Chapter 612 School Belle
Liu Mingyu furrowed her brows slightly. She was worried that the company was contacting her regarding some urgent matters. But still, she had to pick up the phone regardless.
Glancing at the number, Liu Mingyu heaved a sigh of relief. She answered the call, smiling, “Haili, what do you need so badly that you had to call me at this hour?”
From Liu Mingyu’s tone, the caller was probably someone she knew well.
After talking on the phone with the woman called Haili for a while, Liu Mingyu’s face showed slight hesitation, but in the end, she merely responded softly in agreement to something.
After hanging up, Liu Mingyu spoke without even waiting for Yang Chen to ask. “Haili is my university classmate and a good friend of mine. She invited me to attend a simple gathering. Our class monitor in university came back from Su Province to handle some issues. s=Since he’s not staying for long, they wanted to have a gathering in the afternoon.”
This was new to Yang Chen. He had never attended school, so things like ‘classmates’ were totally unfamiliar to him. Hearing that Liu Mingyu had a classmates’ gathering to attend, he felt slightly envious of her past.
“Go ahead then. I’m free most of the time anyways. I’ll hang out with you again after your gathering.” Yang Chen didn’t want to affect her gathering that was such a rare occasion.
But Liu Mingyu pursed her lips and said, “Yang Chen, come with me to the gathering.”
Yang Chen was caught off guard. “This… is it appropriate?”
“Why would it be inappropriate? It’s only a gathering between classmates. Why should it matter if I bring my boyfriend or not? Plus, they never said that I’m not allowed to do so,” Liu Mingyu said casually. “Quite a number of my classmates are already married. When I attended gatherings in the past, I was usually went alone… It felt weird to be there.”
Yang Chen suddenly understood. He figured that Liu Mingyu wanted him there to make her look better! But that was nothing he couldn’t do, since he was indeed her man. Besides, since he wanted to understand the women beside him better. What better way to do so than get a glimpse into their past.
“Then do I need to wear a suit and a necktie?” Yang Chen asked a bit anxiously.
“Why would you have to wear a suit and a necktie?” Liu Mingyu was puzzled.
“I have never attended a gathering between classmates, so I have no idea what to do. I’m worried of embarrassing you.” Yang Chen smiled awkwardly.
Liu Mingyu let out some laughter and rolled her eyes at him. “Your skin is so thick no one could tell whether you’re feeling embarrassed. In my opinion, you’re fine just the way you are. We’re just having a casual gathering. It’s not like we’re meeting important figures. I’ll go in to change my clothes and put on some makeup. You wait here for a while, I’ll be ready in a second.”
Though she claimed to be ready in a second, by the time the two set off, forty minutes had gone by.
Liu Mingyu changed into a light blue double-layered Chanel dress, revealing her fair and tender calves. She had a striped mini suit on, which made flowed past the gentle curves of her neck. She looked almost like a Japanese or Korean star. As the sun was glaring, she even had a pair of fashionable Gucci shades with colored stripes on.
Such a get-up would never appear during usual working hours. This set of attire would cost at least twenty thousand dollars. Even though she was one of the higher-ups in Yu Lei, it would be too much to wear such an outfit to work.
Yang Chen looked at his own outfit. Although they were also all branded items that Lin Ruoxi had bought for him in the past, it still looked shabby next to her. But he wasn’t one to fuss over such issues, since Liu Mingyu said it’s okay, then so be it.
Since Liu Mingyu’s car was still in the company, naturally they went to the gathering in Yang Chen’s car. The gathering was at a high-class clubhouse at the eastern region of Zhonghai. Without an annual salary of two hundred thousand minimum, it was impossible for anyone to enter. It seemed like the few classmates who had invited Liu Mingyu were all doing very well themselves.
When Yang Chen arrived at the destination by car, a few males and females were just about to enter the clubhouse as well.
Alighting from the car, Liu Mingyu removed her shades. She waved at one of those who were about to walk through the entrance—a tall lady with curly hair—and shouted, “Haili!”
The woman with curly hair turned around, revealing a round face. Upon seeing Liu Mingyu, she ran back happily and hugged Liu Mingyu affectionately.
“Mingyu, it’s so rare for you to make it on a working day. I thought you wouldn’t come,” Haili said, elated. Her gaze naturally shifted towards Yang Chen who had just locked the car behind Liu Mingyu. She asked doubtfully, “This gentleman… is he your boyfriend?”
