Chapter 366 — Tit for Tat

"Xiaobo, did your father not tell you? The resort is fully booked — there is no room arranged for you and your classmates!" Kang Jingming put on a look of great innocence. "How about this: you and your classmates go stay at the little inn next door? There is a small inn, only thirty or forty yuan a night. Rough it for one night, and I will reimburse you tomorrow?"

"Oh, Zhaoming, you need not trouble yourself. We have already booked rooms here," Kang Xiaofeng said mildly. "No need for you to arrange anything."

"Hm? What?" Kang Jingming was taken aback. "You booked rooms here? Impossible! I have reserved every single room open to the public in this place — who are you trying to fool?"

"Why would I fool you?" Kang Xiaofeng shrugged. Watching Kang Jingming come apart at the seams, he felt thoroughly delighted.

"Xiaobo, I know you do not want to lose face in front of your classmates, and I understand how you feel!" Though his tone was earnest and weighed with concern, Kang Jingming deliberately raised his voice so that Wei Zhao and the others in the car could hear him too. "But you should know that the people who come to congratulate my grandfather on his birthday are mostly the great and the grand — even they cannot find lodging. How could there be rooms left for your classmates? Besides, you are not the old man's own grandson, so when the rooms were arranged, there was even less chance of anyone looking out for you!"

"Then you need not trouble yourself." Kang Xiaofeng showed not the slightest anger. "You have reserved everything open to the public — but are there not places not open to the public as well? What we booked is precisely one of those."

With that, Kang Xiaofeng said no more to Kang Jingming. He simply raised the barrier bar in front of the car and got back in.

"You..." Kang Jingming was choking with fury. He told himself that perhaps Kang Xiaofeng knew someone on the resort staff and had been given a staff rest room — but to let him through just like that still rankled.

"Let it go, Zhaoming!" Kang Jingming's father waved a hand. Though he too looked down on this nephew's family, as an elder there were things he could not do too excessively.

"What trash! Thinks he is somebody, does he?" Watching Wei Zhao's beat-up car drive into the resort, Kang Jingming could not hold back a curse. "Driving a pile of junk — has he no shame?"

"Enough, Zhaoming. Your grandfather still sets great store by face — do not be so rude before outsiders. He is, after all, a relative we have not dealt with in years. Let him show off if he likes; he will gain no real advantage from it!" Kang Jingming's father, Kang Cuipu, shook his head, then turned with a smile to greet an Audi sedan just driving into the resort. "President Wang, you have come too..."

After entering the resort, Wei Zhao contacted Uncle Tian. Because Wei Zhao had declined again and again and given strict instructions, Uncle Tian did not come out to receive him in person but sent a trusted man instead.

Yet even this trusted man did not know Wei Zhao's true identity.

Wei Zhao had wanted to keep a low profile from the start. If he were seen to be so familiar with the owner of the resort, it would inevitably draw the attention of the Kang family.

This time, Wei Zhao had meant to stand to one side as a mere onlooker, keeping Kang Xiaofeng company. The chief purpose was to let Xiaofen see clearly the ugly faces of Kang Jingming and the rest, and erase him from her memory once and for all.

If Wei Zhao revealed how close he was to Uncle Tian, Kang Jingming might well change his tune and deliberately cozy up to him with flattery — and then the aim of letting Xiaofen see his true colors would be lost.

"Young Master Lin, hello! President Tian sent me over." A man of about thirty strode quickly to Wei Zhao's car. He showed not the slightest contempt for the shabbiness of Wei Zhao's vehicle; his eyes kept a respectful cast throughout, without a trace of doubt. "My name is Li Yixun. Young Master Lin can just call me Little Li."

Uncle Tian had evidently given him the license plate number beforehand, for he identified Wei Zhao at once.

"Ha, Mr. Li, just take us to the villa," Wei Zhao said politely.

"Young Master Lin, please follow me." Li Yixun nodded. "Shall I get in, or will you ride in my car?"

As he spoke, Li Yixun pointed to a business van parked not far off.

"You get in, Mr. Li. I can drive myself," Wei Zhao said.

Li Yixun said nothing more. He got in and then directed Wei Zhao along the way. Very soon Wei Zhao arrived before a standalone villa by the sea — surely the finest-situated of all the villas.

Yet at the villa's gate stood a sign reading "Private Use," making plain that it was not open to outsiders.

"Young Master Lin, the villa has been tidied and is ready for you to move in!" Li Yixun said, and handed Wei Zhao a business card. "This is how to reach me. If you need anything at all, Young Master Lin, you may contact me directly!"

"All right, thank you." Wei Zhao took the card and put it away.

Li Yixun was a man of few words; he nodded and left. The reason a man like him could be entrusted with important matters was precisely his manner of working — he said no more than necessary and asked no more than necessary.

"Young Master Lin? Leader, you can't really be one of those rich young heirs, can you? Didn't you say you just had a wealthy relative?" Kang Xiaofeng, having heard Li Yixun address Wei Zhao as Young Master Lin, stared at him in sudden excitement. "Leader, come clean — are you or are you not the legendary son of a rich family?"

"Do I look like one?" Wei Zhao smiled wryly. "That brother of yours is the one..."

"Heh heh... hm? Xiaofen?" Kang Xiaofeng had meant to tease him a little more, but when he lowered his head he saw that Xiaofen was already streaming with tears. His heart nearly exploded with fright. "Xiaofen, don't cry — what's wrong?"

Hearing Kang Xiaofeng's cry, Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi turned back as well, and they too saw Xiaofen with her face streaked with tears...

But neither Wei Zhao nor Tang Zhi knew what to say, for this had been expected. Xiaofen had seen Kang Jingming again; though they had not come face to face, even a distant glimpse from afar was enough to shake her fragile heart.

At a moment like this, only Kang Xiaofeng could comfort her; anything Wei Zhao or Tang Zhi might say would only be superfluous.

"Xiaobo, why don't you carry Xiaofen inside and have a good talk with her?" Wei Zhao suggested.

"Okay..." Kang Xiaofeng nodded hurriedly in agreement, then carried Xiaofen at a run into the villa...

"Let's wait a while before we go in..." Wei Zhao sighed, parked the car properly at the villa's entrance, and shut off the engine.

"Xiaofen really is pitiful..." Tang Zhi sighed as well, watching the backs of Xiaofen and Kang Xiaofeng, and shook her head. "I hope that this time she can finally walk out of the shadow for good..."