Chapter 183 — Zhong Yongliang's Scheme
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Ah, Liang, you're right! Don't even mention how much I regret it now!" Zou Ruoming's face darkened. "Had I known, I'd have forced myself on her outright. This is my specialty, you know — I've done it before!" "Exactly!" said Zhong Yongliang. "How could we let that mongrel Wei Zhao snatch her first..."
"But now it's too late. What regrets!" Zou Ruoming had been bottling it up all this while, and now at last here was a campus bully of his own station, one who shared his misery, one with the same enemy in Wei Zhao — so Zou Ruoming naturally poured out his grievances to him.
"Ming, that's where I beg to differ!" Zhong Yongliang suddenly changed tack. "As the saying goes, good food is worth waiting for — it's not too late for you to make your move now! However fast Wei Zhao acted, he can't have won Tang Zhi over in a mere day or two. If you take her now, she'll have no choice but to follow you..."
Zhong Yongliang had little education to speak of and had no idea whether his choice of words was apt. Fortunately Zou Ruoming was just as much a halfwit and had no notion what "good food is worth waiting for" actually meant — he simply felt that what Zhong Yongliang said made excellent sense.
Slapping his thigh, Zou Ruoming cried out in delight, "That's it! Why didn't I think of that? It's not too late for me to act now! Once Tang Zhi is mine, what's that Wei Zhao going to do then, eh? Liang, you've woken the man in the dream with a single word..."
To show off his own cultivation, Zou Ruoming, matching Zhong Yongliang's earlier flourish of literary phrasing, cobbled together a fine saying of his own.
"Ah, Ming, your road to love has hope in sight at last, while mine still needs effort!" Seeing his suggestion adopted, Zhong Yongliang was secretly overjoyed. With Tang Zhi taken by Zou Ruoming, that Wei Zhao fellow would be absolutely sick about it, wouldn't he? Hahaha... Yet on the surface, Zhong Yongliang put on a show of great sorrow and helplessness.
"Liang, if this comes off, I'll reward you handsomely..." Zou Ruoming clenched his fist as though hope itself were in his grasp. "But when the time comes, I'll want my brother here to advise me — don't you refuse!" "Don't worry, no problem at all..." Zhong Yongliang accepted with delight. Asking him for dirty tricks? Excellent — that was his strong suit!
Humming a little tune, Zhong Yongliang headed for the classroom, while Zou Ruoming, his worries resolved, happily took up a game of basketball with his underlings...
Before he had even reached the classroom door, Zhong Yongliang saw his lackey Zhang Naipao come tearing toward him like a madman, as though he had clapped eyes on his savior.
"Paozi, what are you doing? Running that fast—training for a marathon, getting ready for the games?" Zhong Yongliang was in a genuinely fine mood today, so he cracked a joke at Zhang Nai Pao's expense.
"Brother Liang, I'm begging you, save my dad, save my little brother!" As he spoke, Zhang Nai Pao went "thump" and dropped to his knees before Zhong Yongliang.
Zhang Nai Pao's sudden, inexplicable move left Zhong Yongliang utterly stunned.
"Paozi, what on earth is wrong with you? What's happened to your dad and your brother? How am I supposed to save them? Can you explain it clearly...?" Zhong Yongliang frowned, lost in a fog, unable to make heads or tails of it.
"Brother Liang, I beg you, say yes!" Zhang Nai Pao stayed on his knees, pleading.