Chapter 19

Two kids were waiting for the bus at the hospital entrance; the two buses that had just passed were too crowded, so Jiao Yuan decided to wait for a bus with slightly fewer people.

There are many buses from the hospital to the east gate of Chu Hua Da Xue, so there's no need to cram into a bus with so many people; at this time, many of the bus passengers are off‑work commuters. Chu Hua Shi is crowded and still has no subway, so during rush hours the crowds are always especially large.

Today Jiao Yuan was very silent; normally, while waiting for a bus he would be restless, kicking a nearby tree, poking at the advertisement on the utility pole, or chatting with people nearby. But now he was only holding the second‑grade Gu Youzi, standing quietly, and occasionally whispered to Gu Youzi that he didn't want to squeeze into the crowded bus, waiting for the next one.

Zheng Tan was stuck inside Jiao Yuan's backpack; the zipper left a small gap that let Zheng Tan stick his head out and breathe, so he wouldn't suffocate inside. Nevertheless, staying in the bag was never comfortable; Zheng Tan wanted to stick his head out, but because it was crowded and noisy, he stayed curled up inside the backpack to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Jiao Yuan's backpack smelled of tea‑egg; he probably bought a few tea‑eggs from the cafeteria that morning and tucked them in, so he wouldn't be hungry after class.

After waiting about fifteen minutes, a bus with a reasonable number of passengers finally arrived. Jiao Yuan led Gu Youzi onto the bus; someone got off, yielding a seat. Jiao Yuan thanked the person, then sat together with Gu Youzi, placing the backpack containing Zheng Tan on his lap.

From the back gate of Chu Hua Da Xue it's only two stops, but to reach the gate of the East Garden you need two more stops. Sitting is the best.

Zheng Tan felt a bit stuffy inside the bag, so he pressed his nose against the zipper gap to breathe. The bus kept stopping and starting, sometimes for a stop, sometimes at traffic lights, and Zheng Tan felt drowsy.

However, after only a short while, Zheng Tan felt a sting in his whiskers.

Looking through the zipper gap, the passenger in front was a mother holding a child, the child facing the people behind. The child probably saw the tiny black nose and a few whiskers that Zheng Tan's head exposed, and reached out to tug at the whiskers.

After feeling the pain, Zheng Tan recoiled inward, pulling his whiskers back into the backpack.

"Cat… fur…" the child stammered, seeing the few cat whiskers that had just been tugged retreat into the bag, and pointed at Jiao Yuan's backpack, exclaiming.

A bit distracted, Jiao Yuan and Gu Youzi snapped back to attention, unaware of what had just happened; they only saw the child pointing at the bag, assuming they had been discovered, and felt a little nervous. Although there was no sign prohibiting pets on the bus, most people oppose bringing animals onto public buses.

The good news was that no one else noticed Zheng Tan's exposed whiskers; the interior lighting was poor, and the off‑work passengers were weary and resting, so nobody paid attention. The child's mother thought her kid was reacting to a black cat pendant hanging on someone's bag, and she laughed and coaxed him with a couple of words.

After arriving at the East Garden stop, the two kids hurried off, afraid of being discovered; after all, children don't have the thick skin that adults do.

After entering the east gate, Zheng Tan leapt out of the backpack, breathing fresh air, and felt much lighter all over.

By then night had fallen, streetlights glowed, and one could faintly hear the closing song of the campus broadcast. The wind gusted, and the rustling "sha‑sha" of leaves and the sound of falling foliage filled the surroundings.

Zheng Tan shivered, ran a few steps to climb a tree, slid down, stretched a bit, and then felt a little warmth in his body.

Seeing Zheng Tan like that, Jiao Yuan and Gu Youzi, whose moods had been heavy, also relaxed a bit. There were people strolling, others driving home from work; it wasn't deserted, and the barks of a few dogs from the East Garden could be heard.

Arriving at their building, Jiao Yuan swiped his access card, and Zheng Tan rushed inside first. The apartments in the East Residents' Courtyard are relatively old and lack motion‑sensor lights, a fact the residents are accustomed to. The lights on the third floor are on, but the fourth and fifth floors are dark; the fourth‑floor parrot's owner is away on a business trip, and the fifth‑floor resident Qu Xiangyang is such a homebody that he rarely comes down in a week, so no one has turned on the lights. Zheng Tan went up to switch the lights on, preventing the two kids from stumbling on the stairs.

For others, a dark hallway without lights is pitch‑black, but for Zheng Tan now it's nothing—indeed, for a cat, such darkness is inconsequential.

He jumped to flip the fourth‑floor switch, then went up again to turn on the fifth‑floor one; after the lights came on, Zheng Tan ran downstairs, while the two kids had just reached the second floor.

When they got to the fourth floor, the two kids finally understood why their cat had rushed ahead; earlier, while they were still outside and hadn't entered the building, they hadn't seen the fourth‑ and fifth‑floor hallways lit.

"Hei Tan is really clever!" Jiao Yuan laughed.

It was his first laugh today since learning that Jiao Ma had an accident.

"Mm!" Gu Youzi, the little kid, was still as quiet as always.

Zheng Tan was sulky, thinking, what's there to praise about such a trivial matter?

