Chapter 57 A Childlike Heart
Opening my eyes, I saw that the surroundings were filled with steam, and there was only one person in the huge hot spring pool.
He lay comfortably enjoying the hot spring bath, his toes splashing in the water.
At this moment, Jingguang came over and served him some delicious snacks.
Zero unceremoniously reached for a skewer, but the moment he opened his mouth to bite into it, a scream of agony rang out:
The dream is over.
Zero blinked and looked at Jingguang's pained and helpless expression and his reddened fingers, only then realizing that there was no hot spring bath at all!
That was just Jing wiping his face with a hot towel, and the so-called barbecue was Jing's fingers.
"I'm sorry..." Zero pulled the blanket over herself and apologized softly, feeling ashamed of what she had done.
Jingguang wasn't angry at all; at most, he found it a bit funny: "It's okay, it's great that Ling woke up! You've been asleep for almost three days."
"I've been unconscious for so long?!" Zero asked in shock.
He thought back carefully and only remembered hearing the little detective shouting and yelling around him when he first got on the helicopter. The shrill child's voice gave him a headache.
He seemed to wake up a few times afterward, but he couldn't tell if it was a dream or reality. He only remembered Jing being beside him, and then he peacefully fell asleep again.
"Zero, are you hungry? Do you want me to make you something to eat? How about we just follow the menu? We'll have buckwheat noodles for this meal."
Only then did Zero, lying in bed, belatedly realize that she was not in a hospital ward, and the surrounding furnishings looked more like someone's bedroom.
He tentatively asked, "Is this Jing's room? Before he was 7 years old?"
“Yes, hasn’t Zero always wanted to sleep in my bed?” Jingguang said with a smile.
"But...but won't this cause some trouble? I mean, our identities, and your brother..." Zero stammered, her voice filled with barely concealed panic.
“Don’t worry, this place is safer than the hospital,” Jing Guang replied earnestly.
Zero looked at the other person with confusion, completely not understanding what it meant.
"Can we talk later? I'll go cook first." Jing Guang stood up and hugged the other person gently, saying, "This is a promise we made when we were facing life and death, so I will fulfill every wish of yours very seriously. Welcome home, my partner."
Ling felt a warm current surge through his heart. He watched Jingguang walk out of the bedroom, still immersed in the emotion he had just felt.
"This is where Jing lived for the first seven years of his life, seven years I wasn't a part of."
"But now I'm lying on Jing's bed, and it feels like I'm back home. It's so wonderful!"
However, upon closer inspection, he discovered that his good partner had given him a new skin:
Cute yellow dog pajamas!
Ling suppressed his raging anger, lay on the bed, took deep breaths, and waited for the culprit to appear.
A short while later, Jingguang returned with a bowl of freshly made buckwheat noodles.
Seeing that Ling looked unwell, he quickly stepped forward and asked with concern, "Ling, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Seeing this, Zero, who had originally intended to confront him, immediately lost his temper, only complaining softly with slight dissatisfaction, "Why did Jing dress me up like this?"
"I think yellow goes well with Zero, and isn't Zero's favorite color?"
"But I don't want to wear this."
Jingguang misunderstood. He opened the wardrobe and laid out the pajamas he had brought, saying generously, "If Zero doesn't like the dog one, you can change to something else. I also have cat ones, bear ones, bunny ones, fox ones... Which one does Zero want?"
Seeing her childhood friend's spectacular collection of pajamas, Zero couldn't help but gasp.
For over twenty years, they had remained inseparable, except when it came to sleeping, when they maintained a purely platonic distance. So much so that Zero only realized today that Jing's usual way of falling asleep was actually like this!
"No, I'll wear this one instead!" Zero said with a sigh.
Just as Jingguang was about to put his pajamas away, Ling seized the opportunity to ask, "Why doesn't Jingguang change into his pajamas? That's not fair!"
"It's not time to go to sleep yet!"
Are you going out again later?
"No, it's just that my brother..." Jingguang looked at his indignant childhood friend and hesitated before saying, "Well, never mind, my brother probably won't be home today, so can I change into it too?"
As she spoke, she picked out a blue cat-patterned pajama set and changed into it.
"Isn't your brother coming home?" Zero asked while eating noodles from a plate.
When she saw her childhood friend's new outfit, Zero tried hard to suppress her laughter so as not to appear too over the top.
Seeing Ling's strange expression, Jing Guang explained earnestly, "Ever since my brother went to stay with relatives, this house has been vacant. Although many people have advised my brother to sell or rent it out, he is unwilling."
"After my brother became a policeman, he lived alone. But because it was too far from the Metropolitan Police Department, he only came back on weekends and holidays. Usually, he lived in the police apartment."
"Oh, I see..."
“Over the years, my old neighbors have either moved away or passed away. There’s no one I know around here, so Zero doesn’t need to worry. There are no informants from any organization here.”
Zero sensed the hidden meaning in the other person's words and asked, "But the hospital has them, right?"
Jingguang nodded slightly: "It's not certain yet, but the possibility is very high."
"What about Sherry?"
“Yes, Pisco found out.” Jingguang sighed heavily. “We had just boarded the helicopter when Pisco sent you an email. After I saw it, I felt something was wrong, so I didn’t take you to the hospital.”
Zero agrees with this.
If the organization discovers that he and Sherry are together, and Bourbon does not take any action to deal with the traitor, this matter will be difficult to explain!
"How's it going with Mingmei?"
"Gin has made his move."
"And then?!"
"The result is naturally..." Jingguang smiled helplessly, "Akai executed the fake death plan ahead of schedule. Zero, we need to reshuffle the deck."
