abnabooks Chapter 364 Old Li
Chapter 364 Old Li
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Kaiming secretly slipped to the west wall, easily leaped onto it, and transformed into a black cat. At this moment, he could see the scene inside the wall. At the entrance of the villa's main building was a small garden, which was filled with various roses. Since it was early autumn, only a few sparse flowers remained on the trellis, but they were still very beautiful and had obviously been carefully cultivated.
Apart from a maid watering the flowers, there was no one else in the garden. So it walked along the wall and soon circled around to the back of the villa. Old Li's villa occupied a very large area. Behind his villa was a lake, and between the lake and the main villa was a small grove of trees. Near the lake was a fishing platform. Kaiming saw a middle-aged man in his fifties sitting on the fishing platform fishing. He must be Old Li, whom Qiu Jie had mentioned.
Kaiming sat on the wall and scratched his ear with his paw, thinking about how to lure the man out.
Just as he was racking his brains, Kaiming saw a yellow-orange cat emerge from the woods, slowly walk to Old Li's side, and rub against Old Li's calf.
Old Li affectionately patted the orange cat's head, then took a ten-centimeter-long small fish from the fishing net and tossed it to the cat, which happily lay there to enjoy its feast.
After the orange cat finished eating the small fish, it ran off to play by itself. Throughout the whole process, Kaiming lay on the wall, squinting and quietly watching the orange cat's every move. When he saw it getting closer and closer, Kaiming made a low sound. The orange cat immediately stopped what it was doing, pricked up its ears to find the source of the sound, and then Kaiming meowed again. The orange cat quickly found Kaiming and meowed back at him.
Kaiming didn't respond to it, but turned around and walked away. As he expected, the orange cat immediately followed him from under the wall. When Kaiming reached the section of the wall that was very close to a big tree, the orange cat quickly jumped up the tree, then jumped from the tree to the wall, and rubbed against Kaiming's body, licking his body with its tongue.
The orange cat wore a collar around its neck with a small bell hanging from it. When it shook its head, the bell rang clearly.
Kaiming ignored it and continued walking until he reached a section of wall in the shadows. Then he suddenly jumped off the wall onto the ground outside and looked back at the orange cat.
The orange cat was clearly hesitant. It first glanced at Kaiming, then turned its head to look in the direction of Old Li, as if considering whether to jump down with Kaiming.
Seeing this, Kaiming meowed at the orange cat, his voice full of charm. The orange cat finally stopped hesitating and jumped down from the wall.
Qin Xiaochuan quickly became familiar with Old Li's daily routine.
Just then, Han Kexin returned from the alley. Qin Xiaochuan asked happily, "You've gathered the intelligence so quickly! Your efficiency is getting higher and higher!"
"But no," Han Kexin said coldly. "I just found some people to help me gather intelligence. What did you gain?"
"I checked the whereabouts of this villa over the past three days. This old man Li is a very homebody. He rarely goes out. The maid buys all the household necessities for him. He usually either fishes behind the villa or strolls around the small garden with his pet cat. He doesn't seem to have any other hobbies. The last time he went out was two days ago in the evening. When he left, he was dressed neatly, as if he was going to meet some important person." Qin Xiaochuan gave a detailed account of what he knew.
"It all seems to be useless information," Han Kexin said bluntly.
"He's not entirely useless, at least I know he likes fishing and cats," Qin Xiaochuan said.
"And then what? What good will it do to know?" Han Kexin retorted.
"This..." Qin Xiaochuan scratched his head, unable to come up with any good ideas.
"We can catch his cat, then he'll have no choice but to come out and see us," Kaiming suddenly appeared in front of the two with his hands behind his back.
"What's the difference between this and arresting him in person?" Qin Xiaochuan rolled his eyes at him.
"If there's no other way, what he said might not be a bad idea," Han Kexin said dismissively.
"Why do you say that too?" Qin Xiaochuan looked at Han Kexin in surprise.
"Is it strange? Time waits for no one. Shiyi is still waiting for our good news," Han Kexin said calmly.
Qin Xiaochuan hesitated when Guo Shiyi was mentioned, but he still felt that this might backfire. He said, "But the cat is in his villa. It won't be easy to get it out."
"It's not easy," Kaiming said. "But I've brought it with me." With a smug look on his face, he picked up the orange cat that he had been hiding behind his back and brought it to Qin Xiaochuan. The cat was limp and lifeless in Kaiming's hands.
"What happened to it? Is it dead?" Qin Xiaochuan frowned.
"Don't worry, she's just been hypnotized," Kaiming said.
Qin Xiaochuan breathed a sigh of relief, then asked curiously, "You're quite capable. How did you manage to make it?"
"It's simple, you just need to learn one kind of cat language," Kaiming said smugly. "Of course, a female cat's voice is more attractive to this kind of male cat."
"You have this skill too?" Qin Xiaochuan's eyes widened, somewhat incredulous.
"It's always good to have more skills. How can you survive in this world without some special abilities?" Kaiming said proudly.
Qin Xiaochuan said speechlessly, "What you said makes a lot of sense, but don't you think your abilities are a bit..."
"Isn't it special?" Kaiming became even more smug. "If it weren't special, I wouldn't have learned it. Otherwise, how could I demonstrate my irreplaceable value?"
"They really have the mindset of being beasts of burden," Qin Xiaochuan muttered to himself, though of course he wouldn't say it aloud to Kaiming's face.
"Now that the cat has been caught, what are you going to do with it?" Han Kexin asked.
This stumped Qin Xiaochuan. After thinking for a moment, he said, "The best way is to wait until they discover the cat is missing, and then deliver it to them when they are looking for it. That way, at least we can see Old Li."
Han Kexin coldly commented, "First, they failed to see me, and then they sent a cat to my door. If it were me, I would definitely suspect that the person who sent the cat was responsible for its disappearance."
"We can use this cat to blackmail him. If he doesn't agree, I'll strangle this fat cat with my bare hands," Kaiming said with a vicious expression.
"Get out of here." Qin Xiaochuan was too lazy to waste words with Kaiming, but no matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't think of a better solution. In the end, he could only helplessly say to Kaiming, "Forget it, you should just put the cat back."
"Huh? I finally managed to catch it, and you're just putting it back like this?" Kaiming couldn't believe his ears.
"You didn't just bark at it a few times, did you? You put in a lot of effort, didn't you?" Qin Xiaochuan didn't believe his words at all.
Kaiming had no rebuttal and could only say reluctantly, "Alright then." With that, he released the orange cat from its hypnosis. When the orange cat woke up and saw several unfamiliar faces, it immediately had a stress reaction and bit Kaiming's hand hard.
Kaiming winced in pain and loosened his grip. The orange cat immediately jumped out of his hand, preparing to escape. Kaiming immediately followed, intending to catch it. However, just as his hand was about to reach the orange cat, a yellow light emanated from the bell on the orange cat's collar. The yellow light shone into Kaiming's eyes, causing him to be temporarily blinded. The orange cat took the opportunity to slip away from his grasp. At the same time, an emergency bell rang in Old Li's villa.
Qin Xiaochuan was taken aback and was wondering what had happened when, a moment later, the courtyard gate opened and the maid rushed out, just in time to see Kaiming successfully catch the orange cat in his hands.
Hearing the noise behind him, Kaiming turned around and came face to face with the maid. The maid glanced at Kaiming, then her gaze quickly fell on the orange cat in Kaiming's arms. A moment later, she shouted, "Help! Someone's stealing a cat!"