My Demon Friends

On the morning of the ninth day of the first lunar month, the two of them headed back to Yan City.

Halfway there, Zhou Li made a call to Huai Xu. To be precise, it was to his own phone since he and Huai Xu had switched cell phones. The only difference was that he used a dual-system with passcodes, which Huai Xu probably didn't know about—but then, there wasn't anything interesting in Huai Xu's phone anyway.

"Hello?" his own voice came through the phone, even the tone sounded remarkably similar.

"Tell Aunt Jiang later that you're going out to see if any barber shops are open because you want to get a haircut, and then we'll meet up to switch phones back," Zhou Li said, glancing at his watch and the GPS. "I should arrive in about an hour and a half."

"You're getting a haircut?"

"Yeah."

"Where did you go? You didn't go to a crowded place, did you? Don't bring back any viruses!"

"...Brother Nan and Little Zheng helped me do it."

BEEP!

The call abruptly ended.

As Zhou Li was still in a daze, his phone rang again, this time with a QQ video call. This Old monster...

Zhou Li accepted the call with resignation.

The 'himself' in the video was lying on his bed with a plate full of strawberries resting on his chest, looking quite content. As he looked at the camera, he was holding a strawberry stem, and suddenly couldn't help but laugh—KUKUKU...

"...KUKUKU, how did you also turn into a reformed criminal?"

"It's all Brother Nan's fault."

"Whose fault?" Brother Nan's voice came from the side. "You were paid for this, how can you be so unrefined?"

"Er..."

"PFFT, HAHAHA, honestly, it looks pretty good, way better than the other reformed criminal in your dorm!" Huai Xu couldn't stop laughing. In their era, haircuts weren't something one did casually; he had kept up with the times.

"I'm hanging up."

"No! It's so much fun!" Huai Xu quickly objected.

"What's fun about this?"

"Huh? Isn't it fun? There are two of me on this video call!"

"It's two of me."

"Alright, alright..."

"Stop eating all the time, or Aunt Jiang is going to keep buying a ton of food," Zhou Li said, feeling somewhat annoyed as he watched Huai Xu continuously pop strawberries into his mouth.

"That would be great; if you can't finish it, you can leave it for me."

Zhou Li was silent.

By noon, they arrived in Yan City.

Huai Xu turned invisible as soon as he got into the car and finally removed the N95 mask he had been wearing for several days.

Manifesting Form these past few days had drained a lot of his energy. Although his powers were gradually recovering, his special energy capacity also expanding, and the charging speed quickening, he still had to be conservative with its use.

Seeing Zhou Li, the old demon started laughing KUKU again and, just like Brother Nan, immediately started rubbing Zhou Li's head.

"It's prickly!"

"Do you know? In my time, there were only two types of people who shaved their heads like this: monks who had taken vows, and soldiers who had lost in battle and had their hair forcibly cut off."

"Looks like you can take vows now!"

"Though some dynasties executed monks by beheading."

"Eh, it seems like monks were only introduced to my era from the west. If I had known, I should have become a monk back then. Maybe, through generations of tradition, I would have become some kind of Arhat. I could ordain you! Then you could go around telling other monks that you were personally ordained by the Invincible Arhat," Huai Xu said excitedly. "If they didn't believe you, you could show them a photo of us. If they still didn't believe, I'd go find them at night, or catch a demon capable of sending prophetic dreams to give them one!"

This Old monster sure talks a lot.

Then he asked, a little puzzled, "Hey, Zhou Li, why aren't you saying anything?"

Zhou Li hesitated for a moment before responding, "There are too many things to comment on; I don't even know where to start..."

"Go on, one by one!" Huai Xu pressed.

But I can't keep up with your rapid-fire speech, Zhou Li thought.

Huai Xu didn't mind his silence and continued, "When I came here earlier, I saw that there's a barber shop on the first floor of the residential complex, the one near the main gate. It was open. Just say you got your haircut there because most of the barber shops on the street were closed. I went there before I came and got my hair washed—and you know what, the massage was really comfortable..."

This was actually useful information, and Zhou Li nodded, taking note.

Immediately after, Huai Xu added, "Oh right, I added a few new preferences for you these past two days: strawberries, twice-cooked pork, Hami melon, and braised lamb. Make sure you remember them, don't give yourself away."

Zhou Li was speechless.

Brother Nan dropped them off at home.

Seeing Zhou Li's cropped hair, the family had a variety of reactions.

Zhu Shuang was surprised why his brother had suddenly chosen this hairstyle, making their styles quite different now when they used to look very similar. Zhu Bing only laughed on the side, saying she almost didn't recognize him. Aunt Jiang and Old Zhou both unanimously commented that this hairstyle looked better than before, saying it added a lot of spirit to him.

Zhou Li consistently explained it as wanting to stay cool.

Zhu Shuang laughed but also touched his own hair, quietly pondering whether he should also get a buzz cut.

He thought his brother looked quite good with it.

It had always been like this since they were young. Whatever Zhou Li did, he almost always followed suit. If Zhou Li bought a piece of clothing that looked good, he would go out and buy something similar.

After being goaded by Zhu Bing, he made his decision.

"Where did you get it cut?"

"Right downstairs in the residential complex."

"Let me see how well it's cut..."

"There's nothing to see, an apprentice did it, and it's not well done."

