He Changchun and his children were waiting at the front gate when Li Zong and He Zheng arrived. He Changchun believed that this was an indispensable courtesy for having Li Zong feel respected and valued and thus stay on good terms with He family.

With a smiling face, He Changchun watched as Li Zong got out of the vehicle. His phantom-face sores seemed to have already healed, and he looked much better. There was even cordiality in his voice. "Supt. Li, I thought you would be delayed by congestion and arrive later, given that it"s rush hour."

Li Zong smiled out of courtesy.

He Zheng got out of the vehicle from the other side. Seeing the servile manner of this old man, he snorted contemptuously. His eyes swept across those behind He Changchun. Among Qiao Peiyu"s three children, He Qin was the only one who went to the bother of keeping up a pretence of closeness, while He Jin and He Yu had a murderous look in their eyes when they saw He Zheng, as if they were anxious to eat him alive.

He Zheng"s gaze rested on He Jin who clearly had put some efforts into dressing up. Unnoticeably, the corners of his mouth lifted briefly.

He Zheng"s gaze moved away and with that he walked forward. "I"m hungry."

Upon saying this, he went through the gate first, ignoring all those behind him, which was very impertinent in the eyes of his father. He Changchun was very keen on face-saving. If it weren"t for Li Zong"s presence, he would definitely have flown into a temper and hurled a torrent of scolding at his son. Considering the particularity of this occasion, he had no choice but to let out a couple of apologetic laughs and said to Li Zong, "Let"s go inside. You must be hungry, too."

He Yu was wearing a white suspender skirt and light make-up. Her looks were actually pretty good, otherwise there wouldn"t have been that many admirers of her in the Tigers and Dragons Mountain. Seeing that Li Zong lagged behind talking with He Changchun, she deliberately slowed down.

"Elder Brother Li, it"s been quite a while since the last time we met." He Yu, like a fairly timid little girl, greeted Li Zong with a sweet smile.

Li Zong made no response, his face bland, which made He Yu feel somewhat under pressure.

He Yu secretly pumped herself up and stepped closer to Li Zong. She was wondering what she should say to resume the conversation when Li Zong, as if not having noticed her unusual expression, turned his face aside and said to the one walking in front, "He Zheng, slow down a little bit."

Upon saying that, he strode forward to catch up with He Zheng.

He Yu fell speechless.

With a wooden face, He Yu watched as Li Zong walked away. She had so much to say but Li Zong didn"t give her the chance.

Qiao Peiyu had been covertly watching all this. She gave her embarra.s.sed daughter a gentle push and reminded her in a low voice, "Follow him."

He Yu clenched her teeth and was just about to follow up when she saw Li Zong hold He Zheng"s hand in an extremely natural manner. The couple rings they were wearing were giving off a faint light in the sun. He Yu was transfixed with shock, standing on the spot, her eyes glinting with anger.

He Yu felt that she had been humiliated. She had never tried to impress a man in such a humble way, but apparently Li Zong was intentionally doing all this to send her a message. As a result, she refused to follow them no matter how hard her mother tried to convince her.

Exasperated at her daughter"s refusal to make good, Qiao Peiyu scolded her and then quickly walked forward to catch up with the others.

On a round dinner table in the dining room, a circle of exquisite dinnerware had been neatly placed.

Originally, He Zheng preferred not to dine with Qiao Peiyu and her children, because every time he dined with them, Qiao Peiyu would "accidentally" anger He Zheng, and then Childe He would lose his temper and directly overturn the dinner table, and after that, He Zheng would end up eating in his room alone.

On this occasion, since He Zheng had come back with Li Zong, there was no way that he could get out of dining with them. And He Zheng didn"t want his old man to be enraged by this matter, because he was looking forward to seeing what was going to happen next.

Li Zong and He Zheng were sitting on the right side of He Changchun. With a little finesse, Qiao Peiyu had managed to arrange for He Yu to sit beside Li Zong.

Servants served newly-prepared courses one by one, which were all local delicacies looking very appetizing. This was no common family dinner. He Changchun had spent a fortune and hired the chef of the most famous restaurant named Five Tastes Abode, who made these dishes specially.

"Have a try. See if they are the right dishes for you." With warm hospitality, Qiao Peiyu asked Li Zong to try the food. He Changchun also had a joyous look on his face.

