Chapter 329 — A Word of Advice

Inwardly he fumed: he simply had to find out just what the relationship between Yang Ce and Lin Yanhe really was. Otherwise, with Yang Ce stirring things up in the future, there was no hope of his ever succeeding in pursuing Lin Yanhe.

In just this short while today he had nearly been eclipsed altogether. Give it a bit more time, and he would become Yang Ce's foil. Xu Qianhang thought to himself: I, the illustrious chairman of the student union, am actually no match for an ordinary student. This is simply outrageous.

To make it to his evening class, Yang Ce kept an eye on the time as he ate. Lin Yanhe had a small appetite and was full after a little while, leaving quite a lot of food on the table. Xu Qianhang felt the pinch, yet it would have looked petty to ask for a doggy bag.

"Yang Ce, there's so much left over. Isn't it a waste?" Lin Yanhe looked at the food on the table.

She was not one to be extravagant.

"It's fine. I'll take it back and eat it while I study with Tian Yan," Yang Ce said with a smile. "No waste at all."

Xu Qianhang's eyes nearly popped out of his head at Yang Ce's words, and he was filled with regret. He thought: had I known, I'd have asked for the doggy bag myself! He had never expected Lin Yanhe to be so frugal. Otherwise he would long since have told the waiter to pack it up—how could he have let Yang Ce beat him to it?

That way he could have enjoyed a feast back at the dormitory and also preserved, in Lin Yanhe's eyes, his admirable habit of thrift and no waste. But now Yang Ce had already said he would take the food back to eat, and he could hardly snatch it from Yang Ce's hands and say, no, let me take it. That would seem far too—well, too much of a thing… and would only make Lin Yanhe look down on him all the more.

Yang Ce carried off a great pile of packed food, and Xu Qianhang could say nothing. This meal had been an absolute disaster—he had not achieved a single one of his aims, and had instead frittered away tens of thousands of yuan for nothing.

Led by the waiter to the ground-floor lobby, Xu Qianhang went to the front desk to settle the bill. "Private room 21, how much is it?"

After asking, Xu Qianhang held his breath. Tens of thousands of yuan was a large sum to him now, so he gritted his teeth and thought: the first thing I do when I get back is find out the relationship between Yang Ce and Lin Yanhe.

"Sir, private room 21 is complimentary. The manager gave instructions," the waiter said after checking the computer.

Then, smiling, he addressed Xu Qianhang.

"Complimentary? What do you mean?" Xu Qianhang was stunned. Of course he understood what complimentary meant, but he could not believe his own ears. A meal costing tens of thousands of yuan—how could it possibly be complimentary? This was a little too incredible.

The waiter smiled. Though he found Xu Qianhang's question rather amusing, he explained anyway: "Sir, the group's chairman gave instructions that anything Mr. Yang spends here is free of charge. Since you came with Mr. Yang, the private room's expenses are complimentary."

Shock! At that moment Xu Qianhang felt nothing but shock. His whole body as though struck by lightning, he stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly. Yang Ce got free service here? And by the group chairman's orders?

How high a position was a group chairman, really? How could Xu Qianhang not have some idea? Never mind a lobby manager—even the general manager of the International Hotel had to answer to the group above.

And Yang Ce could actually claim a connection to the group's chairman. What did that mean? It meant Yang Ce's family background far surpassed his own. A moment ago Xu Qianhang had thought his family was rather impressive; now, measured against Yang Ce, it amounted to nothing at all.

Remembering the warmth with which the lobby manager had addressed Yang Ce just now, Xu Qianhang felt a wave of dejection. He was at a loss now—the gulf between him and Yang Ce was too vast, impossible to close no matter how he tried.

Seeing Xu Qianhang look so utterly dispirited, Yang Ce naturally understood why. He had taken in every word of the exchange between the front-desk clerk and Xu Qianhang.

Yang Ce walked over to Xu Qianhang, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a faint smile, "Chairman Xu, Zhiyun and I will be going first—we still have classes to get back to..."

"Ah..." Only then did Xu Qianhang snap out of his earlier shock. He stared in disbelief at the Yang Ce

beside him, his eyes full of astonishment.

"Oh, Chairman Xu, there's one thing I feel I must say

first—you'd better stop setting your sights on Zhiyun. Otherwise you'll certainly regret it."

With that, Yang Ce paid him no further mind, turned, and left the hotel lobby together with Lin Yanhe. Xu Qianhang was left standing there alone, dazed, still unable to recover from the shock.

"What did you say to him just now?" Once they were in the car, Lin Yanhe asked Yang Ce curiously.

"I told him to stop setting his sights on you," Yang Ce said without concealment.

"Then why did he look so shattered?" Lin Yanhe regarded Yang Ce with suspicion.

"He feels the gap between him and me is too great, so of course he's shattered," Yang Ce said, half-truthfully, half-falsely.

"Never mind him. Let's get back to school."

It was already past rush hour, so there were not many cars on the road, and on the way back they could take the one-way street, which cut the distance considerably. By the time they reached school it was exactly six o'clock—just as class was beginning—so neither of them counted as late.

Yang Ce first dropped Lin Yanhe off at the economics and management building, then drove back to the computer science college where his own class was held. He got out carrying a pile of good food and headed for his classroom.

He arrived just in time—it turned out to be Mr. Wang's class. Yang Ce slipped in through the back door; Mr. Wang said nothing, only nodded amiably at him before continuing the lecture.

Tian Yan and Wang Xue were sitting in the last row of the classroom, where there were no other students and plenty of room. Yang Ce sat down beside Tian Yan and tossed the food in his hands to him: "Dinner's on me—seafood."

"Holy crap, all these crabs, lobster?" Tian Yan's eyes went wide. "You went out and bought all this?

How did you know Wang Xue and I hadn't eaten?"

"I went to dinner with Lin Yanhe and packed the leftovers for you," Yang Ce said with a shrug. "You two really haven't eaten? Then dig in, quick."

"I have to say, you're not usually this generous—but bringing me this much, I'm more than satisfied." Tian Yan gleefully opened the bags, had Wang Xue shift over one seat, and set the food between the two of them.

Wang Xue was not as brazen as Tian Yan. A little embarrassed, she glanced around. "We can't let the teacher see, can we?"

"No worries, what's there to be afraid of? He can't see us." Tian Yan grabbed a lobster and started gnawing at it.

(merged with 70)

Yang Ce smiled faintly. In truth, from the podium the teacher could see the students below perfectly clearly—it was just that most of the time they said nothing. Especially in university, where studying or not studying was each person's own business; what did it have to do with the teacher?

University teachers rarely bothered to police their students; it all came down to self-discipline.

And especially for a young master like Tian Yan—by now every teacher in his class knew there was such a idle rich boy here to coast through his days and date Wang Xue. Who would bother with him?

Seeing Tian Yan eat with such relish, Wang Xue could not resist joining in...

Ren Jianren felt utterly pathetic—thoroughly pathetic. The Taekwondo Club had once had a bright future; many students these days worshiped all things foreign and loved learning taekwondo, so the Taekwondo Club at Songjiang University of Technology had always flourished.