Chapter 34: Troublesome Dinner, Various Thoughts

“You don’t have to do this, Mengling.”

For the first time in days, Liu Yan used “Mengling” to address Bai Mengling. Normally, that should’ve been something pleasing, but his words didn’t sound so pleasant to her. “I really don’t understand why you’re so fixated on me.”

His gaze was remarkably calm. “If I go by my limited understanding, the only thing I can think of is that you can’t accept it. You, Bai Mengling, are such a proud person that you absolutely cannot allow something like this to happen. Even if you don’t truly like me, you can’t tolerate being the one I broke up with, and you can’t tolerate your parents interfering with your will.”

“Of course, you might not admit that’s the case, but I think deep down you have that desire. So you’re using me as an excuse, trying to win me back, trying to prove that you can control your own life and your own fate.”

Control your own life. Control your own fate.

He hadn’t discussed it with Chen Tang, yet he said the exact same thing she had.

Chen Tang had told her to come back when she could control her own fate.

That was why she had said those words to Liu Yan, and Liu Yan was certain that she was trying to regain control of her fate by winning him back.

The words were different, but they both pointed to the same thing.

They didn’t believe Bai Mengling truly liked Liu Yan.

Chen Tang hoped that after Bai Mengling took control of her own fate, she would think clearly, understand clearly, and then decide whether she wanted to love Liu Yan. Liu Yan, on the other hand, hoped she would think clearly right now—whether her desire for him came from a desire to control her own fate, or from genuine affection for him.

In other words… through her words, Liu Yan learned what Chen Tang had said to her.

He seemed to be answering her, but was actually speaking to Chen Tang.

This feeling was very subtle—she even thought it was an illusion, a product of her imagination—but that’s how she felt.

The sensation at this moment was very real. She was certain that Liu Yan knew what Chen Tang had said, even though he hadn’t been there.

And Chen Tang knew that Liu Yan was talking about her, so she kept silent.

It was as if a private space between the two of them had opened up, and suddenly everyone else seemed like outsiders. Everything felt awfully dissonant.

Bai Mengling felt suffocated.

It was like looking through a mirror, unable to see the truth no matter what.

Like driving a car straight into water, watching the lake flood the cabin and submerge you, unable to pull the door open no matter how hard you try, unable to smash the glass no matter what—just waiting for the moment you suffocate…

For a moment, she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

But fortunately!

Call it foresight, call it preparation—regardless, she had made certain arrangements in advance. No matter what happened before the current situation…

She had already prepared everything!

Shi Yiyi spoke up at that moment.

“Chen Tang, this… between you and Miss Bai, that…”

Chen Tang immediately smiled and said, “Sorry, that was out of line. This is supposed to be a celebration dinner for your discharge from the hospital. Why bring up these things?”

He raised his glass. “It’s not alcohol, but I’ll punish myself with a cup!”

“You just want to drink more soda!”

Chen Tang followed up with that line, and the atmosphere suddenly returned to normal.

The suffocating feeling from before felt like an illusion. It was as if they were just a group of ordinary college students having a very ordinary dinner together.

Liu Mengmeng also spoke up. “But seriously, what exactly happened?”

Starting with her question, the group began to explain the events bit by bit.

Only then did Liu Mengmeng learn what had happened recently. She couldn’t help but look at Shi Yiyi with sympathy.

So she was from Arts and Sciences University.

She’d thought they were from the same school. Turns out they were strangers before.

All she could say was that Brother Yan was too kind.

Just then, Liu Yan’s mother came in with two dishes.

“The other dishes are done too. Xiao Yan, come help me bring them in.”

Liu Yan got up again and went to get the food.

This time, however, Chen Tang had no intention of attacking Bai Mengling. As the saying goes, enough is enough. For someone like Bai Mengling, if you push her too hard, she might explode and come at you without regard for consequences. That would be troublesome. After all, she was the eldest Miss of the Bai family, with her own pride and dignity.

