Chapter 235: Chapter 228 Four Cuckoo Calls Chapter 235: Chapter 228 Four Cuckoo Calls Although this person and cat disliked each other, “Liu Ba” generally would not attend to anything else until he had finished what he was working on. Even if he had a personal grudge or didn’t like someone, he wouldn’t seek revenge right away; his current tasks were more important.

Therefore, in the following period of time, Zheng Tan’s life remained peaceful. Sometimes, he would also stroll around the residential area by the lake. If he went in the afternoon, he might even snag an afternoon tea, temporarily satiating his hunger, while all Zheng Tan had to do was listen to an old lady’s outpourings.

The old lady’s son often visited her, and if he couldn’t make it, he would at least call to check on her. They had hired a caretaker specifically to look after the old lady. For her, apart from going out for walks and staying home to eat and sleep, everything else was incredibly boring. She couldn’t travel far either because her body hadn’t fully recovered. Thus, Zheng Tan had become a very good listener.

From the old lady’s words, Zheng Tan knew that “Xiao Gao” had visited twice more, although Zheng Tan hadn’t encountered him. The old lady mentioned that she had enjoyed a delightful conversation with “Xiao Gao.” From this comment, Zheng Tan could tell that the old lady must have been led into talking too much. Generally, when people thoroughly enjoyed their talks, there wasn’t much vigilance or wariness. Thinking about the thick-skinned and superbly acting “Xiao Gao,” with all his twisty tricks, and then looking at the old lady, one could imagine how their “delightful conversation” had gone, and “Xiao Gao” probably couldn’t have been happier.

However, in recent days, “Xiao Gao” hadn’t shown up again. With “Xiao Gao” absent from chatting with the old lady, occasionally when Zheng Tan visited, he would hear the old lady’s sighs and the memories stirred up by Xiao Gao’s previous visits.

The old lady mentioned that in her youth, she also had a love affair that almost came into fruition, yet unfortunately, things ended due to certain reasons. Although they continued to communicate via letters for a few years, a sudden incident happened after that, and since then, the old lady had moved to Chuhua City, and she had lost touch with the other party.

Zheng Tan felt that the old lady must be quite lonely now. Although her son constantly thought of her, his excessive engagement with business prevented frequent visits. The old lady, not wanting to burden her son, had asked her daughter-in-law to take more care of him; a caretaker was all she needed here. As for her grandson, he had been sent abroad for studies and was seldom seen, only occasionally making an overseas call.

Zheng Tan had heard from the other elderly people in the courtyard that nowadays, many people liked to send their aging parents to nursing homes as it was more convenient for them. However, these elderly individuals themselves would prefer to die rather than go to a nursing home. Zheng Tan didn’t know what a nursing home was like, only that people in the courtyard often mentioned how many old people strongly disliked them.

It wasn’t as great as the news and newspapers claimed. Some elderly people could only sit by the window every day, silently gazing outside, possibly hoping that their relatives would visit them more often, but most of the time, they were likely disappointed. Some elders, as they aged, lost their memory, and after living in the nursing home for a while, could not even recognize their relatives. Over time, they might even forget their own sons and daughters.

Wealthier families, like the old lady’s, where her son was a somewhat famous businessman in Chuhua City and was filial despite not being able to visit often, would rather hire ten or eight caretakers for the old lady.

In front of her son and daughter-in-law, the old lady was always portrayed positively, but deep down, she was quite lonely—after all, caretakers were not family.

“Little Black Cat, what do you think? Should I also get a small pet like a cat or a dog? But at my age, I don’t know how long I will live. What if I can’t take care of it later?” the old lady asked Zheng Tan while looking at him.

Zheng Tan dodged the old lady’s hand that was reaching to pat his head, thinking to himself: How am I little?

Zheng Tan had actually seen many similar situations, like in the courtyard where many elderly people, whose spouses had passed away and whose children were not around, lived. For example, Da Pang’s grandmother. Though Da Pang’s grandmother lived in a smaller place with worse living conditions than here, she seemed much more content. She had Da Pang for company at home, and outside, she could chat, sing, and joke around with the other elderlies in the courtyard. She was really much better off than the lady here, which was probably why she preferred to stay in the courtyard and didn’t agree to move out with her son.

That day, Zheng Tan was walking around the residential area again and sneaked through the iron fence to visit the old lady and listen to her ramblings, but found the house unusually lively today.

There were several cars parked outside, all high-end models worth millions. He checked the license plates; two of them were not local but from South City.

Several people were sitting inside; Zheng Tan only recognized the old lady’s son and daughter-in-law, but not the others. The old lady’s daughter-in-law, the middle-aged woman who always seemed displeased by Zheng Tan, was now smiling radiantly, exuding a rare sense of closeness. The two middle-aged men were also smiling as they talked, but their voices were soft and not noisy.

But where was the old lady?

Zheng Tan peeked inside from the doorway, and the old lady’s son noticed him and waved him in. The displeasure flashed through the middle-aged woman’s eyes—as she thought it improper for such a black cat to enter in the presence of esteemed guests—but she did not want to embarrass her husband.

Zheng Tan thought for a moment but decided to walk in under everyone’s watch. He looked around but didn’t see the old lady.

“Is this your family’s cat?” the unfamiliar middle-aged man asked.

“No, not sure whose it is. But my mom said she has a connection with this cat since their time in the hospital…” the old lady’s son briefly explained, causing surprise in the others.

