A Good-for-Nothing

83. Li Zong Is Such a Nuisance (1)

Translator: Dragon Rider

Early the next morning, it was the alarm clock app on He Zheng’s cellphone that woke him up.

The day before, in the afternoon, they returned to the Coastal City from the Sui City by air. After the got off the plane, Li Zong had driven He Zheng back to their apartment in Century Town, gone back to the Rosefinch Lane and had not returned home until this moment.

Out of force of habit, He Zheng took up the cellphone, turned off the alarm clock, in passing checked his SMS inbox only to see a text message from Li Zong at a glance.

It read ‘Call me when you wake up.”

He Zheng gave a yawn and conveniently pressed the button with Li Zong’s name on the screen.

It was after a few moments that the call was received. It was a shade noisy on the other end of the phone, but Li Zong’s voice was just as clear as always, as if it could get straight into the depths of his heart. “You got up? Come to the Supernaturalism Management Bureau (SMB) right now.”

He Zheng uttered “Um” and then went to wash his face and brush his teeth. After that, since the weather was gradually getting hot, he changed into a faddish short-sleeved T-shirt, pants tight to the bottom of pant leg and a pair of limited-edition Adidas sneakers, looking quite fashionable. It was just that due to the weary return trip from the Sui City, there were shadows under his eyes, so he put on a pair of sunglasses before leaving.

Without their noticing it, Li Zong’s apartment in Century Town was now full of He Zheng’s traces. Yet it had merely been around a month since He Zheng moved in with Li Zong. Remarkably, it had taken only a month for two individuals to grow into a home.

He Zheng got out of the cab at the entrance of the Rosefinch Lane, thinking about when he should go and get his car back, which was still in the garage of He family. He raised his head and found that Li Zong was waiting for him at the entrance of the lane.

He Zheng was still yawning. Li Zong’s eyes appraised him from head to toe and with that he secretly let out a sigh and asked, “You forgot that you were supposed to go back to He family today, didn’t you?”

‘Ah!’

He Zheng was sent into a brief trance of amazement. He had indeed not been bearing this in mind. Speaking of this matter, it was because He Jin, an unlucky guy, had suicidally turned himself into a bomb and exploded, and his old man, whose memory of this incident had been erased, had forgotten the cause of his son’s death and was naturally in grief. As a result, He family was going to hold a funeral, which had been scheduled for this very day.

The day before, on the flight, he sleepily heard Li Zong inform him of this matter but didn’t pay much attention to it. After a night’s sleep, he had completely forgotten the whole thing.

Seeing his reaction, Li Zong made no further remarks. He raised his hand and adjusted He Zheng’s hair, which he had not had the time to comb due to the haste. There was a strand of his hair arching over his head in an amusing way, which was resulted from his lying position during the sleep. Inexplicably, Li Zong felt that this made He Zheng look fairly cute.

“Get in the car.”

On this day, Li Zong was driving a black Land Rover. He Zheng expertly pulled the car door open and told Li Zong that he wanted to get his own car back this time.

Then it occurred to him that though the size of Li Zong’s apartment in Century Town was perfect for two men, they didn’t have enough parking space, for he had more than one car. After a few moments’ thinking, He Zheng fished out his cellphone, glanced at it, jabbed Li Zong with his elbow and consulted him. “I think we should get another place to live.”

It happened to be a green light and Li Zong gave He Zheng a backward glance.

He Zheng handed his smart phone to him and remarked, “I own a detached villa in the residential district near Century Town. The garage in Century Town is not big enough to hold my cars.”

Zhu family was rather wealthy, so there had been a lot of dowries when the patriarch’s only daughter got married, properties and cars included. Since this villa was located in an area with convenient transportation, Qiao Peiyu had been holding on tight to it before He Zheng took back the ownership of it on the day he left He family.

“You want to get your cars back?”

“Yeah.”

As if having just thought of something, Li Zong slightly curved his lips and flicked He Zheng a backward glance, which thrown He Zheng into perplexity. The car drove out of the alley and arrived at a busy commercial street. It was not until the two of them got out of the car that Li Zong informed He Zheng, “My family owns a detached villa in that residential district as well. It seems that we’ve been neighbors.”

He Zheng knew Li Zong’s family was probably rather wealthy, but Li Zong had never talked about it, and he was uninterested in how many assets they possessed, so naturally he had never asked. As a result, after hearing Li Zong’s words, he was fairly surprised.

Then Li Zong added, “On occasions, I would spend a day or two in that house. And I once met a fair and delicate-skinned kid there, who’s quite noisy.”

He Zheng had a sudden inkling that something was not right, for Li Zong definitely wouldn’t have brought this up for no good reason. ‘Was that kid by any chance me? But why am I not recalling any of these?’

Li Zong’s soft voice came again and, as if someone were tickling his ear with a feather, made him feel miserable all over.

“That kid also liked to drop in on me. He would knock at my door with candies in his hand and ask me to play with him. And every time he was in my house, he would declare that he wanted to be my bride.”

Inexplicably, He Zheng felt ashamed. With a somewhat unnaturally pink flush on his cheeks, he quickly stopped Li Zong. “Enough. Stop talking. I really don’t remember that!”

Li Zong raised his hand, pinched He Zheng’s ear lobe and stopped teasing him. “Of course you don’t, because I made all that up.”

He Zheng: …

He felt a fit of anger lingering in his chest, which was neither building up nor dissolving. There was no good reason for him to vent his anger, but if he didn’t, he might be in this bad mood for quite some time. He Zheng felt that he had changed considerably since his relationship with Li Zong got intimate. ‘This is all goddamn Li Zong’s fault!’

He walked into the commercial building alone and kept progressing silently. Watching this little guy’s receding figure with an affectionate look in his eyes, Li Zong, who had a while ago found He Zheng fairly cute, felt that he was exceptionally adorable in this moment.

In indignation, He Zheng kept walking forward alone. After a while, not having heard Li Zong’s apology, He Zheng flew into a rage, twisted his head around and was just about to lose his temper when something icy touched his lips.

It was a limited-edition icy cream newly launched by the Golden Arch (an ice cream shop chain). Li Zong, a regimen fiend, had never bought any ice creams in his whole life. It turned out that the first time he did this was for his flat-chested marriage partner.

Li Zong pinched He Zheng’s face which was full of anger, his eyes tinged with a rather unnoticeable affectionate look. “If this still doesn’t work, I don’t know what else I can do to coax you out of your temper.”