A Good-for-Nothing

228. The Handling of the Aftermath (II)

Translator: Dragon Rider

His eyes rested on Chen Qianlin and He Zheng. In an unhurried voice, he said, “Also, preparatory work for the final test for this batch of STTP trainees has to begin.”

He Zheng and Chen Qianlin exchanged glances.

After the special training sessions and the due-diligence period, all participants of STTP had to take a final test the procedures of which were unknown. Only by passing the test would a trainee become a staff member of SMB.

All arrangements made, everybody went back home to rest.

Naturally, Li Zong and He Zheng returned to Century Town.

It was already something after six o’clock when they got home.

He Zheng’s nerves were drawn as tight as the strings of a violin all along, but when he got home, he was unable to keep it that way. There had been several occasions when He Zheng found himself wondering why he had chosen this job which entailed a lot of hard work and could get him killed at any moment instead of continuing to be the idle, rich and cocky playboy he used to be.

However, He Zheng had been subdued for too long. For over twenty years, people had been despising him, calling him a good-for-nothing, and he was desperate to prove himself.

But curiously enough, during the process, after participating in STTP out of his desire for vengeance, He Zheng had felt the pride of fighting side by side with teammates and developed a sense of responsibility to rid the city of demons. All this had made He Zheng come to understand that as a member of a family of exorcists, there had always been only one path he was supposed to go down.

He Zheng was leaning against Li Zong on the sofa in a half-sitting position. Suddenly, he felt a faint itch to find out how that so-called final test worked, but after dithering for quite a while, he kept from asking about it.

It was a good thing to have someone capable of pulling strings for him at his back, but it’d be boring if he tried to get special treatment whenever something came up.

“Do you want something to eat?” said Li Zong.

“No.” He Zheng yawned, rose to his feet from the sofa and made towards the bathroom, undressing himself along the way. When he reached the doorway, he had stripped himself naked.

Hand on the door knob, He Zheng cast a backward glance at Li Zong and breathed, “I want to eat you.”

He was having a burning thirst for Li Zong.

…

Previously Li Zong had been following a sleeping pattern typical of an old man’s, and it’d been after he got married that the pattern was upset. When his marriage partner was being insatiable, for instance, Li Zong’s body clock always got messed up.

But the aftermath was no more than sleeping late. The next morning, Li Zong woke up shortly before half past six as usual. He Zheng was still soundly asleep in his arms.

Li Zong moved He Zheng’s hair aside, lowered his head and gave him a kiss on the forehead. After that, he closed his eyes again, lying in repose. Five minutes later, Li Zong gingerly withdrew his arm, got out of bed to wash, and then prepared breakfast for He Zheng in passing.

At half past seven prompt, Li Zong was ready to go to work, but there was something else he had to do before leaving, something he didn’t used to do in the past. As an official with a lot of responsibilities, he couldn’t take this day off like He Zheng did, and neither did he enjoy the privilege of sleeping in. Li Zong returned to the bedroom, keeping his footsteps very light. Eventually, he still couldn’t help but run his fingers through He Zheng’s hair.

After two minutes, Li Zong set off.

He had just arrived at SMB when things started coming up one after another.

Zu Zhichong who was supposed to take this day off had originally felt the bonding between colleagues again, which was something he didn’t feel often. With shadows under his eyes, he was plaintively crouching in the doorway. Seeing Li Zong come back, he called in a poignant tone of voice, “Chief! You don’t love me any more.”

Most people would be rather embarrassed to hear this remark.

But Li Zong was definitely not one of them. Without the slightest change of his countenance, Li Zong held up two fingers and pushed aside Zu Zhichong who was getting too close for his liking. “Say something sensible.”

Zu Zhichong slumped to his knees, threw his arms around Li Zong’s thigh and started wailing tearlessly, “Why didn’t you tell me you were reinstated as vice-superintendent, Chief?! How could you not share the joy with me!”

He was putting on this act with great efforts and adequate emotions. It was morning and there were a lot of people walking by, all of whom couldn’t help looking at them.

Though not much, Li Zong did care about his dignity.

“Okay. Given that you did a good job dealing with the matter of Wu Fangshuo, this month you’ll get your bonus which was originally supposed to be deducted because of the inconvenience caused by your playing video games.”

Zu Zhichong’s wail abruptly stopped. He immediately released Li Zong’s thigh, a grin revealing his two big white upper front teeth. “Haha, that’s so nice of you, Chief. I love you. I’m going back home to get some sleep.”

He had barely gone one pace when someone caught him by the collar with a finger.

Li Zong said, “Since you’ve already come, I’ll spare you the trip home. I offered to let you take this day off but you don’t seem to need it. Zhen Ni is having too much to do and could use some help. Go and give her a hand.”

Zu Zhichong, “…”

I hate this!

In fact Li Zong was aware that the reason why Zu Zhichong had come here was because he also knew Zhen Ni had her hands full. Lack of manpower was indeed a troublesome issue. Currently the leaders of the second and the third action groups were both in the south-west. He had to recall some of them now.

The deadline that Zong Xian and Zhen Daoyuan had imposed on Zhang Jingqiu to finish the search was the fifteenth day of this month, which was only a couple of days away. Right at the time when Li Zong was vexed about how to draft some staff members in, Zhang Jingqiu and Xiang Hailou returned with their men.

On top of that, this grid search, which lasted over a month and a half and involved hundreds of staff members, finally led to something.

Li Zong had barely reached his office when his cellphone started ringing urgently.