Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 60 (Part 2)
Translated by Pure (ko-fi)
Chapter 60.2 "You even dare to twist the words of the Bodhisattva?"
The new cooperation contract for the Mixed-Use Building on 2nd Middle Road was successfully signed after both companies were satisfied with the adjustments. The brief encounter of Xiao Chi’s family at Flux Realty that day did not leave a deep impression on Lin Jingzhe. The agreed family dinner date was approaching, but he had no time to fret because the amount of work at hand had swarmed him.
During the Real Estate Alliance’s regular meeting, Wang Quan called and told him that something had happened regarding Haitang Bean Paste. As a shareholder of the factory, Lin Jingzhe’s presence was mandatory. Therefore, he had no time to completely bid goodbye to everyone after the meeting ended and left in a hurry.
Xiao Chi chased after him, "What happened?"
"Nothing major." Deng Mai ran out to prepare the car while Lin Jingzhe explained to Xiao Chi while putting on his coat. Since the meeting had ended, all the members of the alliance disbursed from the building all at once. Lin Jingzhe took advantage of this and secretly squeezed Xiao Chi's hot hand, "It shouldn’t be a big problem. It's cold outside, you go in quickly."
Xiao Chi continued to hold his hand, and replied in a deep voice. "Be careful on the road. I won’t be home to cook at night, so you can go eat out tonight."
Lin Jingzhe was taken aback. "Is there a social party tonight?"
"No." Xiao Chi casually answered, "My dad is back."
Lin Jingzhe exclaimed in surprise, "So early?! Isn’t our dinner set on the 5th? There’s still a couple days before that, no?"
The more he thought, the more nervous he became. "What's going on? Did something happen?"
Xiao Chi continued to hold his hand, and with the other unoccupied hand, he straightened Lin Jingzhe’s collar. He comforted him with a gentle voice, "Don’t overthink. He just came back early. There’s some things that I need to discuss with him, but when I’m done, I’ll come right back home."
Qi Kai came out following the flow of people. He wanted to find a quiet place to smoke a cigarette, but when he turned the corner, he saw these two inseparable figures. He paused for two seconds, seeing the two people mingling so closely, he couldn't help worrying that such an ambiguous gesture would be noticed by others.
When he came back to his senses, Qi Kai couldn't help scolding himself for his stupidity. The adultery between those two people had nothing to do with him! The concerned parties were acting unscrupulously outside, so why would he, an outsider, be worried?
While pondering this problem, Qi Kai lowered his eyes and noticed their intertwined hands that were half covered by Xiao Chi's body. This unexpected sight made his heart jump. Probably the sound of his approaching footsteps were a bit loud, the two people in front turned their heads to him.
Lin Jingzhe seemed a little surprised to see him. However, before he could speak, Xiao Chi lowered his head and pecked his lips. The slick and smooth action and the clear sound when their lips came into contact almost caused Qi Kai to jump on the spot.
"Jesus f*cking christ." He cussed, almost dropping the cigarette on his lips. Immediately, Qi Kai pricked up his ears and looked around. He was only a bit relieved after seeing there were really no other outsiders.
Realizing that he was nervous like a thief, Qi Kai froze in place. On the contrary, the couple in front of him seemed to pay no mind to their surroundings, still coddling together tenderly.
Xiao Chi's unfamiliar gentle tone drifted into his ears, "Be careful, remember to call me if you need anything."
Qi Kai's heart shivered from the cold, still unable to ease itself back even after the two culprits left.
Xiao Chi completely regarded him as an invisible person. Even though this could be used as a handle for blackmail, it seemed that this matter almost had nothing to do with him at all. After watching Lin Jingzhe's back disappear at the end of the corridor, Xiao Chi also turned around and departed.
Qi Kai remained on scene alone and he didn’t even remember to light the cigarette dangling from his mouth. He was having an existential crisis. Was such a development normal?! Was he the weird one?!
His mind was in a mess, completely fallen into a trace until someone approached from behind. Shi Nanxing had arrived. He looked around and asked Qi Kai, "I saw Lin Jingzhe and Xiao Chi coming this way just now. Where are they?"
"They already left." Qi Kai pointed in a certain direction. "Lin Jingzhe went that way. Are you looking for them?"
Shi Nanxing didn't answer his question, but only looked thoughtful as he muttered, "Lin Jingzhe left first? And Xiao Chi didn't follow him?"
Even though Qi Kai didn't bother to answer, Shi Nanxing continued to ask, "What were they talking about?"
Qi Kai felt inexplicably shy and irritable recalling the scene just now. "I could hear their conversation. What exactly are you trying to find out?"
Shi Nanxing didn’t expect for Qi Kai to suddenly lose his temper again. But as this was a common occurrence in the recent weeks, Shi Nanxing didn’t fret and replied as usual. Therefore, he ignored Qi Kai’s irritable tone and analyzed thoughtfully, "I’m sure you share the same sentiment as me, they don’t seem like the usual pair of cooperating partners. I hired a private investigator a while back to trace their movements. It stands to reason that such an important cooperation project as 2nd Middle Road is progressing, there should be more interactions between the two. However, except for the monthly meetings between Flux Realty and New Beginnings Real Estate, the management from both sides rarely meet in private..."
Qi Kai let out a long sigh. Suddenly feeling fatigued, he no longer wanted to continue to listen. With a turn of his head, he walked off towards the venue.
