Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"We're in the car behind you." Chen Shutang broke out in a sweat. So the big shot Liu Ting had been marveling at was Yang Ce. A flicker of annoyance rose in her—why hadn't he told her the car had plates on it? When Liu Ting had asked her about it just now, she had said nothing; would Liu Ting think she had been putting on airs on purpose?

Chen Shutang hung up, and there was Yang Ce, bouquet of roses in hand, stepping out of the BMW ahead and walking toward her. At the sight of the flowers in his arms, her heart gave a leap of joy, and the scolding she had been planning to give Yang Puji melted clean away.

Still, when she opened the car door, she asked with a frown, "When did your car get those plates? Why so flashy?"

Yang Puji was taken aback, then smiled wryly. As if he wanted to be flashy—but Baolin had already put the plates on, and it wasn't as though he could take them off again.

"I went out of town a few days ago, didn't I? I left the car with a friend, and the idiot went and registered the plates for me." To play the pitiful one in front of Chen Shutang, Yang Ce made Baolin the scapegoat.

Chen Shutang was startled, then caught between laughing and crying. "That plate must have taken a lot of trouble. Don't talk about your friend like that."

Liu Ting had known all along that Chen Shutang was not one to show off, so when Chen Shutang had said nothing earlier after seeing that insane plate, she had not taken it as putting on airs or anything of the sort. Now, watching Chen Shutang scold Yang Ce over the plate while he stood there with the flowers looking so innocently wronged, she found it very funny.

Yet Liu Ting grew a little curious. Just what was Chen Shutang's boyfriend's background? He drove a BMW 5 Series SUV, a friend had helped him get a spectacular plate, and he called the man an idiot for it. From that alone one could tell that Chen Shutang's boyfriend did not much care for the plate, nor think there was anything special about it. In other words, he had basically no need of such a plate to prove who he was.

And Chen Shutang was actually angry about it. Liu Ting shook her head. A few days ago, a fellow from their department who had been courting her had just bought a BMW 3 Series and spent no end of effort picking out a good plate, finally settling on one whose three digits spelled "tractor," and he strutted about with it as if it made him king of the world.

"Mengyan, stop scolding him. Look at your handsome brother-in-law, coming over all cheerful with flowers to give you, and you've gone and made him utterly embarrassed." Liu Ting's first impression of Yang Ce had been very good too; she thought this man's family background must be a good deal stronger than Liu Baoqiang's—not by a little but by a lot—and yet he was not the least bit the spoiled rich-kid type.

Chen Shutang felt she had been rather too hard on Yang Ce as well, so she smiled, snatched the roses from his hands, and gave him a sweet smile. "From now on, whatever happens, you have to tell me."

"I figured little things like this didn't need mentioning," Yang Ce said, aggrieved.

"Big things or little things, none of it is allowed. Otherwise—hmph, hmph—you know what happens." What Chen Shutang wanted to say was, do any of those women of yours get through the door without my nod? But that was not something to bring up in front of Liu Ting.

"All right, all right, I know. From now on I'll even tell you when I go to the bathroom, how's that?" Yang Ce said.

Chen Shutang glared at Yang Puji. "No decency at all."

"Handsome brother-in-law, won't you introduce us?" Seeing how exacting the Little Princess Chen was being with Yang Cenbin, Liu Ting hurried to smooth things over. Women, she thought—just now you were speaking up for Liu Baoqiang, and now that it's your turn, aren't you the same?

"Yang Ce. Mengyan and I were high school classmates, and we're at the same university now." Yang Ce smiled and extended his hand.

"Liu Ting, Mengyan's third sister. We already spoke on the phone just now." Liu Ting shook his hand with easy poise. "You're not bad—I'd say you haven't disgraced our Little Princess Chen."

To be continued

912. Baoshun Hot Pot

912 Baoshun Hot Pot. By now Liu Baoqiang had gotten out of the car too. Yang Ce had given him quite a shock—he had been worrying whether dealing with a rich young master like this would earn him contempt. But hearing Yang Ce's easygoing words and seeing him being scolded by Chen Shutang, Liu Baoqiang found it rather funny. So the guy was a henpecked husband too.

Little did he know that Yang Ce and Chen Shutang were as close as close could be, but he was no henpecked husband. Being good to a girl and being henpecked were two entirely different things.

"This is Liu Baoqiang, my boyfriend." Seeing Liu Baoqiang get out of the car, Liu Ting gestured toward him and said.

"Liu Baoqiang. Just call me Xiaoqiang." Liu Baoqiang used his usual self-introduction.

"Xiaoqiang?" Yang Xutang was startled by this formidable name. "My name is Yang Ce, but not Xiao Ming. You can call me Xiao Yang."

"Ha, no worries—laugh if you want. My name really is the same as that legendary Xiaoqiang." Liu Baoqiang laughed, wholly unbothered. "Good to meet you."

"So are we heading to your class reunion now?" Yang Ce, knowing the schedule, asked.

"There's plenty of time—it's only just past nine, and the reunion doesn't start until the afternoon." Chen Shutang checked the time on her phone. "How about we all go up to my place and sit for a while?"

Yang Ce going up to Chen Shutang's home was naturally no issue, but Liu Baoqiang felt a bit awkward. He and Chen Shutang had only just met and were not well acquainted, so it hardly seemed right to go into her home—and Chen Shutang being a girl made it even less proper for him to shamelessly go up.

Liu Ting naturally knew what was on Liu Baoqiang's mind, so she said, "Mengyan, you didn't eat this morning either, did you? We haven't eaten either, as it happens. The reunion won't have food on the table until two at the earliest, so I say we find somewhere to eat something first."

"Perfect—let's go to my family's hot pot place. It's on me," Liu Baoqiang said, naturally following Liu Ting's lead.

"Your family's place, and you're treating? Who else would treat, me?" Liu Ting shot Liu Baoqiang a look.

"Me treating is the same as you treating, isn't it? Ha ha." Liu Baoqiang grinned and laughed heartily twice.

"That works too. Then we'll be imposing on your family." Chen Shutang nodded at Liu Baoqiang.

"Imposing? With the young master of the house showing up, those waiters will have to behave themselves." Liu Baoqiang said it half in jest.

"Come off it. Young master of the house, you have the nerve to call yourself that? Yang Ce there is way more formidable than you, and he's far more low-key." Liu Ting gave Liu Baoqiang a shove.

Chen Shutang thought to herself that whether Yang Ce kept a low profile depended entirely on the circumstances. This fellow, when he ran into someone he disliked, would throw a punch at the slightest provocation and then each would get back in their own car. Yang Ce followed behind Liu Baoqiang's Santana, and the two cars left Chen Shutang's residential compound together, heading for the hotpot restaurant owned by Liu Baoqiang's family.

"Yang Ce, I don't like this license plate of yours. If you ever buy me a car, whatever you do, don't get a plate like that—it's really a bit too flashy." Now that she knew the plate had not been Yang Ce's doing, Chen Shutang no longer vented her anger on him, but she truly did not care for an overly showy life.

"If you don't like it, I'll swap this car out in a few days." Yang Ce did care a great deal about Chen Shutang's opinion—after all, she was his first real girlfriend in any meaningful sense.