Chapter 61
Chapter 61: I Do Not Intend To Sing An English Song
Li Jingjing had an innocent character. After hearing everybody praise how amazing Jiang Shuo was, she went with the flow and casually spoke some good words. Once these words were spoken, Jiang Shuo felt as if he was on cloud nine. In his mind he thought that Li Jingjing really wanted to be more intimate with him to receive some benefits, and he couldn’t help but feel immensely proud of himself.
How can an errand boy from a small company possibly be compared with the son of an influential official like me?
Jiang Shuo felt that he was overthinking things earlier, he simply didn’t need to oppress Yang Chen that strongly.
The more Jiang Shuo felt that way the more he thought of being more mature and earnest, that he should convey how respectable and wise he was. So he immediately called out to everybody, “Please take a seat everyone, all expenses today will be paid by me, Jiang, you don’t need to be courteous.”
When he looked at Li Jingjing, Jiang Shuo tenderly smiled and said, “Jingjing, you might not be familiar with this place, how about you sit by my side and I’ll tell you all about it. I guarantee you will have lots of fun tonight.”
“Ah?” Li Jingjing hurriedly waved her hands, and with a smile she said, “You don’t need to do that, Head Jiang, everybody can can continue to have fun, I don’t know how to sing and dance, I can just watch by big brother Yang’s side.”
Jiang Shuo’s hopes were dashed, and he felt anger welling up inside him. But he only thought of it as Li Jingjing being a shy chick, therefore he feigned a magnanimous smile, “Alright then, you may sit by Mr Yang’s side, if there’s anything you want feel free to ask, you don’t need to be polite.”
“Don’t need to be polite? Of course I won’t be polite, if I’m polite doesn’t that mean that I’m being disrespectful to Department Head Jiang?” Yang Chen laughed and said, “How about we first order a few bottles of red wine to liven things up a bit, which will also give everybody the energy to sing.”
A burst of disdain flowed into Jiang Shuo’s heart, he inwardly scolded this country bumpkin who only knew how to take advantage and freeload. But naturally, a few bottles of red wine was nothing in his eyes, and he casually waved his hand with a smile and said, “Of course that’s alright, Mr Yang, you may directly order a few bottles of whichever red wine you want.”
The other teachers that were seated were all elated. Although they were considered relatively well off, it was natural that when it comes to free wine, the more the merrier.
Yang Chen revealed an expression of reverence, and immediately walked out the door to look for a waiter. After speaking to the waiter, he immediately returned to his seat and sat beside Li Jingjing, with a smile he said, “Sure enough, Department Head Jiang is a great figure with deep pockets, I’ve ordered 5 bottles of red wine but I’m not sure if that will be enough.”
5 bottles? Jiang Shuo sneered in his heart. It wouldn’t be considered a big sum even if he ordered 10 bottles.
“Mr Yang is too polite, with this many people 5 bottles definitely wouldn’t be enough, we should order a few more bottles later.”
The efficiency of the waiters in Heavenly Province was very high, after everybody chatted for a short while, the bottles of red wine placed in an ice bucket were served. When everybody looked at the 5 bottles of red wine in the bucket, they were immediately shocked!
The 5 bottles were actually ‘98 Castel red wine from France! Anybody with a slight amount of understanding in wine would recognize this wine, a brand from Bordeaux, France. Moreover, it was one of the well-known top class wineries, in addition it has been aged for over 10 years, it’s simply impossible for its value to not be thousands of dollars!
Naturally, Jiang Shuo was the most familiar with the prices attached to these bottles of wine, he’d never thought that the red wine Yang Chen ordered was something like this, and thought he had ordered ordinary red wine that cost a little over 100 dollars per bottle.
Helplessly watching 6000 dollars fly out from his pocket, Jiang Shuo had the urge to puke blood.
“This is truly all thanks to Department Head Jiang, I don’t even dare to imagine drinking wine like this usually.” Several quick-witted teachers had caught on with Yang Chen’s scheme, while sneering inwardly, and conformed by speaking words of praise.
Jiang Shuo’s smile was a little rigid as he waved his hand and said, “It’s nothing as long as everybody is happy.”
As of this moment, his originally high spirited mood was now irritable like he had been stuck in a storm. After carefully sizing up Yang Chen who was happily chatting with several other teachers, Jiang Shuo was thinking of a way to punish this fella who didn’t know his place.
Yet the teachers in the room couldn’t care less, they were starting to feel high, and took turns going up to sing and dance to their heart’s content without the slightest similarity to a teacher with rationality. If their students saw how they looked at this moment, they might rub their eyes because of this absurd scene.
Li Jingjing quietly sat on the sofa, listened, and occasionally ate a piece of fruit. Her quiet and contented expression contained a faint smile, yet she didn’t participate in any singing.
