Chapter 150 Best Friend

The smiling face of Zheng Jue darkened, carrying a certain intimidating aura.

At least in front of this talented young successor, Zhong Fu felt a head shorter.

And not just in height.

Zheng Jue was silent for a moment, then let out a cold laugh. "Could there be such a coincidence?"

As if completely oblivious to the subtext in his words, Zhong Fu chuckled. "Haha, what a coincidence indeed! I just ran into Xiaoshan at a dinner yesterday, and he happened to mention it. I thought to myself, a charity auction is a wonderful thing! As a junior uncle, I simply must show my support."

Zheng Jue and Le Quan exchanged a glance, both of their hearts sinking with a heavy thud. Oh no, someone was about to explode.

Only, they were worrying about different people.

Zheng Jue knew Le Quan all too well and feared that this fiery young lady would lose her temper completely and throw caution to the wind.

Le Quan, on the other hand, recalled the time Liang Jinshang gave He Huan a vicious beating, and worried she was about to revert to her old ways.

"Xiao Le, you take Jinshang and step outside for a moment," Zheng Jue said in a deep voice. "I need to talk to Uncle about the capital injection."

Le Quan dragged Liang Jinshang out of the room.

Noticing that Liang Jinshang remained completely silent, Le Quan took the initiative to speak. "That wretched piece of work! I've heard the Zhong family has been declining these past few years, yet they still put on a front of false prosperity. They managed to time this perfectly—just by donating a single auction item, they're suddenly parting with tens of millions worth of goods! That's practically equivalent to the value of one of their jewelry stores!"

Liang Jinshang replied calmly, "It wasn't a coincidence. He did it on purpose."

Although Shang Yucheng hadn't stepped forward in person yesterday, Nan Wenqian had still shamelessly dropped Shang Yucheng's name.

Yet the Zhong family had stubbornly refused to hand the items over.

Liang Jinshang had initially thought they were merely greedy, but she hadn't expected them to be so cunning as well.

They had pushed the Zheng family forward to act as their shield.

A short while later, Zheng Jue came out.

He looked at the two young women and gave a slight shake of his head.

Le Quan cursed aloud. "Zheng Jue, are you even useful? Since the items are already in the hands of the Zheng family, why don't you just turn around and get them back for Jinshang?"

Zheng Jue explained, "Donated auction items have to be registered and cataloged, and the process is entirely public. The auction is about to start; pulling an item without a valid reason would harm the company's image. If the Zheng Corporation hosts this charity auction and ends up with a scandal like that, the losses would outweigh the gains."

"A vanity project," Le Quan scoffed. "Then what do you suggest we do?"

Zheng Jue smiled, looking entirely confident. "We buy it back."

"Buy it back? With the Zheng family's money?!"

All the proceeds from the auction were going to charity; it wasn't as if the money would go into the Zheng Corporation's own pockets.

How could Liang Jinshang possibly have the face to make Zheng Jue spend his own money?

More importantly—

That was her own property! By what right was the Zhong family being generous with someone else's belongings?

And now, she was expected to spend money to buy it back herself.

"Who said the Zheng Corporation would pay?" Zheng Jue tossed his car keys in the air. "We are definitely going to make the Zhong family bleed for this."

Zheng Jue suggested that Liang Jinshang join them for dinner.

Liang Jinshang was in no mood for it, nor did she wish to play the third wheel.

"What third wheel?" Le Quan transferred her resentment toward the Zhong family onto Zheng Jue, giving him a sour look. "If there's a third wheel here, it's Zheng Jue himself."

Zheng Jue opened the car door for the ladies and winked at Liang Jinshang. "Come along. Shang Yucheng just called me to ask about the situation here, and he's waiting for us at the restaurant now."

When they arrived at the restaurant, Shang Yucheng was indeed already there.

Le Quan and Zheng Jue sat together hand in hand, leaving Liang Jinshang with no choice but to sit next to Shang Yucheng.

However, she left a considerable distance between their seats.

She was clearly giving him the silent treatment.

If Shang Yucheng had been a bit more decisive yesterday and gone to the Zhong family's place on her behalf, the items would have been recovered instantly.

Instead, purely because of his lofty pride, her belongings had ended up in Zheng Shan's hands.

