Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 271 - Chapter 271 Chapter 264 Theft Incident

Chapter 271: Chapter 264 Theft Incident Chapter 271: Chapter 264 Theft Incident By the edge of the sidewalk, Zheng Tan was rubbing a blob of bubblegum on the ground with his paw. Every now and then, people walking by would hastily avoid him after seeing Zheng Tan, expressing their disgust and speaking a few words in fear of encountering a “crazy” or “spasming” cat.

Zheng Tan was already fuming for stepping on the bubblegum and hearing people call him a “mad cat” or “sick” made him so angry he wished he could kick them. Unfortunately, he couldn’t shake off or completely clean the sticky gum on his paw, which had picked up even more dust and gravel on the ground, making it more disgusting than when he first stepped on it.

Just as Zheng Tan was thinking about going back to Jiao Ma to clean it up, he noticed someone approaching him.

Looking up, he saw a young man in his late twenties coming over. Zheng Tan didn’t feel any malice from him, and while his paw continued to rub against the nearby flowerbed, his eyes remained fixed on the approaching stranger. Even without malice, caution was still necessary.

“Got something stuck to your paw?” the man muttered to himself before walking back to his table and tearing off some of the cheap paper towels from a roll.

Zheng Tan realized the man was likely trying to help. The man seemed decent enough, so Zheng Tan decisively lifted his paw, showing the bubblegum-stuck palm to the man.

“Huh?” The man clearly hadn’t expected the cat to be so cooperative. He was thinking about how to pry the cat’s paw open without getting scratched or bitten. He had encountered something similar before. Last month, a cat in the community owned by an old lady had a fishbone stuck in its mouth, and he was asked to help. After a lot of struggling, he managed to get the bone out but ended up with a lot of scratches on his arms, which had not fully healed yet. But now, it seemed he was worried for nothing. Not every cat was so uncooperative; this one was quite exceptional.

Zheng Tan watched as the man wrapped the paper around the piece of gum caked with dust and gravel and slowly peeled it off his paw, wiping it a few more times with a fresh piece of paper.

“All done!” The man tossed the gum-wrapped paper into a nearby trash can and even prepared to stroke Zheng Tan’s head, which Zheng Tan avoided.

Zheng Tan curled his paw and looked at it, flexing it, curling it again, then stretching it out. The gum was so sticky that, even though most of it was wiped away with the tissue, some residue remained in the fur of his paw creases. But it was much more tolerable than the previous discomfort.

Zheng Tan pressed his paw on the ground and tried walking a few steps. Not bad, he thought. It was still a little awkward, but it was bearable. He could have Jiao Ma figure out the rest when he got back–a bath would do the trick.

Without that large wad sticking to it, Zheng Tan found walking much easier.

The helpful man walked back to sit by a table at the roadside and resumed his conversation with an older person at the table.

“Meddling again?!” The older companion disapproved, his face showing it.

“Just lending a hand,” was the simple response.

“So many people passed by and didn’t lend a hand, but you did?”

“…”

“Cats are the least grateful. Even those animals reported in the TV and newspapers about being thankful are just a minority. Many forget the good you do for them the next day. These stray cats and dogs, don’t treat them too well, or they might bite you. Usually, with ones like this,” the older man gestured towards Zheng Tan’s direction, “even if you cater to their every need, they just see you as a food provider. When you’re in trouble, if they don’t cause you more, that’s good enough. What help could they possibly offer?”

Zheng Tan was inadvertently implicated, unfairly taking the bullet. He looked toward the man who was spitting words with fervor, who said, “Even if you begged on your knees, it wouldn’t come over.” Therefore, Zheng Tan graciously lifted his paw and walked over to them.

The man who was speaking caught sight of Zheng Tan’s movement, and his following words choked in his throat. Frozen in his last posture, he stared in the direction of Zheng Tan.

Under their astonished gazes, Zheng Tan walked over, jumped onto an empty plastic chair next to their table, and then looked at the older man. Go on, keep talking.

The older man’s face twitched, and he withdrew his hand, picked up some food with his chopsticks, downed a good half bottle of beer, and then asked the person opposite him, “What have you been busy with recently?”

The sudden change of topic caught the younger man off guard. After pondering for a moment, he replied, “There have been quite a few incidents lately on Chunning Avenue.”

Chunning Avenue is the road where the old street’s commercial district is located, not too far from their food stall.

“Oh, that, I’ve heard about it. A few days ago, a wealthy businessman from out of town came to scout the area and lost his phone on Chunning Avenue… Reportedly, he even filed a complaint after the police report. The officers responsible for this area have been chastised, haven’t they?”

The younger man replied with a “Hmm,” “There has been a higher number of complaints from residents in the past few months, and the incident rate remains high. The security cameras installed by the shops have been of little use, indicating a seasoned criminal familiar with the area.” What he didn’t say was the severity of the reprimand they received. It seemed that he could forget about any bonus this year and had to continue getting by on his meager salary.

“Right, I heard that guy’s phone was worth 28,000 yuan. You know that area has poor security, so why flaunt such an expensive phone on the streets? That’s just asking to be stolen!”

Discussing the area’s poor security in front of a police officer was blatantly insulting, but the younger man didn’t take offense to the harsh words because of their mutual understanding. He couldn’t help feeling helpless since the reality was that the perpetrator hadn’t been caught, and the high incident rate was undeniable.

“So how are things now? Any progress?” the older man inquired.

The young man shook his head, “We’ve checked out everyone with a record, and although a few of those cases fit the profile, the one who stole that twenty-eight-hundred-yuan phone probably isn’t one of them. There must be someone else hiding, we just don’t know who.”

