A Good-for-Nothing

127. He Zheng, a Green-eyed Monster (1)

Translator: Dragon Rider

He Zheng, after hearing Li Zong’s words, was surprised at first. Originally he had been on the verge of flying into a rage, but facing Li Zong who was being so candid about this matter, he didn’t know what he should be angry at.

He lightly tossed a glance at Chen Qianlin and then looked at the crowds discussing noisily. His brow corrugated in a frown. Why was this goddamn man so conspicuous?!

“Can you not be so popular next time?”

Li Zong pulled a wry face but there was no sign of annoyance on it. A doting expression flitted across the depths of his eyes. “Okay. I’ll be more careful next time,” he said.

Chen Qianlin impassively watched all this, trying to suppress his shock. He really hadn’t expected that Li Zong would be so tolerant towards He Zheng. Hey, hey, someone’s public image of “Cold-faced Superintendent” was going to fall apart!

Privately Chen Qianlin was consumed with anger, and there was ill-concealed hostility in his eyes as they rested on He Zheng’s cocky face. What made this fool think he was worthy of all this?! But Chen Qianlin, who had been dealing with various kinds of situation for many years, managed to subdue his anger. He ignored He Zheng, which wasn’t easy, and asked as calmly as he could, “Then I’ll invite you again when you have the time, Supt. Li.”

However, the ignored one made it impossible for Chen Qianlin to keep ignoring him. He Zheng snapped brusquely, “He’ll never have the time! You can forget it!”

He Zheng instantly put his arms around Li Zong’s neck and fixed Chen Qianlin with a cold stare. “Humph, you want to dine with my man without my consent? Stop dreaming!”

After saying this, he spitefully took Li Zong’s hand and swaggeringly drew him away. Chen Qianlin was so furious that his lungs felt as though they would explode. Could this guy be any cockier???

The fox boy, who had witnessed the whole thing, was dumbfounded. He twisted his head around to look at the man behind him, unable to believe his eyes. “Di–Did Supt. Li just leave with He Zheng?”

“They just happen to be going the same way.” Jin Qianlai appeared to be in deadly earnest but privately felt sympathy for this infatuated teenage fox. He flicked a somewhat compassionate glance at Hu Jiu standing in front him, who was besotted with Li Zong. Realizing that sooner or later he’d have to tell him the truth and he could save him a lot of hurt by giving him a little pain on this occasion, Jin Qianlai said, “You know that Supt. Li has been married for quite some time, right?”

“So–Someone just told me.” Hu Jiu bowed his head, tears brimming in his eyes.

Jin Qianlai, seeing him piteously blinking his big eyes, didn’t have the heart to keep it from him.

Jin Qianlai, believing he should do something good on a daily basis, intended to tell him the truth directly, but there was no way to do it without hurting his feelings. He pondered for quite a while but still couldn’t figure out a solution. Fortunately for him, an examiner’s voice came calling the next applicant in. Jin Qianlai hurriedly reminded him, “It’s almost your turn!”

Hu Jiu, tears in eyes, dismissed those thoughts from his mind and nervously prepared himself for the interview. Jin Qianlai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and heaved a deep sigh of relief. ‘It’s true what they say, ‘Those who do no wrong have no guilty conscience.”

He Zheng angrily drew Li Zong away, oblivious of the fact that applicants waiting in line, many of whom had been discussing when he’d walked out, talked even more animatedly after he and Li Zong left together.

The examination rooms were next to the office hall. No sooner had they walked out of the door than He Zheng’s face fell. He bitterly ground his teeth, drew Li Zong to a tree beside the fountain, roughly pressed his forearm against Li Zong’s neck and demanded threateningly, “You deliberately did that to annoy me, didn’t you?”

Li Zong, feeling deeply wronged, said in a soft voice, “Zu Zhichong told me that you got angry, so I came here to check on you, for anger is bad for health.”

He Zheng looked at him disbelievingly, “Really?”

Li Zong kept silent, fixing him with an affectionate stare. He Zheng, who felt somewhat embarrassed beneath his gaze, released Li Zong, ran his fingers through his hair in fidgets and looked sidelong at Li Zong. “Okay then. I believe you, for now.”

He was indeed a grumpy flat-chested little guy.

But Li Zong could only keep this thought to himself and didn’t dare mention a single word of it in the presence of He Zheng for fear that he might explode with rage on the spot.

“Oh, by the way, Zu Zhichong told me that top trainees of the Special Talents Training Program (STTP) would be allowed to join a special action group. Is it true?” He Zheng decided to settle a score.

‘Zu Zhichong?’ Li Zong squinted his eyes. ‘I knew it.’

“I’m asking you a question!” He Zheng bent his arm and gave him a push.

“It’s true.”

He Zheng instantly got annoyed. “Then why didn’t you tell me earlier?! Tell me – are you hiding anything from me?!”

Seeing his fierce face, Li Zong made an attempt to change the topic, asking, “How was the interview?”

“I don’t know. One of the examiners disagreed with my opinion.” He Zheng failed to notice that Li Zong had steered the conversation away from the original subject. He recalled what had happened during the interview a while ago, his mouth a thin line, looking rather vexed.

Li Zong casually adjusted He Zheng’s collar for him and said in a seemingly nonchalant tone, “Was it Mr Zhen and Director Tan who were the interviewers?”

“Yeah.” He Zheng didn’t realize immediately why he’d asked about this, but after a few moments, he came to understand what Li Zong meant, his eyes slightly widened with surprise. “You–”

Li Zong’s facial expression remained unchanged, but He Zheng noticed a sly smile flit across the depths of Li Zong’s eyes.

Hey, hey, hey – Legend had it that Supt. Li was righteous and impartial. There was no way they’d known about this kind of matter beforehand, was there? No wonder the timing of Zu Zhichong’s appearance had been so perfect – they had just lined up when he’d arrived.

He Zheng instantly dissolved into chuckle.

“Wipe that smug smile off your face.” Li Zong gave him a playful pinch on the cheek. He Zheng didn’t know when this had started, but Li Zong was growing quite fond of pinching his cheek, as if it were the skin of a steamed stuffed bun that he was pinching.

“Are you hungry? If you are, I’ll take you to grab a bite.”

It had been only an hour or so since He Zheng had had breakfast, so of course he was not hungry. He rolled his eyes upwards and couldn’t be bothered to make a response to Li Zong’s question, saying that he wanted to go to the rooftop to practice Fu-craft. He’d forgotten to ask Li Zong about STTP and the recruitment of the two action groups.

Li Zong handed He Zheng’s cellphone and the Shadow Sword, which he had got from a staff member. He Zheng took them and ran out of sight in the blink of an eye.

After He Zheng left, Li Zong also intended to leave.

Suddenly, someone jumped down from the tree and adjusted his clothes.

Li Zong narrowed his eyes and looked at the man.