In a metropolis, the night city square was always bustling with noise and excitement.

The music from the shops, all types of transit ads, the lively beats of hip-hop and the ethnic trend music from the old ladies.

However, tonight , more and more people began to gather towards a corner that nobody really paid attention to before.

“Hey, look over there, there’s a cat knocking a bottle!”

“Knocking a bottle?”

“Yeah, I heard that it’s owned by one of the wandering singers, they’re selling their talents right now!”

“Sounds interesting, come on, let’s take a look!”

“Mum, I want to see the bottle-knocking cat too~”

“Alright, let’s go and see that bottle-knocking cat.”

…

People from the city weren’t that scrupulous towards black cats, they came for that feeling of freshness, seeking a way to have a good time. People’s standard of living had improved, they no longer had to worry about having adequate food and clothing, and started to try finding fun ways to pass time. After all that time, it was the first time that they saw someone selling their talents with their cats in the square, besides this collaboration was awesome!

Zheng Tan saw the onlooking crowd gather in greater numbers, his head hung even lower, concentrating on the glass bottle in front of him and not looking at the audience.

Even though his conduct wasn’t good as a human, Zheng Tan was the same person as what he was right now, concerned about face-saving. He would never have imagined that one day he would be reduced to the state of performing on the street with people watching.

Zheng Tan could only rejoice that this wasn’t the communication advanced era that it will become in a few years time, otherwise, the second that he beats the bottle the next it would be uploaded online. It might even be shared some many times, which makes it even more unbearably embarrassing.

As he knocked the bottle cooperating with the rhythm that Fang Shao Kang’s ugly voice sang, Zheng Tan silently exclaimed. ‘Why is time going so slow!’ It felt like a few hours had passed, but in reality it was only two songs, not even ten minutes.

Zheng Tan suddenly recalled that words that Papa Jiao said to Jiao Yuan, “People must learn to adapt, when you’re facing a situation that you don’t want to face but must face, try changing your mindset to offer some self-comfort. This way you could have a better mentality to face the challenges ahead.”

Change mindset, adjust mentality?

Zheng Tan tilted his head and looked at the cardboard box that god knows how much money had been stuffed in. If he changed his perspective, that money was earned by him beating the bottle, not from climbing windows, getting under doors and stealing.

By the way, why would he not feel any guilt when he was stealing things, climbing windows and crawling through doorways, but feel embarrassed when he’s earning his own money by performing on the street?

To put it plainly, it was nothing but an issue with his dignity. It’s a very ridiculous and shameless attitude, although many people still have it.

Nevertheless, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, it was indeed unnatural. He threw a glance at Fang Shao Kang who was enjoying himself, he had gone out of tune and forgotten the lyrics many times, but wasn’t he still singing happily? It looks like his nerves still need to be honed, he needed a thick skin to make a life in the underworld and travelling to all corners of the land.

It was the first time that Zheng Tan experienced what it meant to earn money from “sweat and blood”.

Beating against the bottle made his arm sore, so when Fang Shao Kang was considering to change a song, Zheng Tan switched paws. The onlookers gave out a wave of amazement.

“Oh my, that cat knows how to switch paws!”

“My cat knows how to do that trick too.”

“Poor thing, it’s probably tired.” An old lady dug inside her purse, then walked over to the cardboard box and stuffed the money in.

With someone in the lead, people followed, the second person, third person…

Fang Shao Kang lamented in his mind, ‘A person’s face is nowhere near as useful as a cat’s, I have been singing my heart out, my voice is hoarse and nobody showed any concern. On the other hand, the cat next to me switched arms and received sympathy. That sister there gave a hundred dollar in one go! Looks like the living standards in this city aren’t bad at all.’

After belting out another two old songs, Fang Shao Kang took a half-time break.

People came up to Fang Shao Kang during that time to exchange a few words, asking questions like where did he come from, how did he come by this cat, why did he think of singing here.

Zheng Tan wasn’t bothered to listen to Fang Shao Kang talking nonsense, there wasn’t a word of truth that came out of that guy’s mouth, he kept bluffing to get people’s compassion. As to those passionate old ladies who were surrounding him, Zheng Tan couldn’t stand another second of it. He climbed on to a tree nearby and wouldn’t get down no matter how people yelled at him.

Sometimes Zheng Tan became extremely confused, why do people like to call every cat they see “kitty”, no matter if that cat was a male or a female, or whether that cat actually had a name or not. Whoever first called a cat by that name was a f*cking genius.

Previously, in Zheng Tan’s dictionary that word can only be connected to girls with big chest, but ever since he had became a cat, he couldn’t recall how many times he had been called by that name. Every time that he hears that word, no matter who you were or how important you were, he would turn about and walk away straightaway.

Therefore, when the old ladies watching beneath him began yelled at Zheng Tan with the syllable “ki–” Zheng Tan scratched his ear and decisively climbed up the tree.

While Zheng Tan squatted up the tree to avoid the enthusiastic old ladies, and Fang Shao Kang was blathering with people, the five youngsters in that corner singing began to discuss too.

