On What Grounds?

　　听到沙姐的话,二毛皱眉,心里骂秦涛这货办事不利,面上还是露出笑着跟沙姐道谢,毕竟,沙姐这样也算是卖个好.

Er Mao scrunched his brows together while he listened to sister Sha's words. He swore under his breath at Qin Tao's inability to get things done. On the surface he still wore his smile and thanked sister Sha. Anyways, she was just trying to build up a good relationship.

　　往秦涛订的包房那边走的时候,二毛对郑叹道:"黑煤炭哪,待会儿别乱跑,如果情况不对咱们就直接走算了,不掺合他们."

Going towards Qin Tao's room, Er Mao told Zheng Tan: "Charcoal, don't run around later, if things don't go well, we're leaving. There's no reason for us to stay."

　　在二毛眼里,郑叹虽然智商高了那么一点,但不管怎么说也只是一只普通的猫而已,沙姐口中的"大些的猫"以及"不好惹"让二毛心里嘀咕,那类大猫貌似一般都不太好相处,还野性十足.

In Er Mao's eyes, Zheng Tan was a cat with higher intelligience, but no matter what, he was still a normal cat. The "larger" and "should not be trifled with" cat that sister Sha had mentioned worried him. He muttered to himself. Those larger cats were generally harder to get along with and they were often more wild.

　　侍者带着二毛往秦涛订的包厢那边走,郑叹则站在包里,看着这周围的情形.会所这层楼好像都是年轻人,走道的灯光调得有些暧昧,郑叹看到有几对男女旁若无人地在那里亲热,周围经过的人要么吹几声口哨,要么就像是没看见一般,淡定地走过.很显然,他们早已经适应了这里的风格.

One of the waiters led Er Mao in the direction of Qin Tao's room. While Zheng Tan was still carried in the bag, he peeked out to take in all his surroundings. The top floor of the club was full of young people. The lights in the hall gave off a dubious feeling and Zheng Tan saw a few couples acting intimate, completely ignorant of their surroundings. People who walked pass would either give a whistle or calmly walk by without batting an eye. They were obviously very used to such an environment.

　　或许正因为灯光的原因,很多经过的人都没有注意到郑叹的存在,再说郑叹呆在包里就露出个猫头,存在感也差,那些年轻男女们"忙"得很,如果是个身材火辣的美女还能吸引点注意力,但没谁会花功夫去注意一只猫.

Perhaps it was due to the lighting, but none of the young people there noticed Zheng Tan. Without saying, having a cat's head stick out of a bag didn't necessarily provide the best presence. These young people were "pre-occupied". If there was a hot babe that had walked by, their attention would be drawn to her, but no one would put in any effort to notice a cat.

　　"就是这儿了."侍者示意.

"This is it." The waiter indicated.

　　二毛打开门进去,郑叹被背在身后,看不到里面的情形,不过能够从耳朵听到的声音猜出这里面的情况.

Er Mao opened the door and went in. Zheng Tan was on his back, so he couldn't see what was going on in the room. But from what he heard, he could make a few guesses.

　　年轻人们聚在一起总喜欢唱唱跳跳,也放得开一些.

When young people hung together, they would often be found singing and dancing together to have fun and let loose.

　　二毛进门的时候,坐得离门比较近的人看了他一眼,估计不认识,也没在意.

When Er Mao arrived at the room, the people that were near the door gave him a glance but because of their unfamiliarity, they showed him no interest.

　　二毛进门第一件事不是找秦涛或者看里面各种风格的妞,而是找沙姐说的那只大猫.只是不知道是不是人太多挡住了视线以及室内的光线问题,二毛没发现那只猫.

Er Mao's first task after heading in wasn't to look for Qin Tao or to check out all the pretty chicks that were here. It was to look for that cat that sister Sha talked about. Maybe it was due to the lighting, but Er Mao just couldn't pinpoint the cat.

　　秦涛注意到门那边,见进来的是二毛之后立马跑过来,搭着肩膀对二毛道:"走走走,给你介绍几个多才多艺的女大学生!"

When Qin Tao noticed Er Mao at the door, he quickly ran over and slung his arm around Er Mao's shoulder and said: "Let's go, I'll introduce you to some amazing university girls!"

　　没等秦涛走两步,就被二毛拉到一旁,"你还找了一只大猫过来?!"

Without allowing Qin Tao take another step, Er Mao pulled him to the side, "You got a large cat to come as well?!"

