Mao and the others persuaded him to rest, and he still hasn't gotten up, while Er Mao and the others didn't make a big commotion, leaving the whole courtyard unusually quiet.

Only when everyone finally noticed why this quiet felt abnormal did they realize that neither of the two cats was in the courtyard.

With Peijie's disappearance, the first thing everyone thought of was whether the two cats had also been silently taken care of. But on second thought, that's not right. Wei Leng and Er Mao know very well the abilities of that black cat; it couldn't possibly be dealt with so easily and silently—if something happened, it would surely let out a howl. Besides, Er Mao's phone had no alarm, proving the other party should still be nearby.

Uncle Lin said he'd go call people over to help look, but Er Mao stopped him.

"Wait, let me check first." Er Mao pulled out his phone, opened one of the icons, and a bright point was clearly visible.

"Right nearby?"

Hearing Er Mao's words, the few of them felt a little uneasy; if it were really nearby, they'd have shouted several times just now—although they'd lowered their voices so as not to wake the old master, a cat's hearing would be enough to pick up their words, yet in fact there was not a single response.

Er Mao took his phone and followed the signal point shown on it until he saw the cat tag that Zheng Tan had hung on that tree.

"Did someone take the cat tag?" Uncle Lin said worriedly. He had a pretty good impression of that black cat, and he feared it had come to a bad end.

Er Mao took the cat tag, had a look, and shook his head. "No, it wasn't taken by someone else. Besides itself, no one could remove that cat tag."

The latter part of what Er Mao said was spoken so softly that people a little farther away couldn't hear it at all—for example, Uncle Lin, who only caught the first sentence. He didn't hear the latter part Er Mao had just said at all; otherwise he would surely have wondered, "What do you mean, 'Besides itself, no one could remove that cat tag'?"

"Senior Brother Peijie, I think Hei Tan must have found some clue, which is why it left to look for clues. As for Big Mountain, I'd guess it was called over to help." Er Mao said.

Er Mao still understands Zheng Tan pretty well—after all, after so many years of being upstairs/downstairs neighbors, not understanding would be strange.

Peiliang nodded. He didn't say anything. Regardless of whether what Er Mao said was true, having hope was good.

By the time Big Mountain returned, it was already close to noon; Er Mao and the others had gone out to look around and hadn't found much useful information, but upon seeing Big Mountain in the courtyard, everyone's eyes lit up.

Er Mao looked around front and back of his house, but didn't see Zheng Tan.

"Big Mountain, where's Hei Tan?" Er Mao asked.

"Big Mountain's back?!" the old master hurried out of the house and called Big Mountain over.

Big Mountain listens best to the old master; when the old master questions him, Big Mountain is more cooperative, so after the old master spoke, Er Mao and the others fell silent and stayed close by, listening.

Having lived together for so many years, the old master knows Big Mountain's temperament and abilities well, so his questions are easy for Big Mountain to understand.

"Where's Hei Tan?" the old master asked. Because of Er Mao, the old master now also calls it "Hei Tan." Big Mountain also knows who that name refers to—it has heard the name many times while learning to play with a lighter, and it matches.

Upon hearing that, Big Mountain glanced toward a certain direction in the distance, and Er Mao and the others noted what that gesture meant. Big Mountain has a strong sense of direction, so since it looked that way, it meant the black cat was somewhere in that direction.

"And Peijie?" the old master said, fetching one of Peijie's garments for Big Mountain to smell, so that Big Mountain could associate the name "Peijie" with its scent; Big Mountain's memory for smells is deeper than that for a name it's only heard briefly.

Sure enough, when Big Mountain heard the name "Peijie," it seemed a little doubtful at first, but after catching the scent it became excited, spun around in place, and then tried to head out the door—only to be called back by the old master.

The old master brought Big Mountain forward, looked at it, and almost word by word asked, "Found it?"

The old master usually played similar find‑the‑object games with Big Mountain, so Big Mountain could understand this question.

Upon hearing that, Big Mountain raised its tail and then flicked it down hard. This motion corresponds to the "yes" in the "yes‑no tail‑flick game."

"Really found it!" Er Mao exclaimed happily.

Peiliang's eyes turned red with excitement; now he was eager to go look for him. Back at home, Peiliang would almost every few days give Peijie a disciplinary beating with a stick—this kid was too mischievous, a beating was needed to keep him in line, constantly causing trouble; but now, not having seen that troublemaker for a whole day, he was filled with all kinds of worries. As a man, he couldn't just bawl and shout; his emotions were bottled up, he couldn't vent, his heart felt choked, so he could only silently puff cigarette after cigarette to ease his feelings. Now, merely hearing this bit of news made Peiliang's eyes feel sore and acidic; he blinked hard several times but couldn't shake the sensation—instead it grew stronger.

The old master sat back down, waved his hand, and told the three of Er Mao, "Go ahead." Being up in years, he couldn't possibly go with Er Mao and the others to look for someone.

"Master, here…" Wei Leng looked at the old master.

"Don't worry, they're here with you, so it's fine—just be careful yourselves." The old master pointed to the people following them, which included those who had come from the provincial capital to assist in the investigation, as well as several locals on good terms with them; all were present here to stand guard, so there was no need to worry about someone sneaking in and harming the old folks and children.

The three fellow disciples working together are more reliable than others, and the old master still has confidence in his own disciples.

