Chapter 432: Showing Off
Pulling Tang Xiu’s sleeves, Hu Qingsong pointed to the place where most of the onlookers were gathered. He laughed and said, “But of course! She’s the First Beauty of the Ten Great Campus Belles of our Shanghai University!”
‘The top ten campus belles? And the number one beauty?’
An odd expression emerged in Tang Xiu’s eyes before he asked, “Our Shanghai University has such a Campus Belles ranking? Who exactly is this number one belle?”
“Of course it’s your good friend!” Hu Qingsong grinned and said, “She’s Mu Wanying, the one you introduced to us. Hehehe… welp, too many people gathered there, else you could have seen her.”
Releasing his spiritual sense, Tang Xiu instantly saw the slim Mu Wanying standing gracefully in the middle of the crowd, watching several girls performing a hip-hop dance. Soon after, he retracted his spiritual sense, shaking his head and said with a smile, “She signed up for me, but it shouldn’t be counted, no? Doesn’t she come to our campus to attend a graduate program? She’s not our cla.s.smate at all, you know.”
“Hahaha!” Zhao Liang laughed and said, “You don’t know yet, big bro Tang! Our teacher-in-charge Han accepted the belle—Mu Wanying’s advice to fill in your name on the program list. But as for what talent you must perform in the show, it’s empty! The reason was to let you decide for yourself should you come back! Hence, our brothers are kind of waiting for you, wanting to see the show you are performing at.”
Tang Xiu forced out a smile, and said, “It couldn’t be. Can it be OK like this? Can I refuse?”
“Nope.” Zhao Liang shook his head and said, “The truth is the program has been reported to the press and there’s no way to be removed! Unless you are absent, no one can take you off by that time. Nevertheless, should you be absent, you’ll probably be scorned by all students and the school will even deduct your credits and grades, and you’ll be sent a warning letter or something.”
Tang Xiu hesitated before he eventually forced a smile, shaking his head and said, “Ah, forget it then. If I gotta perform in the show, then so be it! It’s no big deal either. I have no other skills to boast, but I have never afraid to showcase any talents or skills. Be it a game of chess, playing zither, painting and making calligraphy; I’m kinda good at all those. You can say I’m all good, be it in verses, ditties, odes, and songs. Shortly put, I’ll be sure to make everyone shocked when I’m on stage.”
“Yeah, right!”
The Yue Kai, Zhao Laing, and Hu Qingsong trio gave a thumbs-up to Tang Xiu at the same time.
“Brothers, I came back!”
The tanned Xue Chao came running enthusiastically from the distance, carrying a few bottles of mineral water. When he saw Tang Xiu, he immediately called out in a pleasantly surprised way, “Wow, Boss Tang, you’re also back! Great! We brothers finally got together!”
“Xue Chao, has your injury been healed already?” Tang Xiu asked with a smile.
“Well, us mountain dwellers have solid skin and thick flesh.” Xue Chao patted his chest and grinned, “You see, I’m not even having problems with jumping continuously.”
“You should take it easy just the same,” Tang Xiu laughed and said.
“No problem.” Xue Chao nodded and smiled, “Anyhow, I just got paid, but I won’t pay back the money I owe you as of yet since I want to treat you tonight. It’s kinda a token of my grat.i.tude to you.”
Yue Kai and the others already knew about Tang Xiu’s act of lending money to Xue Chao. When they heard his words, Yue Kai quickly shouted, “No no no. It won’t be your turn to treat him tonight! Eldest Brother Tang has missed the appointment a few times already, so tonight’s treat is on him. Besides, we went to partic.i.p.ate in the military training and are all dead tired, while he was like enjoying himself outside. Hence, we cannot and must not let him off easily! Brothers, rack your brains about where to go and have fun tonight. We must make him bleed well regardless!”
“True that! I second that idea!” Zhao Liang raised his hand, adding to the vote, “I agree with him. Eldest Brother is usually very low-key, but he’s definitely not stingy or a miser. I suggest that we follow the criteria Yue Kai used last time, and make Eldest Brother Tang give us an emperor-like treat.”
Hu Qingsong’s eyes went round. He suddenly smirked and said, “Wait, wait! Brothers, Eldest Brother Tang promised us something, don’t you all remember it? He said he’ll help introduce the top belle Mu to us, and he has delayed it until now. So I think that he must invite the great belle Mu to come here.”
“Agree!”
“That’s a great idea!”
“I second that!”
The Yue Kai trio suddenly looked energetic and very excited as their eyes turned on Tang Xiu one by one.
Tang Xiu forced a wry smile and said, “Excuse me, buddies. I’m not particularly familiar with Mu Wanying, got it? Would she even agree if I were to invite her?”
“She should be!” Yue Kai said loudly.
“Try, just try it!” Hu Qingsong exclaimed.
After a moment’s hesitation, Tang Xiu finally nodded and said with a smile, “Okay! I’ll ask her then. You all wait here.”
Having said that, he went over to the location where Mu Wanying was standing. After squeezing himself into the innermost area, he called out loudly, “Mu Wanying, I’m going to treat a few of my cla.s.smates to a meal tonight. Do you wanna come with us?”
At this moment, Mu Wanying’s concentration was focused on several of her sisters from her dormitory who were performing a hip-hop dance. When she heard someone calling out to her loudly, and even inviting her to a dinner under the gaze of the crowd’s eyes, she immediately furrowed her brow. But when she turned around and saw Tang Xiu’s faint smile, she looked dazed, and the furrowed brow went back to normal. She then walked over in front of Tang Xiu, and smilingly said, “That would great! But can I bring some of my good sisters from our dorm? We also will have a meal together this evening!”
Tang Xiu nodded and said, "No problem!"
