Chapter 1300: The Start of the Art Festival

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

“Okay, I will go there if I have time.” Yang Ming said after listening.

“Who wants you to go? We, sisters, are going shopping. How inconvenient is it for you to follow along?” Chen Mengyan had changed her clothes and was walking down the stairs with a small bag. When she heard Yang Ming, she said, “Besides, I am used to it!”

Yang Ming was immediately a little awkward, but he remembered that he was not at home during this time, and Chen Mengyan couldn’t see him, so she must be resentful. During this time, when she shopped with Lin Zhiyun and Zhou Jiajia, he was not next to her. She said that she was used to it to annoy him. Yang Ming naturally would not blame her but was embarrassed.

Whatever I did was said to be business matters; in fact, it was not a business matter. The truth was, he helped Huang Lele to vent her anger, so Yang Ming naturally felt a little sorry toward Chen Mengyan.

“Sister Mengyan…” Seeing that Yang Ming was embarrassed and didn’t talk, Lin Zhiyun couldn’t bear it. She glanced at Chen Mengyan cautiously.

Chen Mengyan knew that Lin Zhiyun wanted to plead. She thought, Sister Lin is really a small traitor. I am so good to her, but she can’t stand firm. However, who can make this clear? If others stand in opposition to Yang Ming, I am afraid I will make a choice without hesitation. This was just human nature, an instinct, so Chen Mengyan would not be resentful, but instead, she listened to Lin Zhiyun. So she said, “But we still lack a driver. If you still feel competent, I will use you.”

After Chen Mengyan said this, she couldn’t help but laugh; her clean and white fingers covered her red lips, and her laughter broke out until she shook. She felt that she was insincere.

In her heart, she wanted to call Yang Ming to accompany them, but she was still reluctant to admit it, like a cooked duck 1 [1]. However, sometimes, girls must be hard-headed to adhere to certain principles.

“Alright, I guess this unlucky driver will not only be unpaid but also has to put in a lot of money.” Yang Ming knew that Chen Mengyan was hard-headed, so he didn’t tease her.

“In a while, Sister Lin will compensate you as a reward paid in advance.” Chen Mengyan smiled, held Lin Zhiyun’s shoulder, and pushed her to Yang Ming.

“Okay, I will be a free driver for Zhiyun, but how should yours be calculated?” Yang Ming smiled and accepted the proposal, regardless of Lin Zhiyun who blushed like a cooked lobster. He pulled her to his side, turned his head, and looked at Chen Mengyan.

Chen Mengyan did not expect Yang Ming to be so shameless, and she was a little embarrassed. She glared at him, did not look back, and walked to the door. However, after she put on her shoes and was about to exit the door, she told Yang Ming, “We’ll see tonight.” Then, she went out of the door.

This time, only Yang Ming and Lin Zhiyun were left. Yang Ming was fine, but Lin Zhiyun still had not snapped out of her shyness after being teased by Chen Mengyan. She was pulled by Yang Ming, covering her mouth as she thought of who knows what.

During this time, he had not seen Lin Zhiyun for too long, so there might be some awkwardness with each other. Although she missed him, she really didn’t know how to express it after actually seeing him.

Fortunately, Yang Ming knew that Lin Zhiyun had always been so reserved, so he held her in his arms without a care for what she thought. Sometimes, body language was more effective than a thousand words. When there is no idea on what to say, then just do something…

When both of them started to sweat from embracing each other intimately, the topics naturally became more and more. From the school’s sports meeting to the art festival, it was all happening recently around them.

Lin Zhiyun didn’t feel that she had any talents, but the students would naturally pay more attention to the listed campus belles like her. They firmly asked her to perform a show. Lin Zhiyun was the kind of person who was not good at rejecting others, so she yielded after making a show of resistance and agreed. As for what to perform, Lin Zhiyun had not thought about it.

Yang Ming knew that this was the means that the Student Union would use to increase the art festival’s popularity. There was no other reason. Lin Zhiyun was someone on the freshman list of campus belles of the new school year. At the beginning of the semester, some people had posted it on the school’s BBS.

