Chapter 2016 — Someone's Treating?

"Meiyue, what do you say? Thought it over yet? Are you going to accept my invitation—come with us to Cheng Yiyi's victory dinner?" Just then, a grating voice cut in. It was Zhang Duopan.

Watching Zhang Duopan and Fan Ganhe walk over, He Meiyue gave a bitter smile. If she left with Bai Weituo now, Zhang Duopan would surely be displeased and say something hurtful; after all, he and she had been high school classmates, and she did not want relations between them to sour too badly.

But if she did not go with Bai Weituo, she would be standing him up—so He Meiyue found herself caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Cheng Yiyi?" Bai Weituo was rather surprised at Zhang Duopan's words.

"That's right, Cheng Yiyi herself!" Seeing Bai Weituo's astonishment, Zhang Duopan spoke with no small amount of smug pride: "Yiyi's performance tonight was a great success. In a moment I plan to invite her to come celebrate with us!"

"Oh, so you haven't invited her yet!" The truth dawned on Bai Weituo. His surprise a moment ago had been because—hadn't Cheng Yiyi already agreed to join Xu Shilan at Wei Zhao's invitation? Why would she suddenly go running off to Zhang Duopan?

Now it was obvious: Zhang Duopan assumed he could bring Cheng Yiyi along, when in fact he had not invited her at all!

"Sorry, you're one step too late. Our Brother Lin has already invited Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi to the victory dinner with us—and Meiyue will be coming too, won't you, Meiyue?" Bai Weituo looked at Zhang Duopan challengingly, then turned to He Meiyue.

"Yes... sorry, Zhang Duopan. You know I'm a fan of Xu Shilan's." He Meiyue smiled bitterly. In the end, she had pushed herself right into the whirlpool.

"What?" At Bai Weituo's words, Zhang Duopan's face fell at once. He had not expected Bai Weituo to beat him to the punch by having Wei Zhao invite Cheng Yiyi as well. That left him in an impossible position—neither advancing nor retreating—and he did not know what to say.

"Sorry, classmate Zhang, we have to be going!" Bai Weituo waved a hand at Zhang Duopan.

"Wait..." After a brief moment of embarrassment, Zhang Duopan was still unwilling to give up. Thickening his skin, he laughed heartily at Bai Weituo: "So it turns out Cheng Yiyi said you'd all be at tonight's dinner too. Perfect—let's go together!"

"What do you mean?" Bai Weituo was taken aback. "Cheng Yiyi invited you too?"

"Of course. I arranged it with Cheng Yiyi days ago—after the performance I'd treat everyone to dinner. It's just that earlier Cheng Yiyi mentioned there would be others at tonight's dinner, and I didn't think much of it. So it was you all along!" Zhang Duopan laughed. "Since we're all classmates, we're certainly well acquainted. Let's go together!"

Bai Weituo was somewhat at a loss after Zhang Duopan said his piece. He looked to Wei Zhao, hoping Wei Zhao would call Cheng Yiyi down and ask her what on earth was going on.

But Wei Zhao remained calm. Bai Weituo had simply been angered into confusion by Zhang Duopan; Wei Zhao had not believed a word of Zhang Duopan's story from the start!

Zhang Duopan had said earlier that he had not even invited Cheng Yiyi—so how could he know there would be others at tonight's dinner? If it really had been arranged days in advance, could Cheng Yiyi have foreseen the future, divined that Wei Zhao would be treating Xu Shilan to dinner today, and decided to tag along?

So Zhang Duopan's words were ninety-nine percent false. Wei Zhao had no need to verify anything with Cheng Yiyi. Calling her down would only put her in a bind—she could neither accept nor refuse, and she would feel that Wei Zhao suspected her of inviting Zhang Duopan, which would make things even more awkward.

Of course, the most important thing was that He Meiyue was not yet Bai Weituo's girlfriend. Wei Zhao had no grounds to send anyone packing; everything still depended on what He Meiyue and Bai Weituo wanted.

But just as Bai Weituo was wondering what to do, a voice like music from heaven rang out beside him, moving him to tears of gratitude!

"Oh, so you're the sucker Sister Shihan was talking about. She told me we wouldn't have to spend any money today—some sucker was picking up the tab and treating us to dinner at the North Ice Ocean Seafood Restaurant, the finest hotel in Donghai City." The owner of that voice was, of course, Shen Yushu. Hearing it, Wei Zhao could not help a bitter smile. It seemed that to catch a villain, one needed a villain.

"Gah!" At Shen Yushu's words, Zhang Duopan's eyes bulged wide, and he was choked speechless. Was he not now caught in a spot where he could neither admit nor deny it? Admit it, and he was that sucker; deny it, and he obviously could not attend tonight's dinner!

After all, he had already said that he and Cheng Yiyi had arranged for him to treat everyone after the performance. Of course, he could put it off and say he would treat them tomorrow or the day after—but tonight there would be no place for him.

Weighing the pros and cons, he decided: sucker it was. Zhang Duopan laughed heartily. "Miss Xu certainly knows how to joke. Still, being able to treat two stars to dinner—even a sucker wouldn't be any ordinary sucker to manage that!"

"Indeed—it would have to be a really special, top-grade sucker, like classmate Zhang here!" Shen Yushu nodded. "I hear the North Ice Ocean Seafood Restaurant flies its seafood in from abroad. It's awfully expensive—a meal there must cost tens of thousands, at least. Add drinks on top, and no ordinary sucker could afford it!"

"That..." Hearing that a single meal would cost tens of thousands, drinks not included, Zhang Duopan was startled. How much had he spent, all told, to get Cheng Yiyi to appear? Tens of thousands for one dinner—his family was wealthy, but his own allowance was limited. Otherwise he would hardly be driving a Land Rover Evoque; he would surely have bought a sports car.

"Since classmate Zhang is the host Xu Shilan mentioned, then by all means—go ahead!" Bai Weituo had calmed down by now and grasped the crux of the matter. Since Zhang Duopan was shamelessly determined to tag along, they did not mind giving him a good ribbing!

"Ha, tens of thousands—nothing much!" By now, even if Zhang Duopan wanted to back out, he could not. He shot a resentful glance at the big-breasted loudmouth Shu, thinking to himself that this girl had a big chest but no shortage of brains—one sentence had made him play the sucker and lose several tens of thousands. She was truly wicked!

"Yaoyao, Xiaoshu, you're here!" Wei Zhao nodded to them. "Get in the car. I honestly have no idea where this North Ice Ocean Seafood Restaurant is—you two can give directions."