A blush flashed across Liu Mingyu’s face as she shyly replied with a yes.
Yang Chen, on the other hand, was not at all shy. He spoke to Haili proactively. “Hello, Miss Hai, I’m Yang Chen. Mingyu said that I can tag along, so I just came uninvited.”
Haili covered her mouth to hide a smile. “Who’s ‘Miss Hai’? My surname is Zhao. Zhao Haili. Who in the world has the surname Hai?”
Yang Chen was taken aback. True as it may be, yet he hadn’t realized it.
Upon seeing Yang Chen’s blank look, Haili broke into another round of laughter. She held Liu Mingyu’s hand and said, “Your boyfriend is so amusing. Wait till the rest meet him. They will definitely admire your taste.”
Yang Chen curled his lips. Was this woman praising him or demeaning him?
Liu Mingyu just laughed, “It’s my boyfriend anyway. They can say whatever they like.”
Haili suddenly sighed, “I heard about Qi Kai’s story. Who knew that the Qi family would end in such a tragic way. Luckily you managed to put that matter behind you. Now that you have a boyfriend, I feel relieved as your sister.”
Qi Kai’s entire family was slaughtered by Liu Qingshan’s Green Dragon Society. Yang Chen and Liu Mingyu was aware of that. Despite efforts to intentionally shush the news, it was still impossible to hide it from everyone in the society.
Liu Mingyu’s expression did not change in the slightest when she heard the name ‘Qi Kai’. “That’s all in the past. There’s nothing left to talk about,” she said.
“That’s true.” Zhao Haili didn’t want to make Liu Mingyu feel uncomfortable as well. She immediately said with a grin, “Let’s go. The class monitor and the others are already inside. And to Mr Yang Chen who is attending our gathering for the first time, welcome and come on in!”
Zhao Haili had an outgoing personality. So Yang Chen didn’t take offence to her joke at him. He just grinned and followed the two ladies into the clubhouse.
Although Liu Mingyu brought Yang Chen along to show their relationship off, she wouldn’t pretentiously want to stick next to Yang Chen all the time. That was not her style. So on the way in she just kept talking to Zhao Haili whom she hadn’t met in a long while while holding her hand.
The space within the clubhouse was extremely huge, and it was well equipped with all sorts of entertainment facilities.
Under the lead of Zhao Haili, the trio walked into a large private room. A mix of pop songs echoed throughout that room, and around seven to eight people were chatting to each other and drinking merrily.
“How could you guys already start drinking before we’ve arrived!” Zhao Haili jokingly scolded them the moment she entered the room.
The moment they saw Zhao Haili and Liu Mingyu, the other people in the room stood up immediately. But they all had different expressions on their faces.
A handsome man who was in a casual suit and wearing a red shirt fixated his gaze on Liu Mingyu. An excited smile appeared on his face. “Mingyu, you’re here too.”
Liu Mingyu nodded her head lightly, took a step back, and wrapped her wrists around Yang Chen’s arm. Then she calmly nodded her head towards everyone, “It’s been a while, everyone.”
Because she was from the public relations line of career, she often had to negotiate fiercely for their rights in the business industry. This contrasted with Liu Mingyu’s quiet personality which was currently on display. It was apparent from how she treated her classmates. But many people have completely opposite personalities in person compared to in the workplace, so it wasn’t anything to be shocked about.
“Our school belle has truly gotten prettier and prettier over the years. Huh, could it be that this gentleman here is your new boyfriend, Mingyu?” A tall, slim man with a small moustache spoke.
Liu Mingyu nodded. “His name is Yang Chen. He’s a colleague in my company, and also my boyfriend.”
Yang Chen didn’t say anything. He just let Liu Mingyu introduce himself as a way of respect for her. After which, he nodded at the people there to greet them.
But hearing from their words that Liu Mingyu was the school belle, Yang Chen felt very happy with himself. Turns out that he had unknowingly got himself a girlfriend who was a school belle. But when he thought about it again, it felt like nothing to be proud of. Any one of the women beside him were fit to be school belle’s.
Although the crowd was slightly surprised, they still responded politely, inviting Yang Chen to sit down at the sofa with them.
Zhao Haili could be said to be the topic generator within the crowd. And once they all sat down, she immediately introduced everyone’s names to Yang Chen who had just joined their group, so that he was familiar with them.