Although it was only elected by the public, it was more representative of public opinion than the official election at the school. This was the result of student voting, so needless to say, it reflected the students’ voices.

So the Student Union would have intentions on these campus celebrities! Xu Qianxing, the president of the Student Union this year, was an intelligent person. His family background was good; his father was the boss of Song Jiang Mining, and his mother was a cadre of the Communist Youth League Committee. He was a child born to standard cadre families.

In his freshman year, he was elected as the Student Union’s vice chairman. In the second half of the second year, he finally got promoted. Because the former Student Council president had to go for an internship in the next semester, the position was empty. So, Xu Qianxing got promoted smoothly.

This semester was the first semester of Xu Qianxing’s new appointment. He naturally wanted the school’s art festival and the school’s sports meeting that the student union was responsible for to be dazzling. It was necessary to make the school leaders take notice of him as the Student Union president.

Xu Qianxing was not a pedantic person. On the contrary, he was very trendy. He usually paid attention to the BBS of these schools, unlike some of the Student Union presidents who only knew how to please the school leaders, study hard every day and organize something that sang the praise of the school leaders.

Xu Qianxing paid attention to the democratic prestige, which was also related to his family origin. Therefore, Xu Qianxing’s art festival directly cut out those rigid, meaningless, and conservative, old-fashioned poetry readings. He dedicated a section in the school’s BBS to discuss the planning of the art festival.

He gave the initiative to the students of the school, letting them gather suggestions. Based on the support rate of every idea, he would pick out from the list the most supported and most objected suggestions and let everyone re-vote according to these.

Therefore, before the art festival launched, the discussion about the art festival in the school had reached an unprecedented climax. It was much more enthusiastic than the previous ones. Many people were full of expectations for this art festival.

According to the students’ suggestions, those campus belles who were recognized by the public must go on stage. Art was something worthy of appreciation, so weren’t the campus belles worthy of appreciation?

Therefore, many of the perverted boys thought that since they couldn’t get a campus belle to be their girlfriend, they could still feast their eyes on them, right? So, the calls for the school’s campus belles to participate in the art festival’s performance was getting more and more enthusiastic. Xu Qianxing couldn’t help but agree to this and reported it to the school. However, unexpectedly, the school leaders actually agreed to this suggestion after consultation.

This made Xu Qianxing very surprised. He didn’t expect the school’s leaders to be so open. It also increased his confidence. Since the school leaders were not old-fashioned, then this art festival might be unprecedented and never be duplicated. Therefore, his reputation would be noticed by many people!

Whether he would be working in the future or continuing to study at school, he would have great benefits. Come to think of it, Xu Qianxing had to pull a long face to persuade the campus belles who were nominated on the forum to participate in the activities of the art festival.

After all, the people, who voluntarily signed up for the art festival rather than everyone else, were obliged to do a performance. Moreover, he had no relationship with these beautiful women, so Xu Qianxing couldn’t request anything.

So, after suffering eye rolls for numerous times, he finally got Lin Zhiyun to agree. For Lin Zhiyun, a soft-hearted girl, Xu Qianxing had a profound impression of her.

Unlike other people who refused from a thousand miles away, the campus belles on the list who Xu Qianxing had previously found either ruthlessly rejected him, or refused even to see him!

In particular, a girl who was said to be kept as a mistress by a big boss outside the school didn’t even bother with Xu Qianxing at all. In the eyes of others, a Student Council president was nothing.

So with the previous comparison, Xu Qianxing’s impression of Lin Zhiyun was unprecedented, and it could even be said to be super good. Xu Qianxing always had high expectations. He did not have a girlfriend in the university because he was relatively outstanding, and he was also more picky about selecting a significant other. Xu Qianxing just looked at those campus belles with a kind of appreciation, because he was very clear that girls were too realistic now just like that girl who was kept a mistress. No matter how excellent she was, she was just a student. She couldn’t enter the hopeful eyes of others.

