Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

"Yang Ce? My high school buddy, and my boss too," Li Dagang said.

To be continued

704. You Know Yang Ce Too? (Part Two)

"Yang Ce—my high school buddy, and my boss too. He's doing pretty damn well for himself now, driving a luxury car, living in a mansion," Li Dagang said. "Nothing to hide about it. In a while he's going to set up a real estate company and asked me to come help out."

"A luxury car? What kind?" Li Dadong's heart stirred.

"An X5. Why, brother, what are you asking for?" Li Dagang was a little puzzled.

"What's an X5?" Li Dadong did not know much about car models, only the brands.

"A BMW X5," Li Dagang explained.

"BMW—is that the off-road jeep kind?" Li Dadong asked. He did recognize the BMW brand.

"Yes. Why are you asking?" Li Dagang was baffled.

"Blue?" Li Dadong did not answer, but pressed on.

"Yes. What on earth is going on?" Li Dagang grew more and more bewildered.

"Ah." Li Dadong heaved a long sigh, then said, "It's him."

"What do you mean, it's him? You know Yang Ce too?" Li Dagang was utterly lost.

"It's him—he's Lin Yanhe's boyfriend," Li Dadong said with a sigh.

"I say, have you got it wrong? Lin Yanhe's boyfriend—his girlfriend is Chen Shutang, the belle of our high school," Li Dagang said, perplexed.

"Huh?" Li Dadong was stunned. "His girlfriend is Chen Shutang? Are you sure?"

"Wait—are we talking about the same person at all?" Li Dagang waved his hand.

"That should be right. The Yang Ce you know—he's studying at Songjiang Engineering University now, isn't he?" Li Dadong said, his expression somewhat strange.

"Hold on." Li Dagang pulled out his phone and brought up the photo album. "Take a look. Is it him? You're making me all suspicious."

"That's him, all right!" Li Dadong cried, jumping to his feet. "This guy's playing both sides! I have to tell Zhiyun!"

Like a man possessed by excitement, Li Dadong rose to leave.

"Wait!" Li Dagang grabbed him and pushed him back into his seat. "What's the rush? What exactly is going on?"

Li Dagang thought to himself, it can't be such a coincidence, can it? Brother Yang playing the two-timer? Had he known, he would never have shown him the photo. But what was done was done; complaining was useless—he could only see how to salvage it.

Still, the matter really did seem hard to handle. His own brother here liked Lin Yanhe, and now that he knew such explosive news, how could he possibly keep it secret?

"It's him—he's Lin Yanhe's boyfriend," Li Dadong said urgently. "Little brother, don't stop me. I have to go tell Lin Yanhe right now, before she falls for this guy's tricks!"

"How was I supposed to know I got tricked? I was talking about back in high school—who knows, they might have broken up long ago by now," Li Dagang said vaguely.

"Dagang, you're lying." Li Dadong lifted his head and stared into Li Dagang's eyes. "We grew up together—don't I know you? I can tell when you're lying."

"Ah." Li Dagang sighed. In his heart he knew there was no hiding it now. The two brothers had grown up together—who could fool whom? It seemed his only option was to find some way to talk him out of it.

"Dagang, I know Yang Ce is your good friend, but this concerns Zhiyun's lifelong happiness. I can't just stand by and do nothing," Li Dadong said resolutely.

"Brother, I understand how you feel, but you and Lin Yanhe—it's already impossible," Li Dagang urged.

"Little brother, I know that even without Yang Ce, Zhiyun would never like me. She only sees me as an older brother, family. But precisely because of that, as her big brother, I can't just watch my sister's happiness be ruined," Li Dadong said. "You should understand my feelings. I only want Zhiyun to be happy, but what Yang Cenbin is doing is simply hurting her."

"Then what do you plan to do? Find Lin Yanhe and tell her straight out—or hint at it?" Li Dagang shook his head. "Do you really think a couple madly in love will believe what others say?"

"Believe it or not, I have to say it. I must say it." Li Dadong rose abruptly to his feet. "I'm leaving. You stay here and finish eating."

"Brother!" Li Dagang reached out to stop him, but his hand stopped halfway. He could hold him back for a moment, but could he hold him back forever? The urgent thing now was to call Yang Ce and give him a heads-up.

Wasting no time, he quickly dialed Yang Ce's number, only to hear the voice on the other end say the phone was turned off. Li Dagang slapped his forehead—this was bad.

A harassing call had come through earlier—an insurance salesman. Yang Ce had been discussing matters with Zhao Sisi, and to prevent further interruptions, he had simply turned his phone off. Little did he expect Li Dagang to call at that very moment.

Lin Yanhe, however, had not turned off her phone. When it rang, she glanced at the caller ID—it was Li Dadong. So she looked at Yang Ce questioningly and said, "It's Brother Dadong."

"Answer it. Maybe he's come around." Yang Yu nodded, unconcerned.

"Oh." Lin Yanhe picked up. "Hello, Brother Dadong?"

"Zhiyun, where are you now? I have something important to tell you," Li Dadong said anxiously.

"I'm still at the company, Brother Dadong. Is something the matter?" Lin Yanhe asked.

"Can you come down for a moment? I'd like to talk to you alone about something." Li Dadong paused before speaking.

"Alone?" Lin Yanhe was taken aback, then looked up at Yang Ce and said softly, "Brother Dadong says he wants to talk to me alone."

"Alone?" Yang Ce fell silent for a moment. He trusted Li Dadong's character well enough—otherwise he would never have hired him to help at the company—but one should never be too careful. He would not allow anything to happen to Lin Yanhe. So he turned to Zhao Sisi and said, "Is there a private reception room in the company?"

"Yes," Zhao Sisi said, immediately catching on. She turned to the newly hired secretary beside her. "Xiao Ma, you know the reception room, don't you?"

"Yes, Manager Zhao," Secretary Xiao Ma said.

"Good. Zhiyun, go with Xiao Ma to the reception room in a bit and have Li Dadong come see you here," Yang Yanzhou said. Within the company, Yang Ce was not worried that Li Dadong would do anything to harm Lin Yanhe.

"All right." With that, Lin Yanhe uncovered the receiver and said, "Brother Dadong, come to the company then. I'll have someone bring you to the reception room."

"Fine. Wait for me—I'll be right there." After hanging up, Li Dadong flagged down a taxi at the roadside and headed for Yang Juehuan's company.

Normally Li Dadong did not take taxis, but this matter was urgent, so he indulged himself just this once.

Yang Ce did not think much of it. The company had plenty of security guards, and the reception room was under surveillance from the security office. He doubted Li Dadong would be foolish enough to do anything reckless.

After Lin Yanhe left, Yang Ce continued his conversation with Zhao Sisi. "Does Uncle Zhang know about Zhang Bin being beaten?"

"Zhang Bin told me not to say anything. Uncle Zhang still doesn't know." Zhao Sisi sighed. "He told me not to tell, so I can't go spreading it around."

"That's true. Since Zhang Bin doesn't want Uncle Zhang to worry, then let it be," Yang Ce said. "But there's nothing to worry about now—the company's security will protect this place around the clock."

"Yes, it's much safer now. Otherwise, the new employees were all on edge. It was only after seeing so many security guards arrive that they finally settled down," Zhao Sisi said.

"Sisi, although we still haven't figured out who did this, rest assured—I will never let the person who hurt Zhang Bin get away with it," Yang Ce said with absolute certainty.

"I know you'll stand up for Zhang Bin, but if you really can't find them, then let it go. Maybe it was just troublemakers from a rival company," Zhao Sisi said, shaking her head.