Chapter 284: Safety First
“Don’t… Mom, let me talk to him about it!” Lin Zhiyun was shocked. If her mother looked for Yang Ming and told him what she had said just now, she would be ashamed to death!
“Alright, then you must make it clear to him. You must say it later!” Shen Yueping said, “Girls must learn how to protect themselves. Or else, should mother will give you a few of them to carry along with you in preparation?”
“No need… No need!” Lin Zhiyun quickly rejected her. Hey! If someone else found out that I brought along condoms with me, how can I live anymore?
During their chat, a door knock echoed from outside the door. Probably, Yang Ming had arrived.
Shen Yueping quickly stood up and opened the door, then she saw Yang Ming standing at the door, “Yang Ming, you have arrived so quickly!”
“Well, I wasn’t far from here, so I came back very soon.” Yang Ming nodded and said, “Aunty Shen, is Zhiyun ready?”
“Well, we were just talking about things between the both of you. Weren’t we, Yun Er?” Shen Yueping looked at her daughter and smiled ambiguously.
“Ah! Yes…” Lin Zhiyun nodded in a hurry. She was afraid that her mother would say something inappropriate, so she said, “I’m ready, Yang Ming. Let’s get going quickly.”
Regarding her daughter’s behavior, in Shen Yueping’s eyes, it seemed as though her daughter had waited for a long time without being intimate with Yang Ming. So, she was very eager!
“Alright, I will not delay you young people from exchanging your feelings. Go ahead!” Shen Yueping said with a smile, “Yang Ming, you are a boy. Some things must start with safety first!”
“Oh?” What safety first? Yang Ming said inexplicably. “Aunty Shen, you can rest assured. I will drive slowly.”
“Haha, I’m not talking about that. Oh well, Yun Er will tell you. Am I right, Yun Er?” Shen Yueping was forcing her daughter to tell Yang Ming.
“I… I will…” Lin Zhiyun had no choice but nod.
What was happening? Yang Ming was confused. Lin Zhiyun and he went out together from the alley. When they got in the car, Yang Ming asked, “Zhiyun, what did Aunty Shen say just now?”
“Ah, nothing…” Lin Zhiyun shook her head.
“It’s really inexplicable…” Yang Ming said to himself and started the car.
When they arrived at university, Yang Ming dropped Lin Zhiyun off at the downstairs of the girls’ dormitory. He instructed her that if there was anything, please call him at any time.
Lin Zhiyun nodded and expressed her gratitude to Yang Ming. She found it rather strange. Yang Ming’s attitude toward her at noon and in the evening was different. What was going on? Lin Zhiyun couldn’t understand, so she didn’t put much thought into it.
Yang Ming parked the car in the university’s parking lot. Later, he walked in the direction of the dormitory. Before he reached the dormitory entrance, his phone rang. Yang Ming glanced at the caller ID. It was actually Hou Zhenhan.
Hou Zhenhan hadn’t contacted him in a while. Yang Ming told him to go according to the situation because he was in Hong Kong. He must have important things to discuss with Yang Ming because he called Yang Ming today.
“Hello?” Yang Ming picked up the phone.
“Brother Yang, I’m Big Hou.” Hou Zhenhan said.
Hou Zhenhan’s mother called him a little monkey. Yang Ming felt that this nickname was quite bad. No matter what, Hou Zhenhan would be the future boss of the Song Jiang underworld. His nickname as little monkey was a bit awkward, so Yang Ming called him “Big Hou[1].”
“Uhm, I see. What happened to the other side?” Yang Ming asked.
“Yu Xiangde cooperated with the Four Snakes Gang from Donghai. Bao Sanli is now on the losing side. Many areas in the south of the city have been lost. All of them have fallen into the hands of Yu Xiangde. It can be deduced that if this continues, Bao Sanli’s days are numbered.” Hou Zhenhan reported.
“If… Then, do you mean that Bao Sanli didn’t plan to continue it this way?” asked Yang Ming.
“Brother Yang is really sharp. You guessed it right. Bao Sanli had just taken the initiative to contact me and asked me to discuss cooperation.” Hou Zhenhan laughed.
“Well, this was inevitable. A situation of two against one. It’s clear that the Bao Sanli would suffer.” Yang Ming said, “Drag it on for a while first. Discuss with him the conditions slowly and just act according to what I told you before.”
“I understand.” Hou Zhenhan said.
As he hung up the phone, Yang Ming sighed. Although the way he had done it wasn’t quite right, the rules in this world were like this. Many people could work hard together, but sharing happiness together wasn’t quite possible.
