Chapter 231: Free Meal
Yang Chen felt like he was being rolled over by a soft cotton ball, emitting a comfortable sigh.
At this moment, there was no one around in the night. Even a drunkard wouldn't be bored enough to come to this place to act crazy, but Tang Wan was still afraid, afraid that the reckless and bold Yang Chen would want to have his way with her right then and there.
Although she had already confessed her feelings and knew that her youth was running out, Tang Wan still didn't have the courage to engage in reckless behavior with him.
"Yang... Yang Chen," Tang Wan pleaded, her hot kiss making her feel passive. "Don't do this here, I don't want this."
"And how do you want it?" Yang Chen smirked playfully.
Tang Wan pointed to a brightly lit building not far away by the sea. "Let's go there, to my Maple Forest Hotel. I bought it specially so I could come here to see the sea when I miss my mom."
Yang Chen looked at the distant building with some surprise, thinking to himself with some disdain, why are all the women around him richer than him?
Tang Wan seemed to sense Yang Chen's thoughts. "Are you someone who cares about money?"
Yang Chen chuckled. "Well, I do, but I still wouldn't spend it."
Just as Yang Chen was about to hold Tang Wan's hand, feeling excited and ready to walk to the seaside hotel, Tang Wan's phone rang.
Frowning, Tang Wan took out her phone and glanced at it, a slight look of surprise and helplessness on her face.
"What's wrong?" Yang Chen asked.
Tang Wan withdrew her hand from Yang Chen's, "I'm sorry, it seems our date tonight will have to end here."
"What?" Yang Chen's heart trembled. What was this? She got him all fired up, and now she wanted to leave in such a grand manner?
Tang Wan forced a smile. "It's a text from my daughter. She's back home, and if I don't go back to accompany her tonight, she's threatening to run away from home again."
"Run away from home?" Yang Chen couldn't help but laugh and cry. "Is it necessary to be so extreme?"
Tang Wan shook her head. "You don't understand. My daughter is very stubborn. She's never made things easy for me since she was little. Not long ago, she even ran away from home because of her studies. These days she's been staying at someone else's house, taking care of a friend's child. I didn't even know she would suddenly come back, that's why I asked you out. She must be exhausted and have a lot to tell me. I can't just hurt her feelings."
"You're right to worry about her feelings, but leaving me like this, aren't you afraid I'll suffocate?" Yang Chen said, feeling disheartened.
Tang Wan chuckled, covering her mouth, and glanced at Yang Chen playfully. "Don't you know? Women may be fragile, but mothers will do anything for their children. Though I like you, compared to my daughter, you still have a long way to go."
With that, Tang Wan waved casually at Yang Chen and briskly walked away from the beach. Soon, she was driving off in her Land Rover, leaving dust in her wake.
Yang Chen sighed, contemplating whether he should find another woman to vent his frustration. Just then, his phone buzzed. It was a message from Tang Wan: "Hold it in. I'll pay you back with interest next time." There was a heart emoji at the end.
Yang Chen almost spat out blood onto his phone screen. "Pay back with interest"? If he waited for her to come to him next time, he'd be suffocated long before!
Before he could even put his phone down, it vibrated again. This time it was a call from Liu Mingyu.
"So soon missing me?" Yang Chen asked.
Liu Mingyu's tone sounded somewhat lazy. "Are you free, Yang Chen?"
"I've always said, I'm at your beck and call," Yang Chen chuckled. He sensed that Liu Mingyu was probably drinking.
"Then come to the bar to find me. I need your help with something."
"Tell me which bar, I'll be there in no time," Yang Chen said. He needed someone to help him cool off, and clearly, Liu Mingyu, whom he hadn't been intimate with for a while, was the most suitable candidate right now.
Liu Mingyu gave him an address. As Yang Chen thought it over, he couldn't help but laugh. The bar was actually just across the street from the beach. He could walk there in no time.
Ten minutes later, Yang Chen walked into the bar Liu Mingyu mentioned, named "Red Danube." As he stepped inside, he was greeted by a mixture of incense and alcohol in the air.
With a slight search, Yang Chen noticed a woman sitting alone in a corner. There were three bottles of whiskey on the table, indicating that this lonely woman had been drinking quite a lot tonight.
Approaching Liu Mingyu, Yang Chen reached out and gently touched her flushed face. "Why are you drinking so much alone?"
