Chapter 39: Returning the tooth[1]

Wu Wan smiled merrily as he circled around his sister, "See, Er Bing called me. It's rare that he has the time."

Wu Yi side-eyed her brother, "Zhong Yibin recently started keeping up with Shengs.h.i.+'s large projects. Look at you, the reason why I let you make friends with him is so that you can have connections to the Zhong family, not to let you learn how to have fun from him."

"I know, I know!" Wu Wan's ears were about to grow worms. He picked up his phone and wallet and ran off, calling Zhou Zimeng on the way. "Good news, Zhong Erbing invited us out tonight, 8pm at Hilltop Fireworks Terrace."

After Zhong Yibin finished settling company matters, he drove to the Zhong house.

Mother Zhong stopped working a few decades ago and became a full-time housewife. During the afternoon, she would invite some of her bosom friends to the house for tea. This practice was the way the Madams of the upper-cla.s.s in the capital engaged in social intercourse and was thus rather important.

However, Mother Zhong wasn't in the mood for it the past two days and hadn't invited any friends over. Instead, she sat in the courtyard to drink tea. Hearing the sound of a sports car, she raised her head to look outside and unexpectedly noticed a brightly-colored sports car. In the entire family, only her youngest son would drive such a car, so her mood instantly brightened, and she stood up.

"Quick, second young master has arrived, bring his favorite soda and crab crackers," Mother Zhong happily went forward to receive him.

Zhong Yibin alighted and walked towards his mother who ought to be familiar to him yet became more and more like a stranger.

"Don't bother, I only came back to ask something," Zhong Yibin sat on a high chair, "Exactly how involved were you in Chu Qin's matter?"

Mother Zhong slowly clenched her fist, "You also suspect that it was me who did it?"

"Mother, now is not the time to talk about feelings," Zhong Yibin watched her silently and pointed to the area the stick had hit, "The doctor said that I could have become an idiot if the person had used more strength. Those people not only want to ruin Chu Qin, they're also after your son's life, do you not feel sorry for me at all?"

For every word Zhong Yibin spoke, Mother Zhong's face turned a shade paler.

"Have you ever considered that those people could have been targeting me? By revealing my whereabouts, they could have directly crashed into me on the road…"

"Pooh! Pooh! Pooh![2] You're not allowed to speak of dying!" Mother Zhong anxiously stopped him from going on. After a moment of silence, she couldn't help erupting into tears.

Having thrown the jewelry and cologne that Zhou Zimeng had gifted him into the car's boot, Zhong Yibin listened to Mother Zhong's recount of all her conversations with Zhou Zimeng, his face icy.

At that time when he confessed to his family, he was probably scared that his father would make things hard for Chu Qin, so he refused to say who his partner was, only mentioning that he liked men. This led to Mother Zhong, who dearly loved her beloved son, seeking out Zhong Yibin's friends to learn more, which was how she came across Zhou Zimeng. Zhou Zimeng's words painted Chu Qin as someone who would seize a higher position through crawling onto beds, and whom intentionally bent Zhong Yibin.

"Oh, Madam, pardon me for interrupting, but how do you know that your son used to like women?" Dave appeared from who-knows-where and enquired curiously. He was accompanied by a translator who was trembling in fear.

This translator was a student Dave found from a foreign language school. Since the price was cheap, he booked him for a week and was with him at all times, so that the translator could translate everything he wanted to hear. The translator's forehead was drenched in sweat. After being looked at by Zhong Yibin's frigid gaze, he hated that he couldn't tunnel through the ground and vanish.

He thought it was commendable of him to be translating for a foreigner but he never expected to hear about a powerful family's drama. This drama even involved that renowned host Chu Qin, as well as the world-shaking secret about his affair with a man.

"He even liked a girl during junior high," Mother Zhong said confidently.

"What girl?" Zhong Yibin frowned.

"The one called Athena," Mother Zhong said a.s.suredly. Children would always have some small thoughts at that age, so she asked her son if he liked any girl out of curiosity. The tiny Zhong Yibin hesitated for a long time before saying that he liked Athena.

Zhong Yibin, "…" He stood up decisively and left the Zhong house.

It was nightfall. Atop a hill at the suburbs was a scene of tranquility. This was a hill in Chengbei; the highway had been repaired and there was a large platform at the peak of the hill, called Hilltop Fireworks Terrace. Every public holiday, fireworks would be set off in the city and the view from the Terrace was especially good.

A smart merchant purchased this area and opened a restaurant, lodging, entertainment and beverage all wrapped in one. A lot of young people liked this place.

Although 8pm was the agreed upon timing, Zhou Zimeng habitually arrived half an hour late. As a beauty, leisurely arriving late ensured that she would be the focus of the audience's attention.

The other time when she went to the company to find Zhong Yibin, her giving him the tie was not her true intention. Rather, probing if he knew that the paparazzi were lured over by her was her true intention. Zhong Yibin flared up at her, so it was obvious that he knew of it. He didn't even seek them out the past two weeks, causing her to feel anxious. The moment she knew of Zhong Yibin inviting them out today, she came over without thinking.

