Chapter 63: How the Scar Came About
Translator: Lordbluefire
After Chu Cichen had his shirt pried open, his muscular body was revealed. He usually looked very skinny and weak, but now Matriarch Chu noticed that his muscles were actually finely sculpted.
However, Matriarch Chu wasn’t in the mood to admire her son’s body. Her gaze was fixed on the spot on his right arm. As expected, there was a white scar there!
The scar looked quite faint. It should have been from a few years ago.
She then lowered her head to take a closer look.
Chu Cichen frowned, his ears turning a little red as he tugged at his clothes, asking, “What are you doing?”
“Don’t move.” Madam Chu stopped him. The woman who was usually high and mighty was now muttering like an ordinary mother. “Which part of your body haven’t I seen before? When you were young, I even bathed you. What are you shy about?”
After she said this, Chu Cichen’s body stiffened.
Matriarch Chu was also stunned.
She slowly straightened up.
After Chu Cichen was born, he was sent overseas to be secretly nurtured before he could learn how to walk. After that, he didn’t return to the country for a long time. When Madam Chu missed her son, she would go overseas to visit him. However, because she still had to manage the company in their country, the number of her visits declined with time.
As time passed, she found it increasingly difficult to get along with her eldest son.
Although it was a good thing that her son was strong, it also made her feel restrained when she did things around him.
She was able to get along with Chu Cimo more naturally in comparison.
If she was in a good mood, she’d give him a beating.
If she was in a bad mood, she’d give him a beating.
Regardless if her mood was good or bad, she could go up and pinch him.
They had a close relationship as mother and son. Even though Chu Cimo was already old, he still acted spoiled to her. On the other hand, she never had such intimate interactions with Chu Cichen before.
Today, she had been in such a hurry to take a look at his wound that, for a moment, she actually treated Chu Cichen as Chu Cimo.
When she came back to her senses, she was afraid that her son would be dissatisfied. Hence, she carefully sized up Chu Cichen’s expression and saw that he was looking down. His long eyelashes covered the complicated emotions in his eyes, but he didn’t seem to be angry…
Matriarch Chu heaved a sigh of relief.
A momentary silence took place in the room and a short while later, Chu Cichen said calmly, “A son always avoids his mother when he grows up.”
He then fastened the buttons to his shirt one by one and looked at Matriarch Chu to ask, “What were you looking at?”
Only then did Matriarch Chu cough and point to his right arm. “Ruojing told me about your first encounter with her today. Back then, you played the role of a hero who saved a damsel in distress. This is why she secretly became interested in you. The injury on your arm is proof of that.”
Chu Cichen frowned.
Matriarch Chu continued, “Recently, I’ve been observing Chu Tianye and Chu Xiaomeng. Little Meng is a bookworm and her mind is all on the library. Despite that, the books that she read are like new, not damaged at all.
“Chu Tianye likes money and likes to scam people. However, there was one day when I put a stack of money before him and told him to help me count them because I was too lazy to. After he finished counting, he returned the entire sum to me completely.”
Chu Cichen’s lips twitched and he said, “Then, you felt happy and gave the entire stack of money to him?”
“…” Matriarch Chu was stunned for a moment from being exposed, but she continued, “No matter what, the two children are good children. Don’t you think so?”
Chu Cichen couldn’t deny this.
Both children were very smart. Putting Chu Xiaomeng aside, even Chu Tianye was top-notch regardless if it was in terms of studies or character. He didn’t lose to Chu Yu.
This was enough to show how much Shen Ruojing had done for the two children over the years.
Matriarch Chu stood up straight and said slowly, “That’s why I increasingly feel that the rumors that have been spread outside are wrong. Recently, after interacting with Ruojing, I realized that she has an extremely good temper and character. That’s why when she said that she had dated you back then, it must be true. Now, there’s also this scar to testify. Cichen, tell me, did you fall in love with someone else, so you’re pretending not to know her?”
Chu Cichen replied, “…. I didn’t.”
“Then how did you get this scar on your arm?”
Chu Cichen lowered his head and looked at his right arm, frowning. “It’s true that I got this injury when saving someone…”
At the mention of this, he suddenly realized something. “So she was that foolish lass from back then?”
Matriarch Chu: “??”
Seeing that Matriarch Chu was relentless in pursuing this matter, Chu Cichen explained, “About six years ago, when I was in F. Country for an exchange, I saw a girl being bullied. I couldn’t possibly just leave her be.”
He still remembered what had happened that day.
Back then, he was injured and sick, and he really planned on ignoring the situation. After all, being in an extremely weak state, he might not be able to win against those seven or eight hooligans.
Meanwhile, that lass was wearing thick makeup and chewing on chewing gum, looking like a female delinquent.
He passed by the group and heard the hooligans talking amongst themselves in French, saying that they were going to take her away, sell her organs, and then send her to a private manor to work as a slave. Their words were horrible, but the girl seemed unfazed, just standing there as if she didn’t understand what they were saying.
In the end, he couldn’t get it past himself and saved her.
It was because they were both Chinese.
However, he didn’t interfere with what happened after that and just left.
Upon hearing him describe the chain of events, Matriarch Chu frowned. “Why do the two of you have completely different memories of the events? Yet at the same time, they aren’t contradicting at all.”
She hesitated and said, “It’s the same with the photo, and now there’s this scar… From what Ruojing said, I think that she loved you a lot. Even though you had gone missing for close to six years and your children turned five, she had never forgotten about you. Cichen, don’t you think that something is amiss here?”
Chu Cichen spoke up, “I’ve investigated it. There are no problems around me. As for her… It has been too long and isn’t easy to investigate.”
Matriarch Chu hesitated for a moment before saying, “Then, don’t you have the slightest bit of feelings for her?”
Chu Cichen raised his cold eyes. “Mother, I said it before. I won’t marry in this life.”
“Not even if it’s Ruojing?”
“No.”
His determined attitude made Matriarch Chu sigh. “You’ve really wasted Ruojing’s love for you. Forget it, I won’t interfere in the matters between you youngsters.”
–
In the high-end district that Yang Zhiqin stayed in.
Her assistant was looking anxiously at the recording room from outside.
Yang Zhiqin was immersed in the new song Yun Zhongjun had prepared for her, trying to get into the right mood for the song so that she could carry out the recording. When she was working with music, she never allowed her assistant to disturb her.
That was why her assistant didn’t dare to interrupt.
However, Lu Cheng kept on calling her repeatedly, telling them to clarify the matter as soon as possible. Otherwise, the fans might think too much into it. Moreover, the fan club’s president was already sending her private messages crazily, asking her for the truth of this matter. She asked if Sister Yang had been bullied.
The assistant didn’t dare to reply to the messages.
She hesitated for a very long time and eventually decided to knock on the door.
As a result, the music stopped and Yang Zhiqin took down her headphones, feeling displeased. She turned to look at her assistant. “What’s the matter?”
The assistant came in and explained the situation. She then asked, “Sis, I know that you feel displeased, but this is an opportunity too. As long as you don’t comment on this matter, you can make use of this chance to negotiate terms with the company and not sing the song.”
Yang Zhiqin frowned and said without a second thought, “No!”
She reprimanded, “Although Shen Ruojing is suspected of being opportunistic, she’s only in her twenties. Her composing career can’t be ruined in my hands! Moreover, I have to give Jing Zhen some face. I can’t harm his daughter. Forget it, I’ll accept this. I’ll post on Weibo to appease the fans.”