As she listened to the indirect attacks being thrown at Yang Chen, Liu Mingyu furrowed her eyebrows slightly. But on the surface, Zhu Kangyu’s words weren’t that impolite, so there wasn’t a reason for her to step in.
At that moment, Yang Chen suddenly looked all shy and giggled. “Is there a need to question this? My duty, is being my dear Mingyu’s personal boyfriend of course.”
After the words left his mouth, Yang Chen reached his hand out to intimately caress Liu Mingyu’s tender, clean face. It made Liu Mingyu’s face burn red with embarrassment and she glared at Yang Chen shyly.
This man really had no shame. Embarrassing words and actions meant nothing to him even in a room full of strangers!
But she couldn’t embarrass Yang Chen by leaving the room even though that was the only thing on her mind!
Indeed, it not only made Liu Mingyu angry and embarrassed at the same time, it was also a jaw dropper for the few classmates who were present!
The original question posed was a serious one about the respective persons career. Who knew that this fellow would actually start showing off his love without warning?
Not only did it shift the topic, it even gave Zhu Kangyu a harsh slap of humiliation. Do you see that? This here is my woman, what can you do about it? thought Yang Chen.
Yang Chen’s thick-skinned personality and his sly actions totally overturned the others’ perception of him before this. Especially Zhao Haili. Her mouth was wide open, all the while thinking, that was the same guy who was calling her ‘Miss Hai’ stupidly just now. How could his personality have changed in such a brief moment?
Zhu Kangyu’s face turned sour as he laughed awkwardly. “Mr Yang is such an expert at making girls happy, no wonder Mingyu chose you as her boyfriend.”
“Well the full story is slightly more complicated than that. The crucial point is that I’m a person who is willing to love her genuinely,” Yang Chen said with a totally simple and honest face. He looked as sincere as though he was absolutely willing to dig out his heart and lungs for her.
Many of Liu Mingyu’s classmates’ expressions became ones of disgust! The lovey dovey words that this guy had said were too nauseating!
Liu Mingyu just kept her head lowered without saying anything. Her burning red ears were proof that she was actually embarrassed and shy beyond measure right now.
Zhu Kangyu finally understood. This man in front of him was totally shameless. No matter how hard you try to humiliate him, he was able to deflect it and move on. Why? Because he didn’t know how to feel ashamed!
“Looks like Mr Yang is truly devoted to our school belle. Haha, Class Monitor, let’s not let him continue demonstrating his devotion towards her. We rarely meet up, so let’s have a few more drinks!”
“I agree, I agree, looking at them makes me so envious especially when my marriage is heading towards its grave. Let’s just hurry up and drink instead.”
The few classmates all started to interrupt Yang Chen’s words, in an attempt to save Zhu Kangyu some pride. After all, if things were to continue like this, Zhu Kangyu would be driven to his death by anger soon enough.
This Class Monitor Zhu was still the one with the brightest future among their classmates. Those who were present were planning to rely on Zhu Kangyu to help them out in some matters in the future, so how could they not try to please him?
Zhu Kangyu, on the other hand, was also a person who was used to being in official situations. Although he was still young, he had to develop a high tolerance level. His expressions returned back to normal, and he smiled while raising his glass of wine, clanking it against a few other classmates’ glasses, saying, “I’ve already said it before. I’ll only be staying in Zhonghai for no more than two days. Yet the lot of you have decided to gather in my honor regardless. I truly don’t know how to repay you all.”
“Our honored minister has come personally. It is our pleasure to share a few drinks with you. How could we even ask of you, the minister to repay us with anything?” One of the classmates said flatteringly with a smile.
The other classmates also joined in on the flatter and lavished an array of compliments on him, mostly praising how Zhu Kangyu was doing well making it up the ranks with his exceptional abilities, and his role as a model in their lives.
Zhao Haili, on the other hand, was closer to Liu Mingyu. She felt that Liu Mingyu didn’t have pleasant feelings towards Zhu Kangyu, so she chose to remain silent. She just grabbed three glasses and poured some whiskey for Liu Mingyu and Yang Chen.
