The signing of the contract was not concealed from the group who had come this time. However, after learning that the matter had been resolved satisfactorily, they did not want to stay in Korea any longer. This trip had indeed left them with considerable psychological trauma.
Liu Chen, holding the contract, flew back to C City alone with Ren Yu, Shen Hong, Xia Tian, and Dong Tian. They couldn't help it; they still had to re-record their statements here.
As she stepped off the plane, Liu Chen walked, removing the pillow from her neck. Even in first class, a three-and-a-half-hour flight had left her with a sore back and swollen calves.
Pulling her carry-on luggage, she walked directly out of the international arrival hall and saw Chen Long and her mother standing in the most prominent spot, pushing two baby strollers.
A large bouquet of flowers was placed on top of the twin strollers, weighing down the canopies.
"Mom!"
Liu Chen walked out of the exit, squeezed to the front, and waved at her mother standing outside the barrier. Liu Fang finally saw her daughter. It couldn't be helped; the airport was extremely crowded during the May Day holiday, and Liu Fang wasn't tall. If Liu Chen hadn't called out, she really wouldn't have been able to see her.
"Chenchen!"
Upon seeing Liu Chen, Liu Fang's lips couldn't help but curl upwards. Her gaze then fell on Ren Yu, and she paused for a moment.
Perhaps it was a mother's intuition, but Liu Fang always felt that Ren Yu's relationship with her Chenchen was unusual in the videos. How to put it... that look was a bit like how Chen Long looked at her before they were married...
Ren Yu naturally caught the gaze of his future mother-in-law. Instead of feeling guilty, he looked up and smiled at her.
Seeing Ren Yu's open and honest demeanor, Liu Fang felt she might have been overthinking.
-
After Liu Chen got off the plane, she went to the police station first before returning to the old Chen family mansion.
During the two days she was in Korea, the police had thoroughly investigated Cui Jian. Due to Cui Jian's forging of identity information and grand theft, he should have been sentenced to over twenty years in prison. However, because of his outstanding contributions, he was currently providing information about other fraudsters in China to the police, and arrests were being made based on the information he provided.
The police station, by arresting Cui Jian and using the information he provided, solved several major fraud cases across the country. They then followed the lead to apprehend those who forged identity information, which in turn led them to human trafficking, and finally, it became the biggest case cracked in 2010.
From then on, Liu Chen also became the police station's lucky star – the kind of person whose calls could lead to great功劳 (gōngláo - merit/contribution).
At this moment, Liu Chen was unaware that Cui Jian would uncover so many things. She was currently taking a bath in the old Chen family mansion.
After her bath, Liu Chen sent her mother a text message, telling her not to wake her for breakfast, and then fell asleep.
Without the system's sleep aid pillow, Liu Chen slept for twelve hours. When she woke up, it was already 7:30 the next morning.
And today was the last day of the May Day holiday.
Although Liu Chen was eager to expand her products overseas, she wasn't so insane as to force everyone to come to work early.
On this rare day off, Liu Chen wasn't idle. She decided to spend time bonding with her mother and younger siblings.
During this bonding time, Liu Chen discovered that her younger sister, Chen Jiabei, was exceptionally clingy.
Liu Chen looked around. Seeing that no one was frowning, she lowered her voice and said to Chen Jiabei, who was wearing a diaper:
"Xiaobei, if you like your big sister, just let out a sound, okay?"
Chen Jiabei, only a little over a month old, looked at Liu Chen, her eyes sparkling. As Liu Chen looked around, she blinked a little guiltily.
Upon hearing Liu Chen's words, her blinking sped up. Her little "lotus root" hands waved, and she occasionally let out a "hahaha" laugh.
Seeing her younger sister's reaction, Liu Chen secretly patted her own head and murmured to herself:
"Big sister is being silly. You're only a little over a month old, how could you understand what big sister is saying? Heh heh, Jiabei, be good, don't hold it against big sister."
After speaking, Liu Chen put her hands under Jiabei's armpits and lifted her up, then lowered her down. Except for the first time she was lifted, Chen Jiabei seemed a bit stunned, but after that, she laughed happily every time she was lifted.
Her laughter attracted Liu Fang, who had just coaxed Chen Jiabao to sleep. Seeing how happily the two sisters were playing, Liu Fang thought of her concerns when picking them up at the airport yesterday. She sat down on the sofa and turned to look at Liu Chen:
"Chenchen."