"Now that Gin realizes the sisters aren't together, he can focus even more intently on finding Sherry. Plus, Pisco saw Sherry at the hospital. What cards do we have left?"
"The last sentence is incorrect! I didn't say that Pisco saw Sherry with his own eyes; he only learned about it through an informant. Actually, Shiho didn't go to the hospital; she stayed in an ambulance until the professor secretly picked her up."
"It's said that the scene was quite chaotic at the time, with many police officers, doctors, nurses, and even reporters who had come after hearing the news. However, based on the angle of the photos sent by Pixar, they were undoubtedly taken from inside the ambulance. At that time, Sulli had not yet recovered, and there were many medical personnel around. So I think there is a very high possibility that there was an informant involved. Fortunately, no one saw Ai."
"What is Pixar investigating? He couldn't possibly have known in advance that Sherry would be there!"
"I'm curious about that too. But one thing is for sure: that gentleman doesn't know more about it than we do."
"Does Jing mean that Pisco is secretly doing something unknown behind that gentleman's back?"
“That’s right. And in order not to arouse that gentleman’s suspicion, Pisco plans to give you credit for discovering Sherry to you, who was investigating the suspected appearance of Shinichi Kudo in Nagano. Just say that you got it from a reporter.”
Did any reporters actually take pictures?
"The police control is very tight; only one reporter managed to get a blurry profile shot. However, Sulli's mixed-race features are still quite prominent. Using this blurry photo to appease the organization will delay the search for Sulli and buy us time for our next plan."
"Then I really thank him! Jing, have you already said yes?"
“I took care of your work while you were unconscious. I didn’t think it was a trap, but rather a good opportunity to turn things around, so I agreed.”
Zero couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: It's so great to have an easy partner!
"I never imagined that someone as senior as Pisco, with so many years of experience in the organization, would harbor ulterior motives towards that gentleman. But will it really not be discovered?" Zero couldn't help but feel worried.
"I was quite surprised too, but considering that gentleman has always advocated flat management and does almost everything himself, it's inevitable that there will be oversights in managing trusted members, which creates opportunities for them to take advantage of the situation."
"Speaking of which, Jing, how does that gentleman manage to maintain such boundless energy every day? I'm not even 30 yet, and I'm juggling multiple jobs, constantly busy, and I just want to fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow. That gentleman must be quite old, right? How does he manage to run such a massive organization? And with all the international business involved, there are bound to be time zone issues. Doesn't he need to sleep?"
The "King of Hired Managers" expressed his bewilderment and even hinted at a touch of envy, suggesting he might want to learn a thing or two from that gentleman.
“If, as we guessed, that gentleman is indeed Karasuma Renya, then he must be over a hundred years old. While centenarians are not uncommon, someone as hardworking as him is truly unheard of…” Kagemitsu couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
"Jing, do you think that 'Mr.' might just be a title, and they actually have many people? For example, that 'Mr.' might have created a bunch of clones of himself who help him with his affairs?"
"Zero, cloning is not replication. Even if there were cloned humans, it would have to be cultivated slowly from an egg cell. Besides, Dolly the sheep was born less than 30 years ago! Do you really think the organization would have mastered this technology decades ago?"
"Could it be that the gentleman's body died long ago, and his consciousness was uploaded to the computer and became some kind of artificial intelligence, like in science fiction novels? Computers can work 24 hours a day without stopping."
"Zero, you said it yourself. That's something that only exists in science fiction novels."
"But I'm really not happy about it. A man who's over a hundred years old is more energetic than me! It's not scientific!" the big golden retriever complained resentfully.
When Jingguang saw Ling's appearance, he wanted to comfort him, but when he heard the sound of a car engine outside the window, his body stiffened.
"Jing, what's wrong?"
"Oh no! My brother is back!"
"Huh? Didn't you say your brother wasn't coming home today?"
"It's probably because I just told my brother that you were awake, so he wanted to come and see you."
"Then I'll trouble Jing to open the door!" Ling said, pushing Jing out of the bedroom.
Jingguang saw through the other person's thoughts and said, "Ling, you can't do this to me! I need to change my clothes too!"
"Jing can wear cute pajamas in front of me, but she can't wear them in front of her brother?"
"Because I want to project a mature and composed image in front of my brother!"
"Doesn't Jing consider my image at all?!"
The cats and dogs stared at each other, then said in unison, "Rock, paper, scissors! One round to decide the winner! The loser has to open the door!"
The moment the words left their mouths, the two were dumbfounded: they had both played "cloth"!
Just then, Gao Ming returned.
As soon as the owner entered the house, he saw two cute little animals facing each other with their paws outstretched, as if they were performing some special ceremony.
This scene left the well-informed and learned Gao Ming speechless for a moment. He was stunned to see his 29-year-old brother wearing pajamas that were even cuter than when he was 7.
Jingguang and Ling simultaneously withdrew their hands and stood at attention like obedient elementary school students.
"Brother, welcome back." Jingguang had an awkward smile on his face. "Um... Ling has already woken up."
This is a correct but meaningless statement that makes the atmosphere even more awkward.
Jing Guang looked to Ling for help, and the latter, quite "loyally," drew the fire away from him. Ling then said something surprising: "Brother Gaoming, please don't be offended. Jing finally got to come home, and he wanted to relive his childhood, so he specially wore these pajamas!"
At that moment, Jingguang felt as if the sky had darkened and the image of his younger brother, which he had painstakingly cultivated over the years, had shattered into pieces.
Unexpectedly, a faint smile appeared on Gao Ming's face, and he slowly said, "I laugh at myself for still having a childlike heart amidst the flowers, and I am even more delighted to be accompanied by a group of children playing bamboo horses. The scenery is so beautiful, and my childlike heart is still intact!"
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