After giving out instructions, He Tao lit another cigarette and sat down next to Wei Ling. Now that this case was solved, he felt that a weight was lifted off his shoulders. In order to run his operation, he had been controlling his smoking so as not to smell like tobacco. Now, it was no longer an issue.

“Where do you plan to work as a security guard? In a residential complex? A company or maybe a factory?” He asked.

“A company or a factory. It will depend. After all, the factory is not yet built.” Wei Ling answered.

“Whose factory is it?”

“Charcoal’s dad and his friends. I decided to join in last minute. However, I don’t know much about science, so after investing what was left of my savings, I decided that being a security guard is more suitable for me. I plan to invite my retired friends from the army to join in later.”

He Tao was silent for a moment, he pointed to the black cat sleeping on the rooftop and said: “His dad?”

“Yeah.” Wei Ling flipped the ash off his cigarette. “People at the quarters use language like that. They call themselves their pets’ daddy or mommy.”

“Since when did people decide to hold pets in such high esteem?”

“I suppose people started doing that when they became disappointed in humans. There was a saying that I heard earlier that the more people you know, the more you appreciate how cute pets are.”

“I think this way of thinking is too extreme, and I for one do not think some pets are cute. For instance, that one.” Wei Ling pointed to Zheng Tan, “That one has quite the temper and never listens.”

He Tao tsked. He was going to add on some insults but remembered he still owed the cat a favor, so he didn’t say anything.

“Oh right. Tell that friend of yours to stay out of the spotlight for the moment. I heard that there is command from up top to clean up the streets.”

“I’d tell him even if you didn’t mention it. It’s a mess out there, so it’s good that the police are planning to take action.”

The police officers had finished their tasks, so He Tao did not press the matter. He patted Wei Ling on the shoulder. “If you ever need help, you know I’m here for you. I’ll go check out your factory once it has been built.”

Wei Ling shook his hands to indicate he understood. “As for you, my brother, don’t just focus on advancing your career. Your moves are not what they use to be. If not for that cat earlier, you’d be in big trouble this time.”

He Tao chuckled. “You boys are a pain in the ass. You cause trouble after trouble, so I need to be in high places to take care of you guys. Otherwise, you would need to go begging someone else.”

Wei Ling watched as He Tao walked away. He took a long drag of his cigarette, then threw it on the ground and extinguished it. He called out to Zheng Tan: “Charcoal, let’s go.”

Zheng Tan stood up and stretched. He looked around him, then at the real estate advertisement billboard nearby, then shook his fur and went downstairs. It was time to go home.

On their way back to Chu Hua city, Wei Ling slowed the motorcycle down and took a few detours. It was like he was out just for a drive.

It was three in the afternoon when they got back to the quarters. Zheng Tan went straight to take a bath. He scratched his basin to hint at Wei Ling to heat up water.

Wei Ling took a shower as well. Because they were going to the hospital soon, it was not good to carry the dirt they had collected during their morning trip around. It was less about their looks, but rather because they didn’t want to bring too many germs into the hospital room. Even if Mama Jiao wasn’t staying in a sterilized room, it was better to tidy up for the hospital.

When they arrived at the hospital, they heard Mama Jiao laughing with the resident doctor named Li Xiaoxi who was taking care of her.

Zheng Tan twitched his ears. The kids were at school at this hour, what on earth could make Mama Jiao so happy?

Zheng Tan got his answer when they stepped into the ward.

At the moment, on Mama Jiao’s bed, a blue figure rolled around next to her good arm. It laid flat next to her, asking for belly rubs.

Zheng Tan: “…”

Why was this idiot back so soon?

Inside, General’s owner, Professor Tan, was chatting with Papa Jiao.

Professor Tan, who was about the same age as Papa Jiao, looked extremely pleased. “This time on our trip to that natural reserve, we met another blue macaw just like General. It was owned by an ecology professor. That macaw was smart too, although it couldn’t enunciate quite as well as General here.”