"I work in PR. This amount of alcohol is nothing," Liu Mingyu smiled charmingly, then downed the amber liquid in her glass.
"Did you call me here to carry you away?" Yang Chen didn't stop her, as Liu Mingyu didn't seem drunk at all.
A hint of confusion and desolation flickered across Liu Mingyu's face. "Do you know? I've never gotten drunk in a bar before, never truly celebrated with friends. I even dared not come to places like this. I was afraid of being approached, afraid of someone getting handsy with me. If that happened, no one would be there to help me out."
Liu Mingyu looked up at Yang Chen, pouting. "I refuse to accept it. Other women have experienced it, so why should I miss out? So today, I wanted to try something different. But it's disappointing. It seems I'm getting old. Even after drinking so much, no one is willing to flirt with me, not even a chance to reminisce about the passing youth."
Yang Chen chuckled. It turned out Liu Mingyu was hoping for him to play the role of the "knight in shining armor" and give her a taste of the romantic scenes she had never experienced before as a young couple.
Though both were not yet thirty, Yang Chen felt embarrassed at the thought of acting like an inexperienced young lover.
"What should we do then? Should I call someone to come and flirt with you, then I'll beat them up?" Yang Chen joked.
Liu Mingyu shook her head, then suddenly said with a hint of mischief, "No need. I have another plan."
"What is it?"
"Do you have money with you?" Liu Mingyu asked.
Naturally, Yang Chen had brought some. He took out a card and a few crumpled bills from his pocket. "Don't you have any money?"
Liu Mingyu nodded with a smile, then stood up, leisurely walked over to Yang Chen, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She whispered in his ear, "Forget about paying. Let's just run away together."
After hearing Liu Mingyu's soft yet mischievous words, Yang Chen couldn't help but smile wryly. "Darling, this doesn't seem like something you'd do. Why are you acting like a rebellious teenager?"
"You're right. I just want to rebel. I want to do things I've never had the chance to do before. Can you accompany me?" Liu Mingyu looked at Yang Chen with hopeful eyes.
Yang Chen felt a pang of pity for the woman before him. The most precious segment of her youthful days, tainted by fruitless waiting, had turned into nothingness. When she sought to fill the void of her past relationships, she could only resort to such foolish and unconventional methods. Perhaps, to her, no matter how wild or crazy, it was just a requiem for her lost golden years.
"Grab my hand and don't let go," Yang Chen said resolutely.
A glimmer of clarity passed through Liu Mingyu's eyes as she nodded.
Yang Chen took hold of Liu Mingyu's hand and led her to the entrance of the bar, where a vigilant waiter immediately blocked their path.
"Sir, the lady hasn't paid yet," the waiter said with a forced smile.
Turning back, Yang Chen winked at Liu Mingyu, who tightened her grip on his hand.
With an amiable expression, Yang Chen reached out and patted the waiter's shoulder. "Young man, are you feeling sour?"
The waiter, confused, replied, "Not at all, sir. Please don't put us in a difficult position."
"Not to make it difficult for you, just to make you feel a little sour."
With a smile, Yang Chen exerted a slight pressure on the joint of the waiter's shoulder.
The waiter gasped in pain, taking a step back. The intense soreness caused him to retreat several steps.
"Quick, let's go!" Yang Chen seized the opportunity and ran out of the bar with Liu Mingyu.
When the waiter turned around, he saw that the two had already run quite a distance. He attempted to chase after them but was blocked by the crowd, losing sight of them. Frustrated, he could only shout loudly, but there was nobody on the street willing to help him catch them.
Running away was something Yang Chen was adept at. Shaking off a waiter with little experience in apprehension was indeed effortless. Panting, they finally stopped after running for a while.
"My dear Xiaoyu, how was the experience of this impromptu dinner?" Yang Chen asked with a smile, looking at the breathless Liu Mingyu.
"You're going to kill me," Liu Mingyu said, blushing at Yang Chen's affectionate nickname for her, still catching her breath. "I'm never eating an impromptu dinner again. It's too tiring; my heart almost jumped out of my chest from running."
Yang Chen sighed. "Even if you want to make up for your lost youth, why must you struggle against your own stamina? If we hadn't run after eating, we might have ended up in jail."
"I couldn't think of any other way," Liu Mingyu muttered, looking around. They had reached the seaside, and suddenly her eyes lit up. "Yang Chen, I've come up with a new idea."