Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Zhou Yanning thought to herself: if you're proper, then there's no one in the world who isn't. You're clearly not my boyfriend, yet you pretended to be, and held me and kissed me and touched me—and the worst part was that Zhou Yanning could hardly refuse. Thinking of what had happened that night, Zhou Yanning's face flushed with heat.

Still, after hearing Yang Ce's words, Zhou Yanning was completely reassured. Yang Ce was not trying to drive her away—he wanted to start a romance with her anew. How could that not make Zhou Yanning happy?

Although being with Yan was her ultimate goal, what girl did not look forward to a grand, passionate romance? The process mattered too.

"With Chen Shutang and Lin Yanhe around, of course you're not desperate," Zhou Yanning said with a touch of reproach.

"Tonight, won't it just be the two of us left?" Yang Ce suddenly grinned slyly and said.

"Ah!" Zhou Yanning was startled and instinctively shrank toward the car door. Even though Yang Ce had looked at her, kissed her, and touched her, girls were like that—they always reacted reflexively.

"Just kidding—we've got two rooms." Yang Ce said, "It's like that book, what was it called... something like 'Cohabiting with the Campus Belle'—cohabiting first, then falling in love."

"You're awful." Zhou Yanning blushed and moved back to her normal position.

"Hey, are you two going or not?" Someone outside began knocking on the car window.

Yang Ce had pulled the car over to the roadside earlier so he could talk with Zhou Yanning. Now he looked up and saw that where he had parked was blocking a delivery truck from a nearby supermarket that needed to unload. He gave an apologetic smile and hurriedly started the car, pulling away.

"All right, don't think about it so much." Yang Ce said, "And don't blame Mengyan, either. She just felt that you'd suffered a great deal, so she took advantage of your amnesia to make you my girlfriend."

"Why would I blame her?" Zhou Yanning shook her head. "I was glad she could accept me. Before, I was actually afraid she'd object."

"Mengyan may seem petty at first glance, but she's really kindhearted. Spend more time with her and you'll see," Yang Hengye said with a smile.

"Yes, I know." Having shared a bed with Chen Shutang and Lin Yanhe for several days, Zhou Yanning had naturally come to understand Chen Shutang's temper. "By the way, Yang Ce, Mengyan told me that while I was unconscious, Su Ya came to see me. Is that true?"

"Yes, though at the time I didn't know she was Su Ya—I was the one who brought her," Yang Moyi said with some feeling. "Can you imagine it? Su Ya is the big star Shu Ya."

"What?" Zhou Yanning was startled by Yang Juehuan's words, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Su Ya is Shu Ya? Is that true, Yang Ce? You're not pulling my leg?"

Chen Shutang and Zhou Yanning had only mentioned in passing that Su Ya had come to the hospital to see her, without going into detail, so Zhou Yanning had no idea that Su Ya was Shu Ya. Now, hearing Yang Cenbin say so, she was utterly astonished.

"That's right. I was surprised too at the time, but the facts are the facts," Yang Jincong said with a smile. "As for her business, it's better to wait until she's back and let her tell you herself. She'll be thrilled to hear you've woken up."

"Really?" Zhou Yanning cared deeply about Su Ya's opinion. Hearing Yang Ce tell her personally that Su Ya had not only forgiven her but was worried about her condition, she felt both nervous and excited.

"Of course it's true. Why would I lie to you?" Yang Hengye said.

Zhou Yanning sat quietly in the passenger seat, feeling as though she had been transported back to that night after Christmas, before the class reunion, when she had sat in Yang Juehuan's car just like this—just the two of them.

In the truest sense, this was only the second time Zhou Yanning had ridden alone in Yang Juehuan's car.

Now that the two of them had laid everything bare, Zhou Yanning felt at ease. All the way she had been anxious, afraid that her fate with Yan would slip past her just like that. But to her delight, Yang Ce had proposed something even more constructive: live together first, then fall in love.

Just thinking about it made Zhou Yanning blush. What if Yang Ce did to her what he'd done that night? For some reason, Zhou Yanning felt both anticipation and fear. Ah, what a contradiction.

The car crept slowly along the road. Fresh snow had just fallen, so no one was driving fast, and once the sun came out, the road gleamed like a mirror.

After coming off the overpass, the car slowed to an agonizing crawl. When they reached an intersection, Yang Ce and Zhou Yanning discovered that an old woman with a cane was lying on the ground, groaning in pain—clearly she had taken a nasty fall because of the slippery road.

Cars passing by all made wide arcs around the old woman, terrified that any mishap might drag them into it.

"Why isn't anyone helping her?" Zhou Yanning frowned, perplexed. "Yang Ce, stop the car. I'm going to go have a look."

Yang Jincong gave a short laugh. "You think other people don't want to help? They're just afraid that after they help her, instead of being thanked, they'll be blamed for it—accused of having hit her themselves."

"What?" Zhou Yanning was taken aback. "No way. Are there really people who'd repay kindness with ingratitude like that?"

"Wasn't there a case just like it in the papers a while back?" Yang Yanzhou said. "A man kindly helped an old lady up, and she turned around and blamed him for it, even dragged him into a lawsuit."

"There are people like that?" Zhou Yanning was indignant. "But surely not everyone is like that."

"Of course not everyone is like that, but who's to say this one isn't?" Yang Ce shook his head. "That's why people nowadays just go around when they run into something like this—they try to keep themselves as uninvolved as possible."

"But we can't just leave her lying on the ground like that," Zhou Yanning said, worried for the old woman's safety.

To be continued

1052. On the Eve of the Semester

"Better safe than sorry," Yang Xunai said with a bitter smile. "Take the one they showed on TV, for instance—a film called Days Away from Lei Feng. The driver who accidentally backed into a utility pole and killed Lei Feng, after he was discharged from the army, saved an old man while driving, and then the old man's children pinned it on him. What's even more infuriating is that the old man's kids actually said, 'He even dared to hit Lei Feng—who wouldn't he dare to hit?' He had a grievance he couldn't begin to voice."

Zhou Yanning nodded silently, unsure whether she should get out of the car. As she hesitated, a young woman came striding quickly toward the spot where the old woman had fallen.

"Song Yu?" Yang Ce and Zhou Yanning recognized her at the same moment. The young woman was a college classmate of theirs—Song Yu was class monitor of Yang Cenbin's class, and had once joined Yan in a public campaign to promote civility and good manners.

"She's going to help that old woman up," Zhou Yanning sighed, a little ashamed. "I'm a class monitor too, but she..."

"Don't beat yourself up," Yang Ce consoled her. "If I hadn't talked so much, you'd be the one over there helping her right now."

"Ah, you've just reminded me—I need to hurry and record Song Yu helping her on my phone. You're right: better safe than sorry. If the old woman gives Song Yu trouble later, I'll have evidence to offer." With that, Zhou Yanning pulled out her phone and hurried out of the car.

Yang Xutang listened to Zhou Yanning and nodded to himself. This girl was no simpleton—she knew to keep evidence of everything. Chen Fei had read her right when he asked her to help investigate Wang Pu's case.