Chapter 477 — A Very Simple Matter

"Kill Liu Hua? I can't trust you enough for that," Yang Linyue said flatly. "Everything else is a minor matter."

"Huh?" Liu Huamei was stunned. She had not expected Yang Wenru's refusal to stem from a lack of trust rather than from any difficulty in the deed itself! From what he said, killing Liu Hua was perfectly possible—he simply could not bring himself to trust her! Liu Huamei grew anxious at once. "Then how can I make you trust me?"

"Your position is not the same as Xiaolu's. She would never betray me, but I cannot guarantee you won't let something slip afterward," Yang Ce said, with blunt realism.

"I—how am I any different? I'm your woman too! I've already signed and stamped it, and you've even felt my breasts—you can't take it back now!" Liu Huamei protested hotly.

Yang Puqi was taken aback, then remembered that Liu Huamei had indeed sworn before that she was his woman, and could only shake his head.

"Are you certain that what you say is true?" Yang Ce asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Of course! I'm not pure anymore, I've lain in the same bed with you, I can't marry anyone else—I can only follow you!" Liu Huamei said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "From now on I'm your woman. What's mine is yours—I'll even put the Jiangyan Group shares in your name!"

"That won't be necessary. Since you put it that way, there's no problem." Yang Yuting nodded and finally agreed.

Yang Ce thought it over again and again, and in the end consented—also because he had in fact told Liu Huamei nothing of substance. If Liu Hua died, it could perfectly well be written off as an accident. Not to mention Yang Ce doing it with his own hands—even if he had Wang Yanqiu's men carry it out, there would be no evidence to trace.

Besides, a single-minded person like Liu Huamei would probably cling to her identity as Yang Ce's woman and never change it thereafter, so the odds of her letting anything slip were very small! The most important point of all was Yang Juehuan's identity!

Liu Huamei was Yang Juehuan's woman—nominally, perhaps, but that was enough! Before Yang Ce carried out his mission, he would have to settle his household affairs, would he not? Only after clearing every enemy at home could Yang Ce go to Yunnan with peace of mind.

So as long as Yang Ce seized on this pretext, Xia Yan could only help him deal with these problems. What was more, Liu Hua had ruined Liu Huamei's father and still harbored designs on Liu Huamei herself—a crime of the deepest dye. Yang Ce's hand was moved by just cause, and Xia Yan's involvement would be entirely proper.

"You—you agree to all of it?" Liu Huamei might be an idiot when it came to matters of the heart, but she was no idiot elsewhere. Her earlier foolish words and foolish behavior had been desperate attempts to please Yang Ce, made without knowing how. Now, hearing that Yang Ce had agreed to everything, she could scarcely believe it.

How could it be? What seemed to her such a tangled business, Yang Ce proposed to solve for her just like that, so lightly? Were all these troubles nothing at all in his eyes?

In Yang Ce's view, though he was an assassin, killing was after all a lesser art—not the way to solve every problem, and one could hardly kill every enemy on sight. So whatever deep grievances Yang Yongjin harbored, he seldom resorted to this method.

But the conflict between Liu Hua and Liu Huamei could no longer be settled by ordinary means! Liu Hua had reduced Liu Huamei's father to a vegetative state; that grievance was irreconcilable. So in Yang Ce's eyes, there was nothing for it but to kill Liu Hua.

Still, this was the simplest problem of all. Once Liu Hua's whole family was dead, every other problem at the company was a minor one, and Liu Huamei need not fret about Liu Hua and Liu Yan contending with her for power and profit.

"It's a very simple matter. Don't go back these next couple of days—wait at the hotel for news." Yang Ce rose from the bed. "I'll be going now."

"Ah... you're leaving already? Won't you stay with me a little longer?" Liu Huamei had no idea what the two of them might do together, but she still wanted Yang Ce to stay. She could hardly speak of any feeling for Heng yet—from her first indifference to her present slight admiration, it was no more than a favorable impression. To say she had fallen in love with Yang Ce would be premature.

But since she had already resolved that she was Yang Juehuan's woman, whether she loved him or not hardly mattered. In Liu Huamei's view, affection would grow with time; once the two of them had been together long enough, she would surely fall in love with Yang Ce. None of it mattered.

So when Yang Ce wanted to leave, she felt a little reluctant. Though she did not know what the two of them could do together, she had seen on television how those women tried every trick to make a man stay the night—and if they failed, it meant they lacked charm.

Liu Huamei had no shortage of suitors, but in those days she had had no mind for such things. Now she wanted to think about them, yet she had not the least experience! Not a single one of the tricks Jing Yu had taught her had she put to use! Yang Puqi would not say a word, and she was left with no move to make at all.

So she could only long for Yang Ce to stay and keep her company a little longer.

"Mm. I'm off." Yang Ce glanced at Liu Huamei. "Spend more time with Xiaolu from now on. The two of you look after each other."

"Ah... oh, all right!" Liu Huamei nodded and agreed. She had misunderstood Yang Juehuan's meaning—she thought Yang Ce was instructing her that, as Yang Juehuan's woman, she must not compete or fight, but live in harmony! That was no problem at all for Liu Huamei; she was grateful to Jing Yu to begin with—how could she possibly contend with her for favor?

Yang Juehuan's meaning, however, was that she should help Jing Yu when Jing Yu was in difficulty. But from the look on Liu Huamei's face, Yang Ce knew she had misunderstood, and so offered no further explanation. He shook his head, turned, and left the room.

In the hotel corridor, Yang Ce called Jing Yu. Yang Shuyu knew Jing Yu must still be in this hotel, because when Yang Ce had arrived earlier he had seen Jing Yu's BMW parked in the lot beneath the building.

The phone rang a few times and then connected. From the other end came Jing Yu's startled, muttered voice: "Over already? Don't tell me I wrung him dry this afternoon?"

Jing Yu had assumed Yang Xutang would not arrive, and so had murmured this under her breath as she picked up the phone. But the room was very quiet, and the corridor beside Yang Cenbin was very quiet too, so Yang Ce heard Jing Yu's muttering perfectly clearly!

Yang Ce could not help but find it rather funny. What on earth was going on in Jing Yu's head?

"Ahem..." Yang Ce cleared his throat twice. "Xiaolu, what have you been up to?"