Chapter 325: Chapter 318 The Cat in a Vest Chapter 325: Chapter 318 The Cat in a Vest Zheng Tan sat in the back seat of the car, looking at the scenery outside the window.

Unlike the usual hustle and bustle of previous years, this year seemed to be a bit quieter. Perhaps due to the lower temperatures than usual, coupled with the impact of the blizzard, there had been such a change. However, compared to many other places and some villages and mountain regions that were worse affected, the situation in the city was much better. The most common complaint among citizens was probably about the water pipes freezing and bursting a few days ago. For others who had no trouble with travel or direct financial interest conflicts, they were merely spectators who were not affected in their normal lives and only discussed it briefly with others when watching the news each day.

Mr. Jiao had been keeping the traffic radio channel on the entire time. These past days, the weather had eased up quite a bit, and many stranded people were eager to set off during this window. There were quite a lot of unlicensed taxis looking to make a quick buck during this period.

To avoid getting caught in traffic, Mr. Jiao specifically set out early. He hadn’t expected that there would be so many others with the same idea, and there were already quite a few vehicles on the road in the early morning. They still encountered several small-scale traffic jams, especially at intersections where the long lines of cars were extremely depressing.

By the time they finally got out of the city, an hour and a half had already passed. This was Zheng Tan’s first experience with such a situation, feeling dizzy from all the stop-and-go movement.

Following previous travel routes, they would usually get on the highway right after leaving the city. The highway here had been closed a few days ago but had reopened just recently. However, as they were getting close, the traffic radio reported an accident on the highway and advised vehicles heading that way to take a detour.

No one knew how long the delay would last due to the accident, and Mr. Jiao had no choice but to take another route, avoiding the highway.

As they passed by the vicinity of several passenger transport stations, Zheng Tan glanced over there. The surrounding area was still crowded with people. The waiting halls were full, and there were some people waiting outside, with armed police maintaining order. Zheng Tan also saw taxis, minibuses, and private cars pulling in passengers, with people holding up signs with the names of various counties and cities, shouting as they walked, trying to attract passengers. This was what some people referred to as black market taxis, but at this point, people were no longer concerned about whether it was legal or not—getting on a vehicle was all that mattered. When it came to squeezing onto a vehicle, few gave consideration to the vulnerable groups such as the elderly, infirm, disabled, or pregnant; they would push and shove as usual.

Zheng Tan was somewhat unfamiliar with the route out of the city, so he took note of the buildings on both sides and memorized this new route information.

The road still had some ice, but compared to some time ago, it was much better. Mr. Jiao drove slower, but he could still control the vehicle. Some cars, however, seemed to be in a hurry, speeding along and constantly pushing forward, as if fearing they would fall behind. They nearly collided with Mr. Jiao’s car twice.

Just as Zheng Tan was cursing the two reckless overtakers inwardly, a motorcyclist cut in abruptly from the diagonal rear into the gap between their car and the one in front, then quickly weaved through the lateral space between the car in front and another vehicle. Zheng Tan was alarmed; was this person overly confident in their riding skills, or had they encountered some emergency?

About ten minutes later, the car stopped again. Zheng Tan stood up to look ahead and saw that traffic had built up once more—they were stuck in traffic again.

After waiting for a while without seeing any movement, Mr. Jiao rolled down the window to get some fresh air. The car was warm; driving with taut nerves and now letting some cold air blow in was somewhat refreshing.

“Heitan, are you cold?” Mr. Jiao looked toward Zheng Tan in the back seat.

After the window was rolled down, the cold wind poured in, dissipating much of the warmth inside the car. Many northern people always found the cold and damp weather of the South uncomfortable, but Zheng Tan, who had once lived even further south, had grown accustomed after these few years. Even though this year was exceptionally cold, he felt it was tolerable, since he had worn the winter vest given to him by Xiao Guo. Xiao Guo had given him two vests, one black and one army green. Not only were the vest pockets handy for storing things—they were also thicker and warmer, and supposedly waterproof.

Seeing that Zheng Tan did not seem to feel cold, Mr. Jiao did not inquire further.

The driver of the car on the left was smoking outside as there were children in his vehicle, and it wasn’t good to smoke inside, so he came out. Seeing Mr. Jiao open the window, he struck up a casual conversation. He had been driving for nearly 20 hours, and although someone had taken over for a five-hour rest, the replacement had poor driving skills and nearly caused an accident, so he had done most of the driving. He got out for a smoke to refresh himself in the midst of the traffic jam.

The driver of another car approached and joined the conversation; he was taking passengers privately. “Yesterday went smoothly; I didn’t get stuck in traffic for long. Bad luck today, though—got stuck for half an hour this morning, and now it’s backed up again.”

“Can we move in ten minutes?” asked the driver from the adjacent car.

“That’d be tough. There was an accident ahead—a motorcycle, two private cars, and a truck all collided. Thankfully, no one died, but three people got seriously injured and were just taken to the hospital. The remaining people in those two private cars are arguing now and no one’s moving. I heard the cars are quite expensive too. An electric pole was also knocked down, along with the overturned vehicles and stuff scattered from the truck. It’ll likely take at least twenty minutes before traffic can resume.”