Those students who were watching them in the surroundings, and heard the conversation between Tang Xiu and Mu Wanying, suddenly got all stirred up. Many of male students gave a hostile look toward Tang Xiu, and their expressions when seeing him turned particularly bad.
At this time, a good-looking, handsome male student dressed in famous brand apparel, looked at Mu Wanying and said loudly, “Mu Wanying, I also want to treat you a meal tonight. Come with me tonight! I have reserved a private box in the city’s restaurant.”
“I’m sorry! I just promised someone else, so I can’t go with you!” Mu Wanying shot a glance at him, shaking her head as she replied.
After saying that, she turned around to walk toward the three female students nearby who were performing the hip-hop dance, clapping and calling them out, “Girls, no jumping yet. The person I’m idolizing is asking us to have a meal together tonight. Do you want to go together with us?”
The three dancing girls stopped moving and came to Mu Wanying’s side with a curious look on their faces. One of them was a tall, pretty girl who then asked curiously, “Is it really your idol, Sis Wanying? You have someone you fancy on our campus?”
While pointing to Tang Xiu, Mu Wanying said with a smile, “He’s my idol, and he’s in this year’s freshman cla.s.s on our campus.”
The tall girl said incredulously, “Are you not kidding me, Sis Wanying? How could such a freshman be your idol? Don’t tell me you already knew him before?”
“Yup, we met and became acquaintances before he studied at Shanghai University.” Mu Wanying chuckled and said with a slight smile, “But he’s really my idol. So, do you want to come with us or not?”
“I’ll go!”
“Count me in!”
The other two female students who had eyed Tang Xiu a few times out of curiosity replied with a chuckle. Their eyes when taking a look at Tang Xiu were particularly bright. After all, handsome boys were popular everywhere, to begin with.
When the tall girl saw him, she nodded and said, “Well I must go too, since you are all leaving. This handsome fella wears some pretty stylish clothes, and he seems very well-off too. So we gotta make him bleed good tonight.”
Tang Xiu let out a cool smile, and said, “All right, you can go back to your activities! Let’s gather at the campus entrance at 6 p.m. then!”
“Okay!” Mu Wanying nodded with a smile.
Tang Xiu didn’t stop and walked toward the outside under the envious and jealous gazes of numerous male students. After he came back to the Yue Kai quartet, he looked at their antic.i.p.ating expressions, and immediately laughed, “Well, mission accomplished. It’s not only Mu Wanying who will go with us to dinner tonight. Her other dorm sisters will come along with us as well.”
“Hooray! Long live Eldest Brother Tang!”
“Nicely done, mate!”
Yue Kai and Zhao Liang were pleasantly surprised and exclaimed their appreciation.
Shaking his head as a response, Tang Xiu then smiled and said, “You had better not feel satisfied already. You gotta show what you really are and your abilities if you want to pursue Mu Wanying. Anyways, is there anything other reason for you to be staying here?”
“Nope, it’s nothing really.” Hu Qingsong shook his head and said, “We simply come here to see the belles.”
Tang Xiu laughed and said, “If it’s okay, then let’s leave! It’s already 4:30 p.m. now. I made an appointment with them at 6 p.m.”
Because tonight he would be able to have a dinner with the campus’s first belle, how could Yue Kai still have the thoughts to feast his eyes on the belles? Thus, he was the first one to call out, “Go go go!”
“Let’s go!” Hu Qingsong also grinned and said, “Let us dress up, and showing off our skill to pick up hot chicks tonight!”
“Yes!” Zhao Ling also laughed.
It was only Xue Chao who wasn’t budged at all by those belles. He had a clear conscience and pure mind inside. His mind was all focused on his wife and son, and naturally had no intentions at all toward other beautiful women. The group of five youths then merrily chatted as they left the campus a.s.sembly hall.
“Get in!” Yue Kai waved his hand, and the five youths got into his BMW.
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After arriving at the dorm, Hu Qingsong pointed to the Audi A4 next to Tang Xiu’s Land Rover SUV. He smirked and said, “Eldest Brother Tang, do you see that? That’s a new car I bought. Though it’s rather not as good as Yue Kai’s BMW, driving kinda gives me some face.”
Looking at his smug appearance, Tang Xiu couldn’t help laughing.
As honest and simple as he was, once Xue Chao saw Hu Qingsong’s smug look, suddenly said in a low voice, “An Audi A4 is nothing much. Boss Tang has a lot of better cars than that!”
Hu Qingsong stared at him, as he immediately roared with laughter and said, “Xue Chao, to think that you would be holding his stinky feet like that, what kind of hypnosis has Eldest Brother Tang has done to you? If he had so many nice cars, he would have brought them to school and showed them off, no?”
“I did not…” After hearing this, Xue Chao anxiously reb.u.t.ted hesitantly.
Tang Xiu patted his shoulder and said with a smile, “Old Hu, what you said is true. If I had a good car, I definitely would’ve driven it to school already. Take a look at that Land Rover SUV, what do you think about it?”
Startled, Hu Qingsong stared blankly as he then nodded and said, “It’s good. That car should be worth a million! I just browsed it, and the price is still high, at least two million or so.”
Tang Xiu then took his car key and pressed the b.u.t.ton… and the four corner lights of the Land Rover SUV flashed. He then shook his hand and smiled, “I’m sorry, but that car is really mine.”
"..."
Stunned and dumbfounded, Hu Qingsong stared blankly at Tang Xiu, an incredulous look on his face. Even Yue Kai and Zhao Liang were tongue-tied and dumbfounded when they stared at Tang Xiu and the car key in his hand.
A smile resurfaced on Xue Chao’s face, as he said loudly, “Did you see it? I told you that Boss Tang has tons of good cars. In his villa’s garage, there is…”