Bao Sanli who he first met in the detention center had the spirit of brotherhood. Bao Sanli, now with the huge escalation of his influences, was already filled with the desire for power. It was impossible to share his interests with others. So, if Yang Ming wanted to share a piece of the interest, he had to resort to other disgraceful means.
Before he took two steps further, his cell phone rang again. Yang Ming thought that it was a call from Hou Zhenhan. He didn’t look at the caller ID carefully. He just picked it up directly.
“Hello, is there anything else?” Yang Ming asked.
“Uhm? Big brother, it’s me, Yang Xiaobo. What is there anything else?” The voice from the other end of the phone seemed to be confused.
“Oh? Xiaobo, it’s you. I thought it was a friend just now.” Yang Ming smiled and asked, “Why did you call me?”
“Hehe, big brother. I just called your house number. Second uncle told me that you are at university and asked me to call you through your cell phone.” Yang Xiaobo asked, “Big brother, have you came back from Hong Kong?”
“Uhm, I just came back yesterday.” Yang Ming said, “I bought you a pair of sneakers and a shirt.”
“Ha, big brother even brought a gift for me! Thank you very much!” Yang Xiaobo said with pleasure.
“How can I forget about you?” Yang Ming said, “I will meet up with you in two days and give them to you!”
“Let’s not wait for another two days. Our school is having the School Art Festival tomorrow. Probably, there will be nothing to do in the afternoon. Big Brother, can you come over?” Yang Xiaobo heard about the gift, and he was looking forward to it.
“Alright, if I have nothing else, I will go meet you!” Yang Ming said, “How about you skip lunch tomorrow? I will find you around noon tomorrow!”
“No problem, Big Brother. Then, I will wait for you! You have to come.” Yang Xiaobo said.
“When did Big Brother fool around with you?” Yang Ming smiled helplessly. From a young age, this younger brother was close to him.
“Alright, awesome. Big brother, then I’ll hang up the phone. Tomorrow, you can just call my cell phone! My cell phone number is 159… Forget it, I will send you a text message!” Yang Xiaobo said.
“Wait. Did you buy a cell phone?” asked Yang Ming.
“There are very few high school students who don’t have a cell phone!” Yang Xiaobo said in disapproval.
Yang Ming thought it was true too. When he was in high school, there were quite a number of people with cell phones in class. In recent years, cell phones have been cheaper than the price of cabbage. It was no longer a high-end luxury item! The props that were originally taken out by the rich to showcase themselves became simple communication tools.
Yang Ming returned to the bedroom. He saw Zhang Bing and Tian Donghua were playing the Wii sports series in the living room. Two people were playing boxing. When they saw Yang Ming come back, they dropped the controllers in their hands and said excitedly, “Yang Ming, you finally came back!”
“No way, I just left for a while. Did you miss me so much?” Yang Ming said as he was touched.
“Where’s my souvenir?” Zhang Bing said while extending his hand shamelessly.
“And mine!” Tian Donghua was the same.
“Really!” Yang Ming shouted, but then he took a bag behind him and threw it at them. “All of the items are inside. You choose for yourself!”
“The Zelda series!” Zhang Bin opened the bag and said excitedly. Tian Donghua shifted his gaze toward the Hong Kong specialty snacks that Yang Ming brought back.
Yang Ming looked at the two wolves who were sharing their goods. He shook his head and went back to his bedroom.
There was still something important to do this evening. That was to study the CD given by Fang Tian. Yang Ming put one of the CDs about gambling skills into the computer’s CD-ROM. Even if he was studying, he should start where his own interests lay.
The information was about the internal information circulating in the casinos in Macau. It was a live video of some gambling masters and some teaching materials. Gambling wasn’t a challenge for Yang Ming. He had a pair of absolutely powerful and invincible eyes. Under normal circumstances, there was almost no possibility of him losing in gambling. Unless it was the kind of roulette that depended on luck, otherwise it would be controlled by Yang Ming.
At this moment, Yang Ming felt that what he wanted to learn was the momentum and movement of these people, the style of a master. In other words, he wanted to learn how to act cool. Also, how to play up an act. That was the ultimate technique at the gambling table.
Acting cool could bring strong pressure to the opponent. In fact, it was just intimidating the others. Putting up an act was to let the opponents despise him and relax their alertness.
What’s more, Yang Ming learned some of the methods and rules of gambling. These were what Yang Ming lacked.
After Yang Ming watched the gambling CD given by Fang Tian, Yang Ming had become a master of gambling.