0044 Pull-apart Cake
With New Year's Day approaching, Qu Wanfeng has been bombarding Qu Zhong with WeChat messages and phone calls these days, urging her to come home for the New Year.
Two years ago, Qu Zhong had a falling out with Qu Wanfeng over blind dates and pressure to get married, and she stayed in Shanghai for the Spring Festival instead of going home. Now that they've talked things out, there's no reason for them not to go home for the Spring Festival this year.
However, there's really no need to ask her to go back for New Year's Day.
There are only three days off for New Year's Day, and it takes two days to travel back and forth, so Qu Zhong really doesn't want the hassle.
"I will definitely come back for the Spring Festival this year."
She pleaded with him, even swearing an oath to the Constitution like Zhai, before Qu Wanfeng finally relented, casually suggesting that she bring her boyfriend back with her.
“We’ve only been together for a short time, and he’s already asking me to bring someone home for the New Year.”
Qu Wanfeng didn't take it seriously and said nonchalantly, "What's wrong with coming back to play together? We'll see each other sooner or later anyway."
With a simple sentence, he extended the relationship between her and Zhai from two individuals to their two families. Fearing that if the conversation continued, he would bring up old issues and steer the topic towards marriage, Qu Zhong stopped herself in time: "We're just dating right now, we haven't thought that far ahead."
Knowing she didn't like what he was hearing, Qu Wanfeng wisely kept quiet and didn't say anything more.
On the eve of New Year's Eve, Qu Zhong invited Feng Jing and Lin Qianqian to Longmeng, their happy hometown where they studied during their postgraduate years, for hot pot.
A meal serves as a bridge between the past and the future, bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new.
While waiting for the food to be served, Lin Qianqian munched on a free cucumber and looked around with her nose in the air: "Hmph, we used to always get together on New Year's Eve."
Qu Zhongxin's heart sank; what was bound to happen had finally arrived.
Before she could even come up with a way to defend herself, Feng Jing followed up, naming names: "Sigh, how come everyone's gathered for New Year's Eve this year? I won't say who we're accommodating, right, Qu Zhong?"
Qu Zhong: ? You call this not talking?
She chuckled dryly twice, then eagerly scalded their bowls and chopsticks, her attitude of admitting her mistake being quite good: "It's my fault, it's my fault. The main thing is, I promised him a few days ago that we'd celebrate New Year's Eve together tomorrow night. If I break my promise, he'll make a scene."
Lin Qianqian didn't like hearing that: "What, if he wants to make a scene, aren't you afraid I'll make a scene too?"
Damn it, I'm really scared, let alone trying to be sincere.
Lin Qianqian is currently working on a new IPO project, spending day and night preparing the drafts. Originally, this task was supposed to be done by interns, but as the year draws to a close, all the interns in the team have left, leaving her to do it all herself.
She's getting little sleep and under a lot of stress lately. If you push her too far, she might just flip the table on the spot. You have to appease her.
Seeing that Lin Qianqian had almost finished eating the cucumber, Qu Zhong quickly and obsequiously handed her a slice of orange: "Give me some more."
Lin Qianqian never refused the free fruits offered at hot pot restaurants. She took one, took a bite, and seemed quite satisfied with the sweetness of the fruit. Of course, while eating, she didn't stop talking, bombarding Qu Zhong with questions like a machine gun: "Tell me, how old is he, where is he from, and what does he do for a living?"
Qu Zhong sighed, "Are you from the household registration department of the police station?"
Feng Jing watched the show: "No, she's a professional in mental illness assessment."
This remark made all three of them laugh almost simultaneously.
Forensic psychiatric evaluations often employ an inquiry method. The evaluator will first ask the suspect or defendant a few simple questions, which are similar to the questions Lin Qianqian asked.
This was something Qu Zhong and her colleagues heard from an off-campus prosecutor during a class on prosecutorial ethics. They were greatly shocked at the time and still remember it clearly, occasionally bringing it up as a joke. So, it wasn't entirely untrue that Qu Zhong complained to Su Rongqin about the inadequacy of the national mental illness assessment in Duan Ningqi's case.
As they chatted and laughed, the pot in front of them had already boiled, bubbling away. The sweet and sour flavors of the tomato broth and the spicy aroma of the clear oil broth mingled into wisps of white steam, which went straight into the nostrils of the three of them.
The waiters also pushed over a cart and took out the dishes they had ordered, arranging them neatly on the table.
As Qu Zhong put meatballs into the pot, she answered Lin Qianqian's questions without reservation: "He's a year older than us, a local from Shanghai, and works..."
