Chapter 289

Zheng Tan always thought only academics would use serious academic phrasing to say things that, when others say them, are clearly being a rascal, yet it doesn't make listeners feel that person is being a rascal; instead they think, "Wow, this person really has broad knowledge."

These people can always take something basically good and normal and describe it in a seriously distorted way; clearly it's youthful and romantic, but upon examination it feels a bit creepy. Now it seems not only academics do this trick—others can too, like Liuba and his ilk.

This makes Zheng Tan suspect that Liuba, like a general, came out just to take revenge on society—didn't you see that student over there listening dumbfounded?

After coming to, the student gave a dry laugh twice and said, "Cough, actually I've always thought bees are insects full of positive energy; after all, they always appear before the public with a positive image."

"That's true, some introductory books portray bees as diligent insects, but some facts of nature you can't deny." Liuba wore an inscrutable expression, shook his finger, and continued: "I've always thought bees are a kind of miraculous insect, because the male bees in the colony have no father, and they are born just to find the queen bee xxoo—no need to mention those that die after mating; those males that didn't get a chance can freely enter any other hive, they're big and 'handsome', eat a lot, don't work, but when the seasons change and food becomes scarce, they are driven out of the hive by the worker bees, then left to rot in the wilderness, becoming food for ants and other insects. Therefore, male bees have once been given a rather interesting name by people."

"What name?" the student unconsciously scratched his arm, as if scratching goosebumps.

Zheng Tan had a bad premonition.

"A tragic playboy." Liuba said, "So I've personally been wondering whether the term 'playboy' comes from male bees."

Zheng Tan: "……" He could no longer face the word "playboy"! Thinking back, Zheng Tan himself had once been called a "playboy".

In everything, you still can't be nitpicky; if you nitpick, you lose.

The student gave a hehe twice, then stood up and patted his pants, saying, "Um, they're calling me, I'll go first!" After saying that, he ran off with a flying kick. He didn't say anything else about letting Liuba come over and join them.

Watching the person run away, Liuba let out a sigh, "That just scared them off."

After scanning around, there was hardly anyone nearby; cheers from the football game on the sports field continued. No one would pay attention here. Liuba turned his gaze to Zheng Tan, who was lying on the tree yawning. This gave Zheng Tan, whose yawn was only halfway done, a start, and he forced the yawn to stop.

"Hei Tan?" Liuba looked at Zheng Tan and said, "Come on, let's continue the topic we didn't finish earlier."

Zheng Tan: "……"

I guess Liuba was already in a bad mood; the general, when in a bad mood, likes to pull people into chat or go out to stir up hatred. That guy's words just now have already given Zheng Tan and the student who ran off a psychological shadow regarding certain words, so Zheng Tan has no intention of continuing to listen.

Ignoring Liuba's continued muttering there, Zheng Tan jumped down from the tree and left. He didn't want to keep listening to Liuba's revenge on society here.

Zheng Tan ran to the small grove, opened his phone to check for new messages; sure enough, as soon as he turned it on there were several messages, most of them from Jin Gui, one was from an unknown number, and the remaining two were call‑alert messages. Before turning the phone on, that unknown number had called Zheng Tan twice, but unfortunately his phone had been off the whole time.

Looking at that number, Zheng Tan discovered that this unknown phone number contains four "8"s, and the position of those four consecutive 8s in the eleven‑digit phone number is exactly the same as the position of the four 6s in his own phone number.

Zheng Tan first thought of Zhang Dong, and second of someone related to Jin Gui.

After opening the message inbox and reading each message, Zheng Tan knew Jin Gui had already found those evidence leads; as for Jin Gui's message asking what kind of person Zheng Tan is, he glanced at it and moved on, too lazy to reply. The phone number with four 8s didn't ask for Zheng Tan's real identity, but instead asked: "Interested in having more partners?"

At first glance it seemed like a mass‑distributed booty‑call text—casting a wide net to catch big fish; Zheng Tan had done similar things before.

But after thinking it over carefully, Zheng Tan felt something was off again. The text message said there would be "more" companions, and after sending the message the person even made two phone calls in a row. If this person wasn't fishing or into group p, then they must know what Zheng Tan had done with this number before.

Reply or not?

Zheng Tan's hand resting on the reply button didn't press down; after thinking, he still ignored it, didn't play games, and simply turned off his phone and left. He knew the police had paid attention to him over that previous case, but if this person wasn't from the police, who could it be? Usually people who use four '8's are tycoons or some successful individuals, but Zheng Tan intuitively felt it wasn't someone like that.

A few days later, while chatting with Jiao Yuan and the others, Zheng Tan heard that the kid involved in the milk‑tea‑powder case had offended someone. As for how it turned out, Jiao Yuan and the gang made all sorts of guesses, but the true situation remained unknown. In short, that kid never showed up again.

Since that troublesome kid had already been taken down, he would no longer pose a threat to Jiao Yuan and the others, and Zheng Tan felt much more relieved at once.

