Zheng Tan stared at his reflection in the mirror for half a minute. After looking at himself from several angles, he had to admit, all his whiskers had been burnt.

His long, straight, flexible whiskers were all burnt and curly at the ends.

Cats have whiskers on the side of their mouths, but also on top of their eyes, on their cheeks, and sometimes on their chins. People don’t always notice the other spots and would sometimes call them by other names.

Right now, all of his long whiskers were burnt. His ‘eyebrows’ were curly, his whiskers were curly, the hairs on his chin were curly. They were all different degrees of curly too. Zheng Tan wanted to break the mirror. He managed to control himself by reminding himself that the car was new.

Jumping out of the car, Zheng Tan flattened his ears and walked straight past the family into the house.

“I suppose Charcoal is depressed about his whiskers?” Mama Jiao asked.

“Probably,” Papa Jiao agreed.

Mama Jiao decided to comfort the cat by cooking a big dinner.

Youzi was deeply worried on her cat’s behalf and only relaxed after Papa Jiao explained that Zheng Tan would grow new whiskers again soon.

Zheng Tan knew he would grow new whiskers but he was still in a very bad mood. He jumped onto the table to check his reflection every once in a while. Every time, the curly whiskers worsened his mood.

So, Zheng Tan made a decision.

After searching a few room, Zheng Tan finally found a pair of scissors in Grandma Jiao’s drawer. He pushed the scissors in front of Youzi, who had followed him.

“You want me to cut your whiskers?” Youzi hesitated.

Zheng Tan shoved the scissors toward her again to say “just cut.”

Youzi was still worried so she checked with Papa Jiao who told her it was OK to do so. She picked up the scissors and started cutting. She worked slowly and carefully, cutting off only the burnt bits.

Because his whiskers were all burnt to a different degree, the hairs were all different lengths after the burnt bits were cut.

Cats have nerves on their whiskers that allow them to feel the slightest of movements. Apparently, cats could even tell the direction of the wind through their whiskers.

Because she knew how important whiskers were to cats, Youzi had treated her task with great care. Jiao Yuan watched her whilst holding his breath. He was so afraid that she would accidentally pull out a whisker if he made a sound.

Papa Jiao wanted to say as long as she didn’t harm the end of the whisker, how much she cut really didn’t matter. However, he decided to hold his tongues when he saw how nervous the kids were and how upset the cat was.

Both Youzi and Jiao Yuan let out a long breath after she was done.

Youzi cleaned all the cut bits into a plastic bag and kept them in a box.

Zheng Tan felt his whiskers, which were much shorter. The shortest was almost completely gone.

F*ck! Being a hero had a price.

He jumped onto the table and check himself in the mirror again. He felt cats were much less majestic without whiskers. He looked ugly and creepy.

“Don’t worry, they’ll grow back soon enough,” Youzi comforted him.

Zheng Tan shook his tail. Of course they would grow back, but how long would it take? Maybe two weeks, maybe a month, maybe it would take even longer than that. Papa Jiao said different cats grow fur and whiskers at different speeds.

Grandpa Jiao managed to dampen his mood even futher when he came back.

Knowing that it was because of the cat that they had found the baby so quickly, Grandpa Jiao bought a fish on his way home to reward the cat. However, when he got home, he saw the cat’s whiskers were cut short and were of uneven length. He was curious and forced Papa Jiao to tell him why.

Papa Jiao told him it was because of the fire at the child trafficker’s home.

Grandpa Jiao felt sorry for the cat at first, but shortly he started to laugh.

After a whole day spent in pain, he was laughing very loudly now that everyone could relax. The two kids were deeply bothered.

“This isn’t anything. Back in my village, cats have their whiskers burnt all the time in the winter when they sit next to the fire. Don’t worry it will grow out again soon. The cat’s movement will probably be affected for the time being though.”

He tried to touch Zheng Tan’s whiskers, the latter turned his head and slapped his hand away.

“Hey, he’s got a temper.”

Grandpa Jiao wasn’t angered by the slap. He now liked the cat very much because of the incident. His grandson said Charcoal was in a bad mood, so he stopped bothering the cat, although he was doubtful.

Grandpa Jiao never thought cats would have feelings. However, now he knew cats were intelligent. He was to a degree superstitious and people always say animals with intelligence needed to be respected. He looked at the black cat and found it hard to muster up any respect.

He shook his head and went into the kitchen. Grandma Jiao was cooking, so he stood by and started giving instruction. He was chased out of the kitchen by Grandma Jiao who threatened him with a spatula. In the end, he sat in the living room with the kids to watch TV.

The baby’s parents called to express their gratitude and ask the family to dinner. They invited the cat as well. Papa Jiao refused, even though this was the first time the cat was formally invited to a social occasion. The baby’s mother was still in the hospital and they were relatives. No point to all this.

Grandpa Jiao told them to get well and take care of their kid for now. There was plenty of time left to thank Papa Jiao. They didn’t have to do it now when they had other priorities.

The baby’s parents reluctantly agreed. They said the families should get together during the spring festival and they would like to treat the Jiaos to dinner.

Most people only knew the cat had found the pedicab driver. No one thought the cat had actually saved the baby. Afterall, what had happened really didn’t seem like the work of a cat.

Even Papa Jiao wouldn’t believe his cat had carried the baby downstairs.

Because no one thought of the cat, the case was full of unexplained problems. The investigators were deeply puzzled but the old man’s memory was blurry. Eventually, they decided to focus on the child trafficking network.

Human traffickers were mostly in contact with each other. They contacted each other to sell children out of the province. To catch the whole network with the information they had would be a difficult job. However, many saw a career advancement opportunity and were willing to take on the challenge.

Five hours after they caught the old man, a suspicious-looking woman with a baby was caught at a toll station. When she was questioned, her words just didn’t add up and eventually, she admitted to her crime.

The two cases were interconnected. Both groups had the same contacts. After investigating, the results showed that the network was larger than they expected. Half a year later, the police had found over two hundred people involved in the over one hundred cases of child trafficking. Arrests were being made all over the country.

However, that would all happen in the future.

For now, Zheng Tan was much more concerned with his whiskers.

Many said cats used their whiskers like a ruler that helped them measure the width of an opening. Without whiskers, cats would have to move slower.

For Zheng Tan, he didn’t really experience difficulties when he moved. He was just not used to the feeling of not having whiskers. It was different talking about something and actually experiencing it.

He was upset about his appearance at first. However, now he did feel like something was missing. It wasn’t just his mind playing tricks.

He never noticed before, but late that night he suddenly realized his senses were duller. Whiskers were a sensory organ that helped with vision.

After losing them, Zheng Tan finally understood the use of those hairs. The ones on top of his eyes and on his cheeks reminded him when something dangerous was close to his face. He would be able to duck and not get hit in the face.

He slept and ate like usual and his appetite was good. He would never let his stomach go without food. However, he always felt odd. Maybe it was the result of not having whiskers.

Was he being too sensitive?

He spent long hours on the sofa thinking about whiskers.

Before Zheng Tan managed to adjust himself, the break was over. They didn’t manage to visit the village in the end and had to return to Chuhua right away.

Before they left, Grandpa Jiao told Papa Jiao to bring the cat when they come home for the spring festival and he would build a nice cat bed.

Papa Jiao smiled but didn’t say anything. The cat always slept in the bed.

Zheng Tan’s mood took a turn for the better when he learned they were going back to Chuhua.

On the way home, he decided he would stay at home until his whiskers grew back to their original length.