Chapter 157

The Saturday birthday banquet went very smoothly; Jiao Ba's purpose was also achieved, and many people privately sought out Jiao Ba, telling him to rest assured about going abroad, as Jiao Ma and the two children would take care of them.

After a day of busyness, on Sunday the four members of the Jiao Family were all preparing to rest properly, but Zheng Tan was not included.

On Saturday Zheng Tan slept through the afternoon, didn't help much at the birthday banquet, and was too lazy to interact with those bratty kids; he just slept on his own, ate and drank his fill, waiting only for the banquet to end so he could go home and continue sleeping. Consequently, the next day, in stark contrast to the four members of the Jiao Family, Zheng Tan's mental state early in the morning was quite good.

The Jiao Family only had their first meal at noon today, having slept through breakfast, and Zheng Tan went out to play after finishing lunch.

On the weekend, people at the school were relatively scattered—some sunbathing outside, some on dates, some running—and could be seen in many places. After Zheng Tan ignored the seventh student who meowed at him, he decided to go off campus for a stroll.

The afternoon sunlight was nice; Zheng Tan walked along the wall and even ran into a few cats lounging there to sunbathe. Since he had taken this route many times before, he had roughly seen all the cats that liked to hang out outside at this time, and of course there were a few that had shown hostility, which Zheng Tan ignored—he simply didn't have the time to fuss with these cats.

After wandering around the construction site for a while, Zheng Tan was quite satisfied with the site's current progress; even if it wasn't changing day by day, the changes were very noticeable, and Zheng Tan also had something to look forward to.

Originally Zheng Tan intended to go check on La Mei Shu's situation, but seeing Wei Leng's appearance yesterday, he guessed that Leng had learned some important news, otherwise he wouldn't have been so urgent. So Zheng Tan wanted to see what was happening over at La Mei Shu's place.

Even though there is still no concrete evidence proving that La Mei Shu is the son of Chen La, Chen Zhe, as Ye Hao said, Zheng Tan's intuition tells him that this is indeed the person, and the two previous murder cases were very likely his acts of revenge.

As Zheng Tan was about to reach the residential complex where La Mei Shu lived, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, seeing someone who looked somewhat familiar. After thinking it over, Zheng Tan recognized him as one of the people who had been following Lai Er yesterday at the Shaoguang Jiudian!

But what are Lai Er's people doing here?

The surrounding area is an old residential district, with a section consisting of private housing. Some people there have raised their own houses and then rented them out. Although not many students come to rent here, there are some, and together with the surrounding office workers and the relatively low rents compared to the residential complex, the houses here are still in decent demand.

Zheng Tan watched that person say something to the two people standing at the intersection. The two nodded, then continued standing there. The three's attire was not conspicuous, looking rather casual; if Zheng Tan hadn't recognized one of them, he really wouldn't have paid them any attention.

After that person finished speaking to the two at the intersection, he entered through it. Zheng Tan thought for a moment and then followed him inside. As for the two people guarding the intersection, they merely glanced at Zheng Tan and then went on observing the surroundings—just a cat, they wouldn't pay much heed, since many residents around here keep cats, and they had just seen two of them.

Upon entering through this intersection, both sides are five- or six-story old residential buildings; the gray walls have little fancy decoration, many residents hang laundry on their balconies, but because the two buildings are too close together, the households on those sides cannot enjoy the sunlight well.

The road is fairly narrow; if a family car drives in, the remaining width is barely enough for a bicycle.

Zheng Tan kept a short distance behind the person ahead, and he also noticed that along the way, at intervals, someone stood there—just like the two at the entrance—their clothing looked casual, but Zheng Tan could sense a hint of menace from them. As the person in front passed, he exchanged a slight nod, perhaps even a glance, with those people; Zheng Tan, standing behind, couldn't make those out clearly, so he did his best to act natural, walking past them like an ordinary house cat.

Fortunately, these people, like the two at the entrance, didn't pay Zheng Tan any mind at all, which made his tailing much easier.

During the close pursuit, Zheng Tan also wondered what these people were up to in broad daylight.

After walking a distance, the buildings on either side were no longer those old residential blocks but a row of private houses.

That person did not stop there but kept going deeper inside.

After about seven or eight minutes, they stopped in front of a residential building; this building's architectural style was similar to the surroundings—a two-story small structure with a little yard of about fifteen to sixteen square meters, and because it had likely been unoccupied for a long time, the yard was overgrown with weeds.

Unlike the cramped feeling upon entering the intersection, here each building is set back a bit, many houses have their own small yards—though not large, they still look quite charming. Zheng Tan glanced around; the private houses here are not as tall as those he saw earlier, most being only two or three stories, with a somewhat American style. The residents here probably know how to enjoy life.

A year ago, in front of this villa there were actually many private houses just like this one, but they have all been demolished now, and construction fences have been put up—no one knows what will be built. Moreover, the people who originally lived here have mostly moved out, leaving only a row of empty houses waiting to be torn down.

