Chu Qin didn’t actually like eating strawberry-flavored things, he just preferred the flavor for certain products. In the past when Zhong Yibin had not lost his memories, he liked to tease him about this.
When the two of them went to the supermarket to buy things, Zhong Yibin would sneakily take a packet of condoms and run to him, pretending to be the River God. “Young woodcutter, do you want banana or lemon-flavored?”
Shocked, Chu Qin anxiously looked around. Without anyone noticing, he picked out the strawberry-flavored packet and stuffed it into the shopping cart.
“Honest woodcutter, you chose the strawberry-flavor you originally wanted. River God has decided to reward you tonight and finish this box,” Zhong Yibin said with a straight face as he stood at the side with a bottle of soy sauce.
Therefore, when the amnesiac Zhong Yibin said ‘I remember you liking the flavor of strawberries’ with a straight face, all sorts of feelings welled up in Chu Qin’s heart. Raising his hand, he pushed away the large head that drifted over in curiosity at Chu Qin’s red face. Suddenly, he heard Wang-jie’s voice.
“Little Chu, you can go ahead first if you’re busy?”
“Cough cough…” Chu Qin’s face was so red that it could emit steam. “Sorry Wang-jie, the conversation just now was about buying cake… Pardon me for disturbing you so late at night. I just suddenly recalled, does our broadcasting station buy insurance for employees…”
Zhong Yibin sat at the side while holding onto the cake, staring at Chu Qin curiously. He looked at Chu Qin, then looked at the cake in his hands. Chu Qin’s reaction was very unusual, almost as if he was… shy?
This thought allowed Zhong Yibin to experience a feeling of novelty. There was definitely something here that he did not remember, he would need Chu Qin to give him a thorough explanation later.
In fact, Zhong Yibin had scarcely eaten too, only munching on a few snacks at the banquet. Chu Qin got up and cooked two bowls of noodles in clear soup. Then, the two of them ate the noodles and cake. With warm stomachs, they sat in the living room to digest the food.
There were two reclining chairs placed in front of the living room windows that extended from the floor to the ceiling. There were fake grass decorations surrounding the reclining chairs and even a canvas parasol at the back. It was possible to pretend to be suntanning beside the beach by lying on the chair.
The night city was brightly-lit, the intersecting roads like a strip of colored light that brought all the low and high buildings together. This city was so big that one person walking in it would be like an ant in the jungle. A single moment of carelessness could prevent any traces from being found by a loved one ever again.
Chu Qin cocked his head, observing the person beside him. Zhong Yibin felt that the view from this angle was very new and was in so much happiness that he stretched out his legs, leisurely shaking his slipper-clad feet. Chu Qin slowly stretched out a leg and used his toes to hook onto the other person’s feet. The shaking feet instantly stopped. Slipping on the flip-flops, he in turn used a foot to grab onto Chu Qin’s leg.
“Haha, I captured a sneaky thief!” Zhong Yibin said cheerfully. Using a lively toe to rub against the other, he added sound effects, “Grr[1], do you still dare to steal next time?”
Chu Qin held in his laughter. He attempted to pull his foot back, but was caught by Zhong Yibin’s limbs and hauled onto his legs.
“Hehe, still want to escape, you’re forcing me to use violence!” Zhong Yibin laughed darkly and proceeded to tickle the sole of Chu Qin’s feet.
“Hahahaha, don’t…” Chu Qin was ticklish and immediately laughing the moment he was tickled. Fortunately, his ribs were almost healed and wouldn’t hurt no matter how much he laughed.
Zhong Yibin caught the person who was constantly twisting, dragging the two feet onto his legs.
“Please spare me, Great King!” Chu Qin saw that the situation was not right and hurriedly pleaded for mercy. If both his feet were tickled, he would surely laugh till he ended up on the floor.
Zhong Yibin proudly lifted his chin, “Then I will ask you a question, you must answer it truthfully, or you will be punished.”
“Ask away,” Chu Qin smiled, revealing two dimples.
“What exactly is strawberry-flavored?” Zhong Yibin directed a pair of curious eyes towards him.
“…” Facing such a curious baby, Chu Qin felt overwhelming pressure.
The next day at work, Chu Qin received a piece of good news. Shengshi really did purchase commercial insurance for their employees and for Chu Qin’s situation where he was hospitalized for a week, he could be compensated 10,000 yuan for medical expenses and lost time. On top of that, accident insurance was also bought for several hosts, and another 50,000 yuan could be compensated.
Chu Qin was very pleased at receiving 60,000 yuan for no reason. He went to the human resource department and made a copy of the insurance policy that the company purchased for him. In the future, it would be of use if anyone ever got into trouble.
However, he would need to go to the police station to submit proof of identification to claim accident insurance. After work, Chu Qin visited the police station and coincidentally met with the leader of the broadcasting station, Chief Zhang and Chairman Chen.
