Chapter 215: I'll Rest for a While First

Early the next morning, Yang Chen was still lying in bed when he received a call from Yuan Ye, the young man who couldn't stand loneliness.

"Yang Chen, are you awake?" Yuan Ye was in a good mood, seemingly delighted to have turned twenty without feeling down about approaching thirty.

Yawning, Yang Chen replied, "Can't you tell I'm still asleep by answering your call?"

"Good, I'll come pick you up in a bit. You won't be able to find my place by yourself," Yuan Ye said.

Yang Chen indeed had trouble navigating many places. Considering that the Yuan family was one of the most prominent families in the Central Sea region, their residence was likely quite distinctive. Yang Chen understood this.

"Do you know where I live?" Yang Chen asked.

"No, that's why I'm calling you," Yuan Ye replied.

"Dragon View Garden, number eighty-nine. Call me when you get here. I'll rest for a while," Yang Chen said, ready to hang up.

"Don't hang up!" Yuan Ye chuckled. "I'm already here. I just wanted to confirm."

Yang Chen pursed his lips, pondered for a moment, and said, "It was Tang Tang who told you where I live, right?"

"Hehe, you guessed it. I'll pick you up first and then go get Tang Tang. Her mom is strict, nobody goes to pick her up, so it's tough for her to come out alone," Yuan Ye said gleefully.

"You seem very happy. Is it because this way she won't have a chance to be with other boys, and you can relax?" Yang Chen asked with a light laugh.

"You guessed it right, haha. Hurry down," Yuan Ye replied.

Although Yang Chen hadn't met Yuan Ye in person much, after spending some time playing games and chatting online, they had become quite familiar. So Yuan Ye's relaxed tone was enjoyable for Yang Chen. Having a younger male friend was quite rare.

After quickly getting dressed and shaving, trying to look less disheveled, Yang Chen went downstairs.

Downstairs, Wang Ma had already prepared breakfast, which happened to be Western-style sandwiches with ham and milk. Yang Chen grabbed a sandwich and bid farewell to Wang Ma before heading out.

Wang Ma hurriedly stopped him. "Master, wait a moment. Are you going to attend Young Master Yuan's birthday banquet?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Yang Chen asked.

With a smile, Wang Ma walked over to the stairs and picked up a small red gift bag from the ground. She handed it to Yang Chen. "This was prepared by Miss last night and delivered this morning. It contains items favored by several important figures from the Yuan family. Take it with you when you go. It's for gifting."

Ignoring how Lin Ruoxi knew what the Yuan family liked, Yang Chen felt that his wife had an extra dose of enthusiasm whenever it came to paving the way for his career.

Given Lin Ruoxi's expectation of the traditional role of waiting for her husband, she could be considered a representative of traditional femininity.

"Alright," Yang Chen naturally had no reason to refuse. As he opened the bag, he noticed that each gift had a small tag with different names on them. Lin Ruoxi seemed to have thought it all out in advance.

Outside, a white BMW 335 was parked by the roadside. Since Yuan Ye was picking up two people, he didn't drive his flashy but two-seater Audi R8.

Yang Chen opened the passenger door and placed the gift bag on the back seat.

Yuan Ye, dressed sharply in a suit and exuding excellent charisma, looked full of energy. Seeing Yang Chen carrying a bag of gifts, he couldn't help but smile. "Seeing you with a bag of gifts feels a bit odd to me."

"What's wrong? Can't I give gifts?" Yang Chen asked, feeling displeased.

"You don't seem like someone who cares about these things so meticulously. I thought you were planning to come to my house empty-handed and just rush back," Yuan Ye said truthfully.

Yang Chen said solemnly, "My wife prepared it. I can't disregard her kindness. Young guys like you wouldn't understand the sense of responsibility that married men have."

Yuan Ye burst into laughter and didn't say much more, starting the car and hitting the road.

After half an hour, they arrived at the suburban villa where Tang Tang lived. The roads here were as always enveloped in lush greenery.

When they reached Tang Tang's house, Tang Tang, wearing a black and white Japanese-style skirt, with long white socks, was already standing at the door, waiting. With her innocent face and cute outfit, she looked like a character from a manga, just lacking the maid headdress on her head. Seeing Yuan Ye driving up, she waved at them.

Once Tang Tang, empty-handed, got into the car, she high-fived Yuan Ye and exchanged smiles with him. Then, she pouted at Yang Chen. "Uncle, you haven't called me for many days. If it weren't for Yuan Ye's birthday today, would you have forgotten about me altogether?"

"Why should I call you when I have nothing to say?"

"Then do you call your lover?"

"Don't talk nonsense! What lover? What are you implying?" Yang Chen pretended to be serious.

Tang Tang made a face. "I see through you, Uncle. You're like the ancient Wu Qi, Liu An, and Chen Shimei!"

"What did they do?" Yang Chen didn't know much about ancient history in Yanxia.

While driving, Yuan Ye chuckled strangely as he explained, "Wu Qi and Liu An both killed their wives for their own benefit. Chen Shimei abandoned his wife and children."

"What?!" Yang Chen was furious. He reached out, grabbed Tang Tang's delicate face, and dragged her towards him. "Can you just say anything you want? That's why you're called a little girl, still immature!"

Tang Tang begged Yang Chen to let go, but she kept giggling from behind his grasp.

