Chapter 196: Chapter 196: Is it yours? Chapter 196: Chapter 196: Is it yours? As expected, Little Youzi’s class won first place with their performance. There were three first-place programs, a song and dance, a comedic skit, and the drama put on by Little Youzi and her classmates.

The judges’ high praise included comments like, “This program has developed the students’ hands-on skills and their ability to work as a team. From prop creation to background music, everything was completed by the students themselves. It also fully showcased the shining points of filial piety, bravery, and harmonious coexistence between humans and animals,” which really bumped up their score.

The “harmonious coexistence between humans and animals” obviously referred to Zheng Tan’s collaborative performance in the show.

Sitting in the audience and listening to all those compliments, Zheng Tan’s face grew hot; those people were getting more and more exaggerated with their praise.

Yue Lisha, that little girl, really knew how to play to their preferences. Knowing the school wanted to have a standout program as an example, their class’s performance indeed became a model representative. The certificates and the “Children’s Day Big Gift Pack” of snacks from the school had all the kids super excited. Plus, with Children’s Day tomorrow and no school for the Affiliated Primary School students, it was no wonder their spirits were so high.

After the performance in the afternoon and returning to the courtyard, some parents who were seated far from Jiao Ma during the show, upon seeing Jiao Ma with Little Youzi and Zheng Tan, asked Jiao Ma, “Hey, the cat playing the Divine Beast in the show was your Heitan, right?”

These kinds of questions never stopped.

From the time he left the auditorium until now, Zheng Tan’s ears had been stretched out like airplane wings, “flying,” which clearly indicated his terrible mood. Zheng Tan wondered if in the future, when he went out for walks, people familiar with him in the courtyard would greet him saying, “Look, the Divine Beast!”

Damn it, just the thought made his mood plummet even further!

To avoid being constantly called Divine Beast, Zheng Tan decided not to leave the building the next day, which was Children’s Day.

Children’s Day fell on a Wednesday. Jiao Yuan had school, Jiao Ma had work, and Yue Lisha had rented some DVDs and invited Xie Xin and Little Youzi to watch a teen drama together, leaving Zheng Tan alone at home. Little Youzi actually wanted to take Zheng Tan with her, but he did not want to go out, and now he was feeling unbearably bored staying at home.

Lying on the balcony and listening to the annoying bird from the fourth floor singing opera, his ears suddenly twitched. Zheng Tan listened carefully and then ran out the door to the third floor, stopping in front of Ermao’s door. As usual, Ermao’s door was just ajar, so Zheng Tan pushed it open and entered.

Inside, Ermao and Qin Tao each held a beer bottle, chatting away.

Qin Tao had obviously skived off work to come and play. As long as there were no important signing or procedural matters, he would merely show up at the company and do nothing, taking off whenever he pleased.

Seeing Zheng Tan walk in, Qin Tao asked Ermao, “Why hasn’t this guy gone out for a walk today? Isn’t he usually running around outside at this time?”

“Probably afraid of being called Divine Beast,” laughed Ermao.

“Oh? Tell me more,” Qin Tao was quite curious about this nickname.

Ermao recounted the previous day’s events and Qin Tao laughed heartily, “It’s not bad to be called that, why be shy?”

Shy my ass!

Zheng Tan should be grateful that, at this time, the term “Divine Beast” was still somewhat dignified.

Qin Tao sat in a chair with one leg crossed over the other, laughing, with his crossed leg barefoot.

Zheng Tan glanced at the shoes on the floor, then at the balcony a couple of steps away, lifted his paw to hook onto the leather shoe and flung it outside.

The shoe traced an arc in the air, then flew over the balcony railing and dropped down.

Ermao: “…”

“Damn!” Qin Tao hopped to the balcony on one leg to look down, only to see his leather shoe already lying on the ground beneath their building.

After running downstairs in slippers to retrieve the fallen shoe, Qin Tao complained about “cats being petty” and the like. His finances were a bit tight recently; he had been scolded by his father not long ago for not being responsible and had his allowance cut. So, he couldn’t afford to spend carelessly – if this had happened two weeks earlier, he would not bother picking up the shoe and would simply have bought a new one.

“Hey, I’d advise you not to say too much bad about it,” said Ermao.

“Why’s that?” Qin Tao said as he put on the shoe he had hastily wiped clean to prevent it from being thrown out again.

“I heard that over in Night Building, this guy has his own private room, a special one! If we go there and can’t find my senior brother, I’m counting on this one,” said Ermao. In reality, if Ermao wanted his own private room, he simply needed to ask; Ye Hao, and given Ermao’s background and Wei Leng’s influence, wouldn’t have any objections. But Ermao found it too much hassle and expensive.

As for Qin Tao, since he was short on cash lately, he wouldn’t spend money on a private room just to play, let alone a special one.

“This one?!” Qin Tao looked incredulous, “Has the owner of Night Building had his brain nibbled by a cat?”

The two griped about how cats received better treatment than people did, and then Qin Tao brought up Heimi.

“Your Heimi seems much quieter lately. Is it sick? You’re not doing a great job as a Cat Dad,” Qin Tao remarked.

Zheng Tan gave it some thought, then walked to the balcony to take a look. There was a cushion meant for winter use, and Heimi was now stretched out and lying on it with eyes half-closed in sleep, not curled up into a ball as it usually was and looking quite lazy.

Ermao didn’t pay much attention, “My Heimi is doing just fine, I even took some photos to show people, and they said it’s gained weight, which proves I feed my cat well. Although Heimi has been quieter these days, its appetite is good. Aside from cat food, I also have someone help steam some small fish to change up its diet. When the weather is nice, Heimi would go outside and doze off in the sunlight.”

