Chapter 16

Boom—a dull rumble of thunder sounded, and a moment later, a drizzling rain fell from the sky.

Heipi, Datou, and Abao huddled their bodies under the eaves, but the narrow eaves could not block all the raindrops, and the three men's clothes were soon soaked.

However, fearing their boss's authority, none of the three dared to leave, their eyes still fixed unblinkingly on the entrance of the rouge shop.

"Why haven't they come out yet? Do they want to spend the night inside?" Heipi complained unhappily.

Yet as soon as the words left his mouth, he heard Datou whisper a reminder: "They're coming!"

The attention of the three men was instantly heightened.

They saw two people walk out of the rouge shop's entrance; although they were holding oil-paper umbrellas and had the rims pulled very low, one could still guess their identities from the clothing and attire of their lower bodies—Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Tang Zheng and his follower Lin Zuo.

As for Su Xiaoxi, she was nowhere to be seen.

"What do we do?" Heipi couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't Su Xiaoxi come out?"

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Datou said irritably, then looked at Abao: "Brother Abao, you make the call."

"Forget about that Su Xiaoxi." Abao was clearly the backbone of the three, and after a moment of thought, he said, "The boss told us to keep an eye on that Embroidered Uniform Guard, not Su Xiaoxi. Anyway, her brother is already in jail; what kind of waves can a woman make?"

"Makes sense." Heipi and Datou exchanged a glance: "We'll listen to you."

With their plan decided, the three followed quietly as soon as Tang Zheng and Lin Zuo turned out of the small alley.

However, what they didn't know was—not long after they left, a "woman" wearing a dress and covered in rouge and powder walked out of the rouge shop with a wiggle, looked around, and then swaggered out of the alley, heading in the opposite direction from where Tang Zheng and Lin Zuo had left earlier.

The rain grew heavier and heavier; Heipi, Datou, and Abao had long since been drenched like drowned rats, while Tang Zheng and Lin Zuo in front were still walking unhurriedly with their umbrellas. They had already circled the Xijin Ferry for nearly half an hour and still hadn't stopped; there was no telling where they were going.

Seeing that they were soaked through and their shoes were full of water, if not for the long-standing fear of their boss, the three would have stopped following long ago.

Seeing Tang Zheng and Lin Zuo turn into another small alley, Heipi, Datou, and Abao had no choice but to follow. To avoid being exposed, they specifically waited by the wall for a few seconds, estimating that the two in front should have walked a certain distance before they went out.

Yet as soon as they turned the corner, they discovered that the two people they had been tailing all along were actually standing at the mouth of the alley, turning to face them with a half-smile, as if they had been waiting for a long time.

What made them even more speechless was—previously, because the oil-paper umbrellas had covered their faces, they could only judge that these two were Tang Zheng and Lin Zuo based on their clothes, but now face-to-face, the other party specifically raised the umbrella rim, and only then did they realize that the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander opposite was clearly Su Xiaoxi wearing Tang Zheng's clothes.

Tang Zheng's clothes looked a bit too big on Su Xiaoxi, but the heavy rain and oil-paper umbrellas had obscured part of their vision, and they hadn't dared to follow too closely, so they hadn't noticed this detail until now.

The three felt a chill in their hearts simultaneously—if Su Xiaoxi was here, then where had the real Tang Zheng gone?

Just at this moment, Lin Zuo asked with a smile: "Gentlemen, is something the matter?"

Although they were furious inside, that was the subordinate of the Commander, and they absolutely could not afford to offend him easily.

So the three looked at each other, and finally, Abao stood out and said, "Nothing, we mistook you for someone else," after which the three fled in a panic.

Meanwhile, at Hongfu Restaurant in another corner of Zhenjiang City, the waiter who greeted guests had run off somewhere to slack off, and the manager was calculating accounts at the counter.

It was raining heavily today, so there were far fewer guests in the restaurant than usual, sitting in twos and threes, some drinking wine, some drinking tea, and a few gathered together chatting. The waiter on duty was also quite idle, standing by the window staring blankly at the curtain of rain outside.

Just then, a tall "woman" wearing women's clothing walked toward the restaurant entrance with a wiggle. It was raining hard, but she didn't hold an umbrella. The rouge and powder on her face were soaked by the rain, smearing across her face like a panda, yet she was completely unaware, walking with self-absorbed dedication.

The "woman" walked into the entrance of Hongfu Restaurant, went straight to the counter, and said to the manager who was calculating accounts: "Boss, open room number eight for me."

Her voice was very strange, like a man who had his throat pinched and was then deliberately speaking in a shrill voice.

"Coming right up." The manager said subconsciously, taking a bunch of keys from the counter. However, the moment he raised his head and saw the "woman," he froze instantly, and the brush in his hand slipped, falling directly to the ground.

"Boss?"

"Manager?"

Tang Zheng waved his hand in front of him and, finding that the latter's eyes had lost focus, had to take the keys from his hand himself, then said: "Many thanks."

He turned and walked into the restaurant, not forgetting to imitate a woman's walking posture, and even used his hand to flick his already soaked hair, casting a flirtatious glance at the guests in the lobby.

In that instant, the flow of time seemed to slow down, and the entire lobby fell into dead silence.

A servant carrying a wine pot was walking forward; the moment he saw Tang Zheng, his mouth hung wide open. After their figures crossed, his neck could no longer turn back, and he then bumped head-first into a pillar with a thud.

A drinker had just finished a bowl of wine; the moment he saw Tang Zheng, all the wine in his mouth sprayed out, splashing the person opposite him in the face, and he himself began to cough violently.

Another drinker at the same table rushed from his seat to the window, pushed it open, and began to vomit outside, rubbing his eyes while he vomited until tears were almost rubbed out, as if he had been stung by something.

A five or six-year-old child had been running back and forth in the aisle playing a game, but after one look at Tang Zheng, he immediately retreated several steps, then sat on the ground and burst into terrified tears, while his mother rushed over in horror to carry the child away.

Tang Zheng acted as if he didn't see any of this; he walked up the stairs with his head held high, and just as a guest was walking down, the two bumped into each other head-on.

The guest's expression instantly became incredibly colorful, blending panic, fear, and disgust; he seemed to want to speak but was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would vomit, so he could only hold it in forcibly. Even the top-tier movie star could not express so many complex emotions in an instant.

Seeing Tang Zheng coming up, he tried hard to dodge, but the stairs were too narrow to avoid him, and just as Tang Zheng performed a chest-puffing motion, the customer seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying, gritted his teeth, and jumped directly off the stairs.

Biu~

Splat!

"Hmph!" Tang Zheng poked his head out from the stairs, took one look at the guest who had just jumped down and was now lying on the ground unable to crawl up, and muttered disdainfully: "What a bumpkin, haven't you ever seen a beauty?"