Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

The contract was signed before long. On the way out, Yang Ce clapped Li Dagang on the shoulder and said to Manager Liu, "This is a good friend of mine from high school. I'd trouble Manager Liu to look after him in future."

"Of course, of course." Manager Liu agreed without a moment's hesitation. "No problem at all."

Yang Ce wanted Li Dagang to learn the trade, but the position of salesman would not do—he needed exposure to something higher up. So those parting words of Yang Ce's sent Li Dagang straight up the ladder.

Manager Liu did not dare lightly offend a man like Yang Cenbin. As it happened, he needed to promote a deputy manager anyway, so he simply did the favor—though that is a story for later.

The payment was swiped directly, the keys were in hand, and the Sun Moon Pavilion now belonged to Heng and Chen Shutang—all that remained was for the property deed to come through.

When Manager Liu asked whose name should go on the deed, Yang Yongjin answered without a thought: "Put it under Chen Shutang."

That made Chen Shutang's heart sweeter than honey. Yang Ce had actually put such an expensive house in her name—what that meant went without saying.

He handed one of the keys to Chen Shutang, and she took it with a smile and tucked it carefully away.

"Mengyan, I'll buy you a car in a few days. It's not far from the school, but on foot it still takes half an hour." Yang Ce surveyed the villa complex's layout; even from the entrance of the development to this point was a good distance. "Coming and going without a car is terribly inconvenient."

"Buy me a car?" Chen Shutang was taken aback, unable to make sense of what had gotten into Yang Ce today—first a house, now a car. It was getting to be more than she dared accept.

"What, is there a problem?" Yang Ce asked in return.

"Yang Ce, what on earth is wrong with you today? A house, and now a car—did you do something you ought to feel guilty about?" Chen Shutang asked, perplexed.

"Sweat." Yang Ce broke into a profuse sweat. "I did indeed do something I ought to feel guilty about—but you already knew about that long ago. I'm buying the house because Zhou Yanning needs a quiet place to recuperate. The car is just for convenience. The two things simply happened to come together, that's all."

Chen Shutang thought it over, and it really was as he said. Had Yang Ce done fewer things to wrong her? But she had already forgiven him, and there was no need for him to curry favor with her over it. So she nodded and, for the time being, chose to believe Yang Juehuan's explanation.

"Then what kind of car should we buy?" Chen Shutang was a little tempted now herself.

"You choose. Whatever you like, buy it." Yang Ce was indifferent, and he did not care about the price.

"All right then. I'll go home and look at some options online." Chen Shutang nodded.

Once the house was bought, the next step was furnishings. Though the villa came with furniture, some pieces still had to be added according to personal taste. Yang Ce made a point of consulting Mother Zhou and had one room reproduced exactly after the bedroom in Zhou Yanning's home—a familiar environment was always better.

With all that settled, the date of Shu Ya's concert was drawing near as well.

To be continued.

691. Meeting the Flight

When one man attains the Way, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

That was exactly how Yang Ce felt now. He himself was not usually given to arrogance, but his subordinates each and every one put on airs of tremendous self-importance—and their relatives and friends were even worse.

Guo Jianchao might fancy himself quite the big shot, but at least he did not go around throwing his weight about everywhere. Guo Jianchao's girlfriend, however, thought herself truly extraordinary and always carried the air of being a cut above everyone else.

This phenomenon has existed since ancient times. The grand eunuch at the emperor's side might not be so formidable within the palace, but his kin and clansmen lorded it over the provinces like kings. Yang Ce could restrain his own men, but he could not restrain their families and friends—a most headache-inducing problem.

Yet there was no better solution; all he could do was tighten the reins a little. Yang Ce intended to find an opportunity to have a word with Bao Lin. The underworld of Songjiang had not done anything too outrageous of late, but if every relative and friend of the men on the streets was a pretentious poser, it would become a nuisance to the common folk. And once that happened, crackdowns were inevitable.

For now, he would set these headaches aside, because a far busier matter lay before him: Shu Ya's concert was about to begin. As the organizers, both Mingyang Heavy Industries Group and Mingyang Entertainment were bustling with activity.

Originally, none of this had anything to do with Yang Juehuan—Yang Ce could have stayed entirely out of it. But Yang Jiyan had other business with Shu Ya: one, to ask about the ring; the other, to warn her not to breathe a word about what had happened before.

Yang Yongjin was a man of exceptional ruthlessness, but if Shu Ya truly threatened his safety, Yang Ce would be caught in a painful dilemma.

Yang Ce went to meet the flight on behalf of Mingyang Heavy Industries Group, and no one found it improper. Yang Cheyan and Feng Wanjiang were both getting on in years and did not chase after stars; they had undertaken this concert purely to drum up publicity for their company.

Wang Jinde, however, was rather fond of Shu Ya, so he accompanied Yang Juehuan and went with Yan to meet the flight. Wang Jinde knew very well that Yang Juehuan's status was out of the ordinary, so his speech was even more respectful than usual—more so than toward Yang Cheyan.

Hou Lin of Mingyang Entertainment went along with Yan and the others. Hou Lin could have stayed away, but when he heard that even Yang Ce was going, he naturally had to tag along.

Shu Ya might be a big star, but she was hardly important enough to trouble a general manager to greet her in person. Hou Lin had come along entirely because of Yang Ce.

Donghai International Airport. A Boeing Dreamliner flying direct from Hong Kong descended slowly and taxied to a stop at the gate.

The entire first-class cabin had been booked out by Shu Ya and her party. This time she had brought along her staff, sound engineers, lighting technicians, and so on.

Naturally, Shu Ya's flight was kept secret, and first class was partitioned off from economy, so no passenger discovered that a superstar was sharing their plane.

At the first-class exit stood only Yang Ce, Hou Lin, Wang Jinde, and a line of bodyguards from Mingyang Security Company responsible for Shu Ya's safety.

Before long, a party of people began emerging from the first-class exit one after another. Yang Puqi spotted Shu Ya at a glance, wearing large sunglasses, with four bodyguards keeping watch over her safety.

Walking in front was a woman in her thirties. She reached Yang Ce and Hou Lin first, then said, "How do you do. I'm Miss Shu's manager, my surname is Xu. Might you be from the Mingyang company?"

"Hello, Miss Xu. I'm Hou Lin, general manager of Mingyang Entertainment, and this is Wang Jinde, assistant to the chairman of Mingyang Heavy Industries." Hou Lin did not introduce Yang Ce, because Yang Ce had not given him any prior instructions, and he did not dare introduce him at random.

Miss Xu was visibly taken aback. She had not expected her party to receive such a high-level reception—a general manager and a chairman's assistant. Ordinarily, airport pickups were handled by ordinary company staff; sending a department manager would already count as great attention. She had never imagined two such important figures would turn up at once.