Several people stood in front of that residence; Zheng Tan watched the person walk over to the doorway, exchange a few words with those there, then pull out his phone and make a call.

Two minutes later, a car came from the other entrance. Unlike the narrow path Zheng Tan had taken to get in, that road leads to a wide boulevard; coming from that entrance, the route passes construction sites all the way here, and one believes this place will also be demolished soon, so some of the people renting here have probably already thought about finding another place.

The person in the car should be Lai Er.

Zheng Tan carefully avoided Lai Er's people as he approached the house; although a cat means nothing to these people, Zheng Tan wasn't sure whether they might, out of caution, harm a cat, but he was genuinely curious—having stumbled upon this, he wouldn't be content just to stand by and watch.

As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat; after becoming a cat, Zheng Tan's curiosity only grew stronger, perhaps because his life as a cat was boring.

Zheng Tan took advantage of the few people at the doorway paying attention to the arriving car, slipping around to the side and climbing up the wall to the second-floor window.

Now Zheng Tan's wall-climbing skills are becoming more and more adept; as long as the wall isn't especially slick, he can easily climb up to any height within a certain range.

Lai Er got out of the car, and the person Zheng Tan had been tailing walked over to report the situation to him.

"Personnel have also been assigned near several intersections; the buildings to the left, right, and rear have been cleared, with guards posted downstairs, and the interior of the house has been inspected. I personally checked that room three times. I found a monitor hidden away, which I have already removed; there is indeed a computer inside the room, and no one has turned it on. You can rest assured."

Lai Er raised his hand to indicate he understood, then adjusted his coat and walked into the house.

Originally Zheng Tan planned to climb up and peek through a window to see inside, but soon he heard a faint sound coming from within. Zheng Tan's current position is a window on the side of the house, while those people should be in the room with the front-facing window.

Zheng Tan moved carefully; it being daytime, he could easily be spotted, but fortunately the people guarding below were stationed at the main door and couldn't see him above.

After Lai Er went upstairs, he walked to a room whose window afforded a view of the construction site in front of the house, though at the moment it was blocked by old wooden blinds.

The room's furnishings were simple and obvious: there was a table with a laptop on it.

One of the people accompanying Lai Er walked over and turned on the computer.

Zheng Tan moved to the second-floor front window and peered inside through the narrow slits of the blinds.

Everyone else had gone out, leaving only Lai Er inside; when it came to certain secrets, Lai Er didn't want anyone besides himself to know, and he trusted no one.

Lai Er sat at the table, using that computer to video chat with someone. Zheng Tan's hearing is decent; although Lai Er had lowered the volume, Zheng Tan could still make out a bit.

On the computer screen was a person wearing a black coat and a mask; the mask was round, looking rather simple and crude, like a children's toy, with no distinctive features.

"Qiang Shu, long time no see," the person on the screen said.

"Chen Zhe?" Lai Er stared at the person on the screen, grinding his teeth.

When Zheng Tan heard Chen Zhe's voice, he was already certain that this Chen Zhe was La Mei Shu.

"Oh, I almost forgot—you should be called Lai Er now. Doesn't this place feel familiar? I remember that when I was little, my father made some money from his business and bought a house here; he said he liked the style seen on TV, so he built a somewhat American-style house, and the neighbors later followed suit, so this area was once jokingly called the 'luxury villa district'…" Chen Zhe spoke as if lost in recollection.

"I didn't come today to listen to your reminiscing; where is the thing?" Lai Er interrupted Chen Zhe's words.

Chen Zhe, however, didn't stop there: "Later my father gained some fame, and the family moved to the downtown commercial district; they only occasionally came here to rest, without needing to order from those high-end restaurants—my mother would cook, and the family would spend an ordinary weekend…"

"Enough! My time is limited—where is the thing?!" Lai Er demanded sharply.

"Are you feeling guilty? Afraid? Back then, when you had them burned to death here, what was your state of mind? They've been watching you from heaven." Chen Zhe's voice was low, calm yet with a hint of unreality.

"Can this little trick fool me?" Lai Er chuckled scornfully, "You bought this plot of land, rebuilt the burned-out house like this, sent me an anonymous email to lure me here, and brought up your parents who perished in the fire—just to scare me? I wasn't afraid of them when they were alive, and I'm even less afraid now that they're dead."

Suddenly thinking of something, Lai Er said in a sinister tone, "Was it you who planted the monitor? Too bad—I've already removed it. I admit you've improved; silently taking care of two people without leaving a trace is indeed progress, but to me you're still green! I already have information about the thing you mentioned; even if you don't tell me, I can find it myself. As for you… having hidden for so many years, now that you've shown up, just wait to die."

Chen Zhe, hearing this, was unfazed and said to Lai Er, "Do you believe in karmic retribution?"

As Chen Zhe uttered those words, Zheng Tan, who had been peering through the gap between the blind slats from outside the window, suddenly felt an intense sense of fear—not directed at himself, yet he could not shake this strong unease. (To be continued…)

ps: (2.9) I really wish I could blink and turn this date into today's date, otz