Chapter 131: Daring to Stir Up Trouble with the Master?

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Rebirth: A Life of Fulfilled Dreams

They had originally agreed to dine at Golden Coast that evening, but Bao Yuehong changed her mind at the last minute. Instead, she suggested an old roast-duck restaurant in East City called House of Fortune, a century-old establishment. Though its roast duck was not as famous as Beijing roast duck, its flavor was still excellent.

The ones craving roast duck were not Bao Yuehong, but the two little mischief-makers, Yang Xueling and Zhang Xinyu. They had passed House of Fortune while shopping one day and, after catching their first whiff of the roast duck, had become utterly fascinated with the place. The moment they heard Yang Tian say that they were going out for dinner that night, they immediately thought of House of Fortune.

Yang Tian had initially felt that it was inappropriate. After all, the dinner was meant to entertain Bao Yuehong. But she readily agreed, and the five of them took a taxi to House of Fortune.

Under the night sky, the restaurant’s antique-style pavilion stood beneath blazing red lights like an ornate crown. Waves of roast-duck fragrance drifted out from within, making passersby stop in their tracks or turn their heads to look.

Behind the pavilion lay a stretch of water. Decorative lights crisscrossed its surface, making it look like a luminous mirror that reflected the nightlife of the city at the turn of the century.

Once inside House of Fortune, Yang Tian and the others found a table by the window. They admired the shimmering lake and the surrounding scenery while ordering their dishes.

“Teacher Bao, you absolutely have to order roast duck!” Yang Xueling had already grown quite familiar with Bao Yuehong. She leaned against her with a sweet smile. Since her brother was treating Teacher Bao that evening, she knew she would be the one choosing the dishes.

“I know, don’t worry! Tonight, I’ll let you eat an entire duck by yourself, and I’ll have another one packed up for you before we leave. Your brother has plenty of money, after all!” Bao Yuehong patted Yang Xueling’s little head, then glanced at Yang Tian and teased him.

“Of course. You can eat two and take two home if you want!” Yang Tian said with a cheerful grin. As long as Yang Xueling liked something, he was willing to spend whatever it took. Let alone roast duck—even roast suckling pig or a whole roasted lamb would not bother him.

“Then I want to eat one and take one home too!” Zhang Xinyu hurried over to Bao Yuehong and spoke up eagerly, making Huang Juan cover her mouth and laugh.

“All right, all right. We’ll order three ducks first, then pack up another three after we finish them. How does that sound?” Bao Yuehong coaxed them like an elder sister placating two younger girls.

Before long, the three roast ducks Yang Tian had ordered were brought to the table. They were indeed delicious. In addition to the rich, succulent slices of duck meat, the duck bones had been simmered into a savory soup, a large bowl of which was placed in the middle of the table.

Yang Xueling and Zhang Xinyu gnawed away at the duck with great enthusiasm, while Huang Juan and Bao Yuehong savored the delicious bone broth.

“Xiaotian, you must win a place in the sports meet! If you can secure a ranking despite the overwhelming strength of the athletics class, it will certainly boost the morale of our classmates and help them face the college entrance examination with confidence!” As they ate, everyone chatted casually, and Bao Yuehong spoke with a smile.

“Teacher Bao, he didn’t sign up for any event!” Huang Juan said with a frown.

“I entered him in the triple jump. No one from our class had signed up for it, so I sent him in!” Bao Yuehong said with a mischievous smile.

“Congratulations!” Huang Juan immediately brightened. She raised her bottle of cola and toasted Yang Tian.

Yang Xueling and Zhang Xinyu also burst into laughter. They had signed up for events as well. Yang Xueling was competing in the girls’ sixty-meter sprint, while Zhang Xinyu had entered the three-legged race.

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Suddenly, a revolting burst of raucous laughter came from a table behind them, causing everyone in the dining hall to turn and stare.

Huang Juan and Bao Yuehong also looked over. Strangely, when Bao Yuehong saw the people at that table, her expression darkened.

Seeing this, Yang Tian could not help turning around as well, wondering what sort of scene could have made Bao Yuehong so troubled.

Four people sat at the table. The one laughing wildly was a man dressed in a suit. The designer suit from Yagor looked completely out of place on him. His features were fairly decent, and his hair had been slicked until it gleamed, but his nauseating laughter exposed him as nothing more than a lowlife.

Seated on either side of him were two young men around his age. They did not look like good people either, though their clothes were relatively presentable. One wore a brightly patterned shirt, a gold chain around his neck, and tattoos on his arms. The other had dyed his hair yellow. It stuck out like a boar’s bristles, and he looked as though he had not washed it in several months.

The man sitting across from the suited thug was someone Yang Tian knew. It was Huang Juan’s paternal uncle, Huang Jian.

Huang Juan wanted to go over and greet him, but Yang Tian stopped her. This was not the sort of situation in which she should approach such a person.

Yang Tian knew perfectly well that Bao Yuehong’s troubled expression had nothing to do with Huang Jian. The two of them were probably strangers. That left only the suited man.

Bao Yuehong stopped smiling and lowered her head to eat. Yang Tian and Huang Juan likewise felt unable to joke around, so they lowered their heads and drank their soup. Only Yang Xueling and Zhang Xinyu continued their determined assault on the roast duck.

“Why, if it isn’t Teacher Bao from First High School! What’s this? Having dinner with your students, or have you hooked yourself a new sugar daddy?” After a while, the suited man came over unsteadily, a liquor bottle in his hand. As expected, he knew Bao Yuehong.

