CH 4

The most bizarre thing in this world was not that your father came to ask you to play the role of his brother, but that your father gave you a no less than a hundred pages employment contract when he asked you to do it.

Gu Zecheng proved himself to be a person who did big things. It had only been three days since hot search push of ‘Lin Zixi looks like Gu Zecheng’, and the contract he gave to Lin Zixi was so detailed that it already included how he and his company should carry out PR response process and so on in the event that the media found him entering or leaving Gu's house.

Not to mention the ‘Party B must not disclose the contents of this contract to third parties without the permission of Party A’ and ‘Party B must not assert or imply to third parties that he has a blood relationship with Party A and thus make profits from it’. . . . These were obviously things to be avoided as taboos.

Party B Lin Zixi dozed off while flipping through the thick file in his hand, calculating in his mind whether he should just forget about it and simply go to country A.

There were thousands of clauses and bylaws in the entire contract, not to mention there were still nearly fifty pages about Gu Zeyi's life, social relationship situation, interests and hobbies, special habits, and so on as well as ‘work guidelines’ that he needed to keep in mind . . . . Party A Dad was not giving him a way to survive, ah!

The lines he normally needed to memorize when shooting a drama were not necessarily this many.

In fact, according to Lin Zixi's current savings, living abroad for a few years might not be a problem. But if he avoided a problem by walking away from it just like this, how to explain it to his mom, whom was the initiator of this evil, was a difficult problem.

Lin Zixi looked up his mom's phone number in his phone contacts. He wanted to call her to ask clearly about what actually had happened to her and Gu Zecheng back then. His finger slid back and forth on the screen for a long time, but he still didn't give her a call in the end.

No matter what actually had happened at that time, and no matter if Gu Zecheng was still single at the age of forty, it had nothing to do with his mom. What he could be sure of was that the woman who gave birth to him and raised him had now formed a new family, with a gentle and diligent husband and a smart and cute little daughter, living a full and happy life.

Using the matter of twenty years ago to disturb his mom’s happy and peaceful life . . . . Lin Zixi resigned himself to being a not so considerate and filial son, but he was still able to tell right from wrong.

When the appointed time was about to arrive, Lin Zixi finally called the phone number Gu Zecheng left him.

"I've finished reading the contract. I still need time to memorize the information about your honorable little brother, but the rest isn’t a problem." Calling the man after five in the morning, Lin Zixi did not even greet him and went straight to the point.

And Gu Zecheng, who clearly had woken up long ago, did not say anything superfluous either, "I'll wait for you in the office. Come and sign in half an hour."

The hotel where Lin Zixi lived was very close to Gu Zecheng's office. He originally thought that the half an hour given to him by Gu Zecheng was for him to prepare. Only after waiting for half an hour did he find out that this time was reserved for the lawyers who specially rushed over.

Two of them.

So, after being a ‘little bastard without a dad’ for twenty three years, Lin Zixi ‘recognized the ancestors and returned to the clan’ through an unconventional way.

Congratulations!

When Lin Zixi signed the employment contract under the witness of the lawyers, it was not yet seven in the morning.

Because Gu Zecheng had given him a one-month ‘employment’ grace period to memorize Gu Zeyi's information, he made a plan in his head while driving home to ‘memorize two pages a day starting from tomorrow and do it once again in the last four days’. Then after returning home, he successfully played a certain card-drawing mobile game for a whole day to decompress.

However, the plan could never keep up with the changes. Lin Zixi welcomed a special ‘illegitimate fan’ in the crew of The Legend of Concubine Ling the next day—his grandma fan who was also his own grandma.

"Ze Yi..." The old and gray-haired old woman, who had lost her beloved son long ago, called in a low voice with teary eyes. Lin Zixi, who was about to enter the set, walked over to her side stiffly.

Although the Gu family had broken up the loving couple and almost made his mother abort him, from the beginning, it was basically the fault of his mom, who was already twenty-year-old then, getting involved with a minor.

Lin Zixi did not have as much shame and guilty conscience towards Grandma Song as he did when facing Gu Zecheng, but he also didn't have any resentment towards her in his heart.

Now that he was called so earnestly and cautiously by her, he, who probably had a brain seizure from drawing too many useless cards yesterday, actually didn't hold back and replied, "Yeah."

