A Good For Nothing

Due to sleepiness and an unclear mind, he forgot that he had moved in with another man. When he opened the door, he was greeted with Li Zong, who happened to be heading for the doorway to get the newspaper and was merely a step away.

What made the occasion embarra.s.sing was that He Zheng was used to sleeping in the nude. Added to this the fact that a man tended to have an erection in the morning, and Li Zong got his first glimpse of that thing between He Zheng"s legs.

Li Zong"s eyes swept from He Zheng"s neck straight downward to his private parts, and then he commented, "You"re in good shape." He Zheng swore that he detected a tone of ridicule!

He Zheng was a gay after all, and Li Zong was just his type. Beneath this kind of gaze, He Zheng involuntarily became more aroused.

Embarra.s.sment was a rare feeling for He Zheng, but he was a status-conscious man who always tried to save face however awkward the situation was, so he first affected a calmness he didn"t feel, then said "Good morning", and then quickly held his private parts and slammed the door shut.

What he didn"t know was that the next moment, Li Zong curved the corners of his mouth in a faint smile.

As if somewhat satisfied, Li Zong squinted his eyes and went out to buy breakfast, which turned out to be soy-bean milk and deep-fried dough sticks.

He Zheng was rather displeased to see the golden deep-fried dough sticks and the milky white soy-bean milk. To make things worse, the man sitting opposite him happened to be the one who had brought him into a bad mood from the very beginning. He unhappily took a few bites and then stood up to go to the bathroom.

Halfway to the bathroom, his cellphone rang.

The number displayed on the phone screen was not on his contact list, but it was pretty familiar to He Zheng. It was Qiao Peiyu"s number.

He Zheng rejected the call without a second thought.

A text message came in immediately, reading, "How dare you reject my call!"

He Zheng casually added her number to blacklist.

After a minute, He Zheng"s cellphone rang again. This time there was a name on the screen. The caller was his old man.

There was manifest subdued anger in He Changchun"s voice. "He Zheng, why did you reject your aunt"s call? Did you ever listen to me when I taught you how to be polite?"

He Zheng picked his ear and looked into the mirror. His face was still white-skinned, delicate and good-looking. It was just that there were some dark circles. He Zheng stroked his face like an narcissist. "I"m so handsome!" he thought. Then he leisurely replied to his old man, "State what you want or I"ll hang up right now."

He Changchun was badly angered by his tone. "Bring Li Zong here to dine with us tonight!"

"No." He Zheng shook his hair. Going back there was the last thing he wanted to do. In order to infuriate He Changchun, he chuckled spitefully, "You are just an idler, but my husband is quite the opposite."

The next second, when he turned his head back, he was greeted with Li Zong standing right behind him.

Ur... it was safe to say that this moment was embarra.s.sing enough.

He Zheng knitted his brows and scolded, "Are you a back-spirit (Vengeful spirits hiding in people"s shadows, first appeared in an Asian ghost story.) or something? Why do you keep following me?"

Li Zong lifted his eye brows, raised his Thermos bottle and shook it. "I came here to wash my bottle."

Then he flicked a glance at He Zheng"s cellphone and said, "If you want to go back to your parents" place, I"ll adjust my schedule."

"Supt. Li?" Clearly He Changchun had been listening on the other side of the phone all along. Originally, he had felt somewhat embarra.s.sed, but after hearing Li Zong"s words, he hurriedly said, "It would be the best if Supt. Li can manage to find the time."

Such was his overcautious tone that it didn"t sound like he was talking to his son-in-law at all.

As if afraid that He Zheng would raise any objections, He Zheng immediately added, "Then it"s settled. Let"s have a family dinner tonight!" What He Changchun really cared was not whether He Zheng would return home or not but whether Li Zong would join the dinner. After Li Zong agreed, he immediately hung up without any pleasantries.

Seeing that his father had hung up, He Zheng went even sulkier. Glaring at Li Zong, he questioned, "Why did you agree?"

And was this bathroom really the only place that he could wash his stupid bottle?!

Li Zong gazed at He Zheng who was in a temper. He Zheng was white-skinned and when he was angry, his cheeks slightly bulged due to baby fat, making him looked as cute as a hamster. Li Zong felt like poking him in the cheek but his senses stopped him from doing so.

"I have to go to work. Do you need me to order lunch for you?"

"That won"t be necessary. I"ll eat out." Having sensed his unmistakable intention to change the topic, He Zheng rolled his eyes and walked away.

Li Zong nodded, dumped the red dates and slices of ginseng in the Thermos bottle and started washing it.

"Your voice sounds pretty pleasant when you call me husband. I don"t mind if you make that form of address permanent."

And then, in a significant tone of voice, he added, "This is the third time. He Zheng."

He Zheng paused. If it weren"t for the sound of running water, he would have suspected that he had misheard. He Zheng turned his head back in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

Li Zong gave a smile but didn"t answer He Zheng"s question. After washing the bottle, he left the bathroom.