Appearance-wise, Luo Pei appeared to be someone of elegance, like the gentlemen of the European medieval ages. His every word and gesture had a lilt unique to him.
“I came to find you regarding Luo Yuan’s matter,” Luo Pei held the teacup with one hand, not lifting it up to drink even after a while. He lowered his head to gaze at the tea leaves in the cup and slowly said, “I am ashamed to speak of it. It was I who taught my child the wrong things and caused you harm. I truly apologize.”
Chu Qin glanced at Luo Pei, who appeared to have aged many times over, but couldn’t voice any harsh words of criticism. Many celebrities’ children went astray because their parents were not only too busy to discipline them, but also supplied them with money for them to squander. However, he really had no way of saying any words of forgiveness regarding the things Luo Yuan had done. Chu Qin slowly drank a mouth of tea. “None of us wish for such things to happen.”
There wasn’t much difference between words of courtesy and the kind of words from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs like ‘we sincerely regret’. The intention behind saying such words was to inform him that he sympathized with him, but that he would still do what he needed to later on.
“I know that it’s impossible for you to make allowances now. I only came to discuss one matter with you,” Luo Pei was an experienced singer after all, he still wanted face. “The court hearing will be held soon. The court will ask for your opinion about whether or not to make it public. I hope that you will not make it a public hearing.”
Chu Qin raised his eyebrows a little. Not making the hearing public implied that the media would not be able to report on the process of the hearing and the only thing obtained would be a conclusion. To Luo Pei, this was of utmost importance. After, this matter had yet to be publicized and was handled discretely, which for good or bad, allowed him to maintain some face.
In fact, Chu Qin had intended to do it in such a way. When all was said and done, Zhou Zimeng was also involved in this issue. If Zhou Zimeng spouted some nonsense during the hearing that was picked up by the media, it would be detrimental towards Chu Qin’s career.
“I understand what you mean,” Chu Qin replied plainly, his eyes glued to Luo Pei to catch his reaction.
Upon hearing Chu Qin’s words, Luo Pei heaved a visible sigh of relief and smiled. “You’re a smart child, you can understand what I mean even without me saying it. A public hearing would be bad for everyone, especially you. After all, those things…”
Chu Qin wasn’t happy to hear these words. As if he was the person who couldn’t raise his head in front of others. “It can’t really be said that way. I’m not the criminal, what is there to hide?”
Luo Pei choked up. He took a deep breath. As the person on the offenders’ side, Luo Pei was clearly more afraid of exposure. But today, he needed to subdue Chu Qin. If not, once the hearing was held publicly, both he and Luo Yuan’s futures would be ruined.
“Yes, you have a clear conscience. But you should be aware of the country’s current situation. If those two kids say anything inappropriate in court and oust you and Director Zhong, your career will also take a huge hit,” Luo Pei said earnestly, portraying the situation as win-win to both sides.
Chu Qin hated being threatened the most, especially verbally. “I will take your words in due consideration. You don’t have to worry about the media. As long as nobody provokes me, I won’t lightly publicize this matter. But you need to be careful on your end.”
Within the world of the arts, Luo Pei was indeed very famous. After all, he had been in the circle for so many years. He even taught at a music school as a professor, so people would call him Teacher Luo. But wherever people were, complex relations would also be present. Luo Pei had been in the industry for so many years. It was impossible for everyone to be on good terms with him. The number of people waiting to hit him when he was down were innumerable.
Chu Qin emphasized his clean conscience. He wouldn’t stir the hornet’s nest, but he couldn’t speak for others.
After exiting the teahouse, Chu Qin was still somewhat unhappy. He was the victim, yet he still needed to suffer threats. Where in the world was there such logic?
“What’s wrong, baobei?” Zhong Yibin poked his seething face and cocked his head as he looked at him.
“Luo Yuan’s father came to find me,” Chu Qin said honestly.
“What? Did he give you money for you to write a letter of understanding?” Zhong Yibin laughed coldly.