That day, after Zheng Tan installed the fully charged battery and turned on his phone, he hadn't even had a chance to look at the few text messages Golden Turtle had sent when a call came in.

Seeing the four '8's displayed on the screen, Zheng Tan, who was about to press the reject button, froze. He didn't know whether to answer or hang up. He had too many guesses—he wanted to learn the caller's identity through the call, but he didn't know how to converse if it connected; would he have to howl?

Zheng Tan's phone, set to silent, kept its screen lit; after one call went unanswered, another came right away, showing a bit of persistence.

When Zheng Tan pressed the answer button on the fifth call from that number, he still wanted to know the caller's identity. Even if they traced the phone's location, he wasn't afraid—he was just a cat now, and no one would believe that the one controlling this number behind the scenes was a cat.

After the call was connected, neither side spoke; instead, they carefully listened to the background sounds coming from the other end through the phone.

Both locations were fairly quiet. On Zheng Tan's side he could occasionally hear bird calls from nearby, while on the other side there seemed to be the sound of a computer fan.

After about half a minute of silence, just as Zheng Tan was about to hang up, the other party spoke.

"Are you interested in more companions?"

Zheng Tan recognized that voice.

"My name is Liuba. I'm in many lines of work. I have a little reputation in circles similar to private detectives. I figure, with your skills, you should be able to find me," he said, first revealing his identity to show sincerity. Seeing Zheng Tan's side silent, Liuba continued: "I know your deeds. If you ever have something fun but tricky to pull off next time, you could consider bringing me in. I guarantee my character, I'm absolutely a conscientious insider—you can ask your clients. The first job is free; if it suits your taste, the price is negotiable. Actually, I don't trust text messages; it's either a call or email. Of course, if you're still used to texting, that's fine too."

After Liuba finished his long string of words, he finally asked: "May I dare ask, how should I address you, brother?"

The whiskers above Zheng Tan's eyes twitched, and he directly pressed the hang‑up button.

Call you grandpa!

On the other end, Liuba, whom Zheng Tan had decisively hung up on, heard the busy tone and let out a helpless laugh, then said to the ever‑silent Golden Turtle: "The person behind this number surely has a foul temper."

Liuba had no idea that his own poor impression from several meetings with Zheng Tan was the reason Zheng Tan couldn't be bothered to listen to his nonsense; Zheng Tan had once wanted to ask Liuba for advice, but now he thought better of it, for who knew when Liuba, in a bad mood, might tell him some animal story that would just screw him over.

As for email, Zheng Tan didn't even have an email account. Even if he did, he wouldn't use it to send Liuba a message; although his computer skills were limited to basic online operations, Zheng Tan knew the internet was an unreliable hiding place—perhaps if he sent an email today, Liuba might show up at his door tomorrow.

Ask him for help?

Zheng Tan didn't feel there was anything now that required Liuba and his crew's help—what kind of matter would need a private detective like Liuba and Golden Turtle?

Feuds of wealthy families? Melodramatic family dramas? Zheng Tan felt those were too far removed from the Jiao household.

After turning off his phone, Zheng Tan simply tidied the tree hole, put a bag of desiccant and the phone into a pack; he didn't know if this would help, but he was just giving it a try.

Coming out of the tree hole, Zheng Tan stretched, leapt and ran through the woods for a while to loosen up, then lay down resting beside a tree not far from the side gate, watching a guard play frisbee with his dog.

Just as he was watching, Zheng Tan's gaze suddenly sharpened and his eyes widened.

He saw a man and a woman walk in from outside; the man was Jiao Ba, but the woman was not Jiao Ma.

If they were coworkers, that might be plausible, but Zheng Tan often went to the life science institute and had never seen this woman before; besides, female teachers there rarely dressed in such professional attire, and she was at least decent looking, with decent makeup. From their manner, they seemed to be acquaintances.

Just moments ago Zheng Tan thought there wouldn't be a family melodrama, but now he felt tense. Fortunately he quickly noticed that Jiao Fox's complexion wasn't good, and she was aloof and strongly dissatisfied with that woman.

Zheng Tan jumped down from the tree, quietly moved closer to the roadside, used the tree to conceal himself, then pricked up his ears to listen to what the two were saying.

Having just heard the word 'pomelo,' which Zheng Tan was quite sensitive to, he was staring intently at the woman when suddenly he heard a shout.

"Hei Tan!"

Zheng Tan looked toward Jiao Ba and saw that Jiao Ba was looking at him.

Professor Jiao was already displeased with the person beside him, not even wanting to give them a proper look; he would rather have looked at the nearby tree. He never expected to see his own cat son sneaking behind the tree like a thief—hiding was bad enough, but he didn't even know where to hide the cat's tail.

Since he'd been exposed, Zheng Tan simply gave up hiding; he stuck close to the two of them and listened openly! (To be continued…)