NHWSG chapter 34

They had been walking around Shantang Street from dawn till dusk, and even through noon, hunger gnawed at Sheng Zhao’s stomach. When he saw the menu, it was as if he had reunited with a long-lost relative—perhaps even more intimate than a relative.

“Boss,” Sheng Zhao stared at him intently and asked, “Is this counted as official business?”

Xing Yingzhuo sipped his tea and glanced at him upon hearing this, seeing through his little scheme.

“Order whatever you want,” Xing Yingzhuo said generously.

Sheng Zhao only waited for this one sentence. With that, he didn’t hold back, confidently ordering, “Two Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish!”

Xing Yingzhuo: “…”

So extravagant!

Xing Yingzhuo couldn’t be bothered with this immature guy and casually spread the tourism route map in his hand on the table, marking several places with a cross.

After ordering the dishes, Sheng Zhao saw Xing Yingzhuo busy and couldn’t help but lean over to look at the patterns on the paper and asked, “Are all these places marked off?”

Xing Yingzhuo made a sound of agreement.

“Is it possible that the dragon came over here?” Sheng Zhao said, “After all, Suzhou has a developed water system, and it’s also connected to Shanghai.”

“Not possible,” Xing Yingzhuo said, “There are territorial divisions.”

Sheng Zhao blinked and nodded. This kind of thing was naturally better understood by Xing Yingzhuo. He was just suggesting a possibility, but of course, he would listen to him specifically.

Xing Yingzhuo made two strokes on the paper, suddenly remembering something and turned to look at Sheng Zhao.

Sheng Zhao felt a chill running down his spine as he was stared at by his eyes, feeling as if he was being targeted by some fierce beast, with a slight chill creeping down his back.

“B-boss…” Sheng Zhao chuckled nervously, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Can you try feeling?” Xing Yingzhuo asked.

“How am I supposed to feel anything?” Sheng Zhao protested, “Do you think I’m a radar scanner?”

“How did you find Diao Leyu back then, that’s how you should feel now,” Xing Yingzhuo said.

Xing Yingzhuo looked serious, and he spread the tourism brochure in front of Sheng Zhao, indicating for him to take a closer look.

“I can’t do this…” Sheng Zhao chuckled awkwardly, “Boss, last time was a fluke. I’m just an ordinary person, how can I—”

“I’ll increase your salary by five hundred every month,” Xing Yingzhuo said without changing his expression.

Sheng Zhao’s hand moved swiftly, quickly pointing to a spot on the paper.

Xing Yingzhuo: “…”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Sheng Zhao realized that he had changed sides too quickly and felt somewhat embarrassed, clearing his throat awkwardly, attempting to make amends, “I, uh, that…”

“It’s okay,” Xing Yingzhuo said affectionately, “Liking money is a good thing, I like it a lot too.”

To confirm the truth of this statement, Xing Yingzhuo even had a slight smile on his face, affectionately patting Sheng Zhao’s head.

Sheng Zhao: “…”

He felt a chill down his spine from Xing Yingzhuo’s affectionate gaze, shuddering involuntarily, thinking that his expression was too eerie and rather than smiling, he might as well smirk and mock him.

Since the incident with Diao Leyu, Xing Yingzhuo unexpectedly had an unexpected trust in Sheng Zhao’s intuition. After dinner, Xing Yingzhuo didn’t even mention scouting around; instead, he took Sheng Zhao back to their temporary hotel.

“Shouldn’t we go check first?” Sheng Zhao tried to resist.

“No need, didn’t you see it already?” Xing Yingzhuo said, “We’ll go tonight.”

Sheng Zhao’s face felt bitter, pondering in his heart. If he guessed wrong and made Xing Yingzhuo run for nothing, would he be drowned in the moat outside?

But as Xing Yingzhuo said, it seemed that the dragon in Shanghai was still in place—At 2:30 in the afternoon that day, Sheng Zhao couldn’t sleep and was lying on the bed casually browsing the news on his phone when a pop-up suddenly appeared, saying that Shanghai had started to experience heavy rain again, warning the surrounding residents to be prepared.

Having experienced the previous incident, Sheng Zhao was extremely sensitive to the word “sudden.” He almost subconsciously thought of something extraordinary.

He clicked on it to take a look and found that heavy rain had started over Shanghai from around 1:00 PM that day. Within a little over an hour, it turned into a torrential downpour.

Interested in this topic, Sheng Zhao clicked on it to find out more, only to discover that someone had seen the body of a dragon in the blurry rain and mist.

Although this news was quickly refuted, claiming that the heavy rain obstructed visibility and they mistook the shadow of the rainbow gate, Sheng Zhao still felt that something was off.

—Wasn’t Zhang Jian already in Shanghai? Sheng Zhao wondered. Why did the situation suddenly worsen?

He thought for a moment, then turned to look at Xing Yingzhuo on the other bed.

Xing Yingzhuo had his eyes closed, his head turned to the other side of the window, his chest rising and falling, whether asleep or not.

Sheng Zhao hesitated for a moment, then looked at the incessant notifications on his phone. Finally, he gritted his teeth, sat up, and gently tapped Xing Yingzhuo’s shoulder across the bedside table.

“Boss…” Sheng Zhao called him cautiously, “Boss?”

Xing Yingzhuo impatiently moved slightly, still not opening his eyes. Sheng Zhao’s phone suddenly rang.

Sheng Zhao instinctively covered the speaker, glanced down, and realized it was a call from Hu Huanyang.

Zhang Jian had been with Hu Huanyang all along, probably borrowing his phone again. Sheng Zhao thought for a moment, then carefully turned away and answered the phone.

“Hello—”

He barely spoke when he heard Zhang Jian’s anxious voice from the other end, “Where is he?”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

How interesting, Sheng Zhao thought. Next time, he should just give Zhang Jian Xing Yingzhuo’s phone number directly, so he wouldn’t have to act as a secretary every day.

He turned around, about to wake up Xing Yingzhuo, only to find that he had already opened his eyes, looking impatiently at the phone in his hand.

“You’re not sleeping?” Sheng Zhao was stunned.

“I was woken up by him,” Xing Yingzhuo said impatiently.

On the other end of the phone, Zhang Jian must have heard Sheng Zhao and Xing Yingzhuo’s voices, urging them to transfer the call.

“Speaker,” Xing Yingzhuo said.

Just now, Sheng Zhao had just ridiculed himself for being like a little secretary, but his attitude towards Xing Yingzhuo was extremely good, behaving like a submissive little secretary. Upon hearing this, he quickly activated the speakerphone and considerately placed the phone beside Xing Yingzhuo’s pillow.

“What’s up?” Xing Yingzhuo said.

“You need to take care of this,” Zhang Jian said seriously, “I can’t handle it alone anymore. I can’t control that dragon in Shanghai, and for some reason, the chain doesn’t work on him anymore.”

“If it’s broken, what else can I do?” Xing Yingzhuo said lazily.

“Not only that, but you may not know—,” Zhang Jian paused for a moment, speaking with a heavy tone, “Just now, there was an earthquake in Yunnan. Half a mountain almost slid down. Luckily, it wasn’t a tourist area, and it seems no one was buried.”

Xing Yingzhuo furrowed his brows tightly.

“Xing Yingzhuo, I’m not joking with you,” Zhang Jian said seriously, “You better think with your age why these well-sealed things suddenly started to act up at the same time.”