Zhou Li took two steps back, not willing to let them have a look, but Zhu Shuang, Aunt Jiang, and Old Zhou had already gathered around, so he had no choice but to brace himself and allow them to inspect his haircut.

Twenty seconds later, the three exchanged glances, looking at each other.

Although Zheng Zhilan had been extremely careful, scissors ultimately couldn't compare with electric clippers. One couldn't tell from a normal glance, but it wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny, especially not from the likes of Aunt Jiang and the others. Upon further thought, Zhou Li indeed wasn't someone who would insist on getting a haircut despite the pressure of the pandemic.

So, who was it that gave Zhou Li his haircut?

Aunt Jiang knew without even having to think about it.

Yesterday, she went out driving to buy groceries and saw the second-hand car that Zhou Li and Brother Nan had bought together was not in its usual parking spot. Since Zhou Li was home, who else could have taken the car?

They all remained silent.

Although Zhou Li didn't look back at them, a certain invisible person had already clearly interpreted the reactions of the three.

Zhu Shuang was the first to speak up from behind, "It's quite well done, though. Were there many people getting haircuts there? If not, I might go get one in a couple of days."

"Not many."

Zhou Li decided to pretend he didn't know they were feigning ignorance and changed the subject. "Where's Tuanzi?"

"Hasn't she been in your room all the time?"

"Oh."

Zhou Li walked into his room.

He saw Tuanzi lying quietly on the desk, curled up into a little fur ball, not even making a sound when she heard him come in. Zhou Li found this peculiar and closed the door behind him.

"Good morning, Lord Dumpling!"

Tuanzi lifted her head and glanced at him, still silent.

Zhou Li's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly leaned in. "What's wrong, Lord Dumpling? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No," came the soft and pleasant voice.

"Then why does Lord Dumpling look so listless?" Zhou Li asked with concern. "You didn't even come out to greet me when you heard me return. I'm so heartbroken."

"Because Lord Dumpling doesn't want to deal with you," Tuanzi said, lying with her paws tucked under her, resting her chin on them as she looked at Zhou Li.

"Why?"

"Because in your heart, Lord Dumpling isn't important at all. You go out to have fun without taking Lord Dumpling with you, gone for several days, so now that you're back, Lord Dumpling doesn't want to deal with you either," Tuanzi said, then after a pause, she asked, "Did you think that upon hearing your return, Lord Dumpling would just instantly appear to greet you, like always?"

Zhou Li's insides clenched, his mind racing.

"That's not it, Lord Dumpling, you've misunderstood," Zhou Li explained. "It's because the place I went to is on a mountain, very cold, with no heating system. Knowing Lord Dumpling, you're afraid of the cold. You couldn't possibly curl up like an ordinary cat in a warm spot, right?"

"You could have held Lord Dumpling in your arms."

"But there were no floorboards there, and someone as noble as Lord Dumpling couldn't possibly walk on dirt floors, right?"

"You still could have held Lord Dumpling in your arms."

"...Indeed, but her place also has many dogs, and I was afraid Lord Dumpling would be bullied."

"Even then, you could have held Lord Dumpling in your arms."

"Yes, that's true," Zhou Li continued to nod, now somewhat troubled. He thought for a moment. "But I couldn't hold Lord Dumpling all the time, right? Lord Dumpling needs freedom. Moreover, there's a Great Demon living there who could take down ten Huai Xus, even Lin Zhong can't beat him, and he doesn't have any sense, howling and flying around all day. I was afraid he would hurt Lord Dumpling."

"MEOW? Is that so?" Tuanzi looked dubious.

"Whew… yes, I wouldn't dare to lie to Lord Dumpling," Zhou Li nodded.

"Huai Xu, is that true?"

Huai Xu and Zhou Li exchanged a glance, conveying around 0.8KB of information in an instant. Finally, he conceded, "Yes, but there's one thing he got wrong. That guy can't beat ten of me… just slightly stronger."

"Is that so, MEOW..."

"That's right, Lord Dumpling is the most important in my heart, I was just worried about Lord Dumpling's safety!" Zhou Li hastily assured. "From now on, I will always ask Lord Dumpling first before I go anywhere!"

"Really, MEOW?"

"Yes!"

"MEOW!"

Tuanzi suddenly jumped up, her vitality restored. Standing on the desk, she looked up with bright, shining eyes at Zhou Li. "Zhou Li, have you started shedding hair?"

Lunch was served.

Zhou Li gnawed on several lamb bones, which were lamb spine bones with rib meat and marrow. This cut is also known as 'lamb scorpion'. They were large chunks, and he felt himself suddenly become bold and spirited.

Aunt Jiang also mentioned that she had asked a close friend who had married far away in Western Xia to purchase authentic Yanchi Tan sheep, which she then had shipped to them via SF Express.

The afternoon was study time for Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing.

Since Yan City had controlled the pandemic well, Old Zhou had spent a considerable sum to hire tutors for the two of them, all from Yan City Middle School.

「And so, several days passed.」

「The thirteenth day of the first lunar month.」

Zhou Li suddenly received a phone call. The man on the line claimed his last name was Jiang and sounded middle-aged. He said strange things were happening in his household, which had troubled him for some days, and he got Zhou Li's phone number from Liu Cheng by chance.