Chapter 405

The guard's stakeout point wasn't high; one meter was basically a small case for an adult healthy cat. Even though he didn't expect to be kicked from behind by Zheng Tan, his reaction was a bit startled, but the guard could still land steadily.

Suddenly kicked down, not only the guard himself was startled, the two little dogs also jumped in fright and hastily retreated several steps. The little yellow dog 'Qianli' still fluttered and barked a few times, while the earth tiger patterned 'Shunzi' was steadier, but it also watched the guard warily, its tail not wagging at all.

However, soon enough, the thick-skinned guard broke the deadlock, and within a few minutes this cat and two dogs were playing together. The guard was already familiar with dogs, handling two puppies was no problem, and after getting used to the two puppies, he started to play freely.

The puppies had grown teeth, and when they bit the guard it still hurt a bit, but he could handle it—after all, they were just puppies.

Zheng Tan squatted on the flower arbor, watching the two puppies run happily behind the guard's rear, thinking, with the guard leading them, Lan Lao Tou's flower plot would be peaceful indeed.

Although they were just puppies, being native dogs, two-month-old puppies already had some weight and were lively; with both puppies charging at once, the guard could barely withstand it, but after some roughhousing their relationship grew closer, and they eventually snuggled up together. The guard even went to the puppies' dog bowl and ate some dog food, then squeezed into a nest with the two puppies to sleep.

That box was originally prepared by Lan Lao Tou for the puppies; the two puppies still had some space inside when they slept, and since the puppies grow fast, in Lan Lao Tou's plan the box should last at least a month. But now the guard squeezing inside makes it look cramped, with his two hind legs still sticking out.

However, cats are like soft-boned creatures; they can sleep in any pose. Zheng Tan watched the three of them squeezed inside the cardboard box and felt amused. He figured that in a few days the box would be ruined—not from being squeezed, but from being tossed around.

After checking the sky, Zheng Tan jumped down from the flower arbor and left; it was time for lunch. In a moment the students would finish class, and with many people around moving would be inconvenient.

Zheng Tan decided to settle his lunch at Jiao Wei's family's small eatery, leaving the small flower plot and heading toward the school gate.

However, while running toward the school gate, passing a building belonging to the school's logistics department, Zheng Tan was secretly amused thinking about how much trouble Lan Lao Tou would have later. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Suddenly he heard a shout of 'Careful!' and the next moment a basin of cold water was poured over him.

Zheng Tan's fur was completely soaked; he turned his head and helplessly glanced at the big woman holding the basin, standing at the doorway with a surprised face. That woman obviously hadn't done it on purpose—normally no one comes here, and she's used to just tossing water outside, so who would have expected a cat to dart out suddenly.

It was probably water used to wash fruit; Zheng Tan could still smell a hint of fruit.

The woman holding the plastic basin stared for a moment, then said to Zheng Tan, 'Hey, kitty, come over, Auntie will wipe you off.' As she spoke she rummaged in her pocket, pulled out a pack of tissues, and waved at Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan looked at the woman's build—well, uh, a female strongman—her arms looked powerful; he thought about it and decided against it, lifting his foot to leave.

After leaving that spot, Zheng Tan saw no one around, stopped to shake his fur twice, but not much water came off. He looked up at the sun in the sky; the sunlight was decent, so basking a bit should do. Zheng Tan didn't think much of it and ran toward the outside of the school gate with his wet fur.

However, although there was sun today, it was already approaching December, the temperature wouldn't be high, and a breeze made it feel quite cold.

When Jiao Wei's parents saw Zheng Tan, his fur was still wet; Jiao Wei's mother joked, asking if he had gone swimming or catching fish. Though she said that, she still took out a hair dryer to blow dry him.

After blowing dry, he indeed felt much warmer, but when Zheng Tan finished eating at the small eatery and headed back, he felt a bit dizzy, sneezed several times, seemed to have a runny nose, and couldn't find a tissue or anything to wipe with, so he lifted his hand to wipe his nose. He'd wipe the fur for now and wash it later.

He had originally planned to go back to the small flower plot to check how those three were doing and whether they were causing trouble there, but feeling a bit under the weather, Zheng Tan decided instead to go home first and get a proper nap.

Zheng Tan didn't know if it was his imagination, but he kept feeling that the temperature had dropped a bit, making it feel cold.

He hurried home, jumped onto the sofa, and casually grabbed a roll of toilet paper from the coffee table, pulling off a section to wipe his nose.

His head felt even more dazed.

Too lazy to move, Zheng Tan simply lay down on the sofa to sleep.

He had only intended to take a short nap, but this sleep ended up exceeding his expectations.

In the late afternoon, around six o'clock, Jiao Ma returned. At the affiliated middle school, the last class ends around five, then she takes the shuttle bus home, arriving usually around six, so the Jiao family's dinner is normally after seven.

Xiao Youzi is now in ninth grade, the final year of middle school; the school keeps things tight. Although there's no experimental class, teachers still hold after‑school tutoring for the top students, so Xiao Youzi gets home a bit later than Jiao Ma. Jiao Ba usually arrives only at mealtime, so Jiao Ma is the first to come home.