A new sugar daddy? Yang Tian knew the man was talking about him. He set down his chopsticks, picked up his teacup, and took a leisurely sip without saying a word.

“Qin Lang, we’re no longer involved with each other. This is a public place. Stop making a scene!” Bao Yuehong set down her chopsticks as well and spoke sternly. She glanced at Yang Tian, her eyes filled with apology.

“Making a scene? Ha-ha! Yuehong, the two of us used to be lovers, after all. We’ve already done everything there is to do between a man and a woman, so why are you being such a stranger?” Qin Lang leaned close to Bao Yuehong and made an extremely lewd gesture.

“What are you trying to do? Stop going around spreading nonsense! What do you mean, ‘we’ve already done everything there is to do’? I let it go when you used to spout such lies, but now the rumors have reached First High School. What do you want? Are you really never going to leave me alone?” As Bao Yuehong spoke, tears nearly spilled from her eyes.

Qin Lang was clearly a shameless street thug who cared nothing for his reputation. Bao Yuehong, however, was a teacher at First High School. Her reputation mattered greatly.

“Leave you alone? I asked you to pay me, so why have you refused all this time? But things are different now. I’m not short of money anymore. I just enjoy teasing you!” Qin Lang’s grin became particularly vicious. He had spread those rumors before in order to extort money from Bao Yuehong. To protect her reputation, she had never reported him to the police.

“Qin Lang, I’m warning you. If you dare to spread more lies, I’ll call the police!” Bao Yuehong glared at him viciously and raised her voice.

“Call the police? Ha-ha! Go ahead! Don’t have a phone? I’ll give you one!” Qin Lang casually pulled out an expensive Nokia phone and tossed it in front of Bao Yuehong. Then he said arrogantly, “I don’t mind telling you this: see that middle-aged man over there? He’s the section chief of the Design Division at the Construction Bureau, and he’s backing me now. Do you really think calling the police will do you any good?”

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Bao Yuehong had intended to pick up the phone and call the police, prepared to risk everything. But after hearing Qin Lang’s words, she stopped. He was right. Qin Lang had connections at the municipal police bureau. Even if she reported him, not only might the matter remain unresolved, her reputation could be dragged even further through the mud.

“I’ll do it. I’ll call Director Kong myself! I refuse to believe that in a socialist country, a street thug can run rampant!” Yang Tian slowly picked up the phone. As he dialed, he spoke coldly.

Qin Lang immediately panicked. Who in Binhai’s underworld did not know Kong Lei, the director of the Public Security Bureau? If this young man claimed he could call Old Kong directly, then he clearly had connections. Otherwise, an ordinary citizen would know only the emergency number. How could he possibly have the bureau director’s personal number?

“Kid, showing off, are you?” Qin Lang tried to snatch the phone from Yang Tian’s hand, but Yang Tian was countless times more skilled than he was. How could Qin Lang possibly succeed?

His hand closed on empty air. Qin Lang’s face burned with humiliation. The diners around them had already been disgusted by his thug-like behavior, and many were glaring at him from the side. Now that they saw him suffer a setback, they all let out mocking jeers, expressing their satisfaction.

“Xiaozhuang, Xiaolong, get over here!” Qin Lang seemed to realize that he would have trouble handling the kid by himself. He could not afford to lose face again. If the three of them attacked together, they ought to be able to deal with him.

“What do you think you’re doing? Don’t cause trouble!” Bao Yuehong stepped in front of Yang Tian and shouted, “Yang Tian, get Huang Juan and the others out of here!”

“Leave? Not so fast! I knew it—you and him really are having an affair, yet you still refuse to admit it! What, your big brother’s equipment isn’t as useful as a little boy’s? Or do you just like younger men? Ha-ha!” Qin Lang laughed obscenely. Everyone around them was furious. What kind of person spoke to a woman like that in public?

“Yang Tian?” The moment Huang Jian heard the name from the table behind them, his legs went weak.

He wanted to go over and stop the young thug Qin Lang, but he knew it was already too late. His legs were trembling so badly that he could not even stand up and intervene.

Huang Jian had risen to the position of section chief entirely because of Yang Tian’s help. Now someone was using his name to attack Yang Tian. It was nothing less than provoking a tiger in its own lair.

At the thought, cold sweat poured down Huang Jian’s back. He had barely settled into his position as section chief, and it seemed he was about to be thrown out of it. He might never have another chance to rise again.

He had spent his entire life cultivating connections, currying favor from every side, and constantly flattering his superiors. He had even swallowed his pride and gone to Huang Biao, enduring Huang Biao’s abuse, before finally persuading him to convince Yang Tian to help. Only then had he obtained his current position. And now Qin Lang, that harbinger of disaster, was about to destroy everything he had worked so hard to build.

At that moment, Huang Jian was so enraged that he could have killed Qin Lang. He sat there glaring viciously at him, his body trembling.

“Section Chief Huang, I’ll beat this kid up first. Later, you can help me deal with him at the police bureau, then have him beaten up properly. With your reputation as a section chief at the Construction Bureau, taking care of a nobody like him shouldn’t be difficult, right?”

The worst part was that Qin Lang was still dragging him deeper into trouble. By then, Yang Tian had already noticed him and was watching him with a faint smile. Huang Jian could see the anger and coldness in Yang Tian’s eyes, and his heart instantly sank.

Just as Qin Lang and the others were preparing to attack Yang Tian, Huang Jian suddenly summoned all his courage, picked up a liquor bottle from the table, and smashed it furiously against Qin Lang’s head.