　　"啊?哦,这事啊,我也是刚才才知道的,那是一朋友养的,我也不知道她会把她家的猫带来啊."

"Ah? Oh, the thing is. I only just found out about it too. It's raised by a friend. I didn't know that she would be bringing her cat as well."

　　秦涛和二毛在旁边说话,室内的人也因为秦涛的关系注意到二毛,看他俩这样子就知道关系相当不错,绝对不是泛泛之交.顿时一些人在心里就思量开了.

Qin Tao and Er Mao became immersed in their discussion. Seeing the two of them talking, people in the room began to take notice of Er Mao and realized their relationship was nothing like that of mere acquaintances. People around the room started to think over this strong relationship.

　　而由于二毛的角度转换,郑叹改而面对着室内的那一群人.

With Er Mao's change in positioning, Zheng Tan finally got a good look at the interior space of the room.

　　"哎呀!又一只猫诶!"不知道是谁出声叫道.

"Aiyoo! There's another cat!" Someone from within the room hollard.

　　"哪儿呢?"

"Where?"

　　"背包装着."

"In the backpack."

　　"还真是..."

"Really..."

　　嘭!

Bang!

　　门被大力推开,一个头发染得五颜六色的女孩子走了进来,破洞牛仔裤加上机车服,还有面上那跟鬼似的浓妆,和这里其他女孩子的装束形成强烈反差.不过,大家似乎对这个女孩子很熟悉,没说什么,还有些要避着的意思.

The door was forcefully slammed open. A girl with multi-coloured hair walked in. She wore ripped jeans and a biker jacket and finished off her look with layers of heavy makeup. This appearance of hers drew a large gap between herself and the other girls in the room. However, most people in the room seemed to know the girl relatively well but no one said anything. Some altogether tried to avoid her.

　　"唐彩,唱歌吗?"刚唱完一曲的女孩子问进来的人.

"Tang Cai, wanna sing?" The girl who just finished a song, approached the new arrival.

　　秦涛的新女朋友是音乐学院的在读生,今天他女朋友的同学也来了一些,多半时候都是她们在唱歌,刚说话的就是秦涛他女朋友.不得不说,科班出身的唱起来正规多了,郑叹想,难怪刚才那歌听着还挺舒服.

Qin Tao's new girlfriend was a student from the music faculty. She had brought along a few of her good friends with her to this party. For the past while, it had been only her who had been singing. The one who just spoke was Qin Tao's girlfriend. Needless to say, the singing of someone in a music program was all the more legitimate. It suddenly hit Zheng Tan. No wonder that song she just sang felt so nice.

　　秦涛他女朋友问这话其实也是出于好意,她不出声的话,唐彩就真被边缘化了.但是,显然秦涛他女朋友对唐彩还不够了解.

Qin Tao's girlfriend asked this question very sincerely. If she didn't say anything, Tang Cai would probably be completely segregated. But it was obvious that Qin Tao's girlfriend wasn't too familiar with Tang Cai.

　　那个叫唐彩的女孩子并不领情,挥开递过来的麦,"我唱不唱关你屁事!"

That Tang Cai girl showed no appreciation, and waved away the mic, "What damn business do you have whether I sing!"

　　一开口就像吃了火药似的.

It was a like she ate gunpowder the moment she opened her mouth.

　　"那就是我表妹,唐彩."秦涛小声对二毛说到,然后示意二毛赶紧将猫递过去,"快点,没看我女朋友表情都僵硬了吗?!"

"That's my cousin sister Tang Cai." Qin Tao whispered to Er Mao in a low voice. He motioned for Er Mao to hurry up and give her the bag. "Quickly, don't you see that stiff look on my girlfriend's face?"

　　唐彩今天的心情相当不好,坐在靠边的沙发上,顾自点上一支烟.看了看袖子上一条爪痕,唐彩更烦躁了,要不是这袖子挡着,手臂上肯定会出现抓伤.

Tang Cai was in a foul mood today as well. She plopped down onto the sofa and lit up a cigarette. She looked at the long scratch mark along her sleeve and it instantly made her mood go sour. If the sleeve hadn't blocked it, she would've gotten a scratch wound down her arm.

　　女孩子抽烟的并不多,尤其是像唐彩这种,一看就不是个好脾气的,难怪她周围相邻的几个位子都空着,没谁蠢到过来这里找骂.

