139 Conjuring All Things Beautiful

It was just a superficial wound, so there was no need to seek out a top-tier hospital. Any random district hospital would do to get the injury treated. As for getting an X-ray or a scan, since his body felt completely normal, he decided to skip it.

Yet, just for treating a simple wound, it ended up costing over six hundred yuan. Long Xiaole paid the bill. When Zhang Pa offered to reimburse him, Long Xiaole glared and shouted, "What, you don't consider me a friend?"

Once they left the hospital, Long Xiaole asked again, "Are you really okay?"

According to the doctor's suggestions, one was to get scans—both a CT scan and an X-ray—and the other was to stay for observation. Zhang Pa had adamantly refused both the tests and the hospital stay, and Long Xiaole hadn't been able to persuade him, which was why he asked again as soon as they stepped out of the hospital.

"Got time?" Zhang Pa asked.

"What do you want to do?" Long Xiaole asked in return.

"Duh, go get my head shaved."

With a huge gash on his head, the hair around it had to be shaved off before it could be stitched up, completely ruining his hairstyle.

Long Xiaole laughed. "I'm an expert at that."

"You're an expert at nothing." Zhang Pa asked if he was going or not.

Long Xiaole said he was. But before heading to the barbershop, they made a trip to the bank to handle another fixed-term deposit: nine hundred and fifty thousand yuan.

Seeing the money, and then seeing the injury, Long Xiaole asked, "Are you doing underground boxing? Can you make this much fighting illegal matches?"

Zhang Pa told him he was overthinking things, and they headed off to the barbershop to get his head shaved.

After the haircut, as they got back into the car, Long Xiaole handed him a pair of sunglasses. "Your eyes are totally bloodshot and bruised black and blue. It won't look good if people see you like this."

Hearing this, Zhang Pa remembered something and called Miao Zili. "Our business is settled now, right?"

"What are you trying to say?" Miao Zili asked.

Zhang Pa said, "My job. My job, I want to go back to 119 High School and be a teacher."

Miao Zili replied, "I don't care. As you just said, everything is settled, which means we have nothing to do with each other anymore. You'll have to solve your own problems." With that, he hung up the phone.

Zhang Pa was extremely depressed and cursed him as a bastard.

"What's wrong? Did you lose your job?" Long Xiaole asked.

Zhang Pa grunted in confirmation.

Long Xiaole said, "Screw that crappy teaching job, let's start a company together. I'll put up the money and you provide the manpower, we'll split the profits fifty-fifty. From now on we'll live the high life, life couldn't be better."

Zhang Pa glanced at him. "If you've really got a way, make the Education Bureau stop giving me a hard time and let me teach for a year first."

"You're out of your mind. How much can you possibly make being a teacher?" Long Xiaole looked at him. "How on earth did you get those injuries anyway? Were you robbed? In a fight? Got beaten up?"

Zhang Pa sighed and called Miao Zili again. "Our business is settled, but let me ask you this. Suppose I go back to school to be a teacher now, can you make sure you don't trip me up? Just don't let the people at the Education Bureau give me a hard time."

Miao Zili sneered. "Are you incapable of understanding plain language? 'Settled' means I won't interfere anymore. As for what the people at the Education Bureau think, what the hell does that have to do with me?"

Zhang Pa was furious. "Damn it! You're the one who got the Education Bureau to make things difficult for me. If you don't step in and explain things to them, they're going to keep harassing me forever. Who does that?"

Miao Zili said, "Who told you to offend me? You brought it on yourself." He hung up the phone.

Zhang Pa grew even angrier and immediately dialed back. "Who offended whom? I was just standing there minding my own business, and you guys came looking for trouble... Damn it, how dare you hang up on me?"

On the fourth dial: "Bastard, you've offended me yet again."

This time, Miao Zili didn't hang up. He laughed and asked, "You're saying *I* offended *you*?"

"What about it? If you've got the guts, step outside and settle this one-on-one. One million yuan a match, you dare?" Vaguely, Zhang Pa felt he might have found a path to getting rich.

