Zhao Zichen froze for a moment, and soon he said cheerfully, “That’s right, I really didn’t expect that this was also seen by you. Chao, I’ll be honest with you and admit that I’m also playing small to big.”
I let out a long sigh, patted my clothes and said, “Alright, I’ll take my leave.”
Zhao Zichen was dumbfounded and asked, “Didn’t we have a nice chat?”
I looked at his puzzled face in the reflection of the floor-to-ceiling window and said without looking back, “You’re really smart, and the offer you made was very tempting, and everything you said was right on the money. I have nothing, I have a false identity, and with you holding a Red Light Society in your hands, it seems I’m really at the end of my rope if I don’t work with you.”
An odd expression flashed across Zhao Zichen’s face, but he quickly settled down and said with slight determination, “So Brother Chao, you can’t act impulsively.”
He must not know that when I joined the Snow Leopard Special Forces back then, I had specifically learnt micro-expressions.
I said, “But I want to ask you, since you have everything and I have nothing, why are you and your father, both dead set on working with me? Because, you need Junran’s young boss to be your table-top boss of the Red Lantern Club, just like the Green Dragon Gang put out Jiang Ming. Oh no, this is your father’s idea, you may not be so nasty, you just want to borrow my identity to increase your bargaining chips with Jiang Ming. Once Jiang Ming is cheated later, we Junran will have to bear the wrath from his family. Zhao Zichen, you are too clever, but unfortunately you shouldn’t treat me like a fool.”
Zhao Zichen’s face was full of disbelief, but he couldn’t say anything to refute it, because I had hit the nail on the head with what I said.
I turned around and picked up the copy of the case file on the table and said, “Anyway, this is still a thank you.”
Zhao Zichen’s face was all black, very lost and embarra*sed.
I patted his shoulder and said, “Besides, you’re still the son of my father’s late friend. When I really need help, I will help you even though this relationship has turned several corners.”
I had to tell him straight out, don’t F**king hit on me every day and take me for a fool every day, I’ve taken several turns in my relationship with him and I’ll take care of him if I really P*ss him off.
Zhao Zichen is a man of the cloth, how can he not hear the meaning of these words.
He clenched his fist and said with a red neck, “Chao, I was wrong. This is the last time.”
I gave his shoulder a firm shake. To be honest, this kid wasn’t a bad person, he just had too much heart, and I didn’t like it when people lied to me.
“I’m out of here.” I said, “Little thing, how I take it to heart. But this is the last time.”
Zhao Zichen said seriously, “I’ve really seen how powerful you are this time, Brother Chao, and indeed I wouldn’t dare. Don’t worry, I keep my word. I’ll send you.”
He dropped me off at the door and I told him to stay. I took a taxi back by myself, I still had to study the case file.
Zhao Zichen also knew I was in a bad mood, so he didn’t push much. I watched him close the door to his room, and I didn’t rush off, standing at the door for a while.
Soon, there was a very soft sound of conversation coming from the door, if it wasn’t for the super hearing of a special soldier like that, the average person wouldn’t be able to hear it.
Zhao Zichen commanded, “Baldy, keep an eye on him.”
I smiled and rolled up the dossier, which led to my departure.
In fact, as soon as I arrived at this villa, I knew that there was someone in this room. Even though the other party didn’t make a sound at all, and probably didn’t move at all, I could feel it.
On the battlefield, we often rely on this tiny bit of intuition to determine the location of the enemy, and it happened to be intuition that saved me countless times.
This guy Zhao Zichen, ah, is quite clever, and I’m pretty sure he won’t give up on using me, and this won’t be the last time he tricks me, he’s so clever that I’m afraid he hasn’t met an opponent since he was a kid, and would never trust anyone to see through his tricks.
But the big difference between him and me was that I had to spot every trick, to be careful to distinguish whether every word was true or false, whether there was a whiff of the enemy in every breeze, whether there was an enemy hidden in every detail, or else death awaited me.
This instinct, practised in the battlefield in times of life and death, is something he will never understand.
Hey, this kid, let’s leave it at that for now, maybe one day, I will really need him.
It was not easy to get a taxi from his neighborhood, and by the time I returned to Juyen Garden, it was already midnight and my cla*smates had not yet dispersed.
The B*****ds, who hadn’t caught me drinking, kept pouring it on Chu Xiaoxiao.
Luckily, Xia Gehuai looked after Chu Xiaoxia for me. He handed over a messy Chu Xiaoxia to me, then put on his big cap and said to me, “Comrade Zhang Chao, you’re back. If you don’t come back, I’ll have to keep her at the police station and hand her over to the state.”
Two red clouds floated on Chu Xiaoxiao’s drunken face, and she jumped into my arms with a cheeky grin. I thanked Xia Gehuai and said I would treat him to dinner some day.
“Xiaoxia, you’re drunk, let’s go home.”
“No, I’m not going home.” Chu Xiaoxia wrapped her arms around me, no one was around in the car park, she was as bold as she could be, followed by the wine, her soft little hands dug into my clothes, her five fingers were like cat’s claws, scratching my back not so lightly.
I smelled the wine, my heart was already a bit restless, and when she scratched me, my heart jumped up and my throat burned like a fire.
The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to get a good deal on a lot of things. Let’s …… get into the bridal chamber.”
My heart was about to pop out of my chest.
