Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"That's not how you put it." Ouyang Kanqi waved his hand. "This time it's revenge for my youngest son. I don't want any accidents—I don't want the boy slipping away."

"Don't worry, boss. No one has ever escaped from under my hand," Delay Hero 001 said smugly.

"Mm, as long as you know it. Go back and get some rest early." Ouyang Kanqi waved his hand, dismissing Delay Hero 001.

On his way back to his room, Delay Hero 001 thought with some disdain that the boss really was getting old and overly cautious. It was just a little brat—was there any need for such fuss and fanfare? Never mind himself; even if his own apprentice came, he'd still take out that so-called Yang Ce just the same.

With that thought, Delay Hero 001 didn't take Ouyang Kanqi's warning to heart at all. Back in his room, he turned on the TV, went on eating lamb skewers and drinking xiaoshao, and happily watched the model beauty contest on screen.

That night, neither Zhang Bin nor Wang Mei could sleep.

"Zhang Bin, you're so lucky to have a boss like that." After the past two days' events, Wang Mei was filled with gratitude toward Yang Ce. First he'd put up ten million to buy a house for her and Zhang Bin, and now he hadn't hesitated to put up twenty million in ransom to get her parents back from Liu Jihao.

"Heh, what kind of bond do the boss and I have?" Zhang Bin said proudly. "Three years of high school together—we were as close as one person."

"Hah, keep flattering yourself. Then how come you're not as impressive as Brother Yang?" Wang Mei turned over and gave a little huff.

"Impressive or not, you're about to find out right now." Zhang Bin rolled over and lay on top of Wang Mei.

"Oh! What are you doing? You're still in the mood for this now?" Wang Mei gave a soft cry—but soon she began to moan. In the room across the way, by contrast, Yang Jiyan slept soundly. A trip to Macau had settled just about everything that needed settling. Small fry like Liu Jihao weren't worth Yang Ce's worry at all.

Su Ya's matter was resolved; Wang Yanqiu's matter was basically resolved—at the very least, he'd built a certain trust with Wang Yanqiu, and that would help him infiltrate the inner workings of her organization.

Huang Yan, on the other hand, was a rather troublesome problem. A lover—ha, that sounded rather novel. Yang Ce had never imagined that he would end up in that kind of relationship with a girl while being the passive party.

This legendary "reverse conquest" had actually happened to him. And the greatest gain from this trip to Macau was, without a doubt, learning the other secret of his glasses: they allowed him to change his appearance. That ability was nothing short of extraordinary—used properly, it could solve a great many problems.

But by contrast, Yang Shuoxuan began to reflect on his own abilities. All of them came from this miraculous pair of glasses. Though the glasses now seemed to have merged with him as one, who could guarantee that the old man who had given them to him wouldn't one day reappear and take them back?

Yang Yongjin was willing to entertain the thought, but such a scenario was indeed possible. If it came to pass, every one of Yang Juehuan's superhuman abilities would vanish completely, and he would become an ordinary man once more.

Only the person involved could truly fathom the enormity of that fall. With this in mind, Yang Ce decided that he must not rely too heavily on his powers in all things. Using them now and then was fine, but he could not make them a part of his life.

In a moment of crisis, there was no harm in using them, but becoming dependent on them in ordinary life would be a bad thing. If one day he lost this ability, he would become utterly worthless.

The thought filled Yang Ce with dread, and in his heart he silently swore that his powers would be no more than a stepping stone on his road to success—never something indispensable.

But for now, these were only thoughts. Su Ya had possessed that pair of glasses for years without having them taken back, and he had only used them for a year. Besides, the old man had said plainly enough at the time that the glasses were compensation to him—in other words, given to him. Taking them back now would be rather dishonorable.

Still, constantly goading himself was no bad thing. A person must not grow dependent on some external force; only what is one's own is true ability.

He slept soundly until dawn. Yang Ce stretched—a new day had begun.

Zhang Bin and Wang Mei had risen much earlier than Yang Ce. When Yang Ce opened his door, he saw the two of them already waiting in the corridor.

"Sorry, I overslept a little." Yang Ce nodded apologetically to Zhang Bin.

"The two of us couldn't sleep soundly with this on our minds—it has nothing to do with you, Boss. It's only a little past seven, hardly late at all." Hearing Yang Juehuan's words, Zhang Bin felt even more embarrassed instead.

"You two haven't eaten either, have you?" Yang Hengye smiled. "Let's go—first we'll grab a bite in the restaurant, then I'll call Liu Jihao."

"No rush," Wang Mei said quickly. In truth, she was more anxious than anyone, only she did not want to press too hard.

The three of them ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The room rate here included breakfast—nominally a fifty-yuan breakfast allowance—but the breakfast was nothing more than plain rice porridge, steamed buns, and soup dumplings.

Yang Ce ate a whole steamer of soup dumplings. Unlike the big buns at home, these were made very small, with only a tiny morsel of filling, yet they were quite delicious—especially since they were steamed in baskets made of bamboo, which infused the buns with that distinctive fragrance of bamboo.

Zhang Bin ate about the same as Yang Ce, while Wang Mei, preoccupied as she was, only took a few sips of rice porridge.

Too much had happened in the past two days, and Wang Mei did not know whether what she was doing was right or wrong. Still, from the moment she met Zhang Bin, her fate had been utterly different from before.

Yang Shuoxuan sensed Wang Mei's despondency and comforted her. "Don't worry, your parents will be fine. I'll call Liu Jihao in a moment."

"That's not what I meant—I just don't have much of an appetite this morning," Wang Mei said, a little embarrassed.

Yang Shuoxuan said nothing more and walked out of the restaurant with the two of them—only to hear a stream of curses behind him: "Isn't the breakfast standard fifty yuan? What is all this? How is any of it worth fifty yuan?"

Turning around, he saw a man in glasses berating the restaurant waitress. Beside him stood a young woman, watching her man quarrel with the waitress.

"Sir, this is the hotel's rule—we don't know anything about it either," the waitress explained, somewhat helplessly.

"You don't know? Aren't you hotel staff? Your behavior right now represents the hotel!" the man persisted. "Refund me the fifty yuan—I'm not eating breakfast!"

"This..." The waitress was at a loss after hearing that.

Yang Minlan had no reason to care about such matters. If the man wanted to quarrel, let him quarrel—it had nothing to do with him. He shook his head and was about to leave, when unexpectedly—

To be continued

850. Paying the Ransom

350 Paying the Ransom. Yang Minlan had no reason to care about such matters. If the man wanted to quarrel, let him quarrel—it had nothing to do with him. In any hotel there were all sorts of strange people and strange goings-on, and what they thought was beyond Yang Ce's control.

Though Yang Ce had also thought fifty yuan for a meal of soup dumplings was a bit steep, a grand hotel was selling class and prestige—such things simply could not be measured by value.

It was like the same plate of spicy tofu: three yuan at a street stall, thirty or more in a grand hotel. The same principle applied.