Chapter 160: Tang Tang Nade's Background

The subsequent development of things was just as Harry had seen before. Zhang Qiu played Tang Tang Nade perfectly, deceived the two White House spies, and induced them to attack Colin.

Then, when the second-year Harry was groaning in the hospital and the third-year Harry was fighting with the air in the Room of Requirement, the latest Harry was in the Chamber of Secrets, slowly enjoying a pot of just-right black tea with Zhang Qiu.

"Speaking of which, you've been following him for so long, can you see anything?" Harry thought of a question that had troubled him again, that is, Tang Tang Nade's real purpose.

"Is there a possibility, I mean, he's just here to teach?" Zhang Qiu drank tea slowly. "The most he does is open small stoves. Besides the Dueling Club, he teaches Hermione the principles of spellcasting three nights a week; as for Avalon, I think that's for children like Ron who can't sit still, and the Room of Requirement is for children like Neville or Luna who are restless."

Under Harry's suspicious eyes, Zhang Qiu asked back with a half-smile: "How about it, can you accept this explanation?"

"I'm afraid not." Harry picked up a cupcake lightly. "To be honest, if he were just a White House agent, I wouldn't care too much, but first of all, he is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and Dumbledore said this is actually a cursed position. Plus, Heipu and Peixu obviously take him as the leader, and Sangster in the third year is also related to him. To say he has no plans at all, I don't believe it."

"You forgot a very important point. His uncle is the richest man in America, and he has no cousins." Zhang Qiu tapped the table. "In other words, he is the next richest man in America."

"I almost forgot, but this makes it even more difficult to understand." Harry pondered. "His life trajectory is completely unlike what a rich young master should have. Go to magic school, graduate to become an Auror—you've seen those scars, right? Then, run here to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Dumbledore said this is actually a cursed position."

"Then what do you think a rich young master should be like?" Zhang Qiu laughed lightly. "Flirting with secretaries every day, fiddling with armor models, and then having pool parties from time to time?"

Harry blinked. This also sounded strange.

"I checked Tang Tang Nade's deeds in the Muggle world a little bit." Zhang Qiu said solemnly. "He invested in a movie about a rich young master becoming a superhero. Perhaps this is his real idea."

Harry was not interested in American superheroes and had never understood them before, but from this paragraph of Zhang Qiu

"So you're saying, Tang Tang Nade just wanted to seek thrills and be a righteous hero for once?" Harry said, feeling a bit uncertain.

"A righteous hero, huh..." Zhang Qiu repeated the phrase. "He might have had some other thoughts; let me verify that later. For now, this is the most likely scenario."

"What do you mean by 'other thoughts'?"

"It's nothing, just pretend I'm overthinking it." Zhang Qiu shook her head slightly and moved past the topic.

Perhaps it had to do with Hermione. If one paid a little attention, they would notice that Tang Tang Nade's concern and favoritism toward Hermione far exceeded the reasonable scope between teacher and student. But Harry felt he already knew the answer to that question; it was mostly because Hermione looked very similar to his first love.

Seeing her change the subject, Harry turned to chat about other things. Harry was very curious about the Zhang family from the Celestial Empire, so Zhang Qiu told him many stories about ancient tomb curse-breakers. It was said that people from the Celestial Empire would refine zombies to serve as tomb guards, and there was also a magical creature called a corpse beetle. As topics for after-dinner conversation, these were sufficiently novel and interesting.

The next morning, Harry bid farewell to Zhang Qiu, and they agreed to meet again in December.

The TARDIS whistled past again. In Harry's eyes, it had only been twenty-some minutes, but in Zhang Qiu's eyes, she had already spent over a month alone in a school that was both familiar and strange.

When Harry descended into the Chamber of Secrets again, the situation here was even more chaotic than he had imagined. In the familiar small living room, beyond the neat and bright sofas and coffee table, the bed with curtains separated by a screen, and Zhang Qiu's desk with a bookshelf, there was a huge pile of waste.

All kinds of household trash, snack bags, glass beverage bottles—both broken and unbroken—as well as cupcake liners, metal knives, forks, and dessert spoons, and dirty plates brought back from the kitchen that she didn't intend to return.

Besides that, Harry also saw several places piled with changed bed sheets, boxes upon boxes of old books, piles of waste paper, broken plates, and several empty snack racks. One of the racks had a pair of holey tights hanging on it, along with some white fabric with suspicious dark red stains. The weapon rack and dummy Zhang Qiu had made last time were also lying to the side.

A bit further away sat a huge black trash bin. Harry had no interest in investigating what was inside, but he intuitively guessed it might be food waste.

Because all the dry trash was already piled outside.