Xu Qianxing’s family conditions were not bad; although his father was a state-owned enterprise boss, he was considered working for people. He earned a lot, but Xu Qianxing did not think about showing off these things, because he felt that there was no meaning in chasing girls this way.

So he didn’t plan to get a girlfriend from the university. He would put this off until after he was working and had met the right one. However, all this was broken the moment he met Lin Zhiyun.

Xu Qianxing did not think that there were such simple and lovely girls in real life. She would blush when she talked to unfamiliar people. She had a good character and was not good at rejecting others. After he lobbied her, she reluctantly agreed.

Unlike other beautiful girls, they became sly after practicing one after another, so they didn’t give him a chance. When they met, they would block what he had to say.

For example, Zhou Jiajia of the School of Computer Science, the only beauty of the computer science department, when he looked for her, she told him directly that she was busy with research, and there was no time, making it inappropriate for Xu Qianxing to talk about the art festival.

Of course, Zhou Jiajia was truly busy. She did not act in prejudice specifically against Xu Qianxing. However, Xu Qianxing seemed to think that Zhou Jiajia deliberately avoided this.

So comparatively Lin Zhiyun, Xu Qianxing thought that this girl was just too good, not arrogant, not refusing people from thousands of miles away, which made Xu Qianxing’s eyes light up!

Such a beautiful girl, but not contaminated with any social habits, was very commendable. Especially when Lin Zhiyun blushed as he spoke, it made Xu Qianxing even more aroused.

This made Xu Qianxing change his previous decision. If he could get Lin Zhiyun to be his girlfriend, it was also a good thing. Thinking of this, Xu Qianxing secretly made up his mind.

On the contrary, although Jing Xiaolu of the art department also agreed to Xu Qianxing’s suggestion, she was very straightforward. She seemed very shrewd at first glance, and Xu Qianxing estimated that he might not even be as shrewd as her. If he pursued her, he could get into trouble.

Therefore, Xu Qianxing felt that Lin Zhiyun was better and decided to take advantage of this art festival to see if he could get closer to her.

In addition to these beautiful campus belles, there was also a strong demand for Yang Ming! The scene of the God of Gamblers during Yang Ming’s freshman semester was deeply rooted! The situation where Li Jiasheng and Liu Zhaojun were defeated made the students crazy.

If these beautiful campus belles were the most demanded among the boys, then the person who was most demanded among the girls was Yang Ming! This person was also a character who must appear in the art festival.

However, Yang Ming was quite mysterious with his whereabouts, appearing in one moment and disappearing the next. Xu Qianxing looked for a few days, but he did not see Yang Ming’s figure. He looked for him in the dormitory and class, and finally, he couldn’t help it. He had to find Yang Ming’s counselor, Xie Yongqiang. He found out that Yang Ming had taken a leave of absence when he inquired.

Xu Qianxing couldn’t be helped. He had to tell Xie Yongqiang about the art festival’s matter. After Xie Yongqiang heard him, he promised to call him after seeing Yang Ming.

Xu Qianxing could only wait. In the past few days, he had been so tired because of the art festival’s matters, and now he had only planned a small half of it.

In the end, it came to the point of Xie Yongqiang telling Yang Ming to participate actively in the school’s activities. Xie Yongqiang just gave Yang Ming a reminder. As for whether he could participate in the art festival’s performance, Xie Yongqiang couldn’t interfere; it depended on Xu Qianxing. So, he told Xu Qianxing about the news of Yang Ming coming back.

Lin Zhiyun was relatively innocent. Naturally, she would not think of Xu Qianxing having other intentions, so she told it to Yang Ming as a very ordinary matter.

After Yang Ming listened, he found it a little funny. “Since no one agreed, why did you agree? Why didn’t Jiajia and Mengyan participate?”

“How did I know that they refused? I thought everyone had to participate in the festival and didn’t think much…” Lin Zhiyun was a little embarrassed. “I haven’t thought about what to perform!”

“It doesn’t matter what you perform. When you stand there, you will attract others’ gazes.” Yang Ming smiled and said.

