Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Yang Ce was thoroughly annoyed. How was he supposed to get anything done like this? His pure and wholesome thoughts had turned into a head full of filth, and his longing for Zhao Ying had turned into longing for her breasts. Damn it, this would not do. Yang Ce coughed twice, but the two behind him showed no reaction at all. Whether they were too absorbed to hear the sounds around them or simply saw nothing wrong with it, he could not tell.

At a loss, Yang Ce coughed twice more. This was a study room, after all—could they not mind the impression they made? At the very least, couldn't they pretend to be a pure and innocent couple? Or was this meant to be some kind of classroom grope-gate?

His two coughs had been a little loud, and the groping couple behind him finally heard. Their movements stopped as well. Yang Ce thought they had realized their mistake and meant to mend their ways, but the exchange that followed nearly made him faint with rage.

"Darling, look how hard that guy in front is working—coming to study in the dead of winter, still studying even though he's so sick he keeps coughing. He's a match for us!" the young man said.

"Yeah, darling, I was just thinking that," the girl chimed in. "We come to study every day and we're diligent enough, but there's someone even more hardcore than us."

Yang Ce broke out in a cold sweat. He thought: I'm thick-skinned enough, but someone thicker-skinned than me—that's a rare specimen. He could not take it anymore. Yang Ce prepared to get up and leave. Damn it, can't I just switch to another classroom?

Then the girl spoke again: "You there, in front—if you're sick, don't come to study. One day more or less won't make a difference. Rome wasn't built in a day."

Yang Ce saw that the girl's breast was still in the young man's hand, yet she could say such a thing. He was speechless. Today he had finally witnessed what a ruthless character looked like.

He had always thought himself a thoroughly lecherous sort. So it turned out he was actually so pure! At this thought, Yang Ce could not help feeling a little smug. So I'm still a very pure person after all.

Yang Ce gathered up the things on his desk and fled the classroom at speed. Truly unbearable. He glanced back at that despicable pair and suddenly understood—no wonder there were only the two of them in this classroom. Even the emptiest of the other classrooms had a dozen or so people in them.

Yang Ce was cautious this time. It was his first time studying here, and he had no experience. Having learned his lesson, this time he observed for a good while first and picked a classroom with a more studious atmosphere before going in.

Yang Ce found a relatively quiet seat and sat down. At last he could peacefully get on with the grand undertaking of filling out his memory tree.

Where to begin? Yang Ce closed his eyes and cast his mind back over how he and Zhao Ying had first met. Well, the truth was that his feelings for Zhao Ying had probably taken root long ago—back when she was still his math teacher, before she had ever tutored him, Yang Ce and Zhao Ying had already felt something of a spark.

Compared with Chen Shutang of those days, Zhao Ying was more mature, more full-bodied, and she stirred in Yang Ce a strange and particular infatuation.

To be continued.

999. The Mystery of the Disappearance

Ah, this was a headache. Something like that could hardly go into the Memory Tree—if Zhao Ying ever read it, she would be sure to think his mind was full of filth, and it might well backfire.

Then he might as well start with the first time he went to Zhao Ying's office and needled Jin Gang, the flower-bearer. At that thought, Yang Ce's inspiration came rushing like a spring, and he began to write a love story in flowing, copious prose. From the first tutoring session, to that moonlit night when the two of them ate noodles together, faced thugs together, and came to the brink of a kiss; all the way to their reunion after graduation, when they sat in a café and talked heart to heart, and he pretended to be her boyfriend—Yang Ce realized that he truly had a gift for writing. And he owed it all to having regularly read a fellow called Yu Ren Er Dai; his composition skills had improved by leaps and bounds.

As if aided by a god, he finished it in one breath. Afterward Yang Ce went over it carefully once more before cautiously closing the Memory Tree. Of course, he left some blank space for Zhao Ying to fill in.

Yang Ce gathered up the things on the desk and made ready to leave the study room. Most of the students in that room were wholly absorbed in their studies; no one paid any mind to Yang Ce coming or going—no one so much as glanced at him.

Out of the classroom, at a loss and bored, Yang Ce wandered at random about the campus. As he passed the faculty building, a thought suddenly struck him: might Xiao Qing be at school?

And so, without hurry, he went into the faculty building and made his way to Xiao Qing's office. Standing before the door, Yang Ce knocked, and sure enough Xiao Qing's voice came from within: "Come in."

Yang Ce's heart lifted with delight—it seemed this trip had not been wasted. He pushed the door open and went in, only to find Xiao Qing at her computer, busy with something.

"Sister Xiao Qing." Yang Ce shut the door behind him and quickly walked toward her.

Xiao Qing had assumed it was a colleague from the department, and never expected Yang Ce; she started, then turned her head. "Yang Ce, what brings you here? Aren't you still on break?"

"I am. I was bored stiff, so I came to the school to visit a classmate. She's not out of class yet, so I came round to your office to see whether you were at work." Yang Ce came up beside Xiao Qing and, from behind, put his arms around her, speaking softly.

Xiao Qing's body gave a little shudder. This was an office, after all, not home; every time Yang Ce made love to her in the office, it gave her a very peculiar feeling—nervous and thrilling at once, and yet truly wonderful, a little bit addictive.

"Let go of me, quick—what if someone comes in?" Xiao Qing twisted her body and scolded him with a coy pout.

Yang Ce, however, only laughed, quite unconcerned. "I've already shut the door tight."

"You! You never take anything seriously. What if someday my godfather catches us? He'd be furious enough to die," Xiao Qing said, somewhat helplessly. The relationship between herself and Yan was a permanent ache in her heart; it could never be made public, and for the rest of her life she could only carry it on in secret.

Though she had known Yang Ce first, she seemed to count for even less than Sun Jie—at least Sun Jie could be with Yan openly and without a care.

"If he finds out, he finds out. We're not real siblings, so what's there to fear?" Yang Ce was unconcerned. "You just overthink things. There was never any trouble in this world—it's only fools who make trouble for themselves."

"Overthink or not, I truly have come to dread those strange looks people give me," Xiao Qing sighed.

Yang Ce nodded to show he understood. He knew what kind of past Xiao Qing had: on her wedding day the groom had run off—what greater mockery could there be? For anyone with a weaker constitution, suicide would have been a real possibility.

And he himself was, in name, Xiao Qing's younger brother. If he and Xiao Qing ended up together, outsiders would surely say ugly things. Yang Ce did not care, but Xiao Qing? He could not help but consider her.

"I know. Don't worry, I'll be careful," Yang Ce said. "Sister Xiao Qing, how have godfather and godmother been keeping these days?"

Yang Ce had been rather busy of late. Apart from paying a New Year's call at Liu Yan's home during the festival, nearly a month had passed and he had not been back since.

"Mother and Father are in fair health. It's just that Liu Yan's birthday is coming up soon, and they've been a little low in spirits," Xiao Qing said with a sigh.