While Big Mountain led Er Mao and the others into the woods, Zheng Tan had already woken from a short nap. Although the sleep quality wasn't great, after that rest his spirits were noticeably better and his strength had recovered.

He observed that there were six people there—the five he had seen before, plus the one who had taken Peijie.

It was lunchtime, and those six were gathered in a tent, eating and chatting while probably discussing what to do next. They spoke with an accent and talked quickly. Zheng Tan couldn't understand much; he occasionally caught a few words, but stringing them together didn't make sense, so he could only judge by their tone of voice.

One of the six sat at the tent's entrance, half his body inside, half outside; while keeping watch on the surroundings, he also exchanged a couple of words with the others.

To Zheng Tan, this was an opportunity. Since those six were all gathered here, elsewhere there was no one.

Going around to the rear, Zheng Tan quietly approached that cloth shed. The three tents didn't look like a place to hold hostages; this place was most likely the cloth pen for animals, and from some subtle remarks and behavior of those few people, Zheng Tan also inferred that Peijie should be inside.

Silently going around to the back of the cloth shed, Zheng Tan found an spot that wasn't fastened. Only a few points underneath the shed were secured; where it wasn't, he could slightly lift the cloth edge and slip inside.

This was the advantage of his small size; if he were even a bit bigger, trying to squeeze in would surely create a disturbance that would draw those people over.

After listening carefully, once Zheng Tan confirmed those people were over by the tent, he cautiously lifted the unfastened hanging edge of the cloth shed and quickly slipped inside.

Inside the cloth shed it was much darker than outside, but for Zheng Tan that didn't matter much—he could still see the interior clearly.

Inside were the five cages Zheng Tan had seen before—two holding monkeys, three holding red pandas—and in a larger cage close to those five, a child sat in the corner, obviously Peijie without a doubt.

Peijie was sitting with his legs hugged, one foot on the cage floor, his head resting on his knees, apparently asleep.

The animals in the five cages were in about the same poor condition as before—listless and unmindful of Zheng Tan. Only the red panda next to Peijie's cage showed a bit of spirit; as Zheng Tan walked by, the little creature noticed him but made no sound, merely staring curiously.

It seems this kind of animal rarely vocalizes anyway, which is a good thing under the circumstances.

That red panda stood at the edge of its cage, looking at Zheng Tan while also lifting a paw to fiddle with the fur below its mouth.

Zheng Tan walked up beside Peijie, but the cage's metal mesh was too tight for him to squeeze through, so he could only extend a paw and gently push Peijie.

Peijie wasn't sleeping deeply; after the push he woke up, looking around somewhat dazedly. It was still dim, with the stench of animal waste, but having been forced to smell it all day, he was somewhat numb, and besides, the odor also contained his own—he had urinated a few times.

Not noticing anything abnormal, Peijie was about to go back to sleep when his arm was nudged again.

He turned his head and met a pair of eyes.

Peijie almost screamed in fright, but thanks to his decent mental fortitude he managed to hold it in. After carefully identifying the source, he realized that what had pushed him was a cat.

There was no way—this place was still too dark for Peijie to see clearly, and where Zheng Tan was staying was even darker; Peijie couldn't make out objects in here as well as Zheng Tan could, and besides Zheng Tan was black itself, so if his eyes didn't reflect a bit of light, Peijie would hardly have spotted him. Still, he didn't think it was Zheng Tan himself; he assumed it was just some wild cat from the woods.

The cage was still too small for Peijie; even sitting in a corner, it took up nearly a quarter of the cage's cross‑section, and he couldn't stand upright inside—he had to bend his waist to rise.

Zheng Tan also realized that Peijie probably hadn't seen him clearly, so he glanced around and then went to the small opening left at the edge of the cloth shed.

Light slanting in from outside the window fell onto the uneven ground, and only when Zheng Tan reached that spot did Peijie manage to see clearly.

"Hei… Hei Tan?!" Although his heart was racing, Peijie remembered he was being held here, and fearing that a loud noise would attract those people, he lowered his voice.

Zheng Tan was very satisfied with Peijie's performance, and walked to the edge of the cage again.

Peijie looked at Zheng Tan and started crying. Since Zheng Tan is here, his dad and Uncle Er Mao should also be nearby, right?

Peijie suddenly felt that the dark childhood era had seen light again. The self-proclaimed tough guy who said men don't cry, the little brat Xiao Pihai, now can't help but start shedding tears.

"Wuuu, Hei Tan, I was wrong, I shouldn't have randomly taken your things, I shouldn't have tried to pry open the lock without permission..." Peijie lowered his voice to admit his mistake; because his voice was too low, sometimes only his mouth could be seen moving, with no sound coming out. But Zheng Tan could still tell what the kid was saying from the few words he managed to utter and Peijie's mouth movements.

The tone was very sincere, and combined with his expression it was truly moving; however, Zheng Tan always felt that Peijie's words came out too smoothly, without a single pause.

Peijie has indeed said similar things many times, but right now he is truly regretful. If he hadn't been curious about that box, hadn't taken the box out to the courtyard, perhaps he wouldn't have run into that stranger, Uncle Lin wouldn't have been knocked out, his two younger siblings wouldn't have fallen into danger, and he himself wouldn't have been dragged away by the bad guys like a chick.

Regret, he truly regrets it! (To be continued...)