Lin Zhiyun was sent to the school first because she had classes at ten o’clock. Yang Ming didn’t know if he had any classes. He didn’t really come to school this semester, so he naturally didn’t know the curriculum.

He called Zhang Bing first to ask where to attend class. He didn’t expect this kid to skip school as well; he was currently with Wang Mei. Yang Ming had no choice but to hang up and call Tian Donghua. Who knows whether this kid came back to class today or not?

This kid was more reliable than Zhang Bing; he was actually in class with Wang Xue. Yang Ming quickly asked about the classroom, ran into the teaching building, found the location of the classroom, and slipped in from the back door.

The computer science specialized course lecturer knew Yang Ming and knew that he was the younger brother of the department head. Seeing that he slipped in from the back door, he did not say anything. After taking a look, he continued to lecture.

Zhou Jiajia was not in the classroom; she most probably went to participate in the research group. Yang Ming was sitting next to Tian Donghua, who was reading a book with full concentration.

Tian Donghua only took his eyes off the book after Yang Ming sat down. When he saw Yang Ming, he grinned. “Bro, you’re here?”

“En, what book are you reading?” Yang Ming closed the book in front of Tian Donghua and looked at the cover. It was actually a marketing management book written by Philip Kotler [1]!

This made Yang Ming widened his eyes. This kid is actually reading this kind of book. Although Yang Ming did not study economics, he also knew that this person was a well-known expert in the field of economics. His books were designated as textbooks by many MBA programs.

“Why are you reading this?” Yang Ming asked in surprise.

“In the future, you told me to take charge of such a big company. If I don’t study now, what should I do in the future?” Tian Donghua sighed. “It can’t be helped. It’ll be too late if I don’t learn now.”

“I didn’t expect that you, kid, would make progress. It seems that this incident has brought some benefits.” Yang Ming smiled and patted Tian Donghua’s shoulder. “Work hard; don’t let me down.”

“Don’t worry, bro. I won’t!” Tian Donghua nodded firmly. “I can never be like my dad. My life is yours. I’ll be your ghost when I die…”

Yang Ming felt a little chill and couldn’t help but kick Tian Donghua. “Don’t say such disgusting things. You tell it to Wang Xue; don’t tell me.”

Tian Dong laughed and lowered his head to read the book.

This class was the foundation of computer hardware. Yang Ming now had some understanding of computers, so it wasn’t hard to listen to it. It was just that the knowledge in the textbook was too old. It couldn’t be helped; if the textbook were not changed, the lecturer still had to follow the book to explain.

Yang Ming listened to the lesson as he thought about what he would do at noon. He suddenly thought of Xiao Qing. He called her before and said that he was going to see her. As a result, something big happened to Sun Jie, so he didn’t go. Then at noon, should I go see Xiao Qing?

Thinking of what might happen, Yang Ming was excited.

…

The behind-the-scenes boss frowned and waited for news from the Mount Jing police station. However, after the Mount Jing police station took the videotape, there were no signs of activity, and no news of Yang Ming being caught.

“What’s going on? Could there be any problems with the videotape?” The behind-the-scenes boss asked Huang Youcai, who was also at wit’s end.

“I also don’t know.” Huang Youcai shook his head. “The people I know are ranked too low in the Mount Jing police. I can’t inquire about anything useful. They don’t even know how the case has progressed.”

“Could the Mount Jing police be very smart, and suddenly notice that the videotape is forged?” asked the behind-the-scenes boss.

“That’s impossible, right? Even if it were edited, they should bring Yang Ming back for interrogation. After all, Yang Ming was at the scene of the crime. Yang Ming’s suspicion is still considerable,” said Huang Youcai. “I feel that things seem to be fishy.”

The behind-the-scenes boss nodded. “No matter what the progress of this matter is, don’t worry about it anymore. I also feel that things are fishy. If Yang Ming is safe and sound this time, and the Mount Jing police did not find him at all, then he must have some connections that we don’t know about or something more important.”