"But dad said a too‑clever cat will attract attention, and some things don't need to be known by outsiders. So just talk about what happened at home; don't let it get out," Jiao Yuan added.

"I understand," Gu Youzi nodded; she never spoke much. She had once seen a classmate who brought a Barbie doll bought at home to school every day to show off, and soon the doll disappeared; when it was found, it had been stepped on, dirty, and tossed into a trash can, apparently because it sparked jealousy. Their own cat already drew attention by shuttling them to and from school each day, so there was no need to add more fuss. It must be similar, so we shouldn't say too much?

After returning home, Jiao Yuan called Jiao Ba and told him that he and his sister were safely back. Before the call ended, A Huang's owner—whom Jiao Yuan called "Ling Yi"—came over, carrying a bag of cakes and a jug of milk, worried the two kids might be hungry; the food could serve as breakfast tomorrow morning.

Because there were also relatives' children at his house, Ling Yi couldn't stay; Jiao Yuan's two kids insisted on staying at home, so Ling Yi boiled water for a bath, and left only after the two kids finished bathing and went to bed.

Zheng Tan lay next to Gu Youzi, and after she fell asleep, he slipped into Jiao Yuan's room to check; the little brat wasn't asleep yet, so Zheng Tan waited beside him for a while, and once he was sure the brat had fallen asleep, Zheng Tan went up to the balcony.

When he couldn't sleep at night, Zheng Tan liked to stay on the balcony, feeling the breeze and getting fresh air. This setting was perfect for pondering life—no, rather for contemplating this cat's miserable existence.

As night deepened, the lights in each household of the residents' courtyard gradually went out, and the surroundings grew quieter, with no TV noise and no voices of people.

Next door, Qu Xiangyang's hermit house still had its lights on; he wouldn't go to sleep before one or two in the morning.

Tonight Zheng Tan felt no drowsiness at all, so he just sat on the balcony, his ears twitching now and then to listen to any sounds from the two kids' rooms; he was relieved that the kids slept fine, at least without nightmares.

Looking down from the fifth floor, the orange streetlights along the courtyard's roads stood out vividly; farther away, many orange glimmers flickered among the swaying trees, and after the wind calmed, the twinkling lights in the forest also steadied. Most of the school's streetlights are orange, and any place with orange illumination has a driveway.

It is said that orange streetlights are among the safest lighting because the long wavelength of orange can be seen from far away; under orange illumination, oncoming vehicles are clearly visible. Moreover, the light is relatively soft, giving the eyes a comfortable feeling and preventing drivers' eyes from tiring easily. This ensures a safe journey.

Zheng Tan yawned; it was getting late, and after a few more hours everyone would probably be doing morning exercises, and even Qu Xiangyang next door had already fallen asleep.

Zheng Tan turned to head back to the living room to sleep on the sofa, where he could also keep an eye on the two kids. As soon as he lifted his foot, he heard a muffled knocking sound of wooden plaques coming from downstairs.

Zheng Tan stopped in his tracks; the sound came from a wind chime hanging on the bedroom door near the balcony of Da Pang's first‑floor apartment. At first glance it's just an ordinary wind chime, but to an outsider the only distinctive feature is that the chime hangs wooden plaques instead of metal or shells that would produce a crisp sound.

Zheng Tan had never noticed it before, but once when Da Pang was inspected by a senior officer in uniform, Wei Leng, he learned that the wooden wind chime served as a warning signal.

The wooden plaque wind chime remains silent unless a strong wind blows; only when the hanging wooden plaques are struck do they make sound, and each plaque produces a different tone.

Hearing the wooden plaques, Zheng Tan looked down and, upon looking, discovered two "mice".

Although the two people were hidden in the shadows, they could not escape Zheng Tan's eyes; even if he couldn't see them clearly or discern their faces, he could still catch their silhouettes.

At the end of September, a theft occurred in the East Residents' Area, after which two dogs were added to the courtyard, and since then no further thefts have happened there.

Observing their coordination and behavior, they didn't seem like first‑time offenders; they also appeared familiar with the old building's layout and knew the residents, suggesting they could be the perpetrators of the previous theft.

After more than a month of lying low, have these two thieves finally become restless again?

Unexpectedly, this time the thieves chose this very building. Could their target be their own home? Definitely not the fourth floor; the parrot "General" there is special because of a rare parrot, the balcony has an iron net, the door has been replaced, and it's well‑protected, making it hard to break in. The other fourth‑floor unit is vacant year‑round and likely has nothing valuable.

This time, who will be the target of the two "mice"? If it's their own home…

Zheng Tan squinted, wiggled his paw, and his sharp claws extended then retracted.

I can't speak, I can't boil water, I even have to cram into a backpack on the bus, yet can I still not deal with you?!

At this moment, the two people lurking in the shadows beneath Building B of the East Residents' Courtyard had no idea that behind a first‑floor window, a cat was crouched in the darkness watching them, and simultaneously, on the fifth‑floor balcony, a black cat was observing their every move.

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Thanks to Pen of the Sea, Oufei Mos, Drowned Fish123, Chen Mo〓van, Find Better, Monologue, lazyorange's donation! Thanks to ellen0724 for the rating vote! Thanks to everyone for all the support~

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