A Good-for-Nothing

71. Oddities in Zu Family (1)

Translator: Dragon Rider

The residence of Zu family was not far away, only around ten minutes’ drive from the Yinguo Street. Tan Lubai herself saw them to the entrance of the alley, and a lot of staff members, when walking past them, eyed He Zheng with ill-concealed jealousy on their faces, only too anxious to eat He Zheng alive. He Zheng had difficulty guessing what their reaction was all about, while Zu Zhichong had an inscrutable countenance.

It was not until he closed the car door that he was rid of those people’s envious gaze. He Zheng’s face was still full of bafflement. Zu Zhichong tossed a glance at him and gave a sinister smile. “There’s nothing we could do about this. You have only Director Tan’s concern for you to blame.”

The car slowly reversed out of the garage. Distantly, He Zheng could see customers walking in and out of the Laofengxiang Silverware Shop. Zu Zhichong explained, “Everybody in there desires to be Director Tan’s apprentice. Pity my sect-uncle has got your indentureship cut and dried. As they say, to take the initiative is to gain the upper hand.”

He Zheng, who couldn’t be bothered to make any comments on Zu Zhichong’s inexplicable words, queried him, “Do you know what it was that Li Zong asked Director Tan to help with?”

Zu Zhichong shook his head and replied without even thinking, “He’s the Chief, and we’re his errand boys. How are we supposed to know?”

Feeling that his words made sense, He Zheng asked him, “Did Li Zong finish the job?”

“Sort of.” Upon saying this, Zu Zhichong recalled something and with that he looked into the interior rear-view mirror to glance at He Zheng who was lost in thought. After a few moments’ thinking, he forbore from informing him of Li Zong’s injury.

But at this moment, what He Zheng was thinking about was that he should wait until Zu Zhichong had his business handled to contact Li Zong.

Given the influence of the Qingwei Sect in the Sui City, He Zheng imagined that the residence of Zu family should be pretty decent. However, when he was actually standing at the front gate of it, He Zheng came to the belief that Sect Leader Zu had definitely been telling the truth when he disclosed that Zu Zhichong used to smoke pot in a night club.

After looking at Zu Zhichong’s Lotus Erova and then the imposing villa of Zu family, even He Zheng, son of a super rich man, couldn’t help but feel overshadowed.

However, before He Zheng could say anything, the gates covered with sculpted reliefs slowly opened and with that a black figure, rolling and crawling, quickly stumbled out. When He Zheng hurriedly reacted by taking a step sideways, Zu Zhichong’s thighs were held by that person, who wailed and wept, “Ah… Help me, Elder Brother… Help… I’m dying…”

The smug smile on Zu Zhichong’s face faded to the wail of the man.

He Zheng distinctly saw that blue veins stood out on Zu Zhichong’s temples and violently rippled. Before that man could let out the third fit of wail, Zu Zhichong thundered, “Get your hands off me!”

The man wept and replied, “You have to promise you’ll help me first.”

Zu Zhichong was sent speechless.

He Zheng rapidly took a few steps backward lest that man’s spattering mucus stain his clothes.

“What are you standing there for?! Take him away!”

Servants on the side immediately walked over to drag the man clinging on to Zu Zhichong’s legs. However, that man didn’t loose his grip a little bit while wailing. Eventually, with a clear tearing of fabric, Zu Zhichong’s pants were torn under great strain, revealing his boxer shorts with the pattern of a cute Pikachu on it.

He Zheng looked at Zu Zhichong with an inscrutable expression in his eyes, as if saying, “I never expected that you were like this, Zu Zhichong.”

All servants present dissolved into snickers but soon managed to stop and fight down their urge. However, Zu Zhichong’s face had gone furious in the extreme.

It was five minutes later that this farce finally came to an end with a muffled groan and an anguished screech.

Zu Zhichong was indeed amazingly thick-skinned. Though the secret about his briefs had just been exposed, he didn’t feel embarrassed at all. After changing into another pair of pants, he seemed as if nothing had ever happened. “He Zheng, may I present my younger brother, Zu Ming?”