“The two birds had a singing contest. Of course, our General won big time. That macaw had no talent. It couldn’t hit the high notes nor sing the lower notes. It sounded like it was hiccupping when it was trying to go low and sounded like dying chickens when it tried to go high.”

Everyone laughed at this.

Hearing his story being told, General, who was lying on Mama Jiao’s bed, flipped up and croaked: “Hurray for General! Hurray for General!”

“Sing us another song, General.” Li Xiaoxi said.

General tilted his head and thought for a moment. Five seconds later, he started:

Oh sweet love~~your smile is like candy~~ like flowers blossoming in spring ~~ blossoming~ in spring~

He tilted his head from left to right as he sang. Zheng Tan was disgusted by his antics.

Ignoring General, Zheng Tan hopped on Mama Jiao’s bed and squeezed the parrot away.

Seeing Zheng Tan jump on her bed, Mama Jiao rearranged the covers for his comfort.

With the soft and warm quilt under his belly, Zheng Tan felt better.

General sang while inching towards Zheng Tan. When he finished the last note, his beak was still open and he flew towards the cat. He was aiming for a nip on Zheng Tan’s ear.

Zheng Tan flexed his paws and twitched his ears. He glanced sideways at the parrot with a threatening gleam in his eyes as if to say, bite me if you dare. I will teach you a lesson.

General hadn’t seen a cat for a while and couldn’t help himself. He wanted to nip on the cat’s ears. However, he paused when he saw the look in Zheng Tan’s eyes and eventually turned away.

Everyone in the ward couldn’t stop laughing at the bird and the cat.

Li Xiaoxi checked the time and had to leave to complete her duties. She was due to be back later to change Mama Jiao’s bandages.

Wei Ling did not stay for long either.

Zheng Ling laid next to Mama Jiao. He made sure to stay away from her hurt arm and other injuries.

Professor Tan and Papa Jiao were talking about projects at the university. General was bored and decided to practice opening bottles with the plastic bottle on the night stand. Whenever he was close to touching one of Mama Jiao’s wounds, Zheng Tan shooed him away.

It was much warmer indoors, and Zheng Tan was growing sleepy. However, he was snapped out of his drowsiness by a knock at the door. Recently, Li Xiaoxi was in charge of Mama Jiao’s ward. A few doctors came to check up on her regularly as well. Li Xiaoxi, of course, knew about Zheng Tan but the other doctors did not. If it was anyone else beside her, it was best he stayed out of sight.

General flew to his owner with a bottle cap in his beak. Zheng Tan jumped into a bag next to Papa Jiao.

The person who came in was in her thirties. Her clothing was orthodox but not serious. She seemed approachable but dignified at the same time. Of course, she was no match for The Buddha when it came to being dignified.

Seeing her, Papa Jiao stood up immediately.

“Ms. Yang, I’m surprised to see you here.”

This woman was Jiao Yuan’s homeroom teacher who also taught him Chinese. Zheng Tan had seen her before several times.

“I heard Ms. Gu was injured, so I decided to come by to visit.” Ms. Yang put down the fruit basket she brought with her.

Ms. Yang did not live in the quarters. She lived off campus. However, she got off work early and happened to hear that Jiao Yuan’s mother was injured, so she came to visit since she was here accompanying an older relative for a physical.

“Oh yes. The school had a blackout. At this time of the year, students couldn’t possibly see the blackboard clearly without lights after four, so the last period was cancelled. I saw a few kids downstairs in the fruit shop. They had come here to visit Ms. Gu. I told them I’d keep their surprise visit a secret. Don’t tell them I told you.” Ms. Yang smiled and said.

Zheng Tan: “…”

Poor kids. Sold out by their well-respected teacher.

Ms. Yang had to leave early because she was here with someone. Five minutes after she left, Zheng Tan heard the footsteps of children outside. The door was pushed ajar, and Jiao Yuan poked his head in. He looked around the room and said: “My classmates heard my mother was in hospital, so they came to visit.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Ask them in.” Papa Jiao pretended he had just learnt the news and got up to welcome them.