He Changchun had interacted with Li Zong for a couple of times before, and he was fully aware that as the youngest deputy head of the Supernaturalism Management Bureau (SMB), Li Zong was favored by some high-rank officials and had boundless career prospects. As a result, he had always tried to cotton up to Li Zong whenever he had the chance. This time, it had gone far beyond He Changchun"s expectation that Li Zong agreed to marry He Zheng and give him the dragon scale.

He Changchun didn"t care whether Li Zong was a gay or He Zheng really took his fancy. It meant nothing to him.

Becoming an in-law of Li family was a once-in-life-time opportunity for him, and he would be a fool if he didn"t take advantage of this chance to shorten the distance between them.

He Zheng had a scornful look in his eyes as he saw the gushing expression on the faces of Qiao Peiyu and his old man.

He Qin and He Jin were sitting opposite He Zheng. A master of pretence, He Qin raised his gla.s.s and proposed a toast to the newly-weds. "Let"s toast the return of He Zheng and Li Zong in wine. I"m very happy to see you back."

He Zheng didn"t even raise his gla.s.s. Taking no offence, He Qin looked at Li Zong, who didn"t raise his gla.s.s either but flicked a glance at He Qin with his extremely deep eyes. He Qin"s expression slightly changed but soon became mild again. "I know it"s inadvisable to drive under the influence, but I"m sure it won"t hurt to drink a gla.s.s of juice!"

Seeing the look on Li Zong"s face, He Yu worried that he might take offence if He Qin pushed him too hard, so she hurriedly said in an affectedly displeased tone of voice, "Elder brother, don"t be so persistent if Elder Brother Li doesn"t want to drink. There"s no point in filling our stomachs with drinks when we have so many dishes in front of us."

"Yu has got a point." Qiao Peiyu gave He Qin"s hand a gentle pull, twisted her head aside and said to Li Zong with a smile, "Zong, SMB is going to start recruiting soon, right? Yu has been learning in the Tigers and Dragons Mountain. Her Master Shifu is Sect Leader Zhang, who said that she"s ready to finish her discipleship."

Qiao Peiyu gave a tender smile and continued with tongue in cheek, "We"re family now. I"m counting on you to offer her some help. Yu is eager to land a job in SMB and become one of your colleagues!"

It had never crossed He Zheng"s mind that this sly old woman would stoop so low as to make a request of this kind. Originally, he had intended to quietly enjoy watching them being humiliated, but he was still a member of He family after all. "This woman is so shamelessly trying to exploit the connection. Who does she think she is?"

"Why should Li Zong help her?" He Zheng slid a sideways glance at He Yu, a sneer of disdain on his face. "What do you mean by "family"? You think we"re your family?"

He Jin, who disliked He Zheng the most, had been silent all along. On hearing He Zheng"s remarks, he flew into a temper, heavily put his bowl down onto the table and reprimanded aloud, "He Zheng! What did you mean by that remark?!"

He Zheng was a bad-tempered man who could be persuaded by reason but not cowed by force. Looking He Jin in the face, he observed pointedly, "He Yu really should have looked into the mirror and figured out who she is before she has the nerve to exploit the connection."

Then he sneered, a cold look in his eyes. "You know exactly what I meant. Why pretend otherwise?"

"You! You are such a–"

"Enough! Shut your mouth!" He Changchun reprimanded sharply, face full of anger. He Jin had no choice but to swallow back the rebuke that had sprung to his lips.

It took He Changchun quite some efforts to subdue his anger. Then he forced a smile and said to Li Zong, "Supt. Li, I"m sorry to have put you through this farce."

Everybody had thought that Li Zong would say something to ease the tension, but unexpectedly, Li Zong replied calmly, "Patriarch He, I"m afraid I cannot offer a.s.sistance of any form to help anybody get into SMB by the back door."

With a bland look on his face, he looked at He Yu. "If He Yu is really competent, all staff members of SMB will welcome true talents with open arms. As regards those who get into SMB through other channels, I hate to say this, but most tasks of SMB are perilous. I really don"t think it"s a good idea for girls to get involved."

It had never crossed He Changchun"s mind that Li Zong would make these remarks. He Zheng also had not expected that Li Zong would side with him.