Yang Chen was all smiles, thanking Zhao Haili. He felt that this ‘Miss Hai’ had a pretty good personality, as she didn’t rush to flatter Zhu Kangyu, instead she made it a point to pour some alcohol for her friend and Yang Chen, this outsider.
However, looking at these so-called classmates, Yang Chen sighed in his heart. These people might have been true friends in the past. But the pretentious looks of theirs were practically no different from the social interactions in the workplace.
This Zhu Kangyu was obviously still a deputy minister, yet they just had to ignore it blatantly and called him ‘minister’ just so to make him happy.
Liu Mingyu didn’t really say much save for her little chats with Zhao Haili. Whenever others asked her anything, she would give a short and simple reply. Actually she wasn’t keen on staying on, but they were her friends after all. Although everyone had aged differently, she still cared about their friendship and didn’t want to make it an unhappy event for everyone.
However, Liu Mingyu glanced at Yang Chen who was sitting beside her from time to time. She was worried that Yang Chen was still angry at Zhu Kangyu, and would drag her into his mess again.
Yang Chen was munching on snacks and drinking some alcohol. He seemed relaxed and carefree. In his eyes, these people before him might as well have been clown in a circus. He just treated it as though he was watching a show with his woman.
When he saw Liu Mingyu glancing at him worriedly, Yang Chen winked at her secretly. And with that, Liu Mingyu eased up and relaxed slightly.
After Zhu Kangyu and the classmates had been chatting insincerely for quite a while, Zhu Kangyu’s gaze shifted back towards Yang Chen who was drinking on his own lazily. He smiled and said, almost creepily, “Mr Yang has been drinking alone all this while. It makes us look like bad hosts. How about this, I propose that we all toast to Mr Yang, just treat it as our blessing for Mr Yang and Mingyu to be blissful and happy together.”
There were a total of eight people present, including Zhu Kangyu. It practically meant that Yang Chen had to drink continuously with eight of them!
A few fellows who were smart enough immediately realized that the class monitor was trying to knock out this unlucky guy called Yang Chen. Serves him right. Who asked him to get involved with a woman no one was allowed to touch?
But these people were all sided with Zhu Kangyu, naturally they wouldn’t try to persuade him out of it. Besides, this suggestion appeared to be for the sake of Yang Chen and Liu Mingyu’s happiness on the surface. Of course everyone was more than willing to do Zhu Kangyu this favor!
They only had to drink a cup, whereas Yang Chen was the one who had to drink at least eight cups!
“What a good suggestion. Come on, I’ll be the first to empty my cup to give my blessings. Mr Yang, you fill up your cup too. Drink up!”
A man who was sitting near to Yang Chen took the lead to initiate the drinking. He held up the wine bottle and filled Yang Chen’s cup, followed by his own. Then he stood up, and in a raise of his head, he gulped down the entire cup of amber-colored alcohol!
Whiskey had around 40% alcohol. If they drank like that, people with an average limit would start to feel dizzy by the time they had downed two cups. This bunch of people often drank together. It was only natural for their tolerance to be quite high.
All of them were causing such a commotion about it. If Yang Chen refused to drink, then it would seem like he wasn’t giving them any face at all, and it meant that he was admitting defeat.
Liu Mingyu was even more upset at Zhu Kangyu now. But in the presence of so many classmates, she couldn’t possibly say it outright either. She was extremely anxious in her heart. She didn’t want Yang Chen to really have to drink up all eight cups continuously.
Yang Chen quietly reached his hand to grab Liu Mingyu’s hand slightly, to tell her that he was okay. Then he picked up his wine glass and toasted to the guy, saying, “Since you’re so enthusiastic, I of course have no reason to reject.”
After which, with a raise of his head, he gulped down the entire glass of wine too.
A tinge of chilliness flashed across the eyes of Zhu Kangyu who was watching from the side. He had an evil smile at the corners of his lips, as though anticipating Yang Chen’s eventual embarrassment. He didn’t believe that the Yang Chen in front of him would be able drink eight glasses of drink with 40% alcohol continuously—that was the equivalent of two kilograms of high-alcoholic Maotai Chinese liquor already!
