"Oh?" Yang Ce was instantly delighted by Liu Yan's words. "Godfather, you can get in touch with this master acupuncturist?"

"We exchanged a few words at a meeting. He's the dean of the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Medical and Pharmaceutical University—his name is Guan Xuemin," Liu Yan said. "Little Guan's a fine man, heh, the same sort as me—someone who loves cracking academic problems and couldn't care less about money or status. Otherwise, with all the big hospitals trying to poach him with high salaries, he'd have left this place long ago."

"Guan Xuemin..." Yang Ce had no impression of the name; the medical world was not his field. "Godfather, then could I trouble you to contact Dean Guan? I'll take Shen Yuxi over to pay him a visit."

"That's a trivial matter—Little Guan will give me face no matter what," Liu Yan said with a laugh. "If you're in a hurry, I'll call him right now. I've already gotten his number; I imagine Old Zhong has put in a word for us in advance as well."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Godfather!" Yang Ce said repeatedly.

"You brat—still talking about trouble with me!" Liu Yan shook his head with a smile and hung up.

……………………

Yang Ce logged into QQ. He hadn't been on QQ at all during this time abroad—not that he didn't want to, but because the circumstances this time were rather special: with a Mysterious Investigation Bureau mission coming up, he wanted to leave no trace of himself outside.

"Beep beep beep..." A stream of crisp message alerts came through.

Yang Ce opened them one by one—there were messages from Zhang Bin, Chen Shutang, Zhao Ying, and surprisingly, one from Su Ya as well.

"Boss, we've made it home safe and sound, please don't worry! Contact me once you're back." This one was from Zhang Bin.

Yang Ce had already sent Zhang Bin a text when he returned, so there was no need to reply to this one. He simply clicked it closed.

Chen Shutang's message was similar, containing words from Zhou Yanning and Lin Yanhe as well, but they were much the same—all expressing how much they missed him. Yang Ce had already seen them at noon, so naturally there was no need to reply.

Su Ya's message was nothing more than pouring out to Yang Ce how busy and how hard-pressed she was; there was in fact nothing important in it. Yang Ce offered a few words of encouragement and expressed his affection.

The last one left was Zhao Ying's message.

"You there? Zhenqing?"

"Why haven't you shown up yet? The spring outing is this weekend—can you come?"

"Get online and contact me!!!"

"You're not going to stand me up, are you? /angry!"

Yang Ce laughed. It seemed Zhao Ying had noticed he hadn't been online for a long time and was getting a little anxious.

He hurriedly sent back a reply: "I'm here. Just got back from being out. Don't worry, I'll definitely make it to your spring outing!"

Before long, Zhao Ying's reply came back: "You finally show up. I thought you'd vanished."

"Ha, a promise is a promise—I naturally have to keep it! So tell me, when is it? I'm ready and standing by!" Yang Ce replied.

"This weekend, Saturday morning at nine, we'll gather at the gate of Songjiang Engineering University. Those with cars can drive themselves; those without can take the bus!" Zhao Ying said. "Do you have a car?"

"I do," Yang Ce replied.

"Then can you come pick me up? I live in the Huashang residential compound across from the school!" Zhao Ying said.

"No problem. Eight thirty?" Yang Ce said.

"Mm, that works." Zhao Ying answered very concisely.

"Then see you Saturday at eight thirty," Yang Ce said.

Zhao Ying's attitude this time left Yang Ce somewhat puzzled. When Zhao Ying had come looking for him before, she had been rather coy—not nearly as forthright as she was now. What exactly had happened this time?

In truth, the reason Zhao Ying was so straightforward this time was that she had already made up her mind! She could not pin down just what she felt for this net friend called "Where in the World Is True Love." If you called it liking him—Zhao Ying was a little unwilling to believe it. How could she have fallen for a net friend?

But if you said she didn't like him—Zhao Ying truly felt that her heart had been moved. Otherwise, she would not have gotten so angry over the things Fan Ce said in the elevator.

So Zhao Ying also wanted to use this opportunity to confirm her own feelings! All along, Zhao Ying had treated "Where in the World Is True Love" as a substitute for Yang Ce's affection.

Although Zhao Ying understood that this was a distorted kind of love, that she could not go on like this, she still could not control her feelings. In certain rooms, "Where in the World Is True Love" was simply too much like Yan, and she could not extricate herself.

And as for meeting at this spring outing, Zhao Ying had already thought it through: if she was merely treating "Where in the World Is True Love" as a substitute for her feelings, then once she met him in person, all those feelings would vanish in an instant!

Because he would never be Yang Ce—however similar, he could never replace Yang Ce. Things on the internet were still illusory; once they met in reality, there would be countless discrepancies.

First of all, his looks would be different, and then there were personal habits and ways of conducting himself—none of these would be the same. The feeling of chatting online was merely a feeling conveyed through words; compared with all that, it counted for nothing.

He only sounded a little like him. Zhao Ying could not possibly take him for Yang Ce.

This was also the reason Zhao Ying was so determined to meet "Where in the World Is True Love" this time.

Of course, these were things Yang Ce could not possibly guess. If he had known Zhao Ying's true thoughts, he would surely have been caught between laughter and tears.

After finishing his chat with Zhao Ying, his godfather Liu Yan's call came through again. Yang Ce picked up: "Godfather."

"Yang Ce, I've already put in a word with Little Guan. He has time tonight—just take Shen Yuxi over around five this evening! He should have just gotten off work then!" Liu Yan said. "He lives in the villa district of the Medical and Pharmaceutical University faculty compound. Before you go in, give his home a call and just say you're my godson. Little Guan's number is xxxxxxxxx—"

"All right, Godfather, I've got it down." Yang Ce hurriedly created a document on the computer and first recorded Guan Xuemin's number.

"Mm, that's it for now. Let me know how it goes tonight—I have to go to a meeting now," Liu Yan said.

"All right, Godfather." Yang Ce hung up and gave a wry smile. He had just left Shen Yuxi's place, and now he had to go back again.

Still, if Shen Yuxi's injury could truly be healed, Yang Ce did not think it would be any trouble at all.

He sent Chen Shutang a text message, telling her that he had some business to attend to that evening, matters concerning Shen Yuxi, and that he might be back a little late. Chen Shutang knew about Shen Yuxi too, knew that she was an employee of his company.

Though she had also heard the rumor that the woman was his mistress, Chen Shutang showed no particular sign of jealousy. No doubt she understood that it was probably just gossip, and that the truth was not as people said.