Chapter 172 — The Shocked Zhou Tianxiang
Years of Heartflutter · Page 3 of 5
"All right, Mr. Charles, no more of that cloying talk. I was only joking just now; I'll give the matter of cooperation careful thought after I return. Right now my wife is worried about her father's safety, so I won't stay and shoot the breeze with you—I'll be going." Yang Ce stood and said to old Charles with a smile.
"Heh heh, of course, of course—then I won't keep you. Oh, and Old Zhou, I'll have someone settle your wages in a little while. You've been with me all these years; you must at least retire with dignity!" old Charles said with a laugh.
"Then thank you, sir!" Zhou Tianxiang had never imagined the ending could be so satisfactory—nor that Yang Ce would speak to old Charles in such a casual, offhand manner.
Shoot the breeze? Zhou Tianxiang felt a chill run through him. Only Yang Ce could describe a conversation with old Charles as "shooting the breeze"! And by this point Zhou Tianxiang understood Yang Ce less and less. He had thought his daughter's boyfriend was merely a student, but now it seemed that was not the case at all.
It seemed Yang Juehuan's power was already greater than Zhou Tianxiang had imagined. He could not bring himself to believe that Yang Ce was actually more formidable than old Charles—but the facts were the facts, and he had no choice but to believe them.
"What thanks are needed? By my reckoning, you are Mr. Yang's father-in-law, and by that seniority you are my elder, so don't call me 'sir' anymore—just call me old Charles!" Old Charles laughed. "And in the future I'll call you Old Zhou—how's that?"
"Very well, old... Mr. Charles!" Zhou Tianxiang was flattered beyond measure. He had never imagined there would come a day when he could stand on equal footing with old Charles.
Old Charles ordered someone to settle Zhou Tianxiang's wages and additionally presented him with a generous retirement bonus, so that he left Charles Castle with great dignity.
Yang Ce and Zhou Tianxiang departed the castle with old Charles personally seeing them off. What left old Charles deeply vexed was his discovery that only the four men at the first guard post had been knocked unconscious by Yang Ce—everything beyond that had been normal. He simply could not work out how Yang Ce had gotten past layer upon layer of guards to find him.
Had he successfully slipped past one guard post, that would be possible—but how had he gotten through so many checkpoints? Had no one at all noticed him?
Old Chace clearly had more he wanted to say, but with Zhou Tianxiang sitting right there he swallowed his questions and kept his mouth shut. Still, the old man was plainly in for a good long sulk.
Only after Yang Ce and Zhou Tianxiang were settled in the car did old Chace raise a hand in farewell. "Mr. Yang, Mr. Zhou—until we meet again. I do hope you'll come back and visit. You would be most welcome!"
"Certainly. I'll come back here again someday," Yang Ce said with a nod.
It was not until Yang Ce started the car and drove down the winding mountain road that Zhou Tianxiang finally shook himself out of his daze. Looking at Yang Ce—a nineteen-year-old boy, the same age as his own daughter—Zhou Tianxiang simply had no words for what he was feeling.
His daughter had been right. The boy really had come, and he had smoothed things over with an ease that was almost casual. From the way old Chace had treated him, it was plain that Yang Ce had begged the old man for nothing; the two of them had stood on exactly the same footing, speaking as equals.
"Yang Ce, you and Mr. Chace..." Zhou Tianxiang finally could not hold back the question.
Yang Ce had known the question was coming. He smiled and said, "Mr. Chace and I have a bit of business between us—I suppose you could say we're fairly well acquainted. When he heard that Zhou Yanning was my girlfriend, he said at once that the matter was settled. So there's nothing for you to worry about."