Jiang Shuo put his feelings back in order, seeing Li Jingjing engrossed in listening to the others’ singing, he immediately had an idea, and took over a microphone and said, “Today’s party is done to welcome our Teacher Li, as your Department Head, I’ll sing a song just for Jingjing, to convey the sincere feelings I have right now……”
The teachers all knew that Jiang Shuo desired Li Jingjing, hence they cooperated by applauding and cheering.
Li Jingjing was at her wits end, and fidgetily glanced at Yang Chen by her side, seeing that Yang Chen didn’t have any particular reaction, she relaxed a little.
At this moment, Jiang Shuo was already engulfed in deep emotions; he entered a song into the system and said, “I shall sing 《Absolute Infatuation》, as a gift to Miss Li.”
To be honest, Department Head Jiang’s singing was still pretty good, although he didn’t manage to hit some of the high notes, he managed to sing the entire song, Absolute Infatuation by Li Sheng Jie. It was full of strong emotions, it can be assumed he’d sung it for at least 700 or 800 times. If an ordinary girl heard this, she would inevitably be touched by this.
All the teachers began applauding and cheering, and Li Jingjing conformed by clapping and saying “thank you”.
Jiang Shuo was rather pleased with himself, but suddenly noticed that Yang Chen didn’t clap, and was instead unceasingly pouring wine for himself to drink. Jiang Shuo’s heart was once again enraged, and with a strange smile he said, “From the beginning until now, Mr Yang hasn’t sung, is it possible for you to sing a song and let everybody have their fill in pleasure to the ears?”
“Erm……” Yang Chen’s eyebrows creased, he put down the wine glass, and awkwardly smiled as he said, “I think that’s unnecessary, I’m not so good at singing.”
“How can that be allowed? Everybody has sung, whether it’s good or bad is secondary, what’s most important is participation.” Jiang Shuo felt that he finally found a chance to humiliate Yang Chen, and immediately struck while the iron was hot by saying, “Once Mr Yang has sung, we shall invite Jingjing to sing as well, what does everybody think?”
The teachers’ food and drinks were all Jiang Shuo’s money, so naturally they all agreed to this measly request from him. They all joined in to shout for Yang Chen and Li Jingjing to sing.
Although Li Jingjing didn’t dare to sing, she did want to hear Yang Chen’s singing voice. After all, when a woman is infatuated with a man, she wants to know everything about him.
“How about you just sing a song big brother Yang? It doesn’t matter if you sing badly, let’s make everybody happy.” Li Jingjing couldn’t bear the curiosity, and egged him on.
Yang Chen no longer had a choice, he scratched his head, and received the microphone. He slowly stood up, and said, “Actually, I only returned half a year ago. So I’ve basically never heard much of the popular songs here. If I have to sing, please allow me to choose a song from another country……”
“Mr Yang is even a returnee?”
“Are you serious! He sure kept it well in the dark!”
“Yo, it’s not good to boast!”
Several teachers immediately heckled, it was obvious that they weren’t convinced that this man was someone who was hiding the fact that he returned from another country. Otherwise, how could he possibly be a small company’s employee!?
Jiang Shuo strongly felt that Yang Chen was trying to shirk away, and proudly smiled and said, “It’s no big deal, Mr Yang may choose a foreign song, all of us present are English teachers, so we can still understand.”
“That’s right, that’s right!” All the teachers gained interest.
After Yang Chen cleared his throat and chose a song on the computer, the song started playing in the background, and he humbly smiled to everybody, saying, “My apologies, I don’t intend to sing an English song, next up is a song for everybody, it’s a Spanish song sung by the Latin singer Enrique Iglesias, Quizás, if translated into Chinese, it should be called, ‘Perhaps’……”
The rich Spanish charm of the song brought an easing feeling to all of the room. Yang Chen’s voice possessed hoarseness that perfectly fit with the song, and he started his own rendition of it……
“……Estasperdiendoeltiempo，pensando，pensando PorloqueTumasquieras hastacuando，hastacuando Yasipasanlosdias，yyodesesperado……”
[TL: Untouched.]
Everybody present practically opened their eyes wide in disbelief. Jiang Shuo even more so felt pain as if there was a chicken egg stuck in his throat.
The melodious music matched with the unruly and indulgent voice, the Spanish song led everyone to be immersed in a beautiful and touching scenery.
The moment the music stopped, other than Jiang Shuo, everybody applauded vigorously, Li Jingjing’s eyes were even moist, happily revealing an intoxicated smile.
Yang Chen was a little embarrassed, and rejected the teachers’ stubborn requests for him to sing another song, he only said, “Singing is too tiring.”
