Chapter 2016 — Someone's Treating?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"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.