150 Junior High School Classmates

The usual triple plea! Votes, recommendations, and bookmarks, please bookmark, bookmark, bookmark!

Yang Tang answered the phone, and his very first sentence was, "Old Wan, it's so early. Even if you don't sleep, I still need my sleep!"

"Don't be like that, Master." Wan Hailu knew very well that Yang Tang was the kind of person who wouldn't scatter the eagle until he saw the rabbit, and quickly said, "I'm calling this early precisely to bring you some good news, Master!"

"What good news could I possibly have?"

"The paperwork for the car and the house you wanted is all fully sorted out, and they are definitely brand new, first-hand!"

"Oh? Brand new? Weren't outsiders supposed to have a really hard time getting first-hand plates and property in the capital? How did you pull it off?"

"Rest assured, it is completely legal!"

"How is it legal? Tell me about it." Yang Tang was somewhat curious.

"It's hard to explain over the phone in a few words. Why don't the two of us meet up?" Wan Hailu probed, "Shall I send a car to pick you up?"

"Fine then. I'll wait near Xibianmen."

"Whereabouts precisely?"

"Right where the Second Ring Road curves, near that Aile Musical Instrument Store. I'll be looking at instruments in there. I'll be around if you get here within an hour!"

After hanging up and tidying up the breakfast dishes, Yang Tang finally went downstairs. Figuring it was the morning rush hour, he neither drove his own car nor called a taxi, but strolled leisurely in the direction of Xibianmen.

As a result, a distance that normally took five minutes by car took him just a little over ten minutes to walk. Meanwhile, the taxi he had initially thought of calling was still crawling at the entrance of his residential complex, having barely moved five hundred meters.

For some inexplicable reason, the Aile Musical Instrument Store opened rather early this morning. A few minutes shy of half past seven, one half of the front door was already wide open. Yang Tang had originally planned to go to a nearby hotel to buy some premium ingredients from the head chef, but seeing that the music shop was open, he simply walked right in.

Heavy metal music was blasting inside the shop, immediately bombarding Yang Tang's eardrums and blowing away the last remnants of his lingering sleepiness.

"Damn it!" Yang Tang cursed, then shouted, "Is anyone in the shop?"

No one answered; the music continued unabated.

Yang Tang retreated. Just as he was about to step out of the store, he saw a non-mainstream rock youth at the entrance with at least three piercings in one ear, pushing two somewhat naive and pretty young girls inside.

"Come, come, come! Weren't you girls looking to buy violins? Senior brother here is an absolute professional!" As the rock youth spoke, while the two girls simultaneously covered their ears, he casually pressed a light-switch-like button near the door. The music that had been loud enough to blast earwax out of one's head instantly died down. Only then did this fellow notice Yang Tang standing in the instrument section.

"Hey, hey, hey! How did you even get in here?" The rock youth was clearly very displeased with an uninvited stranger like Yang Tang.

Yang Tang sneered, "Your shop door was open, so I just walked in."

The rock youth retorted sarcastically, "The prison gates are open too, why didn't you crawl in there?"

Yang Tang had originally intended to order two pianos from the music shop, but hearing this, his impression of the rock youth plummeted. Refusing to yield, he snapped back, "Wasn't that because I had my second uncle leave the door open for you? He's waiting for your whole family!"

Hearing this, the rock youth flew into a rage. Squeezing past the two girls, he strode right up to Yang Tang and shouted angrily, "That was waiting for your..." With that, he raised his hand to swing at Yang Tang's face.

Naturally, Yang Tang was not about to let himself be hit. With a slight dodge, he easily evaded the rock youth's attack while simultaneously tripping him up, hooking the fellow's ankle just a bit. The rock youth tumbled forward toward a pile of old piano strings and sundry items, seemingly about to have his face thoroughly ruined. Suddenly, he felt his collar grabbed from behind. With his feet dangling in the air without touching the ground, he was left suspended like that.

"Buddy, do you think I dare to let go?"

The rock youth's mind went blank for a second, and he instinctively stammered, "I—I dare not." Then, panicking, he hastily corrected himself, "I dare! I dare!" Just two or three seconds too late, his face drifted a few centimeters closer to that pile of "hazardous materials."

"From now on, I ask a question and you give an answer. If any answer is not to my liking, your face will have no choice but to go in for plastic surgery."

"Yes, yes!"

"Are there any other music stores in this capital city? Big ones, and ones that don't bully customers!"

"There's... Shanhai Musical Instruments."

"Just one?" Yang Tang doubted, "If there's only one, that constitutes a monopoly, you know!"

"Th—there's also Fengsheng Musical Instruments!"

"It seems you're not an honest fellow!" Yang Tang said, making a motion as if to let go.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't let go, don't let go! I'll be honest, I'll be honest!"

"Fine. Then let me ask you, what on earth are your intentions in inviting these two young ladies in to buy instruments?" Yang Tang glanced toward the slightly taller girl as he spoke, noticing that her expression was somewhat impatient, as if she didn't care at all that Yang Tang was sticking up for her. "Are you planning to sell them good instruments, or shoddy ones?"

"Good ones, good ones! I want to sell them good instruments!"

"Really?"

"Really! I swear to the heavens—"

"Yet, from my observation, the total purchase price of everything these two are wearing right now, including accessories—the shorter one's outfit comes to 376 yuan, and the taller one's to 392 yuan. Can they afford good instruments?"

