Chapter 245 — You're Too Much Trouble

"Of course you're not, little brother..." The owner's face froze. He hadn't expected his flattery to land on the horse's leg instead of its back—this fellow clearly wasn't short on meal money and didn't need to be treated at all. Suddenly rather awkward, he said, "All right, then let me work out how much it comes to..."

The owner didn't bother counting them one by one. He simply weighed the bamboo skewers on the table in his hand—close to a hundred of them, give or take—and said, "Let's call it a hundred. We'll forget the odd ones. Fifty it is."

"Pay up." Wei Zhao glanced at Sun Jingyan and said.

Sun Jingyan was rather taken aback. From the way Wei Zhao had been acting just now, she'd assumed he meant to treat her. In the end, he was having her foot the bill?

The owner was caught between laughter and tears as well. So it wasn't you paying after all? Then why did you let your friend spend more? Wasn't the meal on the house a good thing?

Sun Jingyan took out her wallet, drew out a fifty-yuan note, and handed it to the owner. She shot Wei Zhao a glare, then left the food stall with him.

Scarface cursed inwardly. This pretty-faced fellow comes out to put on airs, and he spends a woman's money too—he really is something. But he only thought it; if even Zou Ruoguang, the boss, didn't dare offend the man, how would he dare?

Only after Wei Zhao had gone did Zou Ruoguang look at Scarface with a dark expression. "This is all the fine mess you've stirred up! Damn it, I nearly ended up in the hospital again today!"

"What happened...?" Scarface was startled. From the look of it, his big brother not only didn't dare offend Wei Zhao—he was downright afraid of him. "Brother Guang, is this kid really that tough?"

"Tough? You see how my hands got broken?" Zou Ruoguang waved his two gauze-wrapped hands. "He snapped them! Can you afford to provoke a madman like that? His skill is absurdly high—no matter how many men you bring, it's not enough to take him!"

"Huh? That tough?" Scarface was stunned. Was this what they called a martial arts expert out of legend?

"Hurry up and get back. Stop making a spectacle of yourself here!" Zou Ruoguang was irritable. "Keep your eyes open from now on. Don't go provoking hard cases like that!"

"Yes, Brother Guang!" Scarface was thoroughly depressed too. How was I supposed to know the kid was this tough? If I'd known, why would I have gone and provoked him for no reason? Do I have something wrong with me?

Ah, a beautiful woman is a source of trouble. If I'd known, I never would have gone and teased that Sun Jingyan—then none of this mess would have happened...

Once they were in the car, Sun Jingyan shot Wei Zhao a rather reproachful glare. "The owner offered to comp the meal, and you still weren't willing?"

"Those small vendors don't make much," Wei Zhao said. "Fifty yuan is about what it cost them in ingredients."

"Hm?" Sun Jingyan was slightly taken aback. She hadn't thought about it that way before, but now that Wei Zhao mentioned it, it was indeed true. If they had money, who would be busy at a food stall under the blazing sun? It made her see Wei Zhao in a new light.

In truth, Wei Zhao had simply thought of Tang Zhi and her family, and was unwilling to take advantage of the skewer vendor.

As for whether the man would keep paying protection money to Scarface, that was beyond Wei Zhao's control. Everyone had their own life; Wei Zhao couldn't very well stick his oar in.

"Where are you going, darling?" Sun Jingyan backed the car out and looked tenderly at Wei Zhao.

"Darling?" Wei Zhao was startled. "Who are you talking to?"

"You, of course. You're my lover now—only half a one, true, but I can still call you that!" Sun Jingyan watched Wei Zhao with a half-smile. "What, does a younger man-older woman romance embarrass you?"

"..." Wei Zhao was speechless. This girl looked rather open-minded, but that didn't really seem to be the case—otherwise she wouldn't have turned down that company boss. Still, why had she picked him, of all people? Did she think he was easy to push around? Or that he wouldn't do anything to her?

"I'm telling you, you're playing with fire here. One of these days, I might make it real!" Wei Zhao warned Sun Jingyan.

"Wonderful, big sister would like that too—let's see if time together can breed love between us!" Sun Jingyan looked at Wei Zhao with a smiling face, as if she hadn't taken his words seriously at all.

"Take me back to where we were before." Wei Zhao rolled his eyes and ignored her.

"First High School?" Sun Jingyan found it odd. "Why are you going back to that place?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?" Wei Zhao frowned. "Or are you thinking you don't want my help tonight after all?"

"Hah, I'm already your lover, and you've taken your payment. You can't just decide not to help!" Sun Jingyan shrugged indifferently.

"Come pick me up there again tonight! Once this job is done, we're even, no debts between us!" Wei Zhao did not want to get too entangled with Sun Jingyan. The woman was beautiful, and she had a mature air that Tang Zhi, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu lacked, but his gut told him she was trouble! Once he got mixed up with her, his future would surely be one endless mess after another.

Today she had him playing the gentleman bandit; tomorrow, would it be murder and robbery? Very likely, he thought. From that Wu Chengtian alone he could infer that Sun Jingyan's family background was anything but simple.

Otherwise she could never have been on such close terms with the Iron Hand Wu family. He had no idea why Sun Jingyan didn't use her family's influence to deal with her current troubles, but the messes stirred up by these heiress princesses were always troublesome ones, and Wei Zhao had no wish to become her full-time trouble-shooter.

"Hey, how can you be like that? You don't want to take responsibility?" Hearing this, Sun Jingyan fixed Wei Zhao with a resentful look.

"Lover, not yet wife, so we can break up at any time." Wei Zhao spoke lightly. "I'm informing you now: you've been dumped. Starting now, you're not anymore."

"..." Sun Jingyan stared at Wei Zhao in disbelief. Here she was, a great beauty, placed right before him, and he wasn't tempted? At the very least, her suitors could line up in a queue. Even if he wasn't really her lover, a fake one could still gratify his vanity—having a beauty at his side always drew envy.

"You really have no interest in me at all?" Sun Jingyan could not resist asking.

Yi answered, crisp and clean.

"What?" Sun Jingyan had expected Wei Zhao to say yes, that he had no interest, but to her surprise he said he did. That left her both taken aback and puzzled. "Then why are you still dumping me?"

"You have too much trouble. Today you have me playing the gentleman bandit, tomorrow who knows what. I don't have that kind of time." It was impossible for Wei Zhao to have no interest in Sun Jingyan. Seeing a beauty, he would always feel some interest—Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu... yes. But comparatively, it also depended on whether the beauty was troublesome. If she were like Qiu Lingshan... for now, better to keep his distance.