Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Actually, Lin Yanhe had somewhat misjudged Sun Jie. It wasn't that Sun Jie wasn't domineering—it was that she hadn't yet decided whether she would stay with Yan forever. If she ever did decide, then perhaps a single little scheme would be enough to drive Lin Yanhe away from Yang Ce's side.

Though it might work on someone else, with Heng it was rather unlikely. Yang Xu would never, under any circumstances, give up one woman for the sake of another.

If Sun Jie had known about all the ups and downs between Yang Ce and Chen Shutang over Lan Ling, she would never have entertained such a thought.

"Yang Ce, why don't you go keep them company?" Seeing Sun Jie and Xiao Qing walk off into the distance, Lin Yanhe said to Yang Yanzhou in a low voice. "Every time you run into them, you ignore them completely—that's a bit rude, isn't it?"

"Uh—it's fine. Didn't I say? I'm going to see Sister Xiao Qing tonight." Yang Mo Yi spoke with some embarrassment. He hadn't expected Lin Yanhe's mind to be so perceptive, to have thought of so much.

"I don't mean Sister Xiao Qing—I mean Sister Sun," Lin Yanhe shook her head. "She's your girlfriend, isn't she?"

"Uh—" Yang Ce was instantly thrown into awkwardness. He hadn't expected Lin Yanhe to see through even that. But it was no wonder—Xiao Qing, in public, naturally had to draw a clear line between herself and him, lest people gossip. Sun Jie was different. She no longer cared about anything, and her father at home had already given his consent, so she had even less reason to be discreet. Thus her tone could not help but carry a certain special quality—perhaps she herself didn't notice, but Lin Yanhe, sensitive as she was, had picked up on it.

"Sister Jiajia and I won't blab," Lin Yanhe added, afraid Yang Ce might worry.

"Zhiyun, that's not what I meant." Yang Ce shook his head and smiled. "I'll find time to keep her company. But right now the main thing is being with you two. Just like when I'm with her, you don't ask me to come keep you company, right?"

After hearing what Yang Juehuan said, Lin Yanhe thought it over and decided he had a point, so she stopped insisting, and she and Yan went into the hot pot restaurant together.

Sun Jie and Xiao Qing apparently had a reservation, for they went straight up to a private room on the second floor. That was no surprise, though—the Sun family's influence lay in Donghai, but as Sun Jie's standing became known among Bao Lin and the others, she had begun to flourish in Songjiang too, her network even more formidable than Yang Juehuan's.

After all, Yang Ce's current identity was known only to a small circle, unlike Sun Jie's, which was out in the open. Sun Jie's original status, together with the respect Bao Lin and Hou Lin showed her, had sent her standing in Songjiang's business world soaring. So reserving a private room at a restaurant was a trifling matter.

Yang Ce, for his part, had not made use of these social connections—there was no need. He was still a student and did not want to become an object of attention for the masses.

He found a nice spot together with Zhou Yanning and Lin Yanhe, ordered a whole table of hot pot ingredients, and they began to eat with gusto. The dishes were all prepped in advance, so there was no waiting—they were brought straight over and could be eaten at once.

They had barely settled into their seats when Yang Ce was about to call a waiter over to order some drinks. He looked up and got a fright: Wang Yanqiu, arm in arm with Zhao Ying, had just walked into the hot pot restaurant.

Sweat broke out on Yang Ce's forehead at once. What was going on today? Had he left the house without checking the almanac? How could his luck be this bad? First Xiao Qing and Sun Jie, and now Zhao Ying and Wang Yanqiu—how had they all ended up in the same place?

All that was missing was Lan Ling and Chen Shutang showing up.

Zhao Ying and Wang Yanqiu had obviously spotted Yang Ce sitting inside the hot pot restaurant as well. Wang Yanqiu was fine with it, but Zhao Ying's expression darkened. Wang Yanqiu had come to see her today, and Zhao Ying had meant to refuse—but after the phone call, Wang Yanqiu had come in person, and Zhao Ying hesitated. She felt that even though Yang Ce and Wang Yanqiu were together now, that should not be allowed to affect her friendship with Wang Yanqiu; to let it would make her seem petty.

It was Yang Ce's right to choose whom he wanted, and the fact that he had not chosen her but Wang Yanqiu only proved that she fell short of Wang Yanqiu in some way. So there was no reason for Zhao Ying to take her anger out on Wang Yanqiu.

Both Wang Yanqiu and Zhao Ying liked the spicy flavor, but they had both eaten at the Sichuan restaurant with Yan before, so today they switched to a newly opened "strange-flavor" hot pot place.

"Isn't that Yang Ce?" Wang Yanqiu said to Zhao Ying, winking toward where Yang Juehuan sat. She did not know that Zhao Ying had already learned about her and Yan, so she held nothing back.

"Mm." Zhao Ying merely gave a faint nod, not a trace of joy to be seen in her expression.

"Sister Zhao Ying, what's wrong?" Wang Yanqiu suddenly noticed that Zhao Ying's mood was somewhat off, and asked.

"Nothing. Let's go. I don't want to eat at this restaurant anymore," Zhao Ying said with a shake of her head.

"Huh?" Wang Yanqiu was baffled, unable to tell what had gotten into Zhao Ying. "Sister Ying, why not eat here? Didn't we agree on this place?"

"I—I've suddenly lost my appetite," Zhao Ying sighed. "Let's go somewhere else."

Zhao Ying was rather afraid of running into Yang Ce, because she did not know what to say. The courage that had carried her through to dawn that night was long gone—especially with Wang Yanqiu beside her. If she ran into Yang Ce now, she would feel utterly awkward, as though she were a third wheel, and miserable.

"Is it—is it because of Yang Ce?" Wang Yanqiu was shrewd too; connecting Zhao Ying's change of mood with their running into Yang Ce, she understood something.

"Of course not!" How could Zhao Ying ever admit it?

"Well, Yang Ce has already seen us. Let's go say hello before we leave—otherwise it would be rather impolite." Wang Yanqiu looked at Zhao Ying with a smile.

"Ah—" Zhao Ying was flustered. She had not expected Wang Yanqiu to corner her like this. She was refusing to eat here precisely because she had seen Yang Ce; going to say hello to Yan now would be no different from staying to eat.

"Sister Ying, did something unpleasant happen between you and Yan?" Seeing Zhao Ying's expression, how could Wang Yanqiu fail to notice?

"N-no, nothing!" Zhao Ying would never admit it, and she shook her head hastily.

"Really nothing?" Wang Yanqiu looked at the flustered look in Zhao Ying's eyes and shook her head helplessly. "Sister Ying, don't try to fool me. Your eyes tell me something must have happened."

Wang Yanqiu was a former assassin, so her powers of observation were naturally sharp. She was no match for Yang Ce, but more than enough to handle ordinary people, and she had sensed at once that something was wrong with Zhao Ying.

"I—" Zhao Ying did not know what to say. It was not that she did not want to confide in someone, but that someone could not be Wang Yanqiu, for Wang Yanqiu was a character in the very story she needed to tell.

"Yanyan, just stop asking, all right?" Zhao Ying was in a difficult spot. She did not want to say it. If she told the truth, her friendship with Wang Yanqiu would surely suffer—at least, that was what she believed.

If she and Wang Yanqiu were both Yang Juehuan's women, it would be fine; the two of them would become closer sisters than they were now. But as things stood, Wang Yanqiu was one and she was not, and so conflict was unavoidable.

"What on earth is going on?" Wang Yanqiu had no idea what Zhao Ying was really thinking, so she kept pressing, wanting to know why Zhao Ying was unhappy.