"Hmm?"
"Are you and Ren Yu dating?"
"Oh!"
Liu Chen was so startled by her mother's question that she almost dropped Chen Jiabei. However, Chen Jiabei didn't seem to notice and thought her big sister was playing with her, laughing even more happily.
Seeing Chenchen's reaction, Liu Fang's heart sank.
After Liu Chen picked up Chen Jiabei and held her, Liu Fang patted the empty spot on the sofa next to her.
"Chenchen, come sit here. Mom wants to chat with you."
Seeing her mother's serious expression, Liu Chen had a premonition. She felt her mother must want to ask about Ren Yu. She knew her mother too well!
As expected, as soon as Liu Chen moved to sit beside Liu Fang, she saw Liu Fang open her mouth, then close it again, and then look at her deeply.
"Chenchen, is there anything you want to tell Mom?"
Liu Chen raised an eyebrow, understanding in her heart. Her mother must have a guess but wasn't sure, and she was afraid that if she were to ask, and Liu Chen didn't have those feelings, it might spark an idea in her mind about Ren Yu.
After some thought, Liu Chen felt that dating Ren Yu was nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, they had been officially dating for several months, and they were getting along well.
Holding Chen Jiabei in her arms, Liu Chen tilted her head slightly towards her mother:
"It's nothing major. Ren Yu and I are dating."
Where Liu Chen and Liu Fang couldn't see, Chen Jiabei's eyes suddenly widened, her small mouth formed an "o" shape, and her eyes shone with the eager glint of a gossip monger.
Liu Chen said it nonchalantly, but Liu Fang was not doing well after hearing it.
"You, you two dating like this, isn't that, isn't that incestuous..."
This was Liu Fang's first reaction, and she couldn't help but blurt it out.
Liu Chen couldn't help but roll her eyes at her mother's inexplicable worry:
"Mom, can you be more rational? Look at what you're saying. Ren Yu and I are god-siblings, we're not related by blood, how can it be incestuous?"
Hearing this, Liu Fang smiled a little sheepishly:
"So, so when did you two start dating? Was it because you were dating as fake lovers, and spent too much time together, falling in love?"
Liu Fang quickly thought about the time they had spent together and quickly pressed:
Liu Chen pondered for a moment. To be precise, they started dating before the Lunar New Year. But she couldn't tell her mother that, or her mother would think Ren Yu had deliberately proposed the fake relationship.
However, it couldn't be too early either, as she had only graduated from high school less than a year ago.
Although she thought a lot in her mind, in reality, it only took a second or two.
"We started dating when we were at university in Beijing last year."
Upon hearing this, Liu Fang immediately began to recall what Ren Yu was doing when she had seen him before.
Seeing her mother start to recall, Liu Chen quickly interrupted, lifted Chen Jiabei from her arms, and placed her back into her mother's embrace.
"Mom, I smell something stinky. Check if Jiabei has pooped."
After saying this, Liu Fang had no more time to interrogate Liu Chen about her relationship. She held Chen Jiabei and opened her diaper.
"Oh my, this little girl, eating so much and pooping so much every day. No wonder she's more energetic than her brother!"
While her mother was changing her younger sister's diaper, Liu Chen got up and left the living room, returning to her room. After some thought, she called Ren Yu.
The phone was answered after ringing for only two seconds.
"Chenchen? Miss me?"
Listening to Ren Yu's shameless boast, Liu Chen rolled her eyes while trying not to chuckle.
"Stop being shameless. I'm calling you because I miss you?"
"Well, I miss you."
Hearing Ren Yu's direct confession, Liu Chen's cheeks flushed. She glanced up and saw her reflection in the glass of her desk, looking like a young girl in love.
"Ahem, stop messing around with me. That, um, my mother asked me just now, and I told her about our relationship."
"Splat!"
The sound of a phone dropping to the floor was followed by Ren Yu's voice, filled with joy.
"Really? You told our mom?"
Hearing Ren Yu call her "our mom" so quickly, Liu Chen raised an eyebrow, holding her phone.
"I said we started dating in the first semester of our freshman year. Don't slip up. My mom is busy changing Jiabei's diaper right now. When she's free, she'll definitely find you."
"It's okay. Since we started dating, I've been looking forward to this day."
Just as Liu Chen was about to say something else, she heard Ren Yu hurriedly say:
"Our mom is calling me. Wait a moment, I'll answer our mom's call first."