Miao Zili cursed, "Did you eat a pig's large intestine? Your head is full of crap. You said it yourself, I offended you. I'm calling them right now to tell them to block you completely so you can never be a teacher."

Zhang Pa thought for a moment. "The rhythm is off. Why are you picking a fight with me?"

"I'll screw your grandfather." Miao Zili hung up the phone yet again.

Zhang Pa pondered this. It seemed something had gone wrong somewhere—how did he manage to offend the second-generation rich kid *again*?

Long Xiaole laughed out loud from the side. "Big Brother, you really are my big brother. This is the first time I've ever seen someone manage to turn an argument into something so hilarious. Argue with him again, go on."

"Drop dead. I need to sort out what's going on here." Zhang Pa seriously tried to recall the entire phone conversation.

Long Xiaole asked casually, "Who is that kid anyway? Do you want me to help you vent your anger?"

Zhang Pa casually replied, "Miao Zili."

Long Xiaole was startled. "Holy crap, who?"

"Miao Zili. What? You know him?" Zhang Pa asked.

"I don't know him personally, but I know of him." Long Xiaole cupped one fist in the other. "A big shot, a ruthless one. You even dare to offend Miao Zili."

"What's this guy Miao's background?" Zhang Pa asked.

Long Xiaole smiled. "The provincial governor's son—good thing it's the vice governor."

"Holy shit, for real?" Zhang Pa couldn't help cursing.

Long Xiaole cupped his hands again. "You're too awesome, I'm dying of admiration for you."

Zhang Pa felt something was amiss. "The governor's son is this young?"

"Young? Who told you that?" Long Xiaole said. "Where did you buy those eyes of yours? Are they past their expiration date? If they aren't, go get them replaced immediately. Young Master Miao is already in his thirties, and yet you call him young."

Zhang Pa thought about it: if Miao Zili was this impressive, wouldn't Wang Zhongxing be even more formidable?

He pondered further, then suddenly burst into laughter. "I feel so damn good right now."

"Did you ejaculate?" Long Xiaole asked with contempt.

Zhang Pa laughed heartily. He was genuinely happy; he was just a nobody from the grassroots, nothing special at all, yet he had managed to win one million yuan right out from under the noses of two such formidable guys. Now *that* was real skill!

Long Xiaole thought for a moment and said, "Still, offending him isn't a big deal. If his dad gets promoted to the main position, he'll have to be transferred out in a year or two; if he doesn't get promoted, he'll probably have to leave anyway. Senior officials of that rank aren't allowed to hold office locally. Since his family isn't from here, Miao Zili doesn't really have deep roots."

"Doesn't really have deep roots?" Zhang Pa said. "How do you even have the nerve to say that? Isn't a vice provincial governor a root?"

Long Xiaole smiled. "Anyway, you've got skills. Ordinary people wouldn't even get to see him, yet you managed to offend him... Did you get all these injuries fighting with him?"

Zhang Pa pondered. "Young Master Miao is pretty low-key; he didn't even have any lackeys with him."

"His dad is the executive vice governor and is up for promotion, so he keeps a pretty tight leash on him normally," Long Xiaole explained.

Hearing this, Zhang Pa looked at him curiously. "How do you know all this?"

"I'll introduce you to a friend another day. He's also a government official's son, though a bit lower on the totem pole than Miao Zili," Long Xiaole said.

Zhang Pa scoffed with contempt. "So you were just repeating gossip you heard on the street."

"Even if I heard it on the street, it's a place where you wouldn't even be able to hear it if you wanted to. That's the difference," Long Xiaole retorted.

"Get lost. I need to figure out how to handle Miao Zili." At this, Zhang Pa furrowed his brows. Wait a minute—didn't that fight this afternoon wipe the slate clean of everything?

He called Miao Zili once more. "Do your words mean anything or not?"

"I'm willing to answer your phone call, which is already showing you a lot of respect. Spit it out if you have something to say," Miao Zili said.

Zhang Pa said, "Didn't we fight this afternoon to clear away all past grievances? Everything was supposed to be settled. Why are you still making things difficult for me?"

