Chapter 461 — The Shark Is Coming

Zhong Yongliang was frantic. The plane's lavatory stood directly in front of the first row of seats—was Gao Xiaofu deliberately out to ruin his image? If he could just have walked straight in, that would have been that; but here he was, doubled over his stomach and pacing in circles for all to see, and Gu Mengyao was certain to laugh at him.

"Pfft—" Zhong Yongliang let out a loud, foul fart, and for a moment wished the cabin would swallow him whole. His face flushed red, and he stole a glance toward Gu Mengyao.

"It reeks! Yaoyao, I'm going to faint!" Shen Yushu sprang to her feet, fanning the air wildly with her hand as she shouted. "Xiao Liangzi, go find yourself a cork to plug that up with—are you trying to smoke me and Sister Yaoyao to death?"

To begin with, only the few rows nearest him would have heard Zhong Yongliang's fart, but once Shen Yushu broadcast it, he became the focal point of the entire cabin.

"..." Zhong Yongliang panicked. He had barely begun to explain when his backside, beyond all control, gave another "pfft." This time the excitement got the better of him and something solid came out with it—he soiled his pants on the spot.

"Ah—Zhong Yongliang, are you doing this on purpose?" Shen Yushu was beside herself; pinching her nose, she bolted for the rear cabin. It was simply too foul!

Gu Mengyao frowned in disgust as well, unable to guess what had gotten into Zhong Yongliang—couldn't he give it a rest even on the plane? She rose and followed Shen Yushu toward the back.

Feng Xiaoxiao was in the middle of eating cookies; her stomach turned, and she spat them all out at once, then instinctively fled toward the back as well.

Wei Zhao was indifferent—he had lived in places far worse-smelling than this—but Zhong Yongliang's conduct was genuinely revolting. Since the young mistress had gone, Wei Zhao too stood up and followed toward the rear.

Gao Xiaofu finally emerged from the lavatory. Zhong Yongliang, hands clamped over his crotch, dashed inside, and from within came the splashing of water.

Zhong Yongliang had brought no change of trousers; there was nothing for it but to strip them off in the lavatory, wash them clean, and put them back on. Until the plane landed, though, he could not bring himself to come out again.

The outing had been funded and organized by Zhong Yongliang, so although everyone found it absurd when he walked off the plane in a pair of dripping-wet trousers, no one mocked him—which came to him as some small comfort.

"Brother Liang, I'm sorry—I didn't mean for that to happen..." Seeing that he had botched things, Gao Xiaofu apologized to Zhong Yongliang with a sheepish air.

"Forget it!" Zhong Yongliang looked at his one and only underling and could hardly say much more. He waved a hand with an air of magnanimity. "Just put your back into playing the shark for me in a little while!"

"Don't you worry—I've already practiced several times in the bathtub at home. There won't be a problem!" Gao Xiaofu patted his chest, brimming with confidence.

Zhong Yongliang nodded. Whether he could salvage his face all came down to this one stroke! If the glorious image of him doing battle with a shark were to fall upon everyone's eyes, the business of the soiled trousers would count for nothing.

The plane came down on a dedicated water runway in the VIP section of the seaside bathing beach. Once it had stopped, a speedboat came out to meet it and carried the students from the plane to the beach.

Zhong Yongliang had booked out the whole of the beach's VIP area, so there were no other visitors about.

The seawater was beautifully clear; between the sand and the water lay a shallow shelf floored with pebbles and fine sand. Within it were seashells, little crabs, and small fish—plainly the water here was of excellent quality.

Wei Zhao did not rush off to change into his swimsuit the way the others did; he sat down on the sand instead, quietly watching the tiny creatures in the water. Clear seawater like this had grown rare in the cities and on the tourist trails, and Wei Zhao felt as though he had returned to his hometown.

As a boy, he and Ergoudan had often played by the sea. Most of the time, of course, Wei Zhao had been forced by the old man to practice his martial arts in the water, while Ergoudan—Wei Zhao truly doubted the makeup of that boy's body; he himself could scarcely keep his footing in the surging waves, yet the little wretch stood there like an iron tower, unshaken.

"Why aren't you going to change into your swimsuit?" Feng Xiaoxiao, seeing that Wei Zhao had planted himself on the sand and drifted off into a daze the moment he arrived, came over, puzzled.

"I can't swim, so what would I change for?" Wei Zhao said flatly. "And you?"

"Because I want to stay by your side!" Feng Xiaoxiao said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Wei Zhao shook his head. His train of thought had been broken, so he turned his attention to the girls who had already changed into their swimsuits. Eighteen-year-old girls, their slender, delicate figures now in full bloom—this was a fine chance to feast his eyes. What would the young mistress and Shen Yushu look like in swimsuits? Compared with Gu Mengyao, Wei Zhao was in fact more eager to see Shen Yushu in a swimsuit... He had seen photographs of the two of them in swimwear, but photographs were no match for the visual effect of the real thing.

What disappointed Wei Zhao, however, was that neither Gu Mengyao nor Shen Yushu had changed into swimsuits. Instead, they set up a sun umbrella by the water and, seated beneath it, began to unpack the snacks from their backpacks... So these two girls had come for a picnic?

Come to think of it, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had plenty of chances to visit the seaside; on the hard drive of his own computer there was next to nothing but photographs of the two of them traveling, many of them taken by the sea.

"There don't seem to be any sharks here?" Shen Yushu said, gazing at the placid water with some disappointment.

"This is a tourist area. Naturally there wouldn't be any sharks," said Gu Mengyao.

"That little Liangzi—how dare he lie to me, saying he'd roast shark meat for me to eat! I'm never trusting him again!" Shen Yushu said indignantly.

"Even if there were, would you dare to eat the shark meat he roasted?" Gu Mengyao curled her lip.

"Uh—" The memory of Zhong Yongliang soiling his pants on the plane made Shen Yushu queasy. If Zhong Yongliang really did roast her shark meat, she probably wouldn't dare eat it either.

Gao Xiaofu saw that most of the class had gone into the water, so he strapped a shark fin to his back and slipped quietly into the sea. Yet after paddling a few circles, he found that not a single classmate was paying him any attention, and he grew a little anxious.

He dared not come too near the other students, either, for the water in the shallows was very clear, and if he went over, someone was bound to notice that this shark was a fake.

And yet he could hardly shout, "I'm a shark—the shark is coming!"

Zhong Yongliang was anxious as well. He was to play the hero who fought the shark, so the shark must not be discovered by him first. Best of all, someone else would spot it first and frighten all the other students up onto the shore, and only then would Zhong Yongliang step forward to display his prowess and "finish off" the shark!

Just when the two of them were both frantic with worry, Shen Yushu suddenly leapt up in excitement: "Yaoyao, it's a shark! The shark is coming!"

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