She needed to grasp the chance tonight and reconcile with Zhong Yibin. If not, the kidnapping Chu Qin case…

"Zhi—" A piercing light suddenly shone into her eyes, as if a truck had collided with her. The road around the mountain was extremely narrow. Zhou Zimeng couldn't see the road clearly and could only hurriedly step on the brakes to let them go past. After she finished stabilizing her car, that truck also rolled to a stop. Three people got off the truck and walked over aggressively, surrounding her.

Zhou Zimeng's car was an open sports car. Without even waiting for her to cry out, the muscled man standing by the car door lifted her up with a single arm, covered her mouth and threw her into the trunk of the truck. This trunk was a sealed s.p.a.ce, similar to those containers used for s.h.i.+pping. A muddy-yellow fluorescent light dangled from the ceiling.

"Who are you? What do you want to do?" Zhou Zimeng was terrified and shrieked as she retreated.

"You don't know who I am? Wasn't it you who entrusted us with kidnapping Chu Qin a month ago?" The person leading them said crudely.

"Aren't you in prison?" Zhou Zimeng screeched before abruptly shutting her mouth. She was not the one who contacted the kidnappers, it was Luo Yuan that idiot who contacted them. Even if these men had heard her voice before, it was impossible for them to know who she was.

"Hehe, you don't have to worry about who we are," The person in front of her took out a piece of rope and tied her arms and legs. That person destroyed her phone and took out lubricant and condoms from a burlap bag at the side, "Somebody paid us to treat you the same way you wanted Chu Qin to be treated."

After saying this, the two people at the back laughed sinisterly as they approached, attempting to touch Zhou Zimeng's face.

"Don't touch me! It's Luo Yuan who got you all to rape Chu Qin, I didn't say anything! I don't know anything, if you want money, I can give it to you!" Zhou Zimeng was scared silly and didn't have the brains to question the ident.i.ties of these people and the one who sent them here. At this moment, only terror and regret were left. She shouldn't have trusted Luo Yuan that idiot, he was capable of messing up anything he did.

"Who is Luo Yuan?" The person leading the group picked up on the key point. He squatted down and grabbed Zhou Zimeng's chin. Zhou Zimeng froze for a moment, her mind starting to work. These people seemed to be asking about the case, were they sent by Chu Qin?

"If you don't want to speak up, we can film first before talking!" The tone of the person behind was terrible. He smiled and started to unbuckle his belt while the other person lifted up the video camera.

"Luo Dahai's son, Director of Yuhua's grandson," Zhou Zimeng burst into tears, "This was all orchestrated by him, you guys can go find him."

"Hong—" The trunk was opened from the outside. Zhong Yibin stood outside with a gloomy expression. Behind him was Wu Wan, Bai Cheng, Ji Yao and Wu Qianqian, who all had on dumbstruck expressions.

"Second young master," The two masked people in the truck jumped down and pa.s.sed a recording device to Zhong Yibin.

"Zhong Yibin, it's you!" Zhou Zimeng said blankly. Then, she ran down while shrieking in an attempt to beat him, only to be held back by the two muscled men.

"It's me," Zhong Yibin put the recording device into his pocket, his gaze cold as he looked towards Zhou Zimeng, "It's already benevolent of me to not let them break your ribs."

Wu Wan tried to persuade him, "This…Erbing, could there be some sort of misunderstanding…" In reality, they were all clear on whether it was a misunderstanding or not.

"Zhou Zimeng, you are really malicious," Wu Qianqian pushed her brother aside. How did this matter need any persuasion. If she were Zhong Yibin, she would have long tore up her face. Today, Zhong Yibin only simulated that day's events and scared her a little. But what Chu Qin experienced was a genuine kidnapping.

"Erbing, we…" Bai Cheng didn't know what to say. On the day of the incident, they were with Zhou Zimeng so when the officials came over to inquire about the earlier part of the day, they became Zhou Zimeng's alibis.

"Disperse, n.o.body is allowed to say anything about what happened today," Ji Yao walked over with an expressionless face and told the people who were present.

Zhong Yibin ignored them. Behind him, Zhong Lou drove his sports car over from the peak of the hill. Those three fake kidnappers went up the truck one by one and left abruptly with a 'weng' sound.

Zhong Yibin was seated in the front pa.s.senger seat. He slowly raised his hand and didn't look at those childhood friends again. The sports car raced forward and vanished along the pitch-dark road.

When he reached the apartment, it was already very late. But the living room lights were still on and Chu Qin lay sprawled on the sofa while watching TV.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?" Zhong Yibin put on his slippers, threw off his coat and walked over to stroke Chu Qin's face.

Chu Qin bit Zhong Yibin's fingertips, "Waiting for you."

When the teeth bit onto those fingertips, a warm tongue snaked past, causing a slight feeling of itchiness. To Zhong Yibin, that itchy feeling spread from his fingertips to the deepest parts of his heart. If he could obtain this sort of warmth and security by giving up those hindrances from the past, then everything was worth it.

[1] 還牙: This is the 2 characters out of 4 that make up the phrase 'a tooth for a tooth', which refers to retaliating/taking revenge.

[2] 呸: onomatopoeia for spitting

Translator's corner: Happy Lunar New Year!