Chapter 49: Watch the Cat

Zheng Tan has an impression of this person.

A few times when Zheng Tan came over to wander here, he saw him, and Zheng Tan heard people call him "Professor Ren".

Professor Ren is one of the young overseas‑returned professors the institute recruited last year; he is very popular among the students, especially the female students. Professor Ren is just in his early thirties, his file already shines, and he has the overseas‑returned aura; otherwise the institute wouldn't have recruited him vigorously.

Come to think of it, Professor Ren's research is in the same direction as Jiao Ba's, so in a sense they are competitors, but Professor Ren is already a full professor, while Jiao Ba still carries an "associate" title, and that difference is significant.

His London accent when speaking English, plus his good looks and the pretentious manner he puts on, make Professor Ren one of the topics the students discuss privately.

However, Zheng Tan has always thought this person is overly fake and feels uncomfortable just looking at him.

In the few times Zheng Tan has seen him, he knows that this person smiles kindly toward students, teachers, and leaders, appearing very gentlemanly; many female students praise Professor Ren behind his back for his gentlemanly demeanor. Yet Zheng Tan feels that whenever this person looks at him, there is an indefinable malice. He originally thought the man disliked cats and treated them that way, but later Zheng Tan ruled that out; even if he dislikes other cats, he wouldn't bear such malice toward them.

When this person faces a cat, he drops his usual façade, and the smile in his eyes carries a cold glint. So Zheng Tan feels very uneasy looking at that smile on his face, always thinking he is plotting something bad.

"Hello, Professor Ren!"

A few students pass by and greet the man.

Professor Ren also responds with a smile.

Zheng Tan, squatting on the tree watching the scene, pouts; indeed, this man's gaze toward others differs from that toward himself.

What a damn hypocrite!

Zheng Tan strains to recall and confirms he had little interaction with this man before; Professor Ren owns a house off campus and doesn't live in the faculty housing, and Zheng Tan usually only comes to the Life Sciences Building to occasionally perch outside, or sneak into Jiao Ba's office to sleep, and nothing else.

Many teachers in the institute know that Associate Professor Jiao's family has a black cat; they often see him returning home with his little electric scooter carrying the cat. Since Zheng Tan comes here without causing trouble and is very honest, some teachers and students occasionally call out Hei Tan's name and don't throw stones to chase him away. Only Professor Ren seems to look as if he wants to slaughter him.

It's really baffling; I didn't steal your wife, why would you give me that look?

【7】 Zheng Tan is thinking that when he suddenly hears someone call his name and turns his head.

Zheng Tan was thinking when suddenly he heard someone calling him, and he turned his head to look.

"Hei Tan, didn't expect you to be here!"

The newcomer is Zhao Le, daughter of Chairman Zhao of Changwei Group. During the New Year period, although Chairman Zhao and Zhao Le didn't come personally, they sent people to pay New Year visits and bring gifts; after all, Chairman Zhao is busy, and as the heiress of Changwei Group, Zhao Le certainly has some necessary social engagements. Both are busy people.

The Jiao Family now doesn't lack snacks or fruit, and Jiao Ma no longer needs to buy her own cosmetics. Every few days Zhao Le has someone deliver things. Today as well, Zhao Le happened to have free time these two days, no classes in the afternoon, so she bought some items and went to the Jiao Family. However, only Jiao Ma and a few of her colleagues were there; Zheng Tan was not seen. Zhao Le didn't want to linger, so she prepared to go to Jiao Ba to ask about Zheng Tan's recent condition and about Jiao Ba and Yuanzi's company's matters.

Jiao Ba and Jiao Ma do not publicly disclose Zhao Le's identity, saying she is a friend's child. However, Jiao Ma's colleagues, seeing Zhao Le carrying so many snacks and some imported cosmetics for Jiao Ma, remain puzzled; the host family doesn't want to explain, and no one feels comfortable asking.

Zhao Le didn't expect to see Zheng Tan outside the Life Sciences Institute, but she is always happy when she meets him. At that moment she also notices the man standing not far away, knows he is a teacher from Associate Professor Jiao's institute, but isn't familiar, so she casually greets him.

Professor Ren smiles quite affably, "You're not from our institute, are you?"

"Hmm, I'm just here looking for someone."

"Who are you looking for? Need any help?"

"No, thank you," Zhao Le maintains a proper smile, with a hint of distance.

Only after Professor Ren walks into the building and his figure disappears does Zhao Le's smile fade, she furrows her brows and looks at Zheng Tan squatting on the tree: "Did you offend him somewhere?"

"How the hell would I know!" Zheng Tan pulls his ears, jumps down from the tree, and stretches lazily.

"Let's go find Professor Jiao together," Zhao Le says, pulling a cloth bag from her bag, printed with a snack brand name; she always folds this bag into her bag for emergencies, and didn't expect to need it now.

Zheng Tan looks at the opening of the bag Zhao Le opened, shakes his whiskers, and jumps in.

Zhao Le feels her hand sink and almost fails to grab the bag.

"Did you get fat?" Zhao Le laughs.

Zheng Tan looks at himself, "Can't be that much," he thinks. Although his training has been a bit lax lately, he wouldn't call himself fat; he's clearly strong! A couple of days ago when he went to Xiao Guo's place to shoot an advertisement, Xiao Guo even praised him, saying the other cats in the shop are all plump, but Zheng Tan is the only one that's robust. Xiao Guo also plans to get the shop's cats to exercise more; spring has come, so they need to work out.

Regardless of what Zheng Tan thinks, Zhao Le still carries the bag and walks into the Life Sciences Building toward Jiao Ba's office.

Jiao Ba is currently at his computer searching literature; hearing a knock, he says, "Please come in."

When Zhao Le enters, Jiao Ba quickly stands to greet her and pulls out a clean chair for her. The other chairs have items on them and haven't been wiped; Miss Zhao is not like Su Qu and Yi Xin, those big gentlemen, so Jiao Ba has to be more careful.

After Zhao Le sits down, Jiao Ba sees Zheng Tan emerge from the bag and doesn't say much; after all, his own cat is a regular here, no need for further comment.

Zhao Le discusses some matters with Associate Professor Jiao, including recent developments of their company. Changwei Group and Associate Professor Jiao's company have little overlap, not really competitors, and Zhao Le is still very willing to lend a hand.

During their conversation, Zheng Tan perches on a small chair, eyes closed, ears perked to listen to their discussion.

Now Jiao Ba and Yuanzi's company has established its footing, with good development momentum. Graduation season is approaching, many fresh graduates have started job hunting, and recently Yuanzi's team is recruiting from various universities; they are currently short of talent.

"By the way, Professor Jiao, how much do you know about Professor Ren Chongren?" Zhao Le asks suddenly.

When Zhao Le entered the building, she saw the teacher introductions on the first floor of the Life Sciences Building and realized that the person earlier was the overseas‑returned professor the institute recruited.

To show the institute's emphasis on several recruited young overseas‑returned professors, they set up a special column introducing them, displayed continuously in the first‑floor lobby.

"Professor Ren?" Jiao Ba is surprised Zhao Le would ask about him, "I don't know much about him…"

Jiao Ba shares what he knows about Professor Ren; Zhao Le and Zheng Tan are both puzzled, and listening they don't think there's any past feud.

"What, Miss Zhao, are you interested in Professor Ren? Professor Ren is still very popular among the girls in our institute," Jiao Ba jokes.

Zhao Le doesn't smile; after all, she is Chairman Zhao's daughter of Changwei Group, and her senses are still very keen about certain matters.

She shakes her head and says, "Just now I saw Professor Ren downstairs; Hei Tan was on the tree, and Professor Ren's attitude toward Hei Tan… didn't seem very good."

Hearing this, Jiao Ba looks at Zheng Tan, "Did you provoke him?"

Zheng Tan gives Jiao Ba a sidelong glance, "I really have no idea where I offended him!"

Jiao Ba can't think of a reason at the moment, but still thanks Zhao Le for the warning.

After Zhao Le leaves, Jiao Ba pokes Zheng Tan, "From now on, when you see Professor Ren, stay away from him; he isn't as friendly as he appears. Be careful that one careless moment might get you dragged onto an experimental table for dissection."

Zheng Tan feels a chill down his spine; after hearing Jiao Ba's words and reconsidering Professor Ren's gaze, he really can't be sure whether the Ren fellow truly means that.

For the sake of his life, Zheng Tan decides to obediently follow Jiao Ba's advice and keep his distance from that hypocritical Ren.

Around six past afternoon, after Jiao Ba finishes handling things, he takes Zheng Tan home, as usual, with Zheng Tan squatting in the basket of Jiao Ba's small electric scooter.

At this time many teachers are leaving work, so traffic at the intersection is heavier. Arriving at a crossroads, a few cars ahead are turning, so Jiao Ba temporarily stops to wait.

While waiting, a silver‑gray private car parks beside Jiao Ba's small electric scooter, apparently also waiting for those cars to turn.

The silver‑gray car's window rolls down, revealing the person in the driver's seat.

"Professor Ren." Since he saw a person, Jiao Ba can't pretend he didn't notice, and greets him.

Professor Ren in the driver's seat also smiles and nods, his gaze sweeping over Zheng Tan squatting in the basket.

At this moment, the cars turning at the intersection ahead had all passed; the silver-gray car beside them closed its windows and slowly drove away.

Jiao Ba rode his small electric scooter, feeling puzzled; he had just noticed that Zhao Le was right—Professor Ren...... really seemed a bit off.

Associate Professor Jiao knew Professor Ren bore him hostility; the institute had obtained a slot for a project encouraging and supporting young teachers, and after back-and-forth consideration, it came down to Professor Ren and Associate Professor Jiao; judging by seniority, Professor Ren clearly had the advantage, after all he had the character "zheng" in his title, but after the institute's leaders deliberated, they still settled on Associate Professor Jiao.

For this matter, later when Jiao Ba saw Professor Ren in the institute, he always felt that person's smile was fake and full of hostility. And just from that brief glance earlier, Jiao Ba sensed that Ren Chong's hostility was even stronger, with something else hidden in it, which he could not figure out. Regardless, it's best not to let his own cat come to the institute from now on. Who knows whether Ren Chong is a psychological deviant.

