Chapter 39 - Egg Cakes (1/2)
Shi Jin soon regretted making a bet with Lian Jun.
“That’s impossible, how could I lose? I clearly counted the tiles!” Shi Jin said, punching the air in frustration, grimacing.
Xiao Si consoled, ven a grandmaster loses sometimes, it’s normal.>
Shi Jin sighed, dispirited. “But now I can’t ask Jun-shao to help me investigate my brothers’ mothers.”
<You can simply ask him. It’s not as if Darling would refuse,> the system replied innocently.
“That would make me owe him a favor. Then, I won’t have righteousness on my side when I force him to drink soup!” Shi Jin’s thoughts ran deep.
The system kept silent for a moment, then muttered, <Righteousness? You made such a big blunder earlier, and you talk about having righteousness on your side…>
“I didn’t hear you clearly, can you repeat what you just said?” Shi Jin’s tone was menacing.
Xiao Si swallowed back its words and enthusiastically suggested, “You can ask Darling to play with you again. You lost once, but I’m sure you’ll win next time! Don’t give up, JinJin! I believe in you!>
Shi Jin thought it made sense, and the fire in his heart rekindled. “Yes, with my skills, losing is a complete accident! I’m sure to win next time!” He grabbed the tablet and dashed through the RV.
He returned to his seat ten minutes later and plopped down, heaving a sigh. “The dealing system has to be biased against me—Lian Jun gets all the good tiles, and I useless ones. Now, I need to make him a birthday cake every year… Oh, by the way, when is his birthday?”
Xiao Si rattled off, <In late March—Darling was born with spring.>
Taken aback, Shi Jin glanced at his phone’s calendar and found that Lian Jun’s birthday was nearly here—this year, Lunar New Year came later than usual. Now, it was already the end of February; spring was not even a month away.
The system twittered on, <So, you need to start learning how to make cakes right away, JinJin. If you do, your cake will look like a proper cake by the time of Darling’s birthday.>
The longer Shi Jin listened, the more suspicious he became. He felt that Xiao Si’s tone was a bit too cheerful and expectant, as if it’d long know things would turn out that way. Frowning, he recalled the two games, then thought about the betting stakes Xiao Si proposed. He said through clenched teeth, “Xiao Si, it was you, right? You manipulated the app and made it deal bad tiles to me!”
Xiao Si jumped in fright, and stammered, <It, it wasn’t! How could I do that? That would be going too far. Obviously, it’s because JinJin is nest course toward greasy, so hot and loving, small nest Darling greasy.>
Shi Jin got goosebumps because of all these “nest greasy.” At this point, he was certain it was Xiao Si’s scheme, and said with indignation, “Lian Jun is your Darling so you only care about him, huh? He’s your son, and I’m your stepchild!”
<Not true! I didn’t do it!> The system squawked.
“Bullshit!” Shi Jin nearly banged his fist on the table.
The other people in the RV saw Shi Jin sulking in the corner, glowering at his tablet as if he wanted to eat it raw. Apparently, he blamed it for losing.
Gua Two couldn’t look at it any longer. He said, with a hard to describe expression on his face, “He hurt his shoulder, not his head, right? How come he looks even more stupid?”
Gua Three and Gua Five also couldn’t stand it anymore. Looking as if they wanted to speak but bit their tongues, they kept sending Lian Jun covert glances.
Lian Jun was talking business with Gua One, but noticing that everyone’s attention was on him, he looked sideways at Shi Jin. He tapped on the wheelchair armrest, then moved it to Shi Jin’s side. Pulling the tablet out of the teenager’s hand, he said, “Let’s play again. If I win, you will pick up your lessons. If I lose, I promise to fulfil your request.”
Shi Jin stopped the childish squabble with Xiao Si, and his eyes lit up, but then he frowned and asked, “Lessons? What lessons?”
Lian Jun already opened the mahjong app. “High school lessons.”
“High school lessons?” Shi Jin was somewhat confused.
What high school lessons? He’d graduated from college years ago already. Why did he have to pick up the high school lessons?
Xiao Si reminded him in his mind, <The original ‘Shi Jin’ is only eighteen. When you transmigrated, ‘he’ hasn’t graduated from high school yet. Then you ran away and dropped out of school as a result. So, right now, you’re nothing more than a middle school graduate.>
Shi Jin: “…”
The system twisted the knife: <All the others by Darling’s side have at least a bachelor’s degree. Gua Nine, who’s the best educated, has two doctorates.”
