Chapter 239 — The Girl Beneath the Shade

"Brother Black Panther wants to see me?" Zhong Yongliang was briefly taken aback, then agreed without hesitation: "I'll go!"

Not only had this failed to finish off Wei Zhao, it had landed Brother Black Panther back in prison — and that made Zhong Yongliang hate Wei Zhao to the bone! He wanted to ask Brother Black Panther just what sort of ability Wei Zhao had, that he could make someone as formidable as Brother Black Panther come off the worse a second time!

"Good, then. I'll drive over to the school to pick you up around noon. Don't tell anyone about this." Hearing Zhong Yongliang's answer, Zhong Fabai relaxed. His one worry had been that his son would be too foolish to go and see Black Panther — and if that put Black Panther out, things could turn rather ugly. Still, Zhong Yongliang's readiness did surprise him somewhat.

"I understand, Dad!" Zhong Yongliang hung up, pressed a hand to the wounds on his body, and gritted his teeth.

He had been unconscious yesterday, only to be whipped awake by a belt! Zhong Yongliang had never suffered such a vicious beating in all his life. It left him shocked and furious — but once he got the full story out of them, he knew he had been played by Wei Zhao!

Zou Ruoming had taken him for Tang Zhi. Much as that galled Zhong Yongliang, it was also something of a relief: thank heavens Zou Ruoming had only beaten him. What if the man had thrown his arms around him and called him Tang Zhi? That would have been enough to make him sick.

And so, the more Zhong Yongliang thought about it, the more he felt that this Wei Zhao was truly detestable!

"I'm not going..." Wei Zhao was speechless.

"Then come with me? I'm heading to—" Kang ** began.

"I've got a date to get to... go by yourself." Wei Zhao clapped Kang ** on the shoulder. What was with this kid today, clinging to him like this? Even going to the toilet, he wanted company?

"Ah... then hurry along." Only then did Kang ** come to his senses, a little embarrassed. "Boss, I'll talk to you at noon, then. Actually, there's something I wanted to ask you..."

"Then it can wait till noon." Wei Zhao hurried out of the classroom. Kang ** had held him up a while — who knew whether Tang Zhi was getting anxious.

By noon, sunlight poured down unhindered across the *** field. Apart from a few students playing basketball, there was hardly anyone out there at this hour.

Zou Ruoming went up for a layup, then caught sight of Wei Zhao walking out of the teaching building. He lost his balance and crashed to the ground, sprawling flat on his face, the basketball flying off to one side.

He had already developed something of a psychological shadow where Wei Zhao was concerned. This thing wasn't human! True, there was no proof that yesterday's business had been Wei Zhao's doing — but who needed proof? None at all. Brother Black Panther, whom Zhong Yongliang had brought in, had vanished without a trace, and Zhong Yongliang had been knocked out and dumped exactly where Tang Zhi had been. If Wei Zhao hadn't done it, then who — Superman? Ultraman?

Zou Ruoming had never imagined Wei Zhao could be so formidable, and yesterday he had tried to force himself on Tang Zhi. So now, seeing Wei Zhao come out, he assumed on instinct that Wei Zhao had come looking for trouble with him — and that was why he stumbled and lost his footing, landing on the ground.

Wei Zhao gave Zou Ruoming a cold glance. In Wei Zhao's eyes, Zou Ruoming was no different from an ant; making him disappear would be the work of a moment. Only, now was not the time.

The situation in Songshan was unclear, and for the moment Wei Zhao had no wish to get involved, nor to stir up too much trouble. Besides, Wei Zhao had genuinely fallen for this campus life — days of bullets flying had worn thin on him!

After all, Wei Zhao was still an eighteen-year-old youth. Plunged into the environment an eighteen-year-old ought to live in, he found it novel and clung to it. That precocious gravity, already so remote, had been buried deep in his heart...

Wei Zhao walked briskly toward the little grove at the edge of the *** field. Beneath the dappled shade stood a girl of stunning beauty — bright, with a touch of allure. A light breeze stirred the hem of her skirt, giving her very much the air of the heroine of a school comic.

Seeing Wei Zhao running over, the girl's lips curved into a captivating arc, and then she lowered her head a little shyly.

Wei Zhao came to a stop before her. "Tang Zhi, have you been waiting long? That pest Kang ** was pestering me — held me up a while."

"I only just got here too..." Tang Zhi shook her head slightly, drew a breath, and brought her hands out from behind her back, holding them out to him. "Your clothes — I washed them yesterday..."

"Ha..." Wei Zhao hadn't expected Tang Zhi to have called him out here to give him his school uniform. "Why bother washing it? It wasn't dirty — you'd worn it, and it still had your scent on it..."

"Don't say that..." Tang Zhi raised a fist, flustered, making as if to hit him. "Why can't you ever be serious? I'm leaving..."

"Let's head back together. I need to get going too." Wei Zhao pointed toward the teaching building. Right — if the two of them were leaving, they were going the same way anyway.

Tang Zhi hesitated for a moment and said nothing, but she quietly started walking. Wei Zhao followed silently at her side. There weren't many people on the *** field, but there were some, and word of the "romance" between Lin and Tang had long since gotten around. They hadn't quite believed it before, but now, seeing the two of them walking together, they couldn't help thinking that the earlier "love letter incident" might have been true after all.

The crowd exchanged murmurs and sighs, yet none dared come closer. Who was Wei Zhao? One of the school's notorious delinquents, the kind who had beaten up Zou Ruoming and Zhong Yongliang and kept right on strutting around afterward. Who would dare size up someone like that to his face?

As they passed the basketball hoop, Wei Zhao saw Wang Zhifeng sternly dressing down Zou Ruoming and a few other students. Zou Ruoming and his lackeys wore thoroughly wretched expressions. "You come to school to prepare for the college entrance exams, yet you play basketball and smoke all day long — what are you even here for? If you don't want to study, then get out, now! Seats in the prep course are limited, and there's no shortage of people who want them!"

The "senior-year repeat" prep class was under Wang Zhifeng's sole authority, and he had the power to expel any student at will. These students weren't even formally enrolled at the school, so he didn't need to report to the school leadership or the education bureau at all.

Wei Zhao stopped in his tracks. Tang Zhi, however, shrank back a little, not daring to look at Zou Ruoming, and tried to hurry away — but Wei Zhao caught her by the hand.

"Ah!" Tang Zhi let out a startled cry, which drew the attention of both Wang Zhifeng and Zou Ruoming.

Seeing Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi actually holding hands on the *** field, Wang Zhifeng was instantly thrown into awkwardness. Here he was, the dignified dean of academic affairs, in the middle of rebuking students, when he spotted other students carrying on a campus romance in plain sight — holding hands openly, no less... and he was powerless to do a thing about it...

Wang Zhifeng could only nod at Wei Zhao with a smile, hoping he would hurry up and lead Tang Zhi away — go be lovey-dovey wherever you like, just not right under my nose.

But Wei Zhao, perversely, refused to grant him that wish. Not only did he stop, he took Tang Zhi by the hand and walked straight toward Zou Ruoming.