Chapter 433: Cat at the Concert

The next day, while Zheng Tan was out strolling, he heard that someone had died suddenly on a certain street; reportedly, the person collapsed while on the phone and never got up again, already dead by the time the ambulance arrived.

Zheng Tan didn't feel much about the news; he only thought that street was fairly close to where he'd stayed yesterday, and aside from that, he had no particular thoughts, continuing his usual daily life.

Zheng Tan strolled around the lakeside villa area; Feng Bai Jin had already graduated, but he decided to start a business in Chu Hua City, founding a game development studio.

Because both kids rarely stayed home now, Jiao Ba felt their seventy-square-meter apartment was not cramped at all but rather empty, so he had no intention of moving there—at least not for the next three years. Since Feng Bai Jin was already used to living there, the lease was renewed, though Zheng Tan now visited less often.

Hu Zi also seldom came over these days; with the weather getting cooler, he mostly stayed home to fatten up, often monopolizing Feng Bai Jin's laptop keyboard. When Feng Bai Jin stepped away to use the restroom during work, he'd find Hu Zi squatting on it. Later Feng Bai Jin had someone make a keyboard-shaped heating pad to distract Hu Zi, but after just a couple days Hu Zi kept hogging the keyboard, ignoring the pad entirely. Perhaps he was just looking for trouble, seeking a sense of presence?

Cats that like to sleep on keyboards weren't limited to Hu Zi; Zheng Tan saw many doing the same, such as Hei Mi on the third floor. Now when Zheng Tan went to the third floor to visit, he often saw Hei Mi occupying Er Mao's laptop keyboard.

After wandering around, Zheng Tan had lunch at Feng Bai Jin's place, then slowly strolled back.

Recently, Chu Hua University has been bustling; most of what Zheng Tan overheard on his walks were discussions about the Christmas Eve concert.

On some spots around campus, promotional stands were set up; the boards displayed large posters of newboy, with several band members in front and a huge black cat pattern behind them—the band's emblem.

newboy, that is A Jin's band.

Now A Jin and his band's fame keeps growing, long past their early inexperience; their popularity has risen steadily over the past few years, especially among many students where it's very high.

This year, A Jin's band's campus tour ends at Chu Hua University, scheduled for the evening of the 24th of this month—that is Christmas Eve, which also falls on a Friday; the timing works out perfectly.

To get tickets, one either buys an album or related merchandise that comes with them, or earns them as rewards from certain activities; of course, the school also has many tickets.

At several fixed ticket distribution points on campus, students lined up in long queues, unbothered by the cold wind, either chatting with those ahead and behind or playing on their phones; no matter how long the line, they'd get their tickets. If they lacked tickets, they'd have to buy them on the school forum, but prices would be high—many students couldn't afford it, so compared to those resold at inflated prices, they'd rather endure the chill and wait.

Besides tickets, the distribution booth also sold newboy merchandise, such as the black cat emblem, which sold well and wasn't expensive; most students would spend a few bucks on one after picking up their tickets, and even after the concert it could serve as a nice decoration.

Of course, some people weren't interested in this; seeing the long line, they'd ask those nearby.

"What's going on over there? Another celebrity lecture?" Occasionally, the school invites celebrities—old actors, famous hosts, successful entrepreneurs, influential professors from home and abroad—to give talks in the main auditorium, and each time this happens, a long line forms for tickets.

"You don't know? Of course it's newboy!" someone nearby said contemptuously.

"What's newboy?" the person asked again.

The person beside them wore an expression of helplessness, then explained it to their classmate.

"I heard that newboy's lead singer A Jin once performed at our university's Guitar Association."

"I know that; I heard from a Guitar Association member that A Jin once shared the stage with their former former former former president, playing the opening duet on two guitars—I still have the video, I've watched it several times, it's really exciting!" someone chimed in.

"When was that? It must have been several years ago, right?"

"The newboy lead singer actually did something like that?!"

"So what? Back then newboy wasn't as famous as now, but A Jin's strength was still strong; he even had a guitar showdown with the Guitar Association's former former former former president back then."

"Wow! There's such a thing!" a student exclaimed in astonishment.

