Huo Yu also kept his word and didn't show up again until they left.
When the vacation ended, they took the plane back home. Qin Wei let the team members take taxis back to rest while she drove herself back.
When she arrived at the parking lot, Mu Chen was already there waiting for her, wearing casual clothes and a baseball cap.
Without saying anything, Qin Wei automatically got into the passenger seat while Mu Chen automatically went to drive.
"According to Boss Huo's request, starting today, I'm Miss Qin's driver!"
Mu Chen started the engine and sighed while driving,
"Not bad for a Cadillac, great handling."
Qin Wei didn't speak.
Mu Chen glanced at her,
"If you don't say anything, it makes it seem like I want your car."
"Even if you did, I wouldn't be able to give it to you."
Qin Wei impatiently replied then started massaging her brows while muttering under her breath,
"He wouldn't really give me that much money, would he?"
"You shouldn't believe a word he says."
Mu Chen rolled his eyes,
"You think he's really innocent? He's just waiting to profit without doing any work. And that's not even considering whether the money exists or not - even if it did, knowing him, there's a 99% chance you'd get scammed by him. Let me tell you, don't go any further down the road of crime..."
Qin Wei sighed, leaning back in her chair with her hand on her forehead. She looked a bit hopeless,
"I'm afraid I don't even have a chance, because I can't remember what gifts my dad gave me, or even remember him as a person."
Hearing her say this, Mu Chen's expression dimmed briefly, but it quickly passed and he was calm again as usual:
"Your dad is just an average middle-aged rich businessman...Oh crap! Why'd you hit me again?!?"
Mu Chen was suddenly punched by her, nearly crashing the car into the guardrail. Luckily his driving skills were polished and he quickly pulled over to the side of the road.
Mu Chen was a bit angry but only dared to glare at her, not daring to retaliate either verbally or physically for a long time.
Qin Wei glared back at him,
"Do you know the four words I hate the most?"
Mu Chen: "Hmm...average middle-aged?"
Qin Wei sighed, unable to get him to understand without spelling it out,
"Forget it, keep talking."
"There's not much to say. Your dad was always doing business in subtropical regions. Your mom was busy with work and didn't have time to take care of you, so she sent you back to live with Grandpa in Ningbo and go to elementary school with me.
And it's normal you don't remember him! After divorcing your mom, he rarely came back. As far as I recall, I've only seen him three times...Oh right, you have amnesia from driving drunk and injuring your brain..."
At this point, Qin Wei started pounding at his arm again.
"No drunk driving! No drunk driving! No drunk driving!"
Anger was steadily rising in Qin Wei's heart. They hadn't even talked for ten sentences yet he had jabbed at her weaknesses twice already!!!
"Hey! Stop hitting! If you keep going I'm hitting back!"
Mu Chen used his hand to block his face, only able to voice his protest.
"Go ahead, hit back towards here."
Qin Wei pointed at her own head.
Mu Chen instantly fell silent and didn't dare retaliate at all, sitting obediently like a dog.
Only then did Qin Wei feel less angry.
After calming herself down, Qin Wei asked him,
"What can I do for you?"
Mu Chen rubbed his stinging hot face and started driving again, answering her question at the same time:
"Remember if your dad sent you anything, then give it to me."
Qin Wei lowered her voice to ask,
"Don't you have some secret mission to give me? And assign me a secret identity, making it look like I'm a dazzling actress on the surface but actually a covert member of the Dragon King Squad embedded in the entertainment industry?"
Hearing this, even Mu Chen frowned:
"Sis, I know you lost your memory, but now I feel like you might have other issues too. Go get a psych eval when you have time - you're still young so treating it early could help...
What Dragon King Squad? What covert missions need someone under the spotlight like you to carry out?
Get a grip, would you? The people who can execute covert missions are all low-key ones. You're too eye-catching, with every move watched.
You can't think the handsome guys and pretty girls going undercover in TV shows are real, can you? It's only ordinary-looking people there since no one would watch otherwise!
Besides, undercover work doesn't have flashy fights and it's hard to maneuver smoothly in high society. Most of the time, they have to endure humiliation and adversity, facing the dark while turning their backs on the light, struggling to survive in the crevices between black and white."
...
Huo Yu didn't trust many people. Mu Chen was one of them, for a simple reason - Mu Chen's background was similar to his. In his youth, Mu Chen only finished middle school and spent his time mixing it up at auto shops, hot-tempered and simple-minded, even having an assault record.
It was Huo Yu who saved him. After several chance encounters, from then on the little brother acknowledged this big brother. In daily life he never wavered, and while occasionally hot-headed had never caused real trouble. Most importantly, he was loyal.
Huo Yu specifically told him to follow Qin Wei and urged him to be sure to find that item.
"So your mission is to gather evidence against him and bring him to justice?"
Although he didn't say it outright, Qin Wei could guess.
"Not just that."
Mu Chen parked the car in the lot.
"But you can understand it that way. You don't need to know the specifics of my mission. Your mission right now is to remember - what exactly did you receive?"
"I never thought there'd come a day I needed to take you to find your lost memories..."
...
It happened to be exam week. Qin Wei had told Li Yao not to bother her so she could go wherever she wanted as long as she came back to school on time for the exams.
Qin Wei put down her luggage and went to the designated place according to the text message.
"This is where the dream began."
Under the coastal mega bridge in the suburbs, Mu Chen looked out at the vast sea and took out a fruit candy from his pocket.
"Want one? It's your favorite strawberry flavor."
"Is it to relive the accident where my car crashed into the sea?"
Qin Wei craned her neck to look up at the bridge, now completed and scheduled to open soon.
Mu Chen nodded, popping the candy into his own mouth,
"I checked the city surveillance footage. There was no alcohol, suspicious people or questionable details that night, just like the accident report said. But I secretly went to check your car - the brake pump was expertly rigged to fail. Without 3-5 years of mechanic experience, no one would've known how to sabotage it stealthily to make sure the accident happened without it looking suspicious...
Oh and I found this for you stuffed in a crevice by the passenger seat. Probably too inconspicuous so it was overlooked after deeming it an accident."
He handed Qin Wei a brown plastic medicine bottle with foreign lettering.
Qin Wei sounded out what she could read but didn't know the exact name, only that it was some kind of psychiatric medication.
"Looks like a job paying millions with dazzling glory isn't easy after all. I wondered why my carefree, silly big sis changed after entering this industry.
Depression and anxiety can torment people badly, huh? Still have to hide it from the media, forced to use work reasons to secretly travel abroad for treatment and meds...If not for this bottle, I still wouldn't have known to this day that your crown seems a bit too heavy."