Zu Ming appeared much better now, but he still looked like a wimp.

If He Zheng was to be described as a rich so-and-sos’ son who had disappointed his family, then Zu Ming would be a rich so-and-sos’ son who was a ne’er-do-well. As Zu Zhichong’s younger brother, he had been put in charge of Zu family’s business by his father after Zu Zhichong went to the Qingwei Sect to learn exorcism. Though a ne’er-do-well, Zu Ming did have some aptitude for business.

“Elder Brother, I made so many phone calls to you. What took you so long? Had you not come back today, you would never get to see me again.” Zu Ming was somewhat aggrieved.

“There, there! Stop that. Aren’t I standing right in front of you? Exact what’s going on?” Zu Zhichong flicked He Zheng a glance. “We’ve got a guest here!”

Seeing his elder brother’s expression which was not among those familiar to him, Zu Ming didn’t dare to mess around any more. He hurriedly told Zu Zhichong the whole story.

It turned out that things were like this.

Zu family’s ancestors had made it a rule that the eldest son of the patriarch should dedicate himself to exorcism, and the second son business, which had been observed by generations and generations of their descendants. The most talented ones of all previous generations of members of Zu family, almost without exception, had been the eldest sons of the patriarchs, all of whom had joined the Qingwei Sect to be exorcists. And the rest of the descendants, also without exception, had dedicated themselves to their family business. As regards the current generation, Zu Zhichong had got into the Supernaturalism Management Bureau (SMB), so naturally, the whole family business had been handed over to Zu Ming, his cousin.

Though Zu Ming seemed a wimp, Zu family’s business had been thriving under his management. During the last year, he had not only successfully won the bid for several pieces of commercial lands, but also planned to spend a huge sum of money on constructing a department store building which would be the highest in the Sui City.

Not long ago, construction of the department store building started. The foundation had been laid and the first couple of floors had been built. When builders had been doing their jobs continuing to build the next floor, something bad happened.

“This department store building has to open to business before Zhou family’s department store building does, so I was pretty anxious and set a deadline for the completion. Back then when I was looking for a construction team, the one I had always been cooperating with in the past was occupied with another contract and didn’t have the time, so I had no choice but to find another reliable one.” There were shadows under Zu Ming’s eyes. It seemed that he had not been sleeping well and was experiencing a carry-over of fear. “But a month ago, in an accident… a builder died on the construction site. After that, one after another, a succession of people got killed. I could barely eat or sleep…”

Gradually, while telling the story, Zu Ming was reduced to spilling out his troubles to them.

After hearing this, He Zheng couldn’t help but ask, “Why didn’t you ask Sect Leader Zu for help after so many oddities happened in a row?”

‘The Qingwei Sect is such a powerful exorcist organization. Even if there are indeed some evil spirits at work, surely Sect Leader Zu can handle them?’ he wondered.

Zu Ming flicked He Zheng a glance but didn’t dare to offend him in the knowledge that this companion of Zu Zhichong’s was definitely no common person. However, on hearing this question of He Zheng’s, he shook his head, as if having a somewhat guilty conscience.

Zu Zhichong knew there must be something else behind this that his cousin preferred to keep secret. He secretly let out a sigh, kneaded his brow and asked, “Where’s the construction site?”

Zu Ming hurriedly told him, “In the new development zone, near the People’s Garden!”

Zu Zhichong gave a bob of his head and looked at He Zheng.

He Zheng rose from the sofa and said with a bland face. “I’ll go with you.”

Although there had been a succession of deaths there, his title “the First Apprentice of the Sect Leader of the Qingwei Sect” absolutely meant something. Besides, this time around, they were just going there to find out what might be at work. Zu Zhichong was confident that he was capable of protecting He Zheng and getting him out of that place if anything evil showed up. As a result, he raised no objection to He Zheng’s going with him.