There weren't too many girls who would smoke. Especially for girls like Tang Cai, one look at her and you could tell she was constantly in a foul mood. It was no wonder the few seats around her were all empty. No one was dumb enough to ask for it.

　　"哎,唐彩,有个事找你帮个忙."秦涛拉着二毛往这边走.

"Ah, Tang Cai, there's something I need you to help me with." Qin Tao dragged Er Mao along with him.

　　"没空!"唐彩看都没看秦涛,继续抽烟,不知道在想什么.

"I'm busy!" Tang Cai didn't even bother looking at Qin Tao and continued to smoke. It was hard to discern what she was thinking about.

　　"我不管,你得帮忙照看,我带我兄弟去认识几个人."说着秦涛就将二毛的包抓过来往唐彩那边扔."

"Not my problem. You have to help watch this. I need to introduce my bro here to some people." As Qin Tao said this he threw Er Mao's backpack towards Tang Cai.

　　"你聋了吗?!我说了我没..."唐彩话声戛然而止,接到秦涛扔过来的背包她还准备甩回去的,没想到直接就对上一双猫眼,这也是让她止住话声的原因.

"Are you deaf?! I said that I don't ….." Tang Cai's instantly stopped speaking. After catching the backpack, she was prepared to throw it back. But didn't a pair of cat eyes to pear out of the bag. This instantly silenced her.

　猫?

Cat?

　　唐彩当即就僵在那里.

Tang Cai froze.

　　就这么被扔过来,郑叹在心里问候秦涛他祖宗几句,然后便仔细观察起面前这个女孩来.妆太浓,将本来的相貌都遮掩下去了,嘴巴都涂成深紫色,夹着烟的手指指甲涂了黑色的指甲油...

To be thrown in such a way, Zheng Tan sent his respects to Qin Tao's ancestors. He then looked back up to observe this girl. Heavy makeup that covered up her natural features, a purple lip, and the hand she held her cigarette with had nails painted pitch black...

　　看着确实不像个好女孩.

She was no good girl.

　　但是,就像秦涛所说的,唐彩一见到猫,这脾气就压制下去了,仿佛一个浑身长着尖刺逮谁刺谁的刺猬,在见到郑叹之后,立马就将那身刺给收了起来.

But it was just as Qin Tao said, as soon at Tang Cai saw a cat, her temper dissipated. She was like a hedgehog. She would spike anyone who she could get her hands on, but after seeing Zheng Tan, she instantly retracted her spines.

　　郑叹感觉不到唐彩身上的恶意,虽然面前这个女孩子看着就像电视上的那些"魔头",但直觉是不会错的.

Zheng Tan couldn't feel any ill intent coming from this girl. Though she did look like those "devils" on TV, his gut feeling was never wrong.

　　扒开背包的拉链,郑叹从背包里走出来,他抬头就能碰到唐彩的胸部.郑叹打量了下,还挺大,如果他抬爪子踩上去,想唐彩也不会介意,反正现在自己只是一只猫嘛,谁会跟一只猫计较这么多.

Pawing down the backpack's zipper, Zheng Tan walked out of the bag. As he raised his head, he hit her breasts. Zheng Tan measured with his eyes. It was pretty big. If he decided to put a paw up, Tang Cai probably wouldn't care. Anyways, he was a cat now, who would really be bothered to argue with a cat.

　　不过,想归想,没摸清这女孩的脾气之前,郑叹还是选择安分点.从唐彩腿上走到旁边沙发垫,然后就蹲在旁边,看着房间里的其他人.

He took a minute to run through this idea. However, without properly understanding this girl's temper, he'd better conduct himself well. From Tang Cai's leg, he moved on to the next cushion on the couch, settled down, and continued to watch the room full of people.

　　秦涛的眼光不错,里面美女不少,有清纯型也有妩媚型,而有意思的是那些人的小心思,觥筹交错间很多细小的地方就能看出来,或许旁观者清的原因,郑叹看得挺有意思.

Qin Tao had a pretty good eye, there were a number of beautiful girls, both the pure and the charming type. The interesting part was that these people's thoughts could be easily read from the small movements in their interactions. Maybe it was due to the quietness of the room, but Zheng Tan thought the entire situation was quite intriguing.

