Strange Life of a Cat

Zheng Tan was holed up at home for the first week after they returned to Chuhua.

After the holidays, Jiao Wei’s classes had started as well. He would bring Zheng Tan lunch after he took Youzi to the restaurant.

When Jiao Wei first saw Zheng Tan after the break, he didn’t know how to react. If it was any other cat he would laugh, but he didn’t dare do the same facing this black cat.

He didn’t believe a cat really had the power to help but now he wasn’t so sure anymore. No one showed up in October to collect the ‘sanitation fee’. His father said it was probably because they haven’t gotten around to it yet, but Jiao Wei knew that wasn’t the reason.

He opened the door and put a lunch box on the chair. The black cat got off the sofa lazily and yawned before eating his lunch. His whiskers had grown out a tad this last week, but they were growing too slowly. At this speed, it would take another week for his whiskers to look normal again. It would be much longer before they grew back to their original length.

However, after the clipped whiskers incident, he felt his new whiskers were much more sensitive. He didn’t know if it was the result of his training.

He had been reading Papa Jiao’s magazines out of boredom and came across an article in a science magazine.

Apparently, scientists did an experiment where they covered the eyes of a group of cats. Results showed that compared to normal cats, these cats had longer whiskers and could grow out whiskers faster, so people joked that you can cover a cat’s eyes to help it grow whiskers.

Zheng Tan didn’t want to cover up his eyes, but decided the method was still worth a try. He kept his eyes closed at home and felt his way around the rooms with his whiskers.

The article had said that cat whiskers were very sensitive in the dark. Cats used them to sense things they couldn’t see.

Zheng Tan tried it, but maybe it was because his senses were too dull or maybe it was because his whiskers were too short, but he wasn’t able to do what the article said. However, he wasn’t about to give up yet.

As a cat without whiskers, a cat who was confined to the house, this was his only source of entertainment.

No one was home during the day anyway, so even if he made a fool of himself, no one would know.

In the afternoon, Jiao Wei would take Youzi back to school then go off to attend classes or study in the library. Zheng Tan would jump off the sofa and close his eyes. He tried to use his other senses to feel the room and capture small movements.

Whenever there was a gust of wind, he could tell where obstacles were by the airflow.

He also noticed certain parts of his paws could capture the slightest tremor in the ground. If cats were vigilant enough, they could react quickly to anything because of these functions on their body that were the result of thousands of years of evolution

Zheng Tan wanted to enhance these capabilities. They could prove to be useful in the future.

He put his advertising job on hold as well. Mr. Guo, who urgently needed new ads, called every few days to ask about his situation.

However, he couldn’t do ads while missing half his whiskers. People would be laughing their heads off. Some might even associate it with the cat food. There were always people out there ready to attack whenever you gave them a chance. So, he had to wait.

Mr. Guo had been asking around for ways to make a cat’s whiskers grow faster. Zheng Tan ignored him. He had just figured out how precious his whiskers were and did not want to risk them by trying some weird arcanum. What if his whiskers all fell out as a result? Then what would he do?

Every morning, the first thing Zheng Tan did after he woke up was to feel his whiskers. He would check them in the mirror and have Youzi measure them for him. She had a notebook that recorded the length of his whiskers. Everyone was happy to see the numbers rise steadily. They all knew the whiskers would grow longer, but the proof reassured them.

Zheng Tan did his whisker practice, then went onto the balcony. He clothed his eyes and bathed in the sunlight against the pot of orchards.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Zheng Tan heard the noise of claws hitting a wire fence. He ignored it.

Many people traveled during the national day holidays, but not General’s family. There were too many people at attractions during the break, so General’s owner brought him back to the school. They spent most of the year traveling across the country visiting natural reserves anyway. Their trips were always free too.

Zheng Tan ignored him, and after a while, General quieted down.

Before Zheng Tan could fall asleep, he heard general’s familiar voice singing yet another song.

“Why are flowers so red~ Why are they so red~ they are red like~ like fire in the night~”

F*ck the flowers!

Zheng Tan tugged his ears. He turned to leave, but accidentally glanced downstairs and saw a familiar car arrive in the quarters.

Why was Fang Shaokang here? Wasn’t he supposed to be busy?

Fang Shaokang had called Papa Jiao earlier. He drove down from Beijing to bring the Jiao’s some seafood. He would drop it off at Papa Jiao’s office if no one was home. Learning that the cat was there, he drove straight to the eastern quarters. When he asked about the cat, Papa Jiao sounded funny on the phone which made Fang Shaokang very curious. What had the cat done now?

He parked his car and looked up at the fifth floor catching sight of a pair of black ears.

“Charcoal, come open the door!” Fang Shaokang yelled downstairs.

Zheng Tan rolled around but still went downstairs to swipe the security entrance card.

“Why are you home? Aren’t you always exploring the outdoors during this time of the day…” Before he could finish his sentence, Fang caught sight of the cat’s short whiskers and fell quiet. Then he broke out into laughter.

F*ck!

Zheng Tan ignored him and went straight upstairs.

“Wait! Let me catch my breath!” Fang stood up straight and picked up the bags he had brought. “I brought you seafood.”

When they reached the fifth floor, Fang put down the bags and stood in front of Zheng Tan. He took out his phone to take a picture.

Only people like Fang Shaokang had phones that could take pictures in 2003. This made Zheng Tan very upset. It was only some burnt whiskers, why was everyone acting like they never seen anything like it before?

“Don’t move. I’m taking a picture for my daughter. Hey, don’t move, turn around…Please?”

Zheng Tan slapped the phone out of Fang’s hand.

Fang Shaokang picked up the phone. He made a few calls to check if it was still useable, then put it back in his pocket.

Fang poured himself a cup of water and sat down on the sofa. “Your whiskers should be fine by next month, no?”

Before Zheng Tan could answer, Fang went on, “They should. I saw a big cat burn its whiskers when I was a kid. It was fine three weeks later.”

Zheng Tan rolled his eyes. His whiskers were burnt too!

“Anyhow, next month I want to take you somewhere fun. Many people will be bringing pets and you can help me socialize. I have a few clients who love cats. You being there will make the negotiations easier. I’ll talk to Professor Jiao later and set a time.”

Fang kept talking and answering his own questions for the next two minutes. Then he had to take a call. He left shortly after. He probably still had other business in Chuhua.

Powerful as Fang was, his life wasn’t perfect. Everyone had worries.

After Fang left, Zheng Tan checked the calendar. His whiskers should be back to normal in a month.

Wei Ling came by that night. He came over the day after the Jiao’s came back but saw Zheng Tan was in no mood to go out and didn’t insist upon it. He didn’t expect the cat to want to go with him to the Night Tower tonight, but Zheng Tan did want to go out.

He needed to let off steam.

In the car, Wei Ling examined the cat. The whiskers did seem longer, but they were obviously still too short. He heard the cat had been in a bad mood.

Suddenly, he shivered. He had a bad feeling about the night to come.

That night, Ye Hao, Long Qi, and Baozi were over at the Night Tower too. Ye Hao owned other properties besides the Night Tower, but he preferred coming here. He liked the performances at the East District.

He heard from his people that Wei Ling was there that night too, but he didn’t know the cat was here too. Zheng Tan came inside in Wei Ling’s backpack. He didn’t want other people to see his whiskers.

Ye Hao went up to the third floor and saw Wei Ling outside his usual room. He was smoking.

“What’s up? Why are you outside?” Ye Hao asked and pushed open the door to the room. Immediately, the shriek that had once occupied their nightmares rang across the entire third floor.