A Good-for-Nothing

245. The Death of Qiao Peiyu

Translator: Dragon Rider

For He Changchun, this whole year was marked by misfortune. His son, whom he thought the least of, had been bartered with the Li family for a dragon scale by him. He had thought he would be able to rid himself of a trouble by doing that, but unexpectedly, it had brought him greater troubles.

With Li Zong as his powerful prop, He Zheng, the ungrateful little devil, had turned against his own father, making the life of his own family hell.

Afterwards, He Changchun had undergone the grief caused by the tragic death of his young son; his second wife had turned out to be an evildoer, who had gone so far as to murder Zhu Ning, making a mortal enemy of the Zhu family, putting the He family in a position where it faced attack from both within and outside.

Originally he had thought that his talented youngest daughter He Yu would be able to join the Supernaturalism Management Bureau (SMB) and bring honor to the family name, but it had never crossed his mind that they would be dragged into some highly confidential issues of SMB, which had caused them to be brought to the headquarters of SMB and rendered He Yu unqualified to enter for this year’s recruitment examination.

No one knew that after He Changchun was cured of the Phantom-face Sores, his health condition had worsened considerably. Now he couldn’t even display seventy percent of the power contained in the Welkin Upender. Speaking of the Welkin Upender, it was yet another problem which he had found himself faced with only recently. He Qin and He Yu both thought that the reason why he hadn’t taught them how to use the Welkin Upender was because he had other plans. He Changchun had been enduring their misunderstanding in silence. Actually he wanted very much to teach them, but the bitter fact was that He Zheng the little bastard was the only one who could learn that skill!

Countless bothersome matters had been troubling He Changchun’s mind, making him anxious and fretful. What was even more vexing was that SMB had arranged for him to share a room with Qiao Peiyu! This woman who used to be a gentle, loving wife was also the one who had killed Zhu Ning and caused the Zhu family to sever ties with the He family!

No matter how strong their marital bonding used to be, Qiao Peiyu shouldn’t have killed Zhu Ning.

But the current situation…

He Changchun looked at the woman sitting in the corner. Qiao Peiyu seemed much older. Since He Changchun and Qiao Peiyu had entered this room, she had only glanced at He Changchun once.

During that brief eye contact, He Changchun had clearly seen that Qiao Peiyu’s eyes were terribly bloodshot, which unmistakably indicated that she hadn’t been sleeping well. It was also her bloodshot eyes that had vaguely shown the craziness that seemed to be building inside her …

After all, the He family had not been brought here as prisoners, so although they were in the Ministry of Supervision, they had been assigned a small suite with three bedrooms, a dining room and a living room. He Changchun, who couldn’t stand this kind of subdued atmosphere, pulled the door open and hurried out in such great haste as though he was fleeing from something.

In the darkness, Qiao Peiyu, who looked like a zombie, curled her lip in disdain.

In the living room, He Qin and He Yu were sitting silently on the sofa. Finally, He Yu failed to restrain her anger and muttered a curse. Wearing a pair of shoes with six-inch heels, she clattered around in the room paved with ceramic floor tiles.

“Open up! Let me out of here!”

“Who gives you people the right to lock me in here?!”

“Let me out! Just because you work for SMB doesn’t mean you can do this to me! I want to enter for the recruitment exam! The recruitment exam! You people can’t afford to take the consequences if I miss the exam! You hear me?!”

She roared hysterically, but no one seemed to care.

Beside herself with fury, He Yu kicked the door and hammered the wall like a maniac while bawling, “Let me out! I know you could hear me out there!”

Although the furnishings in the room were no different from those in a common family, the front door wasn’t an anti-theft one that most houses had but a wooden one.

He Yu was consumed with rage but there was still no response of any kind from outside.

“That’s enough, Yu!” He Qin pushed the glasses on his nose bridge back on. The lens made it difficult for people to see the look in his eyes clearly. “Calm down. SMB never takes action for no good reason.”

“You can bear being cooped up in here, but I can’t! I haven’t told my boyfriend about this yet!” huffed He Yu in a tremulous voice. On that day, halfway to the location she and Zhou Yihao had agree to rendezvous, she had been intercepted by some SMB staff members and hadn’t talked to Zhou Yihao ever since.

In this place, they had all the daily necessities they needed, but they couldn’t make contact with anybody outside.

“Yu, look what you look like now.”

Faint with anger, tears in eyes, He Yu stamped her foot repeatedly.

After a few moments’ silence, her temper rose again. Being cut off from the outside world was driving her crazy, and she resumed hammering the door.

Unexpectedly, this time around she had just hit the door twice when the knob turned.

On hearing the sound of the knob turning, all the others who had been ignoring her shifted their gaze to the knob at the same time.

Li Zong inclined his head and thanked the staff member standing guard outside the door, who felt overwhelmingly flattered and hastened to say, “You may call my name when you want to come out, Supt. Li.”

“Alright. I hope it won’t be too much trouble.”

“Not at all, Supt. Li.”

He Zheng was standing in the doorway. The door was pulled open from the inside. The anticipation and excitement which filled He Yu’s eyes was gradually replaced by incredulity and with that she rounded her eyes and stared fixedly at the man in front of her.

“He Zheng, why are you here?” said He Yu through gritted teeth as though she wanted to eat He Zheng alive. “This can’t be happening!”

“He Zheng?”