When she mentioned those two words, she paused in her eating, but quickly continued: "My job is as a prosecutor."
She spoke the last three words softer than the white mist floating in front of her, but Lin Qianqian seemed to choke on a peppercorn that hadn't been completely removed from a pot of oil. She suddenly looked up: "Prosecutor? Which court's prosecutor?"
Qu Zhong simmered the meat slices without saying a word.
Feng Jing looked at her, his mind racing: "Damn, you can't even tell me it's the C District Procuratorate."
Now that things had come to this, there was no way to hide it anymore. Qu Zhong nodded: "Yes..."
"Damn," Lin Qianqian puffed out her cheeks and stared at him, "How did you meet? Don't tell me it's because you were working on the same case."
"Hmm..." Qu Zhong took a bite of the beef ball, which wasn't cooked through, and frowned, "That's not it."
Feng Jinglin breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to herself that she was still a human being.
Then, Qu Zhong said in the next sentence, "We handled three cases together, including the one where the commission was withdrawn, making it three and a half cases."
Feng Jing: "..."
Lin Qianqian: "...Fine, you're breaking the law, I'd like to report you."
Qu Zhong knew she was referring to the recusal of prosecutors, a point she had to clarify, speaking for herself and for Zhai: "No, we were just discussing the matter at hand."
Lin Qianqian snorted coldly: "How do you define it? Calling someone 'brother' in bed and 'teacher' off bed?"
"Ah, this..." Her voice was loud and her words were explicit, making Qu Zhong's face flush. "Although, but, I have never used either of those two titles you mentioned on him."
"You're really something." Feng Jing wished he could use chopsticks instead of fingers to poke her forehead and bring her to her senses.
"What's wrong?" Qu Zhong suddenly adopted a righteous and self-assured demeanor, seemingly emboldened by some unknown source of confidence. "I've never asked him for any special privileges. I believe that his professional judgment on the case itself wasn't affected by our casual sex or romantic relationship."
Lin Qianqian gave a forced smile: "Hehe."
Feng Jing copied and pasted Lin Qianqian's message: "Hehe."
Who could withstand this? Qu Zhong put down his chopsticks, clasped his hands together in front of his forehead, and said, "Spare me—"
The food was added quickly and cooked quickly, so everyone gradually focused their attention on the pots and pans and stopped arguing with her.
"Alright, I'll believe you for now."
After focusing on eating for a while, before the newly added soup base boiled, Lin Qianqian's gossip started again: "By the way, you just said he's a year ahead of us and also from our school?"
Qu Zhong shook his head twice: "No."
Feng Jing said disdainfully, "How could that be worthy of you? You are a lowly concubine."
Lin Qianqian agreed: "Exactly, let's not talk about every third-party book."
“Um…” Qu Zhong coughed lightly, drawing attention to him, “He’s from F University, both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.”
It was as if the audiovisual scene had been paused, and the table was as still as a silent film.
"Break up." Lin Qianqian immediately switched sides, advising in a deep voice, "Do you really think it's right for someone from a 'four-nothing' university to be climbing the social ladder by marrying someone from a '985' university?"
Qu Zhongyun: "Are you friend or foe?"
...
The meal was filled with eating, drinking, chatting, and laughter, and more than two hours passed quickly. All three of them were stuffed.
Lin Qianqian suggested taking a stroll along the nearby Hongshi Road to digest their food. A new trendy cake shop had just opened there, and it was said to be incredibly popular, with long queues outside every day.
Qu Zhong and Feng Jing readily agreed.
When we finally found the shop on Hongshi Road, it was almost nine o'clock, and the line was still very long.
Qu Zhong looked up and saw a small sign hanging above the store, illuminated by dazzling lights. Amidst the shifting colors, Qu Zhong managed to make out the words:
"Pulled cheese cake".
Watching the people in front of her in line walk past with a box in their hands, completely satisfied, Qu Zhong was a little skeptical: "Is it really that delicious?"
Taking advantage of her height, Lin Qianqian had a clear view of the battle ahead. With each step the line took forward, she became more excited: "Who cares, let's just line up first."
The group moved forward fairly quickly, and Qu Zhong's doubts gradually dissipated: "That's true. With so many people coming to buy, it shouldn't be a disaster, right?"
They waited in the cold wind for nearly forty minutes before they finally bought them. To make sure the wait wasn't in vain, Feng Jing bought three boxes by herself, saying she would enjoy them slowly.
Before leaving, Qu Zhong picked up her phone, pointed it at the store sign, and pressed the shutter button when the light on it turned red, as a memento.
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