Chapter 22: Wang Zhitao’s Strange Behavior
Translator: – – Editor: – –
The last class in the afternoon was self-study class. There was a half an hour break in between. Yang Ming wanted to seize this moment and ask Chen Mengyan questions. At the same time, he wanted to get closer to Chen Mengyan too.
Yang Ming stood up and left his seat. At the moment he raised his head, he saw Wang Zhitao walking toward him.
By this time, this guy must know that the afternoon’s matter was already out in the open. Yang Ming frowned and wondered why Wang Zhitao walked toward him. If they were in a brawl, he was not afraid of Wang Zhitao. However, he was afraid of the power that Wang Zhitao wielded as the class monitor to deliberately find fault with him.
Wang Zhitao smiled as he greeted him, “Yang Ming!”
As expected, he was coming to Yang Ming. Yang Ming felt a something was amiss when he saw Wang Zhitao’s face with a large smile. Did this guy go insane? Why is he greeting me with a smile?
“Yes, great class monitor, what are you looking for from me?” Yang Ming didn’t want to respond, however, there was a saying that we don’t beat up people who look kindly to us. Therefore, he just casually replied to Wang Zhitao.
“Yang Ming, I came here to apologize!” Wang Zhitao’s sentence stunned Yang Ming on the spot!
Sorry? Yang Ming looked at Wang Zhitao with interest. What happened to this fellow? Why is he apologizing to me at this moment? Did I hear it correctly? Is he crazy or does he have other motives?
Yang Ming asked, “Sorry? What do you mean, class monitor? Why can’t I understand it?”
“Actually, this afternoon’s incident was because of the people that I hired!” Wang Zhitao admitted the truth and said, “The situation was like this. That day, I noticed that you were bullying Chen Mengyan so I developed a grudge against you. On the spur of the moment, I got two punks to teach you a lesson. Later, I regretted my actions. Since we are all students, there’s no need to escalate the matter into a violent one even though there’s a conflict, or else, our conflict will become more serious! After I realized this, I immediately called the people that I hired so that they didn’t come over. However, they told me that since the money was already paid, they would finish the business. No matter how hard I tried to persuade them, I failed to convince them otherwise. The two whom I hired already know you so if a fight broke out, I wouldn’t know what to do!”
Yang Ming was surprised that Wang Zhitao would admit all this to his face. Could it be that Zhitao had changed to be a better person? This was highly unlikely! Yang Ming wasn’t crazy. Since Wang Zhitao’s words carried a tone of inner conflict, this fellow must be bamboozling him!
The matter of Yang Ming teasing Chen Mengyan had been over for a week and Wang Zhitao only got someone to teach him a lesson today. How could this be a spontaneous act? Even if it was a spur of the moment decision as he said, why didn’t he confront Yang Ming during the afternoon rather than try his best to persuade Yang Ming to go to the school gate?
Yang Ming said, “Oh, that’s what happened. It’s not a big deal. Haha. I thought nothing of it!” As a matter of fact, Yang Ming didn’t put this matter in his heart.
Wang Zhitao acted sincerely and spoke to Yang Ming, “Haha. Yang Ming, you are really generous. Although you don’t put it in your heart, my conscience still hurts. In order to properly apologize to you, I will treat you to dinner to repent for my crime!”
Yang Ming narrowed his eyes and looked at the person in front of him. He wanted to dig out the motive behind Wang Zhitao’s expression but to no avail. Wang Zhitao still seemed very sincere with his expression.
Wang Zhitao spent a lot of effort to perfect his act. He planned it all well before executing it. Naturally, it was not easy to detect any flaws.
However, Yang Ming was very sure that this fellow had another motive lurking in the depths. Therefore, there could be something else going on. No, there must be something else going on!
Yang Ming waved his hand and said, “I am sorry. I need to go for Teacher Zhao’s tutorial in the evening. I can’t make it. I will accept your goodwill. This isn’t something serious so let’s just call it off!”
Wang Zhitao hastily pressed further and said, “If not today, how about tomorrow?!”
Yang Ming added, “I need to go tutorial every day!”
Wang Zhitao continued, “How about weekends? You should be free on weekends, right?”
Yang Ming gave out a bitter smile and said, “Weekend? Didn’t I say that there’s no need for it?”
Wang Zhitao earnestly said, “How could that be? This is a must! Let’s just set it on Saturday night. I will reserve a table at the Tavern Heaven On Earth in this city. You must be there, ok?!”
Yang Ming wanted to decline. “But…”
Wang Zhitao made it a big deal and said, “No more buts. Yang Ming, are you looking down on me as the class monitor? If you respect me, you must go! But if you really don’t intend to accept my apology, then so be it!”
Yang Ming promised and said, “Uhm… Alright, I will go. So, that’s okay now right?!” First, Yang Ming felt that this was strange. Why would Wang Zhitao so eagerly want to treat him to dinner? Yang Ming wanted to dig out what was hidden behind all this. Second, Tavern Heaven on Earth was a very high-class tavern in the city. Also known as a corrupted gold kiln [1], this place was frequented by the big bosses and the rich. Yang Ming would normally never get to experience that place. Since Wang Zhitao was there to pay the bill, he wanted to get a taste of what was inside!
Wang Zhitao happily patted Yang Ming’s shoulder when he got Yang Ming’s promise. He said, “A promise is a promise!” Afterward, he rested, satisfied with the matter, and returned to his seat.
Yang Ming shook his head and looked at his watch. He had wasted 10 minutes with Wang Zhitao and break time was already half over! He immediately took his review question assigned by Zhao Ying and approached Chen Mengyan.
Wang Zhitao saw Yang Ming walked towards Chen Mengyan’s seat. He was displeased deep in his heart and he thought to himself, “Yang Ming, ah, Yang Ming. I will let you be cool for two more days. Let’s see how it goes when I shame you to death! You don’t even look at your own net worth when you are stealing my girl!”
On the surface, Zhitao still acted as if it was nothing. He nodded his head in a friendly manner when Yang Ming passed by him.
Yang Ming scratched his head. Would this be caused by the outbreak of my character? After gaining this special power, could my body have emitted some dominant aura, allowing myself to beat my opponents without a fight and make them worship at my feet?
It was just a thought. Yang Ming really did not believe things were this way. Since this was not a supernatural story, like the saying, ‘never judge a book by its cover’, who knew what that fellow was thinking?
Chapter Notes:
[1] 腐败销金窑 (fǔbài xiāo jīn yáo) corrupt gold kiln – Gold kiln is a place where gold is melted. The author combined the words together to mean a place where the corrupt rich gather and spend their money.