Chapter 166: Date with Chen Mengyan
Having heard what his mom said, a drop of cold sweat trickled down. Did I look that awful in my outfit? However, recalling how Sun Jie treated him like a little brother, Yang Ming felt that his fashion sense could really be outdated.
It was probably the reason why Guo Jianchao looked down on him. For a street gangster who looked like a student, no matter how much more effort he put in, there was a limit to how bada** he could be.
But why would my mother suddenly speak of Chen Mengyan? Yang Ming already had a date with Lan Ling tomorrow!
"Mom, tomorrow Chen Mengyan won't be free. Let's see if we can make it another day!" Yang Ming said perfunctorily.
"Free? Why wouldn't she be free? I have already gotten her agreement." Mother Yang said while laughing.
"Ah? Gotten her agreement? What does that mean?" Yang Ming was confused.
"Just now, Chen Mengyan called our home to look for you. Then I asked her if she would be free tomorrow. She said she was." Mother Yang said.
Oh my god! Yang Ming didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It seemed like mom surely wanted to ship me with Chen Mengyan! But I still have another thing to do tomorrow!
Yang Ming didn't know what to do, so he had to make another call to Chen Mengyan. It wasn't because of his unwillingness to go out with her. On the contrary, he was very happy with it. However, it would be challenging to handle his situation with Lan Ling.
However, life is like a dream [1]. A few months ago, he was still fantasizing about the campus belle, Chen Mengyan, from afar. However, now, he was swarmed by beauties left and right. He was having trouble sorting his relationships with pretty girls.
"Hey!" He heard Chen Mengyan's voice on the other end of the phone. At this moment, Chen Mengyan was watching television in her living room, and the phone was beside her. When she saw that the phone number displayed was Yang Ming's, she picked it up quickly.
"Mengyan, it's me, Yang Ming." Yang Ming said after collecting his thoughts.
"Yup, I know." Chen Mengyan, of course, would have known that it was Yang Ming, Or else she wouldn't have greeted him with a simple "Hey!" She was still a very polite girl. Every time she answered others' phone calls, she would have added a greeting.
"That... tomorrow..." Yang Ming really didn't know what kind of excuse he could use to reject Chen Mengyan.
"Hehe, I don't have any issues. Let's just meet at the school gate?" Chen Mengyan thought that Yang Ming was embarrassed to ask her out on a date, so she said it first.
"Ah?" Yang Ming didn't think that his hesitation would have turned into such a situation. Nevermind. Tomorrow I would accompany Chen Mengyan in the morning and then go and meet up with Lan Ling at night! There was nothing else that I could do. "Alright, tomorrow 8 a.m., let's meet at the Song Jiang No. 4 High School entrance!"
Since they had already decided, Yang Ming wanted it to be as early as possible so that he could visit Lan Ling earlier too.
"Ok, be there or be square." Chen Mengyan hung up the phone in a sweet mood, feeling excited about her date tomorrow.
After he hung up the phone, Yang Ming went back to his room. He first copied the video recording of Guo Jianchao onto his computer. Next, he applied the similar compression and file splitting before he stored it into multiple email addresses.
Yang Ming felt a bit amused looking at his email. In just over a month, he had already secured the shortcomings of three people! After everything, Yang Ming kept the letter of guarantee at the bottom of his drawer. The chances of using this item would be slim since there was little chance for Guo Jianchao to go against him.
After he settled everything, he sent an SMS to Lan Ling, telling her that he could only visit her a little bit later tomorrow.
After a while, Lan Ling replied to the SMS. She told Yang Ming that if he had anything to do then to go and settle those things first. She was not in a hurry anyway. This made Yang Ming feel very guilty. He was going on a date with Chen Mengyan behind Lan Ling's back.
He didn't want to lie to Lan Ling, but he couldn't imagine what kind of bad things would happen after she found out about this. He didn't want to hurt Lan Ling. his girl was truly pitiful. In this world, he would be her only support! Yang Ming didn't want her to feel any more depressed!
After he played Landlords for a while with Wild Female Teacher, Zhang Bing sent a message over telling him that he had already gotten his driver's license and asked Yang Ming to get it tomorrow. Yang Ming felt a headache coming. How did everything fall into tomorrow? He was glad he could find a replacement to pick it up for him. After finding out that Yang Ming was going on a date with Chen Mengyan tomorrow, Zhang Bing volunteered himself to take up this responsibility.
There's no True Love in this World: Let's stop here today. I still have other things to do tomorrow, I will play with you again some other time.
Wild Female Teacher: Isn't tomorrow the weekend? What are you doing?
There's no True Love in this World: Can't I do something on the weekend? Walk the street, accompany my relatives or even date a girlfriend [3]. Why not?