　　唐彩将手指夹着的烟扔进烟灰缸,然后从兜里掏出湿纸巾擦了擦夹烟的手指,而她现在的一举一动都透着些小心,似乎生怕把身边的这只猫给惊跑了.虽然在五分钟前,唐彩在洗手间差点被那只豹纹猫给抓伤,刚才在见到这只黑猫的时候她有一瞬间的紧张,但这并不影响她对猫的喜爱.

Tang Cai threw the cigarette she previously held into the ash tray, then brought out a wet wipe to clean the fingers that touched the cigarette. Every single action was now conducted with a certain delicacy, as if she was worried that she might scare away the cat that was currently beside her. Even though just five minutes before, Tang Cai had almost been scratched by the leopard spotted cat. The incident caused her to tense up, but it didn't dampen her love for cats.

　　郑叹正看着室内那些人互动,突然耳朵有点痒,他知道是唐彩轻戳了他耳郭那儿的毛一下,弹了弹耳朵,没在意.

Zheng Tan still observed the interaction between everyone in the room. Suddenly, he felt a sudden itch behind his ears. He could tell that Tang Cai lightly poked at the fur behind his ears. He flicked his ears but wasn't too bothered.

　　没见郑叹伸爪子,唐彩放心了些,伸手指到郑叹的下巴处,挠起来,也注意着不让自己的长指甲伤到这只黑猫.

Seeing that Zheng Tan didn't bring out his claws, Tang Cai felt a wave of relief. She brought a finger under Zheng Tan's chin and started to scratch. She made sure to pay attention to her nails and that she didn't harm this black cat.

　　郑叹看了唐彩一眼,回头继续注意那边的人,有人开始试探二毛了,很显然他们并不清楚二毛的身份背景,秦涛也没跟他们说过.

Zheng Tan looked back at Tang Cai, then returned to looking at the room full of people. It was obvious that they didn't know about Er Mao, nor his background. Looks like Qin Tao never mentioned it to them.

　　秦涛给二毛介绍自己朋友的时候,抽空看了眼唐彩那边,见唐彩果然一副没刺的刺猬样,顿时感觉那一万块钱也没白费.

After introducing Er Mao to his friends, Qin Tao took a quick glance back at Tang Cai. As he thought, she looked like a spineless hedgehog. Instantly he felt that the 10 thousand was well spent.

　　"咦,你们又在玩什么?"一个十七八岁的女孩子走了进来.

"Hey, what are you guys all doing?" a seven-eighteen-year-old girl walked into the room.

　　郑叹看过去,视线扫过,然后定在那女孩子身边的豹纹猫身上.

Zheng Tan looked over, sweeping his gaze and finally landed on the leopard spotted cat who stood beside the girl.

　　眯了眯眼,郑叹仔细盯着那只豹纹猫,听沙姐说起来的时候,他还疑惑到底是谁呢,这货...不就是方三请客的那里袭击自己不成反而被自己一巴掌抽翻的那只吗?现在又神气起来了?

Flicking open his eyes, Zheng Tan took a hard stare at the leopard spotted cat. When he heard sister Sha talking about this cat, he wondered who it could be. He didn't expect it to be this idiot...wasn't that one time at Fang's dinner where this cat had tried to attack him and instead earned a good beating? Was his enthusiasm back now?

　　看那小样,拽兮兮的.

Look at that thing, he's acting all superior now.

　　拽个蛋!

Hah! As if!

　　就凭这货能给自己带来威胁?

On what grounds does he think he could bring any threats?

　　不是郑叹吹,他能抽翻那丫一次,就能抽翻第二次,第三次...

It wasn't that Zheng Tan was being obnoxious. But, if he could beat up that cat once, he could do it twice, and a third time...

　　进来的女孩子正在跟人炫耀她家的猫怎么蹲马桶,在某几个人有心的暗示下,她看向唐彩那边.而那只豹纹猫原本想从茶几上叼块肉干吃,肉干没叼到,倒也注意到郑叹了.

The girl who came in started showing off how her cat knew how to use the toilet. With a few indications from the people she was talking to, she looked over at Tang Cai. That leopard spotted cat was in the process of sneaking a chunk a meat off the table. But without even getting a bite, he caught sight of Zheng Tan.

　　一时室内的气氛有些怪异,一些人看了看那只豹纹猫,又看看淡定地蹲在唐彩旁边的黑猫.他们面上表现出担心的样子,但心里可兴奋着,就等着看场好戏.

All of a sudden, the air in the room became tense. Some people looked at the leopard spotted cat then glanced back at the calmly positioned black cat beside Tang Cai. They formed worried expressions, but inside they were excited. Looks the fun was about to happen.

