Mo Du (默读) - Silent Reading

Macbeth V

What, can the devil speak true? -Macbeth

“Dong Xiaoqing says that Dong Qian always drove long-haul. This job wasn’t just chance. Because Dong Xiaoqing’s mother died when she was young, and he had to work to support his family, he didn’t have time to look after the child and always had a guilty conscience about her. He wanted to save some money for her to use as a dowry. People who hire trucks only want high value. They monitor the drivers’ time very closely. They even have to run to the bathroom when they’re on the road. At some service stations, there are also thieves who make off with trucks. A person driving on his own doesn’t dare to rest. It’s normal to drive ten hours or more straight. As for why something would go wrong this time, it must be an accident. Dong Qian recently had a stay in the hospital because of an allergic reaction, and after he got out, he had trouble sleeping for some reason. It’s very likely this was brought about because of his health… Captain Luo, Dong Qian’s wife died in a car crash. Because of that, he couldn’t drive a car for a long time. Would a person like that deliberately hit someone?”

Luo Wenzhou listened to Xiao Haiyang’s report from start to finish. Because he was afraid the hot-blooded criminal policeman Xiao Xiao would go haring off again, he minded his mouth and didn’t give any more helpful pointers. He only briefly indicated over the phone that he’d gotten it and counseled Little Glasses to hurry home.

It seemed that the Venerable Zhou’s accident wasn’t some wealthy family drama with a complex plot of hiring an assassin to seize contested family assets. An illustrious family like the Zhous would make it onto the news at the least sign of disturbance, with all the conspiracy theorists making merry. Zhou Huaixin may have only been using this as a pretext to make a fuss, get the cops over, manufacture some part true and part false news, officially demonstrating his own innocence to the police—what Fei Du had said made sense.

Fei Du had also said… Ah, Fei Du was a bastard. Luo Wenzhou’s chest hurt at the thought of him.

With his chest hurting, he decided to heat up some leftovers. He was just washing his hands when Luo Yiguo slinked in.

Master Cat had perhaps slept enough. It gave a tremendous stretch, bending its shoulders, raising its back, twisting its butt. It gave a rather cheerful, affectionate “meow”, sniffed around Luo Wenzhou’s feet, narrowed its eyes, and rubbed itself against his pant leg.

Aside from when it wanted food, Luo Yiguo very rarely demanded affection like this, fulfilling the proper duties of a cat. Luo Wenzhou was very willing to give it face. Despite having just washed his hands, he bent down to scratch the kitty’s chin.

A gleam passed through Luo Yiguo’s big, round eyes. Staring at the exposed hand, its whole body drew back towards its hind legs; seeing that the enemy had fallen for its trap, it jumped up and showed its sharp teeth. This cat was always pestering him; there always had to be some cunning trick. As a veteran litter box attendant, Luo Wenzhou was familiar with all the preludes to members of the family Felidae launching an attack. He’d been prepared and drew back his hand, using the advantage of his superior height to make the damn cat grab only empty air. Then he smacked Luo Yiguo’s forehead, pressing it down to the floor. “I knew you were up to something!”

Since discovering that when its litter box attendant started wearing thicker and thicker clothes it became more difficult to bite him, Luo Yiguo had taught itself many hunting techniques. But the enemy was crafty. He didn’t come home on time, and he wasn’t willing to submit obediently to being bitten. Luo Yiguo was very unsatisfied. It thrashed its tail, hissed at him, and was lifted by Luo Wenzhou with one hand under its soft belly.

“What do you guys think you’re trying to do?” Luo Wenzhou irritably grabbed the cat’s face. “Dad gives you good things to eat and drink, draws an overdraft on his next lifetime’s supply of patience, and each one of you just plots and schemes. Don’t you have consciences? Good-for-nothings!”