Strange Life of a Cat - Chapter 129

The club members became very fond of Zheng Tan after the thieves incident. Someone even made him a small car to sit in.

However, Zheng Tan got tired of the toy shortly.

He wasn’t someone that liked being controlled. Also, every time he sat in his car, people crowded around to watch. This made him feel like a circus animal. He gave up on playing with the car and wasn’t that excited about model cars anymore. He didn’t even watch the club play anymore. Every time he went to the clubhouse, he would sit on the window sill and nap, fantasizing about having a car he could drive.

Zheng Tan knew well that having a car of his own was only going to be a dream. He was a cat, and no one would be willing to spend so much effort to create a car for a cat. Even if the students were grateful that he alerted them, they would only allow him to play with their toy cars.

Zheng Tan yawned and switched to a more comfortable position. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone standing by the bushes. It was someone he knew.

When did Tong Qing get here? How long had he been here? Had he been watching him all along?

Zheng Tan looked around but didn’t see Fang Shaokang nor his car.

A club member was calling out for him to go over to play with cars. Zheng Tan turned his head. When he looked around again, Tong Qing was gone.

Zheng Tan decided to go back to the eastern quarters. He was confused.

When he passed by the guard, he slowed down so the man would see him pass. If Fang Shaokang had been here, the guard would mention it. The guard recognized all the pets in the eastern quarters and always talked to them when he saw them. He was here alone all day and was lonely.

The guard had a great memory. He remembered who once came to visit who. If Fang Shaokang’s car showed up, he would know immediately someone was here to look for Professor Jiao in Building B.

Unfortunately, the guard looked up and only said ‘You’re back early today’, then went back to reading the papers. He didn’t mention Fang Shaokang.

……

This made Zheng Tan even more confused. If Tong Qing wasn’t here to look for the Jiaos, why did he show up at the clubhouse? He would never do anything without Fang Shaokang’s orders. It went without saying that Fang knew he was watching the model car club. Would Fang buy him a model car?

Zheng Tan laid on a parasol tree and considered the possibility that Fang would gift him a toy car.

The next few days, Zheng Tan kept an eye out for Tong Qing. He didn’t see him again. Papa Jiao didn’t mention anything about Fang Shaokang or toy cars either. Papa Jiao was busy these days. Zheng Tan hadn’t seen Yi Xin in a while as well. As for Su Qu, he was spending all his time in the lab preparing for the department’s annual academic conference.

Finals were close, and the kids were busy studying.

Everyone had something to do. This made Zheng Tan, who had nothing to do, feel very bored. Fatty was spending his time sleeping on his balcony. Tiger had a stomach issue and was being confined. Sheriff was off playing somewhere by himself.

Zheng Tan liked to take long walks when he was bored. He liked seeing new things.

He hadn’t been to Jiao Yuan’s school in a while and planned to head over there today. If things went well, he might wander off a bit further away as well.

He passed by a basketball court on his way. A crowd had gathered there for a match. People were cheering.

Zheng Tan jumped onto a tree to watch the game. Before he sat down, he heard someone yell, “The men of the brothel, go go go!” Zheng Tan almost slipped off the tree. He looked around and found that the person yelling meant ‘comp sci department’. [1]

There was a scoreboard on the side of the basketball court. On it was written “04 Comp Sci vs. 04 B School)

Compared to middle school and primary school students, college kids were much less worried about finals. They had been through the torture that was the University Entrance Exam, and a simple final was nothing to them. There were quite a bit of people watching the game. The players were extra motivated since many of the pretty girls in the business management department were watching.

The comp sci department was made up of mostly men. The opposite was true for the business school. Players from both sides were trying their best to impress the ladies.

On the bench, a student wearing a ’04 Comp Sci’ shirt drank some water and said to the person next to him, “When I was in middle school I liked to wear the same jersey as my favorite NBA player. Now, however, wearing this stupid jersey with my name and department is kinda exciting too.” He then turned to cheer, ” Go Comp Sci!”

People on the other side of the court glared at him.

The student looked quite proud of himself. No matter what, the girls on the other side were looking at him weren’t they?

While Zheng Tan was watching the game, inside the engineering department building, Cheng Zhong was staring at a contract in front of him.

Many of the students took on private projects. Even though their mentors probably wanted them to put all their time and effort into their projects, the students needed money. If the opportunity presented itself, students with the capabilities would never turn down a private project.

Cheng Zhong had been doing it since he was an undergrad. He wasn’t worried about his mentor finding out. He probably knew and was pretending to be ignorant anyways. Right now, the contract in front of him promised him an alluring sum, but the project was a confusing one.

“I never made a model car like this.”

“No problem. I believe in you. You’ve worked for me in the past, and I liked the result.”

“But this size…” He was contracted to make a model car that was larger than usual. If the car were for a child, the size wouldn’t work. Who was this for? Cheng Zhong didn’t understand, but Fang wasn’t willing to say anymore.

Fang Shaokang tapped the table. “I don’t need an answer right away. You can think it over.”

Cheng Zhong let out a sigh of relief. However, Fang didn’t move. He cautiously said, ” Um…so…maybe tomorrow…”

“Ok. Times up. What’s your decision?” Fang looked up from his watch. His expression was serious. He looked at Cheng Zhong and waited for his answer.

Cheng Zhong was speechless. What the hell?!

Fang had an ‘I’m serious and not kidding’ expression that made Cheng Zhong very frustrated. Fang Shaokang had given him exactly 15 seconds to think things over.

How the hell was he supposed to consider this in 15 seconds?!

People like Fang made Cheng Zhong want to roll his eyes. If Fang weren’t someone even his mentor respected, Cheng Zhong would like nothing more than to slap him.

Fang could tell what Cheng Zhong was thinking and explained, “There’s a marketing phenomenon called the 15-second rule. Most TV ads are 15 seconds long. 15 seconds is enough to change a person’s mind. A good salesperson can capture a customer’s heart in 10 seconds. I trust that with your brain, 15 seconds is enough for you to make a decision.”

Cheng Zhong was speechless again.

He reread the contract in front of him and said, “I’ll do it.”

Since he had decided to work on the project, Fang answered all his questions.

Fang had come to Cheng Zhong because he knew this guy was very into car models. He had both knowledge and experience in the area. His office was also close to the eastern quarters and he would be readily available to do repairs.

Zheng Tan knew nothing about what Fang was doing. He had already left the basketball court and was outside Jiao Yuan’s school.

He stood on the fence and saw that the newspapers on the windows had been torn off. The temperature was dropping, and people liked sunlight now. There was no need to cover the windows anymore. Zheng Tan could see inside the classrooms. Fu Lei wasn’t sitting next to the window anymore. He had performed well in the sports tournament and was now a friend of Jiao Yuan’s, so the homeroom teacher had moved him closer to the middle of the classroom.

No one he knew sat next to the window, so he kept walking along the fence. He left the school and came to a regular residential neighborhood. He wasn’t planning on stopping here. However, he heard someone beckoning at him.

“Where are you from? I’ve never seen you before. You’re not from here are you?” a boy about seventeen, who was wearing a school uniform, asked him.

He ignored him since he wasn’t a girl.

He was about to leave when he heard a window open above his head.

A woman stuck her head out and yelled in a thick local accent, “If you have time, study! Why can’t you be more like your brother! Stop playing with cats! You’re going to have the IQ of a cat!”

Zheng Tan was speechless.

What did he do to deserve that?!