Chapter 87: Side Story 3 (4/6)
The elderly ginger cat, watching their antics, turned its head with difficulty and licked its sore scruff, its round eyes meeting Little Jiang Heng’s.
“Hello, I’m Little Jiang Heng, and this is Big Meow Lu. What’s your name?”
The ginger cat paused. “I don’t have a name.”
“Oh.” Little Jiang Heng, ever the optimist, said, “It’s okay, you’re so golden and shiny, we’ll call you Big Yellow.”
“Big Yellow, why did they catch you?”
The alley opened into another alley, this one paved and more even, yellow jasmine flowers blooming on the dilapidated walls.
The three cats walked forward, bathed in the warm sunlight.
Big Yellow said, “There’s a very fierce black cat nearby, a very strong fighter, everyone is afraid of it. It and two other cats snuck into that human’s house and stole some meat. They couldn’t catch the black cat, so they took it out on me.”
Little Jiang Heng paused. “What’s that black cat’s name?”
Big Yellow looked at him, puzzled. “We stray cats don’t have names. Only house cats have names.”
Little Jiang Heng said indignantly, “I bet it’s called Sang Biao, the cat I’m determined to defeat one day.”
The Maine Coon glanced at him.
Little Jiang Heng continued, “He not only steals from humans, he also steals from other cats! He’s terrifying! We have to avoid him at all costs!”
After walking for a while, he asked the Maine Coon, “By the way, you scratched that boy earlier, won’t he…retaliate against you?”
“He will.”
The Maine Coon replied.
“Ah? What should we do then?”
Big Meow Lu bent down and picked him up by the scruff of his neck. The moment his teeth touched his skin, Little Jiang Heng instinctively relaxed, his body going limp, like a small, white dishcloth.
“Then we’ll make sure he doesn’t dare to retaliate.”
Little Jiang Heng, dangling in the air, looked up.
Big Meow Lu said, “If a dog bites you, you might seek revenge. But if a tiger bites you, you run. We have to become…the tiger.”
Little Jiang Heng half-understood.
Thankfully, Big Meow Lu didn’t require a small kitten to understand such complex concepts. He put him down and said, “See that shop over there? Your lunch depends on you.”
Little Jiang Heng peeked out from under the big cat, and saw a small convenience store, the owner sitting inside, watching TV.
The owner was a burly man with a fierce face and a gold chain around his neck.
Little Jiang Heng thought, no one would dare to steal from his store.
And he also wouldn’t dare to beg for food.
“I’m not going,” he said, hiding behind Big Meow Lu. “That owner looks scary.”
Big Meow Lu nudged him forward with his paw. “Whether someone is scary or not isn’t determined by their appearance.”
“Then what?”
“Look at their eyes. Eyes are the windows to the soul.”
Little Jiang Heng looked at the owner’s eyes, which were narrowed into slits. He couldn’t even see his pupils.
Little Jiang Heng: “…”
He shifted his paws nervously. “Should I…try?”
He took a couple of steps forward, and the owner, who had been cracking sunflower seeds, suddenly looked up in their direction. Little Jiang Heng flinched at his fierce expression.
His already hesitant steps faltered, and he turned to the ginger cat beside him. “Big Yellow, can you…come with me?”
An elderly ginger cat, struggling to survive with a palm-sized kitten. A truly heartbreaking image.
Big Yellow got up and walked towards the convenience store with Little Jiang Heng.
Little Jiang Heng took the lead. “I’ll try the ‘pitiful kitten’ act. You observe the situation and run if anything seems off. If you can’t escape, call Big Meow Lu.”
Big Meow Lu was their ultimate weapon!
A TV was playing in the store, the owner munching on sunflower seeds, when he suddenly heard a soft meow from below.
“Meow…”
He looked down and saw a palm-sized white kitten sitting on the steps, its amber eyes staring at him, a larger ginger cat behind it.
Seeing him look down, the kitten meowed again, its gaze shifting between the owner and the snacks on the shelves. “Meow…”
It looked utterly pitiful.
The owner said, “Whose little kitty is this?”
Little Jiang Heng was clean, his fur, having been meticulously groomed and dried in the morning sun, soft and fluffy like a small cloud. He didn’t look like a stray at all.
Little Jiang Heng meowed again.
He had wanted to roll around on the ground to show off his cuteness, but the ground looked dirty, so he reluctantly abandoned the idea.
Although the owner looked fierce, his expression didn’t show any impatience. He tossed the sunflower seed shells into the trash can, went to the shelves, and took out a sausage. “I don’t know what you eat, but this is what they feed cats on TV.”
A one-yuan starch sausage, about the length of a finger.
Little Jiang Heng took a bite of the sausage and, after swallowing it, meowed softly at the owner, then gestured at the ginger cat behind him, indicating there was another cat.
The owner patted the ginger cat’s head. “If you weren’t so cute, I would have kicked you out already.”
He went back inside and got two more sausages for the ginger cat, then shooed them away with a frown. “That’s all I have, now scram.”
Little Jiang Heng, victorious, his tail held high, went with Big Yellow to find Big Meow Lu, who was waiting for them around the corner.