Yuan Ye glanced at the rearview mirror, seeing Tang Tang's irresistibly cute and playful expression, he shook his head helplessly and asked, "Tang Tang, isn't Auntie going with us?"

Tang Tang nodded, "Yeah, Mom said to give her regards to Uncle Yuan for her, she went out early this morning to meet the leaders from Yandu."

"It's a pity, Secretary Fang will be there today too," Yuan Ye sighed.

"Oh, I see," Tang Tang pouted, somewhat disappointed, "I guess Mom knew Dad was going, so she decided not to go. I mean, meeting some leaders all of a sudden, whether they care about them or not, it's all the same. No matter how high-ranking they are, can they be more influential than Auntie Yuan?"

"Who is Auntie Yuan?" Yang Chen asked curiously, "Yuan Ye's mom?"

"Yeah, Uncle, let me tell you, in Yuan Ye's family, Auntie Yuan is the biggest. Even though Yuan Ye's dad is the chairman of the Yuan Group, at home, it's Auntie who calls the shots." Tang Tang grinned, "Auntie Yuan has always been very good to me since I was a kid, so whenever Yuan Ye tried to snatch toys from me, Auntie Yuan would help me beat him up, and Uncle Yuan wouldn't dare to say anything."

"Why, is she very fierce?" Yang Chen imagined a female tyrannosaurus in his mind.

Tang Tang shook her head, "Not at all, Auntie Yuan is very gentle and kind to everyone. It's because Auntie Yuan's maternal family is one of the most powerful families in Yandu, even in the whole Yanxia. My mom told me that, but I don't know the details, and Yuan Ye won't tell me."

Yuan Ye smiled shyly, "It's not that exaggerated."

"It is indeed," Tang Tang insisted, "So with Auntie's help, Yuan Ye had no chance to bully me when we were kids. He would end up crying every time."

Listening to Tang Tang freely disclosing Yuan Ye's childhood embarrassments, Yang Chen couldn't help but laugh, feeling a slight pang in his heart. Though children like Tang Tang surely had their share of childhood shadows due to their parents' special statuses, the care they received from the elders around them was also considerable.

Comparatively, his own childhood was more like a struggle for survival, far from what they could imagine.

Yuan Ye blushed at Tang Tang's barrage of revelations, coughed, and said, "Tang Tang, let's stop at seven or eight years old, okay? Don't talk about when I was five or six, you were only three when I was five, how could you remember?"

"I don't remember much, but Auntie Yuan would tell me, wouldn't she, Yuan Ye? Are you embarrassed?" Tang Tang felt victorious, as if she had won a small battle.

Yuan Ye smiled wryly and said to Yang Chen beside him, "Listen to this, sometimes I really suspect Tang Tang is my mom's real daughter. She always sides with her since childhood."

Yang Chen looked at the pair of seemingly antagonistic young men and women and said, "Does this count as childhood sweethearts? Uh, is that how you use the term?"

Tang Tang blushed, and Yuan Ye wore a slightly embarrassed expression, but there was a smile playing on his lips.

The atmosphere inside the car suddenly quieted down, a hint of ambiguity lingering. Yang Chen looked at Tang Tang and Yuan Ye with a playful expression, suddenly feeling a sense of aging himself. They, an eighteen-year-old and a twenty-year-old, were truly in the prime of their youth. Despite only being three or four years older than Yuan Ye, compared to them, he felt a significant generation gap. At least, he wouldn't shyly smile or blush when facing a woman he liked; maybe he would have kissed her long ago.

Just then, the BMW drove onto a narrow street, and suddenly, a heavy-duty truck emerged from the direction of the intersection ahead!

Yuan Ye slammed on the brakes abruptly, angrily honking the horn. This sudden appearance was extremely dangerous!

However, the situation seemed far from simple because from another intersection behind them, a GMC truck also emerged, closely tailing the BMW. And from both trucks, seven or eight men jumped out, wielding submachine guns, wearing large square sunglasses, and dressed uniformly in black leather jackets and jeans.

This swift change of events threw the vehicles and pedestrians on the street into chaos, with everyone scrambling to flee the scene.

Four of the men quickly aimed their submachine guns at the three individuals inside the BMW. One of them, with steel-studded knuckles, smashed the window of the driver's door!

"Bang!"

Glass shards scattered all over the ground, startling Tang Tang inside the car, who exclaimed in fear.

"Drive the car in!" the command came out as if programmed.

The man with the jutting chin pointed to the large truck ahead. The huge container behind the truck had lowered its rear iron gate, and the car only needed to drive in to enter the dark interior of the container.

Although Yuan Ye was somewhat frightened, he didn't lose his composure. He glanced at Yang Chen beside him, who remained expressionless and silent, sighed, and drove the car into the container as instructed.

As the car drove into the container, the rear iron gate immediately closed, enveloping the entire interior in darkness, where one couldn't see their own hand in front of their face.

The interior lights of the BMW were switched on. Yuan Ye turned to look and saw that Tang Tang's face was just pale from fright but otherwise unharmed, which relieved him.

"Yuan Ye, how could this happen? Uncle, aren't you very capable? Think of a way, please? Are they here to kidnap me?" Tang Tang asked, her voice trembling.

Yuan Ye furrowed his brow, unable to find words. It seemed he was also puzzled by the situation.

Yang Chen shrugged, sighing with a smile. "We encounter this kind of thing even when attending a birthday party. I have no idea what they want to do. Since we're already stuck in this mess, let's wait until we get out to figure it out."