The eldest Miss Bai wasn’t someone anyone could just step on.

So Chen Tang wasn’t about to offend Bai Mengling.

She just looked at Shi Yiyi.

This girl didn’t have a very high presence in the original novel.

Appearing as Bai Mengling’s secretary, she was mostly used to shape Bai Mengling’s character, to highlight her personality.

At the same time, this character was used to indirectly boost Bai Mengling—like subtly praising her.

“As expected of the eldest Miss Bai.”

Or helping Bai Mengling whitewash herself in front of Liu Yan.

For example, in the original novel, after Bai Mengling and Liu Yan broke up, Shi Yiyi would come to Liu Yan and say, “Miss Bai is also very sorry, but some things are beyond her control.”

Something like that.

Actually, based on Chen Tang’s understanding, after learning about Bai Mengling’s parents’ actions, she somewhat understood the logic behind Bai Mengling and Liu Yan’s breakup in the original book—Bai Mengling hadn’t put up any resistance against her parents before the breakup.

Perhaps the breakup itself was her parents’ idea, which was why she said things like “mismatched social status.”

This might have also sparked Bai Mengling’s rebellious awareness toward her parents. That’s why later she seized all power in the Bai Corporation, dominated the business world, and began her man-chasing crematorium… but by then, Liu Yan was already dead.

But all that was something that would never happen again. After all, Chen Tang didn’t think she’d let the original plot unfold.

Like today’s dinner—if this were in some novel, it would definitely be a very important meal, worth several chapters to develop characters and depict their conflicts.

But for Chen Tang right now, it was just a meal. A not-so-ordinary meal in her life.

Shi Yiyi looked even thinner than before.

But that was normal, since she had just undergone surgery not long ago. As everyone knows, even if the surgery is successful, it’s still a huge toll on the body.

She probably had a decent figure.

It would take some time for her to recover to a normal state.

Worth noting, Shi Yiyi and Xia You knew each other.

In the current situation, many people probably didn’t know this, but because both came from poor families, they lived very close to each other—in the same building. It was a very cheap area on the outskirts of X City.

Both were also workaholics who took on part-time jobs.

So in the past, they would work part-time together.

But now, Shi Yiyi had probably started working as Bai Mengling’s secretary, so she wouldn’t be short on money.

As for Xia You… may she be happy.

Speaking of which, if she wanted to completely change the direction of the plot…

Chen Tang had a very bold idea.

What if a female lead outside the plot—like the current Shi Yiyi, or Xia You’s good friend—ended up with Liu Yan? Would that cause a completely different change in the story?

Of course, she didn’t think much of Xia You’s friend. She wasn’t good-looking.

Actually, Liu Mengmeng was a more ideal choice—the worst choice being herself.

If necessary, she hoped the knife would be pressed against her back rather than her front.

But regardless, Shi Yiyi was a good choice. Her family was poor, so in terms of background, she’d be marrying up to Liu Yan’s family, which wouldn’t make her too overbearing. Plus, her personality in the original novel was described as “like a blade of grass.” Easily trampled, but with an amazing resilience.

That was something Chen Tang admired.

“Yiyi, what’s your major?”

“Human resource management.”

“Ah~ perfect match~”

All she could say was that the author really knew how to cut corners.

Having her as Bai Mengling’s secretary, so her major was set as HR management.

Speaking of which, she and Liu Yan being in the economics and management department wasn’t anything special.

But it still made some sense.

After all, neither of them had grand ambitions. They were meant to take over the restaurant. Whether they wanted to expand the restaurant was another matter.

It would depend on Liu Yan’s own thoughts later.

Liu Yan seemed to have no desires… but Chen Tang knew he actually had quite heavy desires.

If it were her and Liu Yan together, it would be fine, since she had no desires. If it were someone else, like Shi Yiyi, and her family had expectations for the couple—Liu Yan would probably work very hard.

He was very good at responding to the wishes of those around him.

