Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

He knew how grave the matter was, and that his words would not change his father's mind. So after much hesitation, he called Yang Ce. In Huang Lin's eyes, Yang Ce was a mysterious man, and one who always found a way. Huang Lin was not sure whether Yang Ce could turn things around in Africa, but he called him all the same.

Yang Ce was, after all, his sister's boyfriend. If something had happened to Lele, Yang Ce was the natural person to notify—and Huang Lin had a hunch that Yang Puqi would be able to find a way.

Huang Xiaofei paid no attention to the boyfriend Huang Yan had mentioned. In his view, once Huang Yan was no longer allowed back in Macau, her connection with this so-called boyfriend would naturally be severed—especially since the man was from the mainland.

After calling Yang Ce, Huang Lin did not sit idle. He began gathering material on General Karls of Country X, hoping it might be of some help to Yang Puqi.

The Huang family had been dealing with General Karls for some time, so their information on him was quite detailed. Huang Lin had simply copied a set of those files in secret.

The gold mines in Africa—Yang Ce shook his head. Huang Yan's eldest brother certainly had an imagination; that was no place for him to go. Then he recalled that he still had an unmined diamond mine in Africa, and gave a bitter smile. He had no time to manage that diamond mine himself, yet the Huang family was so eager about it. If things really came to that, he might as well have them switch over to mining diamonds—even as a joint venture.

As for the diamond mine, Yang Ce was not afraid anyone would dare cheat him out of it. In the small country where the mine was located, no matter how provisional governments came and went, certain high-ranking figures knew perfectly well who the mine's owner was. Who would dare renege on that? That would be courting death.

Since he did not know which country his diamond mine belonged to, Yang Ce decided he would ask Fang Tian about it another day.

"Jiajia, how have you been feeling these past few days? Any aftereffects or anything?" Yang Ce decided to set Huang Yan's matter aside for the moment—it was hardly a matter of life and death, and fretting would do no good. Zhou Yanning's injury had been to the head, which was why Yang Ce was so cautious; he feared she might be left with intermittent headaches.

"I'm fine. The place where I was hurt doesn't hurt at all anymore." Zhou Yanning shook her head.

"Then do you remember anything about what happened before?" This was what Yang Ce cared about. Zhou Yanning could not go on being amnesiac forever, could she? The relationship between the two of them was truly awkward.

At first he had agreed with Chen Shutang's suggestion and brought Zhou Yanning home to stay, but later Yang Ce discovered that Zhou Yanning was extremely shy. If he wanted anything to develop, simply skipping ahead and pushing her down was all but impossible.

Although Yang Ce believed Zhou Yanning would not object if he insisted, that was not the outcome he wanted. As for Zhou Yanning, Yang Ce could not claim to love her deeply, but he did have some feelings for her—only the two of them were stuck at the stage of liking each other, lacking the process of courtship. To jump straight into pushing her down would be far too rash, and disrespectful to Zhou Yanning as well.

So Yang Ce wanted Zhou Yanning to recover her memory as soon as possible, so that he could give her a perfect romance. They were classmates and sat together during class; there was no worry that their feelings would fail to heat up quickly.

"Before?" Zhou Yanning had also been wanting to talk with Yan about the matter of her amnesia. Seeing that Yang Ce had brought it up first, she hesitated instead, unsure how to broach the subject.

After all, she could hardly say that she had been faking her amnesia.

To be continued.

1051. Cohabitation Before Love

Zhou Yanning did not want to deceive Yang Ce, yet she had no choice but to do so. As for Lin Yanhe's excuse, Zhou Yanning could only use it once more.

"Yang Ce, the whole time I've been home, I've been flipping through the diary I wrote before, and I've remembered some things." Zhou Yanning hesitated a moment, then said, "But I've realized that actually... I was never your girlfriend. I was the one chasing you all along."

It had taken immense resolve for Zhou Yanning to say those words. Once they were out, the two of them would be back to being just good friends, and Zhou Yanning could no longer play dumb and keep imposing on Yang Ce's household.

After all, Yang Ce had not yet accepted her—so what was she even doing here?

Yang Ce was stunned by Zhou Yanning's words. He had not expected her to have remembered the past already, which meant he need not say anything more himself. So he said, "Jiajia, you've remembered it all yourself? That's wonderful! What I wanted to talk to you about was exactly the same thing."

Zhou Yanning's face went pale at once, and she said somewhat bleakly, "Yes, I've remembered everything. Don't worry, Yang Ce, I know what I should do. Tomorrow I'll move back to the school dormitory."

"Huh?" Yang Ce looked at Zhou Yanning's expression, utterly baffled. How had things come to this all of a sudden? Why was she talking about leaving? What on earth was going on? "Jiajia, what are you saying? Why do you want to leave?"

"You—didn't you just say 'that's wonderful'?" Zhou Yanning said dejectedly. "I've remembered everything, so I'm not your girlfriend anymore—that's why you said that."

"Where did that come from?" Yang Ce was caught between laughter and tears, and hurried to explain. "Jiajia, when I said 'that's wonderful,' I meant that it's wonderful you've recovered your memory—not that it's wonderful you're not my girlfriend. I never meant to drive you out, either."

"I'm not even your girlfriend anymore, so what business do I have living in your house?" Zhou Yanning looked at Yang Ce's anxious, flustered manner, and her heart eased. Perhaps she had misunderstood—Yang Ce had never meant to send her away at all.

Thinking back to that night, when Yang Ce had kissed and held her of his own accord, he hadn't seemed to be putting on an act; it truly seemed he liked her. Zhou Yanning cheered up a little. It seemed she had let her worry cloud her judgment—she had been too close to the matter to see clearly.

"Jiajia, actually, this whole affair has let me understand you completely. While you were unconscious, I read the diary you wrote before, and I know that matter wasn't your fault—you were misled by someone else." Here Yang Ce grew a little embarrassed. "Actually, setting that matter aside, I'm quite fond of you. You're so beautiful, your skin is fair, your figure is good, and your breasts are big—"

At first Zhou Yanning was touched by Yang Ce's words—after all, this was Yang Ce himself admitting that he had forgiven her and did not mind what had happened before, so she was quite happy. But the later words grew more and more outrageous, dragging in her figure and her breasts, and Zhou Yanning lowered her head in embarrassment. "Don't talk nonsense."

"Haha, sorry, I got off topic." Yang Ce gave a dry laugh. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it."

In truth, how could Yang Ce not have meant it? He had meant it entirely. Seeing that the atmosphere between them had grown a little awkward, he had deliberately said it—and sure enough, the mood became much better than before, and Zhou Yanning was no longer so sorrowful.

"So what you mean is..." Zhou Yanning's heart was in turmoil, and she did not know what to say.

"What I mean is very simple. You like me, and I like you—aha, now all we're missing is the process of dating. But that's no problem; we can take it slowly." Yang Ce said, "Just stay here for now. Don't worry, I won't be so desperate as to do anything to you. I'm always a very proper person."