According to the private car driver, driving had been even more challenging the previous days. A journey that usually took just over two hours took over ten hours to complete amidst the snow, and there was always the possibility of breaking down on the road. The difficulties could only be understood by those who had driven through them, and it was exhausting. It was no wonder the fare had doubled and then doubled again. A ride that usually cost 50 yuan was now going for 100 to 150 yuan with black market taxis, and had shot up to over 200 yuan a few days before.

While they were talking, another person came from the front and asked those two drivers and Mr. Jiao to help ahead where there weren’t enough hands. With more obstacles, it would take longer to clear the road and resume traffic if they didn’t have enough people. Otherwise, they would be waiting for even longer.

The driver of the car in front shook his head; he was not about to leave. He needed to watch his car since his passengers were strangers. What if someone took advantage of his absence to drive away or steal something valuable? What would he do if the passengers started causing trouble?

The adjacent driver, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind. Taking his cigarette, he went ahead with Mr. Jiao.

The car doors weren’t locked, the windows were closed, and the temperature inside quickly climbed back up.

Before leaving, Mr. Jiao asked Zheng Tan to keep an eye on the car, so he stayed alert, not dozing off but watching the people around the vehicle.

Soon, Zheng Tan noticed someone walking up from the front, who glanced into the car twice. From their gaze, Zheng Tan knew they were up to no good. The person paused slightly longer when they saw the computer bag on the front passenger seat.

A glint of joy flashed through the man’s eyes, and then he casually walked over to the car door, pulled open the door on the passenger side, and just as he was about to reach for the laptop bag on the car seat, a shadow darted past, a sudden pain erupted on his face, and he was kicked out, landing squarely on the ground without having a chance to stabilize himself.

The man was full of disbelief. He had just verified there was no one in the car and the door seemed to be unlocked; the cat wearing the vest had been completely overlooked by him. He’d done this sort of thing many times, and the whole act normally didn’t take long at all—just open the door, grab the bag, and go. Even if the car was locked, he had his ways, but he never imagined that what he thought would be an easy job would turn out to be so drastically different from what he had expected.

Touching his nose, the man looked at the blood on his hand and then his gaze shifted to Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan narrowed his eyes. Was this guy still not giving up? Did he have a death wish?!

With a leap, another kick followed.

The man raised his arm to block, but he misjudged Zheng Tan’s strength. Although he quickly raised his forearm to fend off Zheng Tan’s kick, the force sent him staggering backward, banging his head against a nearby private car with a thud. At the same time, Zheng Tan’s claws tore through the man’s down jacket, and with the breeze, duck down flew all over the place.

The man, wearing a branded down jacket but engaging in petty theft, was puzzling to Zheng Tan. However, there were many such people out there. Just a few days ago, he had seen someone posting complaints about it online, never thinking he would encounter one today.

The driver of the private car on the right heard the commotion, rolled down the window, glanced at the person on the ground, then at Zheng Tan and said, “Hey, what’s going on here?”

Before he could finish, the rear window also rolled down and two teenagers looked out. The little girl said, “Uncle, that guy must be a thief!”

“Definitely a thief!” the little boy added. “The cat in the vest is teaching the thief a lesson!”

The man on the ground looked rather disheveled, with blood on his face from his nose to his mouth, smeared a bit with his hand, and his clothing had a long tear in the front, from which duck down was being blown out by the wind.

Seeing his predicament, the man didn’t care about his bloody nose and torn down jacket anymore. Before anyone else had a chance to notice, he scrambled up and ran off. In his haste, he slipped on something, fell again, and, ignoring the pain, got up and continued running.

By the time Mr. Jiao came back, the man was long gone. Listening to the driver on the right recount the incident, Mr. Jiao simply smiled in response to the various questions posed, offering no detailed explanations.

“I must say, your cat seems quite something. Is it a male or female?” the other driver inquired.

“Male.”

“Ah, that’s perfect. I’ve got a female at home, a fold-ear, no less. How about setting them up?”

A spasm crossed Zheng Tan’s face. Set up your great uncle!

Seeing Zheng Tan turn around and get into the car, Mr. Jiao smiled at the man, “This cat of mine is just a mixed breed.”

“No problem, I don’t mind,” the man gestured with a wave of his hand, indicating he wasn’t bothered.

Mr. Jiao: “…”

Fortunately, the traffic soon cleared up, and the column of cars began to slowly move. Mr. Jiao exchanged a few words and then got into his car.

As for Zheng Tan’s recent episode, Mr. Jiao said nothing, only smiling and giving Zheng Tan a thumbs-up.

Although the first half of their return journey was quite bumpy, encountering several traffic jams, things went much smoother afterward. With lots of vehicles on the road and no snowfall, the temperature had risen slightly during the day, and there was hardly any ice on the surface, so the second half of the trip went fairly well.

As usual, Mr. Jiao first stopped in the county town, had a meal, took a rest, called to confirm his safety, and then continued on to his ancestral home.

There were a few rough patches on the road near Mr. Jiao’s ancestral home, but once slowly navigated, it was much better. Old Sir Jiao was already waiting at the entrance to the village. Knowing that Mr. Jiao was driving alone, he didn’t dare to call and inquire repeatedly, afraid it might distract him. However, as soon as he saw Mr. Jiao’s car, a smile immediately spread across his face.

For many people, the journey home for the New Year’s is arduous and unforgettable. Comparatively, Zheng Tan and his companions had it pretty good. (To be continued. If you like this work, 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