Shooting Stars [ENG]

XX - A prince without a crown (IV)

  Vanilla, chocolate, melon, lemon, ginger, ginseng, green tea, something disturbingly blue-ish... Good that Da Qing wasn't interested in "that children stuff", otherwise his desperate attempt to see beyond the people waiting for ice cream, while snorting impatiently, it'd have been very strange... It seemed he hadn't eaten ice cream for years. Or it was actually his favourite thing. When Da Qing was finally able to get his giant scoop of ice cream in cup, he was about to exult, but crossing Zhao's eyes he immediately pretended nothing, making the other laugh.

- Manly. -

  Da Qing was about to express himself in a colorful way, but he simply decided to ignore Zhao, preceding him towards the green area adjacent the ice-cream parlour where they stopped and taking a seat on an empty bench. Zhao immediately imitated him, sprawling comfortably, his head back and releasing a sigh of relaxation. Luckily it was still early and there were no children around, otherwise, with that beautiful day, the amount of voices would have put a strain on the patience of both. But at least there was a bit of movement: on the way in the car, the only sound between chief and his apprentice, was the cheerful whistling of the first, as he was looking out the window, since that "car" didn't even have a radio and Da Qing didn't seem to be in mood to chat. - Actually, Zhao was whistling also to distract himself from the constant jolts that was hitting that metal box, because it made him anxious, as if he feared they could lose a wheel in any moment. - How could a youngster like Da Qing not have a radio in his car?? How could he be happy to drive such a car, in first place?? At that age, didn't youngsters want to show off with friends? He wasn't normal. Every now and then Zhao glanced at Da Qing and smiled amused at his highly concentrated expression, while keeping his gaze fixed on the road, probably to avoid anything that could ruin that dated jewel. Zhao thought Da Qing needed a jolt of life. There was a pleasant breeze that made Zhao relax and yawn. It'd have been hard to recover from that forced early awakening...

- Oh look, isn't it your dear professor? -

... or maybe not! With another yawn, Zhao straightened his head and looked in the direction indicated by Da Qing, remaining pleasantly surprised to find Professor Shen in his view from across the street. Zhao seemed to wake up. What was Shen doing there at that hour? He was also in company and even looked pretty loose, that was strange.

- Don't you go and say hi? -

- Mind your own business! Can't you see he's busy? I'll see him tomorrow anyway: three consecutive days would be too much. -

  Amused grin.

- He doesn't want you around, huh? -

  Zhao would have liked to punch that annoying flea in the face, but it wouldn't have been decent - they could also have reported him for minor injuries, since Da Qing didn't seem at all twenty-one years old - so, the only thing that occurred to Zhao was to stick a finger in the inviting ice cream just to annoy the ball and chain, who gave him a deathstare.

- Everyone loves me. All right, wanker, watch and learn! -

  Now he also had to teach the basics to a boy, Zhao thought annoyed, while with hands buried in pockets he crossed the street to reach professor and the stranger. He didn't know why he was doing it, but he had never seen professor chattering with that fluency with someone, he really wanted to know what was going on.

- Professor Shen! Not seen for a while, huh. Did I interrupt something? -

  Speaking of the devil and he appears, Shen thought, as soon as he heard detective's cheerful voice behind him. Why was he always in the way?? To be honest, it annoyed Shen that that insistent one had popped up right in that moment. Zhao was already known to him for asking too many questions and finding Shen in company of an old friend, Zhao would only raise a fuss in his curious little head. Turning to face the usual radiant face, Shen could only think of one thing: "Give me a break!"