Chapter 141: Wordless Stares, Only Tears Flowing in Thousands (Supplement 1,24)

January arrived, and the wall calendar in the living room has already been changed to a new one.

According to the Gregorian calendar, a year has already passed, and in the past year Zheng Tan has gone through so much, met many people, and his mood has been constantly up and down; but when he tallies it up, most of the time he was dozing off. There's nothing he can do—after all, he's a cat now.

He yawned, stretched lazily, and Zheng Tan jumped down from the tree.

Again it's the winter vacation; some primary and secondary school students have already gone home for the break. Xiao Youzi is doing winter homework at home, and Jiao Yuan went out to play. This year they returned to Jiao Ba and Jiao Ma's hometown for the New Year; last year, because of Jiao Ma's injury, they stayed in Chu Hua Shi for the New Year. According to Jiao Yuan, celebrating the New Year in Chu Hua Shi lacks much festive feeling. Zheng Tan doesn't know what "more festive feeling" actually looks like, but he looks forward to driving to that small town.

He doesn't know what the little fellow rescued from the human traffickers looks like now. Tsk, better not run into him; a brat is still a brat.

While thinking about it, Zheng Tan looked around the courtyard; Da Pang had been taken away to visit relatives, A Huang and Jing were staring at a hoopoe, and not far away a gray magpie was hopping around them without being noticed. They probably thought the hoopoe was rarer and shifted their focus to that long‑beaked bird. As for the gray magpie, who knows how many they've caught over the year; many birds on campus have been plagued by birds like them.

Zheng Tan isn't interested in catching birds; after thinking, he decides to wander over to the construction site for a stroll after lunch. He could have taken a shortcut through another side gate—the one he once went through with Peanut Candy—but Zheng Tan thought better and chose to take the road that Jiao Yuan's school uses. Though it's a detour, Zheng Tan plans to also check how Zhong Yan is doing.

These days Zheng Tan often walks that way, but hasn't run into Zhong Yan. Their senior year schedule is tight; besides the monthly holiday mandated by the school, they leave home at dawn each day and return home after evening self‑study. During those two periods Zheng Tan stays at the Jiao Family and doesn't go out, making encounters unlikely. But now that boy should be on break.

He doesn't know if it's because the recent cold and lack of sunlight, but fewer cats are out; Zheng Tan walks along the wall and sees hardly any cats. Jiao Yuan's school has become much quieter.

Passing the middle school, Zheng Tan arrives at Zhong Yan's residential complex, glances at the boy's dwelling, and it seems empty—no sounds heard.

Fine, if you can't meet him, you can't.

After leaving the complex, Zheng Tan walks along the alley toward the construction site.

In two or three weeks, the area has changed noticeably; the building hasn't risen yet, but it's no longer littered with "demolition" signs and brick rubble. Blue construction barriers have been erected.

Zheng Tan looks at the nearby promotional billboard, which still bears Ye Hao's company's name, but his main purpose isn't to see the company name. He wants to find a suitable spot for distant observation; after scanning around, he finds no satisfactory viewpoint. The suitable billboard from last time has been moved, and he hasn't found a replacement yet.

For a cat, the construction site is certainly not safe; he might be caught by workers for a drink. Yet Zheng Tan isn't too concerned—if a clueless one comes over, he doesn't mind making a bigger scene, since any penalty Ye Hao imposes will only fall on that worker. Zheng Tan feels he has backing, so he dares to brazenly come to the site.

Of course, Zheng Tan isn't looking for trouble; he simply wants to see with his own eyes how this place develops step by step. Seeing new things often makes memories more meaningful, and this area has already been marked as his roaming territory. He has nothing better to do, so he drops by from time to time.

Just as he was thinking where to observe the site's progress, Zheng Tan suddenly heard someone call "Zhong Yan" with a slight out‑of‑town accent. Not entirely sure, he decides to check it out; after all, if Zhong Yan has finished exams and is on break, he should be working at the site.

Next to the blue construction barrier, a dump truck hauling stone and soil rumbles. Zheng Tan jumps onto the truck's roof and looks toward the sound. There is a makeshift rest shelter, where a few people are eating boxed meals, including Zhong Yan.

