Chapter 579 — Spy Shu 007

If Wei Zhao had truly loved Tang Zhi, then even if she were no longer beautiful, he would not simply wash his hands of the matter. But if it was only her looks that he had ever wanted, then he would most likely look the other way and do nothing at all.

Mother Tang understood her daughter's thoughts as well, and could not help but sigh. It seemed that whether Wei Zhao would stand by her daughter was now a matter for fate alone...

Seeing how firm Tang Zhi was, Liu Xinlan found she could not refuse. She picked up the phone again and dialed Wei Zhao's number...

The last class of the afternoon was a study period. Gu Mengyao was concentrating on a review guide for the college entrance exams when Shen Yushu leaned over and whispered, "Sister Yaoyao, I've got good news and bad news for you. Which do you want to hear first?"

"Whatever..." Gu Mengyao said mildly.

"Sister Yaoyao, how can you react so flatly..." Shen Yushu was a little disappointed that Gu Mengyao seemed uninterested.

"Your good news and your bad news are basically the same thing, so it makes no difference which I hear first." After all these years, Gu Mengyao knew Shen Yushu very well. Her so-called good news and bad news were almost always ordinary news, just exaggerated a little. Gu Mengyao had been fooled into excitement a few times before, but now she took it all in stride.

"This news is different — it's about Chewing Gum Bro!" Shen Yushu said in a low, mysterious voice.

"Oh?" Gu Mengyao's eyebrows lifted almost imperceptibly, but then she said, still mildly, "What about Wei Zhao? What good news could there be about him?"

"Hehe." Seeing that Gu Mengyao was interested, Shen Yushu smiled and went on: "The good news is, I heard Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi broke up. Sister Yaoyao, you've got a chance now!"

Gu Mengyao looked speechless, but inside, was she a little happy? Was it happiness? She could not quite say: "How is that good news? If anyone has a chance, it's you — you've kissed him, and he's even seen you with no clothes on."

"I'd like to, but the first wife hasn't made her move yet, so the little wife can't go jumping the gun, can she?" Shen Yushu said carelessly. "You've kissed him too — indirectly, though!"

"...Let's not talk about that." Gu Mengyao did not want to bring it up, though somehow that feeling of disgust had faded without her noticing. Thinking back on how violently she had reacted at the time, she actually felt a faint sweetness now. "So what's the bad news?"

"That Feng Xiaoxiao — she seems to be Chewing Gum Bro's new girlfriend!" Shen Yushu said.

"How do you know? Where did you get that? Why didn't I know?" Gu Mengyao was puzzled.

"Don't forget, I'm Spy Shu 007!" Shen Yushu said smugly. "One little inquiry and I had it."

Gu Mengyao could not help but laugh. "Spy Shu? More like Cheap Shu, isn't it? Look at your face — you're just dying to have Wei Zhao, aren't you?"

"Me, like him? It's obviously Sister Yaoyao who likes him. As the little wife, I can only train myself to like him too," Shen Yushu said.

"...Hmph." Gu Mengyao glanced at Shen Yushu, then fixed her eyes back on the review guide in front of her — though for a long while she did not turn another page...

Shen Yushu, meanwhile, pulled out a workbook and began flipping through it at speed, now and then scribbling and underlining with her pen...

Gu Mengyao frowned. Her best friend's state of mind really was beyond ordinary understanding.

Wei Zhao had planned to skip the evening lecture and go see Tang Zhi's family. Just then the phone in his pocket buzzed. He took it out and saw, to his surprise, that it was Liu Xinlan calling.

"Hello?" Wei Zhao answered.

"Wei Zhao, this is Liu Xinlan." Liu Xinlan drew a deep breath, her tone unfriendly. Though Tang Zhi was watching her at that moment, Liu Xinlan simply could not hold her temper in check. Tang Zhi was her good friend, after all, so no matter how formidable this faithless man might be, she was going to stand up for Tang Zhi. That was simply the kind of person Liu Xinlan was.

If Young Master Bing and his men had not run off so fast earlier, Liu Xinlan would have grabbed a cleaver and gone after them. Reckless and hot-tempered as she was, she was also fiercely loyal.

"Liu Xinlan? What is it?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback, unable to fathom why Liu Xinlan would be looking for him at this hour.

"Something has happened to Tang Zhi. She is at the First People's Hospital. Her forehead was injured — eight stitches. Barring the unexpected, she's disfigured..." Liu Xinlan was about to ask whether Wei Zhao, that faithless wretch, still cared about Tang Zhi at all, but he cut her off mid-sentence.

"What? Tang Zhi is hurt? Wait for me — I'm on my way!" Without letting Liu Xinlan finish, Wei Zhao seized the phone and bolted out of the classroom.

Tang Zhi was, in the truest sense, Wei Zhao's first girlfriend. He was not a man given to honeyed words, but in his heart he had long since claimed Tang Zhi as his own woman. That she had been injured made his chest tighten: "Is there anything else wrong with her? How bad are the wounds? Which ward are you in?"

Wei Zhao's barrage of questions left Liu Xinlan momentarily stunned. Before placing the call, she had prepared several contingencies — but every one of them had been built on the assumption that Wei Zhao would be cold, evasive, or at best reluctant. Never had she imagined he would be so frantic. She had not even finished explaining what had happened, and already he was coming.

Yet this, too, set her heart at ease. So this Wei Zhao was not so detestable after all. At least he truly worried about Tang Zhi — unlike that Kang Jingming, who had treated Xiaofen as nothing but a plaything and never gave her genuine feeling.

And so, in Liu Xinlan's eyes, Wei Zhao became forgivable. After all, the marriages of many rich young men were not theirs to command. They might have found true love, but under the threats and pressure of their families they had no choice but to give it up and take the partner chosen for them.

In Liu Xinlan's view, that Feng Xiaoxiao's family background was probably extraordinary as well, enough to be of help to Wei Zhao. That was why he had been forced to stay with her — and, under her pressure, to abandon Tang Zhi.

"Ward 512, the Second Inpatient Building," Liu Xinlan told him. "There are no other injuries. It's only the disfigurement..."

"I understand." Wei Zhao let out a breath of relief, though tension still gripped him. How on earth had it come to this?

After hanging up, Liu Xinlan saw Tang Zhi staring at her without blinking, and she knew that Tang Zhi still could not let go of Wei Zhao — that she was desperate, now, to learn where he stood.