Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Besides, Li Yixun had already met Chen Shutang's boyfriend, and the two of them had gotten along quite well. Naturally, he would not side with Wei Jin and Hong Kai. "But Hong Kai, I'm afraid you're out of luck this time—Chen Shutang already has a boyfriend."

"She does?" Hong Kai's brow furrowed at once at Li Yixun's words. He had been hoping to find a chance at this class reunion to get closer to Chen Shutang, never expecting that someone had already beaten him to it.

Li Yixun found Hong Kai's stunned expression rather amusing and could not resist needling him a little—but when he looked up, he caught sight of a familiar face.

"Yang Ce! Mengyan!" Li Yixun waved toward the entrance and called out.

Li Yixun was still grateful to Professor Heng for helping him with his love life, so the moment he saw Yang Ce, he greeted him warmly.

"Li Yixun, you came too!" Yang Juehuan nodded to him and walked over, holding Chen Shutang's hand.

Behind Yang Juehuan were Liu Ting and Liu Baoqiang, who came over together with Yang Ce and the others.

Hong Kai's and Wei Jin's expressions immediately darkened. The girls they had set their hearts on were both taken—anyone would look sour at that.

"Liu Ting, you made it." Wei Jin thought of his plan and felt pleased; putting on a show of friendliness, he greeted her: "Liu Baoqiang, you came along too."

Liu Baoqiang was puzzled. Wei Jin had never given him a civil look the whole time they were at school—what had gotten into him today, all smiles? But as the saying went, one does not strike a smiling face; since Wei Jin was greeting him with a smile, Liu Baoqiang could hardly say anything else, so he nodded amiably and said, "Yeah, I came along with Tingting."

"Have fun, you two!" Wei Jin nodded, still beaming.

Even Liu Ting wondered whether the fellow had changed his nature—how had he become so amiable? She paid her fee along with Liu Baoqiang and then stood off to the side. Yet today Wei Jin acted as though he had not seen her at all, and there was none of his usual fawning the moment they met, which struck Liu Ting as even stranger.

Hong Kai spotted Chen Shutang and strode over with a big grin. "Mengyan, it's been ages—you've gotten even prettier."

"Thank you," Chen Shutang answered coolly. Her heart now held only Yang Puqi; she could barely even remember what Hong Kai had looked like back then. At this moment she merely nodded at him out of the courtesy owed a former classmate.

"And who's this?" Hong Kai pretended to have just noticed Yang Juehuan, turned, and sized up Yang Ce with the air of a host before saying, "I was Mengyan's boyfriend in middle school."

In truth, Hong Kai had been observing Yang Ce for a while. Seeing how tall and imposing Yang Ce was, he felt a stir of hostility, though he did not take Yang Ce seriously at all. He was now the son of Boss Hong of the Dongfeng freight yard—there was no one he had ever feared.

So Hong Kai came straight out with a show of force, meaning to test just how deep this young fellow ran.

To be continued.

920. Mental Illness

920. Mental Illness. Hong Kai was not afraid of Yang Ce, but he was very much afraid of upsetting Chen Shutang, so as he spoke he kept watch on her expression. Unfortunately for him, her face did not change in the slightest, as though she did not care at all.

As it happened, Chen Shutang truly did not care. She knew Yang Ce would believe her. He was her first man, and the two of them had come all the way from high school to now, weathering many storms along the way; Yang Shuoxuan could not possibly doubt her over a single sentence from the fellow in front of her. So Chen Shutang felt there was not even any need to explain to He Yan—he would never believe Hong Kai's words.

"Is that so?" A peculiar smile appeared on Yang Juehuan's face, and yet he said with great indifference, "You have the day off today?"

"Off?" Hong Kai was taken aback, baffled by Yang Cenbin's question that answered nothing. "Yes, we have the day off." But Hong Kai assumed Yang Yanzhou meant that school was on holiday.

"Oh, so the mental hospital has become this humane now—they let patients out to attend gatherings." Yang Ce nodded knowingly. "Or is it that you're almost cured? Though I don't think so."

"Who are you calling a mental patient?" Hong Kai finally understood—Yang Ce was saying he had run away from a mental hospital.

"I never said you were mentally ill," Yang Ce said with a most sympathetic shake of his head. "You only have a severe case of delusional disorder, that's all—though that is a form of mental illness too. But generally, mental patients never admit they're mentally ill."

Hong Kai's face went livid with rage. He had meant to test Yang Juehuan, and instead found himself mocked as a lunatic. Hong Kai was furious but utterly helpless: he really had not been Chen Shutang's middle-school boyfriend, so calling him delusional was not wrong.

"Ha ha, Hong Kai here likes to joke—don't mind him." Wei Jin stepped in with a smile to smooth things over. "Friend, let's get acquainted—my name's Wei Jin, I was the class monitor back then."

"Hello. Yang Ce." Yang Ce nodded to Wei Jin. He had already heard from Liu Baoqiang and Liu Ting that this fellow was no good either, so he showed no particular warmth.

"Hong Kai, aren't you going to apologize to Mengyan? You and your big mouth—you just say whatever comes into your head." Wei Jin shot Hong Kai a look as he spoke.

Hong Kai glanced at Chen Shutang's displeased expression and hurriedly made his apology: "Mengyan, don't mind me—I was only joking. I meant nothing by it."

"It's nothing. No one believed it anyway," Chen Shutang said, still aloof. Her impression of Hong Kai had always been poor. Back in middle school, apart from writing her love letters, all the man did was fawn over her. Chen Shutang was long since sick of it.

Hong Kai gave a dry laugh. It seemed he had lost the first round, and he was unconvinced; he began thinking about how to win back face in a little while.

As the organizer, Wei Jin still had many classmates to attend to, so he soon left Liu Ting and the others to themselves and went back to the busy work of registration.

Not many of their middle-school classmates were still in Songjiang, though—only a dozen or so had come. But since many had brought their partners, the group did not seem small.

It was not until two o'clock, after Wei Jin had waited an extra ten minutes, that he said, "That's about the time. Whoever was coming should be here by now. Let's go eat first, and afterward you can do whatever you like—there's swimming, bowling, karaoke, a gym, a disco, and an arcade here. In a bit I'll hand out day passes to everyone."

With that, Wei Jin summoned the lobby reception manager of the Xianren Resort and instructed her: "If any more of my classmates show up, just lead them straight up to the second floor of the restaurant."

"Of course, don't worry, Young Master Wei." The lobby manager naturally knew who Wei Jin was and hastened to agree.

Wei Jin nodded and called out to the group, "Everyone, follow me."

Chen Shutang glanced again toward the lobby entrance and could not help feeling a little disappointed. Neither her eldest nor her second sister had come after all. They probably feared the awkwardness of meeting each other.

Liu Ting saw what was on Chen Shutang's mind and said softly, "Mengyan, never mind. If they're not coming, they're not coming."

Chen Shutang nodded and walked with the crowd toward the restaurant.

Yang Ce had been here once before, so he knew the place well. Though the people around him were all different now, the scene gave him a sudden sense of living it all over again.

At the banquet table, these people said the same things and wore the same fawning faces, currying favor with Wei Jin and currying favor with Hong Kai.