Chapter 89 — This One's on Me

"That's true enough," Kang Xiaobo nodded in agreement at Wei Zhao's words. Tang Yun's beauty was the kind that, once seen, was not easily forgotten; otherwise so many boys would never have been left dazed and smitten by a single glance at her.

"Never mind all that. Let's eat—I'm starving." Wei Zhao unceremoniously grabbed a dried tofu roll and stuffed it into his mouth. "Not bad. Pretty tasty."

"Heh heh, of course it is. You should know whose mother grilled these," Kang Xiaobo said, grinning with great satisfaction at the praise.

"..." Wei Zhao glanced at Kang Xiaobo and honestly did not know what to say. "You make it sound like she's your mother."

"Cough, cough..." Kang Xiaobo cleared his throat awkwardly. "Eat up, eat up. Here, Boss, I'll drink to you." With that, he lifted his beer.

Wei Zhao smiled and raised his bottle too, clinking it against Kang Xiaobo's.

Before long the rest of what Kang Xiaobo had ordered arrived one dish after another, but Tang Yun seemed bent on making trouble—either slamming the skewers down hard on the table, or deliberately bumping into Wei Zhao.

This little beauty was rather interesting, wasn't she? Watching the puffed-up, sulking Tang Yun, Wei Zhao found it a little funny. She wanted to drive him away.

There was still a big lecture that evening, so neither Wei Zhao nor Kang Xiaobo drank much—just the one bottle each in hand. Once they had wiped out the food on the table, Kang Xiaobo rose to settle the bill. "Auntie, how much do we owe?"

"Ah, Yun'er, go work it out," Tang's mother said, since she still had several other tables' orders on her grill, and sent Tang Yun off to do the reckoning.

"Eighty yuan," Tang Yun said, coming over to Wei Zhao's table and shooting him a covert glare. Fleece you blind, she thought. See how you like putting on that act.

"Huh?" Kang Xiaobo was startled. What he and Wei Zhao had ordered could not have come to more than forty yuan at most—how could it be eighty? But seeing how certain Tang Yun looked, he could not bring himself to argue with the girl of his heart; he could only dig a hundred-yuan bill out of his pocket and hold it out to her.

"Wait a moment," Wei Zhao said, stopping Kang Xiaobo. "I think that's been miscalculated. I was just adding it up: twenty lamb skewers is twenty yuan, two lamb chops is eight, two chicken necks is four, two tofu rolls is two, two beers is four—thirty-eight yuan altogether, isn't that right?"

"This..." Tang Yun had not expected Wei Zhao to actually go through the bill with her, and her face flushed at once; she felt thoroughly uncomfortable. She was not a greedy sort—she had only said eighty because she was irritated by how refined and polite Wei Zhao had been before, and had kept wanting to find fault with him and expose him for what he was. Yet after several deliberate provocations he had shown no reaction whatsoever, which only made her angrier. Fine, she thought, if you love putting on that act so much, then keep acting. I'll just charge you a little extra and get some of my anger out along the way.

And so, no sooner had the little beauty Tang quoted the figure of eighty yuan than she was called out by Brother Lin, the great human shield.

"Yun'er, what's the matter with you? How can you just make up prices like that?" Tang's mother was busy with the grilling, but Tang Yun had gone to settle the bill close enough that she could hear every word of the exchange with Wei Zhao. Seeing that her daughter had actually quoted a customer a random figure, she grew angry and scolded her with a stern face.

Tang Yun had already been stewing over Wei Zhao, and now that her mother was scolding her too, she could not keep her composure. She pressed her lips together in grievance, lifted her head, and stared at Wei Zhao with eyes that fairly spat fire, as though she wished she could burn him alive to vent her spite. "Keep your money. Get lost. Consider it my treat—I don't want to see you again."

By the end her voice had taken on a tearful note, and without waiting for Wei Zhao to say anything, she covered her face and ran off at a fast clip, not even saying goodbye to Tang's mother, heading straight in the direction of the school.

Tang Yun's fierce reaction left Wei Zhao dumbfounded. He had not expected her to have such a fiery side.

"That child..." Tang's mother had no idea what had gotten into her daughter today. The boy in front of her had clearly helped her out of a fix, and instead of being grateful she had given him that sort of look. It put her in a very awkward spot. She looked at Wei Zhao apologetically. "Young man, Yun'er isn't usually like this—she's a sensible girl. I don't know what came over her today. I'm sorry... Let this meal be on me, auntie's treat. No charge."

"I still have to pay," Wei Zhao said with a smile, waving it off as nothing. He felt in his pocket and found exactly forty yuan in change, which he handed straight to Tang's mother. "Here's forty. I happen to be a bit thirsty, so I'll take two bottles of mineral water. No need for change."

Without waiting for her to answer, Wei Zhao took two bottles of mineral water from the crate at the edge of the stall, handed one to Kang Xiaobo, and said, "Shall we go?"

Only then did Kang Xiaobo come back to his senses. The scene with Tang Yun just now had left him stunned and at a loss, and he had stood there blankly watching her cover her face and run off; not until Wei Zhao settled the bill and handed him the water did he speak. "Boss, why did you pay? Weren't we agreed that I was treating?"

"Heh, it's all the same. You can treat next time." Wei Zhao had already turned and started toward the school; Kang Xiaobo hurriedly said goodbye to Tang's mother and caught up with him.

"Come again next time!" Tang's mother nodded warmly at Kang Xiaobo.

"We definitely will," Kang Xiaobo answered.

What a sensible boy. Watching Wei Zhao's receding back, Tang's mother sighed. She had no idea what had gotten into her precious girl either; she only feared those two would never come back to her stall again.

"Boss, something was off about the whole thing today," Kang Xiaobo said, catching up to Wei Zhao. Looking ahead, Tang Yun was already nowhere in sight—she had clearly run far.

"What's so off about it?" Wei Zhao had not given it much thought. "It's you I'm worried about. Be careful—don't let Zou Ruoming come after you."

"Ah!" The reminder made Kang Xiaobo remember that he had well and truly offended Zou Ruoming and his bunch. "Boss, don't scare me. I just offended Zhong Yongliang, and now Zou Ruoming too—how am I supposed to get by?"

"Don't be too flashy. Anyway, I'm with you most of the time, so they won't dare do anything," Wei Zhao said.

"True enough. But Boss, word of you slapping Zou Ruoming is bound to spread fast. You're about to be promoted to number two among the school's Four Great Young Devils," Kang Xiaobo said with a chuckle.

"Is that supposed to be good news?" Wei Zhao glared at him. "Today's mess was stirred up purely by you sticking your neck out, and now I have to carry the reputation of a young devil."

"Come on, Boss. Could you really bear to stand by and watch Tang Yun get bullied?" Kang Xiaobo said with a fawning smile.

"She doesn't look like someone easy to bully—she bullies me instead," Wei Zhao cursed inwardly. Damn it, this little beauty Tang bullies the soft and fears the tough.

Fastest updates; for pop-up-free reading, please visit.