Zheng Jue automatically and voluntarily began pouring tea for everyone.

Just as he was about to pour a cup for Liang Jinshang, a delivery clerk from the milk tea shop next door arrived with a cup of iced milk tea.

Shang Yucheng inserted the straw for her and said, "Drink something cold to cool your temper."

This was Liang Jinshang's favorite brand and flavor, something she loved to drink whenever she was in a bad mood.

Yet seeing him maintain that unbothered, composed expression only made Liang Jinshang even angrier.

Chewing on ice cubes wouldn't be enough to extinguish her fury!

Le Quan broke the silence first. "Shang Yucheng, why are you being so stingy nowadays? Aren't we your friends? You only bought one cup of milk tea?"

Without a trace of guilt, Shang Yucheng replied, "I'm not familiar with Miss Le's preferences."

"Hmph." Le Quan's gaze shifted, and she suddenly turned to Liang Jinshang. "Hey, isn't it that time of the month for you? And Shang Yucheng still lets you drink iced beverages? It seems you don't receive all that great of a treatment from him after all, do you?"

Hearing this, Shang Yucheng turned his head to look at Liang Jinshang, raising an eyebrow in silent questioning.

Liang Jinshang kept the straw between her lips and took several noisy gulps of milk tea.

Her cycle had always been extremely regular; it wasn't that Shang Yucheng had genuinely forgotten.

It was just that there had been so much going on lately that her period had arrived a day early.

From her reaction alone, Shang Yucheng knew Le Quan wasn't lying.

He immediately reached out to take the milk tea from her hand.

How could Liang Jinshang possibly agree? She wasn't even suffering from menstrual cramps, so what was wrong with drinking something cold?

However, she was no match for Shang Yucheng's strength, and the cup was forcefully snatched away.

"Shang Yucheng!"

If he hadn't "thoughtfully" bought her milk tea out of the blue, she wouldn't even have thought of drinking it.

Now that he had made her crave it only to deny it to her, was he toying with her like a cat with a mouse?

Le Quan spared no effort in stirring up trouble for Shang Yucheng. She nudged Zheng Jue and said, "Jue, I want milk tea too. Go buy me a cup."

"Don't you dislike sweet things?" Zheng Jue complained, too lazy to run an errand. "Besides, what kind of drinks aren't available right here in the restaurant? Just order one from the menu! Stop making a fuss, be a good girl."

"Are you going or not?" Le Quan arched an eyebrow. "Surely you don't want to be known as someone even worse at pampering women than Shang Yucheng? If word of that gets out, how are you going to maintain your title as the number one playboy of Jinling?"

Zheng Jue was utterly exasperated. Why was she always so dedicated to provoking Shang Yucheng?

Anyone who didn't know better would think she had feelings for him and was just taking a bizarre approach to catch his attention.

"All right, my dear grandmother, I'll go buy you your milk tea." Zheng Jue, ever accommodating, turned back to Liang Jinshang. "Jinshang, should I get you a cup at room temperature?"

Liang Jinshang glanced at Shang Yucheng.

Shang Yucheng gave a slight nod, signaling his approval.

With that, Liang Jinshang replied, "Then I'll have a room-temperature one. With extra ice cubes."

Zheng Jue: "..."

When a woman is speaking out of spite, it's best not to take her literally.

As he walked toward the exit and passed right by Shang Yucheng, he was suddenly grabbed by the wrist and brought to a halt.

"What is it, Yucheng?"

Shang Yucheng had just caught the scent of perfume lingering on Liang Jinshang.

She rarely wore such things, and he had deliberately paid attention to her preferences.

To his surprise, as Zheng Jue walked past him, he carried the exact same fragrance as Liang Jinshang.

"Why do you smell like my girlfriend's perfume?"

Shang Yucheng's posture remained completely unhurried, but the grip with which he held Zheng Jue's wrist lacked any courtesy whatsoever.

Zheng Jue broke out in a cold sweat.

He cast a helpless look at Le Quan, preparing to offer an explanation.

Le Quan was on the verge of a burst of laughter when a sudden wave of mischief seized her. She slammed her hand on the table and stood up.

Feigning fury, she snapped, "Well, well, Zheng Jue! How dare you go behind my back and pull this kind of stunt with my best friend!"