A Good-for-Nothing

41. A Learned Mouse Yōkai

Translator: Dragon Rider

In the car.

He Zheng was sitting in the front passenger seat. On his face, there was no trace whatsoever of the anger that he had affected after being scolded by his father a while ago. Instead of being sullen and silent, he leisurely made a phone call to Qin Huai. In the knowledge that the plan worked, Qin Huai asked for credit with his tongue in his cheek.

He Zheng bade him to make sure that the girl would keep the plan secret and boost the impact of the scandal, and then told him about the reward. Qin Huai agreed willingly and promised to get the job done.

After He Zheng hung up the phone, his heart leaped, a big smile on his face. The very thought of He Jin and others being in a sorry plight gave him thrills of excitement.

Badger game was a simple trick required little efforts. The reason why He Zheng had not resorted to this previously was that the time was not ripe. But today, after his old man went to so much trouble to arrange for Li Zong to come for dinner, He Jin had ended up making an utter fool of himself in front of Li Zong. He Changchun would definitely vent his anger on He Jin, who was bound to have quite some tough days.

Doing the right thing at the right time was always a matter of great importance.

He Zheng had just hung up the phone when Li Zong walked out of the residence of He family.

He Changchun was indeed also a master of pretence. With such a big quarrel going on in his house, he still chose to see the guest off himself.

He Zheng pocketed his cellphone. For some reason, watching his old man behaving so humbly in front of Li Zong, he suddenly felt that he had got himself a powerful backer.

“How’s it going in there? He Jin lost it and started cursing, didn’t he?” He Zheng asked in a smug tone of voice after Li Zong opened the car door.

He Zheng was fair-skinned and innocent-looking and if he put on a school uniform and a pair of glasses, people would get the impression that he was a typical well-behaved student. Li Zong wondered how he had ended up becoming such a master of tricks.

Li Zong buckled up and uttered an affirmative “Um”.

He Zheng smiled even happier. He Jin had been throwing mud at him behind his back all along. This time, with Qin Huai’s assistance, he had successfully set He Jin up and had him know how it felt to be the subject of a scandal.

Seeing the overjoyed expression on He Zheng’s face, Li Zong dissolved into smile and shook his head.

Since He Zheng had barely eaten anything during that dinner, Li Zong didn’t directly drive back to his apartment but to a restaurant.

“Get out. Go and grab a bite,” said Li Zong.

Hungry, He Zheng didn’t talk back, which was rather rare.

It was a cheap eating house, small but crowded with customers. The owner behind the serving hatch, who seemed to have known Li Zong for quite a long time, raised his head and excitedly greeted Li Zong. “Supt. Li! Welcome. You want your usual seat?”

“Yeah.” Li Zong nodded.

He Zheng twisted his head aside to look at Li Zong. “You know him?”

Like a regular customer, Li Zong led He Zheng to the far end of the eating house. Surprisingly, there was a small table behind a screen in there, which made the spot look like a simple box of some kind.

“The owner is a mouse Yōkai. He was born in the New Oriental.”

He Zheng thought that he’d just misheard. “Pardon?”

With a shadow of a smile on his face, Li Zong replied, “The cooking school that you see very often in the TV commercial.”

He Zheng fell speechless.

The mouse Yōkai was very quick. Soon, he served a tableful of courses to Li Zong’s taste, all of which were everyday dishes of appealing look, pleasant smells and appetizing taste. “Supt. Li, it’s been quite some time! Is there something else going on?” The mouse Yōkai said while wiping his hands on his apron. Maybe because he had been born a mouse, his eyes were as small as two mung beans, but he seemed pretty intelligent.

“I want to ask you about something.” Li Zong beckoned the owner over with a wave. Back then in He family, when He Jin attacked He Zheng, Li Zong noticed something usual. He wanted to confirm his suspicion.

The mouse Yōkai craned closer to Li Zong who whispered something in his ears. Then he nodded with a fairly serious look on his face. “Please wait a moment. I’ll get you the answer very soon.” Then he proudly patted his chest and added, “I, Laibao, has access to information about everything in the world!”

“All right. Go and do your job.”

“Okay! Your sweet dumplings will be delivered to you right away!” Lai Bao chuckled and said to He Zheng unctuously, “Enjoy your meal, my guest. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask. I’ll see to it immediately!”

Upon saying this, he intimately moved closer to He Zheng, lifted his brows and winked at him. “You’re a VIP customer. I’ll see to it that your every need is satisfied without any delay.”

Before He Zheng could make a response, Laibao quickly trotted away.

He Zheng was like: …

Though Shu Laibao cooked fast, the dishes he made were very delicious, which proved that he was indeed a mouse born and brought up in the New Oriental. He Zheng consumed a lot and finished the bowl of sweet dumplings cooked with rice wine, which was served afterwards.

Unexpectedly, the sweet dumplings tasted, for all intents and purposes, the same as those that Li Zong had ordered for him on that day.

As this occurred to him, He Zheng asked, “Is he your informer?”

“Yes and no. He’s well-informed.”

He Zheng was at a loss what to say. In fact, he was not privy to this kind of matter. With a complicated expression in his eyes, he flicked a glance at Li Zong. Except for occasions when he was drinking healthy red dates tea usually drunk by old people, Li Zong seemed a pretty elegant man. At this moment, though they were in a small eating house, his demeanor was furthest removed from vulgarity.

He Zheng thought for a while, put down his chopsticks, craned over while grabing Li Zong’s collar, and landed a kiss on Li’s lips.