Shi Jin: “……” Fuck, what do the gangsters need the university diplomas for?
“You don’t want to?” Lian Jun wasn’t going to talk nonsense with him. He put the tablet in front of him and stressed, “You only have one chance.”
Shi Jin’s heard beat harder—it was a difficult choice. Finally, he gritted his teeth and nodded. “Fine!” This time, Xiao Si was strictly prohibited from helping Lian Jun win again. He didn’t believe he could lose now that his system wasn’t cheating!
However, reality proved him wrong—the tile dealing system continued to target him.
Lifeless, Shi Jin collapsed in his seat. He truly wanted to unistall the damn app.
Gua Two, who looked on the fun, couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud. Daring to gamble with Jun-shao? Really, Shi Jin was asking for it.
“As long as you continue your studies, I can do one thing for you.” Lian Jun put the tablet back on the table and asked, “What do you want me to help you check?”
Shi Jin sat up and looked at him, suspecting he had heard wrong.
Lian Jun put his chin on his hand and watched Shi Jin’s silly expression. His face eased a bit. His tone gentle, he asked again, “Shi Jin, what do you want me to help you with?”
The sun shone through the window. The beautiful man, illuminated by the sunlight, was cocking his head and smiling.
Shi Jin was stunned by Lian Jun’s lazy, comfortable appearance, and it took him a moment to recover. Then, he threw himself forward and grabbed the other man’s legs, shouting excitedly, “Please help me check the situation of my brothers’ mothers and their families, the more specific, the better! Jun-shao, you are such a great person!”
Lian Jun was shoved back by Shi Jin’s lunge. His eyebrows rose slightly. He put his hand on the teenager’s forehead and steadily pushed him away, then moved his wheelchair back to Gua One.
Shi Jin dropped in his seat and leaned back. “Jun-shao is really a good man…” He said happily.
Xiao Si affectionately touched his emotionally retarded brain, then, without needing to be asked, it transferred the high school textbooks to his memory. <Here, you should take a look at them.>
Shi Jin: “…” Suddenly, I want to cry.
Back in B City, Lian Jun spent two days working with the authorities to deal with the remnants of Black Rose and their main base. Then, he spent a lot of effort to suppress most of the still-existing business of Black Rose, causing the officials to join in and launch a campaign to completely wipe it out.
Puzzled, Shi Jin grabbed Gua Two and asked, “Didn’t Jun-shao say it wasn’t the right time to deal with Black Rose? He said he was simply going to give them a lesson this time. How come he suddenly made such a big move against them?”
Gua Two looked at him strangely. “Don’t you know?”
Shi Jin shook his head and frowned at him. “None of you said anything, how would I know?”
“Then you don’t need to know.” Gua Two turned around to leave.
Shi Jin pulled him back, glaring at him threateningly.
Gua Two looked up to heaven and sighed, then explained, “It’s because Black Rose went too far this time and made Jun-shao angry. Thanks to their stupidity, they gave Jun-shao the excuse to clean them up. On New Year’s Eve, there was a firefight just outside the residential area. What do you think the authorities can charge them with?”
“Um, rioting? Threatening public safety?” Shi Jin thought for a while, but could only come up with this.
Gua Two shook his head with a profound expression on his face, then patted the teenager’s shoulder. “Young man, you should watch the news more often. Organizations the size of Black Rose are legal; neither of the two crimes you mentioned can justify dealing with them.” After saying that, he took advantage of Shi Jin thinking and made a run for it.
Shi Jin was bewildered. If that wasn’t the reason, then what was?
Full of doubts, he kept watching the news for several days. Then, he saw an official news broadcast and finally knew—the government actually classified the firefight in front of Unity Community as the terrorist attack by Black Rose.
The difference between the threat level of rioting and a terrorist attack was like heaven and earth. Shi Jin silently lit a candle for Black Rose in his heart—now that the seriousness of the incident rose to this extent, they were never going to wriggle off the hook.
In a blink of an eye, another few days passed, and Shi Jin’s wound healed completely. He took time to go to the infirmary and have a chat with Uncle Long. Then, after dinner that day, he took a bunch of things he’d prepared and went to Lian Jun’s study.
Lian Jun looked up. “What are these?”
“Something for your massage.” Shi Jin put his burden on the desk and sat before it. He looked at Lian Jun, looked at the documents in his hand, then looked at the wall clock. His meaning was obvious.
Lian Jun moved his gaze back to the document and asked, “Is your wound fine?”