23 Breakfast [1]

"Zhaohui," Xiajun bellowed into his phone. "I can't hear you!"

It was the next day, and out on the busy street of Hong Kong, with all those cars honking and drivers yelling around him on the road, Xiajun struggled to hear his confrère through the speaker.

"Zhaohui!" Xiajun yelled again, covering his ear from the loud blares outside. Even though his car windows were rolled up, it didn't stop the noise from coming in. It was so loud that Xiajun could barely hear himself. "Zhaohui, did you get the pictures cleared? Any idea who the men might be?"

He heard a faint, barely audible reply over the speaker.

"Agh, for f*ck's sake," Xiajun muttered as he pressed the red 'End Call' button and threw his phone on the passenger seat. He then hastily rolled down his window to chew out the noisy drivers outside. "Shut the f*ck up! Good God..."

He rolled his window back up and clenched his steering wheal, his knuckles going white. I just want to get to Qi Lei's, he thought bitterly, absolutely exhausted.

Qi Lei had promised him that he would help Xiajun in the case if he just asked, and even though Xiajun rarely asked for help, he was on his way to his office. As the red light turned green and cars finally started moving after what seemed like hours, Xiajun's phone started ringing. He picked it up and glanced at the screen, Qi Lei's name appearing brightly lit on the top.

"Ah, perfect timing," Xiajun muttered as he pressed the green 'Pick up Call' button. "Morning, Qi Lei."

On the other side of the receiver, static crackled as a voice came to life. "Detective! How're you doing? I thought we were gonna have a meal togeth-"

"Right! Yes!" Xiajun mumbled as he focused on driving. Oh, how had he forgotten the promise he had made with Qi Lei? They were supposed to dine together a couple days ago, but the opportunity had passed since he had run into some 'trouble'. "Forgive me, Qi Lei, I had to deal with something urgent. Are you free now?"

There was a short pause before Qi Lei answered. "Oh, yeah. I'm at home right now. My wife was just putting out breakfast. Come on over and I'll let you sample some of her amazing bāozi."

Xiajun nodded. "Perfect. I'll be over in a few minutes."

With that, he clicked the phone shut and drove off into the distance.

****

Xiajun adjusted his cuffs and collar before ringing the front doorbell.

"Jun!" Qi Lei beamed as he pulled open the front door and pulled Xiajun into a hug. Xiajun gritted his teeth as he stood awkwardly, waiting for the hug to end, and instantly changed his screwed up face into a grin when Qi Lei pulled back. "Come in, my friend, come in!"

Sighing, Xiajun went in and heard the door shut behind him. Qi lei walked him to the dining room where the table was beautifully set. Xiajun raised his eyebrows at the several dishes of hot, steaming food, a tall glass jug of orange juice and the sauces on the side.

From a door on the side of the dining room, Miss Bai Ying- the wife- appeared with a pot of what seamed like congee in her hands. Her eyes shone as she noticed Xiajun standing there and she bowed slightly, her face in a lovely smile. The last time Xiajun came here, she had been a lovely hostess, indeed.

She donned a homely yellow apron and puffy hand mittens to protect her from the pot's heat. She quickly took everything off after she put the pot on the table and motioned for everybody to sit down.

"I'll just bring in the glasses," she mumbled hastily as she disappeared inside the kitchen again.

Qi Lei proceeded to pull out a chair and sit down at the large, rectangular table and patted at the chair beside him for Xiajun to sit. "Let's eat."

"Ah..." Xiajun muttered as he pulled out a chair with a slight creak and slid in, his eyes scanning the variety of food there was. "Let's wait for the Missus to settle down as well; after all, it looks like she's worked so hard to cook all of...this."

"No, no, we can start without her-"

"No," Xiajun said firmly. "Let her come, first."

Silenced, Qi Lei and Xiajun patiently waited for Miss Bai to arrive with the juice glasses before they started to dig in. It had been long since Xiajun ate any homemade food, so he was rather inwardly excited to get a feel of home again. He put two spoons of congee in a bowl and thanked Miss Bai as she poured him a glass of juice.

Qi Lei, on the other hand, had each of everything on his plate, the old man. There were bāozi, rice noodles, egg pancakes and whatnot.

"Are your kids not joining us for breakfast?" Xiajun asked as he slurped a spoonful of congee, the warm saltiness invading his mouth.

"Nah," Qi Lei spoke through a mouthful of food, "They're at their aunt's for the day."

Xiajun nodded. Qi Lei had 2 sons and 1 daughter, all of whom Xiajun had grown very fond of, though he often forgot their names.

"I was on my way to your office, by the way," Xiajun mumbled as he chewed. "Before you called. I needed to get some work done."

Qi Lei chuckled, a few specks of food stuck to his greying moustache. "My agency's hardly the place for that. If you needed to get some work done, off to the plastic surgeons you go!"

Xiajun picked up his glass of orange juice and drank to hide his annoyance.

"Not that sort of work, old man. Do any of your employees specialize in facial recognition?"

At this, Qi Lei stopped chewing and stared at Xiajun. "Yes...? Well, that entirely depends if the person is a registered citizen and if we have them in the database."

Xiajun nodded as he put a meat bāozi on his plate. "That's perfect. I'll send you the pictures of a couple men by tonight. Till when can I get the results?"

"Mmm..." Qi Lei scraped some meat off his plate with a fork. "I'll ask Shan because he's the one doing all the work. Who do you suspect these people to be, anyways?"

Xiajun glanced at Miss Bai who was fully immersed in her meal and lowered his voice before saying, "A couple of the Phantoms, likely."

Qi Lei coughed a bit at this news. He reached for the orange juice and downed it in a gulp, earning a disapproving glance from Miss Bai.

"Let's talk about this after breakfast."