Chapter 431: One Man's Poison Is Another's Honey

Zheng Tan continued to ignore the bread handed to him.

The person in front saw Zheng Tan really wasn't eating anything, shoved the torn piece of bread into his mouth, quickly glanced toward the bus stop to see if the bus he was waiting for was arriving, saw none, then kept standing there, after finishing the bread in his hand, he reached out to pat Zheng Tan's cat head, but Zheng Tan dodged.

Zheng Tan was impatient.

This person really has no tact—if you're waiting for the bus, just wait; why come over here to hit on someone?

There are many such people who, upon seeing a cat, can't help but want to go pet it twice, unaware that many cats actually really dislike being disturbed; of course, some cats enjoy playing with people, but Zheng Tan definitely isn't one of them—if it weren't for watching Xiong Xiong's bike, he would have already bolted.

Zheng Tan really wanted to go over and punch him, but doing so in public wouldn't be appropriate.

Unfortunately, Zheng Tan's resentment was clearly not understood; the person reached out again to try, and Zheng Tan, unable to hold back, slapped his hand away several times until the bus he was waiting for arrived, at which point the person finally withdrew his hand and rushed to board the bus.

Seeing that person finally leave, Zheng Tan breathed a sigh of relief; people like that usually like cats, often approaching stray cats or pet cats out for a walk to pet them, and other cats encountering such people are lucky, but Zheng Tan really doesn't want to meet such people because they're especially clingy, hard to shake off, and even if scratched they don't get angry. Zheng Tan can't stand that enthusiasm.

Zheng Tan once saw a pretty girl go tease a cat crouched by a flowerbed; when she played with the cat, it scratched her, leaving several blood marks on her fair hand. Yet the girl didn't get angry, nor did she complain or hit the cat.

As he thought that, Zheng Tan noticed another person approaching—this time two young women walking together, likely students from a nearby university; their enthusiasm surpassed that of the backpack guy earlier, but since they looked decent, Zheng Tan let them pet him twice, and that was it.

To help Xiong Xiong watch his bike, Zheng Tan sacrificed his looks.

Xiong Xiong also complained about lacking color in his five elements. While Zheng Tan disliked the many people coming over to bother him, he secretly felt pleased: look, guys, by squatting here, the girls come on their own.

After over an hour, Xiong Xiong came running back, drenched in sweat. He had originally planned to take a taxi, but funds were tight lately, so he ran back, treating it as weight loss; passing the road construction stretch, he kicked up a lot of dust, some visible in his hair, combined with sweat dripping from his forehead, he looked a bit disheveled, but now that he'd delivered the flowers, even if he looked messy, his sweetheart wouldn't see it, so Xiong Xiong felt fine about his dishevelment.

When Xiong Xiong approached, Zheng Tan already had a fourth group of female students in front of him, but when the girls near Zheng Tan saw Xiong Xiong approaching, they ignored Zheng Tan, grabbed their companions, and hurried away. This left Xiong Xiong feeling depressed.

After buying a bottle of that one-yuan purified water and gulping down a few mouthfuls, Xiong Xiong sat on the bike's rear seat and complained to Zheng Tan: "Hei Tan, what are those girls avoiding when they see me?"

Zheng Tan glanced at Xiong Xiong, whose face was covered in dust, hair messed up, and whose physique still bore some pressure, then jumped off the bike seat, intending to leave. It was mealtime; time to head back.

After returning home, that day Jiao Ma prepared a nice meal to celebrate Zheng Tan's return. As for being picked up for a hug, he'd gotten used to it, so it wasn't awkward anymore.

Jiao Ma also said, before Zheng Tan was gone, the house felt empty, with only her watching TV; several times she felt like laughing and wanted to turn to share with someone nearby, but found no one else sitting there, nor a cat lying there. At that time, Jiao Ma felt so heartbroken, each day just sitting there counting days, counting how many days until Xiao Youzi returned, how many days until Zheng Tan returned, and how long until Jiao Yuan returned.

Now, even if only Zheng Tan had come back, Jiao Ma was overjoyed; when watching TV, her laughter grew louder, and each time she shared her funny moments with Zheng Tan—even if Zheng Tan couldn't respond, Jiao Ma spoke with enthusiasm; if Zheng Tan put on a dull face, Jiao Ma would still reach out and poke his forehead.

Keeping company with parents while watching TV isn't actually easy.

Poking the forehead is just something you get used to.

The next day, Xiong Xiong skipped class again to find Zheng Tan, and Zheng Tan continued going over to help him watch his bike.

And, at the same time, same bus stop, Zheng Tan saw again that young man with a backpack.

That young man, while nibbling on a steamed bun, looked around; when his gaze landed on Zheng Tan, his eyes lit up, he smiled warmly, and came running over again.

Zheng Tan: "……"

Just like yesterday, he again pulled off a piece of meat bun and offered it to Zheng Tan, who again ignored it.

Fortunately, today the person's bus arrived quickly; he stayed less than two minutes in front of Zheng Tan before rushing to board the bus.

Watching the bus pull away, Zheng Tan turned around and noticed that after seeing him, more people had gathered.

Over the next few days, Zheng Tan would see that backpack-carrying young man here every day; sometimes Zheng Tan was lucky and the person's bus came quickly, sometimes unlucky and no bus came for half an hour or even longer, and this person loved to flirt; at first Zheng Tan didn't want to directly extend his claws and draw blood, but later he realized the person's movements were quick—both striking and withdrawing fast—so Zheng Tan couldn't manage to land a swipe.

If it weren't for being in public, Zheng Tan guessed he would have launched a flying kick or picked up a nearby bike and hurled it.

But on the street, if I can't afford to provoke him, can't I just avoid him?

So Zheng Tan began to hide, but not too far away, ensuring he wouldn't let Xiong Xiong's bike go out of sight.

After a week, everyone in the nearby shops knew that at this time each day, a "warrior" would ride his bike bringing a black cat over, then the "warrior" would take a taxi away, and after he left, his bike seat would have a black cat squatting there, impossible to shoo away.

People who often pass by here, especially some female students, would come over to take photos, then post them online, meanwhile sharing the stories they imagined. These days phones update too fast, functions keep getting stronger, online communication platforms grow ever richer and more colorful; many young people like to capture interesting things they see on their phones and post them online to share, or to attract attention.

Fortunately, those people only photographed Zheng Tan and the bike, never Xiong Xiong. So even those who know Zheng Tan, upon seeing the photos, would just laugh and say, "Look, this cat really looks like Hei Tan," without linking it directly to Zheng Tan. After all, few people could recognize Zheng Tan from a single picture at a glance.

Zheng Tan never wears a cat tag when he goes out; otherwise he'd definitely be recognized.

Zheng Tan came again to help Xiong Xiong watch his bike; although taking on this job brought him many annoyances, seeing Xiong Xiong's progress in pursuing a girlfriend was noticeable, so he persisted. Watching the kids grow up, Zheng Tan helps where he can, and besides, that's all he can do.

Seeing the backpack-carrying young man approach from the bus stop side, Zheng Tan's slightly improved mood vanished again; helplessly, he runs into this person every day at this time.

Zheng Tan was about to jump off the bike seat to avoid trouble, when unexpectedly a large flower-patterned cat from a nearby small restaurant walked over, and the backpack person shifted his attention to that approaching big flower cat.

The big flower cat was originally curious about Zheng Tan, a fellow feline, but now that someone was playing with it and scratching its itch, it no longer paid attention to Zheng Tan.

This big flower cat was well cared for; the restaurant owner obviously put a lot of effort into its food. Besides food, the owner was very attentive to the cat; its fur was clean, showing the owner often gave it grooming. A clean pet is more inviting.

Probably because it was already used to being petted in the restaurant, this cat isn't shy; after being scratched a few times for an itch, it even rolls over on the spot, exposing its belly for people to pet.

Only some house cats can be this familiar with people, and among house cats, a small minority behave like this cat: in front of strangers they roll over, showing their round, well-fed belly, letting people pet them, feeling safe to have their itches scratched, they don't scratch people, and when held they don't extend their claws.

Someone jokingly asked the restaurant owner: "Is your shop's cat too nice? Doesn't it catch mice?"

The owner wasn't annoyed by the doubt; instead he felt proud: "Catch, why not? A few days ago I even cleared out a room upstairs storing goods where mice had nested—I don't know whose mice they were, they were hiding in there breeding, but in the end they all ended up in my cat's belly."

Many who go to that restaurant tease the cat, and the cat also helps draw crowds to the eatery. Around here there are many small eateries; the shop owner knows well why some people always choose his place, and precisely for that reason he makes sure his cat is squeaky clean so it can go out to "welcome guests."

Although both are native cats, the big flower cat is slightly chubby, likes to roll over, acts cute, is more approachable and popular. Its arrival took on about half of Zheng Tan's pressure. However, what is pressure for Zheng Tan may not be pressure for the cat.

What is poison to one is honey to another; the things that annoy Zheng Tan are this cat's delight.

Afterwards, whenever Zheng Tan saw that backpack-carrying young man, the big flower cat would actively go over to rub against him, because that young man often shared his breakfast with the cat.

One meat bun, one person and one cat quickly split it, then they split a second one.

Zheng Tan just squatted on the bike seat and watched. Others nearby still sympathized with Zheng Tan, saying the big flower cat had come and stolen all the attention; without comparison you wouldn't know, but once compared, those kids and young people around clearly preferred to tease the big flower cat.

But Zheng Tan felt no pity or regret at all; he even thought the big flower cat showed up too late.

When the bus arrived, the person who had shared the meat buns waved at the two cats, said "bye," and hurried over to board the bus.

The big flower cat licked its lips, licked its paws, lifted its head to gaze at Zheng Tan squatting on the bike seat, judged the height of the rear seat, gathered strength, and leapt!

Having perhaps eaten too much, it made a slight miscalculation, jumping a bit low; the big flower cat's front paws hooked onto Xiong Xiong's bike rear seat, about to push up with another effort, when it noticed the bike beginning to tilt.

Clang!

The bike fell over.

Zheng Tan: "……" (To be continued…)