Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

"Kid, he only said a few words to you, and you actually hit him?" Yaoyang rose and came at Yang Ce. "Lin Yanhe, don't say Brother Yaoyang didn't give you face."

"Yaoyang, hold it!" Zheng Zetao wiped the grains of rice from his face and waved a hand to stop him.

"Zetao, you all right?" Yaoyang asked after a moment's hesitation.

"This grudge between me and this kid—I'll settle it myself." Zheng Zetao gave a cold snort. "Kid, you're pretty tough, but do you know what happens to people who lay hands on me?"

"Zetao, let it go. Do it for my sake, all right?" Li Dadong's heart lurched the moment he heard Zheng Zetao's words.

Li Dadong knew something of Zheng Zetao's background. Seeing that Zheng Zetao was about to get serious with Yan, he hurried to talk him down.

"Yang Ce, you were in the wrong here too. Let me talk to Zetao, and you apologize to him, and we'll call it even, all right?" Then Li Dadong lowered his voice. "Zetao's brother runs a bathhouse. You can't afford to cross him."

Yang Jiyan waved a hand and said to Li Dadong, "This business today—for your sake, I can let it go. But an apology is out of the question. If anyone apologizes, it'll be him apologizing to me."

"Ah." Li Dadong sighed helplessly, at a loss. He was in a difficult spot: if he let Zheng Zetao teach Yang Ce a lesson, his standing in Lin Yanhe's heart would surely plummet—he might not even be able to remain a brother to her.

Though he no longer harbored any illusions about Lin Yanhe, he still loved her, and he wanted her to be happy.

But Yang Cen refused to apologize to Zheng Zetao, and he could not very well drag Zheng Zetao away either—after all, Zheng Zetao was only standing up for him.

"Do you dare wait here ten minutes?" Zheng Zetao pulled out his phone and pointed at Yang Yanzhou.

Yang Heng laughed, not intending to pay Zheng Zetao any more attention at all. He took Lin Yanhe's hand. "Let's go."

"Stop right there!" Zheng Zetao shouted.

"Let it go." Li Dadong hesitated, then at last reached out and caught Zheng Zetao by the sleeve. "Zetao, Zhiyun is happy now. I don't want to make trouble for her."

"Fuck." Zheng Zetao swore loudly, looking at Li Dadong with a mixture of frustration and disappointment, as though he were a lump of iron that would not turn into steel.

Li Dadong only smiled his honest, simple smile.

As Yang Ce was leaving, he gave Li Dadong a look of approval. This man was fundamentally decent—even in circumstances like these, he had held himself back from making trouble for Yang Ce. Clearly he was not the sort to be easily swayed, nor one given to rashness.

Yang Ce happened to be short-handed right now. He would have a talk with Lin Yanhe in a bit—if she thought well of him too, he would hire Li Dadong to come help at the company.

By then, with Lin Yanhe as general manager and Li Dadong working under her, he would surely not slack off. It was a little unfair to Li Dadong, but sooner or later he would have to face it—habit would make it natural. Besides, Yang Juehuan's jewelry company, though still just a fledgling small firm, had boundless prospects; it was only a matter of time before it became one of the top companies in the country.

"Dadong, today I let this slide for your sake, but if I run into that kid alone next time, I won't let him off so easily," Zheng Zetao said viciously.

It was not that Zheng Zetao had never come off the worse—but those losses had all been at the hands of ruthless men he considered beyond his reach. Someone like Yang Cen, he did not count as any kind of ruthless man at all.

"Yang Ce, I was so scared just now," Lin Yanhe said, clutching Yang Juehuan's hand, her palm faintly damp with sweat.

"Heh, why? Afraid that Zheng Zetao fellow would hit me, or were you worried about Li Dadong?" Yang Hengye said.

"What? How could I be worried about him?" Lin Yanhe caught herself and quickly corrected: "All these years, I've always treated Brother Dadong like my own elder brother. I just don't want any conflict between you two."

