Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Hearing Qu Cai call on him, Liu Cha hurried to say, "Brother Yang, I really was rash before. When Shen Hua wouldn't agree to meet me, my head got hot and I used force. Brother Yang, Shen Hua—can you forgive me? If you really can't, then just call the police and have me arrested. I suppose this counts as kidnapping, doesn't it? Even though my dad and Uncle Shen are good friends, I've done wrong and I can't be shielded for it. Shen Hua, call the police. Let me go to prison."

Watching Liu Cha's little performance, Yang Ce found it highly amusing. So you're playing the poor pitiful thing, are you? Back in the day, playing pitiful was my specialty! Yours is a bit too fake.

But Shen Hua had never seen such a display, and seeing Liu Cha so full of remorse, she felt a measure of sympathy. "Brother Yang, why don't we just let it go? Let's spare him. After all, his father and my father—"

Yang Ce gave a cold snort and cast Liu Cha a contemptuous glance. But since Shen Hua, the party involved, had spoken, there was no need for Yang Shuoxuan to keep pursuing it—and even if he meant to, it could not be now.

Yang Yongjin reflected that Shen Hua knew a great many things about him, and some matters were better handled quietly. Besides, Yang Ce still could not quite see through this Qu Cai, and did not know what the man was really after.

Since he had caught a whiff of something, he might as well keep probing. Sooner or later he would turn something up.

"Then let's let it go. When you boil it down, we're all one family anyway," Yang Ce said with a wave of his hand. "It'd be a laughingstock if word got out. You all know who my father is, I expect. We're all brother companies, so I won't pursue this today."

"Brother Yang, listen to you—I'll give Liu Cha a proper dressing-down," Qu Cai hurriedly answered.

Yang Yu gave a nod. "If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

"Brother Yang, stay and have a bite with us before you go," Liu Cha said, still a little frightened, trying to curry favor.

Yang Bai waved a hand. "No need. I've just eaten."

With that, he said to Shen Hua and Jing Yu, "Let's go."

Only after Yang Ce had left the room did Liu Cha let out a long breath and plop down on the sofa, unable to speak for a long while. He really had been frightened.

Qu Cai shook his head helplessly. He had never expected that halfway through his plan, a Cheng Yaojin like Yang Cenbin would come bursting in. A miscalculation indeed.

To be continued

994. The Strategist

Apart from being frightened, Shen Hua was none the worse for wear. Once in the car, her spirits returned to normal.

"How did they catch you?" Yang Yanchuan asked.

"I—I'd arranged to go out and have fun with Yang Xiaobo." At this point Shen Hua blushed, then went on, "I'd just stepped out and was about to take the subway—I hadn't even reached the station when those three came charging out of a van and grabbed me. After that—well, the next thing was running into you in the elevator at the Celestial Paradise."

Yang Yu nodded, then went on, "And do you believe Liu Cha was looking for you purely to have dinner?"

Shen Hua was no three-year-old. She hesitated, then shook her head. "I don't know. But they all seemed rather afraid of you. I doubt they'll try anything like that again."

Yang Heng gave a laugh and said nothing. Shen Hua was like most girls—soft-hearted—and thinking so was only natural. Then he caught Jing Yu in the passenger seat curling the corner of her mouth slightly, and Yang Ce shook his head.

Judging by that scornful look of hers, if the matter had fallen to Jing Yu, Liu Cha would have been lucky to escape with his limbs intact. He had to admit Jing Yu was a decisive sort—though it might have had something to do with the environment she grew up in: if you don't push others around, others push you around.

At the agreed meeting place, Yang Xiaobo was waiting anxiously. Shen Hua was late, and just as he was wondering, Yang Juehuan's car pulled up beside him and Shen Hua jumped out. He was stunned. "Brother, Xiaohua, how did you two run into each other?"

"Ha, I saw Shen Hua waiting for a ride on the road and figured she'd been waiting a long while, so I gave her a lift," Yang Heng said with a laugh. This was what he and Shen Hua had agreed on in the car: for the time being they would not tell Yang Xiaobo, lest he worry.

"So that's how it was." Yang Xiaobo smiled. "Brother, go on about your business then. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. We're family." Yang Ce waved a hand and did not linger. After a couple of pleasantries with Yang Xiaobo, he drove off.

"I thought something had happened to you. Scared me to death." Only after Yang Juehuan's car had gone far did Yang Xiaobo reach out and pull Shen Hua into his arms, speaking with concern.

"What could happen to me? Besides, with your brother escorting me, nothing could go wrong." Shen Hua giggled. "Let me ask you something—how many girlfriends does your brother have, anyway? The one in the car today wasn't the same one we saw last time."

"That—" Yang Xiaobo found it rather hard to explain. He wasn't too clear on his brother's affairs either. "Big Brother is dashing and romantic. A few more girlfriends isn't anything to fuss over, is it?"

"Hmph, nothing to fuss over?" Shen Hua glared at him. "Don't tell me you want to find a few more yourself?"

"How could I?" Yang Xiaobo hurriedly shook his head. "I'm nowhere near as formidable as Big Brother. Besides, having you is enough for me."

"That's more like it." Shen Hua smiled sweetly and took Yang Xiaobo's hand, and the two of them walked side by side toward the cinema. "Yang Ce, is that Liu Chan another one of the company's princelings?" Jing Yu asked once there was no one else in the car.

"Yeah. His father's name is Liu Chan, a vice president at Celestial Paradise." Yang Ce saw no reason to hide it; Jing Yu already knew plenty, so one more detail hardly mattered.

"Liu Chan—'miscarriage'?" Jing Yu froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. "No way, that name is way too savage—'Miscarriage,' hahahaha!"

"Heh, it is pretty funny." Prodded by Jing Yu, Yang Ce suddenly found the name Liu Chan a bit problematic too. What on earth had his mother been thinking when she gave it to him?

"I know that Qu Cai. His father is Qu Mingliang, a vice president of our company. I've seen Qu Cai come to the office, but I doubt Qu Cai would remember me at all," Jing Yu said. She was only a lowly clerk; naturally Qu Cai would never pay her any mind.

"You're quite well informed." Yang Xutang laughed afterward. Indeed, Jing Yu was right—this Qu Cai's old man really was named Qu Mingliang.

"Yang Ce." Jing Yu hesitated, then suddenly said, "Are you hoping to use this business to carry out a major purge inside the company?"

The moment Yang Xutang heard Jing Yu's words, his heart gave a sudden thud, and he looked at her in some astonishment. "Why would you say that?"

"I'm just guessing," Jing Yu said with a smile. "Knowing your temperament, you wouldn't let someone who infuriated you off so easily. Back then, I was a girl, and you dumped a whole bowl of congee over my head—and all we'd had was a little clash over seats. But those two were trying to kidnap and assault your brother's wife. You couldn't possibly let them off so lightly. So I figure it's not that you don't want to touch them—you have reservations, afraid that moving one hair will drag in the whole body. So you're waiting for the right moment to strike. Otherwise, just teaching two little punks a lesson wouldn't accomplish anything like purging the company from the inside."

Yang Cenbin was utterly astonished, staring at Jing Yu in disbelief. He had never imagined this girl had such sharp insight. He had taken her for a small-time delinquent, never expecting her to say such a thing.