Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 387 - Chapter 387 Chapter 376 Identity

Chapter 387: Chapter 376: Identity Chapter 387: Chapter 376: Identity The terrain here was higher, and Lord crouched in the direction Zheng Tan stood, allowing a view from here of the scene down the slope and the other woods in the distance inside the botanical garden.

However, Zheng Tan didn’t think Lord was watching him; he was just looking at the distant scenery. Curious about the black cat’s deep and unusual behavior, Zheng Tan wondered what it was all about–he had caught a bird but didn’t eat it. Instead, he killed it instantly, which was nothing like the behavior of Ah Huang and the sheriff in the courtyard, who would play with their prey before eating it.

There were still birds around, including the same kind that had been hunted earlier, but Lord seemed no longer interested in them. Aside from his ears twitching at some sounds, his gaze hardly shifted around.

Zheng Tan could hear voices nearby. Because of the high ground, Zheng Tan could stand on the slope and see a small house not far away, right next to the main road. A black sedan was parked nearby, but due to the branches blocking the view, only part of the car was visible from Zheng Tan’s location, not the whole car body. The house itself was more visible, roughly 30 square meters in size, with a stone house style that complemented the scenic area quite well; it must be a temporary residence for those who took care of the place in the botanical garden.

Two people stood outside the house, looking quite ordinary, but Zheng Tan knew that was just on the surface; they were responsible for guarding Mr. Tang Qi, and Zheng Tan had seen one of them before. That probably meant Mr. Tang Qi was inside the house.

After looking at the large cat that still maintained its previous posture, lying there, Zheng Tan decided to go over to the house to have a look; perhaps he could find some answers.

Zheng Tan thought he was being quite stealthy, but just as he was about to climb through the window to eavesdrop, he felt a gaze on him and, turning his head, found the person who had been standing by the door now looking at him from not far away.

It was the one Zheng Tan had seen before, but he didn’t know if the man recognized him.

The man was just on alert, without any hostility, which reassured Zheng Tan a bit. In Zheng Tan’s mind, he had long classified Ye Hao, Tang Qi, and others as “mafia,” and Zheng Tan didn’t dare to mess with Mr. Tang Qi’s people; they wouldn’t tolerate Zheng Tan like Baozi and others around Ye Hao would. However, Zheng Tan still wanted to overhear some gossip. He could hear Tang Qi’s voice inside, as well as another person, and they weren’t discussing anything top secret. They were even talking about Lord. Zheng Tan would steer clear of potential business secrets; curiosity could cost a cat its life.

After watching Zheng Tan for a few seconds, the man returned to the doorway of the house.

Behind the house, Zheng Tan moved to the corner of the house to peek forward and saw that the man hadn’t made any movements, so he went back under the window at the rear and jumped up.

The window was not closed; it was a sliding type with a screen to prevent insects from entering.

Zheng Tan had no intention of prying open the screen; he just wanted to see who was inside and then listen to what they were talking about. Unexpectedly, Tang Qi inside had already seen Zheng Tan at the window.

“Black Cat?” Tang Qi looked at the window and said, “I knew I’d run into you. Come on in, what are you doing crawling through the window, acting like a thief?”

Actually, Tang Qi had been informed by his subordinates that there was a black cat behind the house, which immediately made him think of the Jiao family he had seen when entering the botanical garden, and among his followers, some had said they saw the Jiao family with a black cat.

Since Tang Qi had spoken, Zheng Tan no longer intended to stay by the window; it was too small and uncomfortable to crouch in. It was better to go in openly and listen comfortably.

The room was a bedroom, about 15 square meters in size, and the owner of the bedroom was the man sitting opposite Tang Qi, a man in his fifties with a dark complexion, dressed without much care.

On the simple folding square table were liquor and glasses, along with a dish of salt-fried peanuts. The liquor was high-end, probably brought by Tang Qi, and it was the man drinking most of it, with only a cup of tea in front of Tang Qi.

The place looked very humble, and the man seemed like a regular employee of the botanical garden if not for the large, thick volumes in both Chinese and English on the bookshelf; a first impression would have led to the wrong judgment.

The man was slightly drunk, his normally dark face flushing redder.

“This cat, whose is it? It’s well taken care of.” The man said, reaching out towards Zheng Tan, who avoided the hand.

Tang Qi only mentioned that it belonged to a friend.

The man didn’t dwell on why the cat was brought in and, after drinking a sip of liquor and picking up a few peanuts with chopsticks, continued talking to Tang Qi.

“Ah Mi should have caught a bird by now. After you guys leave, I’ll go check. Heh, including today, that’ll probably make forty-nine under the pine tree. If those guys knew, they’d burst a blood vessel.”

Zheng Tan didn’t know exactly who the man referred to as “those guys,” but from his words, they seemed to be proponents of bird protection.

How many mice a cat kills, how many birds it preys on, how many insects it plays to death in its lifetime, nobody knows. Felines are natural-born killers. Even pet cats that seem nice and lazy sleeping at home harbor a heart for hunting.

“It’s better now, coming once a year to kill, and only killing one each time. If the old man were still around, as soon as he neglected it, it would run out to catch birds. After catching them, it wouldn’t eat them but would leave them in a visible spot for the old man to see, almost as if throwing a fit, infuriating the old master to the point where all he could do was knock on stones because he couldn’t bear to hit the cat. Back then…”