"Making things difficult for you?" Miao Zili said. "What did I do to make things difficult for you?"

Zhang Pa said, "You had the Education Bureau fire me. Isn't that making things difficult?"

"That was before," Miao Zili replied.

Zhang Pa said, "We have to keep our word. The whole point of today's fight was to wipe out all past disputes. You screwed me over in the past, but now that we've fought, things between us should go back to the way they were before. Shouldn't you clear this matter up?"

Miao Zili froze for a moment. Did that sound like it made sense?

Zhang Pa pressed his advantage while the iron was hot. "Hurry up and do it. Past matters are written off, completely cleared. Your photos are cleared, and now you need to clear the Education Bureau—no, wait, clear this matter with the Education Bureau. I'm not looking to start a rebellion."

Miao Zili felt a bit dazed. *I'm so smart, how did I get talked into his trap?* He casually threw out a, "Get lost," and hung up the phone.

Zhang Pa muttered about his lack of manners and wondered to himself if he was really about to lose his job.

Long Xiaole grew interested and asked with a smile, "What's going on between you and Miao Zili? Tell me about it."

"Tell *your* head," Zhang Pa said. "Did you forget when you chased me all over the world trying to beat me up?"

"Aren't you pretty good at fighting?" Long Xiaole laughed. "Even an agile pig couldn't beat you."

Zhang Pa rubbed his nose and glanced out the car window. "Where are we going?"

"To take a bath. Later on, we'll put a bag over your head." Long Xiaole smiled wretchedly, clearly not saying anything good.

Zhang Pa asked, "Do I have any clothes?"

"Clothes... you can wash up first." Long Xiaole said to the driver, "Later you go to my place... Wait, there probably isn't anyone home, never mind, just go buy a set." As he spoke, he took out his wallet.

Zhang Pa asked, "Your place is so big, don't you have a nanny to clean up?"

"There are people who come to clean, but no live-in nanny," Long Xiaole said. "My dad doesn't like outsiders staying at the house. Having someone come in once a week to clean and do laundry is much better than keeping a nanny at home."

The car drove all the way to a bathhouse near Kowloon Garden. The two of them grabbed their locker tags and towels and went inside, sending the driver off to buy clothes.

Taking a bath was quite a sight: Zhang Pa had a patch of gauze plastered over his shaved head, a piece of adhesive tape stuck to his left cheek, and a transparent shower cap pulled over his entire head. He looked as comical as humanly possible, making Long Xiaole laugh so hard he nearly collapsed on the floor.

Soaking in the bath was even funnier. Covered in injuries, Zhang Pa couldn't get into the communal soaking pools whether his skin was broken or not, so he went into the steam room for a dry steam, only to feel dizzy after a short while.

He hurriedly came out to rest, and after waiting a little bit, went to get a rubdown. The masseuse picked up the exfoliating mitt quite naturally, but at the very first stroke, Zhang Pa yelped and bolted upright, glaring at the mitt. "Can we get rid of this thing?" Then he added, "Rub more gently."

No matter how gently the masseuse tried, there was simply no way to scrub him. Covered in yesterday's fresh injuries and today's new ones, apart from the soles of his feet and his knees, practically every other part of his body was untouchable. Finally, amidst a chorus of groans, their torture session came to a premature end.

Long Xiaole had been cracking up the entire time. "Oh my god, you're going to kill your uncle laughing. Why are you so damn funny?"

After bathing, they stepped out and changed into the new clothes the driver had bought. It was time to eat.

Before leaving, Long Xiaole told him to throw away his old clothes.

Zhang Pa refused, keeping his pants and shoes. He told Long Xiaole, "These are all the clothes I have left."

And they certainly were all he had left; everything else had been burned in the fire.

The restaurant was also near Kowloon Garden, located on the eighth floor of a thirty-story building called Tianfu Culinary Mansion.

Zhang Pa didn't want to go, but Long Xiaole said he would help him make money and he'd get to see beautiful women, so why wouldn't he go? (To be continued.)