What a Dumb Cat

Bian Tou woke up and opened the French doors leading to the balcony. He stretched, breathing in the fresh air.

He looked up at the sun with worry in his eyes.

He held a memory card in his hand. Ever since he saved the list on this card, he had been waiting for a chance to pass the card to his contact. Suspicions were rising and he was among those suspected.

He was now being closely watched. He knew he was bugged and watched at all hours, so he tried his best to hide his anxiousness.

A soft body nestled against his.

"What are you thinking about?" the woman hugging him from behind asked. She was pretty in a sweet, obedient way.

"I'm thinking about when I'll get a job again now that my wounds have healed ."

"You need to rest more. " The women said in a concerned tone.

"I know. I'm just getting restless with too much time on my hands." Bian Tou answered. He had been stabbed in the stomach. The stab was not unavoidable. He had ducked so it wasn't fatal, but still decided to suffer the blow in order to gain the trust of the boss. Judging by his current situation, it had worked.

Ever since the police started a war against the black market, many were turning their business to something into more legal, at least on that was what it looked like on the outside. Yet no matter the format, the game was still the same. The competition was as fierce as ever and everyone played dirty.

The two said sweet words in soft, loving tones, yet their eyes betrayed their words.

"What is that?" Bian Tou looked at the fence.

They lived in a small two-story house with a small backyard that was typical of the area it was in.

The place was rented, but he had dug the pool himself. There were fish in the pool, which was reserved for cats, as those close to Bian Tou would know.

The pool was shallow so the cats couldn't drown.

Strays came to fish every once in a while. People were used to the sight.

Bian Tou stood on the balcony on the second floor. He saw everything.

A black cat jumped over the fence and eyed them cautiously. It hesitated, then seeing they weren't about to move, went over to the pool.

"Another stray," the woman behind Bian Tou said with a frown.

She disliked stray cats. She saw them has a walking fur ball of parasites, skin diseases, and other germs. If she wasn't ordered to watch Bian Tou, she definitely wouldn't choose to live here. The strays alone were enough to drive her crazy.

Zheng Tan stood on the fence and re-checked his target Bian Tou to make sure he got the right man.

He was very pleased with his performance. He felt it was worthy of an Oscar. Compared to house cats, strays were more vigilant, more aggressive and less trusting. He had deliberately shown hesitation when he saw the people on the balcony.

For a stray cat, the number one priority was food. Zheng Tan needed to act the part. Wei Ling had told him there was a fish pond in the yard for cats.

He didn't really want to fish. He didn't like sashimi and never had to eat raw fish as a cat. The other problem was that he didn't actually know how to fish.

He had owners since the first day he woke up as a cat. He never had to worry about food. Even during his time on the streets, he had resorted to stealing instead of fishing. Now his luck had run out and he had to teach himself to fish.

Zheng Tan looked a mess too. If anyone in the Jiao family saw him now, they would be really upset. Poor little Charcoal.

Wei Ling had said makeup was absolutely necessary. Though he had black fur and didn't show stains as easily as cats with lighter furs, his fur was dull and matted. Strands of fur were glued together like clots.

He had to applaud Wei Ling's makeup skills. The 'clots' only existed in places he couldn't lick. They were done with excruciating attention to detail, so as not to raise any suspicion.

After he was finished, Wei Ling had said, "You're too strong to look like a stray without makeup."

Who said strays couldn't be strong?

Zheng Tan remembered the cats he ran into during his time on the streets.

How were cats supposed to survive and fight for food and shelter if they weren't strong?

Not all strays were boney.

Zheng Tan felt like a hobo in rags.

He looked at his reflection in the water and sighed a little cat sigh.

He then saw the small fish swimming around merrily in the water. They weren't the colorful, pretty kind. There were rocks surrounding the pool that allowed cats to stand on and fish.

Zheng Tan knew the people on the second floor were watching him, so he had to act like a normal cat.

He circled around the pond, then stuck a paw in the water. When a fish came near, he sprang.

Nothing.

The fish quickly swam away and blended into a school of fish.

Zheng Tan shook his paw and decided to change locations.

Maybe because the fish here had adapted to constant danger, they were very hard to catch.

Unable to score anything after two tries, Zheng Tan was becoming even more determined. How was he going to call himself a cat if he couldn't catch fish?

A small carp swam close. He caught the chance and struck.

His claw fished his target out of the water and threw it onto the lawn.

The carp flapped its tail helplessly. Zheng Tan shook his paws and headed over.

Standing beside the fish, Zheng Tan was facing a new problem. Now that he caught the fish, what was he to do with it?

Did he have to eat it?

He couldn't. No.

It was a raw fish with organs, fins, and everything, not to mention it was covered in grass and dirt. Who knew what was in the water in the pond. Zheng Tan couldn't eat that even if his life depended on it.

He was picky even by human standards.

Wei Ling rubbed his temples as he observed through binoculars from a nearby building. He remembered the Jiaos telling him Charcoal didn't eat raw fish.

What was the cat going to do now?

He decided to trust the cat, so he went back to observing.

Zheng Tan looked at the fish still flapping on the lawn. He remembered how Tiger and Sheriff would toy with their prey when they weren't hungry. They would wait until the prey was tortured to death and then eat it. Sometimes, they just left the corpse lying around.

That could work, Zheng Tan thought.

He recalled how Tiger played with crickets and threw the fish in the air and caught it in his paws while standing on his hind legs.

The next step was to bite into it but that was too much for Zheng Tan. He decided to rub it instead. However, the fish was slimy and slid right out of his grip.

The carp flew through the air and landed next to the pond. It flapped its tail fin and managed to fall into the water, swimming away before Zheng Tan reached the pool.

Both Bian Tou and Wei Ling were at a loss for words.

Zheng Tan really didn't mean to set the fish free. He had planned to leave it after playing with it for a while. It was a pure accident.

The woman saw this and giggled. "What a dumb cat."

"Maybe it's not hungry and just fished for sport." Bian Tou said. He had seen cats eat their fish after playing with it, while others ran off with it right away. This black cat didn't look like it was hungry, so maybe it fished purely for fun.

The woman looked unconvinced. She never liked stray cats. There were dirty, ugly, hostile, and on top of all of that, this cat was dumb.

She wrinkled her nose impatiently. She turned to go inside when out of the corner of her eye she saw the black cat head towards the house after circling the pond.

Zheng Tan looked at the closed doors and swayed his tail. He jumped onto the window sill to enter through the window.

Windows were doors for cats and this was what happened when people left their doors open.

This had happened before, except that time they forgot to close the actual door. The house was poorly designed and the first floor was always humid, so they had to leave the windows open to air it out.

"Damn! I left some beef out in the kitchen," the woman yelled, darting down the stairs.

Bian Tou followed her. Chaos would definitely follow if he didn't.