Jiao Yuan’s class was immersed in the joy of being first in points. The kids wanted to celebrate at Jiao Wei’s family’s restaurant. Xiong Xiong missed the food there.

Jiao Yuan’s gang, Shi Rui, Fu Lei and some of the other kids in the class planned to go to the restaurant together. Their parents had agreed and Papa Jiao volunteered to chaperone the children so their parents didn’t all have to come.

Xiong Xiong had gone to the washroom. The rest of the kids waited for him outside the gate.

Zheng Tan was sitting on the fence. Jiao Yuan’s little group was chatting about how to use the prize money their teacher had awarded them. The money came from the class fee so they obviously couldn’t use it to pay for dinner. So far, they were planning to use it to buy a basketball and a soccer ball.

“Let’s buy badminton sets too. They don’t have to be nice,” Shi Rui added. The girls didn’t play basketball or soccer. They preferred badminton and volleyball.

Some of the teachers stopped to talk to Mama Jiao. They caught sight of Zheng Tan before they left and asked Mama Jiao, “Is that your cat?”

“Yes. We brought him here for the tournament,” Mama Jiao said.

“No wonder.” The teachers left.

Papa Jiao asked what she meant. Mama Jiao explained to him what happened during the opening ceremony. Papa Jiao shook his head. Which other cat had the guts to jump onto the wall behind the commander’s post whilst being watched by so many pairs of eyes?

Xiong Xiong joined the group. Papa Jiao handed him his backpack and the bottle of juice his mother left him.

“Let’s go, kids,” Papa Jiao said to the group.

The kids all rode their bikes. Those who didn’t have bikes, like Fu Lei, got rides from their classmates. Mama Jiao rode her bike too. Papa Jiao didn’t drive today, the street was narrow and there were bound to be a lot of people, so parking would be difficult. He rode his scooter instead.

Papa Jiao led the way on his scooter, Youzi riding with him. Zheng Tan sat in the basket of the scooter. He rested his chin on the edge of the basket.

“Hey Jiao Yuan, your cat is so nice. I have a cat too. Whenever I put him in the basket of my bike, he fidgets like I put him in confinement. Even if I manage to get him to sit still, he jumps out the moment the bike started moving. We have to take him to the vet in a cage every time. By the way, what brand of cat food do you feed your cat? He looks strong,” a friend of Jiao Yuan’s asked. He was in the relay as well.

“Our cat is special. He doesn’t eat cat food so we just feed him what we eat.” Jiao Yuan paused before saying, “I don’t think he takes food from strangers though.”

Jiao Yuan wasn’t quite sure of it, though he never saw his cat take food from other people.

Fu Lei agreed with him, “He didn’t eat the fish head I gave him last time.”

“Can your cat catch mice?” the classmate asked.

“Of course!”

The kids chatted all the way. They went from “whose cat was better” to “how to avoid splashing water when you pooped”.

The restaurant wasn’t far thankfully. Papa Jiao’s phone had run out of power so Mama Jiao had called ahead to mention they were coming. Jiao Wei’s father agreed and told them to come whenever they were ready.

When they got there, they saw Jiao Wei’s father had closed the restaurant just for them.

Jiao Wei had told his parents why they didn’t need to pay the “sanitation fee” anymore. He didn’t mention the part Zheng Tan played in it and thanked mostly Wei Ling and Papa Jiao. His parents were very grateful and wanted to show their gratitude. They closed the restaurant so the kids could have a great celebratory party.

“Where’s Jiao Wei?” Papa Jiao asked.

“He joined some club and is working on who knows what. He didn’t go to bed last night until this morning and is probably still in his dorm. He said he was coming, though.” Jiao Wei’s mother wiped off the water on her hands with her apron.

Zheng Tan was sitting on a chair between Shi Rui and Youzi. They were playing cards with Mama Jiao. Jiao Yuan and the boys were standing outside chatting by their bikes. Even Fu Lei, who seldom talked, looked like he was enjoying himself.

Zheng Tan lost interest in what they were saying very quickly. It was much more fun watching the girls play cards.

