Chapter 21: Give the Money to the Cat!

A family of three emerged from the Peacock Garden, the young wife clinging to her husband with one hand and pulling their chubby son with the other, a picture of happiness.

"Hey, hubby, let's go boating!" The wife swayed her husband's arm.

The husband glanced at her and said, "Where can you go boating in a zoo?"

"Look, look, it's written on the sign, 'Boating Spot'."

The wife pointed to a wooden sign by the road, its paint bright and clearly new.

"What's so fun about boating? You're an adult, why are you acting like a child?" The husband shook his head, unimpressed.

"Come on, please, I really want to go boating!" The wife cooed and gently shook her husband's arm.

The chubby son joined in, pouting, "Daddy daddy, I want to go boating too, I want to go boating!"

"Ah, I can't with you two, fine, fine, let's go boating... "

...

Outside Tiger Hill, several young students followed the signs to the boating area, heading towards Whisperwind Pavilion.

"I really don't get it, what's so good about boating? Just floating on the water..."

"Well, we're just bored, killing time."

"Then you might as well go boating in the city park, they even have motorboats there, how thrilling! Coming to the zoo just for boating, are you guys sick or something..."

...

At the lakeside of Shuixie Lake at Whisperwind Pavilion, eight boats were lined up, tethered to the small dock by ropes.

There was also a large sign by the dock.

"Self-serve boating, forty per hour, no more than one hour at a time, be safe, no roughhousing allowed!"

The family from outside the Peacock Garden emerged from the woods and the husband, upon seeing the sign, frowned slightly, "What's this 'self-serve boating,' and why is it so expensive? The bumper boats in the city park are only thirty, and they're charging forty here? Forget it, let's not do this!"

"Mom, look, cats!"

The chubby son's attention, however, had been captured by several cats roaming by the lake.

Some of the cats were lounging by the water soaking up the sun, some stood at the water's edge, gingerly reaching a paw into the lake to test the water. And one large black cat sat motionless on a big metal box, eyes wide, vigilantly surveying its surroundings.

Pouting, the wife said, "Oh come on, it's only ten bucks more, we're already here, you're no fun. Look how nice this place is, with hills and water, and cats too!"

"Cats are everywhere, just a few stray cats..."

The husband was somewhat helpless, but couldn't argue with his wife and son, so he relented, "Alright, alright, ten bucks then. Hello, is anyone there? We want to go boating!"

There wasn't a soul around; he called out a few times before a young man in blue work clothes finally ran out from the Fengshui Pavilion.

"Hey, we want to go boating," the husband waved at Suming.

Suming hurried over, "Sorry, I need to run to the Wolf Pen. If you want to boat, just give the money to those cats."

"What? Give money to cats? Did I hear that right?"

The man was stunned and when he came back to his senses, Suming had already gone off in the distance.

He looked at the cats, then at the retreating Suming, and finally turned to his wife in a daze, saying, "That guy's got screws loose, right?"

"Yeah, what does 'give the money to the cats' even mean?" The wife was also puzzled.

But the chubby son innocently put his hand on his hip and pointed at the playful cats not far away, saying in a babyish voice, "You two big dummies, hurry up and give the boating money to those cats over there!"

"Silly son, how can cats take money?" The wife touched her son's head, laughing lovingly.

"This is ridiculous. Let's not bother, since no one's here, we might as well enjoy a free ride."

The husband didn't think too much, saw that indeed there was no one around, and went to untie one of the bumper boats.

As he approached the rental boat, two cats that were playing with water nearby suddenly ran over, blocking his way to the vessel, arching their backs and holding their tails straight up, meowing at him continuously.

"Huh? What's this about? Do they actually want money or something?" The husband was taken aback,

"Meow meow meow meow!"

Miao San and Miao Si also gathered around, standing guard by the mooring rope, and even waved their little paws at him, looking fierce as if they were saying, "This mountain is mine, I planted this tree, no money, no entry!"

"Dad, just give them the money!"

The husband actually took out a fifty and, as if joking, shook it at Miao Yi, then laughed and said to his wife, "I don't believe this cat can actually understand money?"

"You are so bad, deliberately giving a fifty, do you think the cat will give you change for ten?" His wife cooed, gently slapping him on the arm, but her eyes were filled with curiosity as she continued to watch Miao Yi.

Unexpectedly, Miao Yi actually opened his mouth, grabbed the fifty from her husband, and turned to run.

"No way, it took my money and ran?" The husband chuckled in disbelief.

But Miao Yi didn't run far, instead, he stuffed the money into a box beneath the large black cat, Hei, then took another bill from the box and ran back, handing it to her husband.

"Hey! It actually can make change!" The husband stared at the ten-dollar bill in his hand, his eyes nearly falling out of their sockets.

The young wife was laughing so hard she was shaking like a leaf, "Oh, this is too funny, give it another note, let's try again!"

While speaking, she took out a hundred-dollar bill and gave it to Miao Er.

Miao Er did exactly the same and brought back sixty in change.

The family was thrilled, finding this even more entertaining than a circus.

The couple, both young and driven by curiosity, gave money several times, and each time the cats managed to bring back the exact change. Then they began to intentionally take out bills of various denominations to tease the cats.

"Heh, if you give it eight five-dollar notes, it won't recognize them..."

"Let's try again, two ten-dollar notes and a twenty, hahaha, that should confuse them..."

"Wonder if it knows how to handle coins..."

The family was having a blast, and eventually discovered that the cats weren't all-powerful; they could only recognize the same denomination up to three notes, and they would only take forty dollars at a time.

They couldn't figure out different denominations or addition and subtraction; they could only be given a hundred or fifty.

"That's quite reasonable; it shows they are well trained. Otherwise, they'd be supernatural cats!"

No sooner had the husband finished speaking than he slapped his forehead as if remembering something, his expression turning to puzzled doubt, "Hang on, that's not right. We haven't even boarded the boat yet, and these little guys have conned over five hundred from us!"

"Hahaha, we're really a pair of fools!" His wife didn't seem too upset about the money, continuing to record the cats taking the money with her phone, still laughing uncontrollably.

After spending over five hundred, the family's curiosity was finally satisfied, and they stopped teasing the cats, boarding a bumper boat.

The plump son still wanted to play with the cats, but after taking the money, the felines lazily refused to move.

"Greedy little devils!" grumbled the plump son, stretching out his hand to his mother, "Mom, give me fifty bucks!"

The husband glared at him: "Stop it, we've already spent over five hundred, that's enough to buy a cat..."

...

Not long after, the group of students arrived.

"Wow, forty bucks an hour? That's so expensive!"

"We're here now, might as well enjoy it," a girl coaxed.

"Where's the manager, anyone here? We want to row a boat!" the students called out loudly, yet there was no sign of any manager.

On the lake, the chubby son curled his hands into a megaphone shape, leaned over the side of the bumper boat excitedly, and shouted to the students, "Give the money to the cats, give the money to the cats!"

"Huh?" The students looked utterly confused.

"Meow..."