"Okay, bye."
As soon as Liu Chen said goodbye, Ren Yu hung up the phone. Liu Chen sat at her desk, looking at the chirping birds outside the window in the early morning, and muttered to herself:
"Ren Yu is a big liar. He's so different from when we first met after dating."
Despite her complaints, Liu Chen knew that there was a natural difference between a lover and a friend. Just like herself, she was always confident and composed in front of Mi Zhuzhu, but in front of Ren Yu, she could complain, roll her eyes, and even show her worries.
Thinking that her mother would be talking to Ren Yu for who knows how long, Liu Chen simply opened her laptop, logged into Weibo, and started searching for the keyword "Mei Mei Niu" to see netizens' reviews of her new product.
-
In fact, Liu Chen's choice to launch her Mei Mei Niu product on May Day was a carefully selected time. Why?
Because although the May Day holiday was short, it was considered a mini-long holiday. And precisely because it was only three days, airfare was a significant expense, so many tourists would arrange their schedules very tightly.
For people going to Beijing to watch the Tiananmen Square flag-raising ceremony, after watching it, they would also visit the Forbidden City, stroll through the Summer Palace, and climb the Great Wall at Badaling. With only three days to visit so many attractions, their calves would be sore from exhaustion by the evening.
Ding Kai's family, who flew from C City to Beijing for vacation, was a typical example. They took a plane to Beijing on the day school started, shopped in Beijing that evening, and then got up at three in the morning the next day to watch the flag-raising ceremony.
After a full day, if it weren't for curiosity, the 16-year-old high school student Ding Kai would have found it hard to persevere. He was too tired!
Ding Kai didn't usually browse Weibo much, as he had a heavy academic load and wasn't allowed to bring his phone to school. However, he did know about Mei Mei Sausages. The third person in his dormitory would bring two packs of Mei Mei Sausages home every week to eat as snacks at school.
He had also shared them a few times. Later, Ding Kai also bought two packs every week and ate one or two per day as snacks.
Today, in Beijing, he had woken up early in the morning and drank a bowl of Beijing douzhi (fermented bean curd drink). By evening, Ding Kai still hadn't regained his appetite.
Ding Kai's parents saw that this wouldn't do. Traveling consumed a lot of energy, and not eating would make him weak. Seeing their son's pale face back at the hotel, they took out two hundred-yuan bills from their wallets and handed them to Ding Kai. "Kaikai, here's two hundred yuan. Go to a nearby supermarket and buy something to eat, like KFC. Mom will wait for you at the entrance."
Ding Kai's mother was indeed tired today and was being a little lazy. She stood at the entrance of the supermarket and let her son buy it himself. After all, this was the capital of China, and the supermarket was in the city center, so safety was guaranteed.
Seeing the hundred yuan, Ding Kai's eyes lit up. He put it in his pocket and walked towards the supermarket. As for KFC, Ding Kai didn't have much of an appetite. Ding Kai planned to buy a pack of Mei Mei Sausages and a bag of Mei Mei Pork Jerky. Oh, right, he heard that the Mei Mei brand had also released a drink to replenish energy.
Ding Kai entered the supermarket and headed straight for the Mei Mei brand's "special counter." This counter was exclusively for Mei Mei brand products, displaying all their merchandise.
As soon as Ding Kai reached the "special counter," he saw the salesperson frantically restocking shelves. He picked up two packs of Mei Mei Sausages and a bag of Mei Mei Pork Jerky. Ding Kai's gaze lingered on the Mei Mei Niu drinks on the third shelf for a moment, but finally, due to his trust in the Mei Mei brand, he took three bottles.
When Ding Kai finished paying and came out of the supermarket, he saw his parents sitting on a roadside stone stool, both yawning.
"You're out? Come on, Kaikai, let's go back and wash up and sleep!"
Back in the hotel room, Ding Kai placed the snacks in the living room, drank a bottle of Mei Mei Niu while eating Mei Mei Sausages, and finally felt like he had come back to life!
However...
Ding Kai took out his phone and posted a Weibo message.
"Although Mei Mei Niu is quite good, I feel it's not as amazing as Mei Mei Sausages and Mei Mei Pork Jerky. A little disappointed."
After posting the Weibo message, Ding Kai felt extremely sleepy. He forced himself to brush his teeth and wash up, then quickly went to bed.
The moment his head touched the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep.