Chapter 78: Sweetness for everyone.

Liwu was ready with that fist, but Weijun burst into laughter. “I am making a joke, your feet are actually quite dainty. I am surprised you can chase criminals with those small things.”

She widened her eyes and pointed at him. “You….”

Weijun laughed again, the booming sound was carried across the waves. “Another joke. Detective Liwu, learn to have a sense of humor.”

Liwu snorted. She stabbed the snapper with her chopsticks and decided that eating was better than allowing Weijun to rile her up. “Ha-ha, you are very funny.” She said dryly.

Weijun sipped the last bits of his cocktail and ordered for another. “Tell me what your childhood was like?” He had been curious about it for a while.

“Good until the bad luck came in.” She replied nonchalantly as if she was talking about something so normal. “Every exam day, it rained on me. Every birthday, the cake toppled over or something broke or caught fire. This can be very humiliating or humbling when you share the same birthday with four siblings. They never said anything, but I felt guilty. Eventually, they started treating it as a game, betting on what would go wrong. One day, I woke up and everyone was making different plans for that day.”

Weijun wiped his mouth, imagining a young Tai Liwu, standing to the side with her head bowed while everyone scowled at her for ruining yet another family celebration. It probably didn’t end with birthdays.

“Even my first day as a rookie officer, I ended up chasing the wrong suspect into a fountain. You should have seen the look on the face of my training officer.”

Weijun chuckled, swirling his fresh cocktail which he wished would turn into a stronger kind of wine. “At least your bad luck was not trying to kill you. Mine was lethal. My uncle Han Ce spent half of my childhood trying to erase every member of my family off the surface of the earth. I survived poisoned tea, car accidents, being shoved down the stairs, sabotaged boat, even a rigged horse saddle. His other schemes included framing me for cheating on exams. The man was so crazy he put a bomb in a ball just because I liked to play soccer.”

Liwu raised her glass, “To screwed up childhoods.”

Weijun touched his glass to hers, smiling so deeply that his eyes shrunk a little.

“What were your hobbies, besides dodging bad luck?” he asked.

Liwu put down her glass and rubbed her chin, “Reading detective novels, watching detective movies and dramas. I collected detective gadgets.”

Weijun frowned. “That is not a hobby.”

She shrugged. “To each their own. I enjoyed it and that was what mattered. Besides, it was something I could enjoy on my own. Having bad luck does not win you a lot of play mates and believe me, my parents did everything to help me make friends. They even paid parents to have their children pull me into their friend groups. It would work for a few hours and then bad luck would strike. Eventually, someone said to me, ’I would not even be your friend if your parents were not paying me.’”

Weijun winced. “Ouch.”

Liwu nodded. “Yeah. You can see why it was simpler to drown myself in a hobby I could go at alone. But, my parents indulged me. They got a military instructor to teach me about weapons. I had six instructors for all sorts of martial arts. They hired retired detectives as my nanny, driver and butler. Those people taught me half of everything I know about doing the job now.” She leaned forward, whispering, “My dad bought me a murder house on each of my birthdays. Unsolved murders only. I use my vacation time to try and solve those crimes.”

Weijun leaned back, like a frightened monkey.

Liwu laughed. “Don’t tell my mom, or Old Tai.”

He shuddered. “Your dad really spoils you. That is…..” he shook his head. It was not something he could describe. Had Zhang Caishen been blind to jewelry and other better gifts? How about a normal house without blood stains and ghostly cries?

“Someday, I will take you to one of murder houses. You will love it there.” she said.

Weijun shook his head. “No thank you.”

“Your loss.” She laughed. “Your turn to tell me about your hobbies. What were you up to when you were not dodging death?”

“Chess, Go, Shogi, Hive, Quoridor, Arimaa.” He counted the strategy games off his fingers.

Liwu shuddered. Even her brothers that played Chess and Go were not as obsessed as her husband! “Why?”

“I had an uncle to plot against and he taught me all those games before he decided to turn against the family. The games allowed me to think like him. Besides, they are the only games where plotting against others is socially acceptable,” he said with a sly grin. “We should play sometime.”

“In my murder house.” She whispered in a gravelly voice that was supposed to be spooky.

They laughed, clinking glassed, the sound mingling with the crash of waves. For a moment, they were not burdened by cases or politics–just two survivors of unlucky childhoods, savoring seafood and each other’s company.

A reporter who happened to be at the scene took a picture of the couple!

Meanwhile, at another table Cross and Xixi had been left together. Their companions were dancing on the beach, rotating around Xifeng like butterflies around a flower. Xixi’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she explained Liwu’s business idea involving the cotton candy empire to Cross. She had a napkin on which she had scribbled a graph and drawn a picture of cotton candy.

Cross, leaned forward, pretending to study the napkin but clearly captivated by Xixi’s fragile beauty. He wondered if her tears would fall if he took a gentle bite of her cheek. Or maybe her lips.

He groaned, like he was in agony.

Xixi sniffled, pushing the napkin around, “Liwu said she wants to bring in an outside investor so I was thinking you could be it. We can begin with selling cotton candy itself, with beachfront stalls. Aside from the ordinary pink and blue swirls, we add black, green. yellow and other colors. We can also make it in different shapes. Children will laugh, tourists will flock. Brother-in-law will be our official endorser.”

Cross nodded, though his gaze lingered on her tear-streaked cheeks. Why was she suddenly crying? Why was he reaching for his pen to sign a napkin as if it was an official contract?

“Ingenious,” he murmured. No wonder that ex had been reluctant to let her go. A man could conquer the economy of the world with Zhang Alix by his side. “Tell me Xixi, how are you finding single life?” His tone was soft, almost conspiratorial as if business talk was merely an appetizer for the main course which was more personal.

Fat tear drops fell from Xixi’s eyes. “It’s….lonely,” she admitted. “But I have a cotton candy empire to build. Sweetness for the world, sweetness for me.”

Cross raised his glass, “And me,” he smiled slyly.

The reporter that had taken a picture of Liwu and Weijun was also sure he was going to get a taste of sweetness.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep