CH 61

Lin Zixi originally just wanted to show his dad the house he grew up in, but who knew that the house had not been viewed much, and it was messed up by the two of them first. Even the plan to visit his high school alma mater later fell through—young actor Lin was directly brought back to the hotel by Big Boss Gu to rest.

Lin Zixi leaned against the bedhead after taking a bath, watching Gu Zecheng call Xu Chengfeng and ask him to find someone to eliminate certain ‘criminal evidence’ in the house before the regular cleaning company he hired came to clean.

After his dad hung up the phone, Lin Zixi touched his own nose a little embarrassedly, "Still troubling Special Assistant Xu to work overtime to deal with this kind of thing on Chinese New Year holiday... If I were him, maybe I’d resign and contribute to Weibo Bots like ‘My Wonderful Boss'."

Gu Zecheng walked over to him and spoke while gently stroking his smooth hair, "The salary of staff at his level is double that of his peers, and there’s also RSU. I, who don't visit prostitutes, gamble, or participate in special parties, can already be considered a good boss."

"RS...what?" Lin Zixi looked up at his dad and asked after hearing a word he had never heard of before.

As a result, Big Boss Gu, who graduated from EMBA (Executive MBA), naturally taught and enlightened him, an art student, "RSU refers to Restricted Stock Units...blabla…. Listed companies usually will use RSU as an equity shares program to motivate employees... blabla…. Generally speaking, this kind of measure is still quite effective, but..."

"Daddy, I brought my photo album from home. Do you want to see it?" Although Teacher Gu took pains to explain, Lin-Weak Student-Zixi, who had not kept pace with his tempo from the very beginning, finally couldn’t help interrupting him when he said "but".

The father and son looked at each other silently for three seconds, and the dad sighed, "It was very good that you didn't follow me when you were studying, otherwise… I'm afraid the two of us are already enemies now."

His son, who had had this idea for a long time, silently "+1" inside, but outside, he just took the photo album on the bedside table, held it up in his hand, and tilted his head with a twinkle in his eyes while saying, "There’re pictures of me from little to big in it. Do you want to see them, Daddy?"

As a father facing his son, Dad Gu would probably be in the same line of high-handed policy and violent methods. However, as a lover facing his little siren… he could only spoil him and let him have his way.

Big Boss Gu sighed again, sat on the bed next to Lin Zixi, and took him into his arms, "Show them to Daddy then."

After that….

"Is this the photo from when you first went to kindergarten, Baby? You’re so cute, just like a little angel!"

"Baby, you won the city championship in the 100-meter race in elementary school?! Why didn't you continue to train? You looked like a good seed then. The X City youth sports team was too blind!"

"X City junior high school basketball league? Baby, you must’ve been the main player of the school team at that time…. Substitute? Then you must’ve been the most popular of your school team back then. You’ve already been a mature little handsome guy in your second year of junior high school.”

…

……

Lin Zixi listened to his dad blowing rainbow farts comparable to his fans as he introduced the photos in the album. He was so embarrassed that he regretted why he had not listened seriously to Teacher Gu's lecture just now and insisted on being a big mouth and mentioning things like looking at the album.

Fortunately, as a boy who disliked taking photos, his photo album was not too thick, and it didn't take him long to turn to the last page.

"Is the last photo from Baby's senior high school graduation? He is…?" Gu Zecheng looked at the last photo and asked.

Different from the single person photos or group photos that filled the album before, this was the one and only two-person photo in the photo album.

In the photo, a young man who seemed to be in his early twenties put his arm around the fifteen or sixteen year old Lin Zixi’s shoulder. The two of them were standing in front of a wall and smiling at the camera.

Lin Zixi was wearing an oversized, miserable green school uniform, but it did not decrease his immature and irascible adolescent handsomeness. The young man beside him was dressed in a white shirt and black pants, but whether it was the hostility in his brows and eyes or the tattoo exposed when he rolled up his cuff, it all showed his identity as a marginal man in society.

It was a photo that did not fit into the entire album. Not only was Gu Zecheng surprised, even Lin Zixi himself was a little taken aback to see it, "Huh? Didn't I throw this one away?"

"What?" Dad Gu drew out this discordant note from the photo album, held it in his hand, and stared at Lin Zixi, waiting for him to explain.

"Uh..." Lin Zixi scratched his head and, after organizing his language a little, said rather hesitantly, "Uncle Zhou, my mother's husband, is actually the logistics and counseling teacher in my junior high school. Not long after I started senior high school, my mom married him. At that time, I was a freshman, not sensible and in a rebellious period. I fell out with her for a long time and didn't live with them. My grandparents had passed away by then. I lived alone in my original home and had no one to restrain me, so... I got to know a group of friends in society."

"His name’s Luo Xingqi, the boss of their little gang, and I had the best relationship with him back then..." Lin Zixi saw his dad's visibly sinking expression and immediately added, "But don't worry, I just followed them outside the school to play billiards, eat, smoke, and occasionally... occasionally help them fight and so on. But, but! I'd never participated when they flouted the law. I was and am a good citizen who obeys the rules and abides by the law."

Gu Zecheng, seeing Lin Zixi raise a hand to swear, almost laughed in anger, "You followed them to fight, disturbing law and order, and you still said that you obeyed the rules and abided by the law?"

Lin Zixi threw himself into his dad's arms again, acting like a spoiled child, "I really just followed them to fight and didn't participate in anything else.... I even tipped off the Public Security Bureau about their drug trafficking!"

Gu Zecheng was really pissed off this time. He pushed the young man out of his arms, stared at him seriously, and asked, "What's the matter with drug trafficking? You tell me the truth!"

"Uh..." Only then did Lin Zixi realize that he had divulged everything through his momentary slip of the tongue. So, he could only surrender and confess under his dad's ‘I may be lenient if you confess’ watchful eye, "I initially thought that Luo Xingqi and his hang were just ordinary hooligans. But one day, I accidentally discovered that they actually sold drugs. I’ve lived under the red flag all my life, grew up in the sun, and bathed..."

"That's our generation. It's already good if you don't bathe in poisonous capitalism." Gu Zecheng slapped him on the butt, "Don't be flippant; speak well."

"Oh... Anyway, I’ve also received the motherland’s anti-drug education for so many years, so of course I wasn’t willing to wallow in the mire with them again." Lin Zixi continued to surrender and explain carefully, "Although I always regarded Luo Xingqi as my big brother, I still called the Public Security Bureau anonymously to report them."

After speaking, he raised his head and waited for his dad's praise with bright eyes.

Gu Zecheng, however, frowned, "The drug enforcement team arrested them all?"

"No..." Lin Zixi shook his head and said with a guilty conscience, "Luo Xingqi was on the run, and it seems that he hasn't been caught yet.

"Heh, there’s still future trouble of slipping through the net!" Dad Gu frowned deeper and asked him, "When did this happen? I’ll ask my friend from the Ministry of Public Security to put him on the Most Wanted List.”

"I think future trouble is unlikely. It's been almost six years..." Before Lin Zixi could finish speaking, he was put face down on his dad’s lap.     

Immediately afterwards, Gu Zecheng gave his butt a slap, "You didn't follow good examples at a young age and hang out with people in society, eh?"

After speaking, he spanked him again, “Fighting and smoking, huh?"

Then another slap, "You discovered that the other party was selling drugs and immediately tried to be a hero and reported it, heh? Fortunately, they were caught. If they got away with it by a fluke, the first thing they’d do was to investigate the traitor. At that time, how many lives do you think you have enough to live until now and to meet me?!" 

When this incident happened back then, a certain someone even concealed it from Mrs. Lin, but after many years, he was finally found by his parent to account for it.

While being spanked by his dad, he thought with tears in his eyes: Why on earth did I insist on being a big mouth and mentioning this cursed photo album?!

TL’s note:

彩虹屁 (cǎi hóng pì) = rainbow fart, refers to irrationally high praise of one's idol