Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Xu Peng, though, was faring much worse. Yang Ce had left him some words last time, and he had no idea whether Xu Peng had given them any thought; the man had not contacted him since. Yang Ce decided that once breakfast was over, he would go pay him a visit.

"Cheng's Anhui Beef Board Noodles." Wang Yanqiu pointed at the signboard above a small eatery by the roadside and asked, "Is this the place?"

"Yes, this is it." Yang Yuting nodded, parked the car, and got out with Wang Yanqiu.

"Welcome, you two—here for noodles?" The owner's greeting reached them the moment they stepped inside. In summer the place set up open-air stalls outside; in winter, naturally, everything had moved indoors.

"Boss, two bowls of beef board noodles, with eggs," Yang Ce ordered with the ease of a regular.

"Right away." The owner nodded, then added, "But why don't you two just share one big bowl? Our small bowls are pretty big too—I'm afraid the young lady won't be able to finish hers."

Yang Ce broke out in a sweat. Why did the owner always push the big bowl every time he came? He recalled that the same thing had happened when he had come with Zhao Ying before.

Wang Yanqiu's face flushed at once. Still, her appetite really was not large—especially at breakfast, when she ate even less. She thought it over and said, "Then let's get one big bowl."

Wang Yanqiu had not thought that deeply about it. As far as she was concerned, she and Yan had already kissed and hugged yesterday, so sharing a bowl of noodles was hardly improper.

"One big bowl it is." The owner smiled and went off to prepare it.

With the noodles ordered, the two began looking for seats. Turning around, they spotted an acquaintance—someone they both knew.

And that person happened to look up at the same moment. Three pairs of eyes met, and all three were somewhat surprised.

"Sister Zhao Ying!" Wang Yanqiu was the first to call out.

"Yanyan, Yang Ce, what are you two doing here?" Zhao Ying was equally puzzled.

At that moment, the person beside Zhao Ying turned rather unnatural. He had never expected to run into Yang Ce, but it was too late to leave now, so he could only keep his head down and eat his noodles, trying his best not to let Yang Ce notice him.

"Wang Yanqiu and I are neighbors and get along well, so I brought her here for noodles." Yang Minlan winked at Wang Yanqiu, signaling her not to say anything careless, then spoke to Zhao Ying.

"You two are neighbors? What a coincidence." Zhao Ying did not think much of it. "Perfect—come sit and eat with me."

It was breakfast time, and there were no other empty seats. Having seen Zhao Ying, Yang Ce had been thinking the very same thing.

"Ying, what brings you here too?" Yang Mo asked, a little surprised.

"I've had to get to school very early these past few days. One day I passed by here and had some noodles, and they were good, so now I come every day." Zhao Ying smiled. "Yang Ce, that place you recommended really is quite good."

Wang Yanqiu sat down beside Zhao Ying, while Yang Ce sat down beside the person across from Zhao Ying. He had assumed it was a stranger, but once he got close and looked carefully, Yang Ce recognized the fellow at once.

"Well, if it isn't Teacher Jingang!" Yang Ce clapped Jingang hard on the shoulder. Jingang had been hunched over his noodles, and the blow made his shoulder ache so much that he nearly lost his grip on his chopsticks.

Since Yang Ce had recognized him, Jingang could no longer pretend. He raised his head awkwardly. "Well, if it isn't classmate Yang Ce. What a coincidence."

"Coincidence my ass!" Yang Ce's expression changed and he barked, "You're pestering Sister Ying again!"

"I—I just ran into her by chance," Jingang said with a miserable look on his face.

"By chance?" Yang Ce plainly did not believe it.

"It really was by chance!" Jingang hastened to explain. "I came this morning for noodles and saw Zhao Ying sitting here. I admit I was hoping to get a little closer to her again, that's why I sat down here—but it really was a coincidence!"

"Yang Ce, don't give him a hard time. He's telling the truth." After all, they were colleagues, so Zhao Ying did not speak ill of Jingang.

Only then did Yang Xu nod and say to Jingang, "Fine. Finish up and get lost. You still owe me a bicycle and haven't paid it back to this day."

Jingang felt an urge to cry. Why was he still being dunned for a bicycle? But he did not dare talk back—Yang Ce was watching him like a tiger eyeing its prey from behind. He hurriedly shoveled noodles into his mouth, and accidentally stuffed in a chili pepper, which set him coughing so hard that tears streamed from his eyes.

Jingang wiped away his tears, abandoned all thought of eating, and fled in defeat.

Wang Yanqiu was baffled. "Yang Ce, how did that man offend you?"

"That guy was the PE teacher at my high school and one of Sister Ying's suitors. He couldn't stand seeing Sister Ying tutor me one-on-one, so he hired two thugs to jump me and smashed up my bicycle." Yang Ce still got angry thinking about it. Damn it, those had been his poorest days, and the bastard had wrecked his bike on top of it.

Wang Yanqiu clicked her tongue in secret alarm. To have provoked Yang Ce and still be sitting here eating noodles intact was a miracle. What Wang Yanqiu naturally did not know was that when Yang Ce was in high school, he had nothing to do with assassins at all.

"Yanyan and I get along very well, and I was hoping for a chance to introduce you two," Zhao Ying said. "I never expected you'd get to know each other before I could."

Yang Mo felt somewhat awkward. He was not blind to Zhao Ying's feelings; it was just that things had gone awry. Chen Shutang was deeply resistant to Zhao Ying, and though his own relationship with Zhao Ying was tinged with ambiguity, taking it a step further would be extraordinarily difficult. Yet he had gone and gotten Zhao Ying's good friend into bed first—there was something rather dishonorable about the whole business no matter how you looked at it.

Just as they were talking, the owner brought over a large bowl of noodles and set it down between Yang Ce and Wang Yanqiu. "One large bowl, double portion, with egg."

"Ah." Yang Ce was instantly mortified. How had he forgotten about that? He was screwed now. He had not wanted to tell Zhao Ying about his relationship with Wang Yanqiu, but now, even if he said nothing, Zhao Ying would certainly sense something.

Sure enough, Zhao Ying froze, staring blankly at the big bowl of noodles between Yang Ce and Wang Yanqiu, an expression of disbelief and faint sorrow coming over her face.

"You two..." Zhao Ying looked at Yang Puqi, then at Wang Yanqiu, and asked softly.

Zhao Ying's heart was filled with grievance at that moment. She watched as the beauties around Yang Ce multiplied one after another, while her own relationship with him remained stuck where it was. True, the pretense of being boyfriend and girlfriend had brought them somewhat closer than before, but after that they had gone a long time without seeing each other again.

Yang Jincong smiled and was about to explain, but felt Wang Yanqiu kick him under the table, so he quickly shut his mouth again.

"We? What do you mean, we? What happened to us?" Wang Yanqiu picked up a pair of chopsticks and very naturally stirred the noodles in the bowl to let the heat escape, then asked.

"You two are eating from one bowl?" Zhao Ying hesitated for a moment, but in the end she asked. Otherwise, she would never feel at ease. No matter what the relationship between Yang Ce and Wang Yanqiu was now, Zhao Ying had to get it clear before she could settle her heart.

"Oh, that's what you mean." Wang Yanqiu put on a thoroughly indifferent expression. "I can't finish a small bowl, and a small bowl isn't enough for Yang Ce, so we ordered one big bowl. I eat a few bites first, and then he eats the rest."