As soon as these words were spoken, not only the rock youth, but even the two girls felt utterly awkward. At the same time, each of them began tallying the numbers in their heads, but no matter how they added them up, they couldn't reach the two figures Yang Tang had cited. Finally, the two girls factored in the prices of their undergarments as well, and—bingo—the math naturally worked out to the exact amounts.

At this point, it was impossible for the two young girls not to pay attention to this seemingly closeted pervert named Yang Tang.

"I—we can do installment payments here..."

"Is that so?"

"Big brother, please spare me!" The rock youth ultimately didn't dare to lie any further, giving in and begging for mercy.

At that moment, the door of the music shop was pushed open as two men in suits and dark sunglasses strode in. Catching sight of Yang Tang, they bowed respectfully from afar and said, "Hello, Master Yang!"

Yang Tang gave a noncommittal hum, casually tossed the rock youth sideways toward the two men, and asked, "Where is Old Wan?"

"The boss is in the car by the roadside."

Yang Tang nodded slightly, walked over to the taller girl, and looking into her face—which had been somewhat striking a few years ago but now appeared rather ordinary—switched to the Sichuan dialect to ask, "Jiang Min, what's this? Don't you recognize your old classmate?"

"You are..." Jiang Min found Yang Tang looking somewhat familiar, but simply couldn't recall his name.

"Yang Tang. We went to the same junior high school. Forgotten me?" It had to be said that the reason Yang Tang was willing to help out today was entirely because Jiang Min had been his secret crush back in junior high. Alas, times had changed; a few years had passed, the former school beauty had grown ordinary, and Yang Tang had completely lost the romantic fantasies of a naive junior high schooler regarding her.

"Right, right, right! You're Yang Tang from Class One! What are you doing in the capital?" Jiang Min's memory hadn't failed her yet; she finally remembered the top student of those days.

"I got accepted into Peking University this year, so I came over."

"What a coincidence! My classmate here, He Qian, and I study at the music academy right across the street!" Jiang Min hurriedly introduced her companion, who was secretly pinching her in warning.

"Hi, hello!" Out of politeness, Yang Tang greeted He Qian.

"Hello, Yang..."

Just then, the sound of a car horn echoed from outside.

One of the men in sunglasses hurriedly reminded him, "Master, that must be the traffic police coming over."

"Alright, let's head out then!" With that, Yang Tang didn't even think to leave his phone number with Jiang and He, and walked straight out the door.

Wan Hailu was waiting by the roadside in a Bentley. As soon as he saw Yang Tang emerge, he waved eagerly, "Over here, over here!" Seeing that Yang Tang had noticed him, he pulled his hand back, slid over to the other window, and said to the traffic police officer, "Big brother, I'm leaving right now, right this second! If you feel this can't be let slide, go ahead and issue a heavy ticket, just don't tow the car. I really have an urgent matter here, alright?"

Seeing Wan Hailu put it that way, the traffic officer hesitated for half a second before saying, "Fine. I'll write you a ticket according to the rules, no towing, but you must leave within two minutes!"

"Right, thanks!" As Wan Hailu finished saying this, one of the two men in sunglasses who had gone to fetch Yang Tang ran briskly back to the car and opened the door for him.

As for the other man in sunglasses, he casually dumped the rock youth onto the pavement and quickly boarded the Mercedes-Benz following behind the Bentley. Shortly after, the two ticketed cars roared away from the spot, quickly blending into the traffic flow and vanishing from sight.

At the entrance of the music store:

"Minmin, was that really your classmate? No way! His relatives are so wealthy—a Bentley Arnage 728! Do you know how much that car is worth?"

"How much?"

"The bare base model alone is at least 1.6 million US dollars, and that's not even counting the taxes and registration fees! Besides, the car just now should be the fully-loaded top-tier trim, right? That has to be at least two million US dollars!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Min was completely dumbfounded.

One had to consider: what was the average salary of the broad working masses in Yujing at present? Less than 2,200 RMB. Coupled with the capital's notoriously high cost of living, managing to save a surplus of a thousand yuan a month already marked one as an absolute powerhouse of financial discipline. Yet for such a powerhouse to buy a Bentley Arnage 728, just a 50% down payment would require saving for forty-one years and... sorry, miss, Bentley only caters to high-end, classy clients, so they only accept full upfront pre-orders with no such thing as a down payment.

Wan Hailu had the car driven directly to a picturesque, scenic spot well within the Third Ring Road.

"Master, this place used to be a ranch belonging to the state-owned animal husbandry corporation, and later the land was sold to private owners. Within a ten-kilometer radius, a total of only these eighteen villas were built! I secured three adjacent ones in one go. This villa here and that one over there are the closest and belong to you, while the remaining one a bit further away will be used by us for liaison purposes. How does that sound?" Wan Hailu pointed out the locations on the car's 3D electronic map as he explained.

Hearing this, Yang Tang raised an eyebrow. "Old Wan, I originally only wanted one villa. Now you've gotten me two—what's the meaning of this?"

"No other meaning. I also got you an extra supercar, um... consider it a deposit!" Wan Hailu said with a somewhat troubled expression.

"Deposit my foot! You better explain things clearly first. Besides, these are all brand new, and you still haven't explained to me how you managed to get them. Are they legal?"

"Of course they're legal!" Wan Hailu patted his chest in assurance. "I'm telling you, absolutely legal!"

A new week, please bookmark, please bookmark, please bookmark!!