The dishes were served very quickly. It was the height of summer now; the crabs were not at their fattest but could already be eaten. First, a dish of crab steamed in broth was served, accompanied by a few side dishes. The waiter followed up by pouring ginger tea for the three people.
A set of exquisite crab-shelling tools, silver hooks and scissors were placed in front of them.
“Eat, we can talk while eating,” The Zhong family’s eldest son raised his hand slightly and indicated for Chu Qin to eat.
It was best to maintain a good image at this kind of ‘meet the parents’ feast, so he should eat less of this sort of food that needed to be shelled. Otherwise, he would seem very greedy with a pile of shells and bones in front of him. Even then, Chu Qin was not polite. He picked up a crab and began to crack it.
Zhong Yibin also picked up a piece. He thought for a while before directly plucking off a crab leg and eating it with vinegar. The area where the crab leg was pulled out revealed a portion of meat. The other parts were still encased by the shell. He opened his mouth and crunched down on the shell, continuing to eat.
Zhong Jiabin looked at his younger brother’s appearance and frowned a little. However, he didn’t say anything and lowered his head to shell the crabs, “I heard you were also injured during the kidnapping case and didn’t appear on the program last week.”
“Yes, I had some external injuries,” Chu Qin replied his question while shelling crabs. “Mr Zhong also watches my program?”
Zhong Jiabin paused and didn’t answer.
This situation was a little embarrassing. As the executive-chairman of a group, how could he have the free time to watch a variety show? Chu Qin had also intended it to be a joke. He had not thought that the Zhong family’s eldest son would be so serious that he couldn’t get his joke. But this did not stop Chu Qin. Even if no one paid attention to him, he could still churn out similar jokes for three days and three nights.
“In the past, I only saw Mr Zhong from a distance. This time, I am only fortunate enough to speak to you because I boldly intruded into your house. Yesterday, I went to the station to record the program and really wanted to show off about having seen the Group’s executive chairman. But I couldn’t, so I had to hold myself back,” Chu Qin said with a smile. Whenever Chu Qin smiled, two small dimples would appear. Having dimples would make a man look feminine but on Chu Qin’s face, it was unexpectedly appropriate. He was quite cute.
Zhong Jiabin smiled slightly and picked up the wet towel next to him to wipe his fingertips. He pushed the dish of shelled crab meat in front of him to his younger brother. Right at this moment, Chu Qin also placed freshly shelled crab meat on Zhong Yibin’s plate. Hand and plate met head-on in the air.
Zhong Yibin was still holding an unshelled crab leg in his mouth. He lowered his head to see the two plates of crab meat placed in front of him, “…”
Chu Qin’s shelled crab meat was a pile of scattered meat directly placed on Zhong Yibin’s plate after being kneaded by hand. Although it was messy, it looked delicious; Big brother’s crab meat was taken out in a complete manner. Even the legs and claws were arranged in their original position, making it look like a crab without clothes.
The two people who placed the shelled crab down paused for a moment, looked at each other and suddenly laughed.
Chu Qin felt that the Zhong family’s eldest son was no longer that scary.
Zhong Jiabin didn’t say anything more and passed the folder beside him to Chu Qin. The folder contained Zhong Yibin’s medical record.
Chu Qin accepted the leather file, wiped his hands, and directly opened it. The doctor’s conclusion was similar to what Zhong Jiabin had said previously. Memories of the past were damaged but future memories would not be affected. There was no damage to other areas. He heaved a small sigh of relief, it was good that there was no damage to other areas.
“The doctor didn’t prescribe any oral medicine?” Chu Qin flipped through the record but didn’t find any prescription.
“Medicine is useless,” Zhong Jiabin curled his lip. Actually, the doctor said that he could try using hormones. Perhaps it would stimulate the recovery of his memory. However, he refused. Hormones weren’t anything good. If his brother could avoid consuming them, he wouldn’t give them to him.
Chu Qin nodded and read the file meticulously, asking about areas he was unsure about.
The Zhong family’s eldest son did not show the slightest impatience. Seeing Chu Qin carefully tuck the file away, he was silent for a moment before suddenly asking, “Let me handle the kidnapping case.”
“En?” Chu Qin raised his head to look at him.
There was something queer about the kidnapping case. As the victim, Chu Qin was very clear about this. Those people hadn’t wanted money and claimed that they only wanted to take pictures. He didn’t react at that time but after carefully thinking through it again, this was not logical at all. Even though he was a public figure, he was still a man after all. Even if his nude photos were posted on the internet, no big waves would be caused. The so-called method of using photographs to extort money from him over a long period of time was not valid at all.