That’s why he managed to win over so many characters…

Speaking of Xia You—

What if she invited Xia You to work here?

She dared say Xia You would absolutely agree.

After all, Chen Tang had already seen Xia You’s WeChat Moments.

She had quarreled with Zhou Bin and posted in the middle of the night: “Could it be you’re not the right one?”

Along with a photo of the moon.

She had also checked various school group chats and found no one discussing it.

So she basically confirmed that Xia You had posted that specifically for her and Liu Yan. Whether she or Liu Yan saw it—Liu Yan would find out about it anyway.

After all, Liu Yan had just posted a “Whose kitten is this?” on his Moments.

All she could say was that Old Xia was having second thoughts. She didn’t know if she’d broken up with Zhou Bin or not… Although according to Chen Tang’s original plan, she intended to have Liu Yan swoop in like a miracle when Zhou Bin tried to force himself on Xia You, rack up some serious goodwill, and then “never look back.” That would send Xia You straight into the man-chasing crematorium plot.

But for some reason, Xia You had already fallen out with Zhou Bin so quickly.

Logically, that incident wouldn’t happen until two weeks after summer break started.

The timeline had changed, causing the story to undergo considerable alterations. She couldn’t rely entirely on her knowledge of the plot; she should just treat it as character background.

Anyway, Xia You was also looking for a part-time job.

If she remembered correctly, she had a two-hour tutoring gig in the morning, planned to work at a restaurant at noon, and then teach another two hours in the afternoon—don’t underestimate this income. In the original book, Xia You’s summer job allowed her to pay for the next year’s tuition, room and board, and living expenses, and even save a little to buy small gifts for Liu Yan.

Apart from her appearance, this was the one thing admirable about her—she truly believed in getting rich through hard work.

Except when she had occasional brain farts, she had many good points.

“I plan to have Yiyi as my secretary,” Bai Mengling said. “She’s very meticulous. I think she’ll be helpful to me.”

Then, Bai Mengling looked at Chen Tang. “If you two want, you can also work for me. I won’t play favorites.”

Chen Tang spread her hands.

Indicated she had no interest.

Actually, Bai Mengling didn’t quite understand.

Among the people she knew, including her classmates and some female employees at the company… a small restaurant.

Many women would rather work as a front desk at a company and greet people at the office entrance than be the boss of a restaurant.

“A restaurant? So greasy! And it’s not dignified. I heard you have to get up very early every day. I wouldn’t want that kind of life. It’s not elegant at all. You’d turn into a frumpy housewife soon!”

Thoughts like that were very common among the so-called goddess crowd.

Besides, Chen Tang’s parents were both from scholarly families—generally, they wouldn’t say it, but they might look down on Liu Yan’s parents for running a restaurant, thinking they were uncouth.

It wasn’t nice to say, but the tradition that had persisted in this land for many years was hard to uproot.

But Chen Tang seemed completely unconcerned.

She showed no interest in being a “white-collar elite.”

“Old Liu and I both have foundations. As the saying goes, a golden nest or a silver nest isn’t as good as our own doghouse. Working in a big company sounds good, but it’s not for me and Old Liu. When we take over the restaurant later, we can open when we want! Close when we want! Travel everywhere!”

Liu Mengmeng appropriately expressed her concern. “If you do that, you won’t make money, Sister Tang.”

“Hmph~ You underestimate me and Old Liu! Did you see the clothes I bought? To be honest, this summer, with the allowance we got, we plan to buy Old Liu a high-end camera. Then we’ll do cosplay and he’ll take photos. That’s pretty good too! With our brains, we won’t starve. You little girl are still too naive!”

Photographer?

Coser?

Bai Mengling’s mind flashed with all kinds of inappropriate images. It was as if she could already see Chen Tang using the “photography” excuse to lure Liu Yan into a hotel room for a shoot, and then directly forcing herself on him!

“I can do it too! Cos!”

Her words outpaced her brain as they left her mouth.