Nothing To Do But Cry

It was January. The Jiao family had a new calendar in the living room.

During the past year, Zheng Tan had gone through a lot, met a lot of people, and experienced all kinds of emotional rollercoasters. However, when he thought about it, he spent most of last year napping. He was a cat after all.

He yawned and jumped off a tree.

It was winter break, and all the middle schoolers and primary school students were home on holiday. Youzi was doing her homework while Jiao Yuan was off playing somewhere. Last year, Papa and Mama Jiao didn't go back to their hometown for Chinese New Year because of Mama Jiao's accident. Jiao Yuan felt that the holiday spirit wasn't very strong in Chuhua city. Zheng Tan didn't know what strong holiday spirit meant, but he still looked forward to going back to that small town.

He wondered how the little guy he saved from the human traffickers was doing. Still, he prayed he wouldn't run into the baby again. A child was a child. Zheng Tan looked around the quarters. Fatty was off visiting relatives with his owner. Tiger and Sheriff had their eyes on a bird and were ignoring a grey magpie jumping around them. The bird they had their eyes on was rarer. They saw magpies all the time and lost interest in hunting them.

Zheng Tan was not fond of hunting birds. He planned to take a walk near the construction site after lunch. He could take a shortcut by leaving campus through the side gate like he did that time with Nougat. However, he wanted to check on Zhong Yan.

He hadn't been over there for a while and hadn't seen Zhong Yan since last time. 12th graders were busy. Their school let them off only once a month. Other days, they had to be there early in the morning and leave late at night. Zheng Tan stayed home in the mornings and at night, so there was little chance of them running into each other. Zhong Yan was on his monthly break now.

It was a cold, cloudy day, and maybe because of this, Zheng Tan didn't see many cats around. It was very quiet near Jiao Yuan's school.

He came to Zhong Yan's neighborhood and looked at his window. There didn't appear to be anyone home. He couldn't hear voices.

Oh well.

Zheng Tan left and headed down an alleyway to the construction site.

It had been almost three weeks since he had been here with Zhong Yan and the area had changed a great deal. The buildings hadn't been constructed, but the area was full of piles of brick and half torn buildings. A blue board fence had been put up.

Zheng Tan looked at the posters on the board. He saw the name of Ye Hao's company. He wanted to find a spot where he could see the whole area but couldn't find one. A suitable billboard had been moved away.

Construction sites were dangerous places for a cat. Cats were an acceptable protein for workers. However, Zheng Tan wasn't too worried. If anyone had their sights on him, he didn't mind making a huge fuss. Ye Hao would punish whoever touched him. Ye Hao's support was what gave him the guts to stand here in plain sight.

He didn't want to make trouble though. He just wanted to see the area change bit by bit. Papa Jiao always said it was good to see new things. New things and new experiences made up memories and slowed down time. Zheng Tan had included this area into his walking zone and would come over here when he had nothing to do.

He was still searching for an observation spot when he heard someone call Zhong Yan's name. The person spoke in dialect, so Zheng Tan wasn't very sure it was Zhong Yan's name he heard. He decided to check. He knew Zhong Yan wanted to come here to work during his winter break.

The voice came from behind a truck near the fence. He jumped on top of the truck and saw a few workers had gathered near a temporary resting area to eat their boxed lunches. Among them was Zhong Yan.

He wore the same uniform and hard hat as the other workers. He looked dirty and was eating his lunch sitting on a rock. He chatted with the other workers between bites. Brother Ning was there too. No one would bully Zhong Yan if brother Ning looked after him.

Zhong Yan stuffed his mouth with food. The boxed lunches didn't taste very good, and there was dust in the food. It was always like that on the constructions site. It only took a moment for clean food to become covered in dust. It was a windy day too. They had to move stuff out of the resting room, and the small room was now full of dust, which was why they were eating outside.

When you're hungry, everything tastes OK. They were busy today, and lunchtime had to be pushed back, so everyone was starving. No one had time to fuss over dust.

Zhong Yan caught sight of Zheng Tan when he was eating. The truck was higher than the fence so he could see the black cat looking his way.

He quickly finished his food then threw away the box. He said something to brother Ning then came out to meet Zheng Tan.

The truck was leaving so Zheng Tan was planning to go home soon. He didn't expect to see Zhong Yan. The boy was coming his way, so he jumped into the construction site.

The actual construction hadn't begun yet, so the site looked bare.

"Fancy seeing you here." Zhong Yan recognized the black cat. He had seen many black cats, but this one left a deep impression on him. He hadn't seen this cat in a while.

"This cat's back again," Brother Ning came over and said.

"Again?"

"Yes. This cat had been over here several times this past month. Before we took down that billboard over there, this cat would sit on top of it and supervise the site." Brother Ning smiled. His colleagues had suggested they catch the cat and turn it into a dish several times. However, he recognized it and told them to forget about it.

