A Good-for-Nothing

81. To Cultivate for the Sake of Li Zong (1)

Translator: Dragon Rider

He Zheng obediently waited at the doorway and didn’t ask Li Zong any questions when he walked out of the office. As willful as He Zheng was, he knew for sure that Li Zong would tell him everything he was allowed to disclose.

All of them had a somewhat heavy heart when they left the Counter-demon Committee, but precisely speaking, Zu Zhichong and Li Zong were the only two whose minds were weighed down. Zu Zhichong merely had a superficial knowledge of what had been going on – someone had used Zu family, and there were more and bigger conspiracies behind this matter.

“Chief, when are we going back?” Zu Zhichong knew that the main purpose of this trip of Li Zong’s had been to see Director Tan and get the decrypted version of those divinatory symbols. As a result, after getting what they needed, Zu Zhichong immediately asked Li Zong when they were going back.

“There’s no hurry. How’s it going with Zu Ming?”

“There are surveillance cameras in my home. Just now Zu Ming gave me a phone call and told me that he had already had the photo of that man printed, that he was trying to ascertain the man’s identity. I think there will be a definite result in the afternoon.”

Li Zong inclined his head and flicked He Zheng a glance, who was still in perplexity.

But Zu Zhichong knew what Li Zong meant – he didn’t want He Zheng to get too involved in this matter.

“Then let’s go grab a bite first. After that, we’ll see to what you have left on your to-do list, Chief.”

Zu Zhichong was a native of the Sui City. Most citizens of the Sui City were gourmets who were very fastidious about food, and they loved soup. Since it was still early, Zu Zhichong took the two of them to have a mid-morning snack.

The place Zu Zhichong picked was near the college town. It was a cheap eatery, and there were no available seats when they arrived. Zu Zhichong seemed to be a patron. He talked to the owner and, remarkably, the owner fished a small table out of somewhere and managed to make space for them.

Foods in the Sui City tasted, for all intents and purposes, the same as those in the Coastal City, but both shrimp dumplings and spareribs in steamed glutinous rice here were more tender and also more delicious than those in the Sui City.

The night before, He Zheng had an extremely terrifying experience which involved a lot of strenuous exercise, and this morning, he had been taken to the Counter-demon Committee very early without having breakfast, so he was starving. Although this old eatery seemed fairly dilapidated, He Zheng liked it very much. Having a good appetite, he quickly finished three portions of shrimp dumplings and a portion of steamed creamy custard buns, and also drunk a big bowl of soup.

Surprisingly, a bad-tempered man as he was, He Zheng loved sticky, greasy foods. The salted yolks inside the steamed creamy custard buns had partially melted into liquid grease. Not paying enough attention to it while eating, he got the corners of his mouth covered with yolk.

Since this small eatery was located near a college town, there were a lot of customers going in and out of it. Space was limited and they were jostling one another on the way, and there was certainly no compartment or box of any kind. The five of them were sitting in the place where all other customers were.

Li Zong, who was a regimen fiend, finished a bowl of soup made of spareribs and radix polygonati officinalis. Seeing He Zheng’s greasy lips, he reached out his hand, scrubbed the corners of He Zheng’s mouth in an extremely natural way and then casually wiped the yolk from He Zheng’s cheeks with his thumb.

In fact, although this behavior was fairly intimate, it shouldn’t have attracted many people’s attention. However, this place was near the college town and most of the customers were students, and Li Zong was a quite attractive man in terms of both appearance and temperament. As a result, customers nearby instantly fell into discussion with each other about this in a subdued voice.

Of course Li Zong and He Zheng didn’t care about this at all. Zu Zhichong, who was rather thick-skinned, wasn’t bothered either. However, with people around them whispering, the three of them seemed to have become the focus of attention in the whole place, standing out like storks in a flock of fowls.

“Hey! Supt. Li! You are also having breakfast here! What a predestined chance meeting!” He Zheng suddenly felt someone pat him on the shoulder. With a big smile, Jin Qianlai was standing behind them.

Seeing Jin Qianlai, the three of them, Zu Zhichong and He Zheng in particular, felt somewhat awkward, recalling the piteous sight of this guy’s wailing.

Jin Qianlai seemed to be very good at striking up acquaintance with people. The three of them were sitting around a small table and there was barely any room left, but Jin Qianlai grabbed a chair and somehow managed to sit down beside Li Zong. Delight gleaming in his eyes, he looked at Li Zong and observed, “Well, I never expected I would be so lucky as to get a chance to have breakfast with Supt. Li and two Elder Sect-brothers. It’s such a great honor for me.” Both his smile and his tone were exceptionally obsequious.

Both He Zheng and Zu Zhichong were getting goosebumps, but Li Zong appeared unconcerned.

“Oh, you ordered quite some food.” Jin Qianlai took a pair of chopsticks, picked up two shrimp dumplings and stuffed them into his mouth. While chewing, he said, “You are really loaded. Even your breakfasts are sumptuous.”

With an ill-concealed intention to cotton up to Li Zong, Jin Qianlai tried to drag him into conversation. “Supt. Li, given your rank and social status, you should never have lowered yourself by having breakfast at such a cheap eatery. I’d like to stand you a more decent meal in the Imperial City Grand Hotel next door. What do you say?”

Li Zong was shelling an egg seasoned with tea for He Zheng. As Jin Qianlai finished speaking, he got the egg ready, put it in a small dish, pushed it to the front of He Zheng, and then raised his eyes, saying, “That won’t be necessary. We’ve almost had enough.”

Then he gave a smile and added, “If you stand me a meal, I think I’ll end up paying the bill.”

Jin Qianlai replied with a sinister grin, “I’m a countryman, while you are rich and generous. Never can I compare with you. Please be more understanding, Supt. Li.”

Seeing Jin Qianlai’s obsequious smile and hearing his ingratiating words, Zu Zhichong, who had got a bad impression of Jin Qianlai previously, felt an inexplicable fit of anger. Recalling what had happened in the Counter-demon Committee, Zu Zhichong frowned. “Hey, buddy, would you please stop boot-licking?”

Jin Qianlai had wanted to ignore him, but Li Zong, seeing He Zheng had almost finished eating, said in a bland tone, “Oh, by the way, I’d like to introduce Zu Zhichong to you. He’s the eldest son of the patriarch of Zu family.”

Li Zong flicked a glance at Jin Qianlai, a half smile on his face.