However, this was the only statement of confession the police were able to obtain, and it seemed like the case would be reported as such. As the extortion of money had not taken place, this case had a high probability of being dealt with as a crime of unlawful restraint. The sentence would then be significantly lighter. Was the Zhong family’s eldest son intervening because he wanted revenge for his younger brother?
To Chu Qin, this matter was like a dagger hanging over his head. The past few days, he’d needed to take care of Zhong Yibin, so he hadn’t had the time to think about it, but the minute things quietened, he couldn’t help breaking out in a cold sweat. Those people definitely didn’t intend to only take pictures. If he hadn’t escaped that time, there was no doubt that something even more scary would be waiting for him.
“It would be best if you could help,” Chu Qin clinked his glass against the Zhong family’s eldest son. As a small host, he really didn’t have any way of handling this sort of social relations.
Zhong Yibin polished off the two plates of crab before deigning to speak. By the time he was ready to speak, the conversation between the two of them had already ended and their heads were both lowered to eat.
Only after they finished their meal and rose to leave did Zhong Yibin recall that he was supposed to ask his big brother about the funding for the television drama. The group’s restrictions on funding prevented Shengshi’s palace drama from going ahead with the project, and the internal departments were now more inclined towards filming a terrific TV series with low costs.
“Come with me to the Group,” Zhong Jiabin indicated for Zhong Yibin to follow him after listening to his brother’s question.
Chu Qin was a little uneasy, but it would not be appropriate for him to follow them.
Zhong Yibin was not willing to separate from Chu Qin. Only after obtaining his brother’s guarantee that he would ‘send him back to Chu Qin’s house’ was he taken away. For every step taken, he would look back thrice.
He wasn’t sure what emergency training the Zhong family’s eldest son gave to his brother, but after returning from the Group, the speed at which Zhong Yibin read his emails were much faster than before and he was also now capable of directly replying to some of those emails.
That weekend morning, Zhong Yibin was woken up by his phone. The caller ID showed ‘fifty-thousand’. Only then did he remember that he didn’t return Wu Wan’s call that day.
“Er Bing, you’re still alive?” A raucous voice could be heard.
“What?” Er Bing asked in a neutral manner.
“F*ck. You couldn’t be found for two weeks, your mother said you left the country. Chu Qin was searching the entire world for you!” Wu Wan screaming over the phone.
Zhong Yibin bowed his head, looked at Chu Qin who was still sleeping soundly, and proceeded to the living room. He pulled open the curtains. The sky was a bit dark, it looked like it would rain today. This sort of weather was best for sleeping at home.
“It’s Mengmeng’s birthday today. Are you coming to her family’s hot spring?” Wu Wan yawned lethargically. It seemed like he’d so early in the morning because he didn’t sleep the whole of last night.
“Who?” Zhong Yibin frowned. Who was Mengmeng? Chu Qin never told him about her before.
“Zhou Zimeng!” Wu Wan thought that Zhong Yibin didn’t hear clearly so he repeated the name.
“I’m not going. Chu Qin isn’t feeling well, needs to rest at home,” Zhong Yibin said indifferently. If he wanted to see these friends, he needed to bring Chu Qin or he wouldn’t be able to recognize a single one of them. Chu Qin’s rib was not fully healed and he had been recuperating in bed these past two days. He couldn’t possibly let Chu Qin suffer just for some fun.
Wu Wan was in a daze as he ended the call. When did Zhong Erbing listen so obediently to Chu Qin?
Zhou Zimeng, who had just finished her makeup at the side, turned around to ask him, “What did he say?”
“He’s not coming, he wants to stay at home to accompany Chu Qin,” Wu Wan leaped onto the couch and stretched lazily. A boy at the side swaying from side to side took advantage of the situation lay against him to sleep.
“Is Chu Qin pregnant or seriously ill? How unreasonable!” Zhou Zimeng’s delicately made-up face was long. She was very unhappy.
“Oh, you won’t understand,” Wu Wan pushed his buddy’s body up. He wiggled his eyebrows and his face revealed a lecherous expression. “Saying that Chu Qin is unwell so early in the morning must be because Zhong Erbing was unreasonable last night, hehehe.”
Hearing this, Zhou Zimeng’s face became even more ugly. She laughed coldly, “Only you will know so well.”
When the group of rogues left, Zhou Zimeng went home. Her father was in the midst of discussing with his secretary about the dinner the next night. Recently, the Zhou family had a large project they wanted to unveil and had invited the CEOs of a few Groups to meet at the hot spring.
“I heard Big Fish Group cooperated with Shengshi, will father consider inviting Chu Qin to be the host?” Zhou Zimeng suddenly raised this question after listening at the side for a while.
The author has something to say:
Small theater: <Will Er Bing be cheated into leaving?>