Chapter 21: It's All About Practice

  Situ Li and his family lived in a newly built municipal government residential building, with an area of over 100 square meters, simply and elegantly decorated. When Zhou Hao and Situ Jianying arrived, Situ Li had already finished work, and Dong Hongrui, Situ Jianying's mother, was preparing dinner in the kitchen. Dong Hongrui worked at the Xiangcheng City Health Bureau, originally a doctor at the Municipal People's Hospital, but later Situ Li, fearing she was too overworked at the hospital, used his connections to transfer her to the relatively easier job at the Health Bureau.

  After Zhou Hao arrived, Situ Li and Dong Hongrui both came out to greet him, making Zhou Hao feel honored.

  "What a handsome kid!" Dong Hongrui praised continuously after seeing Zhou Hao, "Xiao Hao, your injury isn't serious, right? You were hurt because you wanted to protect Jianying, and our whole family doesn't know how to thank you."

  "Auntie, you're being serious." Zhou Hao hastily said.

  After exchanging greetings, Dong Hongrui returned to the kitchen to busy herself, only to see Xīu Jiàn Yīng put down her school bag and walk in to help. Dong Hongrui was surprised to see her daughter, who never entered the kitchen, voluntarily come to help, and said: "Wow, Jianying, how did you suddenly understand to come and help today? Didn't you say you hated the kitchen the most?"

  Situ Jianying secretly took a look at Zhou Hao sitting with Situ Li, then said to Dong Hongrui: "Mom, teach me how to cook more in the future."

  Dong Hongrui's mind was quick-witted, and she also glanced at Zhou Hao outside, "You little girl, aren't you afraid that you've got a crush on someone and want to learn how to be a lady now?"

  "Mom, what are you talking about? I'm a lady, okay?" said Cui Jianying, her face flushing red.

  "Let your mom teach you how to cook, but you have to promise me that talking about romance is okay, but don't go overboard, you're only 15 and I don't want you to get hurt. Some things, once they go wrong, can last a lifetime." Dong Hongrui solemnly said to Sutu Jianying, while also being very curious about Zhou Hao, because she knew how stubborn her daughter was, yet now she could learn to be a lady for Zhou Hao's sake, it was clear that Zhou Hao's influence was much greater than her own as a parent.

  Xīng Tuō Jiàn Yīng's face turned red at Dǒng Hóng Ruì's words, recalling the passionate kiss with Zhōu Hào earlier, her heart skipped a beat again. She promised her mother: "Mom, I know what to do, your daughter knows how to protect herself." But she thought that if Zhōu Hào really wanted to make a move on her, she wouldn't be able to refuse either.

  On the other side, Situ Li also asked Zhou Hao: "Xiao Hao, did Mayor Gao's daughter go to school today?"

  Zhou Hao shook his head, "She's taken a sick leave and probably won't be back until tomorrow." In fact, it was really difficult for a young girl in her early teens to recover from such an incident immediately. "What about those two workers? How are they doing?"

  "It's just a minor injury." Situ Li smiled, "But these two guys actually dared to set their sights on Mayor Gao's daughter, I reckon they'll get 20-30 years in prison for sure. Do you know what they said when they were giving their confession?" He asked Zhou Hao: "They said that those female students are only available for high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen, if they could also taste the flavor of a female student, it would be worth being sentenced to death."

  "My goodness, you're really shameless." Zhou Hao curled his lip. "By the way, Uncle Situ, I have something very important to tell you."

  "What's wrong?"

  Zhou Hao said: "I was followed by someone when I went back last night."

  "What?" Situ Li was startled by Zhou Hao's words, and then heard Zhou Hao say seriously: "After I discovered that someone was following me, I deliberately led him to the small park near the school. Later, the guy said I killed his brother."

  "Sid asked strangely: 'Did you kill his brother?'"

  "It was that bald-headed drug dealer, and yesterday that guy was the bald-headed man's brother, and he was also a drug dealer." Zhou Hao explained, "He said I not only caused them to lose those drugs, but also took the money that foreigner used to buy the drugs. But I never took any money!" Originally, Zhou Hao didn't want to mention that money, but then he thought that if yesterday's man was really caught, it would be hard to guarantee that he wouldn't say something about the money. So Zhou Hao decided to take the initiative and bring up the matter of the money first, denying that he took it. After all, he had Situ Jianying as a witness, could Situ Li really not believe his own daughter? And even if the man was caught after saying that Zhou Hao took the money, the police would think he was framing Zhou Hao.

  As soon as Situ Liyi heard Zhou Hao say that the man was also a drug trafficker, he immediately became tense. He really believed that Zhou Hao hadn't taken the foreigner's money, and what he cared about most was the man from last night. Because through the police investigation, it had been confirmed that the bald-headed man was a member of a cross-border drug trafficking group in Yunnan, and now his brother had come again. If Situ Liyi could catch the man or even dissolve the drug trafficking group, the position of director of the municipal public security bureau might be moved up.

  Then, Situ Li hastily asked Zhou Hao: "What does that man look like?"

