Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Lin Yanhe had not truly wanted to leave—she was simply shy. When Yang Ce pulled her, she went along with it and let herself be drawn into Yang Juehuan's room, half-resisting, half-yielding, and ended up in Yang Juehuan's bed. Much later, Lin Yanhe lay languidly on the bed, not wanting to stir. But then she thought of Chen Shutang, alone and lonely in her room, while she herself had already had her pleasure with Yang Ce, and she felt uneasy. Looking at Yang Ce beside her, breathing evenly, she quietly sat up. "Zhiyun, what are you doing?" Yang Ce had been asleep, but he was still keenly aware of things around him; the moment Lin Yanhe moved, he woke.

"I—I'm going back to sleep in my room," Lin Yanhe said apologetically when she saw Yang Ce was awake.

"Why go back? Isn't it fine to sleep here?" Yang Ce caught Lin Yanhe's hand and would not let her go.

"Mengyan is still all alone," Lin Yanhe sighed and explained. "Just now, Mengyan was too embarrassed to come, so she sent me to find you. But I can't be ungrateful and forget her kindness."

Hearing Lin Yanhe's words, Yang Ce understood everything. So Chen Shutang, the little minx, had been too shy. Ah, she really had it hard—what was so good about being the mistress of this little household?

To be continued.

1014. If You Love Her, Support Her

In every dynasty, the emperor's rear palace was where the most trouble brewed, and the empress was the hardest role of all to play.

It was not hard to be a domineering empress, but to be an empress the emperor loved—that was hard.

Balancing the relationships among the consorts was the hardest part of all, and doing so meant sacrificing a great deal of one's own interests.

Yang Ce was not an emperor, but Chen Shutang's duties were not much different from an empress's. Yang Ce smiled to himself. She really did have it hard, Chen Shutang. Why put herself through this?

Still, Yang Ce knew clearly that a household needed a woman who had the final say, or else when he was away, the house would fall into chaos. It was just that, hearing Lin Yanhe's words, Yang Ce found it somewhat amusing.

Ungrateful—only she could come up with a word like that. Yang Ce shook his head and said, "Then, how about you sleep here, and I'll go find Mengyan?"

"You'll go?" Lin Yanhe was stunned for a moment, then delighted. "Yes! That would be wonderful. Mengyan will be so happy."

"Then I'll have to wrong my little Yun, left all alone to guard an empty bed." Yang Ce pinched Lin Yanhe's cheek and laughed.

Chen Shutang tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what. Looking at the empty bed beside her, she felt a little forlorn.

Suddenly, the sound of the door being opened came from outside.

In the darkness, Chen Shutang could not see clearly and thought it was Lin Yanhe coming back. She was instantly overjoyed, thinking, This girl hasn't forgotten to come keep me company after her fun—she still has a conscience.

But then, thinking that Yang Ce was left with no one to keep him company, Chen Shutang still said, "Sister Lin, why did you come back? Hurry back—what if Yang Ce finds you gone in a moment? What then?"

"Heh heh, I'm not your Sister Lin. I'm your Brother Yang." Yang Ce chuckled as he climbed onto Chen Shutang's bed and spoke without the slightest shame.

"Ah!" Chen Shutang was startled. "Yang Ce, why are you here?"

"Your Sister Lin had her fun, then thought of her Sister Yan, who hadn't had hers yet, so she sent me over," Yang Ce said with a cheeky grin. He thought to himself, Only a man has it hardest. At this hour, when I ought to be sleeping, I still have to shuttle back and forth between rooms.

"You're awful, what are you saying? So vulgar!" Chen Shutang was instantly overcome with shame. Had her fun, hadn't had hers—this Yang Ce was growing more and more loose-tongued.

"Nothing much—but you'll know soon enough." Yang Ce pulled Chen Shutang into his arms and kissed her red lips. Because he was in his own home, Yang Ce had slept especially soundly and had not deliberately risen early. When he woke, the sun was already high, and looking to either side of him, Chen Shutang and Lin Yanhe were both gone.

The night before, while Chen Shutang was asleep, Yang Ce had crept back to his own room, carried the soundly sleeping Lin Yanhe over, and laid her on the other side of the master bed. Haha, he wondered what expressions the two girls would wear when they woke and saw each other.

Yang Ce dressed and went downstairs, only to find the three women sitting in the ground-floor hall, chatting with Mother Zhou.

"Yang Ce, honestly, how can you sleep so much?" Seeing Yang Ce come downstairs, Chen Shutang could not help scolding him. "Auntie Hua has been waiting for you for ages."

"Sorry about that. I've been overworking myself lately, haha," Yang Ce said with a laugh.

Chen Shutang, of course, did not catch the double meaning in Yang Ce's words. She glared at him crossly and then said, "Auntie Hua is going back to Donghai in a little while. Jiajia wants to see her off and stay in Donghai for a couple of days. Are you free? Shall we go together?"

Going home? Yang Ce looked at Zhou Yanning in surprise. "Jiajia, school starts soon. You want to go home?"

"I just miss my mom a little. I'll stay two days and come back," Zhou Yanning said softly, lowering her head.

The night before, after her mother had examined her, Zhou Yanning discovered that she was still a virgin—which meant she had not yet had that kind of relationship with Yang Ce. But if that were so, then according to what Yang Ce had said, she had already been Yang Juehuan's girlfriend before, which did not quite match reality. Could it be that her whole self, body included, had traveled through time?

Thinking of this, Zhou Yanning grew somewhat doubtful, because the possibility was simply too small. At least, apart from the internet, she had never seen any other precedent.

Zhou Yanning decided to go home first and quiet her mind, to think carefully about everything that had happened recently.

Since Zhou Yanning had said so, Yang Ce had no reason to stop her. He checked the time—it was only a little past nine in the morning. A round trip to Donghai would take just over two hours, so it should not delay Zhao Ying's move in the afternoon.

So he nodded and said, "Let's go, we'll all go together. It'll be a good chance to visit Auntie Hua's company."

"Auntie Hua's little company is nothing compared to your family's," Auntie Hua said with a smile. "But it's good to visit in advance. It'll be Jiajia's dowry someday anyway."

"Mom!" Zhou Yanning's face instantly flushed crimson at Mother Zhou's words.

The five of them tidied up, ate a little of the plain rice porridge Auntie Li had made, and prepared to set off.

Boss Hua had her own car. She made a phone call, and the driver arrived—a Toyota 4700, well suited to long-distance driving. Yang Juehuan's car was also an SUV. The two vehicles went one after the other, and there was not much difference in their speed.

Zhou Yanning rode with Boss Hua, while Yang Ce, Chen Shutang, and Lin Yanhe rode in the other car, and the two set off for Donghai one behind the other.

Yang Ce had not been to Donghai for some days, but he was already quite familiar with this road.

Boss Hua's company was located not far from Donghai's commercial center. She had bought an entire floor of an office building. The scale was fairly large, though still somewhat short of the former Wang Group, the Century Valor Group—to say nothing of the scale of Yang Ce's current enterprise.

"Heh heh, Yang Ce, don't laugh at me. The company isn't big," Boss Hua said. She now knew of Yang Juehuan's family fortune, so she had grown modest.