When Jiao Ma stood at the doorway, she wondered whether their cat was out playing and had lost track of time, not coming back—because when Zheng Tan is home, he usually turns on the living‑room light and leaves the wooden door open. Everyone in the Jiao family knows this habit, and they've long grown accustomed to it.

After pulling out her key and opening the door, Jiao Ma saw the house pitch black; the hallway light wasn't very bright and didn't illuminate much of the interior.

She felt for the switch and turned on the living‑room light, and there on the sofa she saw a black fur ball.

'Hei Tan, why aren't you turning on the lights at home? Sleeping on the sofa will get you cold—there's even a blanket placed nearby.' Jiao Ma put the vegetables down, changed her slippers in the entryway, and said this while doing so.

But after saying several things, Jiao Ma heard no response from that direction; after changing her slippers she looked toward the sofa—still the same black fur ball, unmoving.

Jiao Ma knew that normally their cat rarely curls up like other cats when sleeping alone on the sofa; instead it likes to stretch out to occupy as much space as possible, sometimes lying flat, sometimes sprawled in a 'big' shape, sometimes lying on its side—but she had basically never seen it curl up like this, as if it were shrinking from the cold. Moreover, she had just said several sentences, yet there was not the slightest reaction from it.

The living‑room window wasn't closed, and the evening wind blew in, bringing the chill of early winter.

Jiao Ma shuddered all over; the keys she was still holding shook loose, and she didn't bother to pick them up, quickly walking to the sofa.

'Hei Tan! Hei Tan!'

Jiao Ma shouted several times, but there was still no reaction from that lump on the sofa. Trembling, she reached out and found it was still warm and soft; the faint choking sensation from earlier gradually eased, but soon she realized their cat was probably ill. She scooped up the lump from the sofa and hurried out, not even bothering to put her shoes back on. Because she moved so hastily, the vegetables she had set aside on the floor for dinner while changing her shoes were kicked and scattered all over the place, and as she went down the stairs she almost missed a step, but luckily she kept her balance.

After going downstairs, Jiao Ma brought Zheng Tan to the pet center, which is open twenty‑four hours.

Meanwhile, the unconscious Zheng Tan had no idea what was happening around him and felt nothing. After falling asleep, it seemed a long time passed before he heard sounds, which gradually grew louder.

All around him were various sounds—people shouting, laughing, chatting, and also strong electronic music. He strained to open his eyes; in his blurry vision, lights of various colors flickered, and he could only see the vague moving silhouettes, unable to make them out clearly.

Even though he couldn't see or hear clearly, it gave Zheng Tan a feeling of long‑lost familiarity—both strange and familiar.

Besides the blurry vision, the surrounding sounds made his already dizzy head hurt even more, as if someone were beating a drum hard by his ears, leaving his head throbbing.

A figure approached. Even when it got close, Zheng Tan still couldn't make out what that person looked like.

'Zheng Tan, you're really drunk? With this little alcohol tolerance you can't handle it!' The voice sounded faint, as if it were barely there.

It had been a long time since anyone had called him 'Zheng Tan'; hearing it, he didn't react at first, and even after reacting he couldn't recall who the voice belonged to.

Zheng Tan strained to open his eyes wide to see who was right in front of him, where he was, and what was going on, but it was in vain—though he was so close he could almost reach out, it felt as if they were thousands of miles apart, impossible to grasp, leaving him with a sense of contradiction.

This feeling didn't last long before Zheng Tan noticed the world gradually falling out of sync, becoming distorted; his already blurry vision twisted to the point where he could no longer discern shapes, and the people and objects around him seemed to drift farther and farther away.

Zheng Tan wanted to say, 'Wait, I still haven't seen clearly,' but the world suddenly grew quiet, everything around him falling into emptiness.

After who knows how long, Zheng Tan gradually began to hear faint sounds, which grew louder and clearer, unlike the earlier hazy feeling.

Zheng Tan felt himself being poked—lightly, not hard, and a bit itchy.

Next, Zheng Tan heard a very familiar soft, childish voice.

'Hei Ge, why aren't you awake yet?'

Oh, it's Er Yuan from Er Mao's family. Little Er Yuan is already almost two years old, and with Er Mao's dad who occasionally turns into a chatterbox, Er Yuan has picked up speaking very quickly.

'Don't mess around, Er Yuan—Hei Ge is just sleeping because he's sick and needs rest.' That was another voice.

It was Wei Xiao Pangzi, Wei Leng's family's ever‑rounder bear‑like child.

"Sick?" Er Yuan asked.

"En, my dad said that. His original words were 'black... uh, what is Hei Ge's name?'" Wei Xiao Pangzi tried to repeat his father's words verbatim, but he forgot what came after 'black'. What was it called again? Wei Xiao Pangzi suddenly couldn't remember.

They usually only call Hei Ge, and they almost forgot Zheng Tan's nickname.

"Er Yuan, what is Hei Ge's name?" Wei Xiao Pangzi asked.

"Called... black... black..." Er Yuan tried hard to recall how his father addressed her Hei Ge, thought for over ten seconds, then slowly said: "Called... black... black Mantou..."

Zheng Tan: "……" fuck why did I wake up at this time? (To be continued...)