Heads For Leaving, Tails For Staying

Er Mao had the pet center do a full checkup of the cat. The vet estimated that the cat was under a year old.

"Mr. Wang do you plan on spaying your cat?" the girl asked after explaining the benefits of spraying a pet cat.

"Spaying? You mean neutering him?" Er Mao didn't even look up from his phone.

The girl frowned. "Your cat is a female."

"Female?!" Er Mao exclaimed.

Sh*t! This cat was female?!

"How do you tell a cat's gender? Is it different than how you tell a dog's gender?" Er Mao felt it was quite easy to tell whether a dog was male or female.

The girl smiled. She got questions like this one a lot. She took out a pamphlet with basic information on raising cats.

Er Mao read the pamphlet. "How much for this?"

"We print these pamphlets here ourselves. You can take one for free."

Er Mao tossed the pamphlet into a plastic bag.

He decided against spaying and took the clean cat home. The pet center had everything he bought delivered in an hour.

Er Mao felt his apartment had shrunk after he got all the cat's products. Thankfully he only bought small stuff.

He poured cat food into a newly bought food bowl. The cat came over and to Er Mao's disappointment, the cat started eating.

It seemed he couldn't go pick on the cat upstairs just yet.

He opened his laptop and went on the pet forum.

The ID he used to post about the cat torturer was registered 3 years ago. Wei Ling, Walnut and him had gone onto the pet forum to see if all cats were like the one their master owned. They used the account together. Now, however, Er Mao was the only one who still used this account. Even he didn't go on the site often.

The internet was developing fast and the forum had changed since they first created their account. People were sharing links to videos on the forum.

Er Mao found many pictures and videos of the cat from upstairs. It was like the girl had told him, most ads that were popular contained that cat. It appeared that the cat had a fair amount of fans.

Er Mao examined the pictures carefully. He believed that the pictures were all thanks to the power of photography. Otherwise, how could a house cat seem so interesting? Cats were not human and couldn't act. The girl at the pet center probably hadn't met the real 'Black C', or else she wouldn't have such a high opinion of him. After all, the real cat was very different from the cat in the ads.

The next day was a sunny day. The temperature was rising quickly.

The black and white cat was napping on the balcony. Er Mao was trying out the comb he picked up when he bought cat shampoo. The pamphlet he got from the pet center said that brushing a cat could clean off fur that had already fallen off. This prevented cats from swallowing fur balls and getting sick. Brushing kept cats clean and pretty, and was also a bonding experience.

Er Mao had nothing to do, so he decided to try it out. He followed the instructions on the pamphlet and was soon a pro. The black and white cat seemed to enjoy being brushed which made Er Mao very satisfied. It appeared that raising a cat wasn't that difficult.

Just when he was praising his own cat-raising skills, he heard a loud bang upstairs.

The black and white cat hopped up immediately. It appeared that life as a stray cat had made her very vigilant.

Er Mao looked up as well. He saw a blue parrot standing on a wire fence, his big yellow eyes fixed on them.

General was looking at the cat. He didn't recognize this cat. Was it a new cat? Huh? He hadn't pecked anything for a while.

The black and white cat sensed hostility and eyed the parrot suspiciously.

Er Mao didn't think much of their actions. He thought it was normal that cats and birds didn't get along. His master's cat used to go catch birds in the woods everyday. He had never seen a parrot like this one. No wonder the balcony had wire fencing.

Er Mao grinned and said, "Hey parrot!"

General quickly replied, "Hello, idiot." He spoke English with an American accent.

Er Mao was speechless. Who taught this parrot to talk like this?

Zheng Tan was rolling with laughter on the fifth floor.

General was acting up because he saw the black and white cat. Er Mao was being attacked because of his vicinity to the cat.

Zheng Tan couldn't see them because he lived on a higher floor, but he could tell what was going on by the sounds they made. Thankfully, most people living in this building had a high tolerance for noise.

Now that Er Mao and the new cat had attracted General's attention, the bird wouldn't bother Zheng Tan anymore. He was happy about this.

Suddenly he heard a car honking downstairs.

Zheng Tan poked his head out and saw it was Fang Shaokang's car. Today wasn't a weekend, so why was Fang here?

Zheng Tan ran downstairs and opened the door for him.

Fang had came with Tong Qing. Ever since the Zheng Tan got the cat car, Tong Qing would come to help move it downstairs when Fang came to pick up Zheng Tan. It was quite heavy so Tong Qing couldn't let his boss carry it.

"I got some time today and plan on paying Liu a visit. I have some business to go over with him. I told your cat-mommy and will have you home by dinner," Fang explained while Tong Qing took the cat car out from the bedroom.

Back on the third floor, Er Mao was about to start a swearing contest with the parrot but remembered that this was a faculty residential building. He decided to go buy a water gun. If the parrot swore again he would shoot water at it.

He balled up the cat fur he had brushed off and was going to throw it downstairs. However, he decided to be a good citizen and threw it in the trash can instead. He picked up the garbage bag and placed it outside his door. He would it throw it out the next time he went outside. The temperature was rising and keeping trash in the house could create unpleasant odors. He also had a cat now. He had heard many stories of cats going through the trash can.

He opened his door just in time to see Zheng Tan walking downstairs.

"Hey, look at the big star..."

He saw who was walking behind the cat and immediately swallowed the rest of his sentence and shut the door.

Fang Shaokang motioned for Tong Qing to wait up and knocked on Er Mao's door.

"Open the door. I saw you," Fang said calmly.

"I'm on the toilet. Go away."

"You have ten seconds. Ten, nine, eight..."

Fang Shaokang was actually counting down while watching his watch. He didn't seem to care at all that Er Mao had lied.

Er Mao open the door. He scratched his head while cursing to himself. Why did he have to open the door?

"Uncle," he said timidly.

Fang Shaokang followed him into the house. He raised an eyebrow. "Who are you planning to beat up this time? Or do you have your eyes on a girl again?"

"No. I'm a new man now. I'm a law abiding, completely changed, nice young man now," Er Mao said emphatically.

Zheng Tan eyed him. He had picked locks, robbed little bullies, and almost killed a man.

Fang Shaokang raised an eyebrow. "A new man?"

"Yes." Er Mao nodded.

"Completely changed?"

"Of course," Er Mao promised.

"Law abiding?"

"That's right!"

"Nice young man?"

"Indeed."

"I don't believe a word."

Er Mao's face fell.

"I'm surprised you chose to rent here. You did change a bit after all as long as you are not living here to date college girls."

"God no!"

Fang Shaokang looked around the room. The place was very plain compared to Er Mao's previous living arrangements. Er Mao's clothes seemed more proper as well.

"It's good that you're changing." Fang Shaokang sighed before he left. He didn't have much time on his hands and Er Mao was only the son of a friend.

"So, uncle..."

"I won't tell your parents. Your brother isn't in Chuhua at the moment so he doesn't have time for you either."

Er Mao let out a sigh of relief. However, why was Fang with that cat? He hadn't heard of this relationship from Wei Ling.

Er Mao was deep in thought after Zheng Tan and Fang left.

"Barley." He poked his cat's nose. "Should I leave?"

"Meow." Barley didn't understand what he was saying. She thought he was playing with her and rubbed her head against his hand.

Er Mao sighed.

He took out a coin, lay it on the floor and gave it a spin.

"Heads for leaving, tails for staying."

Barley slapped the spinning coin. She thought it was a toy.

Er Mao moved her paw away.

The coin was laying on the floor. The side showing had a chrysanthemum flower on it.

Tails.