Chapter 441 — A Narrow Escape

"I'm sorry, Sister Mengyan... I just... I just wanted to spend a romantic evening with Yan..." Zhou Yanning explained, a little shy and embarrassed. "You and Sister Lin both went on the spring outing, and I was home alone, so I thought I'd spend some time with Yan..."

With that, Zhou Yanning lowered her head bashfully.

Chen Shutang was somewhat taken aback. Yang Ce had come here with Zhou Yanning? And she had made such a fuss coming to catch a cheater? What was Zhou Yanning supposed to think? Now that Zhou Yanning had been frightened like this, she would surely think Chen Shutang was petty and had deliberately come to ruin their good time...

But heaven knew, she had come to catch Zhao Ying—not Zhou Yanning! If she had known the person in Yang Ce's room was Zhou Yanning, Chen Shutang wouldn't have come at all; she would have silently wished them well!

Chen Shutang had long since accepted Zhou Yanning—otherwise she wouldn't have let her move into the villa! But after Zhou Yanning moved in, Yang Ce had been constantly busy, shuttling back and forth between home and abroad, never a chance to be alone with Zhou Yanning...

Even if Chen Shutang wanted to create an opportunity for her, Yang Ce had no time! When Yang Ce finally had some free time, Zhou Yanning went off to work on an internet project with Sister Xiao Qing. So Yang Ce and Zhou Yanning had long been together in name only, which made Chen Shutang anxious too...

Zhou Yanning and Yan must have realized this as well, and so they had picked a day when she and Lin Yanhe were both out enjoying themselves to have a romantic night together—only for her to ruthlessly ruin it!

At this thought, Chen Shutang's eyes couldn't help but redden. She took Zhou Yanning's hand. "Sister Jiajia... I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you, I ruined your good time... Don't blame me, I'll go now..."

Chen Shutang was filled with guilt. Why had she believed that Fan Ce fellow? The moment she saw him she knew he was no good—would a good man have gotten beaten up by Yang Ce? Those things he'd said were probably all lies. He'd wanted revenge on Yang Ce but didn't dare, so he'd sought her help to ruin Yang Juehuan's good time!

How could she have been so foolish, to believe Fan Ce's words!

"It's all right..." Zhou Yanning shook her head. "It's my fault. I should have told you in advance..."

"It's not your fault. I actually came looking for Zhao Ying... Sister Ying..." Chen Shutang shook her head. Earlier, out of irritation, she had called Zhao Ying by her bare name, but now that she knew the person in Yang Ce's room wasn't Zhao Ying but Zhou Yanning, she switched back to "Sister Ying."

"You're looking for Sister Ying? She's in the room next door!" Zhou Yanning said.

"Oh? Sister Ying really is here?" Chen Shutang frowned slightly. It seemed what Fan Ce had said wasn't entirely baseless—Zhao Ying really was here.

"Yes, she and Sister Sun Jie are both here. They're both Sister Xiao Qing's students. We all came together!" Zhou Yanning gave the explanation Sun Jie had already prepared for her. "My mom also has shares in this resort, so Sister Sun Jie invited me and Sister Xiao Qing to come and have fun. Sister Xiao Qing and Sister Zhao Ying are close too, so we all came over. They're all in the room next door..."

With Zhou Yanning's explanation, Chen Shutang knew she had overthought things! So Xiao Qing, Sun Jie, and Zhao Ying had a student-teacher relationship, which made it perfectly normal for them to be together. Zhou Yanning had come along with them—she had just brought Yang Ce with her! Fan Ce had probably seen Yang Ce with Zhao Ying and assumed they had come to book a room together, when in fact Yang Ce had come with a whole group.

"Jiajia, you two carry on... I'll be going. I'm sorry—once we're home, I'll make it up to you..." Chen Shutang waved at Zhou Yanning apologetically.

"Sister Mengyan, why don't you stay... I... I just got my period..." Zhou Yanning's face flushed red as she said quietly.

"Huh?" Chen Shutang was stunned.

"I just found out..." Zhou Yanning said shyly. "I had calculated the days, but who knew it would come early..."

"Oh, great..." Chen Shutang was somewhat speechless. "Then I won't disturb you two. Just hold each other and sleep..."

With that, Chen Shutang turned and stepped out of the bathroom, then pointed angrily at Fan Ce and said to Little Wang, who had followed them upstairs: "Throw this guy out for me!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Little Wang was overjoyed to hear Chen Shutang wanted Fan Ce thrown out—he'd been wanting to do it all along. Though he didn't know what had happened in the bathroom, from Chen Shutang's expression it was clear she was no longer making an issue of it! So Little Wang unleashed his might, grabbing Fan Ce by the collar. "You bastard of a man, go to hell!"

Only after Fan Ce had been dragged downstairs by Little Wang did Chen Shutang, a little embarrassed and a little reproachful, say: "Yang Ce, why didn't you tell me you were bringing Jiajia along? As if I would have stopped you! Honestly. I'm leaving... Don't be angry about what happened earlier..."

"It's fine, it was my fault in the first place. I figured I'd just sneak over with Jiajia and not disturb you and Zhiyun. I never expected that Fan Ce fellow to hold a grudge after I gave him a beating..." Yang Ce said with a smile.

"I'm so stupid, how could I have believed that guy!" Chen Shutang shook her head and took Lin Yanhe's hand. "Sister Lin, let's go..."

Just as Chen Shutang was speaking, Xiao Qing came out of the room with Sun Jie and Zhao Ying—after all, with such a commotion outside, it would have looked suspicious if they hadn't come out to see!

"What's going on? What happened?" Xiao Qing asked, pretending to look sleepy. "Huh? Isn't that Mengyan? What are you doing here?"

"Sister Xiao Qing..." Chen Shutang said awkwardly. "Nothing, it's nothing. I'm leaving now..."

"Since you're here, why not sit for a while before you go?" Xiao Qing invited with a smile.

But Chen Shutang was utterly embarrassed—how could she bear to stay? She had already ruined Yang Ce and Jiajia's chance to be alone, and now she just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible...

"No, we have things to do on our end, so we'll be going..." Chen Shutang grabbed Lin Yanhe and fled downstairs as if escaping.

"Ha..." Yang Ce secretly gave Sun Jie a thumbs-up. Her move had been brilliant—easily turning danger into safety!

As Chen Shutang and Lin Yanhe hurried downstairs, they saw Little Wang beating Fan Ce at the villa entrance. Strangely, she didn't find the violence distasteful at all; instead, she said viciously to Little Wang: "Hit him! Make this guy pay for stirring up trouble and lying!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Little Wang nodded and hit even harder, and Fan Ce continued to howl and wail in agony...

To this moment, he still had no idea where exactly he had gone wrong—how had Chen Shutang's attitude suddenly changed?