Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

In the afternoon, at Wang Mei's suggestion, the four of them went to Macau's famous New Yaohan department store. Really, they had mainly come along to accompany Wang Mei and Huang Yan—girls all love to shop, and Huang Yan was no exception.

Zhang Bin, though, planted himself in front of the camera counter when they passed it, unable to take his eyes off the Canon 1Ds Mark III on display. Yang Ce saw him and laughed. "What's the matter? Got some kind of psychological trauma?"

"Boss, you think I should grit my teeth and buy one?" Zhang Bin said, entirely serious.

"Then buy it. It's not like you can't afford it," Yang Ce said.

So Zhang Bin swiped his card without a moment's hesitation and happily cradled the new camera in his arms, though he did say with some disappointment, "If only that memory card hadn't been crushed, we could've recycled it."

Huang Yan and Wang Mei had their attention fixed on fashion and cosmetics. Yang Ce had no interest in any of that, naturally, but he did pick up a few things at random, planning to give them as gifts to Chen Shutang, Lin Yanhe, and the others once he got back.

After thinking it over, he also bought a pair of sunglasses each for Xiao Qing and Sun Jie. Then, after another moment's hesitation, he chose a gift for Zhao Ying as well. She was not his woman, but there was already a certain something between them, and he could hardly leave her out.

Watching Yang Ce buy things by the armful, Wang Mei smiled and reminded Zhang Bin, "Aren't you going to buy something for your original wife?"

Zhang Bin looked awkward at once, scratching the back of his head and not knowing what to say. It was Wang Mei who spoke again: "I'm not going to say anything about it. How come you can't be as aboveboard as Yang Ce?"

Zhang Bin loudly protested his innocence—Yang Ce has several girlfriends and that's aboveboard, while I try to avoid any appearance of impropriety and somehow I'm not aboveboard. In the end, on Wang Mei's suggestion, he bought Zhao Sisi a handbag and a pair of jeans. As for Zhao Sisi's size, Zhang Bin knew it well enough; there was no need for anyone to try them on.

Wang Mei was rather clever on this point. Though she was entirely confident that she could make Zhang Bin love her more—and in fact that did seem to be the case—she kept a very low profile, preserving the proper respect for Zhao Sisi, whom she had never even met.

It was not for any other reason: Wang Mei was afraid of Yang Ce. She was afraid he would think her the kind of woman who, spoiled and favored, grew arrogant, and that he would make Zhang Bin abandon her. Of that, Wang Mei had not the slightest doubt. Yang Ce's influence over Zhang Bin was beyond anyone's ability to match, and Wang Mei saw this very clearly.

Having witnessed the extraordinary power Yang Ce displayed, Wang Mei doubted it even less. Sometimes she did wonder why Zhang Bin could not be as formidable as Yang Ce, but it was only a passing thought. The man she liked was still Zhang Bin, and besides, she felt that as long as Zhang Bin and Yang Ce were together, Yang Ce would certainly never treat him badly.

From the events of recent days, that did seem to be the case: toward Zhang Bin, his brother, Yang Ce could not possibly have been better. What Wang Mei did not know was that back in high school, during Yang Ce's impoverished years, he had always eaten at Zhang Bin's expense and drunk at Zhang Bin's expense, and even his taxi fares had been reimbursed by Zhang Bin—and Zhang Bin had never thought anything of it. Between brothers, whoever had the means simply gave more; that was perfectly normal.

When Wang Mei bought things, it went without saying that Zhang Bin swiped the card, but when Huang Yan bought things, she swiped her own. In truth, she did not care about such things at all; Yang Ce had already deposited forty billion into her card, so he certainly would not care about this. It was simply that Huang Yan was in the habit of picking out what she liked and paying for it directly.

The shopping passed surprisingly quickly, and before they knew it evening had fallen. Each of the four now carried a rather large shopping bag, and the back of the business van was piled completely full.

"Come back to the hotel with me tonight. Otherwise I won't even be able to find where you live tomorrow," Yang Ce said in a low voice, taking Huang Yan's hand once they were in the car.

"Huh?" Although Huang Yan and Yang Ce had been together in that way a few times, spending the whole night with a man was a first for her, and she could not help feeling a little flustered. But Huang Yan was Huang Yan after all, and she thought about it simply: since the two of them were lovers, living together was perfectly normal, wasn't it? So Huang Yan nodded in her usual straightforward way and said, "All right then. Can I get online in your hotel room?"

"Of course you can. Why?" Yang Ce found Huang Yan's jumpy way of thinking rather amusing.

"I've arranged to play Pocket Money Battle with Little Fox Spirit tonight," Huang Yan said.

Yang Ce broke out in a sweat. This Huang Yan—she really was a piece of work, leaving him utterly speechless.

Zhang Bin and Wang Mei needed no discussion at all; the two of them were already living together, so the business van made its way without question toward the hotel where Yang Ce was staying.

Yang Ce had booked a double room to begin with, and the hotel would hardly care whether an extra person stayed there. Huang Yan had been living alone in a small single apartment near the Lisboa casino, so she did not need to tell anyone she was going out.

Back at the hotel, Huang Yan and Wang Mei happily tried on the clothes they had bought that day, while Yang Ce and Zhang Bin sorted out everything they planned to bring back, category by category, intending to ship it all by express delivery the next day—otherwise there would be far too much to carry on the plane.

They were in the middle of sorting when Yang Ce's phone suddenly rang. He said to Zhang Bin, "You keep sorting. I'll take this call."

"Hello?" Yang Ce stood up, walked over by the windowsill, and answered the phone.

"Brother Yang Ce, it's Huang Lin here!" Huang Lin's hearty laughter came through from the other end of the line.

"Hello, Brother Huang. Is there something you need?" Yang Ce had not expected Huang Lin to call him. Though they had not had much contact, they had hit it off immediately, and since he had run into him in Macau, it was only proper to find a chance to get together.

"Ha ha, Brother Yang Ce, you haven't forgotten what I mentioned to you last time, have you? I just wanted to remind you," Huang Lin said with a laugh.

"What was it?" Yang Ce was taken aback. He did not recall Huang Lin having asked him for anything.

"So you really did forget," Huang Lin said with some resignation, though he also knew that Yang Ce surely had business to attend to in Macau, which was why he had made a point of calling to remind him. "When we met last time, didn't I give you an invitation? Tomorrow I'm hosting a small gathering. If you have the time, do come over. We can have a good long talk and I'll introduce you to some friends while I'm at it."

"Ah—" Yang Cenbin suddenly remembered. Huang Lin had indeed told him before that he was hosting a party that weekend and wanted him to come. He hurriedly dug the invitation out of his coat pocket and checked the date on it: tomorrow. Yang Ce gave a rueful laugh. "Brother Huang, I'm afraid I won't be able to make it tomorrow."

"What is it? Something still unfinished?" Huang Lin asked.

"No, it's just that I already promised another friend I'd go to her family gathering tomorrow." Yang Ce explained apologetically.

"Is that so? Then forget it," Huang Lin said, disappointed. "We'll get together privately whenever we have the chance."