Chapter 187 — Tang Yun's Best Friend

Chapter 187: Tang Yun's Best Friend

Back in the classroom, Wei Zhao was in no hurry to hand the concert discs to Gu Mengyao. Even if he gave them to her now, she would have no way to watch them until they got home that evening. Just then a text came in from Shen Yushu, asking whether he had bought the discs. Wei Zhao wrote back that he had.

He looked up to see Shen Yushu turning around in her seat, winking at him with a sly squeeze of her eyes.

Tang Yun and Liu Xinwen helped Tang's mother haul her cart to a warehouse nearby. Most of the vendors on the snack street stored their stalls there overnight, paying three hundred yuan a month for safekeeping. The fee was steep enough, but it beat pushing the heavy carts back and forth every day.

Seeing the excitement and joy glowing on her mother's face, Tang Yun felt happy and at the same time oddly unsettled, caught between gain and loss. Who would have thought a mere change of recipe could make business explode like this? She had prepared enough ingredients that she doubted she could sell out even by nightfall, yet before noon was half over everything was gone, and still more students kept streaming in. And this was only the first day.

To Wei Zhao this recipe might mean nothing at all, but for her family it was a debt of gratitude they could not deny, and Tang Yun had no way to pretend otherwise.

"Hey, Yunyun, who knew your Wei Zhao actually had some real skills? That recipe of his is selling like crazy." After seeing Tang's mother off on the bus, Liu Xinwen walked back toward school with Tang Yun, teasing her with a grin.

In truth she was probing on purpose. She still had not had a chance to ask Tang Yun about what she had witnessed yesterday morning. Though she and Tang Yun were best friends, senior-year study was so intense that going a whole day without seeing each other was nothing unusual. At noon Tang's mother and Tang Yun had been too swamped to manage alone, so Tang Yun had called Liu Xinwen over to lend a hand.

"Ah..." At Liu Xinwen's words, Tang Yun's cheeks flushed for no reason, and she spat back in embarrassment, "What do you mean, my Wei Zhao? There is nothing between him and me. Wenwen, stop talking nonsense."

"Is that so..." Liu Xinwen gave Tang Yun a meaningful look. "Yunyun, are we best friends or not?"

"Of course we are... Wenwen, why are you suddenly asking that?" Tang Yun's heart tightened instinctively. Had Liu Xinwen noticed something? But between her and Wei Zhao, surely there was nothing to notice?

"If we are best friends, why are you still hiding things from me?" Liu Xinwen tapped Tang Yun on the forehead with a finger. "Yunyun, have you already fallen for him? Tell me the truth."

"Wenwen, what do you mean, fallen..." Tang Yun grew more nervous by the second. "What are you talking about? I do not understand."

"Playing dumb? Still playing dumb?" Liu Xinwen looked at Tang Yun with disappointment. "Yunyun, I always thought we told each other everything... And now, sigh... I am so disappointed."

"Wenwen, what are you talking about? I really have no idea what this is about." Tang Yun was getting anxious too. "Just say what you mean."

"Yunyun, how did you get to school yesterday morning?" Liu Xinwen sighed, fixing her eyes on Tang Yun as she asked.

"I..." Tang Yun lowered her head guiltily, not daring to meet Liu Xinwen's gaze... Had Liu Xinwen found out that she had ridden in Wei Zhao's car yesterday? But how could she know? When she got out she had looked carefully left and right, and only run off quickly when no one was around.

"Yunyun, why have you gone quiet?" Liu Xinwen pressed relentlessly.

"I... I came in Wei Zhao's car..." Tang Yun admitted. "But Wenwen, listen to me, it is not what you think..."

"Oh? Then tell me what happened?" Seeing Tang Yun own up to it, Liu Xinwen felt relieved after all. At least Tang Yun had not kept it from her in the end.

"Yesterday, Li Erlan was pestering me at the bus stop... Wei Zhao happened to drive by, got out, and chased Li Erlan away... Then I rode in his car to school..." Tang Yun explained carefully. "Wenwen, it really was that simple... There is nothing between us..."

Liu Xinwen had run into Li Erlan yesterday herself, and matching that with what Tang Yun had said before, she was inclined to believe her. "Then why did you get into his car?"

"At the time I was flustered and did not know what to do, and Wei Zhao muddle-headedly pushed me into the car..." Tang Yun explained aggrievedly. "By the time he started driving, I realized it was already too late..."

"So that is how it was. You really have not fallen for him?" Liu Xinwen breathed easier.

"I... No..." Tang Yun hesitated, then shook her head. How could she possibly have feelings for Wei Zhao? Absolutely impossible.

"Good, as long as you have not." Liu Xinwen nodded. "By the way, I went to Fen's house yesterday. Fen is in a very unstable mood... These past two days, her mother says she keeps calling out that man's name, and she has even started having hallucinations..."

"Sigh..." Hearing Liu Xinwen's words, Tang Yun could not help sighing. She spent every evening helping her mother with the barbecue stall and had no time to visit Fen, so she could only ask Liu Xinwen to go in her place. But now it seemed Fen had developed a very serious problem. Tang Yun was anxious inside yet utterly helpless. "I will go over tonight too..."

"I suggested Aunt Cui take Fen to the hospital to see a psychiatrist..." Liu Xinwen said. "But Aunt Cui's family is about the same as yours and mine. They have spent so much on Fen's treatment over the years. Where would they find spare money for psychiatry?"

"Has that man never come back to see Fen?" Tang Yun asked with indignation. If not for that man, how would Fen have ended up like this? Even if Fen was no longer untouched, with her looks, what difficulty would there be in finding a decent boyfriend?

"No. Count on that bastard Kang Zhaoming to come see Fen? Only when the sun rises in the west." Liu Xinwen sneered coldly and spat viciously, "Back then, if Fen had not stopped me, I would have had that bastard Kang Zhaoming gelded."

"..." Tang Yun blushed. Her best friend certainly had a way with words... She had no idea how to pick up the thread. Words like that were not something Tang Yun could bring herself to say.

"Forget it, let us not talk about this. Time to go back and review." Liu Xinwen shook the unpleasantness from her mind and walked back to school together with Tang Yun...

That evening he was supposed to go with Kang Xiaobo to ask Tang Yun about spending the weekend at her house, so Wei Zhao could not go home with Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. He sent them a text saying he and Kang Xiaobo had something to do after school. Gu Mengyao did not think much of it, replied with an "Got it," and left first with Shen Yushu.

Wei Zhao, meanwhile, packed his things at a leisurely pace, and only quickened his hands once he saw Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were gone.

"Boss, why are you so slow today? Hurry up. What if everything is sold out again in a while?" Kang Xiaobo looked anxious, afraid that if they arrived late Tang's mother would already have closed up and left.