The boy wears the same work uniform as the others, with a safety helmet, all dirty, sitting on a stone and quickly digging into his boxed meal, occasionally chatting with a few nearby. Ning Ge is also there, looking after him, so the others won't bully the newcomer Zhong Yan.

Zhong Yan's mouth is stuffed with food that doesn't taste great; on close inspection, the rice and dishes even have a bit of dust. At a construction site, even the cleanest meals pick up dirt after a while. Today the wind is strong, making it worse. The rest shelter had just moved items, leaving suspended particles everywhere, worse than outside, which is why everyone eats outside.

Of course, when hungry, everything seems like a delicacy. Today they were rushing work, so meal time was delayed; now everyone is very hungry, and no one is being picky.

While digging into his meal, Zhong Yan spots Zheng Tan; the truck outside is taller than the nearby construction barrier, so Zhong Yan can see the black cat watching this side.

Seeing Zheng Tan, Zhong Yan quickly takes a few more bites, wipes his mouth, tosses the empty lunchbox aside, says something to Ning Ge, and walks toward Zheng Tan.

The truck outside is about to drive away; Zheng Tan had planned to glance and leave, but unexpectedly meets Zhong Yan, and the boy even walks this way. Zheng Tan impulsively jumps from the truck's roof onto the construction site.

The building on the site hasn't risen yet, making the scene feel rather plain.

"Hey, why did you come over?" Zhong Yan recognized the black cat in front of him. Though he's seen other black cats, this one left the deepest impression; later, spending most of his time at school, he hasn't seen this cat again.

"Huh, this cat is back again?" Ning Ge says as he walks over.

"Again?" Zhong Yan asks, puzzled.

"Yes, this cat has come several times this month. Yesterday the southern billboard hadn't been taken down, and the cat was perched on it watching the site, like a supervisor," Ning Ge jokes. Several nights when they were staying at the site eating dinner and drinking, someone suggested catching the cat for a drink, but no one knew; because he recognized the cat, the workers below wouldn't entertain any lewd thoughts.

"But the cat just loitering on the site is too conspicuous, easy to cause trouble. You know some of the workers here have done this kind of thing a lot. Luckily the cat is in my area; elsewhere it would have been caught for a drink long ago," Ning Ge says.

Zheng Tan glances at Ning Ge and continues observing the site.

Ning Ge had been joking, but after the black cat gave him a look, he feels uneasy. What was that look just now? Contempt? Do cats have such looks?

Shaking his head, Ning Ge thinks he must be too tired lately; it must have been a hallucination—just a cat.

A few trucks pull in loads outside, dust swirling everywhere. During the break, after speaking to Ning Ge, Zhong Yan brings a cup of water to the makeshift rest area and places it in front of Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan looks at the disposable plastic cup, then at the water dispenser, which is fairly clean. After running so far, he's indeed a bit thirsty.

He leans over the plastic cup, drinks some water, and observes the layout of the temporary rest spot; nothing particularly special, but the surrounding air is really poor, all hazy with dust.

"Hey, isn't that the supervising cat?" several people sitting inside say upon seeing Zheng Tan. Though they think Zhong Yan giving a cat water from the dispenser is a waste, with Ning Ge covering him they say nothing; these are minor things, not worth fussing over.

Someone who hasn't finished their meal tosses a fish tail from their bowl toward him, but Zheng Tan doesn't even glance at the fish tail.

"Hey, this cat doesn't even eat fish?"

"It must be a pampered cat; after a few meals of hunger it'll eat. Keeping a cat like this is really wasteful," a person interjects.

"Little Zhong, is this cat yours?" someone asks.

"No, it's from my neighbor's," Zhong Yan says briefly; he actually doesn't know where the cat came from.

Just then, a person comes in from outside, holding a large plastic jug, but the lettering on their work uniform differs from Zhong Yan's.

"Engineer Li, we don't have much water here; the water delivery comes only in the afternoon, so you can take at most one‑third," Ning Ge says accompanying him.

Engineer Li is about forty years old, not in the same area as Zhong Yan, not under Ning Ge's charge; he isn't afraid of Ning Ge, relying on his seniority and connections, often looking down on others.

As soon as he entered, Engineer Li saw Zhong Yan holding a disposable plastic cup filled with water for a cat and immediately launched into a tirade.