Thus, as soon as Gu Zecheng, who immediately rushed back home after hearing the news at six o'clock in the afternoon, opened the door, what he heard was his mother's joyful call, "Zecheng, quickly come and see who is back!"

Dad Gu, who thought that his team of lawyers had drafted the employment contract flawlessly but was ruthlessly slapped in the face the next day, suddenly felt like strangling his ‘little brother’ who always played his cards unreasonably when doing things.

Lin Zixi, who was sitting upright and still on the sofa, ‘leaped’ to his feet nervously. He stood up all at once and called out a little stiffly to Gu Zecheng, who came over after handing his coat to Housekeeper Wang, "...Big brother..."

The face of the man he called was originally terrifyingly gloomy, but when the man walked to the place where the old lady could see, his face already changed into a look of surprise. When he came to Lin Zixi, he punched him on the shoulder first and then hugged him and said with a smile, "You kid’s finally back. Brother’s still worried that you can’t find your home."

Lin Zixi lamented that his own dad's acting skills were better than his professional actor skills while answering cooperatively, "I've been busy. When I have time later..."

Before Lin Zixi finished saying the sentence "I'll go home to visit more", he felt the arm around his shoulder tightening obviously. Accepting the persuasion, he immediately changed his words, "Ah... it's a pity that I have too many filming and activities during this time. We’ll talk about it again later."

Gu Zecheng let go of him with satisfaction, but the words he spoke sounded quite regretful, "Xiao Yi is developing very well now, and I'm afraid he’ll get more and more busy in the future. That’s why he hasn't had much time to accompany you in the past few years, Mom." 

The old lady did not mind at all. She took Lin Zixi's hand and said with a smile, "Your big brother has always been stubborn. Zeyi, why did you learn from him? It doesn’t matter if you are busy; Mom understands your work demands. Anyway, the movies and television base is near here, so when Mom misses you, Mom will just go to the movie set to visit you. Don’t worry, Mom will just be... an onlooker and promise not to disturb your filming."

Hengguo Movies and Television Base was said to be on the outskirts of S City, but it was at least two hours away by car. To let an old lady who was almost seventy years old trouble herself like that to visit the younger generation . . . . Not to mention that it was his own grandma, even if it was other people's grandma, Lin Zixi also felt that his life would be shortened by being too blessed.

Being his own uncle, calling his own dad brother, and calling his grandma mom; Lin Zixi already felt that he had lost half his life. How could he still dare to agree to the old lady's proposal.

Looking at Gu Zecheng standing behind Grandma Song with a gloomy and cold expression, Lin Zixi coughed dryly and immediately changed the subject. "My big brother has come back. How about we have dinner now? Mom, you’re cooking in the kitchen just now. I just smelled it, and I'm so hungry my chest’s sticking to my back."

The ‘son’ who had not returned for many years came back, and the old lady who had specially prepared a table of dishes was immediately distracted. She got up from the sofa right away and went to the dining room with her two sons.

Grandma Song and Sister Wang had been busy in the kitchen, and Lin Zixi had not been allowed to watch them because they wanted to surprise him.

Now, seeing the six dishes and two soups arranged on a table, Lin Zixi had to admit that her grandma's craftsmanship was indeed good. Although most of this dinner consisted of spicy dishes that he could not eat, everything really seemed to look and taste great.

It was reasonable to say that the elders should move the chopsticks first at the dining table, but the younger son finally returned after ‘leaving home’. As a mother, she was naturally waiting with anticipation for him to taste whether the flavor of her cooking had changed or not.

Lin Zixi could not argue, so he had to pick up his chopsticks and take a honey shrimp ball that was a little distance away from him.

Who knew that just as he reached out to the plate, Gu Zecheng, who was sitting beside him, stopped his hand and then picked a large piece of Sichuan poached sliced fish from the bowl full of floating chili peppers in front of him into his plate.

"Xiao Yi, don't you like to eat the Sichuan dishes made by our mother the most? Mom specially made so much for you today, so you can eat more." Dad Gu said with a smile on his face.

A certain Party A looked kind and loving, but Lin Zixi could definitely hear the implied meaning in those words.

The day before, a certain Party B, who thought it was still early, played mobile games for a whole day while ignoring his proper jobs and simply didn't look closely at Gu Zeyi's information in the contract. Now he was about to break out in a cold sweat.

