Chapter 32: A Shrewd Well Behaved Mommy’s Boy
After Han Qingwu had vented her anger for a while, she also knew that she had wrongly blamed Yuan Chuling, and looked at Yuan Chuling with an apologetic expression.
Yuan Chuling’s marks might not be as exaggerated as Tang Xiu’s, but he also passed the exam with 476 points on this Monthly Test.
She knew that the last Monthly Exam’s difficulties were very high. The students who got more than 550 points were only 27 out of the whole third year. With 476 points, Yuan Chuling was ranked in the top 300s. He was also one of 5 students from Class 10 who entered the top 300 rankings.
“Yuan Chuling, Tang Xiu didn’t stay in his dormitory last night. He requested a leave of absence today. Do you know what matter he was leaving for in a hurry?” Han Qingwu asked
“I-I-I… ah… I don’t know that…” Yuan Chuling was a day student, he didn’t know that Tang Xiu left the dorm last night. But when he remembered about the smashing accident at Tang Xiu family’s restaurant, a trace of a panicked expression flashed from his eyes.
“You are lying, you definitely know the reason! Tell me quickly! Has Tang Xiu encountered any problems?” Han Qingwu asked nervously since she keenly caught the changes in Yuan Chuling’s complexion.
“Yuan Chuling, if Tang Xiu really has run into problems, you must tell us! You don’t want Tang Xiu to have any unexpected accidents at such a critical time like the College Entrance Test, right?” Having heard the dialogs between Han Qingwu and Yuan Chuling, Cheng Yannan’s also voiced the concerns in her heart.
A trace of nervousness also filled Yuan Chuling’s heart when he saw the tense expression in Han Qingwu and Cheng Yannan’s faces, since the shadow that related to Tang Xiu’s smashed restaurant was the first thing that came into his mind.
After hesitating for a short while, Yuan Chuling told them about Tang Xiu’s restaurant’s smashing incident.
Han Qingwu and Cheng Yannan were greatly shocked when they suddenly heard that Tang Xiu’s restaurant was bashed. They quickly dragged Yuan Chuling out of the classroom, and asked Yuan Chuling to take them to Tang Xiu’s restaurant.
Half an hour later, Han Qingwu’s car parked on the roadside in front of the restaurant’s entrance. But she was stunned when seeing the bustling and lively situation at the restaurant.
“Yuan Chuling, are you sure you didn’t take us to the wrong place?” Cheng Yannan also felt something was wrong as she asked with a doubtful expression.
“Ah… Yes, I came here 2 days ago. The entire dining hall was smashed broken, and also there were bloodstains in the dining hall since I went in and beat 2 people out of rage.” The same surprised expression also struck Yuan Chuling.
But the present scene in front of him was really beyond Yuan Chuling’s imagination. Judging by the state when the restaurant was just smashed, there was no way the restaurant would be opened in a few days. However, the restaurant now was not only normally opened for business, but it also was bustling and lively.
“The hardwood planks to decorate the restaurant’s interior for 3 walls and ceiling will cost at least 200,000 yuan. A 100 square meters floor covered with Marco Polo ceramic tiles cost at least 100,000 yuan. 30 sets of hardwood tables and chairs are estimated at least 200,000 yuan, while the soft clothes and equipment will cost at least 5 to 600,000 yuan.”
“The business also looks flourishing. Not only the 18 tables inside the restaurant are completely full, but they have lined up by at least 6 tables long outside the restaurant. Even if the profit for each table was only 50 yuan, but this restaurant’s daily net profit would at least reach 20,000.”
When Yuan Chuling was still wondering how the restaurant suddenly changed, Han Qingwu’s voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
“Yuan Chuling, you don’t feel that your lies are too ridiculous, huh? If this restaurant really belongs to Tang Xiu’s family, will he even have to face difficult times in school and be unable to pay his tuition?” Yuan Chuling was still puzzled as to why his class-in-charge teacher was calculating the restaurant’s interior and exterior decoration and the profit, but suddenly Han Qingwu’s voice turned cold and scolded him in a stern voice.
“T-T-T-This… I really don’t know how could it be like this, but what I’ve told you before is really the truth!” Yuan Chuling was at loss and didn’t know what to say.
“Get off!!! And go back to school by yourself! If you are late for the evening class, give me a thousand lines of self-critics and regret!” Han Qingwu was too disinclined to listen to Yuan Chuling’s explanation as she commanded in a cold tone.
“I… I’ll go inside there to see what’s going on, and look for the owner.” This was the first time Yuan Chuling saw Han Qingwu became so angry. Under her sharp and fierce gaze, Yuan Chuling frantically got out of the car as he spoke in a trembling voice.
Han Qingwu pressed the gas pedal even though Yuan Chuling had yet to finish his words as her VW Touareg quickly pierced through into the traffic flow.
Only until the VW Touareg disappeared did Yuan Chuling realize that his wallet and cell phone were on his school desk, leaving him with not even a penny right now.
“It will take at least an hour on foot from here to school. I’ll definitely be late for the evening class. Man… it seems like that I’ll have to write that damn self-critics…” Yuan Chuling silently calculated the distance from the restaurant to school and his face turned into a red-bitter melon color.
“Oh! A Ling, is that you? I thought I mistakenly saw someone else. What are you doing standing outside? Come, sit here!” When Yuan Chuling was wondering whether he had to enter the restaurant to see what happened inside, when a familiar voice sounded in Yuan Chuling’s ears.
Yuan Chuling looked up and saw the one who was talking to him was Tang Xiu’s mother—Su Lingyun. Excitement was immediately revealed on his face, since the problem for the transport fare to go back to school finally could be solved.
