Chapter 925: Making Friends Out of Nothing

Fang Jingwen kept watching Su Yang hail a taxi and leave by the roadside, then she turned and went into the restroom, folding the sheets he had taken off neatly and putting them into her bag.

Then she muttered to herself, "Life should be like this—do what you want to do, with no regrets."

"Being stuck in formalities only puts shackles on oneself."

"A lifetime is so short—why leave regrets for oneself?"

But shortly after, she made another call; as soon as it connected, she asked, "Is what you said reliable? Don't lie to me."

On the other end was a woman's voice: "I'm a doctor—how could I lie to you? What are you up to? Could it be you really did that?"

Fang Jingwen said, "What are you thinking? I'm asking for a friend—you know this kind of thing; she's too embarrassed to ask anyone else, and she's not close enough to just ask any acquaintance who would tell her."

Then she followed up: "Does drinking have an effect? Oh wait, I should ask—does it have a big effect?"

"She's also quite worried about this, and she's repeatedly urged me to ask you."

The person on the other side said, "Drinking doesn't necessarily have that big an effect; it's just a certain probability. And frankly, given how close you are to that friend, asking so precisely makes me seriously doubt you."

"But this doesn't really match your persona—someone like you, a heavenly pride, shouldn't have people lining up to chase you? How could you do something so sordid?"

Upon hearing the two words "sordid", Fang Jingwen instantly flared: "Can't you speak properly? What does 'sordid' mean? Is my friend really as low as you say? I repeat, she's just a friend of mine!"

"Alright, let's drop it—let's meet up for a meal in a couple days."

After saying that, she gathered her things, leisurely left the hotel, started the car, turned a corner, and drove home.

After returning home, she slept straight through to the next day. That sleep was incredibly sound.

Su Yang, meanwhile, received a call from Zhou Ruohan, saying everyone at home had gathered and was ready to start eating.

Su Yang recounted everything that had happened at Old Fang's place, mainly emphasizing that Minister Xia had come to pay a New Year's visit, so he had drunk a bit with Minister Xia, and he deliberately omitted the other details.

As a man's wisdom goes, some things can be said, some things cannot.

This isn't deceit; it's a well-intentioned lie.

After returning home, he suddenly thought of something: why hasn't Zhou Tong called? Logically, after finishing his errands he should have called me—could it really be that he's waiting for me to call him?

Upon thinking that, he happened to see Zhou Tong and asked, "Why didn't you call me? I was held up drinking over there, couldn't get away, and kept wishing you'd call to bail me out."

Zhou Tong said, "I did call later; earlier I thought you might be busy, so I only called after three or four in the morning. At first no one answered, then when I called back a girl picked up, she said you'd drunk too much, and then there was no further word."

Su Yang pulled out his phone, saw there was no call from Zhou Tong, and immediately realized the call log had been deleted.

He immediately said, "Oh, probably Minister Fang's housemaid—never mind that, let's hurry inside."

After Su Yang entered, he saw everyone had already arrived, even the old master had taken his seat, but he still didn't see Old Zhou.

Seeing Su Yang, the old master said, "You kid are really honest—I thought you'd stay at their place for the New Year."

"When you ask someone for a favor, you have to pick the right time—today's New Year's Eve, you should have finished your business and come back early, not disrupt their family dinner."

Su Yang wanted to explain that they had insisted he stay for the family meal, not that he wanted to, but after thinking it over he decided not to, to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding.

"Grandpa, when I went I brought your regards—especially when I handed those two bottles of your liquor to Minister Fang, he received them with both hands and placed them on the top shelf of the liquor cabinet."

"He even said it should be him coming to pay his New Year's respects to you, but he feels unworthy of your greetings."

Old Master Zhou was very pleased: "Good, good, good—Comrade Runan is fine; although he's two years older than Weiguo, he's already reached this important position, truly limitless in future prospects."

"Especially his achievements in personnel work—word is that the First Vice President of the institute holds him in high regard, and he's likely to take over as Executive Vice Minister before next year's National Day."

"So getting closer to him is also a good thing—your dad might not be able to come today either, and he has an event to attend tonight."

"To be frank, once an official reaches a certain rank, he's not his own master—everything he does may not be up to him; it just depends on whether he can make it in the late night, and if not, he'll probably only show up tomorrow afternoon."

"Come on, let's eat—today's New Year's Eve, I won't say more; just eat well and drink well."

"Now let's begin the feast."

As his words fell, everyone raised their cups; although the dishes were just ordinary home cooking, with no rare delicacies, everyone ate happily.

Of course, they also drank plenty.

Su Yang was already a bit tipsy, having had only a few drinks, but he drank some more.

When he woke again, it was already after midnight; Zhou Ruohan hadn't slept yet, seeing Su Yang awake, she said, "Just how much did you drink at their place today? You came back, had just a few cups, and passed out."

Su Yang said, "When I got there, Minister Fang and his relatives were drinking, so I had to join them for a few cups; later Minister Xia came and I drank with him as well."

"At least over a catty, I'd say."

Zhou Ruohan asked, "Then why did it take so long? And you still have a perfume scent on you."

Su Yang blinked in confusion: "I haven't been in contact with any woman—of course, when eating at their house, it's inevitable to be around women at the table."

Seeing Su Yang speak so sincerely, Zhou Ruohan even began to doubt her own judgment.

"That shouldn't be—I've smelled that perfume before; it feels familiar."

"Forget it, I won't bring this up for now—Fang Jingwen also called me today about being a bridesmaid, and I agreed."

Su Yang deliberately exaggerated: "Come on, this isn't charity—why agree to her? Otherwise that toad Jia Guolong will stick the bill on me."

"You're all staying in Jingcheng now—this brat will surely come looking for trouble with me later."

Zhou Rolan gave Su Yang a sideways glance and said, "What are you afraid of? What can he do to you? As long as you keep your relations with Minister Fang and his crowd solid, what can the Jia family do?"

"When I earlier called Dad, he also said we should get closer to Minister Fang and his group—his situation might be secure."

"What's that? It's New Year's, we have to stay up— you can't just go to sleep this early; you need to stay awake until tomorrow morning."

"Otherwise, if you're asleep, how am I supposed to stay up with Little Treasure? Otherwise we—"

Su Yang immediately objected: "No way, no way—the doctor said no moving for three months; do you really want our son to practice iron-head skill?"

Zhou Ruohan said, "What are you pretending to be all proper for? I was already keeping myself pure, but it's all because you provoked me—no, I won't let you have your way."

Saying that, she adjusted the light to a warm yellow, and then the unborn Little Treasure once again endured a bout of "knocking."

If he could speak at this point, he'd probably be cursing out loud.

In just twenty minutes everything went quiet; Zhou Ruohan looked at Su Yang and asked, "What's going on? Give me an explanation—why was it so short?"