Chapter 22: Wang Zhitao's Strange Behavior
The last class in the afternoon was self-study class. There was a half an hour break in between. Yang Ming wanted to seize this moment and ask Chen Mengyan questions. At the same time, he wanted to get closer to Chen Mengyan too.
Yang Ming stood up and left his seat. At the moment he raised his head, he saw Wang Zhitao walking toward him.
By this time, this guy must know that the afternoon's matter was already out in the open. Yang Ming frowned and wondered why Wang Zhitao walked toward him. If they were in a brawl, he was not afraid of Wang Zhitao. However, he was afraid of the power that Wang Zhitao wielded as the class monitor to deliberately find fault with him.
Wang Zhitao smiled as he greeted him, "Yang Ming!"
As expected, he was coming to Yang Ming. Yang Ming felt a something was amiss when he saw Wang Zhitao's face with a large smile. Did this guy go insane? Why is he greeting me with a smile?
"Yes, great class monitor, what are you looking for from me?" Yang Ming didn't want to respond, however, there was a saying that we don't beat up people who look kindly to us. Therefore, he just casually replied to Wang Zhitao.
"Yang Ming, I came here to apologize!" Wang Zhitao's sentence stunned Yang Ming on the spot!
Sorry? Yang Ming looked at Wang Zhitao with interest. What happened to this fellow? Why is he apologizing to me at this moment? Did I hear it correctly? Is he crazy or does he have other motives?
Yang Ming asked, "Sorry? What do you mean, class monitor? Why can't I understand it?"
"Actually, this afternoon's incident was because of the people that I hired!" Wang Zhitao admitted the truth and said, "The situation was like this. That day, I noticed that you were bullying Chen Mengyan so I developed a grudge against you. On the spur of the moment, I got two punks to teach you a lesson. Later, I regretted my actions. Since we are all students, there's no need to escalate the matter into a violent one even though there's a conflict, or else, our conflict will become more serious! After I realized this, I immediately called the people that I hired so that they didn't come over. However, they told me that since the money was already paid, they would finish the business. No matter how hard I tried to persuade them, I failed to convince them otherwise. The two whom I hired already know you so if a fight broke out, I wouldn't know what to do!"
Yang Ming was surprised that Wang Zhitao would admit all this to his face. Could it be that Zhitao had changed to be a better person? This was highly unlikely! Yang Ming wasn't crazy. Since Wang Zhitao's words carried a tone of inner conflict, this fellow must be bamboozling him!
The matter of Yang Ming teasing Chen Mengyan had been over for a week and Wang Zhitao only got someone to teach him a lesson today. How could this be a spontaneous act? Even if it was a spur of the moment decision as he said, why didn't he confront Yang Ming during the afternoon rather than try his best to persuade Yang Ming to go to the school gate?
Yang Ming said, "Oh, that's what happened. It's not a big deal. Haha. I thought nothing of it!" As a matter of fact, Yang Ming didn't put this matter in his heart.
Wang Zhitao acted sincerely and spoke to Yang Ming, "Haha. Yang Ming, you are really generous. Although you don't put it in your heart, my conscience still hurts. In order to properly apologize to you, I will treat you to dinner to repent for my crime!"
Yang Ming narrowed his eyes and looked at the person in front of him. He wanted to dig out the motive behind Wang Zhitao's expression but to no avail. Wang Zhitao still seemed very sincere with his expression.
Wang Zhitao spent a lot of effort to perfect his act. He planned it all well before executing it. Naturally, it was not easy to detect any flaws.
However, Yang Ming was very sure that this fellow had another motive lurking in the depths. Therefore, there could be something else going on. No, there must be something else going on!
Yang Ming waved his hand and said, "I am sorry. I need to go for Teacher Zhao's tutorial in the evening. I can't make it. I will accept your goodwill. This isn't something serious so let's just call it off!"
Wang Zhitao hastily pressed further and said, "If not today, how about tomorrow?!"
Yang Ming added, "I need to go tutorial every day!"
Wang Zhitao continued, "How about weekends? You should be free on weekends, right?"
Yang Ming gave out a bitter smile and said, "Weekend? Didn't I say that there's no need for it?"
Wang Zhitao earnestly said, "How could that be? This is a must! Let's just set it on Saturday night. I will reserve a table at the Tavern Heaven On Earth in this city. You must be there, ok?!"
Yang Ming wanted to decline. "But..."
Wang Zhitao made it a big deal and said, "No more buts. Yang Ming, are you looking down on me as the class monitor? If you respect me, you must go! But if you really don't intend to accept my apology, then so be it!"
Yang Ming promised and said, "Uhm… Alright, I will go. So, that's okay now right?!" First, Yang Ming felt that this was strange. Why would Wang Zhitao so eagerly want to treat him to dinner? Yang Ming wanted to dig out what was hidden behind all this. Second, Tavern Heaven on Earth was a very high-class tavern in the city. Also known as a corrupted gold kiln [1], this place was frequented by the big bosses and the rich. Yang Ming would normally never get to experience that place. Since Wang Zhitao was there to pay the bill, he wanted to get a taste of what was inside!
Wang Zhitao happily patted Yang Ming's shoulder when he got Yang Ming's promise. He said, "A promise is a promise!" Afterward, he rested, satisfied with the matter, and returned to his seat.
Yang Ming shook his head and looked at his watch. He had wasted 10 minutes with Wang Zhitao and break time was already half over! He immediately took his review question assigned by Zhao Ying and approached Chen Mengyan.
Wang Zhitao saw Yang Ming walked towards Chen Mengyan's seat. He was displeased deep in his heart and he thought to himself, "Yang Ming, ah, Yang Ming. I will let you be cool for two more days. Let's see how it goes when I shame you to death! You don't even look at your own net worth when you are stealing my girl!"
On the surface, Zhitao still acted as if it was nothing. He nodded his head in a friendly manner when Yang Ming passed by him.
Yang Ming scratched his head. Would this be caused by the outbreak of my character? After gaining this special power, could my body have emitted some dominant aura, allowing myself to beat my opponents without a fight and make them worship at my feet?
It was just a thought. Yang Ming really did not believe things were this way. Since this was not a supernatural story, like the saying, 'never judge a book by its cover', who knew what that fellow was thinking?
Chapter 23: Boyfriend?
"Just now, what did Wang Zhitao speak to you about?" Chen Mengyang looked at Yang Ming and asked.
"Nothing much. He wanted to treat me to a meal!" said Yang Ming.
"Him? Treat you to a meal?" Astonished, Chen Mengyan stared at Yang Ming. She tried again, "Stop lying. Tell me what did he actually said!"
"..." Yang Ming was speechless. Why was it so hard to be an honest guy these days? He said, "He asked me to leave you alone!"
"Now that sounds about right! Do not lie to me again in the future!" Chen Mengyan nodded. "So, how did you reply?"
Yang Ming sighed. When he was honest no one believed him, yet when he lied she accepted it so easily!
"I asked him to leave me alone instead!" Yang Ming continued to make up his story.
"Hehe..." Chen Mengyan smiled and didn't say anything. She didn't really know why but nowadays she actually dreamed at night about Yang Ming. During the day, he was always on her mind. Recently, it became routine for her to explain their studies to him. If he wasn't here for a day, Chen Mengyan would feel empty deep inside her heart.
Today, for instance, Chen Mengyan had waited for quite some time but didn't see Yang Ming at all. However, when she turned around, she saw Wang Zhitao speaking to Yang Ming.
She didn't know why but she started to compare Wang Zhitao and Yang Ming in her heart. The original prince charming, Wang Zhitao, had dimmed. All that was left was his stingy, sensitive, and critical behavior. However, the Yang Ming who was deemed useless at first now seemed to be more authentic and warm.
Even though Yang Ming sometimes appeared to be really rude and loved to fight with others, his core personality wasn't all that bad. His kindness to others was the key reason why Chen Mengyan didn't turn him away.
Yang Ming didn't know what Chen Mengyan was thinking. He proceeded to take out the exam paper prepared for him by Zhao Ying and hand it over to Chen Mengyan.
In the evening, Yang Ming went to Zhao Ying's office as agreed earlier. He hadn't seen the fly, Jin Gang, in recent days, and Jin Gang hadn't caused any trouble for him either.
Yang Ming's principle was always to mind his own business. Even if others barged into his business, he would still avoid interrupting others unless it was some unforgivable case that really got on his nerve. For example, in the recent incident with Wang Zhitao, since the two punks didn't do anything to him, Yang Ming didn't think about doing anything to Wang Zhitao as well.
This also included the bicycle that Jin Gang wrecked. Yang Ming did not consider having Jin Gang compensate him.
"Not bad, Yang Ming! You have improved a lot recently. If we continue at this rate, you would be able to reach our present syllabus in two weeks' time!" said Zhao Ying with a sense of relief. She took the exam paper that Yang Ming handed to her.
"This is all due to Sister Ying's effort!" Yang Ming gave all the credit to her.
Zhao Ying gave him a glare and said, "Don't say it's only my effort. If Chen Mengyan heard you, she would say that you were ungrateful!"
"Ah? Sister Ying, you knew it all along?" Yang Ming replied awkwardly as his jaw dropped.
"What else could you hide from me!?" Zhao Ying said with a loud 'hmph', "Yang Ming, our age gap isn't that big. There's really nothing that you could keep a secret. However, I would like to tell you that your National Higher Education Entrance Examination is coming soon. Do focus your efforts at the right place!"
"Yes, Sister Ying!" Yang Ming slapped his chest and guaranteed, "I will focus all my efforts on Sister Ying instead!"
"You...! !#...!" Zhao Ying thought. Could this guy really be thinking things that way? However, when she saw Yang Ming's sly smile, she knew he was just joking.
"Yep. I am reminding you that you already have this pretty sister promising to be your wife in the future. Don't spend your efforts on other ladies!" Zhao Ying said sarcastically.
"Eh... Sister Ying, I am just joking... Hehe." Yang Ming felt a chill on his body.
Once these two people finished packing their things, they left the office. After all these days of extra classes, Zhao Ying and Yang Ming had become really familiar with one another.
"Sister Ying, let's go grab some supper since we finished early today," suggested Yang Ming after he looked at his watched and touched the cash in his pocket.
"Alright, since you have improved really quick recently, I shall reward you by buying you something nice to eat!" Zhao Ying said smiling.
"Wait, you gave me free tutoring and now you want to buy me a meal? I won't feel at ease!" Yang Ming shook his head.
"Why not? If you are not treating me like your sister, then you buy me a meal! But, not only a meal, also pay me the tutoring fee for the past few days!" Zhao Ying was slightly irritated listening to what Yang Ming said.
Since Yang Ming noticed that Zhao Ying was annoyed and her intention was just for his own good, he thought that arguing further would be dumb. Therefore, he stopped insisting and nodded in agreement instead.
The two walked out of the school gate to the night market nearby. Even though it was the beginning of the spring, the weather was still a bit cold but it didn't prevent a large number of people from going to the market.
This was the number one food street of Song Jiang City. Many students and people who had just gotten off from work like to come here. It was very satisfying to have a few small dishes and beers.
Yang Ming had really liked to come here since he was in junior high school. Together with his friends, Xu Peng and Li Dagang, he would drink beer and chat. Once they were here, they would stay for the whole afternoon or until midnight.
Since senior high school, Xu Peng had his own billiards business, therefore, Yang Ming had come less often.
"Is it really clean here? " Zhao Ying initially wanted to find a proper restaurant, but Yang Ming insisted on bringing her here.
"This is something that you do not know, Sister Ying. This is the number one food street of Song Jiang City. Since you came from out of town, it is reasonable that you did not know this. Most stalls on the street have been in business for more than ten years now. A few of these are stalls were handed down by their fathers too. Not only is it cheap and clean, the food has its own authentic taste!" Yang Ming explained as he led Zhao Ying in front of a large stall.
"Hey, this mister is right. Our stall is one of the prominent old stalls. It has been passed down from my grandfather. A few years have passed by like it was just a day. Our shop's most popular dish is An Hui Beef Noodle [1]. Would you both like to try it?" Yang Ming's words were heard by the stall owner opposite them.
Zhao Ying looked at Yang Ming doubtfully. "Is it really that good to eat?"
"Yup. His beef noodle is pretty delicious. I had always come here to eat it when I was in junior high school." Yang Ming nodded his head.
"Lady, once I saw you, I knew that you were not a local but your boyfriend is absolutely from Song Jiang!" said the stall owner with a smile.
"Boyfriend?" Zhao Ying was flabbergasted...