Chapter 220: Chapter 216: Don’t Cause Trouble Chapter 220: Chapter 216: Don’t Cause Trouble After that, Zheng Tan didn’t see Qin Tao for a while. Qin Tao would occasionally come to the courtyard to look for Ermao, but it seemed he was avoiding showing his face until his injuries healed up a bit.

One day, as Zheng Tan was leaving the house, he passed by the third floor. The door was still not closed properly, and he could hear Ermao talking on the phone inside.

Ermao was angry. He had been unable to find Qin Tao recently and had only managed to gather a bit of information. Once he understood the situation, Ermao didn’t get involved because Qin Tao had said he wanted to deal with it himself. It was a matter of pride. Ermao let it be. With Qin Tao’s abilities, he wouldn’t come out on the losing end if he was prepared.

During this time, Zheng Tan had followed Tan Fang to the normal university several times and heard some gossip. The students there told Zheng Tan that Qin Tao had taken his revenge, and he had beaten those involved pretty badly. Almost everyone who had participated in that day’s events was hospitalized, and they would be bedridden for at least a month or two.

The students shopping on the small street were discussing the incident without knowing that Qin Tao was the other party, but that didn’t prevent them from taking pleasure in the misfortune of others. Apparently, there were no few students who loathed those guys and had been wronged by them.

Just as those students analyzed while discussing it, neither side was composed of good characters.

Qin Tao had gotten his revenge, but the discussions about the incident in the normal university forum were still ongoing. Even Tan Fang and those two old men mentioned it once while playing chess, brought up merely as a conversation starter, leading to the wistfully oft-expressed sentiment, “The students these days!”

By the time Zheng Tan saw Qin Tao again, it was nearly New Year’s. When Qin Tao came to find Ermao, his facial injuries were no longer visible. He even specifically called Zheng Tan down from upstairs and bought a heap of what he called “imported premium cat food” to express his gratitude.

Zheng Tan stared at the pile of cat food and really wanted to kick it right in Qin Tao’s face. Just eat the damn cat food yourself!

Watching the cat food, Ermao struggled to hold back a laugh, “Beast, don’t you know this cat actually doesn’t eat cat food?”

“What?” Qin Tao looked at the clearly annoyed Zheng Tan, “I even asked friends over there, and they told me no matter the breed of cat, they would absolutely love this cat food. And since I didn’t know which flavor it liked, I bought a bit of each, both dry and wet food, as well as canned cat food.”

As he spoke, Qin Tao also fished out a disposable cup from Ermao, tore open a pack of dry food, poured some into the cup, and placed it in front of Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan flicked his ear and looked at Qin Tao before slapping the paper cup filled with cat food onto the floor.

Eat it your damn self!

Heimi, who had been lounging on the sofa watching the commotion, went to sniff the scattered cat food on the ground and then sneezed.

“See, even my Heimi doesn’t eat it. You know, Heimi has always been fed cat food,” said Ermao.

Qin Tao’s face changed, and he angrily threw the bag of cat food to the ground: “Damn it, those bastards scammed me!”

“Maybe not necessarily, cats are picky eaters. Regardless, this Black Coal isn’t going to eat cat food. It’d be a waste to throw these away, leave them here, I’ll take them to an animal rescue later for the cats there to eat.”

“Do whatever you want,” Qin Tao flicked his hand, not wanting to talk about it anymore, then turned to the nearby Black Cat and said, “Bro Cat, I don’t know how to thank you enough, when you go to Mingzhu City I’ll cover all your food and drinks.”

In the past, Qin Tao would never have spoken to a cat like this.

“Ready to leave?” Ermao asked.

“Yeah, my mom keeps nagging me back in Mingzhu City, and as much as I don’t want to, I have to go. Otherwise, she’ll drag me back to Beijing, and strolling in Mingzhu City is way better than being nagged to death by the old man in Beijing.”

“That’s true. If you head back to Beijing, you’ll first get a beating and won’t be allowed to fight back. After that, you’ll be supervised,” Ermao nodded in agreement, as if he himself dared not return to Beijing either.

“I’ve had your car fixed and modified it a bit. It’s much better than that old clunker you had before,” Qin Tao tossed the car keys to Ermao.

“You should be more careful in the future, don’t get ambushed again,” Ermao said.

“I know, I was careless this time, got too smug and let my guard down.”

Before leaving Chuhua City, Ermao and a few others who were close to Qin Tao gave him a farewell party. They had a night out, and Qin Tao had even planned to invite Zheng Tan, but Zheng Tan didn’t go. He still had to “earn money to support the family.”

Every year towards the end, especially during Christmas and New Year’s, Xiao Guo’s shop gets particularly busy, arranging various activities at the Pet Center and trying to make some extra money. The staff’s enthusiasm is also high, since everyone wants to make a good impression at the end of the year and possibly receive a higher year-end bonus.

With the end of the year approaching on the calendar, Xiao Guo plans to organize an event to shoot a summary video of the year, wish a happy new year, and also promote new products at the shop.

Xiao Guo’s Pet Center has expanded again, with a larger variety of pet clothes available. Many young people like to cosplay their pets these days, and the pet clothing stores take custom orders for pet costumes. They’re not cheap fabrics but really good quality. Many customers aren’t short on money, and word is that the store’s products are selling well.

Zheng Tan also heard that during the National Day big anime exhibition, Xiao Guo’s shop lent out a few dogs to be models. Especially the Pug, dressed with a headband playing the role of a ninja dog; it was said that its popularity was sky-high. The number of people who went to have a picture taken with it was countless, and it even made the club’s popularity explode.