"You must be out of the loop; since you don't follow the Guitar Association, you don't know how popular it is on campus—now getting in requires passing multiple rounds of strict screening, otherwise the association would be overcrowded. The reason this situation occurs is mainly because of the newboy band: each year the Guitar Association manages to obtain some newboy concert tickets, and the seats are quite good."

Whenever Zheng Tan heard people talking about A Jin's band, he'd recall those youngsters from years ago who had been down on their luck, nearly driven to desperation.

In the blink of an eye, they've reached this height.

Zheng Tan shook his head and kept walking; even if he wanted to watch the concert, he wouldn't need to get a ticket, nor worry about ticket issues, since he wouldn't squeeze into the venue anyway—just staying in a tree beside the sports field would suffice.

As he walked, Zheng Tan exited the university's side gate and headed toward Hengwu Guangchang, deciding to nap at "Triumph" and grab some snacks to kill time.

Since Hengwu Guangchang was built, foot traffic here has grown, along with more vehicles; Zheng Tan often hears people angrily honking their horns on the road.

Someone once said, the more people are fixated on immediate gain, the more they like to honk a few times when facing difficulties to express their dissatisfaction. City traffic constantly tests people's patience and public spirit, and horn noise has become a reference for judging a city's character. No matter the city, there will always be such hot‑tempered folks who blast their horns at the slightest provocation.

For Zheng Tan, whose hearing is exceptionally sharp, such honking is nothing short of torment; thus, when he hears a rapid, irritating blast, he quickly claps his hands over his ears and hurries past, only slowing down once the honking stops or he's moved far enough away from its source.

Unlike Ye Lou, Triumph's main clientele are young people, mostly college students, and newboy's audience is also largely students. Triumph has recently been running promotions: spending a certain amount earns a campus concert ticket plus some small trinkets, such as newboy's emblem and pendants.

When Zheng Tan arrived, he saw someone rush in, telling their companion, "Hope there are still tickets."

Whenever Zheng Tan came, someone would surely report to the management; after all, this VIP customer of his was truly special.

Zheng Tan didn't bother with anything else; it was a spur‑of‑the‑moment decision. He didn't have his card, so he asked someone to swipe it to open the room—by now the staff knew him well. There was no need to doubt his feline identity; precisely for that reason, Zheng Tan often came without a card, since carrying one was a hassle, and sometimes he'd just wander in.

After eating some nuts in his private suite, Zheng Tan jumped onto the sofa to nap, but barely had he closed his eyes when someone entered.

The visitor wasn't a waiter but one of Ye Hao's senior subordinates, Baizi, who was followed by a person wearing a baseball cap.

Upon entering, they lowered their head slightly, only raising it after closing the door.

Zheng Tan recognized the person—none other than A Jin, the hot‑topic figure everyone's been talking about lately.

Isn't the concert still a few days away?

"Hei Tan, long time no see!" A Jin removed his cap, noting that Triumph made him easy to recognize; he hadn't been this careful when he went to Ye Lou yesterday, and indeed there were many young people at Triumph.

A Jin's band had arrived in Chu Hua City the day before; coming here, he certainly wanted to visit his former employer, having already been to Ye Lou. Today he came to Triumph, but since evenings are crowded and he'd be easily recognized, he'd disguised himself in broad daylight before arriving. He hadn't expected that, while talking with Baizi, someone would report to Baizi that the black cat had come again for an afternoon nap, prompting A Jin to rush over to see the black cat that had once appeared at a turning point in his life.

A Jin often wondered what would have happened if he hadn't met that black cat outside Ye Lou back then—how would he and his bandmates have fared? The band is now popular, its fame high, and he's been asked many times why their emblem is a black cat; he's never revealed Zheng Tan. This was Ye Hao's original suggestion, and A Jin has kept the secret ever since.

After staying with Zheng Tan for just a few minutes, A Jin received a call urging him to go; many pre‑concert matters still needed his attention.

After bidding farewell to Baizi and Zheng Tan, A Jin left again, baseball cap in place.

Before leaving, A Jin gave Zheng Tan four tickets, recalling that Zheng Tan's household had four members; even if his family didn't go, he could give them to friends.

