Mr. Tree-Hole

After dinner, Mama Jiao went dancing with some teachers from her school. Jiao Yuan went to play basketball with Xiong Xiong and would come home with Mama Jiao. Youzi went along with her cousin. Mama Jiao felt it best that she interact more with other kids from the quarters. Some of her classmates were going as well.

Only Papa Jiao and Zheng Tan were home. Papa Jiao looked like he had something on his mind and was in a bad mood. As for Zheng Tan, he was thinking about Kitty Zhuo and didn't want to go out.

Zheng Tan was sprawled on the sofa when he glimpsed Papa Jiao in the bedroom. His computer was on but he wasn't doing anything on it. He was reading Lu Xun again.

Zheng Tan jumped on the desk. Papa Jiao was reading Hot Wind today.

Papa Jiao looked up and smiled.

"What? You interested?"

Zheng Tan quickly retreated. He didn't understand most of the articles in the book.

Papa Jiao put down the book. "Charcoal, it's just you and me now. Let's talk."

Zheng Tan wanted to roll his eyes. If he could talk, why did he have to wait until now?

However, by 'let's talk' Papa Jiao meant Zheng Tan listening to him talk.

Sometimes, people felt the need to share a secret they had held on to for too long. Telling another human being could risk spreading the secret. A cat that couldn't talk made an ideal listener in this case.

"Do you know about Project A?" Papa Jiao asked.

Zheng Tan paused just as he was about to jump off the table. His ears perked up and he sat back down on the desk.

Papa Jiao rubbed his forehead and said, "If the Buddha ever comes here with Kitty again, try to spend more time with them. We don't know if Zhuo can come back safely after all."

Zheng Tan didn't understand what he meant but kept listening.

"Many think Zhuo is abroad on some project. That's what the school is letting people believe. The truth is she's participating in project A. It's a secret project, those involved go through countless background checks and sign confidentiality agreements. I don't know exactly what the project is about but I heard Professor Yuan mention a physics professor he knew that participated in the project. He was drunk at the time and very emotional, so he let out more than he probably wanted to. After he was sober, he made us promise never to tell this to another soul, but you're not human so telling you doesn't count."

That hurt. Not human? Well, Zheng Tan had to agree he wasn't human anymore.

"He used to say people in this project were the special forces of academia. Their tasks were highly dangerous. That's why the Buddha has been moody recently. She doesn't know if Zhuo can return safely."

Zheng Tan felt his heart sink. He wanted Zhuo to be safe and didn't want her participating in something like that.

"When we first heard of a project like that, we were against it, but if you think about it, these projects exist for a reason. They can't be announced to the public, at least not in recent years. Doing so would cause huge moral debates, but the projects have to be carried out. Many countries in the world have secret research projects. They might say they oppose some type of research, but secretly condone it. We now know about the nuclear weapons and biochemical weapons research.

"In the world of biology, there is ongoing research on cloning humans and cross-species reproduction. These projects exist, or else technology wouldn't be able to advance at the current speed."

Papa Jiao's words sent chills down Zheng Tan's spine. He thought those were things that only existed in science fiction.

"Do you know what earth weapons are? Someone once said that controlling the weather is more important than producing nuclear weapons. For instance, the KGB invented man-made storm technology. They are able to change the climate to their advantage if war breaks out in a region. The aim was to be able to create hurricanes one day. Maybe the technology already exists, we just don't know.

"The importance and danger of the project are related to the general academic environment. National security and tech development all depend on projects like this. There are so many research facilities and universities across the country, and millions of professors. However, those in the field know that very often, research data is made up. Science can't make progress like this.

"These projects are not that secret, to be honest, they are just masked, so to speak. Space projects are not just about rockets like people believe, for instance."

Papa Jiao took a sip of water. Zheng Tan looked lost. Papa Jiao patted his head, "This stuff is too far from our lives. The reason Zhuo decided to participate in the project might have something to do with Kitty. There are going to be benefits to participants if they are expected to endanger their lives. Fame won't be one of them, it's a secret project after all. They will, however, be allowed other conveniences, like access to files."

For instance, what would Kitty's personal files say? Father unknown, mother single. There is a social stigma attached to this sort of a thing. Though society is more accepting than before, people still hold prejudices. Now, because of Zhuo, Kitty's files would show his father was a real person who died for science or something like that. Anyway, his files would show something that appears true and is recognized by the law."

Zheng Tan was feeling depressed. These were heavy subjects. It must have been hard for Papa Jiao to keep all this stuff to himself for so long.

Being ordinary was such a blessed thing. Knowing these secrets changed how he saw the world, which would still be a great place if only he was an ordinary person or cat.

"Oh yes..." Papa Jiao remembered something else.

Zheng Tan wanted to cover his ears. Papa Jiao was going to ruin his beautiful world some more. Yet he was curious.

"I think my department used to have participants as well. None similar to Zhuo's case though. Those who are abroad are actually abroad. I think it's because of something that happened before, so the department lost the privilege."

Something that happened before?

Zheng Tan was curious.

Papa Jiao seemed more serious after mentioning the topic. Zheng Tan was growing impatient when he finally started talking again.

"Someone in the department was conducting an experiment behind everyone's back. Two professors involved died and another was severely injured because of the product they created. The name of their test materials all had CFH as prefixes, causing people to now call it the CFH incident. I heard of it through Professor Yuan. The school covered up the incident. Many in the school didn't even know about it. They just knew there was an accident."

Zheng Tan wanted to know what CFH was, but unfortunately, Mama Jiao and the kids had just arrived.

Papa Jiao felt much better after sharing his secrets, even if the cat couldn't talk and most likely didn't understand what he said. He just wanted to find a tree hole and say everything he couldn't tell anyone else, even his wife.

At the moment, Mr. Tree-hole seemed depressed. Zheng Tan was sprawled on the desk. He pushed a book off the table. It didn't help his mood, so he sent another book flying to the floor to join the first.

Just when he was about to break a teacup, Jiao Yuan came to him to tell him all about basketball.

Zheng Tan wasn't interested, so he pretended to fall asleep.

Zheng Tan was in a bad mood for the next few days. Wei Ling, who had been absent for a while, showed up before dinner one day. He wanted to take Zheng Tan to the Night Tower on the weekends.

Zheng Tan agreed since he didn't have anything to do anyway.

He thought the trip would make him feel better and wanted to check up on A Jin.

A Jin's band had been waiting at the northern district of the Night Tower ever since they were discharged from the hospital. They were enjoying themselves and had rented a place nearby. They also got a dog that A Jin had found wandering on the streets. It had a bad leg, but the band treated it well.

Ye Hao wasn't there. They didn't know the manager working that night.

Ye Hao's crew had been busy. Zheng Tan didn't see them on his past few visits. Ye Hao had kept them out of the loop and Wei Ling didn't ask. He went there to have a drink when he had free time. Zheng Tan munched on peanuts and other foods. Wei Ling dropped him off at home afterward.

He heard Nougat meowing in the yard when he got home. Nougat finally got to come out at night and was set on having a fight.