So, never underestimate the impact of an animal.

That day, Zheng Tan followed Xiao Guo’s work team out on a shoot. Xiao Guo had become increasingly meticulous about the quality of the shoot, always scheduling the location in advance and taking the team out to film.

After wrapping up one of the shooting sessions, Zheng Tan rested on the side, still attended to by Charlie as usual.

Charlie had collaborated with the cat on numerous occasions and had come to understand its personality somewhat. Charlie felt that this cat was probably the only one in the Pet Center that could throw tantrums without anyone complaining about it. Aside from its habit of turning up late or leaving early, it would need to go for a walk if it felt upset after shooting, or it would show a sour face and become uncooperative. Its food had to be specially prepared, and it would only drink clean, untouched water. It never wore a leash… and all these quirks were tacitly allowed by the boss. The other long-time collaborators noticed but didn’t say much. Who could complain when this cat was able to carry the main role?

All Charlie could say was, thank goodness it was just a cat. If it were a person, who would like such a terrible temperament?

Zheng Tan, however, didn’t care what Charlie was thinking. Having eaten something while lying there, he idly watched the staff dress up a few good-looking pedigree cats from the shop in costume and position them for photos. The Pet Center’s official website had seen its registered users multiply several times over compared to the previous year, and whenever a new video was released, it was the time with the highest number of users online on the site. The comments under the videos were also numerous, mostly from the Pet Center’s loyal customers. It was no wonder Xiao Guo had so many demands when it came to shooting.

Yawning, Zheng Tan unenthusiastically rolled over on the lounge chair, when suddenly his ears twitched. He heard a familiar dog’s bark, but it was quite distant and he couldn’t see anything from here.

Glancing at the ongoing shooting progress, Zheng Tan estimated it would take several more hours, so he got up, jumped off the lounge chair, and decided to take a walk.

Seeing this, Charlie knew the cat was about to go for a stroll again. The first time it had happened, he had been scared half to death, but gradually he realized there was no need to worry.

“If you’re going to walk around, come back quickly, eh? Don’t wander too far. Although your part is finished, it’s possible we’ll have to do retakes or reshoots. The boss is taking this shoot very seriously.”

Zheng Tan glanced back at him, then continued to trot in that direction.

Charlie watched the cat run off and sighed. He wasn’t sure, but Charlie felt that the cat understood everything he said, a hunch from his instincts as a veterinarian. It’s not good for a cat to be too smart; sometimes a stupider one is easier to take care of, like those being tamely handled by the staff.

Zheng Tan left the shooting location. For a cat, a fence was nothing but decoration.

Vaulting over the fence, Zheng Tan twitched his ears. Now that dog had stopped barking. Recalling the direction from which the sound had come, he walked a few paces, then leaped onto a tall tree, quickly locating his target.

It wasn’t that Zheng Tan had extraordinary sight, but rather that the scene there was too conspicuous. There were several police cars over there—hard to miss.

Getting closer and jumping onto a tree, Zheng Tan decided to watch the situation from the sidelines. After all, there was nothing for him to do back at the shooting location just yet.

This neighborhood mostly consisted of villas, inhabited by people of some status. Each villa was set apart at a distance, and one of them was cordoned off with police tape. Outside, several people in uniform were talking, and others were inquiring of the surrounding residents and making notes.

Among them, Zheng Tan spotted Senior Hetao engaged in conversation with some people. However, since his promotion, weren’t these types of incidents to be handled by his subordinates? Why had he come himself?

As for the dog that had been barking just now, Zheng Tan saw that it was being led around by someone, seeming to sniff at something. It couldn’t be stopped from barking, and the police officer holding it was being dragged along, almost appearing as if the dog was walking the person.

The landscaping in the area was well done, with plenty of trees around, and even though the grass was no longer green, the evergreen trees planted around made the place not seem bleak, despite the autumn and winter season.

The grass had several holes dug in it, all the work of Black Gold, and the looks from the residents were growing less favorable. The officer leading Black Gold felt immense pressure. He was only supposed to supervise the dog for his superior, who had mentioned that letting the dog roam might turn up a clue, but now it seemed like there were no clues to be found. The dog was merely causing trouble, nearly doing so on the neighboring household’s lawn.

“Black Gold! Stop causing trouble!” The officer yanked hard on the leash, admonishing him.

Black Gold looked back at the officer, bared his teeth, seemingly dissatisfied with the reprimand. Glancing around, it noticed Zheng Tan not far off in a tree.

“Woof woof woof!” Black Gold barked at Zheng Tan a few times and even started heading in his direction.

Zheng Tan ignored it, pretending not to know the dog.

The officer leading Black Gold didn’t recognize Zheng Tan and, seeing Black Gold’s reaction, said hopelessly, “You really think it’s just for fun, don’t scare their cat.”

Zheng Tan watched Black Gold come toward him from below the tree. He felt that Black Gold was seriously looking for something, still sniffing around on the ground. All of a sudden, Black Gold sniffed something, started digging, uncovering some leaves, and growled with bared teeth at that spot, then looked up and barked loudly several times.

“You’re at it again.” The officer facepalmed. Couldn’t dig holes on the lawn, so he switched to here now?

Looking down, Zheng Tan saw that if one didn’t look carefully, they might miss the already dead insect on the ground. But why was the dog growling at the insect? Surely it wasn’t planning to dig up all the hibernating bugs?

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), cast monthly tickets, and your support will be my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep