A Good-for-Nothing

314. Spin-Off (2): Subsequent Events

Translator: Dragon Rider

When the two of them had recovered well enough to be discharged from hospital, the others offered to come and pick them up, but Li Zong turned down all of them. Li Tiangang had made arrangements in person for some men to come to the hospital. He had also sent a domestic worker to make meals for them. The worker had orders to leave immediately after the food was ready, so that the two of them could spend time alone.

After resting in this way for some time, the two of them found their happy days coming to an end. There were too many things going on in SMB, and the winding up of the incident was still ongoing. What with that, even Chen Kai and Tao Wujiu had been assigned to some sub-bureaus. It stood to reason that a competent employer like Li Zong was recalled to the bureau to help deal with the heavy workload.

Zhang Jingqiu, whose workload had doubled, had been so busy that he was on the verge of committing suicide. He directly called Li Zong and said that he would resign if Li Zong did not come back to work right away.

The lyrics “What you haven’t got yet always seems tantalizing” was fit to explain many things, including personal power struggle. At first Zhang Jingqiu had been pretty happy about taking over Li Zong’s job, but the more competent normally have more responsibilities. You have to work harder than your rivals to get more than they do.

Zhang Jingqiu found that the responsibility attached to the job was unbearably heavy, that Li Zong must have suffered a lot being a vice director general. It was like getting the payment for selling cabbages while risking the punishment for selling heroin!

After resting for merely a couple of days, Li Zong returned to the bureau to work like a machine. He Zheng had returned to SMB as well.

The office building of the United Front Work Department which had been destroyed by the Demon King not long ago had already been restored. Everything in the whole SMB appeared no different from usual.

On this day, at night, after they punched off, Zu Zhichong insistently invited the others to a karaoke bar to drink, sing and play games, presumably out of his dignity as a former rich playboy. Of course, Tun Shanhai said the reason was that, according to what he had heard on the grapevine, Zu Zhichong had got his living allowance at the beginning of this month.

The situation he was in was really piteous for a guy from a rich family. His salary was not enough to cover the fines he received every month, and he relied on the allowance provided by his family to make ends meet.

But they knew why Zu Zhichong was doing this — he wanted to celebrate Li Zong and He Zheng’s near miss. Even if Zu Zhichong had not offered to do this, He Zheng would sooner or later invite them somewhere to hang out together.

They directly set off from the office, without going home first to dress up.

However, some people are born more attractive than others. Though it was true that clothing mattered much, some people, even when wearing the most common clothes, could still be the focus of attention in public places.

It was said that when He Zheng and Li Zong walked into the karaoke bar, the duty manager was astounded by their attractive appearance and insisted on gifting them with two cases of beer for free. He even gave them extra membership discount.

When the two of them arrived, the others were at the height of excitement. He Zheng took off his coat, tossed it to Li Zong and snatched a microphone from Chen Qianlin’s hand. The group had a really good time.

Before long, another person walked inside, tall, standing with their back to the lamp outside, wearing shades and a mask, looking very stylish. It was none other than Zhao Fei.

Zu Zhichong giggled, “Lao Zhao, get in here and have a seat!”

He Zheng and the others had not seen Zhao Fei for quite some time and were astonished.

But they had all heard a thing or two about how things had turned out between Zhao Fei and Zhou Yize, and they felt it inappropriate to say anything about it to him, but surprisingly, Zhao Fei was the first to speak. “You guys may ignore me and have fun. I came here because I heard there are free drinks.”

Someone among the crowd said, “Drink as much as you want. Zu Zhichong is ready to empty his wallet overnight.”

Zu Zhichong agreed heroically, “Yeah, enjoy yourself to the fullest! Today is all about fun!”

The uproar was instantly restored. The atmosphere had been quite lively before Zhao Fei’s arrival, and now everybody became even more unreserved, their enthusiasm more unbridled. Chen Qianlin, the biggest narcissist, drank two glasses of beer, which He Zheng had spiked with whisky. Chen Qianlin, under the influence of alcohol, was now holding a microphone yelling madly the high-pitched song named Love Like There’s No Tomorrow.

Everybody teased Qiu Luo, saying that he had done a good job knocking Chen Qianlin into shape, who was singing such a sweet song.

The corners of Zhao Fei’s lips turned up as he noticed how happy the others were. He glanced around him and then sat down beside Li Zong.

Li Zong, who had always appeared rather unapproachable, did not seem to belong to this place. Seeing that he was sitting there with a glass of wine in hand, Zhao Fei smiled, “You didn’t even give me a call when you were dying. I found out about it when it was over.”

Li Zong said blandly, “Why should I tell you about that kind of stuff?”

Zhao Fei grinned, making no reply. And then, as he noticed that He Zheng was singing a pretty saccharine pop song with touchy-feely lyrics, Zhao Fei gave another watery smile and said, “A couple of days ago Zu Zhichong said He Zheng gave you a hard time in the hospital, but you handled it quietly. Not bad, Supt. Li.”

Li Zong gazed at He Zheng who was flicking frequent glances in his direction, undisguised affection in his eyes. In a quiet voice, he said, “He doesn’t have the heart to be angry with me.”

Zhao Fei was both amused and annoyed by this shameless remark. “Does He Zheng know that?” he asked.

Li Zong poked the screen with his finger to give He Zheng a “Cheer” followed by 99 “Roses”. Having made the payment, he pocketed his cellphone before he flicked a casual glance at Zhao Fei and said, “It doesn’t matter if he knows or not.”

Zhao Fei stared at Li Zong for a long moment before he suddenly smiled, finished his beer in one gulp, rose from the sofa, rearranged his clothes and said, “See you around.”

“Why not stay a little while longer?”

Still smiling, Zhao Fei shook his head, put his hands into his pockets, glanced at the lyrics of the song He Zheng was singing, then withdrew his eyes and commented, “He Zheng has very good taste in music. I’m the star in the MV for this song.”

With that he waved the others goodbye with a sort of casual elegance and left.

His figure was silhouetted against the light, casting a very very long shadow. It was so long that it had a lonesome quality to it.

Though tomorrow was Saturday, they were all adults, and they deserved nice, rich nightlife. At midnight, He Zheng clamored, “Let’s call it a night!” Zu Zhichong piteously implored him to stay for another hour, but He Zheng said, “Haven’t you noticed that mushroom are growing on Li Zong?”

The others instantly burst into laughter. Recalling Li Zong’s sleep schedule typical of old people, they did not insist on continuing the party. Thus they left the karaoke. Those who wanted to have some extra fun set off to find somewhere else.

As He Zheng had drunk, Li Zong had to drive. On getting into the car, He Zheng fell asleep in the seat, his head tilted to one side.

Though it had been some time since the end of the great battle, He Zheng still felt fear whenever the memories of it came back to haunt him. When He Zheng was asleep, his eyebrows were knitted pretty often, appearing to be suffering from sense of insecurity.

At a red light, Li Zong patiently unclenched He Zheng’s fists and held his hands in his. He Zheng, as though having felt the familiar body temperature, gradually relaxed.

Li Zong heard He Zheng murmuring something in his sleep, but when he leaned over, He Zheng stopped. Li Zong resignedly shook his head, looked up, saw that the light had turned yellow, and got ready to resume driving.

Maybe because of Li Zong’s body temperature, He Zheng slept very well during the car ride. When he woke up, he found that someone had helped him change clothes.

Li Zong walked inside with a cup of honey water. Seeing that he was awake, he handed the cup to him. He Zheng pushed his own head before taking two sips of the honey water. Li Zong took the cup from his hand and asked, “Would you like to take a shower?”

He Zheng got out of bed, shook his head and said, “Yeah.”

