Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"Don't be in such a hurry—I haven't finished," Sun Jie said, amused. "Otherwise, you must already have a boyfriend. Am I right?"

At the mention of a boyfriend, Zhao Ying's face fell at once. She thought of Yang Ce, thought of Wang Yanqiu, shook her head, and smiled bitterly. "What boyfriend do I have?"

Seeing Zhao Ying's expression, Sun Jie found it rather odd. From her face and tone, she seemed like a girl who had just been through a breakup. But a girl as outstanding as this ought to be the center of attention at any school.

But Sun Jie would not ask too much, having only just met Zhao Ying; once the two of them were better acquainted, Zhao Ying would tell her about herself in her own time. Thinking of her own past with Xiao Qing, it did not seem so very strange.

Sun Jie even wondered whether Zhao Ying, like herself, had a bitter history of love.

Graduate courses began early, so by now it was the normal hour for class. Up front, Xiao Qing was explaining how to use some professional financial software, while Zhao Ying dutifully took notes.

Although the course was called Computerized Accounting, its content covered not only the application of financial software; Xiao Qing also explained the use of certain professional management programs.

As the times advanced, corporate management had been pared down from its original bloated, manpower-heavy structure to a state where a single piece of software could replace many departments. So although this course was only an elective, many graduate students in the economics department still chose to take it.

Finished with her notes, Zhao Ying let out a breath, glanced at Sun Jie out of the corner of her eye, and was startled to find that Sun Jie was merely listening to Xiao Qing's lecture without writing anything in her notebook. Curious, she asked, "Sun Jie, why aren't you taking notes?"

"Heh, my company already uses this software. I know most of the functions and operations already. I'm just listening to see whether there are any details or special features I've missed." Sun Jie smiled.

"Ah—your company?" Zhao Ying started, and said in great surprise, "You run your own company?"

"Just a small company." Sun Jie said, "Small-time stuff."

"When you have time, could you take me to see it?" Zhao Ying looked at Sun Jie with admiration, never imagining that this beautiful classmate of hers, a graduate student like herself, was already the owner of a company.

"Of course." Sun Jie nodded. "But not today. We have classes all day, and by the time we finish, the company will have closed for the day."

"Mm, any day works." Zhao Ying was delighted that Sun Jie had agreed.

A few words had brought the two of them considerably closer. Sun Jie was a good judge of people; from Zhao Ying's eyes she could tell that this girl was the very kind and harmless sort.

So Sun Jie felt at ease saying certain things to her. Sun Jie feared nothing, but she did find it tiresome to attract friends who were snobs angling to take advantage of her. Zhao Ying was plainly not that sort; when Zhao Ying had asked to visit the company just now, Sun Jie had seen only surprise and curiosity in her eyes, no greed and no calculation.

"You didn't go straight to graduate school after graduating, did you?" Sun Jie asked.

"Ah—how did you know?" Zhao Ying asked, quite puzzled; she had not expected Sun Jie to see through that.

"Heh, it's simple. When you talk to me, you have no idea how to be furtive at all—you're so silly about it that even the teacher noticed." Sun Jie laughed. "If you'd been a student, you'd know how to dodge the teacher's line of sight, wouldn't you?"

"Ah—" Zhao Ying was embarrassed. She had been a teacher herself; how would she know these little student tricks?

To be continued

1057. The Iron Triangle Forms

Zhao Ying nodded, blushing, and said, "After I graduated from teachers' college, I taught math for three years, and then I took the graduate entrance exam."

"Heh, no wonder. A teacher will never understand those little student maneuvers." Sun Jie smiled.

Xiao Qing, of course, had not noticed that two delinquent students below were discussing the relationship between teachers and students. Even if she had, there was nothing she could do about Sun Jie; so long as Sun Jie did not tease her, that was already the best of all possible luck.

Ever since that time in the hotel when the two of them had fooled around with Yan, Sun Jie would always bring it up, casually or otherwise, leaving Xiao Qing utterly mortified.

Xiao Qing was not a particularly traditional person, but what had happened that day was far too absurd—especially with a vixen like Sun Jie mixed in. In the end she could not even tell whether she had been pushed down by Yang Ce or by Sun Jie, or whether they had all pushed one another. In any case, Xiao Qing had never lived through such a ridiculous night, and every time she thought of it her face burned.

So now Xiao Qing was very much afraid that Sun Jie would bring that matter up again—yet Sun Jie, deliberately or not, kept mentioning things related to it, and there was nothing Xiao Qing could do.

At last class ended, and a few of the bolder students—those who considered their own prospects rather good—could not resist crowding around the desks of Sun Jie and Zhao Ying.

"You two, do you have time? Would you do us the honor of joining us for a meal?" The speaker was a passably good-looking young man in the class named Fan Ce, who also dressed impeccably. He already had a modest company off campus, pulling in several hundred thousand a year, and in the eyes of ordinary people he was already a Prince Charming.

But in a graduate class in the economics department, Fan Ce's credentials really were nothing much. Many of the students had no companies of their own outside, but their families owned companies, and they had come to study economics precisely so they could better take over from their parents.

So the moment Fan Ce spoke, he drew furious glares from two other young men beside him. There were already too many wolves and too little meat—and you, you bastard, still want to hog two for yourself? Get lost and cool off!

"Classmate, my name is Chen Piaoyi. May I invite you to dinner?" Chen Piaoyi's father was an investor who owned a medium-sized financial investment firm, and during the great bull market of '07 he had made a killing. Raised under his father's influence, Chen Piaoyi had taken a particular interest in finance. He was plainly the gentle, refined intellectual type, and between Zhao Ying and Sun Jie, he was more interested in Zhao Ying.

Sun Jie was no less outstanding, but she was simply too sexy and alluring; by contrast, the gentle, soft-spoken Zhao Ying was his ideal.

So when he made his invitation, it was naturally addressed to Zhao Ying.

"Beautiful lady, how about a nice big dinner together?" The speaker was named Tang Jiaqian. His father was an overnight nouveau riche who had made his fortune raising pigs, and so he had given his son a name that reeked of new money—meaning that the Tang family was very rich.

Naturally, Tang Jiaqian's temperament was rather coarse too. Though he had made it to university, his speech was not exactly refined. As far as Tang Jiaqian was concerned, a sexy little piece like Sun Jie was the woman of his dreams.

Seeing the two of them chiming in and each inviting one of the beauties, leaving nothing for himself, Fan Ce grew anxious at once: "I was here first. What do you two mean by this? Is there no such thing as first come, first served?"

"First come, first served?" Tang Jiaqian would not hear of it. He glared and said, "You think this is lining up to buy groceries? First come, first served—who a girl has dinner with is for the girl to decide, not for you!"

"It's like buying stocks. Buying early doesn't guarantee a profit; it all depends on timing." Chen Piaoyi chimed in mockingly as well.