"I understand." Yang Ce smiled ambiguously. "Zhiyun, what a waste of that plate of fried rice. Looks like I'll have to trouble you to fix me something to eat."

"Sure!" Lin Yanhe nodded readily at Yang Juehuan's words. Being able to do something for Yang Ce made her, at this moment, utterly delighted.

"I'm going to have a taste of your cooking. Aunt Shen's cooking is excellent, so I imagine her apprentice can't be bad either," Yang Ce teased.

"You're making fun of me." Lin Yanhe pursed her lips. "If it doesn't turn out as good as my mom's, you'll have to scold me."

"I won't." Yang Ce pinched Lin Yanhe's little hand. "As long as you made it, I'll like eating it."

"Ah." Lin Yanhe was stunned, staring blankly at Yang Yongjin, at a loss.

Though their relationship now was somewhat hard to define, Yang Jiyan had never spoken to her so intimately and tenderly before.

Yang Ce, meanwhile, had obtained Chen Shutang's imperial sword and was now completely unrestrained. Originally, he had intended to let things with Lin Yanhe develop naturally, but now that he no longer feared Chen Shutang would quarrel with him if she found out, Yang Shuoxuan decided it was time to adjust his strategy.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Lin Yanhe somewhat dazed, Yang Hengye asked.

"N-nothing." At that moment, Lin Yanhe's heart was brimming with joy.

Back at Lin Yanhe's home, Yang Ce sat on the sofa, while Lin Yanhe happily went off to fix Yang Ce something to eat.

With nothing else to do, Yang Ce picked up the remote and turned on the television.

On Songjiang's local entertainment channel, the airwaves were flooded with news of Shu Ya's concert, along with rebroadcasts of interviews Shu Ya had given on past programs.

"Yang Ce, you like Shu Ya too?" Before long, Lin Yanhe came in carrying a plate of fragrant fried rice.

"Heh, just watching whatever's on. It's all this program now." Yang Ce set the remote aside and took the fried rice Lin Yanhe handed him, gave it a sniff, and said: "Smells wonderful. I'd say this looks much tastier than what Aunt Hong makes."

"You haven't even eaten it yet, how would you know?" Lin Yanhe shot back with a smile, though in her heart she felt sweeter than if she had eaten anything.

To be continued

698. Visiting Lin Yanhe's Home

"Zhiyun, that matter I mentioned to you last time—about coming to help out at the jewelry company—have you thought it over?" Yang Ce asked as he ate.

"The jewelry company? That's the one you and Zhang Bin started together?" Though Lin Yanhe had never met Zhang Bin, she knew of him from Yang Ce's mentions.

"Yes. Zhang Bin these past two days—" Yang Ce paused, not wanting Lin Yanhe to worry, so he told a lie: "Zhang Bin has been sick these past two days, hospitalized. There's no one to look after the company, and I, as you know, am rushed off my feet every day. Business at the company has fallen behind."

"But would it be all right for me to go?" Lin Yanhe had been happy when Yang Ce asked her to help at the company, but then she thought of Chen Shutang—that encounter at the flower shop that day—and even now she felt a lingering unease.

"What's not all right about it?" Yang Jiyan had not guessed Lin Yanhe's thoughts; he assumed she was afraid of appearing to favor relatives, which would look bad at the company, or that Zhang Bin might have misgivings. So he smiled and said: "Zhang Bin's girlfriend works at the company too. You two can keep each other company."

Hearing the word "too," Lin Yanhe's heart fluttered. What did "too" mean? Did Yang Shuoxuan regard her as his girlfriend? But then what would Chen Shutang think?

Seeing that Yang Ce had misunderstood, Lin Yanhe could not play dumb. After all, going to the company was easy enough, but if Chen Shutang were to find out something, that would be troublesome.

"Yang Ce, I mean—if your girlfriend found out, would she mind?" Lin Yanhe asked cautiously.