“That’s the guy yesterday, right?”

“That man asked us some questions yesterday, who knows he would come with a guitar today.”

“That man…I remember seeing a camera around his neck yesterday?”

“It’s was a DSLR!”

“Yeah, DLSR digital camera, that thing’s quite expensive. I remembered him because of that camera.”

The five men fell silent, then one of them said,”Sh*t, that means that man came here to steal our business because he had nothing to do?!”

When young people occasionally does this, it’s called rebellion or curiosity, but when you, an almost forty years old man does this, people will think you’re out of your mind.

“Technically…The one that played the biggest role was that black cat?”

“I suddenly felt a blow.” One said.

The oldest of the group was called Kim. He was the leader of this newly established band and the oldest of the band. He hailed everyone over and prepared to start singing. Just then a woman in heavy makeup walked over and greeted them.

They knew this woman, she was the relative of that pub owner who invited them over to sing. She was only walking past during her shopping trip and had received a phone call from the pub owner, so she passed a message along to them as she passed by. After she finished talking, she flicked her hair and stormed away in her stilettos. She despised this kind of street performance.

The message that the woman passed on was basically telling them that they don’t have to go tonight, it’s the birthday of someone in the band that was preforming before them, they prepared to book the place and will probably sing till midnight.

The color on the five young men’s faces wasn’t too pretty, however they had encountered a lot of this after leaving their hometown. This type of thing they had experienced many times, right now they have neither fame or money, to put it in plain words they are nothing. You can’t blame others for looking down on them.

As the bass hand of this new band, the young man stood at the side, silent. He didn’t like to talk anyways. Strumming the bass in his hands, the music was mingled with slight tiredness and struggle.

“Hey, you kids!”

Just as the five youngsters pondered about how to schedule tonight’s time, Fang Shao Kang found them and told them a plan.

“Collaboration?” Kim as the singer and the leader of this band was shocked.

“Yes, collaboration. Of course, my skills are limited, but I still have some appreciation for music, so, the person that you are collaborating with isn’t me.” Fang Shao Kang said as he pointed to Zheng Tan who was crouching up the tree and looking at the stars, “It performs with you guys, how does that sound?”

On second thought, Kim saw that the situation over there just then and knew that the cat can attract some popularity, if it comes over and everyone collaborates that’s fine. Besides, they were just discussing that it was time to leave this city and move on to the next, they were in no hurry.

After deciding, Kim nodded his head, “I’m fine with it, how about you guys?”

The other four didn’t object, everyone was happy to have a special experience before they left. They had never collaborated with a cat before.

Zheng Tan was squatting up the tree and counting the stars in boredom when he was suddenly notified that he would have to collaborate with those people.

“Charcoal, look, your uncle me can’t sing anymore. My voice is broke and there isn’t enough money yet. Working together with those little fellows can fish us some more money. You just have to sit there and show some gestures, there’s no need to work too hard.” Fang Shao Kang raised his head and said to Zheng Tan, “Beside those little things are pretty pitiable, this is probably the last time that they will sing in this city. They’re leaving tomorrow, I want to help them but my reputation is nowhere as influential as yours.”

Zheng Tan looked at the crowd that hasn’t dispersed yet then at the five young men who appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen. He considered the options, he had some built some resistance to this type of thick-skinned performance. Helping to get some small cash was fine, just a matter of lifting a paw, since all he had to do was to pretentiously knock the bottle a few times.

After consultation, Zheng Tan came forth to the five youngsters.

Facing the black cat, the five young men didn’t know how to get along with him.

Fang Shao Kang carried the bottle and the spoon over from the back. After discussing with Kim, he borrowed a stool to place on the side and set the spoon and bottle down.

Zheng Tan hopped onto the stool, this time it felt much better than the previous, his skin had been worn thicker and his mentality had been adjusted. It’s just knocking with the spoon a few times, what’s the big deal?!

Seeing that it was about to start again over here, the crowd began to gather again. It was only eight in the night, the night life was extremely rich in the city, besides this was the shopping district square, compared to before, there were much more people.

Whether they could cooperate with a cat, the five were unsure. In the end it was Fang Shao Kang who came over and said a few words to comfort them.

Zheng Tan had something to say on the sideline, ‘These little rascals are giving me the cold shoulder?’

Throwing a glance at Zheng Tan, Fang Shao Kang knew that the cat must have be angry again with his ears tugged like that.

“Alright, let’s hurry up and start!” Fang Shao Kang waved his hand and placed the cardboard box in a visible spot, then he retired to one side and watched on.

Looking at that cardboard box, the facial expression of those five youngsters became unnatural. That was too blunt, their moral attainments were not as high as Fang Shao Kang’s.

“Hey, are those kids being shy?” Fang Shao Kang said to the person that was sitting next to him.

There sat another middle-aged man, he was the shop owner of that instrument store that Fang Shao Kang rented his guitar from. Other than their guitar and bass, Kim and his friends rented their drums and keyboard from that guy’s shop. Most times he would come and listen to these young people perform.

Hearing Fang Shao Kang, that person smile, “They’re still young.”