“Although it doesn’t look like any famous breed, it doesn’t seem to be a stray either. It’s quite robust and not afraid of people, really seems quite clever,” the stranger commented with a smile.

Zheng Tan listened to the conversation between the two without rushing to find the old lady at first. He noticed a room on the ground floor that was closed, where the old lady usually took her afternoon nap and was likely inside. From the conversation of those people, Zheng Tan gathered another piece of information—besides the old lady, there was also a little old man in the room?!

Immediately, Zheng Tan’s curiosity was piqued. Just a few days ago, he had heard the old lady reminiscing about the past, and now there was an additional old man. It seemed like they were trying to find a companion for the old lady.

However, the more Zheng Tan listened to their conversation, the more he felt something was off. It seemed that the old man was the same person the old lady had been reminiscing about recently. Apparently, these two elderly individuals had been engaged when they were younger but had gone their separate ways. Now, after nearly 60 years of separation, according to the living room discussion, there was an intention to reunite these two single elderly individuals.

What surprised Zheng Tan even more was not that these two elderly people were coming back together after nearly sixty years, but the conversation about “Xiao Gao” between that unknown middle-aged man and the old lady’s son.

The middle-aged man mentioned that “Xiao Gao” was a manager in a certain department of his company, who had been in business contact with the old lady’s son recently. Now that he had been transferred elsewhere, he would no longer handle certain business aspects in Chuhua City, and soon someone new would come to liaise with them. Hearing this, the old lady’s son did not inquire further and even praised “Xiao Gao” as a capable young man.

Zheng Tan observed the middle-aged man for a while. The man did not talk much about “Xiao Gao”, dismissing it with a laugh soon after. Combining some previous events and listening to their current conversation, Zheng Tan guessed that perhaps, this middle-aged man had reached out to “Xiao Gao” due to his father’s connections. As for the dealings between “Xiao Gao” and the other party, how he got mixed into the position of a department manager, or how he ended up here, Zheng Tan was not clear and did not need to find out nor believed that the story of the two elderly people recognizing each other again was a mere coincidence. He was only concerned with the outcomes now.

Regardless, whether the reunion of the elderly couple was planned or not, their coming together again was beneficial for both parties. Given that both were successful individuals, their business cooperation was likely to progress further, which was a positive outcome in any case.

Zheng Tan did not stay much longer and soon left, guessing that the two elders, reuniting after nearly sixty years, would undoubtedly have a lot to talk about.

For Zheng Tan, the old lady’s family was merely a part of his life that he did not need to spend too much effort or emotion on, even though their family was wealthy and distinguished. What mattered more to him was the Jiao family.

In the evening, the three Jiao family members and a cat were nestled on the couch watching a martial arts drama on TV. Zheng Tan, feeling sleepy, was yawning when suddenly he heard Little Youzi say from beside him, “The sound in there is off!”

Zheng Tan looked at the TV screen, listening carefully. The scene displayed the protagonist amidst deep mountains, accompanied by bird sounds in the background, which included some bird visuals as well. Zheng Tan examined closely several times but didn’t perceive anything amiss with the bird’s calls.

Jiao Yuan pondered for a moment, “Are you saying that the bird in there should be a large cuckoo, but the sound being played is that of a four-sound cuckoo?”

“Yeah!” Little Youzi nodded.

“Hey, you could make that out? You’re really attentive; I didn’t notice it at all!” Jiao Yuan excitedly exclaimed, slapping his thigh. He then rushed to the main bedroom where he pulled out a book from Mr. Jiao’s bookshelf and began discussing the differences between several types of cuckoos with Little Youzi, including which ones are known as “cuckoos”.

Jia Ma did not understand much about these things, but she did not object to the children’s pursuits. Being meticulous could also be seen as an advantage, and occasionally spotting a bug in a TV show wasn’t bad, as it could help them learn more. As for Zheng Tan, he had seen such birds at school and heard their calls—the four-tone kind, just as Little Youzi had mentioned.

Zheng Tan was thinking about taking a closer look at the cuckoo birds that frequently hopped around the courtyard when he went out for a walk the next day when he suddenly heard Jiao Yuan read from the side, “The cuckoo and the swallow are symbols of male virility. In ancient rural areas, they were worshipped during the Spring Festival to pray for fertility…”
Jiao Yuan had not finished reading when Jia Ma slapped his hand down, abruptly snatching the book from him and placing it on the highest shelf in the bookcase.

“Just watch TV, and if not, go take a bath and sleep!”

Seeing Jia Ma speak up, Jiao Yuan pouted and sat down in the living room, Little Youzi not saying much more. She did not really understand what Jiao Yuan was reading just now but, seeing Jia Ma’s resigned face, chose not to ask Jiao Yuan about it.

Zheng Tan tugged at his ear. Kids being too meticulous could also be a bit of a worry.

The next day, Zheng Tan did not head towards the residential area by the lake, not wanting to disturb the old lady reminiscing. Instead, he began wandering around looking for the four-sound cuckoo mentioned by the kids last night but surprisingly did not see any of the usual birds after searching for a long while.

Zheng Tan decided to change his route and continue searching when suddenly, he paused and looked diagonally ahead. Standing about ten meters away was someone he had heard had been transferred to another place yesterday but was here today.

There stood “Xiao Gao”, no longer in his elite attire. Though he wore glasses, they were not the previous gold-rimmed ones but black-framed ones instead. Dressed in a casual sports shirt, he slung a roughly ten-dollar bag over his shoulder, his hair ungelled and unstyled, looking just like a student from Chuhua University. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for or recommend it. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep