Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"Ha, and you call that beat-up little point-and-shoot taking pictures? You ought to be ashamed to pull it out. Don't insult art," the young man said, casting a scornful glance at the compact camera in Zhang Bin's hands, his face full of contempt. "All right, I've no time to waste jawing with you. Go find somewhere cool to hang out."

"What kind of way is that to talk? So you're the only one doing art?" Zhang Bin was thoroughly annoyed, especially at being looked down on in front of Wang Mei.

"I can't be bothered explaining things to amateurs like you. But since you're not ashamed, I don't mind letting you learn what professional means." The young man stepped up to Zhang Bin and pointed at his own camera. "See this? A Canon 1D Mark III, a full-frame DSLR. You wouldn't understand even if I told you. Now look at that piece of junk in your hands—don't embarrass yourself here."

"Oh, so your camera's a fine one?" Yang Ce stepped forward with a smile and asked the young man.

"Damn right it is. The top-of-the-line full-frame DSLR—the best in the Canon line," the young man said smugly. "Only a top-tier photographer like me deserves to own a divine instrument like this."

"Oh? Then might I have a look at this divine instrument of yours?" Yang Ce asked, pointing at the camera in the young man's hands.

The young man had not meant to agree, but hearing Yang Shuoxuan call the camera in his hands a "divine instrument" pleased him so much that he handed it over, then said contemptuously to Zhang Bin, "See that? Even your friend here knows a good thing when he sees one."

Yang Ce took the camera and put on a show of admiration, fiddling with it left and right in his hands. The young man stared fixedly at Yang Ce's hands, as though afraid he would break it. "All right, a couple of looks is enough. You're no photographer; you wouldn't know what you're looking at anyway."

"Very well," Yang Ce said, handing the camera back to the young man with a smile. "Thank you."

"All right, you'd best be off. Your friend, at least, knows how to talk nicely." The young man shot Zhang Bin a sidelong glare, took back his camera, and turned away. He had probably tired himself out with all that shooting, for he called his female companion over, and the two of them sat down together in the park pavilion, pulled two cans of beer and some snacks out of their backpack, and sat face to face eating and drinking.

Zhang Bin and Huang Yan did not recognize the pair, but Yang Ce remembered them vividly. These were the two who had earlier cut Huang Yan off in that red Porsche Cayenne.

"Boss, did you take the wrong medicine just now? Why were you so nice to that idiot?" Zhang Bin was puzzled. The way he saw it, the pair had actually been putting on airs in front of Yang Ce—weren't they just asking for a beating?

"Heh, take a look at this." Yang Ce casually handed something to Zhang Bin.

"A memory card!" Zhang Bin took what Yang Ce was holding and suddenly understood. "Boss, don't tell me you swiped the memory card out of that idiot's camera?"

"He's all about art, isn't he? Let's see how he makes art without a card." Yang Ce grinned wickedly. "You didn't know, did you? Those two are the very ones who overtook us in that red Porsche Cayenne earlier."

"Holy hell, boss, you even saw that clearly? I'm in awe." Even as he marveled, Zhang Bin grew curious. "Say, boss, when did you turn into such a master thief? First you stole the check from Liu Jihao, and now a memory card. I didn't even see how you did it."

"If you had seen it, so would everyone else," Yang Ce said. "If you want to learn, I can teach you—but I'm afraid you won't be able to stick with it."

"On second thought, never mind." The moment Zhang Bin heard words like "stick with it," he understood that this was not something one could learn overnight.

Huang Yan, seeing the memory card in Yang Ce's hand, could not help but smile. All at once it struck her that she had come out ahead in this bargain—her boyfriend seemed to be quite formidable, formidable in every way.

Not that Huang Yan cared about such things—but who wouldn't want better? The two of them had somehow stumbled into each other, and Huang Yan had never expected much of Yang Ce. Now, though, just as she was thinking this, she suddenly heard a strange cry from the young man not far behind her: "What the hell—how'd this camera break? It says there's no memory card!"

"The card's probably not seated right. That's normal enough," the young woman said indifferently.

"Oh—mm—what the fuck, where's the card?" the young man cried out again. "Does this camera eat cards now?"

"Are you sure you put the card in just now?" the young woman asked.

"If I hadn't put a card in, how would I have taken your picture—with my dick?" The young man glared and shot back, "The camera was sitting right here just now. Did anyone touch it?"

"How should I know? Wasn't the camera sitting right next to you?" the young woman said.

"Yeah, but I didn't see anyone touch it! Fuck me." The young man was frantic, pacing in circles.

"It's just a memory card, what's the big deal? They're so cheap now, just buy another one," the young woman said with a pout, thoroughly disdainful of the young man's stinginess.

"Fuck, you don't get it. I've got nude photos on there!" the young man shouted.

"Nude photos? So you've got a taste for selfies too?" Hearing this, the young woman found it quite funny.

"If those get out, I'll be famous!" The young man began rummaging frantically, dumping the contents of his bag out one by one.

"So what? You just become the naked-picture guy." The young woman spoke as if it were nothing at all, and even let out a couple of amused laughs.

"Laugh, laugh, laugh all you want, you stupid bitch—the photos of us fucking in the hotel room yesterday are on that card too," the young man cursed.

"What did you say? You shameless bastard!" The young woman slapped him across the face.

The young man was not about to take that lying down, and the two of them immediately flew at each other: "You wanted to fuck me in the first place, you cheap whore—you had it coming!"

Not far away, Zhang Bin, Wang Mei, and Huang Yan were laughing so hard they were doubled over, nearly unable to breathe. Only Yang Ce was still watching the two of them with keen interest as they carried on with their performance.

"Boss, you're ruthless," Zhang Bin said, giving a thumbs-up between laughs. "That move—absolutely brilliant."

"How was I supposed to know there were nude photos on that card?" Yang Ce gave an innocent shrug.

"Hey, let's go back to the hotel tonight and have a look," Zhang Bin said with a lecherous grin.

"Forget it. What's there to look at with people like that?" Yang Ce shook his head, tossed the memory card onto the ground, and crushed it to pieces underfoot. The chip inside had snapped; clearly there was no chance of recovery now. "Let them sweat for a few days. That's the only way to teach people like that a lesson."

Zhang Bin looked regretfully at the shattered memory card on the ground and said in disappointment, "And here I was thinking we could put the two of them up online."

"Give it a rest, you. Cut out all that nonsense," Yang Ce scolded. "Let's go. Forget about them." To be continued.

877. Heading Back to the Hotel Together

877 Heading Back to the Hotel Together. Around noon, the four of them left the park together, only to find that the young man and the young woman were still arguing—except now both of them were sitting inside the car.

After grabbing a casual meal at a nearby restaurant, they returned to the parking lot. The young man and woman had already gone, off to argue somewhere else, though they probably would not be getting any peace for the next few days; they likely still had a long stretch of fear and worry ahead of them.