On the other side, Ren Chong drove back to the villa he had bought; after entering the house, he picked up the phone and dialed a number, and shortly afterward the call was answered.

"How's the investigation going?" Ren Chong asked.

The person on the other end spoke to Ren Chong for about five minutes; during those five minutes Ren Chong remained silent, but his expression was grim—if a student from the Life Sciences Institute saw Professor Ren now, they'd surely drop their jaws, for no one would expect the usually smiling, gentlemanly Professor Ren to have such a gloomy and ruthless look.

Although his expression was poor, his tone remained the same as before; after the other party finished speaking, Ren Chong said, "I understand, keep investigating."

After hanging up, Ren Chong sat on the sofa, recalling some things since his return to the country.

Generally speaking, things had been fairly smooth—until he ran into Jiao Ming Sheng.

What merit or ability does Jiao Ming Sheng have? He's merely a locally born associate professor who's never been abroad and doesn't know the depths of things, yet those clueless students fawn over him and actually think he's something special?

Humph!

In terms of substance, how could an earthworm-like Jiao Ming Sheng compare to me?! Those old fogeys in the institute and the school's decision-makers are simply blind!

From the moment he lost the slot, Ren Chong knew his obstacle had appeared.

Before returning to the country, Ren Chong had met several people at a banquet, one of whom had studied some divination. Ren Chong never believed in that stuff, so he initially didn't take that person's words to heart.

After arriving at Chu Hua Da Xue, not long after losing the slot, he happened to see Associate Professor Jiao driving home with his family's black cat; at that moment Ren Chong recalled what that person had said at the banquet: "If you develop your career back home, watch out for cats. The biggest obstacle standing in your way might just be it."

If the biggest obstacle were a person, Ren Chong might believe it a little, but if it were a cat, he would never believe it—not only Ren Chong, but the few others standing around at the time also didn't believe it, and even the diviner himself doubted his own divination result, later apologetically saying it might be due to insufficient skill, having studied it only briefly, so everyone just took it as a game and didn't take it seriously.

But now, Ren Chong cannot help but pay attention to it.

Based on the information he had just learned, Ren Chong could only find it hard to imagine.

No wonder so many people say black cats are eerie.

The dean of the Physics School and the president's wife, Ye He, nicknamed Fo Ye; the retired but still influential professor Lan Tiesu of the Life Sciences Institute; and the renowned Changwei Group chairman and his daughter Zhao Le—these people have openly or covertly looked after Jiao Ming Sheng; even if nothing is visible on the surface, no one knows whether they've secretly pulled strings, and sometimes a single word from them is worth more than others' years of obsequious, hard labor.

Yet the crucial link among them turns out to be merely a cat—just an ordinary-looking cat.

Although it hasn't been uncovered exactly how this cat is connected to those people, the fact is as such and cannot be denied.

This is only what has been found so far; as for what hasn't been found, who knows how many more people are linked to that cat, or how many could still support Jiao Ming Sheng?

Ren Chong never imagined he would lose to an earthworm-like Jiao Ming Sheng; he heard the institute was already arranging for Jiao Ming Sheng to go abroad, and after leaving, the soonest he could return in a year, by then the "associate" in Jiao Ming Sheng's title would have to be dropped.

Ren Chong certainly doesn't want Jiao Ming Sheng to have it so easy!

Now that cat is like a thorn stuck in Ren Chong's throat, and he can't wait to pull it out.

Some things are better dealt with early.

Originally Ren Chong planned to handle it himself, but he still underestimated the cat's influence—he never expected a single cat to involve so many people.

Therefore, to be safe, Ren Chong doesn't intend to get his hands dirty; he'll just have someone else do it—there are always professionals for dealing with cats.

After pondering for a moment, Ren Chong picked up the phone and dialed a number.

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【Author's Note】

Strongly promoted, thank you for everyone's support over the past month or so; up to now, this book's performance is still decent—it wasn't in vain that I took the risk to launch such a work. Here, I bow my thanks for all kinds of support!

Everyone knows that after a strong push comes the release. This book will go live on December 1st, and there should be extra updates then.

If you are interested in this book, have the ability, and wish to support it, you can save next month's minimum monthly ticket for this book.

I've heard that the minimum monthly ticket needs to be reserved in advance, so I'll say this now. Many of the big names going live next month seem a bit lacking in confidence. Nervous.

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Thank you, Joyful Xiao, syaoran5328, Ofeimisi, the pride of the fog lamp, sebastiannfs, book friend 130830214453854, Blazing Bright, xin/always missing you, Peace Easy Number, Lonely Lover, the elusive melancholy, the squinting cat kid, lazyorange, vast as heaven and earth, book friend 131110090049327, no one at Gushe, dear Ink Abyss, Flowing Visage, the reward from the Heavenly Dragon Battle! Thank you, eq, Heavenly Dragon Battle, pure white phantom wings, the fleeting shallow rating ticket! Thanks to the friends who supported by voting recommendation tickets over the past week, thanks a lot~