Hidden Motives

Gao Teng nodded, finally understanding why Liang Guofu had been so polite to Teacher Chen.

"Actually, I invited you to dinner today because there's something I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

Gao Teng suddenly looked surprised. "You don't like me, do you? You want me to be your boyfriend?"

Meng Yao rolled her eyes. "You wish. It's not even dark yet, so could you at least wait until then to start dreaming?"

"Then what is it?"

"It's just..."

As Meng Yao was speaking, someone suddenly knocked on the private dining room door. A server's voice sounded from outside.

"Come in."

At Meng Yao's invitation, several servers entered and set dish after dish on the table.

When they learned that Meng Yao had arrived, all the chefs at Hongshan Residence had joined in to prepare the meal.

Braised sea cucumber with scallions, braised shark fin, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, Longjing shrimp, braised pork meatballs...

Every dish looked and smelled delicious.

Meng Yao put the conversation on hold for the moment and invited Gao Teng to try the food.

Gao Teng didn't hold back. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating. At long last, he was finally getting to enjoy the good life.

He'd never seen dishes like these before—not in this life or his last!

"Worth coming, right?"

Seeing Gao Teng's satisfied expression, Meng Yao pursed her lips. "I invited you to dinner and you weren't even willing to come. You really don't know how lucky you are!"

Gao Teng swallowed a tender, savory piece of sea cucumber. "You're right. I really don't know how lucky I am. Having dinner with a beautiful, adorable girl like you is truly the greatest honor of my life."

Meng Yao gave a little "hmph" and picked up her chopsticks.

After eating a few bites, she continued what she'd been saying earlier. "Gao Teng, do you want to take private tutoring lessons with me?

"With one-on-one guidance, your grades will definitely improve quickly. You might even get into an ordinary university."

"I can't afford a private tutor."

Meng Yao shook her head. She'd known Gao Teng would worry about that.

"You don't have to pay. It's free."

Gao Teng looked up at Meng Yao. "You'll pay for me?"

"Mm."

"Why?"

Meng Yao answered earnestly, "I don't want to owe anyone. You saved me today, and I want to make your life a little better from now on, so you don't have to struggle so much."

"You're a really good person."

"Of course! I'm not only beautiful and adorable, I'm kindhearted too. I'm an exceptionally good girl."

Gao Teng smiled, then declined. "No need. I'll improve my grades on my own."

Meng Yao frowned. "If you were really capable of that, your grades wouldn't be so bad."

"That was before. Now I'm improving by leaps and bounds every day."

Meng Yao looked unconvinced.

Gao Teng didn't feel like explaining further. With a determined expression, he said, "Anyway, I don't want to rely on anyone. I want to walk my own path."

Meng Yao was about to try to persuade him again, but when she met his unusually resolute gaze, she swallowed her words.

She thought for a moment. "Is there anything else you need help with? Like paying off debts?"

"Definitely not."

Gao Teng refused without hesitation. He didn't want to owe Meng Yao too much, and if her family found out, it might cause unnecessary trouble.

All he wanted right now was to steadily rack up merit points and steal more cultivation from Zhou Xing.

"I think it's better if we just act like ordinary friends. You don't have to keep thinking about helping me. You don't owe me anything."

Meng Yao gave Gao Teng a sidelong look. "You're lying. How could you possibly want to be just ordinary friends with a beautiful, adorable girl like me?

"I think you're playing hard to get. You're deliberately ignoring me because you want me to see you in a different light."

Gao Teng put a hand to his forehead. "Could you stop being so conceited?"

"I'm not conceited! I'm a perfect, flawless treasure. Don't think you can win my attention by putting me down!"

"Heh."

"You're laughing again?"

Gao Teng closed his mouth. He'd better just eat.

The private dining room fell quiet for a while, until Meng Yao couldn't help asking, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"I'm deliberately ignoring you, intentionally playing with your heart, making you fret and worry, making you long for me, making you see me in a different light."

"Bang!"

Meng Yao slapped her chopsticks down on the table. "You're mocking me again, aren't you?"

Gao Teng hurriedly changed the subject. "Actually, I'm rehearsing the Basic Eighteen Fist Forms in my head. The college entrance exams are coming up, so I can't waste time."

"Give me a break!"

After bickering their way through dinner, Gao Teng and Meng Yao went downstairs.

In the lobby, a bespectacled, scholarly-looking middle-aged man saw them and immediately hurried over.

"Yaoyao, are you eating here?"

Meng Yao asked in surprise, "Uncle, what are you doing here?"

Lin Benqiang smiled. "I was passing by on business, so I came in to check on how the restaurant was doing. And this is..."

In an instant, Gao Teng felt an aggressive gaze sweeping over him, as if it were sizing him up from head to toe.

Meng Yao said, "He's my classmate. He saved me today.

"So I invited him here for dinner to thank him."

"He saved you?"

"Yeah."

Meng Yao recounted what had happened in full. Of course, she didn't forget Ma Wei's warning, and she didn't reveal everything just because Lin Benqiang was her uncle.

As Lin Benqiang listened to what had happened on Snake Island, his expression grew darker and darker.

"I've been saying all along that we need to assign someone to protect you at all times, but you wouldn't listen. In the end, we had no choice but to go along with you.

"If someone had been protecting you today, how could you have been in danger?

"If Gao Teng hadn't saved you, you could have lost your life. Do you understand?"

Meng Yao stuck out her tongue. "But I'm fine, aren't I? I haven't even lost a single piece of flesh."

"It'll be too late once something happens!"

"I know, Uncle. I'll be more careful from now on."

Meng Yao grabbed her uncle's hand and swung it from side to side, acting coy.

Lin Benqiang shook her hand off. "Don't try that on me. We're holding a family meeting today to discuss whether we should assign someone to protect you. This time, you won't be allowed to be willful!"

Listening to their conversation, Gao Teng scratched his head.

They needed to hold a family meeting over something like this?

No wonder Meng Yao was more like a child than a young woman. She really was doted on too much!

"Gao Teng, thank you for today. Yaoyao didn't cause you any trouble, did she?"

"Not at all. She was great."

Gao Teng waved a hand and exchanged a few polite words with them, then said goodbye.

After he left, Lin Benqiang's smile faded. "When did you meet this classmate of yours? Why have I never heard you mention him?"

"He only transferred into our class recently. He's a really ungrateful guy!"

"Hm?"

Lin Benqiang's brows knitted together. From the way Meng Yao spoke, it seemed she had some unusual feelings for Gao Teng.

"Yaoyao, you're young and haven't experienced how cruel people can be. Be careful—someone might have ulterior motives."

"Huh? You can't mean Gao Teng, can you?" Meng Yao said firmly. "He wouldn't do that. I tried to help him today, and he turned down everything."

Lin Benqiang asked curiously, "What did he turn down? Tell me."

Meng Yao told him everything without holding anything back.

After hearing her out, Lin Benqiang became even more convinced that Gao Teng had ulterior motives.

He'd turned down help that could affect his future?

That clearly didn't make sense!