Papa Jiao chatted with Jiao Wei’s parents before coming over. He said to Mama Jiao, “We probably won’t start eating for at least a quarter of an hour. I’ll go get my charger. We need to drop all the kids off at home later and I’m worried Yuanzi won’t be able to get in touch with me in an emergency.”

Mama Jiao was focused on the cards in her hand but nodded her acknowledgment.

Zheng Tan jumped off the chair and followed Papa Jiao outside. It was boring in here so he might as well go with Papa Jiao.

When they enter the eastern quarters, Zheng Tan heard a familiar voice immediately. He also saw someone he knew under a tree.

When he just got back, Mama Jiao took him to the residential quarters of the hospital staff. This person lived there. His name was Bai Yang or something and Papa Jiao wanted him to come work at their bio firm. They managed to get him eventually with the promise of a high salary. Zheng Tan didn’t know the details and hadn’t seen the man for a long time.

Bai Yang was having a bad day. He had to work on a Saturday for starters. When he came here to discuss something with Professor Jiao, he realized he hadn’t brought his cell phone. He had left it at work. He remembered Professor Jiao’s phone number but when the guard at the door tried to call him, the line was busy. The guard said a lot of the people went to a sports tournament at Chuhau middle school and won’t be back until dinner.

Bai Yang decided to wait.

Ever since he started raising his girlfriend’s cat, he felt closer to other cats too. He would stop to play with cats on the street sometimes and always got positive feedback. When he was waiting, a cat came out from behind the flower bed. It wasn’t one of the eastern quarter cats though.

He plucked a stalk of grass and started beckoning the cat over. When it got close, it looked up then suddenly ran away like it saw a monster.

Bai Yang heard a noise and looked up as well. A blue parrot with yellow-rimmed eyes looked down at him from a tree branch.

The cat was gone but the parrot got his attention. Bai Yang looked around. He didn’t see its owner.

Many parrots knew how to say “hello” and “goodbye”, so Bai Yang looked at the parrot and said, “Hello!”

The parrot cocked its head sideways then replied, “Hello!”

Bai Yang found this interesting. He had seen people teach birds to talk at the market. This was the first time he saw it in person though.

“Hello,” he said again.

The bird replied as well.

“What’s your name?” Bai Yang asked. He didn’t expect the bird to understand him. To his surprise, the parrot responded.

“What’s your name?” The blue parrot repeated his words.

Bai Yang laughed.

“My name is Bai Yang,” he answered while fully expecting the parrot to repeat after him.

Sadly, he was wrong.

The blue parrot shook its wings. If Zheng Tan was here, he would know what it intended on doing.

Immediately, the parrot started singing.

“A small poplar tree (note 1)~beside the sential~watching over the northern lands~~”

Bai Yang was speechless.

At first, he found this amusing. He had never seen a bird that could sing. This bird was quite good at it too. The enunciation was good and he was on key. However, the bird didn’t stop.

It was fun the first time, mildly amusing the second time; by the third time, the singing was a nuisance.

“Stop!” Bai Yang sighed.

The parrot paused for a moment, then kept going.

Bai Yang rubbed his forehead and took out a pack of cigarettes. He realized the parrot had stopped singing when he started smoking. He saw the parrot checking him out and suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Light a cigarette~my heart leaving me like the smoke~~”

This song was from the eighties or nineties, wasn’t it?

When Zheng Tan returned to the eastern quarters on Papa Jiao’s scooter, Bai Yang was standing there with a cigarette in his hand, but he wasn’t smoking. He looked like he wanted to die.

The parrot was singing “pour you a glass of wine~your face is red like an apple~~”

His face was red, but it was because of anger.

Bai Yang managed to compose himself when he saw Papa Jiao.

“Professor Jiao, this bird…” Bai Yang pointed at the singing parrot and asked.

“It belongs to a professor living in my building. Very smart bird… loves to sing.”

“I know…oh boy do I know.” Bai Yang tossed his cigarette in a trash can. He thought cats were annoying before. Now, in comparison, he thought his cat was an angel.

Note:

1. Bai Yang is Poplar tree in Chinese