"You're giving a stray cat pure water from the dispenser? Isn't the water running low? I see you have plenty of stock; since that's the case, I won't hold back. And is this cat being kept for a drink? Good, a few of us over there have gotten cravings again; let us know when you plan to kill a cat, we'll want a share."

Saying that, Engineer Li moved to the water dispenser, looking like he was about to fill a large jug; if he actually did, everyone here would be left thirsty later. Ning Ge hurried over to stop him.

"What's this? Engineer Li, I'm not even comparable to a cat? You treat a few drops of water like I'm a beggar? Little Ning, I'm not saying you…"

Engineer Li kept pressing, publicly denouncing Ning Ge in front of the crowd, clearly giving Ning Ge no face.

However, Ning Ge is no longer the hot‑blooded youngster who would charge forward with a steel pipe regardless of the situation; he stopped Zhong Yan and the others from speaking out, knowing that if Zhong Yan and his crew opened their mouths, it would backfire.

Ning Ge took a deep breath, ready to argue, but thought, "Damn, the higher‑ups have people, and I have people above me too; otherwise I wouldn't be in charge of this area. If the situation isn't severe, there's no need to take it up the chain."

Before Ning Ge could speak, someone outside shouted his name.

Hearing that voice, both Ning Ge and Engineer Li's expressions changed; Engineer Li dropped the jug, straightened his clothes, brushed dust off himself, and with a courteous smile walked out.

Before leaving, Ning Ge gave a hand signal to a few people; those who work under him know the meaning, and the angry looks they wore moments earlier instantly softened.

Zhong Yan, who has only been working here a few days, feels bewildered; a nearby person whispers that an important figure is coming, so he should compose himself.

"Little Zhong, the cat!" someone whispers.

Could it be the "boss" Ning Ge mentioned?

Remembering Ning Ge's words, Little Zhong gets anxious, preparing to shove the cat into a cardboard box in the corner.

Zheng Tan dodges the hand Zhong Yan reaches out with and moves behind the wooden square table made of planks.

Zhong Yan wanted to go over again, but it was already too late; the people outside had walked in.

The first person to come in was also about forty years old, said a few words to the person next to him, asking about the recent progress here; listening to the voice, just now it was this person who shouted Ning Ge's name.

Is this the big shot?

Looking like someone who should be easy to talk to, Xiao Zhong felt a bit nervous; he knew you couldn't judge people by appearances, first impressions couldn't prove anything, and he only hoped that after a glance this person would leave quickly.

Unfortunately, things weren't as Xiao Zhong had thought; the people outside all came in, Ning Ge lost his earlier dominance here, and Li Gong also put away his arrogant demeanor, both becoming somewhat respectful and careful.

And the person surrounded in the middle was the 'boss' that Ning Ge had once told Zhong Yan about.

Zhong Yan's first impression of this 'boss' was that he was tough to deal with; although he wore a faint smile and looked refined and cultured, Zhong Yan instinctively felt he was a hard nut to crack.

What should we do?

Zhong Yan stood at the side, head lowered, trying his best to block the cat behind the table. Unfortunately, Zheng Tan didn't cooperate.

Zheng Tan had already heard the outside voice earlier; although Dragon Qi had only said a sentence, Zheng Tan still recognized him. Although Dragon Qi had always shown avoidance when it came to cats, Zheng Tan knew that even if he harbored a taboo, he wouldn't do anything to Zheng Tan.

Upon seeing the black cat jump onto the central table, not only Zhong Yan, but Ning Ge and several other construction workers felt like spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Damn it, this cat is too good at causing trouble!

Ning Ge regretted having just allowed Zhong Yan to bring the cat inside.

Li Gong seized the chance to jab at Ning Ge, speaking in a snide, sarcastic tone: "Oh dear, there's still a black cat here; by the way, I just saw someone here giving it purified water from the water dispenser—do you guys think that's not wasteful?"

Just as Dragon Qi stepped inside with a faint smile on his face, upon seeing the black cat crouched on the table, his expression cracked.

They stared at each other speechless, tears streaming down. This saying fits the situation. It's not from being moved; it's anger, it's regret.

Indeed, today is not a good day to go out! Dragon Qi struggled to keep his face from twisting; after all, there are many people here, and no matter what, he couldn't let his glorious image be ruined here. (To be continued.)