HBWnovel Chapter 237: Straightforwardness
Chapter 237: Straightforwardness
Chapter 237: Chapter 237: Straightforwardness
The next day, Yang Chen finally returned to his routine at work. After a leisurely morning, he had lunch with Zhao Hongyan and Zhang Cai in the employee cafeteria. Liu Mingyu had been promoted to department head, and although she wasn't too keen on it, she had to join the other senior executives in the designated dining area as it was customary in the company.
Since Zhao Hongyan became single again, she had managed to resolve her family issues and had been in a good mood ever since. Despite having her salary halved, she wasn't the type to live paycheck to paycheck, so it didn't affect her much. She was chatting and laughing with Zhang Cai, and their lunch extended quite a bit longer than usual.
Yang Chen, focused on eating, noticed after a while that the two women had barely touched their food. He couldn't help but smile wryly and said, "If you want to chat, you can do it back in the office. Eating like this, you'll waste your whole lunch break and miss out on your nap."
"Hmph, only you get to take naps. We're busy working in the office," Zhang Cai retorted, clearly unhappy.
Zhao Hongyan then picked up a chicken drumstick from her plate and put it on Yang Chen's plate. "Just eat, will you?"
"I've had enough, you should eat it yourself," Yang Chen replied.
"Do you really want me to take it back? Just eat it," Zhao Hongyan rolled her eyes at him and continued her conversation with Zhang Cai.
These small, everyday moments of warmth in his daily life brought Yang Chen a lot of comfort, so he didn't say anything more to the two women and focused on finishing his meal.
Back in his office, Yang Chen noticed that Yuan Ye had sent him a message on QQ.
This guy is recovering pretty quickly, Yang Chen thought, and opened the chat window.
"You can go online now?" Yang Chen asked.
Yuan Ye sent back a laughing emoji, "I'm still in the hospital, but the Wi-Fi is pretty fast. I was bored and thought I'd play some Warcraft with you."
"You've got a gunshot wound to the chest. Did the doctor say it's okay to play games?" Yang Chen was worried that the wound might reopen.
"Don't worry. The doctor said as long as it's not strenuous physical activity, it's fine. I don't know how, but once they took the bullet out, my wound started healing faster than usual. The doctor was surprised at how fast I was recovering. They said I should be fully healed in less than a month," Yuan Ye said in a cheerful tone.
Yang Chen smiled to himself. It seemed that the surge of energy from the Wan Nian Yan Sheng Jing (Eternal Life Sutra) that he had left in Yuan Ye's body was effective. Due to his unique constitution, he couldn't gauge how effective the Sutra was for normal people, but it appeared that it significantly accelerated their healing process.
Since Yuan Ye had no problem, Yang Chen, who was bored, played a few rounds of games with him online.
After more than two hours, Yuan Ye said, "I'm a little tired since I'm still recovering from my illness. Let's call it a day for today. I need to handle some matters for the club."
"Take care then, I'm going to take a nap."
Before Yang Chen could log off, Yuan Ye suddenly sent a message, "Wait a moment, my mom is beside me. She wants to talk to you."
"Your mom?"
Yang Chen hesitated. Yuan Ye's mother was naturally Yang Jieyu, the woman who made him uneasy and whom he preferred not to think about too much.
"My mom wants to invite you for a cup of coffee and ask you something. Is that okay? If you're not willing, it's fine too. She's just curious about you. You know, I don't have many friends, and you helped me this time, so she hasn't properly thanked you," Yuan Ye said.
Yang Chen thought for a moment and felt there was no reason to refuse. "Okay, what time and where?"
"It's at the Blue Dream Café near Yulei. You should pass by there on your way to and from work. Let's meet there in an hour."
Yang Chen indeed knew that café. It had a great location, but because of its high prices, it didn't have many customers.
A slight blush appeared on the girl's fair cheeks as she murmured, "I'm using it for a small business. There's a cheap oil shop over there, so I take the bus to buy it."
"Oh, it's not easy for you to start a business at such a young age," Yang Chen remarked.
"Yeah," the girl replied softly, her expression somewhat dim, no longer speaking.
Turning his head back, Yang Chen's lips curved into a playful and helpless smile.
After about five minutes, the bus stopped at a station. The girl bent down to pick up the oil bucket and waved to Yang Chen, "Big brother, thank you. I'm getting off here."
"Oh, I'm getting off too." Yang Chen followed the girl off the bus.
As there was no one else at the stop, Yang Chen and the girl walked to the roadside. The bus slowly drove away.
Seeing Yang Chen following her off the bus, the girl's face turned slightly awkward. She smiled faintly and asked, "Big brother, are you also getting off here? Where are you going?"
"Are you going in the opposite direction of wherever I'm going?" Yang Chen asked with a smile.
The girl's face turned pale, and her previously timid and innocent smile disappeared, replaced by a somewhat cold and helpless expression.
"Mister, you're quite clever," the girl suddenly changed her tone, speaking directly.
Yang Chen reached into his pants pocket and lightly flipped it. Underneath the pocket, a hole was revealed.
"Little sister, can you return my money and phone? I'm in a hurry, so I won't cause you any trouble," Yang Chen said with a faint smile.
The girl was straightforward, reaching into the pocket of her large coat and taking out Yang Chen's phone and a stack of cash, handing them over to him.
"So straightforward?" Yang Chen was somewhat surprised, accepting them while asking.
The girl snorted softly, "You saw through me on the bus. Since you didn't turn me in to the police, I owe you. Now I'm returning what I took from you, and we're even."
"Wow, little sister, you're quite adorable," Yang Chen found this girl quite interesting.
Earlier on the bus, after testing Yang Chen's sympathy and receiving disdain from others, the girl proactively approached Yang Chen. Then, through skillful means, she discreetly cut open Yang Chen's pocket and stole his cash and phone. All of this was supposed to be a perfect scheme, but unfortunately for her, Yang Chen's senses were much sharper than the average person, and he easily noticed the girl's true intentions.
"Don't call me little sister. I'm already twenty years old. According to the law, I can get married. Let me ask you, did you know I was a pickpocket from the beginning?" The girl was clearly puzzled by her failed attempt and asked in confusion.
Yang Chen shrugged and winked at her. "It's a secret."
"Tsk, suit yourself. Farewell, old man!" The girl remained straightforward, wasting no time. She turned away, lifted the large bucket of oil, and walked away briskly. She didn't seem to struggle at all with the weight of the bucket, indicating that her behavior on the bus was indeed an act.
Watching the girl walk away, Yang Chen smiled knowingly. The world was full of diverse and fascinating people, and if you interacted with them more, you would always discover interesting things.
With only ten minutes left until his appointment with Yang Jieyu, Yang Chen didn't let this little incident delay him any further. He quickly headed towards the Blue Dream Café.
About two minutes before the appointed time, Yang Chen entered the café punctually and asked the waiter. Sure enough, Yang Jieyu had already reserved a table.
Yang Chen walked to the southernmost window of the lavishly decorated café. Yang Jieyu, dressed in a stylish and youthful deep red blazer, white blouse, sat there early, gracefully sipping on the fragrant coffee.