Chapter 473 — The Breakup Fee

"I ran them over," Wei Zhao explained flatly.

"How can you just kill people like that?" As a police officer, Qiu Lingshan naturally found Wei Zhao's methods hard to stomach.

"They were holding guns. Was I supposed to wait for them to shoot me dead?" Wei Zhao rolled his eyes. "I let you have one alive, didn't I? That's for you to deal with."

Qiu Lingshan nodded. Wei Zhao had a point, and what pleased her was that he had at least left her one living captive.

She quickly took statements from Xiaofen, the beggar, and the disabled man, then had them get into the police car, intending to send them home shortly. Xiaofen, however, would be going with Wei Zhao.

The back seat of the Audi TT was cramped, but Kang Xiaofeng and Xiaofen would simply have to squeeze in together.

Leaving Qiu Lingshan to clean up the scene, Wei Zhao drove off in grand style.

On the way back, with no particular urgency, Wei Zhao kept his speed down, which left Feng Xiaoxiao rather displeased. "Wei Zhao, why are you driving so slowly?"

"If you think it's slow, you can drive," Wei Zhao said mildly.

"Then—you'd better keep driving!" Feng Xiaoxiao was rather annoyed; she had wanted another display of Wei Zhao's flying-car skills, but that was clearly not to be.

Back in the classroom, Tang Zhi mulled over the morning's events. At first she had thought it all a sham, but the more she thought, the more uneasy she grew, the more worried. Did Feng Xiaoxiao really have something going on with Wei Zhao?

The thought that Feng Xiaoxiao had suddenly transferred to First High School and seated herself right next to Wei Zhao vexed Tang Zhi. If Feng Xiaoxiao had nothing to do with Wei Zhao, why would she insist on clinging to him every single day?

And knowing full well that Wei Zhao's girlfriend was Tang Zhi herself, Feng Xiaoxiao had still dared to say such things to her face—could it be that everything she had said that morning was true?

Otherwise, why would a girl drag her own reputation through the mud, claiming she had already been with Wei Zhao and might be pregnant, asking him to take her to the hospital for a checkup?

Tang Zhi reasoned that even if she herself had been with Wei Zhao in that way, she would never broadcast it for all the world to know—unless, unless she were under some outside threat, desperate to announce her relationship with Wei Zhao, only then would she throw caution to the winds. So was that Feng Xiaoxiao's situation? If not for her own relationship with Wei Zhao, Feng Xiaoxiao probably would never have spoken of such things. But since she could bring herself to say them, shameless as it was, did that not mean she really had done these things with Wei Zhao?

Tang Zhi's mind was flooded with the scene from that morning. Though she was unwilling to believe Wei Zhao would give his heart to another, Feng Xiaoxiao's words implied that it was not a case of Wei Zhao falling for someone else—rather, he had been with Feng Xiaoxiao first, and only afterward with Tang Zhi!

Otherwise, Tang Zhi could not believe that Feng Xiaoxiao, who had transferred schools only a few days ago, could have fallen for Wei Zhao and even had that kind of relationship with him! The only explanation was that Wei Zhao and Feng Xiaoxiao had known each other before. Tang Zhi's brow furrowed even deeper as she recalled asking Wei Zhao about his relationship with Feng Xiaoxiao, and how he had answered vaguely that she had once seen him driving and wanted him to teach her.

Learn to drive—and merely to learn to drive, she had gone to such lengths to transfer schools and land in the same class as Wei Zhao?

Tang Zhi took out her phone and checked. No missed calls, no text messages. Wei Zhao, why would he not come to explain himself?

In a daze, Tang Zhi endured the first period until it ended, but still no call from Wei Zhao, no message—and after waiting in the classroom for ages, he did not come to find her!

Before they had parted that morning, Tang Zhi had made Wei Zhao promise to come find her after the first period was over to explain himself—yet even when the bell for the next class rang, Wei Zhao was nowhere to be seen!

Tang Zhi's head spun with a resounding buzz. Could it be that what she had seen that morning was real? Tang Zhi felt a pang of regret; had she known, she would have cast shame aside that morning and kept listening to whatever Feng Xiaoxiao had to say!

But she had been unable to let go of her pride at the time and had walked away first. In the second period, she was so distracted that she did not even react when the teacher called on her. Somehow she stumbled through the rest of the class; when it ended, Tang Zhi could finally restrain herself no longer!

How could Wei Zhao do this? Even if he had something going on with Feng Xiaoxiao, he owed her an explanation, did he not? To leave her without even a word—what did he take her for?

Seething, Tang Zhi summoned her courage and marched to the door of Wei Zhao's classroom. She grabbed a passing student and asked him to fetch Wei Zhao for her! Tang Zhi wanted to ask Wei Zhao to his face just what exactly he meant by all this!

The business between Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi was by now known to virtually the entire school, so no one found it strange that Tang Zhi should come looking for Wei Zhao. The classmate merely glanced into the classroom and then said to Tang Zhi, "Wei Zhao's not here."

"Oh?" Tang Zhi was slightly taken aback. For some reason she asked another question: "Then is Feng Xiaoxiao in?"

The classmate looked again, then shook his head at Tang Zhi. "Feng Xiaoxiao's not here either—"

"Oh—thank you—" Tang Zhi's eyes stung, and she felt so wronged she wanted to cry. Wei Zhao was absent, and Feng Xiaoxiao was absent too—how was it that these two should both happen to be missing at the same moment?

Could it really be that they had gone out together? At the mere thought of it Tang Zhi's legs faltered; she nearly fell to the floor, and hurriedly caught hold of the corridor wall to steady herself.

Not having seen Wei Zhao or Feng Xiaoxiao, Tang Zhi—who until now had refused to believe there was anything between them—had no choice but to grow all the more suspicious.

She thought of what Feng Xiaoxiao had said to her that morning, as solemn as could be: "Didn't Wei Zhao give you a breakup fee? Wei Zhao and I have known each other for ages. At first I took pity on you and thought I'd let you be his mistress, share him with you—but since you don't know your place, I can only have Wei Zhao say goodbye to you!"

Tang Zhi was overcome with a fresh wave of grievance—wait, a breakup fee? It struck Tang Zhi all at once: early that morning Wei Zhao seemed to have given her mother something. Could that be the very breakup fee Feng Xiaoxiao had spoken of?

At the thought, Tang Zhi dialed her mother's damned number outright, drew a deep breath, and asked with forced composure, "Mom, where are you right now?"

"I'm at the bank—" Mother Tang blurted out, somewhat excitedly. She was beside herself with joy; just before Tang Zhi called, she had checked the bank card Wei Zhao had given her that morning, and it held a full five hundred thousand!

To be continued)