The first man to speak to Liu Mingyu was the class monitor Zhu Kangyu who had come back from Su Province. When he heard Liu Mingyu introducing Yang Chen as her boyfriend, his expressions started to reveal awkwardness. He waited until everyone had taken their seats before asking, “It’s my first time meeting Mr Yang, have you known Mingyu for very long? How come we’ve never heard about you before?”
With these words, a few other classmates of Liu Mingyu also turned their gazes towards Yang Chen curiously. Liu Mingyu was the popular school belle in university, so she naturally attracted the attention of many suitors. There was a somewhat romantic relationship between her and Qi Kai, that her classmates knew as well. But now that Qi Kai had passed away, her classmates were once again curious as to who she was going to end up with.
As for the class monitor Zhu Kangyu, he was doing the best among these people. Otherwise there wouldn’t be so many people who specially made time to show up at the gathering the moment he returned to Zhonghai. He was fond of Liu Mingyu even when they were still studying. Now that Qi Kai was no longer around, he felt that this was his chance.
Yang Chen was no idiot, he could sense that Zhu Kangyu obviously held enmity towards him. He was probably one of the suitors who were eyeing Liu Mingyu. Thus, Yang Chen said with a smile, “It’s been almost a year now. But we were both rather busy so we hadn’t had much chance to come out together.”
Zhu Kangyu nodded, then suddenly said, “I am the vice head of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department in Su Province. I wonder what position is Mr Yang holds in Yu Lei? I assume that Mr Yang must be quite the figure to be able to gain the love of our school belle, right?”
With these words, it was clear that he was trying to display his own abilities openly.
Before Yang Chen could even say anything, a fat guy with a beer belly exclaimed, “Oh my god! Our class monitor is so formidable! It has only been a year and you’ve been promoted once again already!”
“A few days ago my dad came back and told me that my class monitor had joined the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, and even joined the Provincial Standing Committee in Su Province. I couldn’t quite believe it at that time. Who knew that it was true!” another classmate said with mixed feelings.
Zhu Kangyu just shook his hands with a nonchalant face and said, “I was just lucky to replace an empty position. It’s no big deal.”
“Class Monitor, stop being so humble. Even people like me who’s not familiar with politics know that entering the Provincial Party at your age means that you’ll have a bright future ahead of you. I believe there aren’t that many people at your age who are working in the Provincial Party,” Zhao Haili said in admiration.
With all the flattering speeches, a tinge of redness glowed on Zhu Kangyu’s face. Those words were obviously boosting his ego. Everyone who was seated there all came from pretty good family backgrounds, but classmates who had once started around the same level as he did, now sang praises to him. Wasn’t that the best proof of his success?”
However, when Zhu Kangyu shifted his gaze towards Liu Mingyu whom he was most concerned about, he was disheartened to find her merely smiling with a nonchalant face. She seemed to have no intention of flattering him. There wasn’t a single twitch of surprise on her face!
Actually, that was not Liu Mingyu’s fault. If it were the old Liu Mingyu, perhaps she would have felt shocked by how he had entered the Provincial Party at such a young age. But now, not to mention her own man Yang Chen was the eldest grandson of Yang clan, one of the four major clans, and he had extraordinary abilities and talents. Even her father Liu Qingshan dominated the underworld of Beijing. Ministers in Beijing had to show respect to Liu Qingshan. So as Liu Qingshan’s daughter, she had no reason to take note of officials like the past.
But Zhu Kangyu wasn’t privy to Liu Mingyu’s recent developments. He just saw it as her being blinded by her love for Yang Chen, so much so that she had became numb to realizing how bright his future was. So he continued asking, “Stop being so polite, everyone. I’m still the same class monitor I was. More importantly, Mr Yang is our guest here today. Being chosen by Mingyu as her boyfriend has made me very curious about that. Don’t you all want to know more about it too? Mr Yang, we’ve yet to hear of your position.”
Actually, no matter how Yang Chen answered this question, it would be a utter humiliation. The reason being Yang Chen couldn’t be the CEO of Yu Lei International, at most he was one of the higher-ups. And a higher-up from an international company was not unusual. Compared to Zhu Kangyu who already yielded great power at such a young age, Yang Chen was miles away from where him.
Everyone was also well aware that Zhu Kangyu was trying to embarrass Yang Chen on purpose. He wanted to let Liu Mingyu realize the difference between him and Yang Chen. Even if it might not necessarily make Liu Mingyu change her mind, he didn’t want to make it easy for this outsider called Yang Chen!