Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"That... doesn't necessarily mean anything, does it? Maybe that friend of yours is just a bit of a flirt, always meeting male net-friends and the like," Yang Lanxu said. Sorry, Wang Xiaoniu—it's not that I mean to talk about you like this. It's a special situation, so just bear with it. Worst comes to worst, I'll let you be on top next time.

"Impossible. I know what kind of person she is." Teacher Youlan denied it flatly.

"Uh—then if you know what kind of person she is, why do you still suspect she stole your boyfriend?" Yang Ce had finally caught Zhao Ying in a slip of the tongue, and he rushed to press the point.

"I—I'm conflicted too. In any case, she isn't a loose woman, but..." Teacher Youlan was starting to talk in circles.

"Well, maybe she used it when she was pleasuring herself with a cucumber or an eggplant—who knows?" Yang Ce thought lewdly. Wang Xiaoniu had once said it felt better than doing it herself—so what would she look like when she did it herself? Gah, too tempting. But this idea of Yang Juehuan's was unlikely, because before that night, Wang Yanqiu was still a virgin—of that, Yang Ce was certain.

"What kind of nonsense are you saying?" Teacher Youlan sent an angry emoji along with a knife.

"Heh heh, just talking off the top of my head—purely a scientific hypothesis." Yang Ce gave a dry laugh, and even he felt he had gone too far.

"No more joking around, or I'll block you." Teacher Youlan warned.

"All right, I'll stop." Yang Ce was afraid Zhao Ying really would fly into a rage and lock him in the blacklist—that would be a real pain in the ass. If he lost this online thread, he and Zhao Ying would truly have no way left to communicate.

"So what am I supposed to do now?" Teacher Youlan asked.

"If I were you, I'd act as if nothing happened. Didn't you say before that he has more than one woman? So one more won't make any difference." Yang Ce spoke with a laugh—playing counselor was a fine job indeed.

"But this is different!" Teacher Youlan said.

"What's so different? I'd say it's about the same." Whatever benefited him, that was how Yang Ce advised Zhao Ying.

"She met him for less time than I've known him, and yet they got together first, and their relationship has already developed to the most intimate step. Meanwhile he and I haven't made any progress at all. I wonder—maybe he simply doesn't like me." Teacher Youlan finally voiced what was really on her mind.

Watching what Zhao Ying was worrying about, Yang Ce was torn between laughter and tears. He thought to himself: if you weren't so hesitant every single time, we'd have xxoo'd back in high school. "This—well, love and the speed of conquest have no necessary relation. The fact that he hasn't conquered you might be out of respect, and all the more tenderness in his heart." Yang Yanzhou said.

"Is that so?" Teacher Youlan was stunned for a moment, then asked.

To be continued.

1069. Investigating Yang Ce

1069. Investigating Yang Ce—"Probably so." Yang Ce broke into a sweat, not knowing how to answer. After all, the question had a bearing on himself. If he answered too carefully, Zhao Ying might grow suspicious of him, yet he could not refuse to answer either, so he had no choice but to be vague.

"So what you're saying is, he doesn't actually dislike me?" Teacher Youlan continued.

"Based on my deduction, that should be the case—though of course, specific circumstances require specific analysis. How about you tell me a bit more?" Of course Yang Ce could not act as though he knew everything.

"Mm... before, he gave me a gift—just a very ordinary handicraft. Its appearance was quite plain, but inside, once you opened it, it was filled with writing about the course of our acquaintance." Teacher Youlan said.

"Oh, so he's quite the romantic! Isn't that proof enough that he likes you? If he didn't, why would he bother writing all that? For no reason at all?" Yang Ce began to sing his own praises.

"That's what I thought at first too. So I couldn't contain my excitement and added the several scenes he had left out, then went to his home to find him—only to see that scene of them holding hands." Teacher Youlan said.

Damn, Yang Ce thought to himself. So Zhao Ying had already discovered the secret of the Memory Tree, and had even intended to return it to him—but because of that little mishap between him and Wang Yanqiu, all these complications had arisen.

Yang Ce could only silently bemoan his own bad luck. Fortunately, he still had the chance to make amends online—he could counsel Zhao Ying through QQ.

"It's the same as before: what the eyes see isn't always the truth. Besides, your friend said it herself—they were only pretending. And even if the pretending did turn real, so what? You don't even mind that he has other girlfriends, so why mind one more?" Yang Ce said shamelessly.

"That's easy to say, but what I'm afraid of is that I don't have a place in his heart—that everything he's done is just going through the motions for my sake." Teacher Youlan said with some hesitation.

"Well, I'm a guy myself, so I can tell you for certain: if I didn't like a girl, I could never work up the effort to go to so much trouble over some Memory Tree. Most guys have no patience at all. The fact that he was willing to be patient and do all that for you—that's proof he's interested in you." Of course Yang Ce was certain, because the person Zhao Ying was talking about was him—only Zhao Ying didn't know it.

"Really?" Teacher Youlan asked quickly.

"Of course it's real. But the key question, I feel, lies with you—what are you thinking?" Yang Ce let out a long breath. He had finally gotten to the main point. Now he just needed to sound out Zhao Ying's thoughts; so long as he acted according to them, the effect would be remarkable.

"Oh—I have class. We'll talk next time." Teacher Youlan, however, sent a waving goodbye emoji.

Staring at the chat window before him, Yang Ce felt rather helpless. They had just reached the crux of the matter, and on Zhao Ying's end, class was starting. Yang Ce hurriedly said, "Wait a moment—at least tell me what you're thinking."

"I really do have class. Next time, 88." After Teacher Youlan sent this message, her avatar turned gray. Yang Ce had no choice but to close the chat window in frustration.

Talk about bad timing. His luck today really had hit rock bottom.

In the first few days after the semester began, the school was fairly strict about bed checks. But Yang Cenbin's dormitory belonged to the privileged class—the school turned a blind eye to Tian Yan, that young master, and as for Yang Ce, the department's advisor and secretary both knew well enough that he was the department head's younger brother and Vice Principal Liu Yan's godson. Yang Juehuan's excuse was especially high-sounding: he was off keeping his god-sister and godfather company, so no one could say a word against it.

Chen Shutang's and Lin Yanhe's dormitory, however, was a different matter—they were in ordinary dorms. To clean up the school's ethos and discipline, every semester at the start of term the school would crack down hard for a while, publicly criticizing any students who failed to stay overnight in their dorms in those opening days.

Chen Shutang, in particular, was class monitor, so naturally she had to lead by example. And so at night, after she and Lin Yanhe had slept their fill, they had to return to their dorms at school to sleep.

Yang Duoji, alone at home, had little to amuse himself, so he too returned to school with Chen Shutang and Lin Yanhe. Only at the dormitory door did it suddenly strike him: Tian Yan's younger brother had come—wasn't avoiding the fellow the very reason he had gone out in the first place?