Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

There were two advantages to doing this. First, she could test what attitude Yang Minlan herself took—whether, because she had lost her memory, she too would take the easy way out and never again bring up the promise she had made.

The second was to see Chen Shutang's attitude. If Chen Shutang's stance was firm and unyielding, then Zhou Yanning would have no choice but to make other plans—though even that would be better than being rejected to her face. At least there would be room to maneuver.

One could say this plan was fairly flawless, and Zhou Yanning had played her part rather well. She had roused no suspicion and shown no flaws.

But—but what happened afterward seemed to go entirely beyond anything Zhou Yanning had imagined.

She was already Yang Juehuan's girlfriend, and she was even living under the same roof as Chen Shutang and Yang Puqi. What on earth was going on? Would someone please tell her?

Had she suffered some unprecedented time-slip? Everyone around her had traveled through time, and only she had not? Crazy as the notion sounded, there was no other reason to explain the current situation. Oh, right—there was one more possibility: she really had lost her memory, forgotten a stretch of time. Forgotten that she and Yan had fallen in love and lived together.

But was that possible? Looking at today's date in the newspaper, it had been only about a month since she was injured. According to the doctor, she had spent that entire month lying in a hospital bed—so when would she have had the chance to do anything else?

Zhou Yanning was going mad, yet she could not let it show. Still, she could not hold back her curiosity, and asked in a small voice, "Sister Mengyan, where is our home?"

"Right near our school—Huashang Court. You'll see in a moment," Chen Shutang said mysteriously.

Because in the villa at Huashang Court, Yang Ce had deliberately furnished one room to be identical to Zhou Yanning's own room back in Donghai. Originally it was meant to create a good environment for her to rest and recover, but now it seemed it would not be needed for that. Still, it could give Zhou Yanning a surprise.

How could Chen Shutang have guessed that Zhou Yanning's amnesia was fake and her worry was real? In order to keep Zhou Yanning in good spirits and speed her recovery, she had fabricated a lie and presented it as established fact—never imagining that it would leave Zhou Yanning in such torment.

Watching the scene in the ward, Yang Ce truly did not know whether to laugh or cry, but mostly he felt relieved. Chen Shutang had really grown up; she was no longer as willful as before.

Shaking his head, Yang Ce turned and went downstairs to handle Zhou Yanning's discharge paperwork.

Zhou Yanning's medical expenses, from the beginning until now, had come to more than a hundred thousand in total, but to Yang Ce this money was nothing much. He swiped his card, took the receipt, and was ready to leave the hospital.

That done, Yang Ce hesitated a moment, then called Zhou Yanning's mother.

"Auntie Hua, this is Yang Ce." Yang Ce's relationship with Zhou's mother was not good; the two had had many unpleasant encounters before. But after Zhou Yanning was injured, their relationship had eased considerably. Especially after the Wang family's sudden downfall, Zhou's mother had begun to feel somewhat fortunate that she had not stubbornly insisted on marrying her daughter into the Wang family—otherwise, wouldn't her daughter's happiness have been ruined?

Now the former Wang Enterprises had been entirely folded under the banner of Mingyang Entertainment, and Mingyang Entertainment was more or less connected to Mingyang Heavy Industries, whose current helmsman was Yang Juehuan's father, Yang Cheyan.

This amazed Zhou's mother, and also somewhat gratified her. After all, she too wanted Zhou Yanning to find a boyfriend from a good family, and now Yang Shuoxuan fit that requirement perfectly.

And the project her own company had cooperated on with the former Wang Group had been taken over by Hou Lin, so Zhou's mother could no longer treat Yang Ce with the cold shoulder she once had.

"Yang Ce, what is it? Calling Auntie so late?" Zhou's mother's tone was exceedingly polite.

"Auntie Hua, Jiajia has woken up," Yang Yanzhou said.

"Ah—what? Jiajia's awake?" Zhou's mother exclaimed loudly the moment she heard it. "Really? Jiajia? Let me talk to her!"

"Jiajia is in the ward upstairs. I'm just handling her discharge paperwork now; I'll have her call you in a bit," Yang Yanzhou said.

"All right, all right!" Zhou's mother said again and again. "Then I'll wait for the call."

Back up in the ward, Chen Shutang and Zhou Yanning had finished talking and were sitting close together, chatting about everyday matters. Whether the closeness was real or feigned, seeing it put Yang Ce at ease.

Originally, while Yang Ce was glad that Zhou Yanning had woken up, he had also worried somewhat about Chen Shutang's attitude—but he had never expected that Chen Shutang would have settled everything before he even arrived.

Though the time he and Zhou Yanning had truly spent together was not much, and most of what he knew about her came from her diary, Yang Jiyan had already fallen in love with this somewhat stubborn, even somewhat recklessly devoted girl.

Perhaps Chen Shutang was right: affection could be cultivated slowly. Once he and Zhou Yanning had spent more time together, their relationship would naturally grow harmonious.

He knocked on the door, and Yang Shuoxuan withdrew his ability. Chen Shutang's voice came from inside: "Come in."

Yang Ce pushed the door open and went in. Seeing Chen Shutang still sitting at Zhou Yanning's bedside, he asked with a smile, "What are you two talking about?"

"Oh, nothing," Chen Shutang said, and gave Yang Ce a wink, signaling him not to say too much.

Given what he had seen and heard earlier, how could Yang Ce not understand what Chen Shutang meant? She was surely afraid he would let something slip.

"Mr. Yang, Miss Zhou is already awake. You see—" Auntie Li's duty was to look after Zhou Yanning, but now that Zhou Yanning had woken up, there was no need for her to stay on.

"Auntie Li, you've worked hard these past days. I'll settle your wages in a moment," Yang Yuting said with a nod of thanks. "We agreed on two thousand a month, but you've done well, so I'll give you three thousand."

"No, no need!" Auntie Li was a little delighted, but she refused all the same. She well understood that one should not accept payment without having earned it; she did not want to take money for nothing.

"It's fine, it's settled then." With that, Yang Yanzhou took out his wallet, counted out three thousand yuan, and handed it to Auntie Li. As for why he gave only a thousand extra, that too was the result of careful thought.

Yang Moyi had money, it was true, but he could not let his wealth disrupt normal market rates. The going rate for hospital caregiving was two thousand; Auntie Li had done rather well, so a thousand more was enough. Give too much, and not only would Auntie Li not dare accept it, but it would seem less like a reward and more like charity.

"Then thank you, Mr. Yang." Seeing Yang Ce insist, Auntie Li accepted the money and said gratefully, "I'll go pack my things now."

"Pack your things? You still have to come with us in a bit!" Yang Ce glanced at Auntie Li and smiled. It seemed Auntie Li had misunderstood—she thought her work was done and she was to leave.

"Huh? Hasn't Miss Zhou already woken up?" Auntie Li asked, a little puzzled.

"It's like this: we're both students and don't have much time for housework, so I'd like to keep you on at our place—same salary, two thousand a month, plus a one-thousand bonus if the work's done well," Yang Ce explained. "After all, Jiajia has just woken up and she's still weak. She needs someone to look after her too."

To be continued

942. Quarreling with My Girlfriend