Referring to - 44

Chapter 44

Lin Zixi originally wanted to flee to faraway places. It did not matter if the two of them would never meet again for the rest of their lives, and he did not even think that he would really give that jade ring away.

When he saw Gu Zecheng open the door and enter the room, he was completely stunned. With a blank face, he watched Gu Zecheng approach, pull out a chair across from the table, and sit down.

Gu Zecheng smiled mysteriously seeing Lin Zixi's thunderstruck appearance and asked, "Did your filming on Zhan Yun crew go smoothly? Have you learned something from Dao Zhongping?"

His demeanor and tone of voice were unexpectedly very gentle, as gentle as if Lin Zixi had not deserted him and run away but just left after reluctantly saying goodbye to him.

With Gu Zecheng's ability, Lin Zixi was actually not surprised at all that the other party knew where he went. However, his dad's current attitude made him a little uncertain, so he could only nod cautiously, "It went very smoothly. I’ve learned and benefited a lot from Director Dao and other people in the crew."

"That's good." Gu Zecheng nodded, "After you joined the group, I talked to the investors of Zhan Yun on the phone, and I knew that you left early and returned late every day on the set. I thought it’s also a rare opportunity for you to improve yourself, and that’s why I didn't come to the movie set to disturb you this month."

As Gu Zecheng talked, he reached out and grasped Lin Zixi's hand, which was clenched because of his nervousness. Then he asked in an even gentler tone, "You won’t be angry with me because of this, will you?"

Lin Zixi could not be angry with his dad no matter who he was angry with now.

He lowered his head and shook it a little nervously, "No."

"If it's not because of this..." Gu Zecheng sighed and held Lin Zixi's hand even tighter, while the gentle expression on his face suddenly disappeared without a trace, revealing a chilly aura that belonged to the superior, "Then can you tell me why your attitude towards me suddenly changed? Not only did you leave without saying goodbye, you also didn’t answer my phone call nor reply to my messages. And you don’t even dare to glance at me today."

"No… I don’t..." Lin Zixi quickly raised his head and glanced at Dad Gu. But then he immediately turned his eyes away, took a deep breath, and stood up abruptly, "Everyone is a person with identity. We got together by mutual consent, so we should break up peacefully. Don't be excessive and forget your manners. If you misused the public resources and let the customs detain me just to say this, we don't need to talk any more. Can I go now?"

Lin Zixi wanted to pull free the hand that was held by Gu Zecheng, but his other hand was grabbed and dragged by the other party until his whole person was thrown across half the table.

Gu Zecheng stood up, pinched Lin Zixi's chin with his other hand, and, staring condescendingly into his eyes, said contemptuously, "Since you don't want to talk about feelings, let's talk about your badger game. You stole my 1.6 million Cayenne, and you even ran a red light twice and exceeded the speed seven times while driving it…. According to the current law of our country, it’s considered to be a particularly huge amount of theft, and there’re other circumstances as well. The sentence starts from three years, you know?"

What the hell was ‘starts from three years’?!

Lin-Badger Game-Zixi was about to be stupefied by his dad's magical operation.

He took another deep breath and decided to use a delaying tactic, "I'm very tired after a hectic day and flying back, and I still have a magazine photoshoot tomorrow morning. It’d be better for us to make another appointment at a suitable location tomorrow night..."

Before Lin Zixi could finish speaking, Gu Zecheng interrupted him with a sneer, "I can arrest you here today. Do you think you can get out tomorrow?"

…... You had power and status, so you could do whatever you want?! Lin Zixi, looking at his dad, inwardly complained while panicking that his plan had been exposed.

However, Gu Zecheng let go of him at this moment, walked to the door of the room, and extended a hand in his direction, "But it's indeed not suitable for us to continue talking here. You come with me."

Seeing Lin Zixi dawdling and unwilling to move, he added, "I think it’s said that there’re always entertainment reporters and fans lying in wait for stars at B city’s airport? I actually don't mind carrying you, but I'm afraid you’ll be mortified when it's on the news."

So Lin Zixi immediately followed behind Gu Zecheng obediently and was led away by the hand.

After the two of them walked from the VIP passage all the way to the VIP parking area, Lin Zixi finally realized that he basically would never encounter reporters and illegitimate fans if he took the special passage. He had been fooled by his dad's serious face.

But since it had reached this stage, it was too late for him to run, and he could only be pushed by Gu Zecheng into a car with a white license plate.

After Lin Zixi settled into the back seat, he found that there was already someone in the driver's seat, and the driver waiting to drive was Qiao Weidong, whom he had met before.

