CHAPTER 153: CHAPTER 153: EXCITEMENT

Xia Liang nodded and looked at the crowd again. "See? Boss Luo isn’t willing."

Upon hearing this, everyone was left speechless with rage.

But Xia Liang didn’t give them a chance to speak. "If you do something wrong, you should pay the price. This wasn’t Tong Dongnuan’s fault to begin with. You were the ones who told her to open the bottle, and everyone drank from it. When something went wrong, you pushed all the blame onto a single girl. Have you no shame?"

The crowd was speechless after Xia Liang’s scolding. Tong Dongnuan looked at Xia Liang, who had spoken up for her.

She felt a warmth in her heart as she looked at him. He’s still the same, always protecting me.

After speaking, Xia Liang beckoned to Tong Dongnuan, ready to leave. After such an incident, the others had no desire to continue the party. Everyone started to leave, and Jin Xinqiao followed Xia Liang to the underground parking garage.

They arrived in front of a Mercedes-Benz, and Jin Xinqiao took out her phone.

"Well, Xia Liang, Dongnuan, I’ll be going. Let’s exchange contact information. We should hang out sometime."

"Sure!"

She was their former class beauty, and she had, after all, helped Xia Liang out of a bind today. Even if she had other motives, help was help. The two of them didn’t outright reject Jin Xinqiao’s friendly advance.

After exchanging contact information, Jin Xinqiao didn’t linger. Today had been a huge win for her, especially after seeing that Xia Liang knew Wen Qiang. Her heart raced. Thank goodness I didn’t do anything foolish. I managed to get on his good side.

Satisfied, Jin Xinqiao took out her car keys and waved. "See you later, then! Let’s meet up again sometime. Bye-bye~"

"Goodbye," they replied.

"Bye~"

With those farewells, Jin Xinqiao got into her car. Even if I had shamelessly insisted, Xia Liang probably would have let me come along. But that would have been pointless. All the favor I just earned would have vanished. A man of Xia Liang’s caliber... rich, handsome, and with a strange personality. You could tell just from the way he sang with Tong Dongnuan. He’s like a final boss in an online game. It takes time. I have to approach this slowly.

As they watched Jin Xinqiao drive away, Tong Dongnuan nudged Xia Liang.

"Hey there, young lady, I think Jin Xinqiao is into you. You don’t have a girlfriend, why not give her some thought?"

"Not interested."

Xia Liang had no interest in such things. Seeing that he wasn’t pretending, Tong Dongnuan didn’t press the issue. The two of them continued walking and chatting.

They soon arrived at Xia Liang’s car. When Xia Liang pressed the button on his key fob, Tong Dongnuan froze.

"Whoa! An Aston Martin! Holy crap, this thing must be over forty million Yuan, right?"

As a rich girl herself, Tong Dongnuan had seen her fair share of luxury. She knew Xia Liang wasn’t simple since he was acquainted with Wen Qiang, but a car worth forty-five million Yuan still shocked her. At this rate, Xia Liang could easily be a multi-millionaire. I thought I was doing well for myself, but Xia Liang is on a completely different level.

Xia Liang didn’t feel the need to hide anything from Tong Dongnuan and simply opened the car door. "Get in."

Once they were in the car, Xia Liang glanced at Tong Dongnuan. "Where to now?"

"Where to?" Tong Dongnuan mused, stroking her chin. "Let’s go. I didn’t get to drink enough just now. Let’s go get some skewers and drink."

"No problem."

Xia Liang agreed readily, and they found a random roadside stall and got out of the car. A luxury car pulling up to the side drew everyone’s attention. When Xia Liang and Tong Dongnuan stepped out, everyone stared, dumbfounded. No way! Such a handsome man and beautiful woman... What are they doing coming over here?

They walked over under the astonished gaze of the barbecue stall owner.

"Boss, bring us two hundred skewers and two cases of beer."

Holy crap! Are they for real?

Hearing Xia Liang’s order and seeing how comfortable they looked, as if they did this all the time, everyone exchanged glances. I guess rich people aren’t so different from us after all.

Before long, the skewers and beer were brought over. The two of them weren’t shy at all, immediately popping the caps and starting to drink.

This time, Xia Liang didn’t use his Spiritual Energy to dissipate the alcohol.

It had been a long time since they’d seen each other, and it seemed as if they had an endless supply of things to talk about.

Considering Xia Liang’s current circumstances, Tong Dongnuan asked him directly, "You’ve got a car, a house, money, good looks... you have everything. Why haven’t you found a girlfriend?"

Xia Liang nonchalantly ate a skewer before replying, "I want to find someone who isn’t after my money and only likes me for who I am. What about you? Got a boyfriend yet?"

Tong Dongnuan clearly saw that Xia Liang didn’t want to dwell on the question and was deliberately changing the subject.

At his words, she burst into laughter. "I’m not like you. I actually have a partner."

?????

Xia Liang froze, his drinking hand trembling slightly. He stared dumbfounded at Tong Dongnuan. But I saw it clearly. Her status panel showed she didn’t have a boyfriend. Could the System be wrong? No, that can’t be it... which means Tong Dongnuan is lying to me. But why would she lie about something like this?

Xia Liang held his beer bottle, looking at Tong Dongnuan in shock. Tong Dongnuan didn’t rush to explain. She first took a sip of her beer before looking back at him.

"Surprised, aren’t you? That a girl with my personality could find someone. But I didn’t find a boyfriend, I found a girlfriend. I’m T."

PFFT!

Xia Liang, who had just taken a sip, sprayed it everywhere. Fortunately, the next table was empty. He couldn’t care less about the mess, staring at Tong Dongnuan in utter shock.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Are you serious?"

"Mhm," Tong Dongnuan affirmed with a calm nod.

Xia Liang quickly calmed down as well. "Does your mom know?"

"She doesn’t."

This time, it was Tong Dongnuan’s turn to be puzzled. Although she had expected Xia Liang to recover quickly, his question was not what she anticipated. I thought he’d ask something lewd, like ’Is being with a T exciting?’ After all, we were once so close we shared a bed. I thought I knew him better than anyone.

After Tong Dongnuan’s confession, Xia Liang didn’t ask any more questions. He just kept drinking, one mouthful after another. The atmosphere suddenly became a bit awkward. After a long moment, Xia Liang put down his beer bottle and spoke to Tong Dongnuan with a serious expression.

"Is she pretty?"

????

Hearing Xia Liang’s question, Tong Dongnuan was completely baffled, but she nodded anyway.

"Very pretty."

"Good."

Xia Liang slapped the table, startling Tong Dongnuan.

"What are you doing?"

Xia Liang didn’t answer her, asking seriously instead, "So... can we still be like we were before?"

"Huh? Of course. Aren’t we like that right now?" Tong Dongnuan was getting a little angry.

Only then did Xia Liang let out a sigh of relief and pull out his phone. "Then give me her phone number."

...

"You have got to be kidding me!"

It was only when she heard this that Tong Dongnuan finally realized what was happening. Back in high school, because Xia Liang was such a hopelessly dense guy who wanted to experience the "bitterness of love," Tong Dongnuan, who had short hair and dressed in androgynous clothes back then, looked incredibly handsome. She ended up becoming Xia Liang’s wingman, helping him get contact information and hit on girls, only to fail spectacularly every single time.