During this time, whenever Ermao visited Jiao Wei’s little diner, she’d also ask Jiao’s mother to steam some finger-sized small fish for her. It began when Jiao’s mom, while selling vegetables, came across the fresh little fish and bought some to fry for cooking. Later, since Ermao enjoyed them, she decided to let her ‘little girl’ enjoy them too, so she spent a bit more money to have Jiao’s mom prepare some steamed fish that even a cat could eat. Therefore, when Ermao went to pick up food, sometimes there would be an extra small lunchbox filled with steamed fish, brought home to whet Heimi’s appetite.

“It indeed gained some weight,” Qin Tao said with a joke-like tone from the doorway after looking at Heimi lying there, “It’s not pregnant with kittens, is it?”

“Bullshit!!” Ermao got angry, tossing a shoe over, “That’s impossible!”

After saying that, Ermao thought it over. Lately, Heimi hadn’t been mingling with the other cats in the courtyard. When walking around the courtyard, she kept a close eye on it. So, she confirmed again, “I’ve been watching, how could there be kittens?”

Zheng Tan stood at the doorway and saw Heimi. Then he turned around only to find Qin Tao and Ermao eyeing him with a suspicious, stranger-danger kind of stare.

Zheng Tan: “…” Fuck! I’m not beastly enough to mess with a cat!

Although he was now a cat, he still had a human mind, and the thought of doing anything with a cat was something Zheng Tan couldn’t get past. Fantasizing a bit about beautiful girls was another matter.

He had been ready to listen to the pair gossip, but he lost the mood to stay any longer. Zheng Tan decided that he should visit this place less in the future, otherwise, if anything happened, he’d be the one blamed, and he wouldn’t be able to clear his name.

On his way out, Zheng Tan saw the automatic feeder in the living room. Ermao was quite lazy—Heimi ate whenever it wanted, so its weight gain was not surprising.

However, Zheng Tan had a feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

Two days later, after dinner, Zheng Tan was lying on the couch watching a melodramatic soap opera with Jiao Ma when Ermao came over. After a brief chat with Jiao Ma, she came up with an excuse to drag Zheng Tan away.

Zheng Tan was somewhat baffled, and as they descended the stairs, he couldn’t help but notice a gloomy aura emanating from Ermao, who was walking ahead.

Arriving on the third floor and entering the room, Ermao crouched down, faced Zheng Tan, and asked through gritted teeth, “Tell me the truth, did you… you know…” Ermao scratched her head, “Heimi has kittens. Is it yours?!”

Zheng Tan: “!!” Damn! It really happened!

“If it’s ‘yes’, wag your tail up and down, if ‘no’, wag it side to side!”

Zheng Tan decisively wagged it side to side, even several times in a row. Jesus, he couldn’t let this mess fall on him!

“Not you?” Ermao frowned, intently watching Zheng Tan, trying to determine the truthfulness of his denial, “If not you, then who the hell can it be?”

Ermao plopped down on the floor, scratching her head, thoroughly contemplating which damn cat could be the culprit.

Today, Ermao had nothing to do and recalled what Qin Tao had said about Heimi getting fatter recently; she felt unsettled and decided to take it to the Pet Center for a check-up, and while at it, a bath. Ermao had been lazy these days, and as a result, Heimi hadn’t had a proper bath in weeks, just got its paws washed at most.

As it turned out, the veterinarian at the Pet Center checked Heimi and told Ermao that the cat was already about four weeks pregnant.

To Ermao, this was like a bolt from the blue.

The veterinarian then gave some advice and told Ermao to be prepared for the kittens to be born in another month.

Another bolt from the blue.

One month? That soon?!

“Isn’t it said that it’s three months for a cat and four for a dog? How come it’s giving birth in two months?” Ermao asked.

The vet calmly handed a booklet on caring for pregnant cats to Ermao, “You’ve misunderstood. Both cats and dogs give birth in about two months. As for the ‘three cats and four dogs’, some say it’s three litters for cats and four for dogs per year; others say it’s about the timing for cats and dogs. But none of that’s important. What matters is that you know your cat is giving birth to kittens in a month—pay extra attention.”

At that moment, Ermao was too occupied listening to the veterinarian’s instructions; her mind was also preoccupied with thinking about how to deal with the cats in the courtyard. Her mood was a complete mess.

After purchasing some of the pregnancy-formulated cat food introduced by the vet, Ermao brought the cat home, then sat on the couch holding the book the vet gave her, agonizing all afternoon. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she went upstairs to call Zheng Tan down.

In Ermao’s view, Zheng Tan was the prime suspect. As a Cat Dad, she always thought her own cat was the best and that Heimi would certainly not bother with any lesser breed. Among the cats in the courtyard, this black one was clearly the best.

Now that this cat had denied it, Ermao believed this cat wouldn’t lie to her. But if not this cat, then which damn cat was it? Ermao went through each neighboring cat in her mind, figuring out which one her “little girl” might fancy. Ah Huang, that eunuch, was out of the question; the sheriff? Or that fat one on the first floor? But she’d never seen Heimi get too close to those two when out for walks. No matter what, some things are just impossible to prevent.

Zheng Tan looked at Ermao’s face, twisted with inner turmoil, and then glanced around. Heimi was lying in its bed as usual, in the same stretched-out, side-lying pose. The couch held a book about caring for pregnant cats and newborn kittens. It looked like Ermao was going to be busy for a while.

Leaving Ermao to her confusion, Zheng Tan quickly scooted off. He didn’t want to court disaster. It wasn’t his fault anyway, so no one could pin it on him.

So, shortly after Ermao found joy in becoming a “dad,” she became a “granddad,” or more precisely, a “grandma.” (To be continued. If you like this story, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep