Strange Life of a Cat-Chapter 228 - 222 Cat Car

Chapter 228: Chapter 222 Cat Car

Chapter 228 -222 Cat Car

When Zheng Tan returned home, Jiao Ma scolded Ermao several times. Suddenly taking the cat away for two days without even a phone call to check in, left Jiao Ma anxious and worried that Ermao might take her cat to some undesirable places.

Ermao obediently stood there and took the scolding, continuously admitting his mistakes.

Seeing Ermao’s sincere attitude and that nothing untoward happened to the cat, Jiao Ma spoke a few words and let it pass.

Senior Hetao really wanted to thank the Jiao family, in his view, Zheng Tan and the Jiao family were in it together. If he couldn’t repay the favor of a cat, then surely he could repay the favor owed to the Jiao family, right? However, now didn’t seem like the right time to tell the truth, he thought, better wait for later.

The case was proceeding smoothly, and a promotion seemed hopeful, but what dissatisfied Senior Hetao was that the rich second generation who caught squirrels had not shown up at all yet.

The so-called car was eventually proven to be rented, and the ID was fake. In this era, the difference between an ID photo and the actual person could be so great that even if the person stood in front of you, you might not recognize them. All the locally famous rich second generations were checked, and there was no such person. Those who had seen the fake rich second generation couldn’t even remember what he actually looked like anymore, the more profound impression being his beaten, crying, messy state with a bruised face and flowing tears.

Zheng Tan and Black Gold had seen him, unfortunately, Senior Hetao also knew it wasn’t possible for these two to tell him anything unless the fake rich second generation appeared again, for Black Gold would definitely recognize him.

Last time he had to leave, Ermao reluctantly entrusted Heimi to the Pet Center, but this time when Ermao left Heimi there, he specifically emphasized to the staff not to let Huasheng Tang approach him, or he would file a complaint against the Pet Center. Actually, Ermao had thought about switching to another place – Chuhua City had many similar pet care services, but Heimi refused to go anywhere else. If taken anywhere else, he would just keep on crying, and Ermao, feeling distressed after trying a few, ended up at the Pet Center again.

Since the VIP client said so, the Pet Center naturally followed his instructions. So, when coming to pick up Heimi, hearing from the Pet Center staff that they had kept every tomcat away satisfied Ermao somewhat. However, after bringing Heimi home, Heimi ignored him again for three days.

Each time Heimi was admitted to the Pet Center, Ermao always faced this cold treatment.

As for Zheng Tan, he recently had been doing quite well.

After experiencing those not-so-good events, he often reflected how tranquil and pleasant life in the courtyard was.

The weather was getting colder, the year was coming to an end, students had mostly returned home after the semester-end exams, and those still at school were packing, soon to leave. Therefore, the main roads in the campus and many normally bustling places were now much quieter. For Zheng Tan, this was a good thing; with fewer people, he could indulge in more fun.

Recently, Zheng Tan had been going out to play in his little cat car every day. Previously, because the Jiao family consisted of only Jiao Ma and two children, it was not feasible for the three of them to carry the cat car up and down every day. The cat car was much heavier than regular toy cars, and with the Jiao family living on the fifth floor, moving it up and down was exhausting. If Mr. Jiao were around, it would be possible, but leaving it to the women and children was out of the question. Therefore, except when Fang Shaokang came to take Zheng Tan over to Old Liu’s place to play, Zheng Tan otherwise did not take the cat car out.

But now, Zheng Tan could play with the cat car every day, adjusting his mood while staying warm.

This story started last week. Last week, Fang Shaokang came over to Chuhua University to find Cheng Zhong, the graduate student from the Engineering Department who had initially made Zheng Tan’s cat car, because Fang Mengmeng’s family, upon learning that Zheng Tan had a cat car, wanted one for their cat Da Mi too. Mr. Fang, without hesitation, directly approached Cheng Zhong to replicate Zheng Tan’s cat car to please his darling daughter.

So, Cheng Zhong was recently busy building the car, at the same time comparing it to Zheng Tan’s cat car, updating some parts, and recording some parameters. After Zheng Tan finished playing each day, he only needed to drive it to where Jiao Wei and others played with car models. Now that many students who played with car and plane models had left, Cheng Zhong set his temporary workshop there, with two local students learning from him. Therefore, Zheng Tan didn’t need to find someone to carry the car back to the Jiao family every day.

Cheng Zhong also installed a heating device inside the cat car, and the “seat” area was covered with a layer of plush fabric for warmth. When Zheng Tan stayed in the car, although his head and most of his torso were still exposed, he didn’t feel too cold.

When Zheng Tan drove the cat car on the road, some people who saw him would even chuckle a few times. But they mostly found it novel, with many thinking it was just someone using a toy car to amuse their cat, and some even thought: this is a good tool for walking a cat. No one would think that it was a cat itself controlling the car.

In the school, there were often students interested in mechanics creating such moving objects, and over time, seeing similar things, people just watched and laughed without thinking too deeply about it.

The steering wheel was inside, and Zheng Tan’s paws were on it, so from the outside, people just thought the cat was simply sitting inside, and someone else controlled the car – they never suspected it was Zheng Tan.

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

Today there wasn’t much wind, and in the winter afternoon, the sun was warm on his body, making Zheng Tan feel much better until….

“Black~Bro~”

Zheng Tan: “…” Damn it!

There went his good mood.

Fucking hell, why isn’t this little brat taking his nap? What’s he doing running out here now?!

Without even looking back, just from the sound, Zheng Tan knew that the child’s electric four-wheel car, much larger than his cat car, had caught up.