“Auntie, have you moved the restaurant?” Yuan Chuling observed Su Lingyun and found that her clothes didn’t even change from yesterday’s attire. A guess gushed out from his heart as he asked with a caring expression.
“Ah no, it’s still the same restaurant. I just renovated it again. But I have made a few new seasonings and the business suddenly flourished.” Upon hearing Yuan Chuling mentioned about the restaurant, a happy smile surfaced on Su Lingyun’s face.
Having heard Su Lingyun’s answers, Yuan Chuling was quite puzzled. He wanted to ask out of his curiosity, as from where the renovation money came from. But because he was not too familiar with Su Lingyun, he felt awkward to ask about it.
“Auntie, Tang Xiu got 712 points in the last Monthly test, and compared to the second ranker, his marks are 79 points higher. You don’t have to worry about his achievements.” After keeping silence for a short while, Yuan Chuling intentionally shifted the topic to Tang Xiu as to probe whether Su Lingyun knew about Tang Xiu’s whereabouts.
At first, he wanted to directly ask about Tang Xiu’s news, but he was afraid that Su Lingyun didn’t know about the matter about Tang Xiu’s leave of absence, causing her to worry about him. He had no choice but to indirectly probe Su Lingyun about it.
“Xiu’er really got the first grade?! Ah, that’s great! I knew that he wouldn’t lie to me!” When Su Lingyun heard that Tang Xiu got the first grade, although she was very happy, but her excitement was normal and obviously stemmed from his imagination.
But when he recalled that Su Lingyun had believed that Tang Xiu would get the top scorer spot even when the Monthly Test’s results had yet to come out, Yuan Chuling suddenly turned silent again.
However, from Su Lingyun’s answer, Yuan Chuling was almost sure she also didn’t know about Tang Xiu’s matter.
After having chatted with Su Lingyun for a while, Yuan Chuling then asked for transport fare from Su Lingyun to go back to school.
When he arrived back at school, Yuan Chuling was surprised to find that a bald youth was sitting in Tang Xiu’s seat. He even felt that also familiar with the baldy.
“Long Zhenglin, how come you are in my school?” After having observed the baldy for a quite a while, Yuan Chuling asked in an astonished expression and warmly greeted him.
“What the… Fatty, you’re not dead yet? I thought you’ve committed suicide after that thing happened.” Long Zhenglin also warmly greeted Yuan Chuling after observing him attentively.
Hearing Long Zhenglin’s answer, Yuan Chuling’s facial muscles fiercely twitched as he snapped, “Damn! You’re not dead yet, so how can I die before you?”
Even though Star City might not be considered big, but it wasn’t small either.
The Long Family deserved to be called as the food and beverages business giant in the Shuangqing Province, with assets of more than 10 billion, while the Yuan Family was only a rising star in the Real Estate business with assets less than 1% of the Long Family’s.
Comparing family background and capital, the Long Family was, of course, world’s apart from the Yuan Family, and the two families were unlikely to cross each other, much less for Yuan Chuling and Long Zhenglin to become good friends.
However, a lot of things were entirely fated to meet by the heavens. Yuan Chuling and Long Zhenglin’s friendship was not because of their family, but it was only a coincidence that they were schooling in the same school and became classmates.
Although they were only classmates for only a short year, but the 2 of them already forged a deep friendship, leading to the close relationship between their families businesses.
Only until 2 years ago when Yuan Chuling’s parents had a divorce did Yuan Chuling start to abandon and seal himself from social interaction, leading to the cutting off of their relationship.
But the two’s friendship had clearly not faded through the passage of time. Even if they hadn’t seen each other for 2 years, not only had the two of them not become strangers and unfamiliar, but instead turned more affectionate and warm.
“I’m looking for Tang Xiu. Do you know where Tang Xiu is?” Long Zhenglin straightforwardly asked Yuan Chuling after having chatted for awhile.
“You came for my Eldest Brother? What’s your purpose to look for him?” Upon hearing that Long Zhenglin actually came for Tang Xiu, an astonished expression surfaced on Yuan Chuling’s face. To his knowledge, these two people wouldn’t mix in the same world.
“Tang Xiu is your Eldest Brother?” Long Zhenglin’s lips twitched as he heard the answer as he recalled how he was begging and tangling Tang Xiu, even calling him a Master. A little bit of pain suddenly bit his intestines.
“Of course, his brain is smarter than mine, his grades are better than mine, he’s more handsome than me, he’s sincere and honest, as well as caring and understanding for his buddies. How can not recognize him as my Eldest Brother?” Yuan Chuling patiently explained, because he thought that Long Zhenglin felt that Tang Xiu was unworthy to become his Eldest Brother even though he didn’t know for what matter Long Zhenglin was looking for him.
“Hey, you haven’t said for why you’re looking for my Eldest Brother.” Yuan Chuling couldn’t help but ask after he found Long Zhenglin was a little dazed after he spoke.
“The reason I want to find him is that I need Tang Xiu’s help. Have you heard about Walled Hill Village’s project? My family planned to reform our Food and Beverages businesses into a tourism catering business and was targeting Walled Hill Village. But we never expected that other families were also eyeing this project and then decided to determine the winner in a gambling bet…” Long Zhenglin didn’t even hide the slightest thing from Yuan Chuling and told him the full details.
“Wait a sec! I don’t get it. You want Eldest Brother to help you gamble? The problem is he’s a well-known well-behaved mommy’s boy. Never once did he ever enter the casino, and there’s no way in hell he knows any gambling techniques.” Yuan Chuling’s eyes stared wide as he spoke in an astonished expression and lost his cool when he heard Long Zhenglin’s explanation.