The ward was small, so Papa Jiao and Professor Tan went out to let the children come in.

Zheng Tan peaked out from the bag. He saw the usual crowd: Lan Tianzhu, Xiong Xiong and Su An. With them was a girl.

“Well, who do we have here?” Mama Jiao looked at the girl.

Mama Jiao might not know everyone in Jiao Yuan’s class, but she at least recognized most of them. This girl, however, she was sure she had never met her before.

“She’s a transfer student. Her name is Shi Rui.” Jiao Yuan emphasized her name.

“No wonder I don’t recognize her. She’s a new kid.”

“Her name is Shi Rui.” Jiao Yuan emphasized the name again.

“I know her name is Shi Rui.”

Mama Jiao did not understand why her son was saying the girl’s name over and over again. But Papa Jiao and Professor Tan, who were standing at the door, looked at each other and smiled. They understood what Jiao Yuan was hinting at.

Jiao Yuan pointed at Su An, then at Shi Rui who was staring at him. He didn’t understand why Mama Jiao was still oblivious. Su An’s ears were burning red.

“Do you understand?”

“Jiao Yuan!” Shi Rui raised her voice.

“What are you afraid of? Everyone is bound to find out sooner or later. Didn’t you say your family would be moving to the Eastern Quarters soon?” Jiao Yuan did not care at all that Shi Rui was staring at him.

Mama Jiao finally understood with his very obvious hint. Now, the only ones who were still kept out of the joke were General, who was standing on Professor Tan’s shoulder, and Zheng Tan, who was in a bag.

He finally understood after Jiao Yuan explained the events of the week. Litmus [1] was an organic acid commonly used as an acid and alkali indicator in chemistry. It turned red when in contact with acids and turned blue when in contact with a base. It was very often mentioned in middle school chemistry textbooks.

The day Shi Rui transferred into the class, Su An was on sick leave. He didn’t go to school until the afternoon. After class, he was resting on his desk when Lan Tianzhu and Jiao Yuan asked him if he knew Shi Rui.

He looked up and answered: “Of course I do. It’s the indicator.”

Shi Rui was standing behind him at the moment. She was not pleased. She hated being nicknamed the indicator.

After that, Su An grew red whenever he came in contact with the girl. His friends teased him on this relentlessly.

It was quite a coincidence that Su An’s name sounded like acid[2].

As the kids were laughing and joking around, Papa Jiao’s phone rang. Professor Tan had decided to leave. General flew out the window and waited for his owner outside. It wouldn’t be good to have him wander through the hospital.

Before Papa Jiao left to take his call, he thought about it and eventually decided to take the bag with Zheng Tan out with him.

Kids could never keep secrets. Let alone there was the unfamiliar Shi Rui with them today. It was best to avoid any trouble.

He answered the call at the end of the hallway.

Zheng Tan listened to the phone call in the bag. The person who was calling was that Yuan Zi who Papa Jiao went to college with. They were talking about issues regarding the company they were starting.

After the phone call, Papa Jiao looked down at Zheng Tan who was still sitting in the bag and said, “Charcoal, the thirty thousand you have in your bank account that you earned through those advertisements you did, I’m going to put it into our company. It would be like an investment. We’ll pay you dividends. You’ll be a shareholder.”

Zheng Tan made a lot of money from acting in Xiao Guo’s advertisements. Originally, he went over once a month for new photoshoots. Xiao Guo was receiving positive feedback, and now Zheng Tan went over once every two weeks. Zheng Tan did not know the actual results, but Xiao Guo looked at him as if he was the god of money whenever they met.

Investing the money in Papa Jiao’s company wouldn’t be a problem, Zheng Tan thought. He wasn’t going to use the money anyways. Xiao Guo mentioned other ads earlier, so he would be making new money soon. It wouldn’t matter even if Papa Jiao’s company failed and they lost all the money.

What Zheng Tan didn’t know was that one day, in the future, the amount on his bank card would become so large that it would be shocking.