Chapter 433: Chapter 409: One Man’s Poison, Another Man’s Honey Chapter 433: Chapter 409: One Man’s Poison, Another Man’s Honey Zheng Tan continued to ignore the bread offered in front of him.

The person in front of him, seeing that Zheng Tan really wasn’t eating anything, stuffed the torn bread into his own mouth, quickly glanced over at the platform to see if the bus he was waiting for was coming, found that it wasn’t, then continued to stand there, finished all the bread in his hand, and even reached out to pet Zheng Tan’s head, which Zheng Tan dodged.

Zheng Tan was impatient.

This person really lacked tact, if you’re waiting for the bus just wait peacefully, why come here to bother me? Looking for trouble?

Many people are like this, they can’t wait to touch a cat when they see one, not realizing that many cats actually quite dislike being disturbed. Of course, there are some that do want to play with people, but Zheng Tan definitely wasn’t one of them. If it weren’t for watching Xiong Xiong’s car, Zheng Tan would have run away long ago.

Zheng Tan really felt like throwing a punch, but it seemed inappropriate to do so in such a public place.

Unfortunately, Zheng Tan’s resentment clearly wasn’t understood by the other party, who tried to reach out again, only to be swatted away by Zheng Tan a few times until the bus he was waiting for arrived, and the person hurriedly went to squeeze onto the bus.

Seeing that the person finally left, Zheng Tan breathed a sigh of relief. People like that who liked cats would usually approach any stray cats or pet cats they saw wandering outside in their neighborhoods, which might be lucky for other cats, but Zheng Tan was very reluctant to encounter these types, as they were particularly clingy. It was hard to shake them off, even if they got scratched.

Zheng Tan had once seen a pretty girl trying to play with a cat sitting by a flowerbed, and when she got scratched during their play, several bloodstains appeared on her fair back of the hand. Yet, she didn’t get angry, nor did she complain or kick at the cat.

As he was thinking, Zheng Tan noticed another pair approaching, this time two young women who were probably students from a nearby university. Their enthusiasm was even more intense than that of the backpack guy from before, but, Zheng Tan, seeing that these two were quite attractive, let them pet him a couple of times, but that was it.

To help Xiong Xiong watch the car, Zheng Tan considered it a sacrifice of his charm.

Xiong Xiong had even complained about lacking charm, and while Zheng Tan was annoyed by the people who came to bother him, he was somewhat proud inside: Look, just by sitting here, girls would come over on their own.

An hour later, Xiong Xiong came back drenched in sweat. Initially, he had planned to take a cab, but because money had been tight recently, Xiong Xiong decided to run back instead as a way to also lose some weight. Passing through the road construction, he had gotten quite dusty, and some dust could be seen in his hair along with sweat dripping down his forehead. He looked quite worn, but now that he had finished delivering flowers, and his beloved couldn’t see him, Xiong Xiong felt justified in his dishevelment.

When Xiong Xiong arrived, Zheng Tan was surrounded by a fourth group of female students, but as soon as the approaching Xiong Xiong was noticed by the women near Zheng Tan, they didn’t care about Zheng Tan anymore and quickly left with their friends, which made Xiong Xiong quite discouraged.

After buying a bottle of 1 yuan mineral water and gulping down a few sips, Xiong Xiong sat in the back seat of the car and complained to Zheng Tan, “Heitan, why do those girls run away when they see me?”

Zheng Tan glanced at Xiong Xiong, whose face was covered in dust, hair messy, and physique noticeably hefty, and jumped out of the car seat, deciding to leave. It was time to eat, and time to go home.

When Zheng Tan got home later that day, Jiao Ma made a special meal to celebrate his return. Being picked up and cuddled was something Zheng Tan was used to, so it wasn’t awkward for him.

Jiao Ma also mentioned that the house had been very quiet without Zheng Tan, even watching TV was a lone affair. Many times, she would laugh out loud at something funny, turn her head to share a comment with someone beside her, only to realize there was no one there, no cat lying next to her. Jiao Ma felt quite melancholic then, counting the days, wondering how many more days until Little Youzi, Zheng Tan, and Jiao Yuan would return.

Now, even though only Zheng Tan had returned, Jiao Ma was overjoyed, her laughter louder when watching TV. Each time she shared what amused her with Zheng Tan. And even if Zheng Tan couldn’t respond, Jiao Ma spoke energetically; if Zheng Tan looked unresponsive, Jiao Ma would even poke his forehead.

Watching TV with a parent wasn’t exactly a light task either.

As for the forehead poking, getting used to it was the key.

The next day, Xiong Xiong skipped class again to find Zheng Tan, and Zheng Tan went on to help him watch the car.

At the same time, at the same platform, Zheng Tan saw that young man with the backpack again.

The young man, munching on a bun, looked around, and his eyes lit up when his gaze landed on Zheng Tan, smiling amiably as he trotted over again.

Zheng Tan, “…”

Just like yesterday, the man pulled out some meat bun and held it in front of Zheng Tan, who ignored it as usual.

Luckily, today, his bus arrived quickly, and after less than two minutes in front of Zheng Tan, he hurried to get on the bus.