It was only then did Lin Zixi realize that B City was his dad's base camp, and this ‘Brother Qiao’ was one of the people with real power in B City’s public security system. His return this time was probably no different from him taking the initiative to surrender to Gu Zecheng.

"Are you willing to go back to China now after you’ve had enough of playing outside?" Qiao Weidong gave Lin Zixi a quick sweep from the rearview mirror with his usual sharp gaze, "When something bad happened, you didn't think about how to solve it and just wanted to run away…. Are children nowadays like this? My Xiaoxiao ran away to her grandparents as soon as she failed her exams and was reported by her teacher for causing trouble at school. Her mom and I didn't admonish her very much."

The later sentences Qiao Weidong spoke were for Gu Zecheng, who was sitting in the passenger's seat. Dad Gu thought about it and said, "The university students recruited by our company don't seem to be like this. It depends on the person, I think."

“Young people who can enter your company these years are ‘other people’s children’. Can it be the same?" Qiao Weidong laughed helplessly. As he drove the car out of the airport, he confirmed with Gu Zecheng, "You're not staying in Yuanting this time?"

Gu Zecheng inclined his head in agreement, "Hantang Jiayun has just opened after all. It just so happened that I’m here, so I can do a spot check on it. I’ve only let Xu Chengfeng inform them to make preparations this morning." 

Qiao Weidong nodded. He was a native of B City and naturally didn’t need GPS navigation. Except for the time spent in traffic jams, he drove the car smoothly all the way until they arrived at their destination.

Gu Zecheng chatted with Qiao Weidong for the whole journey and ignored Lin Zixi, who was pretending not to exist, in the back seat. When the car was parked, Dad Gu still didn't talk to him and just got out of the car, opened the door on his side, and made a ‘come down’ gesture.

Lin Zixi had a psychological shadow on his dad's hotel, plus he was really unwilling and also didn't dare to talk to Gu Zecheng any more, so he naturally didn't want to get out of the car.

As a result, Gu Zecheng smiled insincerely at him, and as soon as he held out a hand, Gu Zecheng pulled him out of the car, carried him like a sack of potatoes, and walked to the VIP elevator.

Lin Zixi’s upper body hung upside down facing Gu Zecheng's back. He wanted to struggle, but his dad's strong hands held him tightly. If he made a fuss, the other party would spank him on the buttocks as if reprimanding him.

After being spanked twice by Gu Zecheng, Lin Zixi was completely obedient and did not dare to make trouble.

Until he was carried by his dad into the bedroom of the presidential suite and placed on the bed, his face was still very red.

Gu Zecheng patted Lin Zixi's hot face, "Stay here obediently. I'll deal with you after I chat with your Brother Qiao."

After speaking, he left the bedroom and went to the living room area of ​​the suite.

He selected a bottle of red wine from the liquor cabinet and opened it while saying to Qiao Weidong, who was sitting on the sofa, "2005 Lafite isn’t as good as 1982 and 2000, but it’s also not bad. Let's have a few glasses. I’ll ask someone to send you home later..."

He was halfway through speaking and discovered that the expression of his always steady and calm old friend was actually very strange when looking at him. So he had to ask, "What's wrong?"

"You and him..." Qiao Weidong hesitantly pointed to the closed bedroom door.

"It's just what you think." Facing his old friend of many years, Gu Zecheng smiled a little embarrassedly, "I also didn't expect that I can actually still have this chance when I'm almost forty."

"You actually don't know?!" Qiao Weidong's face became even more abnormal. He abruptly stood up and paced the living room a little fretfully, "I thought you... ugh..."

Seeing that his close friend only spoke halfway and refused to continue, Gu Zecheng's face changed into a serious expression, "If you have something to say, just say it directly. Even if I don't know now, I’ll know sooner or later."

Qiao Weidong, hearing him say so, stopped pacing, gritted his teeth, and finally came out with the words, "Did you know that when Lin Zixi's mother, Lin Jing, was a university student in B City twenty years ago… she’s called Lin Zhenzhen?!"

TL’s notes:

仙人跳 (xiān rén tiào) = lit. fairy jump, fig. the trap of cheating money with female sex. It’s called badger game in English, an extortion racket in which a man is lured by a woman into a compromising position and is then confronted with and blackmailed by the woman's accomplice posing as her husband or brother.

White license plate (with red and black text) is for Police Service, Armed Police Force, and Military.

别人家的孩子 (bié ren jiā de hái zi) = lit. other people's children, fig. peers who are better than you

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