Chapter 89 — Consider It My Treat

"That's true enough," Kang Xiaofeng nodded in agreement after hearing Wei Zhao's words. Tang Zhi's beauty was the kind that, once seen, was not easily forgotten; otherwise, so many boys would not have been left utterly smitten after a single glance at her.

"Never mind all that, let's eat. I'm starving," Wei Zhao said, unabashedly grabbing a dried tofu roll and stuffing it into his mouth. "Not bad, this is pretty good."

"Heh heh, of course it is. You should know whose mother grilled it," Kang Xiaofeng said with a satisfied chuckle at Wei Zhao's praise.

"..." Wei Zhao glanced at Kang Xiaofeng, genuinely at a loss for words. "You make it sound like she's your mother."

"Cough, cough..." Kang Xiaofeng cleared his throat awkwardly. "Eat, come on, eat. Here, boss, I salute you." With that, he raised his beer.

Wei Zhao smiled and raised his bottle as well, clinking it against Kang Xiaofeng's.

Soon the rest of what Kang Xiaofeng had ordered arrived one dish after another. Tang Zhi, however, seemed to have made it her personal mission to make trouble—if she wasn't slamming the skewers down hard onto the table, she was deliberately bumping into Wei Zhao.

This little beauty is quite a piece of work, isn't she? Wei Zhao thought, looking at the fuming Tang Zhi with some amusement. She wants to drive me off.

There was still a large lecture that evening, so neither Wei Zhao nor Kang Xiaofeng drank much. They each finished only the one bottle in hand and polished off the food on the table, then Kang Xiaofeng rose to settle the bill. "Auntie, how much do we owe?"

"Ah, Yun'er, go and tally it up," Tang's mother said, busy with several orders for other tables and thus dispatching Tang Zhi to do the reckoning.

"Eighty yuan," Tang Zhi said, coming over to Wei Zhao's table. She shot him a covert glare and thought to herself: I'll gouge you good and proper, see how long you can keep up the act.

"Huh?" Kang Xiaofeng was taken aback. What he and Wei Zhao had ordered couldn't have come to more than forty yuan at most—how could it possibly be eighty? But seeing Tang Zhi's utterly confident manner, he couldn't bring himself to argue with the girl of his dreams, and could only fish a hundred-yuan note from his pocket and hold it out to her.

"Hold on," Wei Zhao said, stopping Kang Xiaofeng. "I think that's miscalculated, isn't it? I did the math just now—twenty skewers of lamb at one yuan each is twenty, two lamb chops at four yuan each is eight, two chicken necks at two yuan each is four, two tofu rolls at one yuan each is two, and two bottles of beer at two yuan each is four. That comes to thirty-eight yuan in total, doesn't it?"

"Well..." Tang Zhi hadn't expected Wei Zhao to actually go through the bill item by item with her, and her face flushed red at once with embarrassment. She was not a greedy person by nature; the reason she had said eighty yuan was simply that Wei Zhao's earlier gentle, refined manner had irked her, and she had kept wanting to find some way to trip him up and expose him. Yet after several deliberate provocations, Wei Zhao had shown no reaction at all, which only made Tang Zhi angrier. She thought: fine, if you love putting on an act so much, then act away—I'll just overcharge you a bit and call it even.

But no sooner had the little beauty named Tang quoted her figure of eighty yuan than she was challenged by the great arrow-brand brother, Lin.

"Yun'er, what's the matter with you? Why are you tallying the bill all wrong?" Tang's mother might have been busy with the grill, but Tang Zhi had gone to settle accounts not far from her, and she could hear every word of the exchange with Wei Zhao clearly. Seeing that her daughter had actually quoted a customer such an outrageous price, she grew angry and began to scold her with a stern face.

Tang Zhi had already been stewing with fury because of Wei Zhao, and now being taken to task by her mother, she could no longer keep her composure. She pursed her lips in grievance, then lifted her head to glare at Wei Zhao, her eyes fairly spitting fire, as though she wished she could burn him to ashes to slake her hatred. "I don't want your money. Just go. Consider it my treat. I don't want to see you again."

By the end her voice had taken on a sob. Without waiting for Wei Zhao to say anything, Tang Zhi covered her face and broke into a run, dashing off toward the school without even a word to her mother.

Tang Zhi's fierce reaction rather stunned Wei Zhao. He hadn't expected her to have such a fiery, unyielding side.

"That child..." Tang's mother had no idea what had gotten into her daughter today. The young man before her had clearly helped her out of a tight spot, yet instead of being grateful, she had given him nothing but attitude. This put her in an awkward position, and she looked at Wei Zhao apologetically. "Young man, Yun'er isn't usually like this—she's a sensible girl. I don't know what came over her today. I'm so sorry... This meal is on me, auntie's treat. No charge."

"I still have to pay," Wei Zhao said with a smile, indicating it was nothing. He patted his pocket and found exactly forty yuan in change, which he handed straight to Tang's mother. "Here's forty. I happen to be a bit thirsty—I'll take two bottles of mineral water, so there's no need to give me change."

Without waiting for Tang's mother to respond, Wei Zhao took two bottles of mineral water from the crate beside the stall, handed one to Kang Xiaofeng, and said to him, "Ready to go?"

Only then did Kang Xiaofeng come back to his senses. He had been somewhat dumbstruck by the scene with Tang Zhi just now, at a loss for what to do, and had simply stared blankly as she covered her face and ran off. It wasn't until Wei Zhao settled the bill and handed him the mineral water that he said, "Boss, how come you paid? Didn't we agree I'd cover it?"

"Ha ha, it's all the same. You can treat me next time," Wei Zhao said, already turning to head toward the school. Kang Xiaofeng hurriedly bade Tang's mother goodbye and followed after him.

"Come again," Tang's mother said, nodding warmly to Kang Xiaofeng.

"I'll be there for sure," Kang Xiaofeng answered.

What a sensible kid. Watching Wei Zhao's receding figure, Tang's mother sighed. She had no idea what had gotten into her precious girl, but she feared these two would never come back to patronize the stall again.

"Boss, something about today just doesn't sit right," Kang Xiaofeng said, catching up to Wei Zhao. He glanced ahead - Tang Zhi was already nowhere to be seen, clearly long gone.

"What's there to sit right or not sit right about?" Wei Zhao hadn't given it much thought. "You're the one who should be careful - don't let Zou Ruoming come after you."

"Ah." The reminder made Kang Xiaofeng realize he had thoroughly offended Zou Ruoming and his crowd. "Boss, don't scare me. I just made an enemy of Zhong Yongliang, and now Zou Ruoming too - how am I supposed to survive around here?"

"Don't be too flashy. Anyway, I'm with you most of the time, so they won't try anything," Wei Zhao said.

"Fair enough. But boss, word of you slapping Zou Ruoming is bound to spread soon - you're about to be promoted to number two among the school's Four Great Villains." Kang Xiaofeng chuckled.

"Is that supposed to be a good thing?" Wei Zhao shot him a glare. "Today's whole mess was caused by you sticking your neck out, and now I have to carry the reputation of a villain too."

"No way, boss - you're really willing to just stand by and watch Tang Zhi get bullied?" Kang Xiaofeng said with an ingratiating smile.

"From the look of her, she's no pushover - she only pushes me around," Wei Zhao cursed inwardly. Damn it, this pretty little Tang is all bark and no bite.