“Did you check all of them? Isn’t there a Xiao Zhang or a Xiao Liu, one of your colleagues?” The older man asked. He remembered that a few of the ones with records on that side didn’t have the simplest backgrounds–if scrutinized, they would definitely have grievances.

“They checked a few, too.”

“So they pick the easy ones to crack, and all the tough nuts are left for you?”

Seeing that the other party remained silent, the older man continued, “It’s quite difficult, eh? See, everyone else stays away from the mess, and you play the hero? You won’t say it, but I know, those tough nuts must have already filed complaints against you again! You, I swear… Back when you worked cases too, when there were challenges, you’d step up, but others reaped the rewards? Don’t you ever learn? You think this is like filming an epic movie, where you can fully display your blood-stained glory, right?!”

The younger man hung his head in chastisement, then gave a wry smile. He couldn’t help it; it was just his nature.

Seeing the other side smile, the older man got even angrier, picked up the chopsticks, and rapped the young man on the head, “Every time I mention it, you smile. Trying to gloss it over again? Your way of thinking still hasn’t changed. How many times do you have to get played before you learn your lesson? In this society, ‘the good are bullied by the bad’!

“Little Luo, don’t blame me for nagging. You’re nearly thirty. A few years can pass in the blink of an eye. No money, no status, no car, no house, no woman–in other people’s eyes, you’re a loser. And the worst part is, you’re naive! Foolish! Stubborn! Single-minded with no prospects for improvement!”

Zheng Tan watched the exchange between the two men from the side, one spluttering saliva all over the table, and the other just grinning sheepishly. While the topic was somewhat serious and somber, why did the scene look so comedic?

The older man, having doled out his lecture, probably felt his words were too harsh. He knew liquor made his tongue loose. He paused, picked up the bottle in front of him, “Come on, let’s take one together, just us brothers.”

After they downed the bottle, the older man let out a long sigh and said, “Why don’t you change places? Brother may not work in that field anymore, but I still have some connections. I’m not some big shot, but I can lend you a hand. You should know, police stations with money and the ones without… ahem, I mean, the difference in investigation funds is huge.”

“No need, thanks though, Brother Chen, I think it’s okay there.”

The older man took a deep breath, ready to say something but in the end didn’t. He waved his hand and changed the subject.

Surrounding them were tables set under the night sky, filled with people chatting loudly and joking around, and no one paid any attention to the two men.

Zheng Tan sat there, ears perked, listening to the loud ramblings of those around him. They discussed everything from international affairs to the price of eggs in the market going up by one fen.

The points of interest for the grassroots class were extensive. To many, it seemed to embody a sense of “having a terrestrial body and an oceanic heart”–living on gutter oil but having the heart concerned with the halls of power. To put it positively, you could say that even without owning an inch of land, one still worries about the world; that the rise and fall of the nation was everyone’s responsibility. Wei Leng and his friends laughed about this topic when they got together, meaning that, to them, these seemingly meaningless activities of the grassroots class were better than the growing apathy towards all but their own interests that some elite people exhibited.

Zheng Tan had also drunk some beer. The older man poured it for him into one of the spare disposable cups on the table. They had drunk straight from the bottle, so those cups weren’t needed. The older man, likely out of drunken boredom, poured the beer for Zheng Tan, but he didn’t expect that Zheng Tan would actually drink it.

“There’s something odd about this cat,” the older man mumbled.

“…It seems alright,” Little Luo replied. Cats that drank alcohol weren’t unheard of, but they were indeed very rare.

“Don’t doubt it. I may not be in the business anymore, but I can still see–hey, I said I’d take care of this meal, what’s with all your eagerness? You got the money or do I?” The older man, seeing Little Luo about to pay, quickly cut himself off and took out his wallet to settle the bill.

After dinner and drinks, the two prepared to leave.

“Oh right, give me your phone number. I sent my phone for repairs once, and all the numbers stored in it are gone,” the older man told Little Luo.

“I’ll just call your phone.” Little Luo took out his phone.

“No, I didn’t bring my phone. Left it at home charging. I was in a hurry when I left, so I didn’t bring it. Oh, today I forgot to buy a spare battery. It’s really inconvenient to have just one battery.”

Zheng Tan silently nodded in agreement from the side. Indeed, one battery was not very convenient, but thankfully, current phones weren’t like the future’s large-screen phones, which were not so power-hungry. If it were one of those future smartphones that was frequently used, it would need charging every day. That would drive Zheng Tan crazy, as he always chose moments when the house was empty to secretly charge it, lest his habits be exposed.

“Last time I bought a cheap one out of frugality and it didn’t take long for that battery to swell up. Got an earful from your sister-in-law for a long time over that. This time, I’ll buy a better one. Need to keep an eye out, don’t get fooled by fakes sold as originals. Tsk, nowadays everything’s fake, everything’s adulterated. In this world, you’ve got to keep your eyes peeled and your mind sharp, or you’ll get played by others!”

Little Luo recited his phone number a few times because the older man, having had too much drink, couldn’t remember, and he didn’t have anything to write with. They asked the restaurant owner for some paper to write it down.

Zheng Tan, however, had memorized Little Luo’s phone number. Just now, when they talked about the phone theft on Chunning Avenue, Zheng Tan thought of someone.

As the saying goes, ‘when mud falls into your trousers, even if it’s not excrement, it still resembles it.’ So, Zheng Tan decided to fling a basin of mud in Zhang Dong’s direction. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (NovelFire.net), provide monthly support, and show your approval. Mobile users, please read at m.NovelFire.net).