Chu Qin shook his head and then suddenly stared blankly for a while. According to the country’s laws, the sentence could be lightened if the victim offered a letter of understanding. As Luo Yuan’s father, Luo Pei’s first thought was not to seek understanding from him, but to pay close attention to the media and his own reputation…
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. To be capable of teaching this sort of son who can’t distinguish between right and wrong, how good can the father’s character be!” Zhong Yibin pulled him into the car. These people should pay a price for harming Chu Qin, no matter if it was in body or spirit.
Hua Jiayue knew that her husband had sought out Chu Qin, so she asked in eager anticipation, “How was it? How much did he want to write the letter of understanding?”
Luo Pei froze and shook his head.
“I knew it, you’re useless. What else are you capable of other than singing, you’re not even eloquent,” Hua Jiayue started to criticize her husband.
“He committed an offence and should rightly receive a punishment. The incident in the past where he banged into someone already implicated me; I couldn’t even perform for a year. Now this sort of thing happened again!” Luo Pei said furiously. His son had turned out like this could also be attributed to his wife’s pampering and coddling, resulting in him becoming so ill-disciplined.
“Performance, performance, you only know how to perform. Have you ever been with our son since he was young? It’s precisely because he lacks fatherly love that he keeps overstepping proper boundaries!” Hua Jiayue slammed the table. The couple pointed fingers at each other, both saying that the other party had failed to educate their child.
In the end, Luo Pei expressed that he would no longer care about Luo Yuan. Sobbing, Hua Jiayue ran out of the house’s gates to seek her father’s help.
The Hua family had also been beaten black and blue. The losses incurred in the acquisition project made the board very dissatisfied with Hua Jiaxing. Hua Jiaxing was currently busying himself with launching a new project to make money as soon as possible and didn’t have the leeway to keep close tabs on his troublemaker of a sister. Hua Zhongyuan was also angry. If it weren’t for his grandson, he wouldn’t have lost his cool and not been able to even see through those two youngsters’ plot.
But after all was said and done, that person was still his own grandson and he couldn’t throw him aside without concern. Hua Zhongyuan sighed. “Go invite a gold-medal lawyer and prepare some money for negotiations with Chu Qin. Also, contact the Zhou family. Those two can be considered accomplices, it’ll be advantageous if the lawyers on both sides agree on their arguments.”
Hua Jiayue hated Zhou Zimeng to the bone for instigating Luo Yuan to commit offences. However, this matter required them to join hands with the Zhou family, making her extremely uncomfortable. They didn’t have a choice but to contact Father Zhou and cordially discuss the matter with him.
“The two children didn’t do it on purpose, there is still some hope for redemption. I already asked the lawyer; as long as Chu Qin writes a letter of understanding, the sentence will be lightened,” Father Zhou consoled Hua Jiayue optimistically, telling her not to panic and first settle matters on Chu Qin’s end.
Zhou Zimeng also had to stand on the defendant’s spot to await trial. Father Zhou spent an extreme amount of money to get a renowned lawyer to defend her. After looking through the case details, the lawyer expressed that the case could be argued from a no-guilt standpoint. After all, Zhou Zimeng had only said that one statement. As long as she insisted that she had not participated in any of it, all the guilt could be placed on Luo Yuan’s head.
“Let the Hua family provoke Chu Qin, we only need to get Mengmeng out,” After ending the call with Hua Jiayue, Father Zhou smiled coldly.
The violent developments on this end could not affect the couple’s daily life. For the sake of ‘recollecting the past’, Chu Qin brought Zhong Yibin to the university he attended in the past.
The country placed a lot of emphasis on its universities. The school yard was extremely quiet and was brimming with a sense of culture. The two people were dressed in ordinary t-shirts and slacks. As they walked through the school yard, there was not the slightest feeling of incongruity.
“Wow, those two boys are so handsome!” A passing female saw the two people’s handsome looks and secretly raised her phone up to take a shot.
“In the past when I was attending school, I would occasionally have an urgent program. You would drive over to fetch me at this exact place,” Chu Qin dragged Zhong Yibin along as he walked along the boulevard, pointing to a corner where cars would stop.
