Chapter 169: It Really Is Leather, After All

Page 1 of 3

More precisely, it was a case of speaking of the devil and having him appear.

Faced with such a miraculous coincidence, Zhong Di felt less surprise than inevitability.

Whenever something was about to happen, it seemed to brush against some hidden thought, causing him to think of it instinctively. It was simply the work of the subconscious.

“Long time no see,” Zhong Di said, using a phrase no Pallas’s cat could ever understand. He was really saying it to himself.

“Zhong Di, what are you muttering about?”

“Nothing. The Pallas’s cats are here. Go get a few eggs from the house.”

Zhong Di did not go inside himself. Instead, he told Shao Hong about it.

“The Pallas’s cats are here? Just a moment. I’ll be right there.”

Hearing the news, Shao Hong was delighted as well. It really had been a long time since they had seen them.

Although there were already Pallas’s cats staying in the guesthouse, that did not make their arrival any less welcome.

“Remember to bring a piece of chicken.”

Just as he had said, after such a long separation, he had truly missed them.

Zhong Di slowly approached the Pallas’s cats and tentatively reached out to touch one. Hmm... excellent. It did not resist. Once he was sure of that, he placed his hand on its head.

Mmm! It felt wonderful.

Soft, warm, and pleasantly plump beneath his fingers. If only he could hold it while sleeping...

What was he thinking?

Coming back to himself, Zhong Di took the things Shao Hong had brought and set them down in front of the Pallas’s cats.

“Here you go. Remember to come back and visit often.”

He stroked the cat’s head again.

It felt like a father showing affection to a child who was always away from home, telling him to remember to come back often.

Zhong Di did not find anything strange about the thought. He continued stroking the Pallas’s cat until he felt it was enough, then lowered his hand.

What was this? Were they dissatisfied? Why were they still not leaving?

All three Pallas’s cats remained on the farm, quietly watching.

One of them even went into the farm and caught a mouse.

Hmm? Now that was interesting.

“Do you want to see the kittens?”

The question slipped out of Zhong Di almost unconsciously.

Wasn’t that exactly what they seemed to want? The thought had appeared in his mind as naturally as if it had always been there.

Well, he was not their real father, after all. Their actual mothers were worried and had come over to take a look. He could understand that. He was not an unreasonable man.

“Come on. I’ll take you to see them.”

Zhong Di led the three Pallas’s cats toward the guesthouse, with the cats following closely behind.

Mew, mew!

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

Before they even reached the door, the Pallas’s cats began making strange, mournful cries.

The sounds were rather peculiar. They resembled a cat’s meow, but they were so harsh and fierce. No domestic cat could make a noise so utterly lacking in cuteness. And yet, they did sound a little like cats.

The moment the door opened, Big Fluff, Second Fluff, and Third Fluff came stumbling out and ran straight toward the adult Pallas’s cats.

They looked so round and clumsy that it was downright embarrassing. They were doing nothing to enhance his reputation.

Half rations from now on!

That was what Zhong Di thought as he watched the three kittens. The scene looked very much like three separate families. Otherwise, why would one Pallas’s cat be nestled against another?

They were clearly from three different families.

But that was strange. Three families of Pallas’s cats were living together. Or perhaps they were all part of one large clan, like wolves.

There was another possibility: they had the same father but different mothers. Still, that male Pallas’s cat must have been remarkably vigorous to mate with three females at once, all of whom had given birth around the same time.

Zhong Di waited for the Pallas’s cats to greet one another warmly, while all kinds of wild thoughts ran through his mind.

Mew, mew!

Affection, cuddling, pampering... cruelty?

No, no. Something about this scene was completely wrong!

As Zhong Di watched the Pallas’s cats reunite, he suddenly noticed the adults tormenting the kittens in all sorts of ways. They looked ferocious.

That was why the scene felt so wrong. There was not the slightest hint of maternal love.

Zhong Di wanted very much to rush forward.

“Can’t you treat your children a little better? Why are you being so rough?”

“Big Fluff is one thing—he’s a boy. But what about Second Fluff and Third Fluff? They’re girls. How are you supposed to treat girls? You pamper them. You spoil them.”

“Look at yourselves! What are you doing?”

He thought all this, but in the end he did not charge over. They were wild animals, after all. He had no right to interfere.

After a while, Zhong Di saw Big Fluff suddenly dash away. Not long afterward, he reappeared with a mouse dangling from his mouth and placed it in front of the adult Pallas’s cats.

Oh! They were teaching their own child survival skills.

Amazing. That was his boy, all right. And he had learned so quickly.

Zhong Di decisively cast aside his earlier thoughts about the kittens being an embarrassment. This was not embarrassing at all. It was something to be proud of!

Just as he was praising Big Fluff in his heart, the kitten ran off again. Before long, he returned with another mouse.

Second Fluff and Third Fluff, on the other hand, remained crouched in place. No matter how much the adult Pallas’s cats scolded and disciplined them, they did not move.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

Biting, pushing, clawing...

Hiss! Zhong Di felt the pain just watching. He had gone from indifference at the beginning to genuine heartache by the end, and even he did not know how his feelings had changed so dramatically.

Eventually, Second Fluff and Third Fluff managed to run off. They were gone for quite some time before returning, each carrying a smaller mouse in its mouth.

After putting them through such a long ordeal, the adult Pallas’s cats finally stopped. Watching the whole process, Zhong Di could not help feeling that the kittens were not their own.

But then again, they lived in the wilderness. Without practicing these skills, they would have no way to survive. Even so, it was the first time he had ever witnessed anything like this.

In Zhong Di’s experience, mother cats taught their kittens after they were a month old, and some did not teach them at all.

Catching mice was a cat’s innate skill, a talent passed down through the bloodline. He had never imagined that Pallas’s cats did the same thing.

It was not until they were about to leave that Zhong Di finally understood why the Pallas’s cats had left their kittens at his farm.

He came up with two possibilities.

The first was that the Pallas’s cats knew there were mice on his farm and had left their kittens there to help him.

The second was that they wanted the Pallas’s cats to reproduce at his farm. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why the three adults had not come from the same litter.

The Pallas’s cats knew he would not harm them, but they did not completely trust him either. By leaving several of their kind there, they could ensure the continuation of their species.

If that was truly the case, then...

Zhong Di could not shake the feeling that this particular clan must have produced a Pallas’s cat of extraordinary intelligence. Otherwise, surviving in such a harsh environment would have been nearly impossible.

And the harshness did not come from nature.

It came from people.

Human activity had spread too far and exerted too great an influence, compressing the living space of every other creature and producing this result.

The Pallas’s cats did not leave until well into the night.

At the same time, a camera had quietly recorded everything.

Only after the Pallas’s cats departed did the person monitoring the footage begin to work.

First, he pulled up the entire recording. Then he edited it, cutting out all the blank sections and irrelevant footage, eventually compressing it into a thirty- or forty-minute video. He sent it to Director Xing, who was in charge of wildlife protection.

An event with this much appeal could definitely be put to good use. It would make an excellent achievement. For Director Xing, it might not be a particularly major accomplishment, but it was still something worthwhile.

And perhaps it might even lead to an exclusive interview...

Page 3 of 3