Zheng Tan didn’t want to listen to the kid’s yapping and definitively sped up. Don’t be fooled by Zheng Tan’s cat car looking like a toy, it was fully functional, and when it really picked up speed, it was much faster than Jiao Ma’s electric bike. However, at the school, Zheng Tan still didn’t dare to mess around like that, only speeding up when Fang Shaokang took Zheng Tan to Old Liu’s place to “race” with Liu Yao. Normally, he just drove slowly, treating it as a way to adjust his mood.

Even at school, Zheng Tan couldn’t accelerate the cat car to the speed he had in mind, but it was still fast enough to shake off the child’s four-wheeled car behind him.

“Black~~ bro~~”

The mushy voice, tinged with a hint of grievance as if about to cry, made Zheng Tan want to smash into the steering wheel.

Damn! They always pull this trick!!

Sighing, Zheng Tan slowed down the cat car, gloomily waiting for the child’s four-wheeled car to catch up.

Zhuo Xiaomao’s children’s four-wheeled electric car was shaped somewhat like a cat, with cat drawings on it. Viewed from the front, the car’s headlights resembled cat eyes, and there were even whiskers beside the “mouth”.

Some teachers at the school had also bought such cars for their kids, but most of those children were around three years old, unlike Zhuo Xiaomao who had started playing with it before even turning two.

For safety’s sake, Xiao Wan, who looked after Zhuo Xiaomao, held a remote control to operate the car, and wouldn’t actually let Zhuo Xiaomao drive. Zhuo Xiaomao seemed to understand that he wasn’t in control of the car; unlike other children who often excitedly “drove” by holding the steering wheel, he would just look at Xiao Wan and then indicate the direction he wanted to go – whether to start, turn, or stop.

For instance, just a moment ago, Zhuo Xiaomao wanted to catch up with Zheng Tan, so he simply looked at Xiao Wan holding the remote, then pointed at Zheng Tan ahead, signaling to hurry up.

When Zheng Tan’s cat car slowed down, Xiao Wan quickly caught up without seeming to struggle or pant, a smile on her face as she watched the man and the cat. The longer she was around them, the more she felt this cat was special. Actually, when picking out the car, she had shown Zhuo Xiaomao many different car images, but the child wasn’t satisfied until he pointed at a photo hanging on the wall.

Many photos were hanging on the wall, most taken when Zhuo Xiaomao was one year old; one of them was of him with the Black Cat.

Zhuo Xiaomao wanted a Black Cat-looking toy car, but Xiao Wan thought black was too somber for a child and might negatively affect his development, so she chose an orange one instead. As for the somewhat “deformed” doodles on the car, those were Zhuo Xiaomao’s own artwork. From the outlines of these doodles, one could roughly make out a cat shape, which was good enough for Xiao Wan; after all, not many children Zhuo Xiaomao’s age could hold a pen steadily.

When Zhuo Xiaomao’s car drew near, the little rascal began waving at Zheng Tan with a cackling laugh.

“Black bro!”

Stop calling already! Zheng Tan tugged at his ear and glanced sideways at the bundled-up Zhuo Xiaomao sitting in the car, feeling a strong urge to smack him a few times. The kid had ventured out in the dead of winter without fear of catching a cold.

Xiao Wan stood by. Every time Zhuo Xiaomao saw this Black Cat, he became especially talkative, although right now his speech wasn’t clear, and many times she couldn’t even understand what the child was trying to say. But as long as Zhuo Xiaomao was happy, Xiao Wan let him be. She noticed Zhuo Xiaomao was exceptionally clever; his intelligence seemed higher than other children his age, though to what extent, she couldn’t yet say.

Zheng Tan tugged at his ear, listening to this little rascal babble for almost half an hour, without comprehending what he was trying to express. The boy could make only a few words clear, including Zheng Tan’s name call; when he got excited, his speech became slurred. However, Zheng Tan could feel Zhuo Xiaomao’s verbal skills were improving, as he could now make out a word or two in a sentence compared to last time.

Finally, when Zhuo Xiaomao said he was tired and wanted to rest, Xiao Wan took him back. The wind had picked up, and staying outside for too long wasn’t good in this weather. If Zhuo Xiaomao hadn’t clamored to come out, Xiao Wan wouldn’t have relented so easily.

After Zhuo Xiaomao left, Zheng Tan drove the car over to Old Tile House and handed it off to Cheng Zhong and the others. Then he decided to take a walk. Before the incident involving Senior Hetao, he had been planning to visit there; he hadn’t gone out much recently. The weather was good now, Little Youzi and the others were on holiday, he didn’t need to rush to pick anyone up, and Jiao Ma was busy at the school grading papers and compiling statistics, returning home late, so dinner was usually after six. Thus, Zheng Tan could afford to play for a while longer.

Exiting through one of the side gates, Zheng Tan remembered, this side gate lined up with the one at the East District. He used to pass by this area when taking the bus and remembered it being marked on the map.

After walking some distance, Zheng Tan saw the Chuhua University Affiliated Hospital, the same place Jiao Ma had been hospitalized before.

Zheng Tan didn’t plan to walk through the main entrance of the hospital; he didn’t quite like the atmosphere of hospitals. In his memory, behind the hospital, near the inpatient department, there was a large courtyard with quite a nice view, where people often walked about.

Zheng Tan didn’t intend to linger there; hospitals always gave him a feeling of oppression, reminding him of the time Jiao Ma was hospitalized. He had only decided to pass through.

Jumping onto the courtyard wall, which was a bit taller than the walls he had seen in the old town area, Zheng Tan could see a bit farther from here.

The yard had many evergreen trees, which helped avoid any sentimental feelings the patients might have from seeing falling leaves.

At this time, there weren’t many people around, and Zheng Tan didn’t pay much attention but simply planned to walk along the wall.

“Oh no, a Black Cat!” a voice exclaimed in disgust and alarm. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast your recommendation and monthly tickets at Qi Dian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)