There is a song out there with lyrics that goes like this: “A woman’s heart is like a puzzle~”
Zhang Yang did not understand what was happening to him. Could it be? That he was reborn with the hidden attribute of a bastard?! Sun Xin Yu wanted him to be her boyfriend (well, technically, he did ask for it), Li Ru has this “I’ve been m*st*rb*t*ng to you for several years” kind of look on her! If he had not died and had his rebirth, he would have quickly hopped onto this train of pleasure and went off to sexville. However, this time, in his better sense of mind, he could not possibly accept things lying down like this -- literally!
The gods must be crazy! How could they just toy with his life! Zhang Yang had never wished to be the center of a huge harem! Why would the gods keep sending these minxes to compel him into committing such sins!
But what Zhang Yang did not know, was that a woman’s heart was much simpler than he could imagine. Women view romance in a simpler way than men believe it to be. For starters, the men that they would like should have these three attributes: Handsome. Smart. Famous. Zhang Yang did not have superstar handsome looks, but he was tall and buffed. Moreover, he was, in fact, one of the famous boys in high school! That time, Li Ru falling in love with Zhang Yang was no accident. Following the years after, she had dropped out of university to be married to an old and ugly gold mine. Every time she slept, she would have dreams of her first love, and that was Zhang Yang.
That being said, back then, Li Ru was not truly aware of her own crush on Zhang Yang. But after her marriage, she was constantly comparing her husband and Zhang Yang, creating her own fantastical image of Zhang Yang, intensifying her love towards Zhang Yang. Perhaps, the one she had really fallen in love is not the current Zhang Yang, but the high school delinquent. These pure and innocent emotions, sculpted the perfect Zhang Yang in her own mind.
Li Ru started her car again and drove off. This time, she drove normally, without speeding off like a F1 driver. She rolled down the driver’s window and let the wind blow her hair off randomly. She had a smile on her face. Her smile was rather genuine and happy, as if she had never experienced true happiness for a long time. “I love this feeling. The sensation when you let the wind to blow you away. That feeling of freedom and I can just forget about anything I want! That is why I love to drive!”
By the looks of it, Zhang Yang could clearly see that even though she had inherited a large fortune, she had also been burdened by something unseen.
“My husband had no legitimate kids. However, he had many nephews and nieces. Those little buggers have been harassing me for a while. Pestering me to give up my dead husband’s inheritance. They have been throwing all sort of insults at me. They called me a sly fox. They called me a witch. They said that I did no deserve to inherit anything! But, all I see and hear are the same thing! They just want the money!”
Zhang Yang listened to her complains and turned to his window. As lights and shadows came through the car, illuminating the interior momentarily, he replied. “It’s their right to speak, and your right to ignore. Don’t mind about the others.”
Li Ru was surprised at his words and smiled happily. “Well…what they say was true anyway. I did cause my husband’s death.” Her face turned solemn. “That old man had a weak heart. One fateful night, when he was on the bed with me. I wanted to give him a rather nice son! But, little did I know, sex is rather cruel. To have the ultimate pleasure in bed is truly a dream. But he was old, his body didn’t work the way it used to be. He had to rely on drugs and supplements if he wanted to have me in bed. Eventually, one thing led to the other. He died in my arms.”
She scoffed. “Still. I had it better when he’s gone. I do have to see his ugly face anymore. You have to know that when my parents saw their son-in-law, they thought he was my husband’s grandfather! Grandfather! Do you understand how serious is this matter was? After I cleared things up with my parents, they scolded me that night and even refused to attend the reception! I had shamed my family!”
Zhang Yang remained quiet the whole time. Even though they were old friends, neither of them were really close enough to reveal deep secrets to each other like in such manner.
Realizing his silence, Li Ru finally stopped talking and drove on through the night. Neither of them looked at each other after that. After approximately 10 minutes, Li Ru drove into a parking lot. The two of them remained silent as they got down the car and walked away. A short distance away, Zhou Kang Ming and the rest of the merry little band were already waiting.
“What took you so long?” said Zhou Kang Ming as his eyes flitted repeatedly between Zhang Yang and Li Ru suspiciously. His voice had a trace of jealousy as he spoke.
On the other side, Fatty Han’s right arm was around the slim waist of Wu Hai Li. He had completely seduced and “claimed” her. “Zhao Kang Ming. What does his tardiness have to do with you?”
Li Ru smiled playfully, “I was shagging Zhang Yang on my way here! That’s why I was late!”
After she said that, everyone was completely dumbfounded. To count the time they had taken from the hotel to here, they were only late by a few minutes. No matter how quickly some people did it, they couldn’t have actually done the deed as she claimed. But, that was beside point. To think that she would dare use that term to joke around, it was only further testament to her boldness. Furthermore, she had only allowed Zhang Yang in her car and no one else. Who else is there to say otherwise?
