Strange Life of a Cat

Aunt Li believed that the kitten must have been abandoned; otherwise, how could it be so thin if it had been cared for properly? At the same time, she was pleased, as if the kitten wasn’t born from the landlord’s cat but simply a foundling without an owner, then she could raise it herself. She had been busy with it last night, took it to see the doctor this morning, and had grown fond of the kitten. When she had moved in, she had even thought about getting a pet to relieve some boredom, and now she had encountered this little guy.

Feng Baikin saw Aunt Li beaming to herself and knew what she was thinking, but he said nothing. He looked at Mr. Jiao, who appeared pensive, and asked for his opinion.

Mr. Jiao’s view was that if the kitten was indeed the offspring of their cat son, he would definitely take it home to raise. It wasn’t a problem for their family to have an extra cat even though space was a bit tight, but, after all, with cats, as long as food and accommodation issues were solved, they would be fine and didn’t need walking – they could just follow their dad. But if it wasn’t his, since Aunt Li wanted to raise the kitten, they might as well leave it here.

But how to verify?

Feng Baikin watched as Mr. Jiao pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket and put them on, then took out a bag, from which he extracted a cotton swab. He gently inserted it into the kitten’s slightly open mouth. The kitten, probably still in its dreams, didn’t open its eyes and must have imagined the object in its mouth was some kind of delicious food; it even held on and bit it a few times. After Mr. Jiao took out the swab, he placed it into a small plastic tube, secured the tube properly, and sealed it in a zip-lock bag.

Watching Mr. Jiao’s series of actions, Feng Baikin opened his mouth in disbelief. It looked like Mr. Jiao was gearing up for a DNA test! Wow!

As old as he was, Feng Baikin had only ever heard of paternity testing for humans, never for a pet.

What can you say?

One could only conclude that the landlord valued that cat immensely. First a loft on the hilltop, and now a paternity test? Was it really necessary? Feng Baikin couldn’t understand.

Although he found it unnecessary, driven by curiosity, Feng Baikin cooperated with the process. Afterward, he insisted Mr. Jiao stay for lunch where they talked about cats. Mr. Jiao didn’t say much about Zheng Tan, Feng Baikin didn’t pry further, but when Mr. Jiao was leaving, he asked him to let them know once he reached a conclusion.

After leaving the villa, Mr. Jiao returned to the courtyard briefly but didn’t find Zheng Tan, who had already taken Little Youzi to school by then. Presumably, Zheng Tan would go for a walk later, so they were unlikely to cross paths. Mr. Jiao went back inside the courtyard.

In the office, Mr. Jiao made a call to Yuan Zhiyi.

“A paternity test?! For that Lucky Cat of yours?!” Yuan Zhiyi exclaimed in surprise. “Are you looking to determine its blood type or do a DNA test?”

The reason for Yuan Zhiyi’s surprise was not that she found Mr. Jiao’s request incredible, but it caught her off guard. In fact, Yuan Zhiyi knew people who had done similar tests on pets, but those were usually high-end species like Tibetan Mastiffs, which held great value and had strict bloodline requirements. Some horse racing enthusiasts also had lineage tests done on their horses. The people in charge of such tests offered a variety of services, such as DNA paternity tests for animal pets, individual identity verification, DNA genealogy for high-end species, DNA evidence collection and verification, and family lineage tests. However, until now, Yuan Zhiyi had only heard of such tests for animals like dogs and horses. This was her first time encountering one for a cat.

In Chuhua City, she hadn’t seen any companies or departments offering such tests. It wasn’t a matter of technical difficulty, but from a business perspective, there simply wasn’t market demand, otherwise, Yuan Zhiyi would have already ventured into that field.