At that time, Zhong Yibin had just taken over Shengshi Entertainment and had ample enthusiasm. He placed heavy emphasis on Chu Qin, who had the ability to pull up ratings, so if Chu Qin had any huge events, he would personally come over to fetch him.
The stunning gemstone-blue sports car stopped by the boulevard. The passing students directed incomparably envious gazes towards the car.
“One glance is enough to tell that it’s the car of a ‘Mr Perfect’, there’s definitely a handsome guy seated inside,” That car was not an open car and the appearance of the person driving the car could not be seen clearly. They only vaguely knew that it was a young male.
“Wow, which girl caught such a wealthy husband?” People whispered. This person was definitely not a student at their school, so he could only be someone’s boyfriend.
“Probably someone from the foreign language department, there are plenty of beauties there. It’s quite common for someone driving a grand car to fetch them,” A girl curled her lip in disdain.
The door opened with a light ‘kacha’ sound. A person appeared, his figure tall and slender. His attire was expensive and appropriate to the occasion. Most importantly, he had a face that was capable of enchanting countless girls.
“My god, his face is so small, it’s only as long as a pull-top can,” A girl couldn’t stop herself from screeching.
When Chu Qin ended classes, he was also surrounded by quite a few girls chattering to him. He had always been rather good-tempered towards girls, so he smiled faintly as he chatted with them while walking.
“Why are there so many people in front!” Chu Qin’s classmate looked towards that place in curiosity.
“Wow, there’s a handsome guy in front. He even drives a very cool sports car,” A girl with fast legs ran over before running back, saying in an extremely excited tone.
“Tch, can his handsomeness compare to our Chu Qin?” The girls who admired Chu Qin curled their lips in contempt.
“Actually, he can,” That girl said rather mercilessly. After all, that person was decked out in expensive, branded clothes, and his temperament could also be seen. On the other hand, Chu Qin was just a poor student. A man without grandeur would have his points deducted by a significant amount. Then, she spoke to the department flower linking arms with Chu Qin, “Jingjing, is he here to fetch you?”
The girl called Jingqing immediately reddened. “Don’t speak nonsense, I definitely don’t know any rich second-generations.”
“Oh, why did I hear that a rich second-generation is chasing you?” The girl said sourly. Her intention was to remind Chu Qin that this Jingjing could possibly be two-timing him.
Chu Qin didn’t care much for such squabbles between girls and only smiled.
Yet, Jingjing discretely let go of Chu Qin’s arm. If that rich second-generation had really come to pick her up in a sports car, giving her so much face, then agreeing wouldn’t hurt.
Their group neared the place, getting a clear glimpse of the sports car and handsome guy. Zhong Yibin had one hand stuck in the pocket of his pants. He was leaning against the sports car as he looked over indifferently. The sunlight shone through the gaps within the tree leaves and illuminated his heroically-handsome face, almost like those princes in fairy tales.
Seeing this group of people, the indifferent prince slowly straightened. One by one, the girls looked towards Chu Qin’s group, gazing in envy at Jingjing, who was beside Chu Qin. After all, Jingjing was the prettiest out of everyone in the group. If he was chasing anyone, it would be her.
“Done with classes? Let’s go,” Zhong Yibin smiled faintly. He walked past Jingjing and grabbed Chu Qin’s hand. Time was tight, they needed to quickly head to the station.
Chu Qin coughed dryly and let himself be dragged into the front passenger seat. After buckling their seat belts, they stepped on the gas pedal and vanished into the dust, leaving behind a group of stunned girls with their jaws dropping.
The author has something to say:
Small theater: <Scenarios should be simulated to treat amnesia>
Er Bing: To regain my memories, it’s only right to simulate the scene
Qinqin: How?
Er Bing: You act as the student and I’ll act as that rich second-generation who came to pick you up
Qinqin: What about after that
Er Bing: After that, I’ll kidnap you into my sports car and drive to a place with nobody to do this and that