Without even taking a bath robe first, he walked up to the door of the bathroom, stripped naked and finished his shower. After toweling himself, he walked out of the bathroom in the nude, stooped down, picked up his pants and shirt and tossed them into the laundry basket, so that the domestic worker would wash them the next day.

He Zheng, having grown up in a rich family where he had not had to help with any household chores, normally would not take off his clothes in the doorway of the bathroom, and even if he took them off inside the bathroom, he would not bother to pick them up and toss them into the laundry basket. And he certainly did not know how to use a washing machine.

But he was at his own home now. There were very few household chores he could handle, but he did not like his home to look untidy, so he would put the things back to where they belonged after using them. He wanted his home to be clean and comfy.

Having had a shower, He Zheng threw himself onto the bed and lay spreadeagle on his back. The covers were of a dark color, and he was fair-skinned. Seen from a slight distance, he really looked like a big steamed bun.

But there were unduly dense small strawberries on the steamed bun, and the sight made you flush.

Lest He Zheng overeat at night and suffer from indigestion, Li Zong made him some congee. When He Zheng had been having a shower, Li Zong had put a bowl of it on the table to let it cool down. In fact He Zheng had not eaten much at the karaoke. He was now lying in bed playing a mobile game. On hearing Li Zong call his name, he obediently looked up and took a couple of sips of the congee from the bowl in Li Zong’s hand.

He won the game and, in a good mood, cupped Li Zong’s face in his hands and kissed him. “You’re so sweet!” he said.

Li Zong unfolded the quilt and pushed He Zheng into it. When his hands came into contact with He Zheng’s warm skin, Li Zong’s eyes dimmed somewhat.

His golden dragon pupils were gone, but the black-haired and black-pupiled Li Zong was still very hot. Material comforts lead to sexual desire. The look in He Zheng’s eyes flickered after he gazed for a brief moment. He grabbed Li Zong’s hand to keep him from withdrawing it and said in a husky voice, “You still don’t want to sleep?”

He Zheng also licked his lips in a fairly obscene way. Li Zong naturally could tell what he was thinking. His mouth curved into a smile and he asked, “You want a repeat performance of the pay deduction you were given this morning?”

He Zheng, on hearing these words, came to know what Li Zong meant. He threw the quilt aside, abruptly pulled Li Zong into bed, nibbled Li Zong’s lower lip and beamed, “They may deduct my salary all they want. I’m a rich playboy and pay deduction doesn’t scare me!”

Li Zong lifted his left eyebrow.

The influence that the great battle had on their life was not entirely negative. He Zheng’s recent unprecedented enthusiasm, for example, was one of the benefits.

The next day, predictably, He Zheng was late for work again. He rolled over and reached out a hand to feel the man whom he thought was still there only to find that the quilt was cool. He Zheng groggily opened his eyes, took his cellphone, glanced at it and found that it was half past ten already.

He rolled his eyes upwards and muttered, “Why work so hard? It’s not like we’re short of money.”

While muttering, he got out of bed, carelessly changed into an outfit, walked out and spotted the brunch on the dinner table Li Zong had prepared for him.

Before He Zheng could finish his food, he received a phone call from Chen Qianlin. He took a sip of his milk, listening to Chen Qianlin speak on the other end of the phone. Then he quickly took two bites of bread and said thickly, “I’ll be there soon.” With that he hung up in haste and started for the door.

The new-appointed leader of the fourth action group of the headquarters of SMB was on his way to work.

He pushed the door open to find his toes just in sunlight, then looked up out of the staircase window and caught sight of the stream of pedestrians bathed in sunshine.

It was at that very moment that He Zheng suddenly came to understand why Li Zong, a very rich guy, was so dedicated to his job.

A man without social value would find his life boring and meaningless. He Zheng did not have the lofty ideal of protecting the world, but with great power comes great responsibility.

That was where the value of their existence lay.

Smiling, He Zheng shook the keys in his hand and strode out.