  "He's very ordinary-looking, tall and thin, without any scars or tattoos on his face." Zhou Hao said: "However, that guy knows martial arts, he can break a tree trunk as thick as a bowl with his bare hands, I almost got killed by him yesterday."

  "Knows martial arts?" Situ Li hesitated for a moment, as for martial arts, he also knew that it existed in reality, he had seen the bodyguards around the provincial party secretary before, each and every one of them was an extraordinary person who understood martial arts. "Looks like I need to study this guy thoroughly with the bureau, he's both a drug dealer and knows martial arts, really too dangerous!"

  "I also hope to catch that guy as soon as possible," said Zhou Hao.

  At this time, Situ Li said: "Now we have to get busy. Two months later, a group of Japanese will come to our city to inspect the investment environment. Mayor Gao means that our bureau should ensure the safety of these foreign businessmen."

  "Japanese?" Zhou Hao furrowed his brow, and then suddenly realized, "How could I have forgotten?" He remembered that in the previous generation, a group of Japanese people had cooperated with the Xiangcheng City government to invest in building a large-scale production base for automobile engines and related parts on the outskirts of Xiangcheng City, covering an area of nearly one million square meters. The villagers from Suohua Village, which was located next to that wasteland, had their farmland included in the construction scope of the production base. After several rounds of negotiations with the government and those Japanese people, each household received a compensation of over a million yuan.

  According to the memory of the previous generation, those Japanese people would not confirm their investment intentions with the government until April or May next year, and they would sign a land acquisition contract in July. If one could buy several pieces of land before the news leaked out, they would be able to make a fortune from the Japanese by then. After all, it was still just wasteland there now, and buying it wouldn't cost much money.

  Zhou Hao's money invested in the stock market will all come back by December, and it won't be difficult to buy land either.

  Situ Li, who was beside him, did not expect that his words would cause Zhou Hao to have so many thoughts. Seeing Zhou Hao in a daze, he thought Zhou Hao was worried about the drug dealer from last night, so he comforted him: "Don't worry, we will definitely catch the guy as soon as possible."

  Zhou Hao came back to his senses and responded to Situ Li with a single word, but he couldn't tell him what was on his mind.

  At this time, Dong Hongrui and Situ Jianying were busy preparing dinner. Situ Li also sat down at the table with Zhou Hao and specially asked Situ Jianying to take out a bottle of Maotai from the cabinet to have a drink with Zhou Hao.

  "You're still young, Xiao Hao, don't harm others." Dong Hongrui said while preparing a cup for Situ Li.

  "It doesn't matter, Uncle Sit's enthusiastic invitation, I, a younger generation, should also accompany him for a cup."

  Situ Li burst out laughing, "Still Xiao Hao understands me, Xiao Hao, uncle tells you, men must do great things, good drinking capacity is absolutely indispensable."

  Zhou Haoshen thought so too. He had also mixed with society and knew that whether it was socializing or discussing business, wine was indispensable, which is a unique culture of the Chinese people.

  "Come on, finish this cup." Si Tu Li raised his wine glass towards Zhou Hao.

  Zhou Hao also raised his glass and clinked it with Si Tu Li, then gulped down the Maotai liquor in one go. He felt a fiery burning sensation spreading from his mouth to his throat, warming up his internal organs. He let out a long sigh, "Good wine!"

  "Good capacity!" Sito Li also didn't expect Zhou Hao to be so generous at such a young age, and he couldn't be stingy either. He downed the wine in his cup in one gulp, "Again!" Then he refilled Zhou Hao's cup.

  "Alright, alright, don't drink so much, you two are really something." Dong Hongrui scolded, and Situ Li and Zhou Hao, intimidated by Dong Hongrui's authority, finished their drinks and restrained themselves.

  Dong Hongrui's culinary skills are excellent, with four dishes and one soup that are colorful and fragrant. However, Zhou Hao saw a plate of overcooked poached eggs on the table, which didn't seem to be made by Dong Hongrui at all. Then he saw Situ Jianying looking at him expectantly, "Zhou Hao, try this poached egg, it's very fresh."

  Zhou Hao was slightly stunned, and then picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. However, he found that the outside of the steamed egg was charred, while the inside was half-cooked and had a faint fishy smell. But seeing Si Tu Jianying's expectant eyes, he swallowed it down with a strong smile and said: "You cooked this, right? It tastes great."

  "Really?" Xīu Jiàn Yīng was extremely delighted. "If you like it, just click multiple times." As he said that, he picked up another piece and put it in Zhōu Hào's bowl.

  Zhou Hao couldn't bear to expose his own lie, so he had no choice but to swallow that omelette again.

  It was Situ Li who noticed the situation and patted Zhou Hao's shoulder, "Little Hao, Uncle understands your feelings. When I went to your aunt's house for dinner that year, I had a similar experience." His tone carried a hint of being a fellow sufferer.

  "Aunt's cooking is also like this?" Zhou Hao exclaimed, unable to resist taking a piece of Dong Hongrui's braised pork ribs and putting it in his mouth. "But these ribs are really delicious." This time it was truly delicious.

  But then Sito's face revealed an expression that couldn't be looked back on, "Alas, it was all practiced, I am just a witness."