Zhou Kang Ming got even more jealous. Truthfully, Zhao Hui Shan was not as pretty and alluring as Li Ru, but they say that a wild flower would bloom better than a potted flower! What you cannot own makes it even more valuable to you. Since Zhao Kang Ming was aiming to “own” Li Ru and everything that she had, it was just a natural reflex to direct jealousy and hatred towards Zhang Yang.
“Let’s go! Let’s blow our vocal cords out!”
Everyone walked away from the parking lot and headed into a karaoke center called “Dream City”. This time, it was Zhao Kang Ming who paid the fees and got them a private room to sing in. After the transaction was made, a beautiful usherette led the little party into a large room.
Everyone got themselves a large case of beer and started to sing with the lights dimmed down. As the lights dimmed, everyone grabbed the microphones and sand with the beer in their hands.
Yang Zhi Xian did not know what to think then. Although she was constantly putting on airs, like she was looking down on everyone, but eventually, she did come along. However, she was hiding silently in one corner, occasionally glancing over at Li Ru and Zhao Hui Shan.
Perhaps she was silently judging the two ladies who were respectively once the class queen and as well as the school queen with her keen eyes.
Zhang Yang did not sing along. He opened a bottle of beer, blew the cap off the mouth, and gulped the beer down. He turned around the room and found Fatty Han and Wu Hai Li snooping around in one corner. Even though the lights was dimmed down, he would make out their silhouette. Both of them were practically stuck to each other like sandwiches. Now, even though he could not make out what they were actually doing, even an idiot could easily guess it right. Still, the man was unmarried, and the same goes to the woman, no matter what they did was none of Zhang Yang’s business.
Zhou Kang Ming was the mic hogger. Even when his singing was always out of tune, he would still hold onto the mic without giving a chance to others. He had even winked at Li Ru seductively, earning the rage of Zhao Hui Shan. Even thought it was rather dark, her glowing red cheeks could practically set the room on fire.
“Li Ru! Let’s sing this together!” Zhou Kang Ming had purposely picked a duet and boldly asked Li Ru to be his partner.
Glancing back at Zhao Hui Shan with a pitiful eye, she understood how she felt and shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t know this song.”
“That cannot be! We all know that you were practically a superstar back in high school! In fact, we still know that you can be a superstar someday! How could you not sing this song?!” Zhou Kang Ming was borrowing the power of the alcohol in him to speak so boldly.
Zhao Hui Shan had finally snapped. She got up. “Kang Ming! I’m heading out to buy a few things. Come with me!” She pulled him, or rather, dragged him out of the room to, obviously, give him a piece of her mind.
By the time the angry couple came back, Zhang Yang and Li Ru were singing the very song that Zhou Kang Ming had picked earlier!
It was like a tight slap to the face!
Zhou
Kang Ming sulked. If his self-consciousness was any good, he would have already picked up the telltale sign that Li Ru had no interest in him! He managed to “own” Zhao Hui Shan by baiting her with his money! However, Li Ru was a rich widow! What would money do to her? She could have several more digits behind her fortune, what reason was there for her to look up to Zhou Kang Ming?
Why! Why!?
Zhao Kang Ming could not understand it! He wanted to humiliate Zhang Yang, but nothing ever went past the planning stage. Before he could throw the first strike, he had already been slapped in the face multiple times! How did that happen?
Zhang Yang sang the song together with Li Ru because he was forced to do so. After that one song, Zhang Yang quickly went back to his seat and glued himself to it. No matter how Li Ru tried to push, dragged, and persuade, Zhang Yang was determined to remain stationary.
The singing continued on for another hour. By then, Zhang Yang had already drunk 4 to 5 bottles of beer. A sudden discomfort struck Zhang Yang. It was like his arse was about to explode. He quickly got out of the room to find a toilet, only to realize that the establishment did not have one. He had to leave the center entirely. Toilets were only available at the end of buildings around here.
After taking his time to answer nature’s call, Zhang Yang exited the toilet and returned to the karaoke room. Just when he was about pull the door, he heard a loud ‘thud’ coming from the room opposite. He saw a shadowy figure bumping against the wall.
“Haha! Miss Yu! Don’t be shy! Come back! Let’s sing a little more!” Immediately, a rather large middle-aged man, with a huge beer belly came out. He reeked of alcohol. The first person who came out of the room was a young lady, around the age of her early twenties. She had the most alluring body; with full frontal peaks and a curvaceous butt. Her face was flushed red. It was not the kind of red you see on a shy person, but rather, the red cheeks, of a person who has clearly drank too much. Her eyes were out of focus. In her dazed, disoriented struggle, she cried out, “No! I-I-I can’t drink anymore! I’m going back!”
The man smirked slyly and grabbed the woman. “Going home? Sure! I’ll send you home!” said the man as he grabbed the woman and pulled her forcefully back into the room.
Zhang Yang hand was already holding on the door knob, but when he saw the face of the woman, Zhang Yang instinctively walked up to her and grab the woman’s other free hand.
The man felt a sudden jerk. He pulled the woman again only to find that she would not budge. He turned around to see a huge man holding on to her hand. Annoyed, he scolded. “What are you doing! Let her go!”
Zhang Yang calmly replied the middle-aged man with a low voice whist staring straight into him. “Didn’t you hear what Teacher Yu said? She wants to go home, yet you’re dragging her back into the room. What are you planning?”
“Teacher…Yu?” the man was stunned and quickly expressed an understanding emotion. “I see that you’re Miss Yu’s student! Don’t worry! There’s nothing to fuss about. We’re singing and drinking together with a couple more colleagues from work!”
“Zhang…Zhang Yang?” the woman tried her best to lift her head. Her hands reached out and grabbed to Zhang Yang sleeves tightly, her expression terrified. “S-Save me!” she pleaded.
This woman was clearly one of the lecturers that had taught Zhang Yang in university.
Zhang Yang nodded confidently and said, “Teacher Yu! Worry not. I shall send you back home!”
“Don’t you dare walk away!” the middle-aged man was obviously infuriated. His hand was still holding onto Yu Li’s feeble wrist. “Mind you own business, boy! Leave!”
As he spoke, another man came out from the room. “Chief Qian, is there something wrong?”
He revealed his face and Zhang Yang could easily recognize the man. He was the Dean F.I.C.T (Faculty of Information, Computing, and Technology). His name was Hou Bi Hua. Since he was not really good person in the campus, students had given him a nick name, Monkey Butt1.
When Monkey Butt saw Zhang Yang, he was stunned. Zhang Yang recognized him but the same was not the case for the other party. Afterall, there were so many students in the entire campus, he could not possibly remember all of their faces! He was annoyed. “Who are you!? Trying to act like a thug?”
Zhang Yang laughed boldly. “I’m not trying to, I’m the real thing! At least, I’m not some pretentious bastard that look all righteous while planning to harass a girl. You’re the ones acting!”
“Bullsh*t! Let her go now! Or I’ll call security!” Monkey Butt started to threaten Zhang Yang.
“Hmph!” Zhang Yang scoffed and with lightning speed, he threw a punch at the shoulder of the person called “Chief Qian”. The pain was unbearable that the man let her go in reflex. Zhang Yang quickly walked up, covering Yu Li behind him and readied his fist. “Monkey Butt. You can try, if you dare!”
When he heard Zhang Yang called him Monkey Butt, he knew instantly that Zhang Yang was a student from his university. His heart sank.
This outing was all for the university president’s nephew, the Cang Lang Province Government Publication Department Deputy Chief Qian Hong Wen. He had an eye for Yu Li and had requested Monkey Butt to pull a few strings to get them together. However, Monkey Butt knew that Yu Li was not the kind of woman who would spread her legs for money. If that had been the case, he would have gotten onto her earlier! So, make it less sketchy, he invited a few more lecturers from his own faculty and made the encounter with Qiang Hong Wen, purely coincidental.
Everyone had started a drinking session and at Monkey Butt’s direction, the other lecturers had pushed Li Ru to drink. With no effort at all, they had successfully made her drunk. The rest of the lecturers were proactive and quickly left with many random excuses. The remaining people in the room were Monkey Butt, Qian Hong Wen, and the heavily intoxicated Yu Li.
Tipsy and dizzy, Yu Li sense their ill intentions and and had quickly decided to leave the room. However, she was so dizzy that she needed the wall to support herself. If she had not drawn Zhang Yang’s attention, she would have been dragged into the room and the following events that could have unfolded would have been most undesirable.
This could have been the start of her downfall from his past life!
If Zhang Yang was indeed a student from his university, he could use his authority to pressurize him. If he wasn’t, what that is about to follow would be a little rough. Monkey Butt looked at Zhang Yang with a deathly stare and asked. “What year did you graduate?”
TL note:
1Monkey Butt – The author used a word play that sounded the same but writes differently. The Chinese word used was 候, which sounds Hou, the same as 猴. 猴 means monkey. 毕,sounds Bi while 屁sounds Pi, but meant butt. Thus, the word play 候毕, 猴屁, Hou Bi (Pi), monkey’s butt.