A Good-for-Nothing

84. Li Zong Is Such a Nuisance (2)

Translator: Dragon Rider

As the “saying” goes, ‘Nothing is impossible for one with enough money.’ Since childhood, He Zheng had never lacked companions, but most of them had struck up acquaintance with him of their own accord because of his identity, status and wealth, but Li Zong was different. He Zheng even had a vague feeling that in his marriage with Li Zong, he was the one who should feel lucky.

He Zheng preferred matcha, which was known to very few. His father had little affection for him, and his mother had passed away a long time ago. His bosom friend Qin Huai was virtually the only one aware of this preference of his. He Zheng had a somewhat complicated expression in his eyes, wondering whether Li Zong knew about it or this was just a coincidence.

But no matter what, his anger dissipated completely.

He flicked Li Zong a mixed glance. ‘Is this guy really the Li Zong people talk about? Why is all this so hard to believe?’

Li Zong was unaware that there was a fierce battle going on in He Zheng’s mind. Li Zong, whose mentality was like that of an old man, was not really good at coaxing his marriage partner. A while ago, he had seen a pair of lovers having a disagreement on the side of the street, which had ended with the young man buying something for his girlfriend to please her. As a result, he had merely put into practice what he had just learned from the man. If this came to He Zheng’s knowledge, he would probably be angered to death.

The shopping mall should be uproarious, but it was still around ten o’clock, which was a little early, so many of the stores in the mall had just opened, and there were only a scattering of shoppers walking around.

Li Zong took He Zheng to a men’s clothing store that provided customized service for customers. Seeing them walking inside, the store assistant, as if having been informed in advance that Li Zong would be here, warmly came to their welcome. “Mr Li, the clothes you ordered are ready.”

The store assistant fished out two black well-ironed suits. Li Zong picked up the smaller one and handed it to He Zheng. “Go try it on and see if it fits.”

He Zheng could tell what kind of occasion this suit was meant for merely by looking at the color of it. He put his ice cream into Li Zong’s hand and said, “Hold it for me. I’ll eat it in a few moments.”

And then he walked into the fitting room to try the suit.

The female store assistant covered her mouth and chuckled, “You seem to be pretty close to this gentleman, Mr Li.”

“Yeah.” Li Zong sat down on a sofa waiting, the ice cream in his hand. Li Zong’s body temperature had always been higher than that of common people since his birth, and the ice cream would soon melt if he keep holding it. Lest the ice cream end up in a garbage can before Cutie walked out, Supt. Li, with affected seriousness, had the store assistant get him a small-sized cooler.

The suit fit well and made He Zheng, who was fine-featured, appear rather formal. When he walked out of the fitting room, Li Zong had also changed into his new suit. Seeing the suit fit He Zheng, Li Zong fished the ice cream out of the cooler and put it back into He Zheng’s hand.

When they left the shopping mall, the store assistant was still snickering, watching Li Zong and He Zheng with knowing eyes. The two of them wondered what it was about. They were unaware that the suits they were wearing, which were of the same series, looked as obtrusive as his-and-her clothes.

Since this funeral was for a member of He family, He Zheng naturally had to turn up earlier than outsiders. When the two of them reached the residence of He family, they saw that only some relatives had arrived. All other invited guests were still on their way.

Specially fixed up, the whole place was shrouded in a grave and solemn mood. There was no smile on anybody’s face. Seeing Li Zong’s car, He Changchun wearing a black Tang-style overgarment walked out of the residence to come to their welcome, grief on his face.

He flicked He Zheng a glance, making no remarks.

“Please restrain your grief.”

“Thank you for your kindness.”

He Zheng and Li Zong went to the mourning hall together to take a look. Qiao Peiyu, He Qin and He Yu were kneeling on the ground, all of whom were in black. Seeing the two of them walking inside, He Yu wearing a black dress wept even harder.

Even if the cause of He Jin’s death had been unknown to He Zheng, he wouldn’t have felt anything in this miserable atmosphere, let alone he knew very well that He Jin’s crimes had deserved more than death.

Seeing them weeping pitifully, He Zheng found this place even more pestilential and couldn’t bear to stay for a single minute longer. Therefore, he directly turned around, went upstairs and returned to his bedroom.

The moment He Zheng left, Qiao Peiyu unnoticeably gave He Yu a wink.

It was the yin jade (In Chinese philosophy and medicine, yin and yang are the two opposing principles in nature, the former feminine and negative, the latter masculine and positive) that He Zheng intended to get and throw away. He smashed it on that day and the pieces had been kept in a drawer all along. The door of his bedroom had been locked all these days. Ever since Qiao Peiyu had been warned, nobody had dared to take the liberty of enter this room. Soon, He Zheng found the pieces of the yin jade, took them and walked outside, planning to dump them somewhere.

He closed the door behind him and saw that, on the ground floor, guests were coming one after another, most of whom looked strange to him. His father was exchanging usual pleasantries with them and the grief on his face, compared with what he had had a while ago, seemed to be allayed somewhat, which, unsurprisingly, didn’t strike He Zheng as ironic, for he had anticipated all this.

He Changchun, to some extent, had a selfish motive for holding a funeral for He Jin – it was an opportunity to meet with those high-ranking officials, which might help his acquaintance with them develop further.

“Hello. What are you holding in your hand? May I have a look?”

A male voice came from behind him.

He Zheng turned around and saw that it was a young man. The man seemed to be surprised to see He Zheng. “Childe He?”

The man’s gaze shifted from He Zheng’s face to the yin jade in his hand and with that he involuntarily gave a blink with a flash of amazement in his eyes, but he immediately returned to normal and said, “I’m sorry for your loss, Childe He. Please restrain your grief.”

He Zheng faintly felt that this man looked somewhat familiar, wondering who he was.

“Childe He, is this your jade?”

He Zheng was a bad-tempered man, who hated it the most when someone he was uninterested in accosted him. Without making a single remark, he slid the man a sideways glance, turned around and walked away.

Watching He Zheng’s figure from behind, the man gave a significant smile and walked into lamplight, revealing all his features. Surprisingly, he was none other than the man who appeared in that room on that day – the youngest son of the patriarch of Zhou family!

Zhou Yihao squinted his eyes. Following the unique telepathy-like connection between him and the Demonic Seed, he had successfully narrowed down the radius to the residence of He family and made this trip, which turned out to be unwasted. ‘The broken jade in He Zheng’s hand is tinged with the Qi of the Demonic Seed. It turns out that there is some kind of connection between the Demonic Seed and He family,’ he thought.

However, Zhou Yihao was not sure whether the Demonic Seed was actually in He family or someone of He family had once come into contact with it.

‘It seems that I need to conduct further investigation.’

Meanwhile, He Zheng returned to the mourning hall but didn’t see Li Zong. He frowned and wondered, ‘Where did Li Zong go?’ He squinted his eyes and noticed that He Yu was also gone.

He kept feeling that something was not right.