Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Tian Dongguang also told Yang Ce what Sun Zhiwei had asked him to do. Yang Ce naturally laughed it off. Sun Jie would never be so bored as to send Sun Zhiwei to sound out how many girlfriends he had. Given Sun Jie's temperament, if she wanted to stir up trouble, she would certainly come in person.

So this was most likely something Sun Zhiwei had thought up himself, using Sun Jie merely as an excuse. Whatever tricks he wanted to play, let him play them. Yang Ce was not about to be afraid of him.

And so, over these few days, Sun Zhiwei's haul was not inconsiderable: he had captured many a suggestive photo of Yang Ce with Zhou Yanning, Lin Yanhe, and Chen Shutang. Yang Ce could not possibly have been oblivious, but he let him be.

Yang Ce was not afraid of his relationships with those girls being exposed—especially since Chen Shutang had already tacitly accepted the presence of Lin Yanhe and Zhou Yanning. That being the case, Yang Ce had all the less to fear.

On Saturday afternoon, Sun Zhiwei arrived in high spirits at his cousin Sun Jie's company. Of course, he could have found Sun Jie at school as well, but there were too many outsiders there and some things were better left unsaid.

When Sun Zhiwei came into Sun Jie's office, she was discussing a document with some of the company's people. Seeing Sun Zhiwei enter, she looked rather surprised. "Zhiwei, what are you doing here?"

"Big sister, I've come here because I have something important to discuss," Sun Zhiwei said.

"What is it? Out with it—I have a meeting to convene in a bit." Sun Jie did not imagine Sun Zhiwei had come to her with anything good; it was either that he was short of money or that he had set his heart on some luxury item and wanted her to buy it for him.

"Better wait until there's no one else around, then we'll talk," Sun Zhiwei said mysteriously, glancing at the several company employees in Sun Jie's office.

Sun Jie frowned and said with some exasperation, "All right. You may all go out for now. Tell all the company's mid-level cadres that the meeting will be in the conference room in ten minutes."

"Yes, Miss Sun." The company people nodded and filed out one after another.

"All right, what is it? Out with it," Sun Jie said.

Sun Zhiwei first went and shut the office door properly, then glanced left and right before cautiously pulling a stack of photographs from his backpack and laying them on Sun Jie's desk. "Big sister, take a look at these photos."

"What photos?" Sun Jie picked up the photographs Sun Zhiwei had placed on the desk, puzzled, and began to look through them. After a few, her brow knitted. "Where did you get these? Why are you showing them to me?"

"I went to enormous trouble to follow him and take these!" Sun Zhiwei said, as if angling for credit. "I heard Uncle has taken quite a shine to this Yang Ce and wants to marry you off to him. The moment I heard that, I panicked—how could that be? This Yang Ce is a man of very poor character. So I followed him, and sure enough—look, this fellow's a regular philanderer, he's got all these girlfriends on the side! You really wouldn't know unless you saw it; it's enough to give you a fright!"

"You followed him?" Sun Jie's face darkened at once at Sun Zhiwei's words.

But Sun Zhiwei was riding high and paid no attention to Sun Jie's expression. With a smug grin he said, "That's right, I took them. Big sister, how are you going to thank me now? I'm the one who's done you a great service—otherwise you'd have been deceived by that Yang Ce fellow. My demands aren't high: Canon just came out with a new DSLR, a little over twenty thousand yuan, and a few lenses won't cost much either—altogether just over a hundred thousand."

With a smack, Sun Jie flung the photographs into Sun Zhiwei's face, leaving him utterly bewildered. "Big—big sister, what are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" Sun Jie slammed her hand on the desk, her face livid. "So I buy you a camera, and you go on taking photos for me, is that it?"

"Yes—no, no!" Seeing Sun Jie's ugly expression, Sun Zhiwei was so frightened he shook his head rapidly, though he had no idea how he had offended her.

"Keep your nose out of Yang Ce's business from now on!" Sun Jie glared at Sun Zhiwei and said, "Otherwise you won't get a single cent of pocket money in the future."

"What?" Sun Zhiwei was startled at Sun Jie's words. If he had no pocket money from now on, how was he supposed to live?

"Did you hear me?" Sun Jie demanded.

"I heard you," Sun Zhiwei said aggrievedly. "I just won't meddle anymore. And that camera?"

"The camera can wait," Sun Jie said. She was in a foul mood just then. Though she was furious with Sun Zhiwei for meddling in matters that were none of his business, on the other hand she really was somewhat annoyed with Yang Ce as well. The fellow truly had far too many women; if he was not kept firmly in hand, there was no telling what he might become.

"Oh." Sun Zhiwei did not dare say another word and could only slink out of Sun Jie's office, filled with regret. Had he known, he would never have meddled in this wretched business.

Yang Shuoxuan was not someone to be trifled with. Taking his picture carried enormous risk—word had long been out that the fellow was a violent maniac, and not long after enrolling he had already beaten the taekwondo club's president to the ground.

Several times he had nearly been caught by Yang Ce. Sun Zhiwei thought of it with lingering fear. In truth, Yang Ce had spotted Sun Zhiwei long ago; he simply could not be bothered with him.

He had no idea why Sun Jie had flown into such a rage, but Sun Zhiwei did not dare bring the matter up again—he was not about to let his New Year's money go up in smoke.

Sun Zhiwei was not a scheming sort. Back at school, he told Tian Dongguang all about it. He was, of course, just looking for someone to pour his troubles out to; keeping it bottled up inside had been unbearable.

An operation he had spent so long planning had collapsed in an instant. What rotten luck. Sun Zhiwei could not figure out where he had gone wrong, so he wanted Tian Dongguang to help him analyze it.

"Dongguang, tell me, what on earth happened here? I don't think I did anything wrong," Sun Zhiwei asked, bewildered. He was already twenty, but he had little interest in matters of the heart, and so could not grasp what lovers felt for one another.

"I wouldn't know. Maybe it's grown-up business and they don't want us meddling in it," Tian Dongguang said aloud, while inwardly laughing himself sick. Serves you right, he thought. You went and tattled on Brother Yang, and look how that turned out—you got burned.

"Grown-up business." Sun Zhiwei stewed over it resentfully. As if Yang Ce counted as a grown-up.

When Tian Dongguang passed all this on to Yang Ce, Yang Ce doubled over with laughter. Sun Jie knew exactly what kind of man he was; hearing it come from Sun Zhiwei's mouth could only have made her angrier.

The Huaxia Jewelry Association sent word that the jewelry exhibition would be held on schedule the following weekend. After receiving the notice, Bao Lin still called Yang Ce—nominally he and Hou Lin ran the company, but the final say rested with Yang Ce.

Yang Shuoxuan attached great importance to this jewelry exhibition. It was, after all, the largest order Mingyang Security Company had taken since its founding, and the most influential one as well.

If the security work was done well, Mingyang's reputation would be made. The underworld business was only a temporary stepping stone, something to be cast aside in the end.

The ultimate goal of Mingyang Security Company was to grow strong and large, providing security for major events.

So for this first time, Yang Ce took it very seriously. After receiving Bao Lin's call, he hurried over to Mingyang Security Company.

In the company's small conference room sat only three people: Bao Lin, Hou Lin, and Yan.