******
Deng Mai's car stopped at the entrance of Haitang Food Processing Factory. The spacious gate and exterior walls of the factory looked recently built, clean and without many traces of wear. The factory building had been completely constructed, and the assembly line for most of the complex condiments were already formed. During working hours, a few workers could be seen walking around in the factory area.
Wang Quan and Mother Zhou are waiting at the door. Lin Jingzhe hadn’t even steady himself after coming out of the car as he urgently inquired, "What happened?"
Wang Quan gave him a hand while Mother Zhou gently advised him not to be so anxious. She then sighed and took out a jar from the pocket of her down jacket.
The straight-sided glass jar was the size of a palm, with delicate lines painted on the surface. At first glance, Lin Jingzhe thought she was holding a bottle of ‘Haitang Bean Paste.’
But after Mother Zhou completely rotated the jar, Lin Jingzhe realized the subtle difference.
Although it was the same white label, red cap, similar bottle size, the surface of this bottle of sauce was printed with another name——
‘Honored Chili Bean Paste’
Lin Jingzhe frowned. He took the bottle of Chili Bean Paste and examined it closely. The more he looked, the more similar it was to their Haitang Bean Paste. "What's going on? Have you contacted this manufacturer?"
"I have." Wang Quan sighed, "The other person remained stubborn and insisted that their product had no connection nor similarities with our product. This matter was due to my negligence. One of the members of my team had discovered this and reported it to me immediately. But it was still too late, their products have spread all over the major vegetable markets in Yan City, we are one step too late."
Lin Jingzhe opened the bottle and smelled a familiar marinate scent. After carefully studying the contents, he also suspected that the other party had also tried to imitate Mother Zhou's formula. But after taking a taste, Lin Jingzhe's furrowed brows slowly loosened. A counterfeit was indeed a counterfeit. Although the taste of this bottle of sauce was somewhat similar to that of Haitang Bean Paste, it was only just a little bit. Compared to Mother Zhou's skills, this maker was still obviously in the rough.
Wang Quan continued to laminate, "The problem now is that the other company refused to rectify and ignored our appeal. I have already asked our legal team about this matter. They said that because there were many loopholes in the laws of our country, the probability of winning the lawsuit was very small. Moreover, the energy, time, and money expended will definitely not be proportional to the compensation obtained."
Mother Zhou sighed, "Our company's production line has only been erected and has yet to officially enter the market. Now I'm afraid that consumers will preconceive their products first and think they are the genuine name brand."
Lin Jingzhe thought for a while, and then said to Deng Mai, "Call Gao Sheng and ask him to come to the factory."
*******
Xiao Chi rarely came to the family house. As soon as he entered the door, he felt a sense of oppression that was enough to suffocate ordinary people.
But Xiao Chi didn't pay it any heed. He calmly took off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack at the entrance, closed the door, changed his shoes, and glanced inwards. The whole family was present in the spacious living room.
Xiao Shenxing, who had rushed home, looked a little haggard. Grandma Xiao and Xiao Miao obviously weren’t made aware of the situation. They surrounded him, one nagging for chocolates and the other cutely pleading for him to buy manhuas. Xiao Shenxing tried his best to maintain a gentle state of mind, but this mood broke down the moment he saw his son.
His eyes suddenly sharpened as he suddenly stood up. "Come with me to the study."
Xiao Miao was frightened by her father's sudden change, but Grandma Xiao was not afraid of her son's majestic presence. She continued to pester him relentlessly, "When you told us you would be returning, I copied a whole scripture for you..."
"No, no." Xiao Shenxing cruelly declined, "You are not allowed any chocolate even if you copied ten volumes of scriptures."
Grandma Xiao's eyes were almost filled with tears, but Xiao Shenxing fled upstairs. Xiao Chi followed him calmly, when he passed by, he stuffed a handful of milk candy into Grandma's hand.
Grandma Xiao quickly glanced at her daughter-in-law, and rapidly stuffed her hands into her pockets, as if nothing had happened.
Xiao Chi advised her, "Don't eat too much."
Grateful, Grandma Xiao reminded him cautiously. "Your dad is in a bad mood today."
Xiao Chi laughed, "I know."
Xiao Shenxing's study room was on the second floor. As soon as Xiao Chi entered the door, he heard a whistling sound. He turned his head slightly and heard a crisp sound by his ears. A cool cup of tea had clashed on the door he had just opened. Some of the liquid had stained his shoulders, while some of the dregs from broken teacup laid limp by his feet.
Xiao Chi and his father looked at each other and saw the anger in each other's eyes.
He closed the door calmly when an angry shout came from behind, "Brazen!"
Xiao Chi calmly found a chair and sat down. He looked at his father, "Did Mom already tell you?"
"Hurry up and break up with that person!" Xiao Shenxing was irked by his son's confident attitude, "I'm not like your mother, I'm not as easy-going as your mother! I absolutely don't agree with you mixing up with some inexplicable man! If such a news spreads out, I'll be ashamed to face anyone!"
Xiao Chi's eyes were profoundly deep. "The reason why you disagree with my relationship is because you want to maintain your own face?"
Xiao Shenxing paused for a moment then quickly came back to his senses. He slapped the table angrily. "What type of question is that!?"
Grandma Xiao, who heard her son's roar downstairs, climbed the stairs and looked up. She asked in a trembling voice, "What's going on? Why is Shenxing so furious?"
Xiao Miao was also a bit scared. Yu Shuyuan stepped forward to help the old lady, but refused to allow her upstairs. She coaxed her, "Xiao Chi got into some trouble, so his father is angry."
Translated by pure, hosted on puretl.com / do not repost!