Zhang Qiu pulled back the bed curtains and poked her head out. Her hair was a mess, her eyelids were drooping, and she looked completely drained of energy.

"Oh, Harry, you're here. Wait a moment for me." With that, she shrank back into the bed curtains.

Harry sat for a while on the fabric sofa that looked comfortable, only to discover a small sticky area on the armrest, and the sofa crevices were full of cookie crumbs. When he reached out to touch it, he even pulled out several long strands of hair. Harry frowned, and a strange, lingering scent of Orleans roast chicken wafted around the tip of his nose, though he suspected this chicken wasn't something Zhang Qiu had eaten recently, as the smell had already developed a hint of rot.

After about ten minutes, Zhang Qiu got down from the bed. She was wearing her winter school uniform: a thick shirt, a cashmere vest, a wool robe with a polyester lining, and cotton socks that looked very warm, tucked into deep-cut leather shoes.

Only then did Harry belatedly realize that after taking off the heat-insulating Invisibility Cloak, a chill seeped into his thin robe, reminding him through his short-sleeved shirt that Christmas didn't just mean the holiday and the third attack; it also meant the temperature was much the same as summer vacation.

"Uh oh, an untimely summer visitor." Zhang Qiu also noticed Harry was wearing summer clothes. "You'd better put the Invisibility Cloak back on."

"Alright." Harry wrapped himself up until only a head floating in mid-air was visible. "Today is the day Jia Siting gets attacked; we still have to prepare."

"Of course, so today is..." Zhang Qiu flipped through her diary, then suddenly shrieked, "December 21st of the second year, December 21st!"

"What's wrong?" Harry asked subconsciously.

"Oh no, oh no, Tang Tang Nade is coming down to the Chamber today. I thought there would be a few days in between." She paced back and forth. "There's no time to clean up all this stuff. Wait, wait, I still have to go attack Jia Siting. When did he get harmed?"

"In the evening, I remember. It was on my way back from the library, around eight or nine o'clock." Harry glanced at his watch; it was nine in the morning, still early. "But why do you say Tang Tang Nade will come down to the Chamber?"

"That day, he specifically didn't tutor Hermione, but came over to investigate instead. I lost track of him in the girls' bathroom at the time; clearly, he went down to the Chamber, or rather, Tang Tang Nade might have known how to open the Chamber from the very beginning." Zhang Qiu analyzed. "And do you know why Jia Siting was harmed at night? Because I have to clean up during the day!"

Harry looked around the environment of the Chamber. There was no distinction between day and night here; no wonder Zhang Qiu had lost track of the date.

"In any case, let's start as soon as possible. I'll confirm what we want and what we don't. You help me move them to the Room of Requirement." Zhang Qiu said, rolling up her sleeves.

"The Room of Requirement?" Harry nodded secretly. "So all this clutter came from there?"

"That's right. Of course, this has to be divided into two parts. Most of it I just 'zero-dollar-shopped' for, like that dummy and the weapon rack." Zhang Qiu paused. "But some of it I borrowed."

Under Harry's puzzled gaze, she continued to explain, "I went to that room Tang Tang Nade often visits, the place where generations of students hide contraband. I borrowed some books from there, and of course, some magical artifacts that might be useful."

"Oh," Harry scanned the dusty books and notebooks. "Looks like they didn't come in handy?"

"Indeed, most of them are Dark Magic, but they are all a bit outdated." Zhang Qiu shrugged. "For now, there is no Dark Magic more useful than the Killing Curse."

"That's a bit strange to say." Harry used a Levitation Charm to gently move a clump of balled-up bed sheets, revealing a dusty thin quilt underneath.

"I mean, in most cases, we only need to guard against the Killing Curse; after all, Dark Wizards aren't stupid either." Zhang Qiu also began to clean up, constantly picking out magical artifacts from the trash pile and packing them into another cardboard box.

"Why don't you just get rid of this furniture?" Harry asked. "We can move new stuff in later; it's all conjured by the Room of Requirement with magic anyway."

"But how do you think we should dispose of so much trash without attracting attention?" Zhang Qiu said without looking back. "It still has to be the Room of Requirement; you just have to make it turn into a trash room."

"But I can't just—" Harry said with dissatisfaction. "I need a trash bag, right? Preferably one with an Undetectable Extension Charm."

"That's the problem. We have neither trash bags nor the ability to cast an Undetectable Extension Charm. You can use the bed sheet to wrap up some dry trash to throw away, and then ask the Room of Requirement if it can give you a trash bag." Zhang Qiu said, pulling off the sheet currently on the bed. "This one is at least still clean; you can make a bundle and carry it on your back."

Harry sighed and began to pick out things that clearly looked like trash, using the Levitation Charm to move them one by one onto the bed sheet Zhang Qiu had just slept on.