Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

The two of them rested for a while. When they checked the time and saw it was about dinnertime, Yang Ce stood up and asked Zhao Ying, who was on the sofa, "Where should we go eat?"

"There are plenty of snack stalls around here. Let's just wander and see what we find." Zhao Ying had no particular place in mind either, so they would have to look around first.

The two of them tidied up a bit, then went downstairs. Zhao Ying's way of dressing was looking more and more like a student's these days. Though she was a few years older than Yang Ce, standing beside him, no one could tell which of them was older.

And Yang Ce was tall and broad to begin with, so by contrast Zhao Ying looked as delicate as a little bird. Together, the two of them made a perfectly matched pair, like the golden boy and jade girl of legend.

They went downstairs and came to the entrance of the building. Yang Ce was about to start the car, but Zhao Ying stopped him. "Yang Ce, let's walk. It's not far anyway, and I've gotten a little unused to riding in cars all the time."

Zhao Ying suddenly found herself nostalgic for high school, for the feeling of strolling the streets with Yan every night. But she was too embarrassed to say so aloud, and could only make up some casual excuse.

Yang Ce, for his part, did not mind at all. If Zhao Ying liked to walk, then walking was fine by him. So the two of them set off side by side toward the entrance of the residential complex.

Winter evenings were still bitterly cold. Zhao Ying had just worked up a fine sheen of fragrant sweat, and the moment she stepped outside, the cold wind hit her back and she could not help but shiver.

"What's wrong, Sister Ying? Are you all right?" Yang Ce asked with concern when he saw how cold she seemed.

"I'm fine. It's just that I've only just come out, so I'm not used to it yet." Zhao Ying gave a faint smile and shook her head. But just as she was about to say something more, she suddenly felt something added to her person. She turned to look, and saw that Yang Ce was draping his overcoat over her shoulders. "Yang Ce, what are you doing? Put it back on, quick!" Zhao Ying was startled and hurried to stop him. "You'll catch a cold like that!"

Yang Ce firmly pressed the coat down onto Zhao Ying's shoulders and gave an indifferent laugh. "I'm not cold. My constitution's excellent. Don't you remember? I used to do this all the time in high school, and I never once caught a cold."

Yang Ce's physique was outstanding to begin with, and on top of that he had undergone special training. Back when he was training in Europe, there was no harsh environment he had not endured. If he caught cold that easily, he would have had no business being an assassin—he might as well have gone home and slept.

Reminded by Yang Ce, Zhao Ying also recalled that night in early spring, when the two of them had walked side by side down the street just like this, and Yang Ce had draped his overcoat over her. Such a beautiful memory—only in the dead of night would Zhao Ying recall it, slowly savoring its sweetness.

But that had been April, when spring had already begun; now it was the cold of February. How could the two be compared? At the thought, Zhao Ying said hurriedly, "Yang Ce, put it on right now, or I'll get angry. I really am fine."

Only when Yang Ce saw that Zhao Ying truly insisted did he take the coat off her and put it back on himself.

As the two of them bickered and talked, they reached the entrance of the residential complex, where they saw a petite, slender figure coming toward them head-on. It was actually Wang Yanqiu—the little minx was probably out for a jog.

No wonder her body was so firm and toned, without an ounce of excess fat. So she paid this much attention to exercise. Yang Ce could not help but think lewdly back to the other night, when he and Wang Yanqiu had been tangled up together in passionate abandon.

Wang Yanqiu had clearly seen Yang Ce and Zhao Ying as well. While Zhao Ying was not looking, she shot Yang Ce a covert glare. Yang Ce did not care in the least and met it calmly. They were nothing more than lovers in a cooperative arrangement—what business was it of hers who he was with?

Seeing that smug, flirtatious look on Yang Ce's face, Wang Yanqiu clearly thought of the same thing and turned her head away, refusing to look at him. Zhao Ying, by contrast, was thoroughly embarrassed to see Wang Yanqiu coming toward them.

She felt as though she had stolen something of someone else's, a little like a thief with a guilty conscience. Just as she was at a loss for what to say, Wang Yanqiu greeted her with perfect ease. "Sister Ying, what a coincidence!"

"Yes, yes, what a coincidence." Zhao Ying answered hurriedly, forcing a few unnatural smiles onto her face.

"Sister Ying, what are you doing here? Visiting Yang Ce's place?" Wang Yanqiu was perfectly natural, not a trace of affectation or impropriety in her words.

But that was only to be expected. As an assassin, she wore multiple layers of disguise day to day; keeping her emotions off her face was second nature.

"Xiao Yan, I—I bought a place here." Zhao Ying hesitated for a long while, but in the end she never brought herself to say that it was Yang Ce who had bought the house, because that would have been far too awkward.

"Really? That's wonderful!" Wang Yanqiu said excitedly. "After I moved, I actually missed you quite a bit. Now we're neighbors again! Sister Ying, you have to come over to my place often. It's awfully boring all by myself."

"S-sure, of course!" Zhao Ying nodded with a guilty heart, thinking to herself: if I ever walk in on you and Yan in the middle of something, let's see how welcome you make me then.

"Heh heh, Sister Ying, I won't keep you and my brother-in-law any longer. I'm off!" Wang Yanqiu had originally wanted to needle Yang Ce with a few sarcastic remarks, but it occurred to her that the two of them were now in a cooperative relationship, so she held herself back.

"Brother-in-law"? Yang Ce and Zhao Ying were both taken aback at the same time, though their thoughts were entirely different. What Zhao Ying wondered was: why did Wang Yanqiu call Yang Ce "brother-in-law"? Seeing how utterly natural Wang Yanqiu looked, could it be that she had really been wrong? That there was nothing else between Wang Yanqiu and Yan? Then she thought: Wang Yanqiu was a carefree, unguarded sort to begin with, so sharing a bowl of noodles with Yan was hardly anything strange.

Yang Ce's thoughts, however, were thoroughly wicked: "Brother-in-law"? Then wouldn't that make Wang Yanqiu his little sister-in-law? The night before last, the two of them had had a night of wild passion—just thinking about it set his blood racing.

"I—" Zhao Ying wanted to say something, but Wang Yanqiu had already run off into the distance. Zhao Ying could only shake her head helplessly. Perhaps she really had been mistaken.

Though she still had her doubts, Zhao Ying was far too embarrassed to ever ask Yang Ce about it, so she let the matter slide in a muddled sort of way. It had little to do with her anyway. If anyone had cause for worry, it was Chen Shutang, not her. What did it have to do with her? So long as her relationship with Yan remained unchanged, as for everything else—who cared.

"I wonder if there's anything good to eat around here." Yang Ce knew what was on Zhao Ying's mind, so he steered the conversation away from Wang Yanqiu and toward dinner.

"You've lived here this long and you still don't know what's good to eat?" Zhao Ying said, a little exasperated. It seemed she was the newcomer here.

"I've only stayed here three or four days myself." Yang Ce shook his head with a smile. "But it's no problem. We're close to the school—if all else fails, we can go to the snack street near campus."

Zhao Ying nodded, and the two of them wandered aimlessly around the neighborhood.