Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"Yang Ce, I have a good impression of you. I know you are a formidable man, and I would be at ease entrusting Lele to you." Huang Lin laughed bitterly. "As a member of the Huang family, I cannot do anything that harms the family's interests. If I did, how would I face Father and my eldest brother afterwards? But equally, as Lele's second brother, I do not want to see her unhappy, to see her cheerless. I want her never to be drawn into the family's squabbles, to live her life happy. So you see, I really am caught in the middle. In my position, I do not know what to do. I am calling you in the hope that you can help me settle this trouble. In short, I do not want Lele to be unhappy."

Huang Lin had said that as a member of the Huang family he did not wish to do anything that harmed the family's interests; in truth he was only deceiving himself. By tipping Yang Ce off, he had already harmed the family's interests, for Yang Ce was absolutely not the sort to stand by and do nothing.

Still, Yang Ce understood Huang Lin's difficulty. That he could make this call at all proved he was on Huang Yan's side — there were simply some things he could not do himself. And even if he had wanted to, the Huang family's eldest son would never have let him interfere.

"Any progress on the marriage alliance?" Yang Ce asked with a helpless sigh.

"Not yet, but it's close," Huang Lin said. "The family my father approached is a major clan too. At first they weren't much interested in the alliance, but once their boy saw Lele's photo, he took a shine to her and told his father to agree. Still, you know as well as I do that the alliance is only a means to an end—after it's done, they'll back our family's investments in Africa. That's no small matter; they'll want to examine it carefully and discuss it before deciding anything, so you still have time."

Yang Ce breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there was time. Term would start for him tomorrow—he couldn't very well skip out the moment it began; that would be far too outrageous. If he could buy some time, he would think of something.

"I understand. I'll get over there as soon as I can. But if anything stirs on your end, you must tell me at once," Yang Minlan instructed Huang Lin.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't gamble with my own sister's happiness," Huang Lin assured him hastily.

"Good. Second Brother, tell Lele not to worry—it's nothing serious. I'll help her sort it out," Yang Yanzhou said.

"I believe you," Huang Lin said, gravely and sincerely.

After hanging up, Yang Ce sighed. One wave had scarcely subsided before another rose. These past few days his hands were full of one messy thing after another—Zhao Ying's situation still wasn't settled, and now something had happened on Huang Yan's end too.

No wonder he hadn't been able to reach Huang Yan before. Still, this was easy enough to handle—it was just some provisional government in a tiny African country. Yang Ce had never feared anyone. At worst he would go there himself and threaten the provisional head of that provisional government to his face: if the contract matter wasn't resolved properly, he would simply kill him. He reckoned the man was most afraid of people like Yang Cenbin. After offending a hitman organization, his days would likely be numbered.

Even if Yang Ce truly had no time to go, it was still easy—however much money the Huang family had lost in Africa, he would simply pay them that amount himself. So Yang Shuoxuan wasn't especially worried.

Zhou Yanning was in the car and heard Yang Juehuan on the phone, but she couldn't hear what Huang Lin was saying on the other end, so she caught only fragments and couldn't make sense of it. Besides, she had her own troubles on her mind, so she didn't pay much attention to Yang Juehuan's call.

Zhao Ying went upstairs and found the bathroom on the upper floor. Once inside, the first thing she did was lock the door—she had just been talking with Wang Yanqiu about not locking the door while bathing, so locking it was pure reflex for Zhao Ying.

She ran the bathwater, then began to undress, setting each garment neatly aside. By the time she had finished, the water was about ready. Zhao Ying opened the cabinet Wang Yanqiu had mentioned and took out a towel and a fresh set of pajamas. Just as she was about to close the cabinet door, her hand suddenly froze, and her gaze caught on a small box inside—Durex condoms. Zhao Ying was stunned for a moment. How could Wang Yanqiu have something like this? She was no little girl; she recognized the thing at once and knew what it was for.

She knew she shouldn't be so nosy as to touch Wang Yanqiu's things, but she couldn't help herself—her hand crept over of its own accord and took the box. It had been opened. Zhao Ying carefully opened it and found only three left inside; the other nine had vanished into thin air. Did Wang Yanqiu use these?

Then who was she using them with? Zhao Ying's breathing quickened, and her arm began to tremble despite herself. She knew what kind of person Wang Yanqiu was. When they had lived together before, Wang Yanqiu had still been a virgin, and she was absolutely not the sort of girl to be casual about such things. Now Zhao Ying had found this in her cabinet—so could it be with Yan? Zhao Ying's heart gave a violent jolt, because that was the only possibility she could think of. Since Wang Yanqiu had asked Yang Ce to pose as her boyfriend, that meant she had no boyfriend at present. And with no boyfriend, she couldn't possibly be using these things with anyone else—surely she hadn't bought them to blow up as balloons?

So the only one left was Yang Shuoxuan. Zhao Ying couldn't be blamed for overthinking it; she had suspected something between Yang Ce and Wang Yanqiu before, and though Wang Yanqiu had explained it away, how was she to explain this box of used condoms now?

To be continued.

1049. The Huang Family's Trouble

Though Zhao Ying was unwilling to doubt what Wang Yanqiu had said, and didn't want to make things more complicated than they were, the facts lay right before her eyes, and she couldn't help thinking it.

She checked the production date printed on the box—it had been made recently. Zhao Ying sighed to herself and carefully put the box back exactly as she had found it.

She felt a little bleak, a little forlorn, unable to understand why Wang Yanqiu would lie to her. Even if she had told the truth, what difference would it make? Yang Ce was a flirt—she knew that well enough. Even if there was something between Wang Yanqiu and Yan, she wouldn't have said much about it. And besides, she had no right to say much anyway.

But now Zhao Ying felt like a fool, deceived by her best friend. She dearly wished it was all a misunderstanding—a beautiful misunderstanding—but that possibility seemed very slight.

Lying quietly in the bathtub, Zhao Ying's mind went blank. She didn't know how she would face Wang Yanqiu and Yan from now on. As before? Or as strangers?

Zhao Ying was truly at a loss. Huang Yan had, to be precise, been tricked into coming home. Her eldest brother had called and said only that their father had something to discuss with her, without a word about the marriage alliance. Only after Huang Yan got home did she learn that the family's investment in Africa had run into trouble.

In the second half of last year, the Huang family had invested in a huge gold mine in a small African country, Country X, spending five billion US dollars to buy a hundred-year mining right.

Most of the money, of course, came from bank loans. Besides the purchase price, mining equipment and the hiring of personnel in the early stages had cost nearly another billion US dollars. All told, the Huang family's total investment in this iron ore mine exceeded six billion US dollars.

Still, judging by the raw ore reserves of the mine, it wouldn't take a hundred years to recoup the cost—roughly twenty years or so—and everything after that would be pure profit.