Chapter 128 — Barbecue Advice

Once he learned there was nothing else going on, Wang Zhifeng felt reassured. As for making Tang Zhi write a self-criticism, that was out of the question now too. He could tell that Wei Zhao was protecting Tang Zhi, so there was no need for him to play the villain. After all, his own little indiscretion was still in Wei Zhao's hands. Although the private school did not monitor relations between male and female staff as strictly as public schools did, if the board of directors ever found out, he would not come off well either.

They had hired him at a high salary to manage the school's affairs, not to chase women here.

So, when he was about to leave, Wang Zhifeng patted Wei Zhao on the shoulder and told him not to let things with Tang Zhi go too far, or at least not to make things too difficult for him while they were still at school.

To this, Wei Zhao could only smile bitterly and spare himself the explanation, since even if he explained, Wang Zhifeng might not believe him.

When he returned to the classroom, almost everyone else was back too. Zhong Yongliang was pestering Gu Mengyao from behind, saying something or other, though she clearly had little interest in humoring him. Zhong Yongliang was not discouraged; in his view, within this school he had no rival for the time being, and only he was worthy of Gu Mengyao, so he was in no particular hurry.

Wei Zhao paid him no mind either. Harassment of that sort would not cause Gu Mengyao any real trouble, so Wei Zhao could not be bothered to deal with him.

"Boss, what did Director Wang want with you? Was it about that fight the other day?" Kang Xiaofeng was a little worried, since he had been involved that day too.

"No, it was about my transfer," Wei Zhao said, making no mention of Yang Huaijun. With Kang Xiaofeng, Wei Zhao could not possibly tell him everything.

"Oh, that's good then." Kang Xiaofeng nodded. "By the way, boss, when I came back just now, I passed by the door of Class Nine, Senior Three, and I saw the curtain by Tang Zhi's seat was pulled open and the window was open too. Her eyes were all red, like she'd just been crying. Tell me, do you think Gao Ruoming went and harassed her again?"

"How would I know..." Wei Zhao was sweating. Kang Xiaofeng's powers of observation were really something.

At lunchtime, Wei Zhao had planned to go to the cafeteria, but Kang Xiaofeng dragged him out to eat barbecue. "Didn't get enough last Friday, been craving it for two days."

Tang's mother's barbecue was honestly just average—tasty, perhaps, but hardly exceptional, and there was no secret recipe to speak of. But what more could you ask of a street stall?

Tang Zhi had not come to help today. In fact, the lunch break was very tight; many students took the chance to nap a little, otherwise it was hard to stay full of energy and keep fighting through the sea of test papers all afternoon.

Today Wei Zhao had left Tang Zhi's mind in a daze, and she planned to rest a little at noon and calm herself down, otherwise it would be hard to settle her mind enough to study.

Business at the barbecue stall was not exactly booming at noon. Without any signature specialty, and with the school having its own cafeteria, the number of students who came to eat was still quite limited. Tang's mother had just finished grilling two skewers of tofu rolls for a female student and handed them over when she looked up and saw Wei Zhao and Kang Xiaofeng. A smile immediately spread across her face. "Wei Zhao, brought a classmate to eat?"

"Yeah..." Wei Zhao felt a little embarrassed. It was clearly Kang Xiaofeng who had wanted to come, yet it had turned into him bringing a classmate along. And besides, Tang Zhi had just accused him of using it as an excuse to curry favor with her mother. "Auntie, business going all right?"

"Monday, buyers are scarce." Tang's mother shook her head. "Not many people today, and we only just opened not long ago. Sit down, quick. What do you want to eat? Auntie will get it ready..."

"Twenty skewers of lamb, two lamb chops, two chicken necks, two tofu rolls, two bottles of beer, same as the other day." Kang Xiaofeng was the type who, once he found something he liked, did not care to switch it up.

"Let's skip the beer, we still have class this afternoon." Although Wei Zhao now had Wang Zhifeng as a powerful backer, having already decided to properly enjoy his student days, he did not want to be too much of a special case. Wei Zhao himself could drink beer like water, but Kang Xiaofeng could not.

"Heh... then forget it..." Kang Xiaofeng scratched his head. Without Wei Zhao to bolster his courage, he would not dare drink on his own.

Tang's mother was a little surprised. Wasn't Wei Zhao supposed to be one of the school's four notorious rich young masters? The way he had so ruthlessly taught Gao Ruoming a lesson on Friday had certainly been real enough. So why was he so cautious about a single bottle of beer? Gao Ruoming and his sort would not care about such things in the least—they drank whenever they pleased.

But on closer thought, Wei Zhao did not carry the bad habits of those young masters. On the contrary, he was quite respectful to her. It seemed that even among wealthy families there were well-bred children, and not all of them were as overbearing as Gao Ruoming.

Having met Wei Zhao several times, Tang's mother had a good impression of him.

Soon the barbecue was brought over. Since theirs was the only table, there was naturally no need to wait.

While Kang Xiaofeng was wolfing down his food, Wei Zhao picked up a skewer of chicken necks and took a couple of bites, then said to Tang's mother, who had nothing to do at the moment, "Auntie, actually you could make the chicken necks Orleans-style. That way you could turn them into a specialty, and business would be better than it is now..."

"That does make sense, but I wouldn't know how to do it either..." Tang Zhi's mother said with a bitter smile. "It's just a tiny stall, so what sort of special feature could it possibly have?"

"That's not necessarily so. Plenty of shops started out small," Wei Zhao said. "Actually, you don't need any secret recipe for this. You can buy ready-made pickling marinade online. Um, if you don't know how to use the internet, you can have Tang Zhi buy it for you..."

Back when Wei Zhao lived in the mountains with the old man, that glutton, he had often bought things for him from online shops.

"Oh? Really? Wouldn't that be very expensive?" Tang Zhi's mother knew nothing about such things, but after hearing Wei Zhao out, she was somewhat tempted. After all, who wouldn't want better business?

"It's not all that expensive, but it will definitely add to your costs," Wei Zhao said. "Still, if you don't mind the trouble, you can mix it yourself. I've studied that recipe before. I'll write it out when I go home tonight and bring it to you tomorrow. It's just ordinary seasonings like sugar and chili, all of which you can get at the wholesale market."

"Well, that would be wonderful! Then Auntie thanks you in advance. I'd rather mix it myself, since it's a small business and doesn't bring in much money anyway." Tang Zhi's mother was rather excited. She had never expected Wei Zhao to have studied recipes.

"It's nothing. Just a small matter," Wei Zhao said with a shake of his head.

"Then I'll have Yun'er come find you tomorrow to pick it up. Once Auntie has mixed it, you must come and try it!" Tang Zhi's mother's impression of Wei Zhao could not have been better. The more she looked at him, the more she felt what a fine boy he was.

He came from a good family, yet he was never arrogant or overbearing, and he was always polite to others... It was just that she had never seen Wei Zhao when he was arrogant. When Wei Zhao grew arrogant, he could poke a hole clean through the sky.

Have Tang Zhi come find him to pick it up? Wei Zhao smiled wryly and rubbed his nose. Would she really come looking for him?