Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

"The one who took my first time—that was Yang Ce." Lin Yanhe spoke vaguely. She was not good at lying, and she could not explain the twists and turns in detail, so she could only skim over it in a single sentence.

"I understand." Li Dadong lowered his head, the expression on his face indescribably pained. After a long while he said: "But that doesn't mean anything. I can understand how you felt back then. You—you don't owe him anything anymore. You can leave him. And—and I won't despise you for this."

Li Dadong had spoken from the heart. Indeed, Lin Yanhe had only done such a thing because life forced her to it, and Li Dadong could completely accept that.

"Ha." Lin Yanhe smiled and said: "Thank you, Brother Dadong. I've said it before—between the two of us, it can only ever be a brother-and-sister relationship."

"I—I was just making an analogy," Li Dadong said, embarrassed. "I meant to say that in this day and age, whether a girl is that or not doesn't matter anymore."

"Yan and I are together because I—I can't bear to leave him." When Lin Yanhe said this, she was startled herself. This feeling, hidden at the bottom of her heart, had finally been released in an instant. "I—I like him."

"But if you do this, isn't it just—ah, what am I supposed to say to you?" Li Dadong looked at Lin Yanhe with a sigh. "So you plan to go on like this forever?"

"Take one step, see how it goes," Lin Yanhe said with a shake of her head.

"Do Uncle Lin and Auntie Shen know about all this?" Li Dadong asked after a moment's silence.

"No. I don't want them to know," Lin Yanhe said, shaking her head again. "They only know that Yang Ce is my boyfriend, that we've been together since high school."

"You won't regret it?" Li Dadong raised his head and made one last attempt.

"No." Lin Yanhe said firmly. Ever since she had forgiven Yang Juehuan for what he had done, she had never regretted it again.

To be continued

706. Can You Do Me a Favor?

Seeing how resolute Lin Yanhe was, Li Dadong had nothing more to say. A woman in love will always throw caution to the wind. The moth drawn to the flame is no empty saying.

Knowing that nothing more could be said, Li Dadong sighed helplessly.

"Dadong, can you keep this between us? Don't tell my parents, and don't mention it to anyone." Lin Yanhe looked at Li Dadong pleadingly.

"I—fine, have it your way," Li Dadong said, unable to bear it.

"Thank you, Dadong." Lin Yanhe smiled sweetly. "And don't tell He Yan either, all right?"

"I understand." Li Dadong nodded.

"Will you come help out at the company?" Lin Yanhe changed the subject.

"All right," Li Dadong said. "I'm here to back you up. If Yang Ce dares to treat you badly, I won't let him off."

"Heh, let's leave it at that for now. I'll head back first." Though a smile hung on Lin Yanhe's face, her heart was in agony. What she had just said was only for Li Dadong's ears; the truth was far more complicated than that.

Lin Yanhe did not know how long the relationship between herself and He Yan could last. Should she tell Yang Ce about that matter? The thought had barely surfaced before she rejected it.

Lin Yanhe would never do such a thing as to threaten someone. She walked quickly back to Zhao Sisi's office, where Yang Shuoxuan had just finished speaking with Zhao Sisi and was about to go look for Lin Yanhe.

"Zhiyun, are you two done talking?" Yang Ce looked at Lin Yanhe as she came in and asked with a smile.

"Yes. Dadong has agreed to come to the company." Lin Yanhe said nothing of what had happened before, only that Li Dadong was coming to help out.

"So he's come around. That's wonderful. When does he plan to start?" Yang Yanchuan asked.

"In the next couple of days, I think. Li Dadong wasn't in the best of moods today and went back first, but it's settled—he'll come report in within a couple of days."

"Good. Sisi, you take charge of the arrangements, just as we discussed—put him in charge of personnel and attendance discipline," Yang Yanzhou said.

"All right." Zhao Sisi nodded.

"Shall we go grab a bite together?" Yang Ce checked the time; it was already the dinner hour.

"No, I have to take dinner to Zhang Bin at the hospital." Zhao Sisi shook her head with a smile.

"All right then. Give Zhang Bin my regards." With that, Yang Yanzhou stood up. "We'll be off."

Only after leaving the company with Lin Yanhe did Yang Ce ask, "When Li Dadong came looking for you, was it just to say he wanted to work at the company?"

"Yes." Lin Yanhe started and stammered.

"Nothing else?" Looking at Lin Yanhe's expression, Yang Ce knew she was not telling the truth.

"N-no, nothing else." Lin Yanhe hastily shook her head.

Yang Hengye smiled and did not press further. Everyone was entitled to their privacy, and Yang Ce was no gossipmonger—there was no need to ask in such detail.

"Where to?" Yang Yanchuan asked.

"Aren't you going to keep your girlfriend company?" Lin Yanhe asked cautiously.

"Aren't I keeping you company right now?" Yang Ce feigned ignorance and reached out to circle his arm around Lin Yanhe's waist.

"I—I meant Chen Shutang," Lin Yanhe said, somewhat helplessly.

"Oh, you mean her." Yang Hengye said, "I kept her company yesterday, so naturally I should keep you company today. One must hold the scales even."

Having received Chen Shutang's approval, Yang Yanzhou had grown bolder in both word and deed.

"What are you talking about?" Hearing Yang Juehuan's words, Lin Yanhe's heart pounded violently, and fine beads of sweat broke out on the tip of her nose.

"Nothing. You must be hungry—let's fill our stomachs first." Yang Ce took Lin Yanhe by the hand and got into the car.

"My mom should have finished cooking by now. Let's go home and eat," Lin Yanhe said.

"Mm." Reminded by Lin Yanhe, Yang Ce remembered this. "Sure. Auntie Shen's cooking is quite superb."

For some reason, Lin Yanhe blushed especially easily today—perhaps because she had bared her innermost thoughts before Li Dadong. Though she had not told He Yan, her whole heart was all the more firmly tied to Yang Juehuan. After parting in the parking lot of the Heavenly Paradise Hotel last time, Yang Cenbin had not contacted Shu Ya for two days. Someone from Mingyang Entertainment was handling the concert arrangements with Shu Ya's side, so Yang Ce did not need to worry about that.

Moreover, Yang Cenbin had indeed been very busy for the past two days. Early in the morning, the renovation crew at the villa had called—there was a question about how to arrange one of the bedrooms, and Yang Ce needed to go decide in person.

Renovation was exhausting work. Although he had already made his intentions clear to the renovation company, when it came to many details, the company would still call him to confirm in person.

In truth, the renovation company could hardly be blamed. After all, renovation was done for the occupants to see; the workers might be satisfied, but the occupants might not think the same. So, to avoid unnecessary trouble, they would tirelessly call the occupant to discuss matters.

Yang Shuoxuan had no choice in the matter. He drove to the villa early in the morning. He wanted to drive into the villa's courtyard, but unexpectedly, a pile of discarded renovation lumber had been thrown at the courtyard gate, blocking Yang Juehuan's way.

Frowning, he thought these workers really were something. True, property management staff came at fixed times each day to collect the garbage, but they still shouldn't pile it at their own courtyard gate.

He was about to pick up the phone and call the foreman of the renovation crew, but then put the phone down. Shaking his head helplessly, he thought, fair enough—these workers were rushing to finish under his urging, so how would they have time to tend to such small details?

Besides, property management had only said to throw out the useless garbage; they were not particular about exactly where it should be piled.