Wild Female Teacher: Sure! But definitely not to date a girlfriend.
There's no True Love in this World: Why not?
Wild Female Teacher: You are named "There's no True Love in this World," which means you don't believe in love.
There's no True Love in this World: Sweat. That was just a nickname. So you are saying you are truly a wild female teacher? Let's stop bullsh*ting. I'm going offline!
Wild Female Teacher: 8888 [4]….
The next morning, Yang Ming was on time at the entrance of Song Jiang No. 4 High School. Chen Mengyan wasn't there yet. After about three minutes, Chen Mengyan jumped out of a taxi and walked quickly to Yang Ming. She said, feeling slightly embarrassed, "I have been sleeping a bit late these past few days. I almost didn't wake up." As she said this, she stuck out her tongue adorably.
"Hehe, it's fine. I have just arrived here. It's quite nice. There were still a few more minutes until 8 a.m. We have both come early." Yang Ming smiled.
"You really know what to say!" Chen Mengyan happily held onto Yang Ming's elbow. Even though the two of them were in front of the school entrance, they didn't need to be cautious about anything now since they had already reached the "legal" age to be in a relationship.
It was like this in China. Between high school and university was a big borderline. If you were to be in a relationship in high school, you would be criticized as being irresponsible and having an early relationship. Even if you were already in your 12th grade and was already 18 years old, you were not exempt. However, the moment you enter into university, even if you were just a prospective student, if you were to go into a relationship right now, it would be reasonable in the eyes of the parents and teachers.
This is the present situation with education and relationships. Even though a lot of people know that it was unreasonable, no one dared to stand up to criticize this logic!
It was also because of this reason, that before the short relationship that Yang Ming and Su Ya even blossomed, they were shunned by their teachers and parents. When the people from that age looked back at it, they would realize that even if it was an early relationship in junior high school, as long as they had a certain restraint, then it wouldn't have affected their studies much. Of course, this restraint meant a psychological restraint, not restraint in their relationship. The two of them could hug, cuddle or even do something that they liked to do. Those were not the main issues. The most important issue was whether the two of them had a goal that they worked toward together, and it was not just pure enjoyment and relaxation. Therefore, people should encourage positive early relationships and only discourage those negative early relationships instead.
Yang Ming and Su Ya obviously belonged to a positive relationship, because the two of them mostly discussed topics in their studies. Some of the more open-minded teachers would have opened one eye and shut the other [5]. However, there would be people like Wu Chiren, who would dig to the root.
However, the relationship between Chen Mengyan and Yang Ming was also a borderline early relationship. Class teacher Li wasn't an idiot either. She would be able to notice a few cues from it. However, because Yang Ming's exam result had improved significantly and quickly, Teacher Li didn't bother with all of these extra things. Teacher Li belonged to the teachers who were much more open-minded.
Up to this point, Yang Ming was only grateful to two teachers. The first was Teacher Li. The scene where she was in the headmaster's office arguing with discipline teacher Jin for his case was still very much in his memories. Yang Ming was someone who never forgot a generous act. He decided that he would visit Teacher Li every year. The other one would be Zhao Ying who was like his teacher or a friend. Yang Ming was not only grateful to her, but there was also a complicated relationship with her.
Even Yang Ming himself wasn't clear about his overall feeling toward Zhao Ying. However, if an objective question was in front of him, such as: If Zhao Ying and Chen Mengyan both fell into the water together, who would he rescue first? Yang Ming found it very difficult to answer. He didn't know! If he needed to give an answer, he would rescue the closest one.
He hadn't met Zhao Ying in a long while, so he didn't know if she was still fine. Was that Jin Gang still disturbing her? When he thought about Jin Gang, he felt a need to find an opportunity to warn this brat to stop. Oh yeah, as well as that Jin Xisen. Since Yang Ming had graduated, he couldn't care less about this discipline teacher now.
Song Jiang No. 4 High School was near the business street. That was also the reason the two of them had picked to meet at this location. It was only about a ten-minute walk, and they had arrived.
"Mengyan, it's time for you to buy a cell phone." Yang Ming looked at the IT mall in front of him and thought of a very important question. He wouldn't want to be interrogated by her parents every time he wanted to talk to her.
"Buy a cell phone? Why? I won't be using it at the moment." Chen Mengyan asked curiously.
Yang Ming, of course, didn't say that he was afraid of being interrogated by her parents when he called her. Therefore he explained, "You would be starting our university soon. If you don't have a cell phone at university, it could be very inconvenient. Moreover, we could text each other."
"Then... let's buy one. Since a cell phone isn't that expensive nowadays." Chen Mengyan initially felt that this thing wasn't a necessity, but as soon as she heard what Yang Ming said, she felt like she should buy one. If not for any particular reason, then the ability to SMS one another.
This novel is translated at G R A V I T Y T A L E S . C O M... Chapter Notes:
[1] A Chinese idiom very much similar to: Life is like a box of chocolate; you never know what you are going to get.
[2] A Chinese phrase to indicate having multiple relationships.
[3] A common Chinese phrase representing what could be done when hanging out. So Yang Ming just used it to answer Wild Female Teacher perfunctorily to not reveal the exact detail.
[4] A phrase used in China to wish a person well in their relationship and wealth.
[5] A Chinese idiom: Pretend to not notice it
Write a Tell other readers why you like SPSF!
If you like works from this author, Fishman II, Gravity Tales also features another one of his novels, , translated by Marcy and edited by Weirdo. Lin Yi is a disciple of Yang Ming. He knows martial arts, is a great cook and highly skilled herbal doctor and of course, has his own harem! Check it out!
Chapter 167: A Righteous Mengyan
The two of them walked into the telecommunications market. The shopping guide at the door gave them a flyer.
"Lenovo sales..."
"Look at the Sony Ericsson that is on sale now..."
"Gionee's latest navigation phone..."
Yang Ming and Chen Mengyan smiled at each other. It was the start of the university semester. The manufacturers wouldn't miss such an excellent opportunity to sell.
"What do you want?" Yang Ming took the flyer and asked.
"En... I don't have any preference. Why don't we buy a cheaper one? Just like yours?" Chen Mengyan asked. Chen Mengyan didn't bring much money. She only brought five hundred yuan for buying two pieces of clothing. She didn't plan to buy a cell phone.
"How can that be? Buy a phone with a camera and mp4 function." Yang Ming knew a phone was an identity symbol in school. If you have a cheap phone, then people would look down on you in their mind, even though they didn't speak it out loud. There were also people like Yang Li who would pick on them directly. Yang Ming had a thick face. He liked to follow his own way and ignored everyone else. But Chen Mengyan was just a little girl. Her face wasn't as thick as his.
Especially in this age of materialism, he didn't want Chen Mengyan to be looked down upon by others. Some might say this is worrying too much, but this was the trend in society.
"There is no need for that. I don't need that functionality. I'll use the same one as yours. I think that will be fine..." Chen Mengyan shook her head.
"Alright then." These words excited Yang Ming. He dragged Chen Mengyan to a Nokia counter. The salesman introduced a few cheaper phones when he noticed Yang Ming and Chen Mengyan dressed like students. The phone model 1200 was one of them. The phones in Song Jiang were cheaper than those in Yunnan.
This 1200 phone only cost 218 yuan together with a thirty yuan mobile top-up card. Chen Mengyan had no choice but to register for a mobile phone number.
But Yang Ming's number was a 3G mobile number. The two of them could group up together and enjoy a student discount.
Chen Mengyan picked a white colored phone. Then, Yang Ming paid straight away at the checkout. Chen Mengyan frowned slightly, and she wasn't as happy as when Yang Ming bought her a hair clip last time.
After they tested the phone, Chen Mengyan put the package into her bag. She put the phone in her pocket after installing the SIM card.
"What's wrong? Mengyan, why aren't you feeling happy?" Yang Ming felt something wrong with Chen Mengyan too.
"Yang Ming, what's our relationship?" Chen Mengyan hesitated and asked.
"What relationship?" Yang Ming was stunned. Could she think that their relationship wasn't acceptable for receiving such a valuable present? "We... are... good friends?" Yang Ming probed while stuttering.
"Yang Ming!" Chen Mengyan was so angry that she rolled her eyes at him, "Are you trying to make me mad?"
"Mengyan, just say what you want to say..." Yang Ming didn't know what Chen Mengyan meant, so he asked her directly.
"Alright, Yang Ming. Let me ask you. We were classmates for so many years already. Therefore, we know each other well." Chen Mengyan said harshly, "I know your family background well. Regarding our current relationship, even if I didn't mention it, you should understand too. Why do you have to be like this?"
"Be like what.." Yang Ming was speechless. He was baffled after Chen Mengyan's mindless speech.
"I mean that we don't have to behave like strangers! I don't want you to waste your parents' money like this." Chen Mengyan said with a solemn expression, "I'm not a girl who looks down on the poor and flatters the rich. I hope you can understand."
"Ah?" Yang Ming was dumbfounded, but he felt touched deep down his heart! Based on Chen Mengyan's words, Yang Ming felt that he was very fortunate to get such a considerate girlfriend. Chen Mengyan said this because she thought he was using his parents' money. Yang Ming thought he needed to explain his economic capabilities.
"Mengyan, the money I used wasn't from my parents. Don't misunderstand." Yang Ming explained, "I have been working part-time during the holiday which is why I was busy at that time. If not, I would have dated you."
Chen Mengyan was stunned, "Working part-time? Really?" During this time, Chen Mengyan resolved her mental block. Now, that she was ready to be with Yang Ming wholeheartedly, Yang Ming wasn't being proactive as he was during school. She even had to call him, and that certainly p*ssed her off. However, she realized that she had misunderstood Yang Ming after she heard him.
The time that Yang Ming met Lan Ling was now an excuse for Chen Mengyan. Yang Ming felt a bit shameless but he had no choice.
"Really." Yang Ming said, "There was the time I went to Yunnan with Zhang Bing. I realized that I'm really good at identifying jades, so Uncle Zhang invited me to work at his company after I came back. I earned about 8,000 yuan last month." Yang Ming used the same story that he told his parents.
"What? 8,000 yuan!" Chen Mengyan was surprised, "Why is it so much?"
"Hehe, the 3,000 yuan was base and 5,000 was a bonus. I gave some of it to my parents. I actually wanted to give all of it to them, but my mom asked me to keep some to buy you something!" Yang Ming smiled.
"You're so mean. Why didn't you tell me earlier? Then I wouldn't have said those words." Chen Mengyan was embarrassed.
"It's fine. If you didn't say that, how would I know my Mengyan is such a good girl?" Yang Ming held Chen Mengyan's hand. "After university starts, I could work part-time at Uncle Zhang's company. I don't need to go to the company every day for this job."
"As long as it doesn't affect your education, I'm fine with it. But why would Uncle Zhang give so much money to you?" Chen Mengyan's father was a police officer, and his salary was only 3,000 yuan. Her mom earned about 10,000 yuan per month as a CEO of a state-owned enterprise. Wasn't Yang Ming's salary slightly high?
"This is nothing. Others have a larger bonus than me. Besides, I have already told you that my base is 3,000 yuan and the 5,000 bonus was commission-based." Yang Ming explained.
Chen Mengyan stuck out her tongue. Boy, many university students didn't even have such benefits. You are indeed lucky to have such a high paying job before you start university. But she felt more happy than sad. Which girl didn't like her own boyfriend to be someone capable?
"Then you shouldn't waste money either. Save it for the future. Do you hear me?" Chen Mengyan told him.
"Hehe, you haven't even married me yet, and you already started to manage my financial rights? Yang Ming teased.
"What are you saying? I won't bother with you anymore!" Chen Mengyan was embarrassed, "I was doing this for your own good. Hmph, then you do whatever you like."
"Don't worry. This is just the beginning. I think I can have greater achievements in the future." Yang Ming was confident about this. Wasn't it a waste if he only used his special abilities on gambling jade?
"En, I believe in you." Chen Mengyan nodded her head, "Since you're so rich, then today, I'll rob some money from the rich!"
"Alright, I'm willing to be robbed." Yang Ming acted like a rich man.
"You're stupid. Why are you so happy using your money?" Chen Mengyan thought Yang Ming's expression was funny.
"It depends on the person. If it were Zhao Sisi, I wouldn't be so happy." Yang Ming laughed too.
"Why would Zhao Sisi need you? What would Zhang Bing do then?" Chen Mengyan rolled her eyes at Yang Ming.
Although they already established their relationship, Chen Mengyan still felt anxious when she was holding hands with him. One experienced such feelings of first love only a few times in one's life.
This was the fascinating feeling between lovers. This was much better than jumping into bed when they both met.
"Shall we go to that shop?" Chen Mengyan pointed to Semir franchise house and asked.
Don't ever think that lovers always went to Chanel or Armani. Those places only appeared in novels or only the rich shopped at such places. Most students chose shops for casual clothing for normal citizens, such as Tonlion, Semir, Jeanswest, and Baleno.
"Alright." Yang Ming wanted to buy some clothes too.
"Yang Ming, what do you think about that?" Chen Mengyan asked suddenly.
Yang Ming looked at what her finger pointed at. It was a couples T-shirt that was cute in style. "Not bad, do you want to try it?"
This novel is translated at G R A V I T Y T A L E S . C O M...
Chapter Notes:Write a Tell other readers why you like SPSF!
If you like works from this author, Fishman II, Gravity Tales also features another one of his novels, , translated by Marcy and edited by Weirdo. Lin Yi is a disciple of Yang Ming. He knows martial arts, is a great cook and highly skilled herbal doctor and of course, has his own harem! Check it out!