"Where is your bother?" Jing Lihua asked as she climbed into the car and found him alone in the car.
"He'll arrive a little late." Li Zhiqiang explained with a smile but under his dark pupils, there was a mischievous spark.
"From next time, try to come and pick me up with less... limelight."
"What do you mean by the limelight. There are only five cars for protecting us. Usually, when I go out, there are at least ten cars following us."
Jing Lihua. "..."
"You'll forget your dissatisfaction once you realize where I am taking you."
"You might have impressed me ta te restaurant. But let me tell you, I'm not that easy to impress every time President Li." Jing Lihua challenged.
"How about it? If you win, I'll follow one of your requests. If I win, you'll let me."
Jing Lihua didn't want to fall into his trap. "Don't want to."
"Means you know that I'm going to impress you big." There was a hint of taunt in his tone.
"Fine." Jing Lihua laughed. "But if I win, you'll have a hard time accepting what I want."
"I can give you whatever you want."
Jing Lihua glanced out from the window. Five cars were silently following them. From the other side, she felt a hand reaching up to ers and grasping it into its firm warmth. She smiled, without knowing it.
"Why do you need so much protection? Is something wrong? Last time I accompanied you there weren't such high protection you required." Suddenly Jing Lihua asked. "Does it have anything to do with me?"
For a while, Li Zhiqiang didn't answer as if contemplation what to tell to Jing Lihua.
"It's fine if you don't want to tell me."
"There are some people you need to be careful of. They want us to separate."
"Are these the same people who are the reason I forgot about you?"
Li Zhiqiang's silence counted as yes. Jing Lihua didn't want to strain the atmosphere. She felt guilty about bringing about the question and putting Li Zhiqiang under stress. To change the situation she quickly said. "How about you tell me about your mother? Did I know her?"
"Have you forgotten about her?" Li Zhiqiang sounded sad.
"Don't worry. I feel like I'm slowly recovering my memories. I'll remember it all soon. All of it..." She smiled at him. All of it included a lot. A lot of sweet memories they had together.
"She misses you. After you left suddenly, she wanted me to get you back as soon as possible. It was indeed hard for me to stop her from getting you back already." Li Zhiqiang's eyes shone as he talked about her. Jing Lihua could infer that he shared a strong bond with his mother. "You have forgotten all about me and her. So I didn't want her to get hurt by realizing it."
"She doesn't know what happened to me? Then what reason you gave her to pacify her as for why I left suddenly."
"Well..." Li Zhiqiang coughed.
"Tell me." Jing Lihua glared at him.
"We have arrived." Evading Jing Lihua's question, Li Zhiqiang climbed out of the car and strode to Jing Lihua's side. Jing Lihua wasn't planning to let him off without telling her whatever he was reluctant to tell her. But once she glanced outside, a flash of hidden memory surfaced.
"Uncle Wei?" A name surfaced in her memories. There were a lot of positive feelings associated with this place. "Looks like I've lost the bet with Li Zhiqiang." Because the place surely brought her an indescribable feeling of joy. She made a mental note not to ever place a bet against him.
...
"I can't believe it." Li Xun wailed. "I can't f.u.c.k.i.n.g believe it." It was not wrong for him to curse. For his brother had asked something ridiculous out of him.
Li Xun sighed as his stomach grumbled in objection. F.u.c.k! He had even skipped his lunch running from one company to another planning the alternatives for them.
"Why don't you go in, Youngest Master?" His driver thought he was being weird by standing outside the restaurant and not going inside. Why did he come to the restaurant in the first place if he never intended to go in?
"As much as I want I can't. My brother wants to have as much alone time with sister-in-law as possible." Li Xun grumbled. "Isn't it ridiculous? I was the one whose name he used to bring her here today. But now that she is here, he discards me?" Li Xun felt jealous.
'Eldest master?' 'Sister-in-law.' The driver glanced at Li Xun. He felt like his young master has lost his mind. "Youngest Master, are you alright. Do I need to give a call to Elder Master?"
"I'm dozing off. Just wake me up when it's ten pm." And Li Xun laid down on the back seat.
...
This restaurant was the one they visited frequently during her one month stay in Hong Kong. Though it served relatively simple food, it was delicious and top quality. The Li Brothers shared a special relationship with this Uncle Wei who looked our the small restaurant. He was the only chef here and treated the Li brothers as his own children.
"It was your mother who supported this restaurant in the beginning?" Jing Lihua remembered Li Xun's words when once he had told her the history of the restaurant. Slowly but surely, she was remembering everything.
In a distance, a warm looking middle-aged man was personally serving the guests.
Li Zhiqiang didn't know how to feel about Jing Lihua recovering her memory. At one point, it made him feel happy because slowly the JingJing he fell in love with was coming back. But at the same time, he felt scared. It meant she will soon remember what had happened that night... What if she couldn't forgive him?
"Isn't it my most precious customer?" Uncle Wei's eyes twinkled in happiness once his eyes spotted Li Ziqiang. "How came you decided to show up here? How long has been since you last visited? I see this old man no longer deserves your time, does he?"
"It's not like that Uncle Wei. You do know with my father's recent declining health, all the responsibilities fell on my shoulders. I've to support the corporate myself."
Jing Lihua glanced at Li Zhiqiang. Was his father ill?
"Don't be hard on yourself. Find time to relax a little. Madame Bao has been worried about you. And who is this pretty lady ou bring?" The middle-aged man smiled at Jing Lihua. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "X-Xiao Jing?"