"It's dangerous for cats to be in plain sight around here. People who work here are not afraid to kill a cat. Thankfully I'm in charge of this area, or it would have become food a long time ago," Brother Ning said.

Zheng Tan glared at brother Ning, then went back to surveying the site.

The glare made Brother Ning, who had been smiling, uncomfortable. He somehow felt disdain in that glare. Were cats capable of giving him a look of disdain?

He shook his head. He felt he must have been working too hard lately and was having hallucinations. It was only a cat.

A few trucks were coming this way to load things, and dust flew all around them. There was still a bit of time left before lunch break ended, so Zhong Yan took Zheng Tan to the resting room. He poured a cup of water for Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan looked at the disposable cup then at the water machine. It seemed clean enough. He was thirsty after running around for so long.

He drank the water and looked around the room. There was nothing special inside this room. The air was terrible though.

"Isn't this the supervisor-like cat?" someone saw Zheng Tan and asked. He felt it was a waste pouring cat water from the water machine, but Zhong Yan had brother Ning's support, and he didn't want to raise a fuss over such a small issue.

Someone threw Zheng Tan a fishtail which he ignored.

"This cat doesn't even eat fish?"

"It's spoiled. Just don't give it food for two days. It will eat it," someone else said.

"Zhong, is this your cat?"

"No. It's my neighbor's." Zhong Yan didn't say any more. He didn't actually know where this cat came from.

As they were talking, someone came inside with a large plastic bottle. His uniform was slightly different.

"Li, we don't have a lot of water here either. The supplier won't come until the afternoon. You can only take one-third of a bottle." Brother Ning came inside as well.

Li was in his forties and worked in a different area than Zhong Yan. He wasn't afraid of brother Ning. He knew people up high and didn't respect most of the people here.

He entered the room and saw Zhong Yan feeding cat water from a cup and immediately had something to say.

"You guys give a cat clean water, and you say you don't have a lot of water left. I think that's not true. In that case, I'll help myself. Are you guys keeping the cat for food? Remember to tell me when you guys cook it. I wouldn't mind some."

Li came to the water machine and started filling his bottle. He was set on filling the container. Everyone would have to work in thirst if did so. Brother Ning tried to stop him.

"What? Am I less worthy than a cat? What do you mean I can only take one-third of a bottle? Ning, if you ask me..."

He was berating Ning in front of his men. However, brother Ning was not a hot head anymore. He stopped Zhong Yan who about to explain and the other men who were about to argue. He knew Li. If they talked, it would only make the situation worse.

Brother Ning took a deep breath. He knew people up high too or else he wouldn't be made the supervisor of this area. However, he didn't plan to escalate things.

Before he could say anything, someone outside called his name.

Brother Ning and Li's face changed when they heard the voice. Li quickly put down his bottle, then patted dust off his uniform. He went out to greet the person with a huge smile.

Before Ning went outside, he motioned to his men. They had all been working together for quite some time and understood immediately. The men, who looked like they were ready to beat Li a moment ago, immediately all put on a pleasant face.

Zhong Yan didn't know what was going on until someone told him to look sharp.

"Zhong, the cat!"

So the boss was here?

Zhong Yan remembered what brother Ning had told him and planned to stuff Zheng Tan into a box.

Zheng Tan ducked under the table to avoid Zhong Yan's hand.

It was too late. The people outside had entered the room.

The first to enter was a man in his forties. He was talking to people next to him and asking about their progress. It was him who called brother Ning's name earlier.

Was this the boss?

He looked amiable enough. Zhong Yan was slightly nervous. He knew it was foolish to judge a book by its cover and first impressions were often wrong. He wished the man would leave quickly.

Sadly, that did not happen.

Everyone came inside. Brother Ning and Li both had a respectful look on their faces and were choosing their words with great care.

The man who was surrounded in the middle was the boss.

Zhong Yan knew at first glance he was much less amiable than the person ahead of him. He was smiling, but Zhong Yan instinctively felt the pleasantness was a facade.

What would he do?

Zhong Yan stood on the side with his head down and tried to hide the cat behind him. However, Zheng Tan wasn't cooperating.

He had heard the group talk outside. Even though Long Qi only said one sentence, Zheng Tan recognized his voice. He knew though Long Qi would like to avoid him at all cost, he wouldn't harm him.

Everyone inhaled when Zheng Tan jumped on top of the table.

F*ck! This cat was a troublemaker!

Brother Ning regretted letting Zhong Yan take the cat inside.

Li took the chance to say, "There's a black cat here. I saw someone feeding it clean water from the water machine earlier."

Long Qi's smile vanished when he saw Zheng Tan.

There was nothing to do but cry. That was the first sentence that popped into Long Qi's mind. He was angry and deeply regretted coming here today.

He tried to control his expression. After all, there were a lot of people here today and he didn't want his image to shatter.