I Faked It All

"My company is in Nanhua city. Contact me if you guys are ever in town. Here's my number."

Zheng Xuan smiled amiably. He introduced himself and talked about his village.

Papa Jiao introduced himself as well. He didn't have a card, so he just gave Zheng Xuan his number. Papa Jiao was leaving in April, so they probably wouldn't be in contact anytime soon. However, exchanging phone numbers still meant they were now acquaintances. Who knew if a chance for cooperation might arise in the future.

Zheng Tan listened to them talk. Zheng Xuan had the same last name as him. He saw the man look at him and could tell he recognized him to be the cat at the graves. His child waved to Zheng Tan. The boy still had the golden rooster in his hand. Zheng Tan ignored the boy. They were off to different places. Zheng Tan thought about Nanhua city and the south in general. He wondered if he would ever get the chance to go back home.

He wanted to see his hometown again. However, Papa Jiao was going abroad soon, so the rest of the family wouldn't be taking any long distance trips in the near future.

The two cars parted ways at an intersection. The Jiaos quickly put the encounter behind them. The world was a fast changing place and it was likely they would never meet again. If they did though, it would be fate.

When they got back to the Eastern quarters, the wintersweets in the yard were still blooming. The kids in the quarters loved these flowers.

Lan Tianzhu was telling Su An that athough Chinese wintersweets and plum blossoms had similar names, they were in fact very different plants. Plum blossoms belonged to the Rosaceae family while wintersweets were of the Calycanthaceae family.

They saw the Jiaos' car and forgot all about flowers. They found Jiao Yuan and started chatting about going to school tomorrow.

Zheng Tan had watched the weather forecast and knew there was about to be snow in the next few days. The kids didn't like this. Biking to school in the snow was a difficult task. The weather was the kind that made people want to stay in bed all day and skip school.

After the school term begun, everyone was busy again. Papa Jiao was preparing to go abroad. He had a lot of work he needed to complete before he could leave. He also needed to worry about Yi Xin and Su Qu. He was only planning to take in one new grad student this year. He couldn't handle too many since he wouldn't be in Chuhua.

Papa Jiao wanted to take in a female grad student that Mama Jiao could call upon for help.

Papa Jiao had received a lot of emails from potential students and had a shortlist ready.

The girl was called Zeng Jing. She was a student in the foreign languages department. Many didn't understand why she chose to study biology in grad school. Though they sometimes got applications from students who majored in something other than biology, they were at least science or engineering majors. They rarely got applications from students who majored in the humanities. Most professors didn't want grad students like that. They preferred those who already had four years of training in their discipline.

Competition was fierce for grad school here at Chuhua University. Su Qu was an anomaly. Most didn't dare to apply unless they scored much higher than the acceptance grade.

Zheng Tan had never met Zeng Jing. He had heard Papa Jiao and Mama Jiao chat about her. Scores hadn't come out yet and Papa Jiao didn't know if she passed or not. He only talked about her briefly. However, Zheng Tan knew Papa Jiao would never accept someone who wasn't up to his standards. This Zeng Jing must have something special about her. Zheng Tan looked forward to meeting her.

He spent two days at home. He had heard nothing about his car and was growing bored. He couldn't stay at home all day sleeping. The weather forecast had said snow, but so far the sky was clear. He decided to go for a walk.

He went to check out Jiao Yuan's school. The windows were covered in mist so he couldn't see what was going on inside. He could only hear the lecture.

He went to Zhong Yan's neighborhood. He was at school, and there didn't appear to be anyone at home. No one lingered outside in this weather so he couldn't eavesdrop on gossip.

He decided to go to Ye Hao's construction site. The site hadn't changed much compared to two weeks ago. Many of the workers were on leave during the holidays.

It was still early, so Zheng Tan wasn't in a hurry to go home. He decided to explore.

Chuhua city was full of old neighborhoods. However, new developments were springing up everywhere, and many of the old neighborhoods faced demolition.

He came to a new neighborhood with buildings that had elevators. The apartment building stood out in the area.

There were wintersweets in the neighborhood and plenty of evergreens. He didn't see a lot of people in the yard. It was a workday, and it was cold. People were either at work or staying warm inside their homes. Winter in Chuhua wasn't cold like in the north, but it was humid. Many newcomers couldn't get used to winters like this at first.

He didn't see any animals around either. He heard dogs barking in the distance but couldn't find another cat.

Suddenly it started raining. He swore and debated between finding shelter or running back to the eastern quarters. He was quite some distance away from home, and unless he ran all the way, he would be soaked by the time he got home.

Before he could make up his mind, it started to hail. He felt it would start snowing very soon.

He decided to find shelter. He didn't want to get wet and it was very uncomfortable running in hail.

He looked around. Most balconies in this neighborhood had wires. He looked around and found a house on the first floor.

He jumped onto the balcony and squeezed between the wires.

The family had left a few empty cardboard boxes in the balcony. They were covered in dust. He perked up his ears. He didn't hear anyone moving inside, so he pulled over a few boxes to block the wind for him.

What bad luck! It had to snow the day he decided to go outside.

He waited for the rain to stop. Then he heard a sound at the door. Someone had come home. He heard footsteps. Zheng Tan adjusted his position. If the owner of the house didn't want him here, he was ready to leave.

A middle-aged man dressed in a black coat opened the door to the balcony. He saw a black cat by the boxes and was slightly shocked.

However, he didn't show any disdain and turned to go back inside.

Zheng Tan heard footsteps and the sound of the microwave.

The man reappeared on the balcony with a cup of warm milk. He placed it in front of Zheng Tan.

'The world was full of kind people!' Zheng Tan couldn't help but think.

However, most people didn't know cats were usually lactose intolerant and couldn't drink milk.

Zheng Tan's stomach could process anything let alone milk. He was cold and could use something warm. He didn't sense any hostility from the man.

However, he decided to be cautious. He licked the milk slowly then looked up and checked outside before sipping the milk again. He pretended to keep an eye out for any danger and repeated his lick and check process until he felt there could be nothing wrong with the man and the drink he offered. He then quickly finished the cup of milk.

The man saw the cat look up whenever someone passed by outside and grinned. "You're a vigilant one aren't you?"

Zheng Tan rolled his eyes. He had faked it all!