Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

"Which unit are you from? Show me your NCO card." The young man walked over to the drunk man, saluted, and said.

"I—I'm from the Songjiang xx Flight Regiment," the drunk man said, trembling. He had not expected Yang Ce to summon two military inspection vehicles, and most of his drunkenness evaporated at once.

"Your papers?" the young man asked.

"F—forgot to bring them," the drunk man stammered. Where would he have gotten an NCO card? The plate had been procured for him by a colleague at the repair shop, who said hanging it on the car would make him look tough and that ordinary traffic police wouldn't bother him. Who would have thought that Yang Yongjin's call to the police would instead bring the inspectors?

"Name and rank?" the young man continued.

"I—I—" The drunk man opened his mouth but could not speak.

"Platoon leader, it's a fake plate," another soldier who had come with the young man said after carefully examining the plate on the Santana 2000.

"What's your name? Show me your ID card!" Hearing it confirmed as a fake plate, the young man's anger flared. In recent years, city residents had repeatedly complained that military vehicles drove in disregard of regulations—but how were they to know that most of those recklessly speeding military vehicles bore fake or cloned plates? When real military vehicles violated rules and were caught by inspectors, the punishment was quite severe.

"Li—Li Mingyue," the drunk man said cautiously, his drunkenness now completely gone from fright. "The car isn't mine—someone else left it at my repair shop."

"Whoever it belongs to, tow it away first. And you're coming back with me to face punishment," the young man said sternly.

Li Mingyue—Yang Puqi slapped his thigh. He had finally remembered who this guy was. Wasn't this the fellow who had kidnapped Yang Li? And the ten million he had told him to prepare seemed not to have been handed over yet.

"Li Mingyue, take a good look—who am I?" Yang Minlan shouted at Li Mingyue.

"You—you're—" Li Mingyue froze, then suddenly a look of terror spread across his face. "You're Yang—Yang Ce!"

"That's right. Where's my ten million?" Yang Yanchuan said.

"I—I—" Li Mingyue, now under another's roof and forced to bow his head, had no choice but to say, "I haven't scraped it together yet."

"Forget it. I don't lack that bit of money anyway." Yang Ce waved his hand at the young man. "Punish him however the regulations require."

And so, exactly as Li Mingyue himself had said, he vanished—man and car together.

Though a patch of paint had been scraped off Yang Juehuan's BMW, it was no big problem. He would find Bao Lin later and have him take care of it.

Just as he was about to get in the car, Yang Xin's call came through again.

"Hello, sis. Thank you—the matter's been handled," Yang Ce said as he answered, expressing his thanks.

"Oh, it's all done? I was just about to ask how it turned out. What exactly happened?" Yang Xin asked.

"Nothing much—just a drunk with a fake military plate," Yang Hengye said.

"As long as it's fine. I was afraid you'd come off worse, so I asked whether the men Yunsheng sent had arrived," Yang Xin said. "All right then, we'll talk later. Yunsheng and I are home."

"Okay. Next time I'm in Donghai, I'll treat you to a meal," Yang Yanzhou said.

After hanging up, Yang Ce returned to the car. Chen Shutang asked, "How did it go? I was about to call my dad."

"It's fine—just a man who drank too much." Yang Hengye started the car and pulled up beside a flower shop on the roadside.

He got out with Chen Shutang, intending to buy some flowers for Zhou Yanning—never expecting that buying flowers would land them in a heap of trouble.

To be continued.

681. The First Meeting of the Two Women

These past few days, Lin Yanhe had been helping a high school classmate set up her flower shop. Back in high school, Lin Yanhe and Xiao Ai—the shop's owner—had been on good terms, though Xiao Ai had not gotten into university and had gone to work right after graduation.

After learning some tricks of the trade at someone else's flower shop, she had opened her own. Now it had just opened and she had not yet hired any staff, so things were a bit much to handle, and she had asked Lin Yanhe to come help.

Lin Yanhe had nothing else to do, so she spent every day at the flower shop, bustling about helping Xiao Ai.

Seeing a young man and woman push open the door and enter the shop, Xiao Ai hurried over to greet them. "Hello, you two—are you here to buy flowers?"

"Yes." Yang Yuting nodded. He raised his eyes and caught sight of Lin Yanhe arranging the flowers, and could not help but be startled.

Lin Yanhe looked up when she saw a customer come in, and she was somewhat surprised to see Yang Ce as well. But when she caught sight of Chen Shutang beside him, Lin Yanhe abandoned any thought of going over to say hello and quietly lowered her head again.

Yang Ce understood her meaning the moment she lowered her head, and he could not help feeling a little awkward. Since Lin Yanhe said nothing, Yang Shuoxuan had no choice but to pretend he did not know her.

"What flowers are you two looking to buy?" Xiao Ai asked as she came over, not noticing the awkwardness between Yang Ce and Lin Yanhe.

"We're going to visit a patient—what flowers would be best?" Chen Shutang asked.

"Oh, so you're visiting someone ill. For that, gladiolus, roses, and orchids are suitable; avoid white, blue, or yellow flowers, or anything with too strong a scent. I'd suggest carnations, Chinese roses, narcissus, or orchids, paired with asparagus fern, baby's breath, or club moss—they all carry the meaning of wishing a speedy recovery," Xiao Ai explained in a steady stream.

"There's that much to it? Then how do you think we should buy them?" Chen Shutang asked. This was her first time too—she had never visited a patient before.

"How about this: most people who visit patients buy flower baskets. You pick out the combination yourselves—does that work for you?" Xiao Ai asked.

"That would be lovely," Chen Shutang said with a nod. "We'll take a basket too—you pick the combination for me."

"All right, no problem," Xiao Ai said. "The basket has a special opening price—ninety-nine yuan. Does that work for you?"

"That's fine." Yang Xutang took out his wallet and handed over a hundred-yuan note.

Xiao Ai took the money, then said to Lin Yanhe with a beaming smile, "Lin Yanhe, help me put together a basket."

"Lin Yanhe," Chen Shutang murmured under her breath upon hearing the name, then frowned. She glanced at Yang Ce, who stood not far off, and sank into thought. Lin Yanhe, too, did not dare meet Yang Ce's eyes—after all, his rightful wife was standing right there; how could a stand-in like her dare make a sound? She quickly finished the basket and carefully held it out to Chen Shutang. "The basket's ready—does this look all right to you?"

"Not bad," Chen Shutang said with a nod, though her gaze was not on the basket but traveling up and down over Lin Yanhe.

Lin Yanhe felt utterly uncomfortable under Chen Shutang's scrutiny and did not know what to say. She was puzzled too—what exactly was Chen Shutang looking at? She had not given anything away, had she?

Chen Shutang withdrew her gaze and said, with a wealth of meaning in her tone, "You're a pretty girl, and your craftsmanship is fine too."

"Heh, I suppose so," Lin Yanhe said nervously.

"Let's go, Mengyan," Yang Ce said with a laugh to ease the tension.

"All right, we're off. Thank you," Chen Shutang said to Lin Yanhe.

"You're welcome," Lin Yanhe said hurriedly. For some reason she felt a deep sense of powerlessness—in front of Chen Shutang she was like a meek little wife.