Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

The two of them came down to the living room on the lower floor, where Auntie Li was mopping the floor. Seeing Yang Ce and Chen Shutang come down, she said at once, "Mr. Yang, Miss Chen, the ingredients for the meal are all ready. If you're hungry, I'll start cooking right now."

Yang Ce and Chen Shutang really were hungry, so Yang Yuting nodded and said, "Then we'll trouble you, Auntie Li."

Auntie Li went off to prepare dinner. Chen Shutang and Yan sat on the living room sofa, turned on the television, and began watching the news.

"Hey, Yang Ce, that haunted traffic case has been solved!" Because of Chen Fei's profession, Chen Shutang had a particularly strong sense of justice. Now that the case was solved, she was naturally delighted.

"Mm, probably solved." Yang Hengye smiled. How could Chen Shutang know that her lover was the one who had cracked the case?

"It's Sister Xia Xue!" Chen Shutang watched the TV news in surprise. "Sister Xia Xue is amazing—she caught even such a formidable criminal!"

Yang Lanxu thought, amazing my ass—she just picked up a bargain. But aloud he said, "Yes, that girl Xia Xue is quite capable."

"But really, I never would have guessed it was Chen Afu. He was the mastermind behind it all." Chen Shutang stared at the report on TV and said with some emotion, "Three years as classmates, and I truly never saw a thing."

"I saw it, though. That kid was rotten to the core back then. Remember? He was always scheming to do me harm, but he never succeeded." Yang Ce got angry just thinking about the fellow.

"And you still say that—every time, you were the one beating him up." Chen Shutang sighed. "All you know is violence."

"But looking at it now, I clearly hit him too lightly. If I'd beaten him crippled, he couldn't be out here harming people now." Yang Ce shook his head and said regretfully.

"You—you just can't be serious. If you'd beaten him crippled, wouldn't you be in prison too? Then what would become of me?" Chen Shutang glared at Yang Puqi.

"If Zhiyun hadn't been so principled and stood up for what was right, I'd probably be sitting in a jail cell right now." Yang Ce thought back to their high school days, and his tone grew wistful.

"Exactly. That's why I'm grateful to her too." Chen Shutang nodded, then hummed: "I know what you're getting at—you want me to stop picking on Sister Lin, isn't that it? Though you'd have to be capable of bullying her in the first place. My worry is you bullying her."

"Then I'll start by bullying you." Yang Ce chuckled, and the two of them dissolved into another round of roughhousing.

After a while, when they had worn themselves out, Chen Shutang suddenly lowered her head as though something was weighing on her mind, and fell silent.

"Mengyan, what's wrong?" Yang Ce asked, puzzled by the look on her face.

"The case is solved, Dad isn't so busy anymore, and I can't keep staying out every night. I expect he's going to want me to move back home." Chen Shutang had finally gotten a rare chance to be alone with Yan, and she cherished it, reluctant to leave.

"Heh, that?" Yang Ce laughed. "Easy. I'll talk to Uncle Chen—tell him we're getting ready for the new term."

"What kind of preparation does a new term need?" Chen Shutang was baffled.

"Preparing for a smoother live-in arrangement next semester—cultivating our feelings ahead of time." Yang Ce gave a sly grin and made the claim without a shred of shame.

"Oh, you're impossible—what nonsense are you spouting?" Chen Shutang laughed and swatted at him.

A pleasant melody rang out—Yang Ce's phone. He glanced at the caller ID and sighed in resignation; he had just switched off Do Not Disturb, and here came Xia Yan calling like a ghost that wouldn't let him rest.

"Mengyan, I need to take this." Yang Ce told Chen Shutang, then answered and walked toward the side room off the main hall: "Hello? What is it you want?"

"What do you mean, what do I want?" Hearing the sharp edge in Yang Ce's voice, Xia Yan gave a bitter laugh: "Yang Ce, my dear brother—what's the matter with your phone? I've been calling all day and can't get through, and your satellite phone is off too. You've had me searching high and low."

Yang Ce found Xia Yan's tale of woe rather funny, and said, "All right, out with it."

"The Right Elder got away." Xia Yan sighed with regret. "Last night we set a trap, but in the end the Right Elder never showed."

"Expected." Yang Ce was not the least bit surprised, and said mildly: "Who is the Right Elder, after all? Even a small fry like Chen Afu proved so hard to handle—let alone the boss behind him. Still, it's good to have identified this man; better than knowing nothing. There'll be plenty of chances to take him out. No rush."

"Yeah, hearing you say that makes me feel a bit better. If you say the Right Elder is hard to deal with, then he must be." Xia Yan said: "We've taken Chen Afu away for experiments. Officially we're putting it out that Chen Afu is schizophrenic and has been sent to a mental hospital for compulsory treatment."

"Whatever." Yang Ce wasn't much interested in any of that. As for the bit of sorcery Chen Afu knew, it was nothing worth mentioning—even if they studied it, they'd be lucky to make sense of it. "You all decide. You know I don't care about this sort of thing."

"You." Xia Yan said, "Anyway, however you look at it, you've done a great service this time. Whatever you want, just say the word."

"Nothing for now. If something comes up, I'll let you know." Yang Ce answered offhandedly.

"All right then." Xia Yan laughed. "From the look of things, you must be busy. I won't keep you."

"Mm. When are you coming back?" Yang Ce asked.

"In a few days. Once I've finished wrapping things up here. Before I go, I'll definitely treat you to a meal." Xia Yan said.

"Sounds good. We'll be in touch." Yang Ce hung up.

What irked Yang Ce was that the Right Elder had actually escaped—though on reflection it was no surprise. According to Lan Ling's grandmother, even she was hardly a match for the Right Elder, so it stood to reason Xia Yan hadn't caught him.

Yang Ce hung up and returned to the living room, only to find Chen Shutang on her phone. "Second Uncle, I can't make that decision either—you'd better ask my dad," Chen Shutang was saying, sounding rather put out. "All right, all right, I'll give you my dad's number."

"Who was that?" Yang Ce asked once she had hung up.

"Second Uncle. Do you remember? Once when we went home—it was when my dad had the car accident—we ran into him at our front door." Chen Shutang gave a wry smile. "He actually says the culprit behind that haunted traffic case is his son, and he wants me to put in a word with my dad, to see if he can meet his son. I told him to call my dad directly. I don't know whether Dad will be able to help him."

Yang Ce smiled bitterly. If Chen Dazhuang was asking Chen Fei for help, he was likely to get nowhere—Chen Afu was now under secret surveillance by Xia Yan's people, and no one knew where he was being held.

Chen Fei had never been permitted to take part in what followed. Nominally it was their people handling it, but in reality he had nothing to do with it at all. And the credit had fallen to Xia Xue for no reason at all.

Thinking back to that quarrel he'd witnessed between Chen Dazhuang and Chen Afu, Yang Ce felt a pang of sympathy for Chen Dazhuang. After he got out of prison, his son had disowned him, and now the son had committed a crime with his future uncertain. Chen Dazhuang's request wasn't much—just to see him once.

At that thought, Yang Ce took Chen Shutang's phone, pretending to browse idly through her text messages, and noted down Chen Dazhuang's number, resolving to call him in a little while and put in a good word with Xia Yan on his behalf.

Xia Yan wouldn't refuse a favor to him. It wasn't any great matter, and it ought to go through without a problem.