The unexpected appearance of He Zheng astonished everybody in the room as abruptly as a falling stone rippled the calm surface of a lake. He Changchun sprung to his feet from his chair and unblinkingly gazed at the person who was not supposed to be in this place.

He Zheng’s eyes casually swept across the body and face of everybody in the room.

The couple of members of the He family, to a greater or lesser extent, appeared weary.

Leaning against the door, he gave a derisive grin and made a quite provocative remark, “It’s so reassuring to see that you guys are having a tough time.”

As he finished speaking, He Zheng turned on his heel, preparing to leave. He had specially come here to make them unhappy. He enjoyed the glum looks on their faces very much.

“Stop right there! Stop! Let me out! I need to enter for the recruitment exam!”

“The recruitment exam? Is this some kind of joke?” He Zheng pivoted around and slightly curved his lip. “The recruitment finished some time ago.”

He Yu lost her balance and involuntarily backed away several paces. Had He Qin not caught her, she might have fallen to the ground and blacked out with shock.

He Yu had been meaning to land a job in SMB since the first day she had become a disciple of the Tigers and Dragons Mountain. After hearing that He Zheng had joined STTP, He Yu had started working even harder with the intention to be recruited by SMB to humiliate Hu Zheng.

But now, He Zheng had swaggered over to tell her that the recruitment had finished!

“Impossible! I am a disciple of the Tigers and Dragons Mountain and I have a recommendation from our sect leader! How can you people deprive me of my right to enter for the recruitment exam!?” snapped He Yu in a faintly tearful voice, looking so pathetically helpless.

He Changchun had deep affection for her daughter, so when he saw He Yu crying so sadly, he couldn’t help but say, “He Zheng, you … you need to stop being so mean to her.”

He Zheng was surprised by this geriatric’s attitude. It must be known that in the past, He Changchun would never talk to him in such normal tone. However, it was no good trying to placate him with such attitude.

“What are you talking about? Why else would I come here braving the sight of the faces of yours, if not to jibe you?”

He Changchun was infuriated by these words. “You–You undutiful son!”

He Zheng sniffed in an even more tart tone, “Unfilial son? Who is your son? Stop flattering yourself.”

“I won’t let you people get away with the murder of my mother,” said He Zheng, pressing his hand down on to the table. When he removed his hand to leave, a small handprint was left on the surface of the table. “This is just the beginning,” he added, walking through the door.

“Stop!” He Yu lunged forward. She had lost her marbles. All she could think of was to kill the goddamn bastard He Zheng with her fingers, her fists and everything else within her reach.

However, she was restrained once again.

He Yu felt an extremely strong airflow forming a wall of air right in front of her, keeping her from moving another inch forward. What with the scorching heat from the wall of air, droplets of sweat began to well up on He Yu’s forehead. He Changchun, an experienced exorcist, naturally could tell what was going on. In a trembling voice, he said, “Supt. Li, He Yu is young and reckless. Plea–Please forgive her.”

He Yu widened her eyes in consternation. Li Zong?

The next second, Li Zong emerged into their sight. “This is the last word of warning you’ll receive from me, Patriarch He.”

“Li Zong, are you saying that we’re to swallow whatever humiliation that ungrateful bastard He Zheng inflict on us? Li Zong, you are the vice-superintendent of SMB. Are you not afraid such actions of yours will disgrace the reputation of this department?”

“I’m only Li Zong on this score.”

Li Zong’s voice was unemotional. “One way or another, our karma will always find us. I’ll do everything He Zheng should but doesn’t have the heart to do for him.

And if anybody wants to work against He Zheng, they will have to be prepared to face the Li family and the Zhu family.”

Li Zong didn’t even glance at them. The weak tend to appear even weaker in front of the strong.

The door was closed again, and He Yu, who had been struggling to keep her footing, sank to the ground. He Qin remained silent. He Changchun, as if having been drained of vital essence, slumped into the sofa, wheezing heavily.

The room was filled with gloom, but inopportunely, a woman’s hysterical laughter was heard.

“Zhu Ning, Zhu Ning, it turns out you are the most ruthless devil. You’ve been fooling me for twenty solid years!” Qiao Peiyu’s sudden laughter took all the others aback.

He Qin managed to collect himself. “Mom, why are you acting like this?”

The expression on Qiao Peiyu’s face didn’t seem like one of madness. It was one of mingled peculiarity, thrill and franticness. “I’ve come to know a secret of Zhu Ning’s, a very very important secret.”

“What is it?”

“Shh-I’m not going to tell you.

Like me, you’ll be operated like marionettes by that woman as well. Although she’s already dead, we are still no more than her pawns.”

“Mother, what on earth are you talking about?” He Qin, who could tell that there was something abnormal with her behavior, walked up to Qiao Peiyu with the intention to pull her to her feet. Warm blood spewed from Qiao Peiyu’s neck and splattered across He Qin’s face. This was the last time he had seen his mother alive. The foul odor of the warm liquid enveloped He Qin.

He Qin, who was glued to the spot, failed to grab Qiao Peiyu’s arm when she toppled to the ground with a smile of contentment at the corners of her mouth. He watched motionlessly as Qiao Peiyu fell heavily onto the ground, holding a chopstick in her right hand. Somehow she had sharpened one end of the chopstick and stuck it straight into her own neck, breaking a main artery.

“AAAAAARGH!”

A scream rang out in the room and everybody inside was thrown into confusion.