Now that they had started drinking, the few others had to follow suit and toast to him as well. If they didn’t toast to him, they were not giving Zhu Kangyu any face. Although some of them felt sorry towards Yang Chen, it was either them or him.
Yang Chen was rather welcoming, rejecting no one who came forward. He toasted to these classmates of Liu Mingyu one by one, glass by glass, stomaching the whiskey as though it was plain water.
Alcohol didn’t really pose a threat to him. He could just use the Endless Resolve Restoration Scripture to ‘evaporate’ it, and it was settled. Not a problem at all.
But watching all these with her own eyes, Liu Mingyu who sat beside him could feel her heart hurt for him. She couldn’t care less about her friendships with the people in the room anymore—her man was more important than that. So just when Yang Chen was about to drink the fifth glass of whiskey, Liu Mingyu hurriedly stopped him, “Don’t drink anymore!”
The man who was about to toast to him laughed awkwardly. “Hey Mingyu, how can you not give me some face? You let the rest of them toast, yet you want to stop him when it’s my turn. Mr Yang is still fine after drinking so much. His alcohol tolerance must be incredible.”
Liu Mingyu furrowed her pretty eyebrows, ignoring that classmate, and just said to Yang Chen gently, “Don’t drink anymore, alright? It’ll damage your body.”
Yang Chen was not interested in entertaining them any longer either. Since Liu Mingyu was so worried about him, he just nodded his head obediently and put down the wine glass.
“Mr Yang, this won’t do. I was the one who suggested this toasting, and I haven’t even toasted to you, yet you already want to stop drinking. This is truly taking a shot at my pride.” Zhu Kangyu smiled. He personally filled Yang Chen’s glass with wine, then raised his glass to toast to Yang Chen. “I’ll drink it up first as an honor.”
Right after he said that, Zhu Kangyu gulped the entire glass of wine, and turned his glass upside down to show that there was not even a single drop left.
“I’ve already drunk. Mr Yang wouldn’t be so petty to reject even this final glass of wine, would you?” Zhu Kangyu showed an honest look although his intentions were all but innocent. He believed that Yang Chen only refused to drink because he had already reached his limit.
A few others joined in on the commotion, “That’s right. As the boyfriend of our school belle, you should at least have alcohol tolerance. You should give the class monitor some face!”
“I am the one who’s stopping Yang Chen from drinking. You all should stop forcing him.” Liu Mingyu was very anxious, and spoke up to protect Yang Chen.
A woman chuckled, “Could it be that Yang Chen is afraid of his girlfriend?”
“That makes sense. Hey, Brother Yang, just drink the alcohol if you’re a man. Otherwise you’re losing all your face!” Another person laughed and tried to provoke him.
Yang Chen scratched the back of his head, and he innocently giggled while he said, “Babe Mingyu has already forbidden me from drinking. So I’ll definitely not drink.”
“Are you sure! Are you even still a man! You’re throwing away your face!” A few angry fellows started yelling out. They had already drunk so much, but all their efforts would go down the drain if Yang Chen did not get drunk!
But Yang Chen merely just licked his lips and said out loud and firmly, “I’ve already lost my chastity, what need do I have for a face?”
With these words of his, everyone present was stunned into silence.
They’d seen shameless people before, but not shameless to this degree!
Chastity? Was it something that any man should even say!?
Liu Mingyu felt like laughing out loud. This fellow was too annoying. He even dared to spout such nonsense in such an occasion. But then it made her anger subside as well. She just rolled her eyes at Yang Chen and smiled while saying nothing.
Zhao Haili was laughing like a madman. She was so fascinated by the fact that her sister-like friend had gotten herself such a boyfriend.
Zhu Kangyu and the rest looked very awkward. Yang Chen had already set the bar to a new low for them. What more could they say?
They weren’t afraid of those who were unreasonable, but those who pretended to be innocent!
“Since Mr Yang obeys Mingyu’s words so much, then we have nothing to say. I still have something on, I have to make a trip out. You may carry on.” Zhu Kangyu stood up with a solemn face. Disregarding the odd gazes from the others, he just walked straight out of the private room.