Zheng Tan wasn't wearing his vest today and couldn't carry the tickets back; he didn't want to hold them in his mouth, so Baizi arranged for someone to deliver them to Chu Hua University, where they were handed directly to Jiao Ba.

Because Xiao Youzi had to attend a classmate's birthday party today and would only return tomorrow, and Jiao Yuan wasn't here either, Jiao Ba and Jiao Ma weren't particularly interested; they'd just watch from afar and not join the crowd of young people inside, so the tickets ultimately ended up with Jiao Ba's graduate students.

Jiao Ba's graduate students nearly knelt in shock—they never imagined their boss could obtain such tickets; a glance showed they weren't ordinary school‑issued tickets, but were comparable to VIP seats!

Many students envied the treatment of Professor Jiao's graduate students, constantly spewing sour remarks.

But when asked about the source of the tickets, Jiao Ba merely smiled and stayed silent—what else could he say? Claim it was because his cat's face got them? No one would believe that!

On the evening of the 24th, barriers went up far around Chu Hua University's main sports field, diverting other vehicles.

As night fell, the area around the main sports field buzzed unusually; whereas past Christmas Eve usually saw many people heading out to relax with few on campus, today the field seemed to draw in all the surrounding area's crowd, leaving the streets near the campus gates and even Hengwu Guangchang noticeably quieter.

Many who couldn't get tickets lingered at the perimeter; even if they couldn't enter, hearing something from outside was better than nothing.

There were no tall buildings around the main sports field, and even if there were, their entrances were sealed—no entry allowed—to prevent students from going onto roofs and having accidents.

Yet whenever this happened, the relevant student affairs departments could avail themselves of conveniences: no ticket needed, just show proof to get in, with connections making things easy.

Zheng Tan stood on a tree at the edge of the sports field, gazing at the area occupied by students.

People at the back basically couldn't see the faces of those on stage, so many students had binoculars in their hands.

Before the start, A Jin went on stage to tune up; even before singing began, the fans downstairs started shouting, the usually reserved girls no longer restrained themselves, shouting at the top of their lungs and jumping around. This made Zheng Tan's whiskers twitch in fright.

As a fast-paced song familiar to the students kicked off, the atmosphere exploded again. Though the winter night air was cool, the atmosphere was intensely hot, as if the temperature had risen several degrees.

The students' digital cameras, binoculars, glow sticks and other tools were all put to use, the glow sticks waving nonstop.

After the concert began, in the darkness, fans waved glow sticks and placards, doing so very professionally, following the rhythm, various sparkling points of light moving in unison, showing no sign of chaos.

Someone said, if you like an idol, you must definitely go to his concert, because, separated by a screen, you cannot experience the kind of heat radiating from the stage that makes one's blood almost boil.

The life on stage was so dazzling; to these fans below, at this moment, in their little world, the people on stage were their irreplaceable everything.

A Jin and his group also interacted with the students below; a few members of the School Guitar Association, including the current president, had the luck to go on stage, and after playing a song together, during the intermission, the guitar association members shared with everyone some stories about A Jin and the school's guitar association, which had also been approved by A Jin.

The students from back then have long since graduated, and now many people don't know that the famous song 'Cat's Fantasy' was actually composed in the old tile house of our school, which caused a stir among the audience below, with some shouting, some loudly inquiring, but it was too far away for us to hear clearly.

After a brief intermission, A Jin played that piece 'Cat's Fantasy'.

Having heard the story behind it, listening to this song 'Cat's Fantasy' again made the fans below feel different from before; it seems that every time one hears this piece 'Cat's Fantasy', the feeling is different.

A Jin was strumming his guitar when someone downstairs suddenly shouted, 'Quick, look, there's a cat!'

"Don't make noise! It's a concert, listen to the music, quit your nonsense, mind your manners!" someone whispered a reprimand.

"No, there really is a cat!" Many people saw it, eyes wide, mouths agape, pointing toward the stage.

Zheng Tan, perched in the tree, almost slipped down after seeing what was happening on stage.

Holy crap!

How did that guy, the chief, end up there?! This fellow shouldn't be squatting in the little flower bed's doghouse, should he?! (To be continued...)