…
“I was so amazing!” he exclaimed. “That super scary uncle was this—close to me! He spoke, and his breath ruffled my fur! His voice was as loud as thunder! He said…”
Little Jiang Heng lowered his voice, imitating the owner’s gruff tone. “Little guy, do you know whose territory this is? You dare to come to my turf?”
The ginger cat, tearing open the sausage packaging, paused, its eyes confused. “What…what are you talking about?”
Little Jiang Heng hopped excitedly. “I’m telling you about our thrilling adventure!”
“I’m going to write a book about it! The Adventures of Little Jiang Heng!”
“Continuing our story, the uncle said, ‘You dare to come to my turf?’ He was shocked! This convenience store had the most resources, but no cat dared to approach it, because of him! Under his reign of terror, no cat had dared to trespass for hundreds of years!”
“But today, a brave cat named Little Jiang Heng, alone…oh, no, two brave cats, ventured into this forbidden territory and successfully retrieved three pieces of top-quality ingredients – the supreme King of Kings sausages!”
Big Yellow: “…”
Something didn’t seem quite right.
Big Meow Lu tore open his sausage package with his sharp teeth. “Brave warrior, time to enjoy your spoils of war.”
Little Jiang Heng: “Meow…munch, munch, munch.”
What a brave day it had been.
Big Meow Lu commented, “If cats had to write essays, you would get full marks for your…creative use of language.”
Little Jiang Heng, munch, munch, munch. “What? You think I have a talent for writing?”
“No, I just meant your…exaggeration skills are…impressive.”
Little Jiang Heng: “…”
One sausage was almost enough to fill Little Jiang Heng up. Big Yellow quickly finished his two sausages; it wasn’t clear if that was enough for him.
After eating their fill, Little Jiang Heng and Big Yellow lay down on a deserted patch of pavement to bask in the sun.
Time passed slowly for a cat, and it was only around two in the afternoon. The sun was warm and gentle, a pink peach blossom peeking out from a broken corner of a nearby building, two butterflies flitting past.
Spring in the urban village, hidden amidst the dilapidated buildings. Thanks to Big Meow Lu, Little Jiang Heng found spring even in this desolate place.
The ginger cat diligently licked its fur, grooming itself until its coat was a shiny gold, then looked at Little Jiang Heng, whose fur was now messy from rolling around, its eyes hesitant.
Little Jiang Heng, oblivious, rolled over, belly up, his fur covered in bits of grass and dirt.
The ginger cat hesitated, the ginger cat endured, the ginger cat sighed, the ginger cat leaned forward…
Before it could reach the kitten, a large cat suddenly appeared and picked him up by the scruff of his neck.
The huge Maine Coon settled down, its thick mane of fur spread out, the tiny kitten almost disappearing in its embrace.
Little Jiang Heng, wherever he was placed, he would stay, Big Meow Lu’s long tail covering his face, shielding him from the afternoon sun.
Purr…purr…
The little dumpling purred contentedly as the Maine Coon lowered its head and started grooming him.
Little Jiang Heng woke up, a seven-out-of-ten clean dumpling transformed into a perfect ten.
He stood up, shook his butt, then his tail.
“Adventure Cat Squad, assemble!”
The Maine Coon jumped onto the highest wall, surveying the area. “Where are you going?”
Little Jiang Heng puffed out his chest. “I’m going to complete The Adventures of Little Jiang Heng!”
“Let’s head south!”
Big Meow Lu jumped down, picked up Little Jiang Heng by the scruff of his neck, turned him around, and pointed his face towards the wall he had just jumped down from. “That’s south.”
“…”
Cats the size of dogs were really annoying.
The three cats walked towards the west, bathed in the afternoon sun, their three shadows stretching out on the uneven stone path.
Little Jiang Heng turned to Big Yellow. “Big Yellow, do you know what ‘complete metamorphosis’ means?”
Big Yellow answered honestly, “No.”
“Haha! I do!”
Big Meow Lu: “…”
Big Yellow, walking slowly, keeping pace with Little Jiang Heng, asked, “What does it mean?”
“Complete metamorphosis means…being weird throughout your entire life. Like a butterfly, first, it’s an egg, which is weird, then it becomes a caterpillar, which is even weirder, and then it turns into a butterfly, also weird.”
Big Yellow, half-understanding, grasped what he thought was the key point. “Butterflies aren’t weird.”
“No,” Little Jiang Heng whispered, “Butterflies are the weirdest. They’re vengeful. If you catch them, they’ll remember you forever and then send caterpillars to suck your blood.”
Big Meow Lu: “…”
Big Yellow: “Really?”
“I don’t know,” Little Jiang Heng said. “That’s what Big Meow Lu told me.”
Big Meow Lu: “…”
Big Yellow looked at Big Meow Lu, whose face was cold and unapproachable.
“If he said it, it must be true.”
The golden ginger cat sighed. “I’ll never catch butterflies again, they’re too weird.”
Little Jiang Heng agreed. “Yes, too weird.”
Big Meow Lu commented, “It’s a good thing there’s no compulsory education in the cat world.”
