Chapter 116: Is This Monster My Aunt?

Chapter 116: Is This Fiend My Aunt?

For Tang Zhong, retaliating against a woman who tried to use her meager strength to avenge her boyfriend or vent her anger was truly a trivial matter. After the two afternoon classes ended, he and Hua Ming hurried toward the third cafeteria. If they arrived late, they would have to queue.

As they reached the cafeteria entrance, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

His hand slid into the left pocket of his trousers, where the vibrating phone was.

Tang Zhong carried two phones. One was an iPhone that Bai Su had bought for him to stay in touch conveniently, and the other was a Nokia previously used by Tang Xin.

For reasons unknown, Bai Su had handed Tang Xin’s phone over to Tang Zhong as well. Perhaps she thought that since Tang Zhong and Tang Xin were family, he was more qualified to keep what was not just a phone but also a private tool of modern life.

Tang Xin’s phone had only about twenty contacts stored—a remarkably small number for a celebrity. Compared to some major stars or even ordinary people who often have two or three hundred numbers saved, this was strikingly few. It revealed just how simple and pure her social circle usually was.

Occasionally, calls or texts from those who didn’t know the full story arrived, but Tang Zhong always ignored them, knowing that if there were any work invitations or important matters, they would contact Bai Su instead.

He set the phone to vibrate mode, allowing him to know who was calling or messaging without disturbing his life.

Now, it was Tang Xin’s phone that was vibrating.

He pulled out the phone and glanced at the caller ID—a string of unknown numbers without a saved name. Without hesitation, Tang Zhong cut off the call.

Before he could put the phone back in his pocket, it vibrated again.

The same number.

Tang Zhong cut it off once more.

This time, the phone stopped vibrating.

Hua Ming, seeing the other phone in Tang Zhong’s hand for the first time, asked curiously, “Second bro, why do you need so many phones? Is that Nokia new?”

“No, it’s from a friend. I’m holding onto it for now. It’s inconvenient for me to answer her calls,” Tang Zhong replied with a smile. He didn’t want to lie to his friend, but some things were hard to explain clearly.

What kind of uproar would there be if Hua Ming or others at school found out he was impersonating Tang Xin?

“Heh, I’ve only heard of married men or bosses with mistresses having two phones. Didn’t expect you, so young, to enjoy that treatment. You’re using these two phones to contact different women, huh? High class. The Pearl Tower is that tall,” Hua Ming said skeptically, starting to weave his wild imagination into the supposed truth.

“You guessed it right,” Tang Zhong laughed. Indeed, he used both phones to communicate with different people.

In fact, he lived two lives.

“Damn,” Hua Ming wailed again. “Second bro, you’re neither handsome nor rich, and all you’re good at is fighting—how do you have so many women liking you?”

“Character,” Tang Zhong smiled.

They reached the second window of the cafeteria, and before he could order, his phone vibrated again.

He pulled out the phone and saw it wasn’t a call but a text message.

Opening it, he found nine characters: “Tang Zhong, come out and wait at the school gate.”

The nine characters ran together without punctuation.

Tang Zhong hesitated for a few seconds, then said to Hua Ming, who was stuffing his big head into the glass window to order, “You eat first. I need to step out for a bit.”

“Heh heh,” Hua Ming grinned mischievously. “Go ahead, go ahead. Want me to leave the door open for you tonight?”

So, Tang Zhong gave himself a figurative kick in the backside.

Though Nanda wasn’t an arts school like Pearl Music Academy or Fine Arts Academy, at dismissal time, many cars waited at the school gate for those young, beautiful girls.

Some had biological fathers; others had sugar daddies.

As long as the girls nodded, they could slip into these cars for lavish dinners, foreign wines, and shopping for beautiful clothes or jewelry. In return, they’d stoop to ingratiate themselves with these middle-aged or elderly men, who could be their fathers or grandfathers.

Age-gap relationships — that’s the trend now.

With so many vehicles around and the anonymous number sending the message, Tang Zhong scanned the area several times but couldn’t spot the person who had summoned him. Strangely, the person hadn’t appeared either.

However, not far ahead, a woman’s sharp, venomous scolding attracted a crowd.