Young actor Lin, unlike his uncle who liked to eat spicy food, was well-known in the circle to be unable to touch spicy food. Every time the crew prepared a boxed lunch on the set, his assistant, Xiao Zhang, would especially mark it in large red font with ‘Lin Zixi's special meal (not spicy)’.

Lin Zixi usually didn't touch spicy food one bit, but now he was under someone’s roof and this piece of Sichuan poached sliced fish was made by his own grandma and picked by his father out of the bright red dish in the bowl…. He gritted his teeth and put it into his mouth, and then his tears instantly came out from the spiciness.

In order to cover up, he stared at the old lady and said in a choked voice, "It hasn't changed at all. It's still… the taste of home, Mom..."

Thus, his grandma's tears also came out, and she said repeatedly, "It's good that it hasn't changed, it's good that it hasn't changed. Zeyi, eat more."

As a result, while the old lady spoke, she also filled Lin Zixi's plate with various fiery dishes.

Lin Zixi was really about to cry now. He took a deep breath, forced himself to look happy and say "Thanks, Mom", and started going all out to eat the food at risk of his life.

Although he was going all out at risk of his life, he was someone who could not eat spicy food after all. Even if he was so ‘moved’ his nose and eyes were running, the speed of food disappearing from his plate was still not very fast.

What's more, when he was half dead from the spiciness after finishing with great difficulty all the dishes that Grandma Song had picked up for him, the old woman immediately replenished his plate even fuller than before.

Young actor Lin, foreseeing that he was going to become the first star in the entertainment circle to grab the headlines for going to the hospital because of forcibly eating spicy food, quickly looked at his dad with watery eyes and winked madly.

Dad Gu had been silently watching him and the old lady staging the ‘deep love between mother and son’. After receiving the SOS signal from him, he finally opened his mouth, "Mom, you didn't make purple rice with coconut milk for Xiao Yi today. Among what you make, isn’t it the one he likes the most besides the spicy dishes?"

Grandma Song was reminded by him and immediately put down her chopsticks. She went to the kitchen to cook the purple rice without even eating her dinner first.

Gu Zecheng gave Sister Wang a wink, and the other party immediately rushed to the kitchen to help. Next, he turned to Lin Zixi, whose good-looking face was already flushed, snorted coldly, and then moved all the food on Lin Zixi's plate to his own plate.

After he finished doing this, he glanced at Lin Zixi with a bad expression on his face and said impatiently, "What’re you doing still looking distracted? Pick what you can eat! You can't even eat spicy food; so squeamish." 

Although there was no necessary connection between being unable to eat spicy food and being squeamish, Lin Zixi, who was rebuked, was not going to wisecrack at all. He was holding a honey shrimp ball while a sentence was playing on a loop in his heart—Brother, you’re indeed my dad!

Well, there's nothing wrong with that sentence.

Thus, when Grandma Song came back from the kitchen, most of the food on the dining table had been swept away by the two brothers.

Lin Zixi wiped the honey sauce from the corners of his mouth with a tissue and gave a praise while burping, "Mom, you’re really the best at making spicy food."

Gu Zecheng also picked up the remaining shrimp ball and said, "Mom, Xiao Yi has just come back today, and you immediately follow his taste. Sister Wang will cook as usual in the future. He’s already an adult; don't always spoil him." 

The old lady, who was coaxed to a distraction by both of them, said to Gu Zecheng, "You're already an adult, too. Why is it you eat with your brother just like you’re fighting with him today?" Nevertheless, her face was filled with pride and satisfaction as a mother.

Lin Zixi felt very emotional as he watched Grandma Song, but his face remained calm and collected. He only said to her, "I specially asked for leave from the crew this afternoon. I still have scenes to film tomorrow morning, so I need to put on makeup before 6 o'clock. Now that I’ve finished eating, I'd better go back to Hengguo earlier. Then I can read the script and what not at night."

Grandma Song had just cooked the purple rice, but her ‘little son' said he was leaving. She was naturally unwilling, but the other party had a job to do after all, and the movies and television base was also far away. So she had to nod and compromise, "You’ve been tired all day. Don't drive by yourself, and let your brother drive you back. Find a driver to help you drive your car there."

….

………………

Seeing Gu Zecheng, who had also been tired from work all day, nod and agree on the surface while in fact put on a fake smile, a line from The Legend of the Red Lantern flashed in Lin Zixi’s heart:

"Tie Mei! Your dad is not your own dad, and your grandma is also not your own grandma!"