This time nobody suspected that Yang Chen was afraid to be humiliated, after all everybody present was a foreign language teacher, and knew that understanding a foreign language and being able to sing a foreign song isn’t even on the same level. Usually, to check a person’s standards in a foreign language, all one needs is to check that person’s capability in singing a song of that foreign language, and that person’s approximate standard can be deduced.
Afterwards, things remained happy and fun, but Jiang Shuo who forced himself to laugh happily unceasingly cursed the women in Yang Chen’s family. It was a pity that he didn’t know that even Yang Chen himself didn’t know who they were.
Because they started playing rather early paired with the fact that they still had to go to school and teach classes the next day, before it was 10PM, the teachers decided to return home.
When they were on the way out, everybody’s faces had a slight tinge of red from the alcohol, and their voices were raised considerably.
Yang Chen and several male teachers all chatted warmly, right as they were walking through a bend, in the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a door in one of the rooms having a familiar figure entering.
Why would he be here?
Li Jingjing who always kept her attention on Yang Chen noticed his frown, and caringly asked, “What’s the matter big brother Yang?”
“Oh.” Yang Chen gave her a smile, “It’s nothing, I thought I saw someone I know, but it should be a mistake on my part.”
After Jiang Shuo paid the bill that totalled over 10,000 dollars in pain, the group left Heavenly Province and walked towards the car park.
Although he felt gloomy for the entire night, Jiang Shuo didn’t forget his most important objective, and so he quickly walked to Li Jingjing’s side, elegantly smiled and said, “Jingjing, how about I send you home? I just bought a new car, and can take you for a spin in it.
As he said that, Jiang Shuo pointed at the brand new silver-colored Toyota Camry. Under the street lights, it indeed looked very pretty.
The teachers were all envious, “This car must be over 200,000 dollars, right now petrol is expensive, yet Department Head Jiang still changed to a new car, how unjust this is.” Although the teachers’ wages weren’t low, most of them only drove brands like Ford, Volkswagen and other small cars that cost around 100,000 dollars.
[TL: Reading this you might wonder, how the hell can Ford and Volkswagen be so much cheaper than Toyota!? I mean, I did, but I remember visiting a Volkswagen factory in China, the Passat they manufacture there have like 20-year old designs and kinda looks cheap tbh. So perhaps the prestige of a brand like Toyota is higher there in comparison.]
Li Jingjing awkwardly smiled, and softly said, “Department Head Jiang, I think I don’t need to trouble you, I already feel very thankful to have received such hospitality today. It’s better I take big brother Yang’s car home, big brother Yang is very familiar with the location of my home……”
Jiang Shuo pretended to be curious and asked, “Oh? Mr Yang also drove here? I thought you guys took a taxi here, where’s Mr Yang’s car?”
Yang Chen burped, his tummy was full of fruit and wine. His capacity for liquor has already recovered, yet he still felt a little uncomfortable, in his mind he was still thinking of that figure he saw earlier. Hearing Jiang Shuo’s words, he casually took out the BMW key from his pocket, and pushed the unlock button.
Everybody turned their head to look, and saw a white sports car emitting luster parked in an inconspicuous spot, there was a blue and white propeller-shaped logo, causing everyone to suck in a cold breath.
“Oh my god, isn’t that an M3!?” A light shone in the eyes of a teacher with some knowledge of cars as he said, “This price of this car in the country is more than 300,000 dollars! In the past I saw some rich merchants’ sons driving this, I never thought Mr Yang drives a car like this too, it’s even the newest model!”
Although the other teachers were unfamiliar with what the model name meant, they’ve heard of BMW, and understood what grade of a car that car was.
Jiang Shuo was also shocked, and his face turned green and purplish, no matter how silly he could be, he wouldn’t believe that someone who drives a BMW M3 is an ordinary company’s small employee. Although he was still puzzled as to what identity Yang Chen had, at this moment he still displayed a friendly and flattering smile, “Mr Yang sure kept it well in the dark, this is truly an eye-opener for me.”
Damn it! This rich guy has nothing better to do than to pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger, what is he pretending to be a small employee for!?
“Department Head Jiang is the one with deep pockets.” Yang Chen smiled and said, “Today I’ve drunk enough, thank you for your hospitality, goodbye.” He pulled Li Jingjing’s hand as they walked to the car.
The teachers all watched the white BMW start up and drive off with envy. They felt like they were dreaming, and Yang Chen’s identity had also became the biggest mystery in these people’s hearts.
After Jiang Shuo returned to his car, he started the engine, and looked at the dazzling lights in the car. The fondness he originally felt for it was completely gone, he fiercely smacked the steering wheel, and under the darkness his scholarly face had looked a little sinister……
The Songs:
Li Sheng Jie’s Absolute Infatuation
Enrique Iglesias’ Quizas