Chairman Chen’s name was Chen Feng. He was the chairman of Shengshi Entertainment’s major entertainment programs. He also had another status, the father of Chen Jiming.
“Shengshi was reported again?” Chu Qin went up to greet them. As Shengshi TV was a joint venture between the country and company, they had many types of programs, resulting in them often being denounced by various elderly scholars or bored people. This police station was the closest to the television station, so when someone reported them, the Chief would go over to give an explanation. As a result, the chief would emphasize restraint and harmony at every meeting.
The corner of Chief Zhang’s mouth twitched. “No, don’t talk drivel.” Lately, with his efforts, the number of times Shengshi was reported had already gone down by quite a bit.
“Then what happened?” Chu Qin was curious.
Chief Zhang gazed at Chu Qin as if wanting to say something. Stroking his bald head, he gave a small laugh. “Nothing major, you go ahead, I have to head back to the broadcasting station.”
“Ah?” Chu Qin watched the Chief leave in a baffled manner. He turned towards Chen Feng.
“Isn’t it because of you? This morning, the police went to the station to investigate. Chief was afraid that we would be negatively impacted, so he said we should come to the police station,” Chen Feng said with a look of profoundness, as if he was covering for Chu Qin’s dirty business.
Chu Qin frowned slightly. These words made him feel uncomfortable. “You say that as if I committed a crime.”
Chen Feng was stunned. He couldn’t say anything more, vaguely saying a few words before turning around to chase after the Chief.
In the police station, the police officer told Chu Qin that someone higher up was pressuring them to investigate his kidnapping case thoroughly. That was why they visited his colleagues and leader.
“You suspect that there is a mastermind behind this?” Chu Qin’s eyes narrowed. Previously, he had told the police that he suspected there was a mastermind but couldn’t think of anyone that had such a big grudge against him. The police ignored him and only wanted to quickly pass the case on to the next agency.
Their sudden investigation now was probably due to intervention from the Zhong family’s big brother.
“I can’t tell you that,” The police officer shook his head. This concerned confidential information, he couldn’t blab about it.
The case was reopened and several of Chu Qin’s colleagues were called in for questioning. Chu Qin visited the police station again to file for insurance. When the police officer picked up his identification, Chu Qin could feel several police officers watching him.
“H-Here…” The police officer passed him his identification with a perpetually-lowered head, as if he was afraid of being burned. He didn’t pass it back to him directly, instead placing each piece of identification on the desk for him to pick up himself.
“Wew—” Someone suddenly whistled. Chu Qin turned around but didn’t manage to see who whistled. The atmosphere in the police station was very different from before.
Chu Qin’s heart sank. He didn’t linger and left the police station.
“Qinqin!” Not far away, Zhong Yibin had a hand in his pocket. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses and leaning against a beautiful sports car. Under the warm sunlight of summer, his entire body seemed to radiate a golden light. A girl at the side of the road caught a glimpse of him and couldn’t resist stopping to take a picture. This almost seemed like the cliché scene of the male lead chasing after the female goddess in idol dramas…if only Zhong Yibin would stop waving his arms in that silly manner.
“Here!” Zhong Yibin waved his long arms vigorously, afraid that Chu Qin hadn’t seen him. He even hopped twice, causing the girls who were originally smitten to laugh out loud.
“Oh my mother, this handsome guy is fierce!” The girl exclaimed with a north-eastern accent as she moved off with a pout.
Chu Qin silently face-palmed and tossed the unpleasant experience in the police station to the back of his mind. He walked over speedily and entered the car. “Why did you drive it over?” This was the sports car that Zhong Yibin drove when he went out for leisure.
“I saw this in our photo, so I asked my brother to send it to me,” Zhong Yibin was all smiles as he sat in the driver’s seat. “One should have a decent chariot when going out to play.”
“Chariot?” Chu Qin’s mouth twitched. What kind of title was that?
“Uh huh,” Zhong Yibin was very satisfied with this mode of address. “My brother brought me a box of treasures from when I was a child. I watched a whole afternoon’s worth of CDs and learnt this new word.”
Chu Qin rested a hand against his forehead. He had a rough understanding of the kind of CDs Zhong Yibin was watching. Yesterday, he brought him to the doctor for a check-up and the doctor said that watching some of the things he liked in the past might help to trigger some memories. Hence, Zhong Yibin gave his family’s big brother a call. “Brother, in the past, other than liking Chu Qin, what else did I like?”
“…” Zhong Jiabin, who was in the middle of a meeting, ignored him and directly cut the call. Today, he threw him his ‘chariot’ and a box of discs.
The author has something to say:
Small theater: <A lot of new words can be learnt from CDs>
Qin Qin: What is a sports car called?
Er Bing: Sacred chariot
Qin Qin: How would you describe being intimate?
Er Bing: Burn, Cosmo
Qin Qin: Then how would you describe it if I didn’t want to be intimate?
Er Bing: Yamete
Qin Qin: Were these really the CDs you watched when you were young? →＿→