Watching the bus leave, Zheng Tan turned around, only to find that more people had noticed him and were coming over.

Over the next few days, Zheng Tan would see that man with the backpack here every day. Sometimes, Zheng Tan was lucky, and the man’s bus would come quickly; other times, not so much, and the man could be there for half an hour or even longer. The man liked to provoke, and initially, Zheng Tan didn’t want to scratch and draw blood, but later, he found that the man was quick to act and quick to withdraw, making it hard for Zheng Tan to land even a single scratch.

If it weren’t for being in public, Zheng Tan would probably give a flying kick or throw a nearby bicycle.

But on the street, if I can’t provoke someone, can’t I still avoid them?

Zheng Tan thus began to dodge, but he didn’t go too far, never letting Xiong Xiong’s bike out of his sight.

Over the week, everyone at the nearby shops knew that every day at this time, a “hero” would come riding by with a black cat, then the “hero” would leave by taxi, and after he left, there would be a black cat squatting on his bicycle seat, which nobody could shoo away.

People who often passed by this area, especially some female students, would go over to take pictures and then post them online, along with a series of stories they made up. With rapidly evolving phone technologies providing stronger features and more colorful social media platforms, many young people liked to capture interesting things they saw and share them online or use them to attract some attention.

Fortunately, those people only took pictures of Zheng Tan and the bicycle and didn’t capture Xiong Xiong. Thus, even some who knew Zheng Tan would only laugh and say, “Look, that cat really looks like Heitan,” without directly connecting it to Zheng Tan. After all, not many could recognize Zheng Tan based on a picture alone.

Zheng Tan didn’t wear a cat card; otherwise, he would definitely be recognized.

That day, Zheng Tan came over to watch Xiong Xiong’s bike again, and although taking on this task brought him many annoyances, seeing Xiong Xiong’s progress in pursuing his girlfriend, he persisted. Seeing the children grow up, Zheng Tan would help out where he could, and after all, that was all he could do.

Seeing the young man with a backpack coming from the station, Zheng Tan’s slightly better mood dissipated again. It was inevitable; he would meet this person at this time every day.

Zheng Tan was just about to jump off the bike seat to avoid trouble when a big striped cat from a nearby small restaurant came over, and the backpacked man turned his attention to the big striped cat.

The big striped cat, initially curious about Zheng Tan, another cat of its kind, now had someone to play with and scratch it, so it stopped paying attention to Zheng Tan.

The big striped cat was well-cared for, and the restaurant owner clearly didn’t skimp on its food. Besides the food, the owner also took great care of the big striped cat, which had very clean fur, obviously because the restaurant owner regularly cleaned it. A clean pet is more appealing to people.

Probably used to being touched in restaurants, the cat was not shy. After being scratched a few times, it rolled over on the spot, revealing its belly for petting.

Only some domesticated cats are so familiar with humans, and a small part of these cats would behave like this cat in front of strangers, exposing its round belly to be petted and comfortable getting its itch scratched without scratching people, and when they grabbed a human hand, they did not extend their claws.

Someone jokingly asked the restaurant owner, “Doesn’t this cat of yours have too good a nature? Does it catch mice?”

The owner wasn’t offended by the skepticism, instead, he became proud, “Does he catch mice? Why wouldn’t he? Just a few days ago, he caught all the rats that were breeding in the storage room upstairs, don’t know whose rats those were but they were all hiding there. But in the end, they all ended up in my cat’s belly.”

Many people who visited the restaurant would play with the cat, and the cat also helped attract a lot of customers to the place. With many small restaurants around, the owner knew that some people chose his restaurant for reasons like this, which is why he kept the cat so clean and let it “greet customers.”

Although it was just a local cat, the big striped cat was slightly chubby, would roll over, act cute, be more affectionate to people, and more appealing. It came and took away most of Zheng Tan’s stress. However, what was stressful for Zheng Tan might not be so for this cat.

One man’s poison, another’s honey, Zheng Tan’s annoyances were pleasures for this cat.

Lately, whenever he saw the man with the backpack, the big striped cat would actively rub against him, because the backpacked man often shared his breakfast with the cat.

A meat bun split between one person and one cat was quickly finished, then they’d share another.

Zheng Tan just squatted on the bike seat watching. People around even sympathized with Zheng Tan, saying the big striped cat took all the attention away from him, but with the comparison, children and youngsters in the area obviously preferred to play with the big striped cat.

But Zheng Tan didn’t feel there was anything pity-worthy or regrettable about this, he thought the big striped cat arrived too late.

The bus arrived, and after sharing the meat buns, the man waved to the two cats, said “Goodbye,” and hurried onto the bus.

The big striped cat curled its lips, licked its paws, and looked up at Zheng Tan squatting on the bike seat, estimated the height of the rear seat, and gathered enough strength to jump!

Perhaps having eaten too much, it miscalculated a bit and jumped slightly lower than needed. The big striped cat’s front paws hooked onto the back seat of Xiong Xiong’s bicycle, and just as it tried to exert more force to climb up, it found the bicycle beginning to tilt.

Clang!

The bike fell.

Zheng Tan: “…” (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to Qidian (wuxiaworld.site) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.wuxiaworld.site to read.)