“What? You don’t accept being scolded? Look at all those wrinkles piled on your face—you must be at least eighty, if not a hundred. At your age, shouldn’t you be lying at home playing dead for sympathy instead of coming out trying to pick up girls?”

“What era do you think it is? It’s the new millennium! Yet you still flaunt gold teeth and gold chains—don’t you know you look like a country bumpkin? Seriously, look in my car’s side mirror—smile! That’s right, smile big and show off those gold teeth. Want to puke? Want to puke?”

The crowd burst into laughter, and even Tang Zhong couldn’t help smiling.

The woman was fashionable and striking—wearing an unconventional white blouse and bright yellow short shorts. No stockings; her long, slender legs were bare in the cold air.

A woman daring to bare her legs in such freezing weather was either a demon or a prodigy.

On her feet were a pair of olive travel boots, as if she frequently traveled afar.

Her wine-red hair curled slightly, cascading over her shoulders, adding a mature, alluring charm.

She merged wildness and seductiveness perfectly; no wonder even an ‘eighty or hundred’-year-old man couldn’t resist approaching her.

Tang Zhong noticed she was pulling a short, stout man toward her Land Rover Range Rover’s side mirror. The man’s face was flushed like pig liver, struggling desperately, but the woman held his tie firmly, and he couldn’t escape.

“And you, why don’t you pick up girls elsewhere but come to bother me? Look at my righteous face, my beautiful, blooming looks, and this devilish figure—go to hell, pervert. I let you look, and you really looked! You could be my father—how dare you hit on me? Aren’t you ashamed? Don’t you feel guilty when you see your daughter?”

“Sister, I was wrong—”

“Your dog eyes are blind! Who called you sister?”

“Miss—”

“Your mother’s the miss.”

“Madam—”

“I spit in your face! I’m not married yet; how dare you call me madam?”

The short, stout man was speechless and broke down in tears.

Only then did the woman release his tie, disdainfully saying, “You look like a coward and still have the nerve to pick up girls. Which girl would be scared off by you? Are today’s mistresses really that desperate and tasteless?”

At her words, a pretty girl standing nearby seemed to be slapped hard and quickly retreated into the crowd.

She took a bottle of mineral water from the car window to wash her hands, as if grabbing the fat man’s tie had dirtied her hands, and said, “Scram. Don’t block my view. I still need to play the gentlewoman waiting for someone.”

The stout man hurried off, and the pretty girl silently followed him.

Tang Zhong shook his head.

After washing her hands, the woman pulled out a tissue from the car to wipe off the water.

She adjusted the side mirror outward, then bent over to fix her hair and collar, touched up her lip gloss, puffed her cheeks, squinted, and smiled with her head tilting left and right.

She clenched her fist, feeling utterly radiant.

Then she straightened the side mirror and scanned around.

Left then right.

Her gaze swept over Tang Zhong’s face, then shifted back.

“Come here,” she called out with a kind and gentle smile toward Tang Zhong.

He was taken aback.

Could she be the one who wanted to meet him?

Tang Zhong turned around and saw several men nearby looking confused yet somewhat excited as they glanced at the woman.

Clearly, they didn’t know whom this enchantress was calling.

“Tang Zhong,” the woman called.

Indeed, she was looking for him. No doubt about it.

Tang Zhong, puzzled, approached the formidable woman.

Standing before her, he eyed her warily and asked, “You’re looking for me?”

“Yes,” the woman blinked and smiled sweetly. “Hope I’m not disturbing you?”

Her voice was gentle and understanding. Had he not witnessed her earlier behavior, Tang Zhong might have thought she was a refined socialite who smiled demurely without showing her teeth.

But now, her disguise was in vain—his mind was filled with the image of her tugging someone’s tie, pulling their face to the side mirror, urging them to smile, revealing their gold teeth, asking if they wanted to vomit.

“Who are you?” Tang Zhong asked. He didn’t know her and had never seen her before.

Yet, this woman knew Tang Xin’s private phone number and sent a message to that phone, calling out Tang Zhong’s name. This meant she knew far more than he had imagined.

This was why Tang Zhong was willing to meet her, even without knowing she was a woman at the time.

“I’m Jiang Keqing,” the woman said softly, her eyes shining with a strong motherly love. “If you like, you can call me Auntie.”