　　二毛和秦涛都准备让那女孩将豹纹猫带走,这是进门的时候二毛跟秦涛说好的.

Er Mao and Qin walked over to ask the girl to take her leopard spotted cat away. The two of them agreed to this at the door.

　　唐彩也紧张,她可领教过那只豹纹猫的脾气,要不是自己反应快了一点,手臂绝对得见血.

Tang Cai was also nervous. She had encountered the temper of the leopard spotted cat. If it wasn't for her quick reflexes, her arm would've seen blood.

　　只是,还没等他们出声,那只豹纹猫就突然拱起身体,双耳往后压平,全身的毛竖起,张开嘴发出低吼,像是警惕着什么危险事物,并没有像其他人心想的那样立刻就冲上去.

However, before the two guys could say anything, the leopard spotted cat suddenly arched it's back, pressed its ears back onto his head, while all it's fur stood up. It let out a deep growl, as if alerting everyone of it something dangerous. He didn't rush in to attack as everyone had expected.

　　周围人懵了,怎么感觉...这反应...反了吧?

The surrounding people were all dumbstruck. Why...this reaction...shouldn't it be reversed?

　　不应该是那只黑的炸毛,然后这只豹纹大猫优雅走过去抽巴掌吗?

Shouldn't it be the black cat whose fur would stand on its end, and the large, graceful cat be the one who'd go over and establish dominance?

　　只有郑叹知道,这货认出自己了.

But, only Zheng Tan knew. The idiot finally recognized him.

　　有人觉得,猫的记忆力不行,但其实,很多时候来说,它们能很轻易忘记的,都是它们不在意的东西.郑叹在焦爸订阅的一本杂志上见过相关的描述.上面说,猫不仅具有长期性的记忆,而且具有情绪影像映射.猫和其他哺乳动物一样通过学习获得经验,不论好于坏的记忆都是由各种活动和接触的经历所带来.一只猫的短期记忆也许只是转瞬即逝,但它们的长期记忆却相当的惊人.

Some people assume that cats have terrible memory. Truth is, the things they forget are what they don't deem important. On the subscription magazine that Zheng Tan had gotten from Papa Jiao, he read an article about such things. It wrote that not only did cat have good long-term memory, they also had emotional image mapping. Cats and other mammals alike had gained such experience through learning. Regardless of positive or negative memories, it was all through different activities and exposure to the experiences that had brought forth such things. Cat's may have fleeting short term memory, but their long-term memory was quite an amazing feat.

　　再说了,这只豹纹猫也算是精心培育出来的品种,可能会有遗传学上所说的"杂种优势",记忆力强点也有可能.

Furthermore, this leopard spotted cat was a carefully raised breed. It might have inherited the so called" heterosis" and received a strong memory trait.

　　又或许是当初挨的那一巴掌太深刻,这只豹纹猫每次跟其他猫打架的时候都会想到自己被抽翻的那一巴掌,以及那只看起来并不算太大的黑猫.

Or, it could be that the incident of being beat of had left such a deep scar. Every single time this leopard spotted cat had picked a fight with other cats, he probably always remembered the the one time he got beaten up. And it happened to be by a black cat smaller than himself.

　　郑叹眯着眼睛,看着那只豹纹猫在那里炸毛低吼,自己则仍旧淡定地蹲在沙发垫软垫子上面.察觉到旁边唐彩的紧张,郑叹抬了抬下巴,往唐彩手指上蹭了一下,示意唐彩继续挠.爷正爽着呢,懒得去理会那货.

Zheng Tan opened his eyes and viewed the leopard spotted cat. It had its fur up on ends and hissed. He, on the other end just stayed calmly in his current position on the couch. He could feel that Tang Cai was nervous, so he raised his chin and bumped Tang Cai's finger, indicating that he wanted her to continue scratching. This master[1] was just in the mood, he wasn't bothered to acknowledge that idiot.

　　秦涛用手肘撞了撞旁边的二毛:"我说兄弟,不对劲啊,怎么那只大的像是很忌惮似的."

Qin Tao jabbed Er Mao with his arm: "Bro, this doesn't look right. What's the big one doing all scared?"

　　二毛抬手指抠了抠扯动的嘴角,"可能它被揍过吧."

Er Mao lifted his finger and scratched the corner of his lip, "Probably got himself beat up."