Chapter 1896 — We Have a Car

Two days ago, when he had driven to campus, it had already been dusk. To show off how flashy his ride was, he had switched on the strobe lights. There were no cops on campus anyway, so no one would bother him. The only trouble was that he had forgotten to shut them off when he got out, and after nearly two days and two nights, the battery had been drained dry.

"Uh... buddy, could you give me a jump start on the battery?" Zhang Duopan turned, rather helplessly, to the young man who had just cursed him out. He had been insulted, yes, but he could only swallow his pride and plead, because at this hour the only people beside the cars in the lot were this young couple.

"Er... this car is yours?" The young man, having just finished his tirade, now laid eyes on the owner, and his face instantly broke into a sweat.

"It's mine... haha, my apologies, making a spectacle of myself in front of everyone!" Zhang Duopan said with a bitter expression.

"I could, sure, but do you have jumper cables?" the young man asked.

"Well... no..." Zhang Duopan shook his head. Who on earth carries jumper cables around with them for no reason? You'd be better off carrying a spare battery.

"Then there's nothing I can do. Call a rescue service. I don't have any either..." The young man shook his head, locked up his car, and made to leave.

Call a rescue service? What a joke. If he called a rescue service here, how long would he have to wait? And what about He Meiyue's singing practice?

"Then... let's just take a taxi!" Zhang Duopan shrugged awkwardly. He had finally gotten a chance to show off, and before he could even pull it off properly, his car had to go and run out of power!

"Oh, you two take a taxi. We have a car." Wei Zhao said, pulling out the remote for the Grand Cherokee and pressing a button. In the distance, the Grand Cherokee's lights flashed.

"Ah?" Zhang Duopan could not have been more embarrassed at that moment. He had been boasting to them all this time about having a car, never imagining that the other side had one too—and not just any car, one every bit as good as his. The Grand Cherokee might be understated, but its price tag was anything but cheap. Zhang Duopan studied cars often and knew this perfectly well.

Fan Ganhe's expression was equally grim. Before, they had been the ones with a car; now the tables had turned. Wei Zhao and his group had a car, while they would have to take a taxi!

"Sorry about that. Counting Xinyan, we're five people too. The car does seat seven, but that still leaves two extra... my apologies!" Wei Zhao said, looking at Zhang Duopan with an apologetic expression. The Grand Cherokee was a seven-seater to begin with; it was only that earlier, to accommodate Feng Xiaoxiao's ice coffin, the rear section had been converted into a coffin compartment. But now the coffin had been removed, and the seats were naturally back in place.

"It's nothing..." What else could Zhang Duopan say? At this point he could only accept it. "We'll take a taxi. It's convenient enough... ha!"

But Zhang Duopan's words at that moment struck anyone who heard them as utterly comical. After all, he had been the one doing the most bragging earlier, and now he was the one reduced to taking a taxi.

He Meiyue said nothing, but she clearly looked down on Zhang Duopan. As it happened, she rather felt that Wei Zhao was not afraid of Fan Ganhe at all, but simply had no substantive relationship with Wang Xinyan yet. And from the looks of it, he was not the type who liked to show off—otherwise, when Zhang Duopan had said he had a car, anyone else would have retorted on the spot, yet Wei Zhao had waited until they reached the parking lot to mention his.

Though the car was not Bai Weituo's, Bai Weituo was quite gleeful, as if he had vented a pent-up frustration. "Some people," he said, "think having a car makes them hot stuff. Don't they know cars are pretty common these days?"

"Heh, get in," Wei Zhao said, opening the driver's door.

Though it was a three-row vehicle, He Meiyue and Chai Xiaoling, the two girls, did not feel cramped sitting in the back row, while the front passenger seat was left for Wang Xinyan.

Wang Xinyan shook her head slightly and got in. It seemed these people had already decided that she and Wei Zhao were a couple.

Zhang Duopan and Fan Ganhe watched with dark expressions as Wei Zhao's car pulled out of the parking lot. In the end, the only ones left without a ride were the two of them.

At the school gate, Zhang Duopan and Fan Ganhe flagged down a taxi and hurried off toward the KTV.

By the time they arrived, however, He Meiyue had already started singing. As ill luck would have it, the two of them were in the middle of a duet—a love song! That song was originally sung by Xu Shilan together with her teacher, so naturally no one would read anything into it. But He Meiyue singing it with Bai Weituo carried a certain ambiguity.

Zhang Duopan watched with a sullen face as Bai Weituo, who sang rather well, stole the spotlight, and began to scheme. He had lost an enormous amount of face today, and had probably lost a good many impression points with He Meiyue. Winning this round back would likely take some effort.

In high school, Zhang Duopan had had no rivals. He had attended a key high school with strict discipline, and only wealthy self-funded students like him ever got up to any tricks; everyone else devoted themselves single-mindedly to their studies. University was different, though—here one could date in earnest, and neither the school nor the teachers would interfere.

To defeat Bai Weituo, he would have to bring out some real skills.

Wei Zhao sitting beside Wang Xinyan also grated on Fan Ganhe. He wanted to go over, but Chai Xiaoling sat on Wang Xinyan's other side, leaving him no opening at all.

"Brother Zhang, we need to come up with something!" Though Fan Ganhe was a sports recruit, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, his family had little money. He had gotten into Donghai Engineering University on athletic specialty, whereas Zhang Duopan was a self-funded student from a well-off family. Usually, when the two were together, Zhang paid, so Fan Ganhe willingly called him Brother Zhang.

"Damn it, some nobody has to come out of nowhere and ruin everything!" Zhang Duopan said bitterly, glaring at Bai Weituo.

"Not just that Bai Weituo—that Wei Zhao... the bastard's a real wolf in sheep's clothing, hiding his car and not saying a word, making you look bad, Brother Zhang!" Fan Ganhe wanted to pursue Wang Xinyan, so naturally he resented Wei Zhao.

"Here's the plan. You go out and order some beer. We'll use a drinking contest as an excuse and get them drunk. Best if we make them embarrass themselves and lose a few impression points!" Zhang Duopan said to Fan Ganhe.

"Got it!" Fan Ganhe agreed at once. In high school, drinking had been routine for the two of them; at restaurants they would down crate after crate. The two of them could easily put away a case of large beers.

Fan Ganhe left the private room, and after a while he came back hauling five cases of beer. The KTV's bottles were small, but five cases was absolutely no small amount.

Five cases of beer were nothing to a sports recruit like Fan Ganhe—he carried them straight in—but Zhao Shengji's and Song Xiaodao's expressions changed at once!

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