Lu Zihao reined in his bloodthirst, focusing instead on the mission at hand—meting punishment to Rose Young and investigating the hidden traitors within the Jin branch families. Rose Young’s matter was more prominent because of its blatant exposure to the public while the one involving the traitors in the Jin branch families was being done in secret.
After instructing his hacker team, Lu Zihao left the computer room and drove out of the headquarters by himself. Inside the car, Bacon stared at him from the dashboard monitor.
“Uncle Zihao, Bacon is in trouble.”
Lu Zihao ignored him.
“Uncle Zihao, you have to take responsibility for getting Bacon into trouble with my parents.”
He frowned, continuing to ignore the little smart-ass. If he was careless for even a second, the little money-grubber would definitely try to extort an exorbitant salary raise or bonus from him.
“Uncle Zihao, you are the one who instructed Bacon to steal materials about Rose Young from my mother’s secret virtual security vault. I violated my parents’ trust for you so you should take responsibility. My mother might reprogram my system and my father will surely ground me. If that happens, Bacon will be out of commission for a while which will result in a drastic decrease of your hacker team’s level.”
Lu Zihao gritted his teeth while doing his best to stop himself from losing his temper. “Don’t push all the blame on me, kid. You’re the one who told me that your mother created an emotionless bot based on Ketchup’s system to monitor Rose Young before locking the files in a virtual vault.”
“Uncle Zihao is telling me not to push all the blame on you, yet that’s what you’re doing right now. Aren’t you pushing the blame on Bacon, too? Uncle Zihao’s behaviour is not very classy.”
He gripped the steering wheel hard before forcing himself to relax by taking a few deep breaths. “Fine. What do you want me to do?”
The rascal’s tail began swishing from side to side. “Uncle Zihao should clearly explain to Bacon’s parents that it was you who instructed me to steal the files in the first place. Also, emphasize to my mother and father that Bacon didn’t look at the contents at all, that I brought them directly to Shadow Winds without taking a single peek.”
Lu Zihao gave the kid a side-glance. “Did you really not look?”
“Bacon swears in the names of the legendary Fantom and the great Drakon that I did not look. Please don’t make false accusations, Uncle Zihao. I think I need a salary raise as compensation for the emotional distress caused by your false accusation.”
“No salary raise for you.”
Bacon’s tail drooped in disappointment.
“But since your contribution is indeed the greatest for getting those materials to nail down the woman who wants to steal your father away from your mother, then I’ll increase your holiday bonus. But that’s it. Don’t ask for more.”
“Bacon thanks Uncle Zihao. My savings account still has plenty of room for additional bonuses and salary raises.”
Lu Zihao snorted. “What the hell are you saving up for? Virtual cat food?”
“Don’t be so rude, Uncle Zihao. It’s not very classy.” The black cat AI’s golden eyes glinted. “Bacon is saving money to buy a special present for my mother when she gives birth to my twin human siblings next year. Mother is suffering so much right now from her pregnancy symptoms. She deserves something special for all the trouble she’s suffering due to her pregnancy.”
“You….” Lu Zihao was a little speechless. How could he still continue to fault the kid for being a money-grubber after hearing his reason for saving so much money?
After a few seconds of surprise, he asked, “What special present are you going to give your mother?”
Bacon licked his fluffy, black paws. “I haven’t decided yet. I have a list of ideas which I’m planning to show Father when the time comes to ask for his opinion. Father is the best person when it comes to giving presents to Mother. He’ll surely help Bacon choose the most perfect, special, and classiest present for Mother.”
Lu Zihao inwardly sighed in admiration at his AI nephew’s thoughtfulness. A tiny part of him even felt ashamed that he hadn’t thought about doing the same thing for his sister.
“Uncle Zihao.”
“What?”
“Have you decided to help explain Bacon’s misdeed to my parents? If possible, please do it tonight so that I can go home and apologize to my parents properly. This is the classy thing to do.”
“Fine.”
“Bacon thanks Uncle Zihao.”
His response to the kid was a grunt.
“By the way, Uncle Zihao…”
“What is it this time?” A vein started to throb in his forehead. His patience was almost at its limit.
Although Bacon wasn’t a chatterbox like Ketchup, he could be as sharp-tongued as his mother. Unlike Iris, however, Bacon was more venomous and would hit directly where it hurt without any hesitation. Lu Zihao continued to wonder who was the asshole the little rascal’s personality was based on.
“Where are you headed?” Bacon asked while continuing to groom himself. “This is the route Uncle Zihao usually takes when going to Aunt Jinjing’s place.”
Lu Zihao’s eyes contracted as he caught himself. He was so distracted by his conversation with Bacon that he didn’t realize his body automatically driving to Long Jinjing’s place.
“Fuck!” He made a U-turn and headed in the opposite direction.
“Why doesn’t Uncle Zihao just see Aunt Jinjing again and talk to her? You refuse to meet her in person after breaking up and yet you instruct Shun and Robin to continue protecting her in secret. Bacon doesn’t understand these contradictory actions. It’s not very classy.”
“Shut up, kid. None of your business.”
“Bacon also knows that you installed a micro-tracker in the necklace that you gave Aunt Jinjing. I even know that you check her location several times a day—”
“I said SHUT UP!!!”
The black cat blinked his golden eyes, unperturbed. “My father said that he pursued Mother and never let her go as soon as he realized his feelings for her. Why don’t Uncle Zihao act in the same manly way? Bacon is ashamed seeing Uncle acting like a coward. If you like Aunt Jinjing, why let her go and suffer like this? It’s not classy at all.”
