July 21.
The day of the previously announced high school reunion had finally arrived.
To let everyone eat more, play more, and drink a little longer, they hadn’t chosen a lunchti gathering. Instead, they scheduled it for the evening.
The notice Wang Hao sent out said the reunion would officially start at six-thirty in the evening, but in reality everyone understood… even if people didn’t all arrive until seven, that would still be completely normal.
“You should’ve written in the notice that the reunion starts at five,” Jiang Ran complained. “Then everyone would definitely be here by six.”
“People nowadays are way too slow. Being late has beco a habit.”
After attending enough university events, you co to understand that procrastination is incurable. It’s the real terminal illness.
If you say six-thirty, then in many people’s minds that ans six-thirty is the ti they leave the house.
And no matter how many tis you call them, the answer is always the sa—almost there, on the way, arriving soon. As for where they actually are, only the gods know.
“That won’t work.”
Wang Hao rejected the idea imdiately.
“So people are very punctual, and so even arrive early. If you do that, those punctual classmates would end up waiting too long. When you send the notice, you have to consider the delay margin for the slow people—but you can’t push it too early either. You have to think about both sides and find a middle ground.”
“Fair enough.”
Jiang Ran nodded. It made sense.
No wonder he’d been the class monitor.
It felt like once he left the academic environnt of school, society itself had beco Wang Hao’s comfort zone. He handled everything smoothly, like a fish in water.
At the mont, Jiang Ran and Wang Hao were standing at the entrance of the hotel welcoming people. Classmates began arriving one after another.
“Yo! Fatty!”
Wang Hao launched himself forward like a human cannonball, bumping his belly against the other guy’s. Waves rippled across both stomachs.
“Hahaha, you got fatter again.”
“Hahaha, sure, say you’re the skinny one then. Go upstairs and grab a seat.”
A while later—
“Yo! Number Five!”
Wang Hao attempted another belly-slam, but the other guy dodged instantly.
“Are you trying to kill ?!”
“Hahaha, just checking if your reflexes got worse. Go upstairs!”
And just like that, Wang Hao welcod the male classmates one by one—with his stomach.
When female classmates arrived, however, Wang Hao behaved much more properly, patiently waiting for his skill cooldown.
But strangely, many of the girls already seed to know about Jiang Ran’s transfer into a graduate program. The mont they reached the entrance they ignored Wang Hao completely, grabbed Jiang Ran, and began firing off questions in rapid succession, full of shock.
“How do they all know?” Jiang Ran asked in confusion.
Wang Hao sighed.
“When one person knows sothing, everyone knows it.”
“There aren’t many people like us who went from junior college upward in the first place. And your parents probably broadcast it everywhere too. Anyone hearing about it isn’t surprising. The world is just that small.”
While greeting classmates, Jiang Ran noticed a new face he had never seen before.
The na was Song He.
A boy.
Jiang Ran had never t him. In his mory, this person had never existed in their high school class.
But he had already figured out the reason.
Since Cheng ngxue’s absence from Donghai University had been replaced by Chi Xiaoguo, then Qin Feng’s absence from Hangzhou No.1 High School would naturally have been filled by soone else.
So regardless of whether it was Worldline 0 or Worldline 1, their high school class still had forty-two students.
The only difference was that in Worldline 0, Qin Feng had been the one in their class.
In Worldline 1, it was Song He.
Song He greeted Jiang Ran warmly, as if they had been good friends during high school.
Jiang Ran obviously had no such mories, but he played along politely.
Still, he took a few extra looks at Song He.
Because…
If Song He had filled Qin Feng’s original position,
then his student number in the class now must be—
42.
Finally, close to seven o’clock, their horoom teacher arrived late.
“Sorry for being late.”
Teacher Gao smiled apologetically and shook hands with Jiang Ran and Wang Hao.
“There was a bit of traffic. I miscalculated the ti.”
Jiang Ran quickly said it was fine—there were still classmates who hadn’t arrived yet.
Everyone understood, of course, that Teacher Gao had deliberately co a little later.
After all, a class reunion was fundantally a reunion of classmates. Inviting the teacher was just a formality. If the teacher ca later, everyone could relax and chat more freely beforehand.
Wang Hao escorted Teacher Gao to the small banquet hall on the second floor. Then he ca back downstairs, took out the attendance list, and checked it.
“Only Zhou Xiong hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Zhou Xiong…”
Jiang Ran began recalling.
He was a boy from the class who was… difficult to evaluate.
Zhou Xiong ca from an ordinary family, but he cared deeply about face. Extrely vain. Extrely fond of putting on airs.
To be honest, most classmates hadn’t liked him very much back then.
But Zhou Xiong didn’t care. Pride was his nature.
Most of the ti everyone could tell he was lying, bragging, desperately trying to maintain appearances.
But since they were classmates and there were no serious grudges, no one bothered exposing him.
Of course, so people might have secretly treated this kind of “CEO-type personality” as a joke—but Jiang Ran never held that kind of prejudice.
After all…
Everyone had gone through adolescence.
Who hadn’t imagined themselves dancing with a sword in the rain?
Who hadn’t imagined revealing their brilliance before a crowd?
Who hadn’t pretended to be deep and lancholic, thinking of themselves as so rebellious, cool hero?
“I wonder how Zhou Xiong is doing now,” Jiang Ran said with a small smile.
“In college he should’ve improved a bit, right? Back in high school everyone’s differences weren’t that big. Everyone wore school uniforms—there wasn’t much to compare.”
“But college is different. The gap between people—and between families—is huge.”
“So people drive BMWs and rcedes to class. Others can only afford the cheapest als in the cafeteria.”
“Zhou Xiong’s family situation is average. Facing so many genuinely rich students, he should tone things down.”
“Hmph.”
Wang Hao snorted.
“Zhou Xiong is exactly the sa as before. Nothing changed.”
“His social dia used to be sowhat normal—random photos with gloomy captions, stealing travel pictures from the internet, pretending he was on vacation or staying in hotels.”
“But lately it’s gotten ridiculous. Showing off watches worth millions, stacks of gold bars.”
“Honestly, I can’t even be bothered criticizing him. Everyone has vanity, but at least don’t fake it, right? Did you see his post yesterday? Oh right—you study all day, you probably didn’t.”
“Zhou Xiong started showing off the interior of a Maybach! I nearly died laughing. No idea where he stole the photo from. There was even a driver wearing white gloves.”
“Trust —if you ask him where the Maybach is later, he’ll definitely say it’s in maintenance or sothing. He’ll have ten thousand excuses. You’ll only ever see those things on his social dia. In real life you won’t see them once.”
“But honestly, soone low-key like you—that’s the real style! What do they call it… right, restrained!”
“Relax. At tonight’s reunion there’s definitely no one more impressive than you. You’re the absolute star!”
Jiang Ran followed Wang Hao’s gaze.
Sure enough—
A luxurious two-tone Maybach slowly drove toward them.
Even though Jiang Ran didn’t know much about cars, he could tell it was extrely expensive.
And the license plate was yellow—aning the car was longer than six ters.
That placed it among the highest-tier Maybach models.
To drive a car like this, an ordinary C-class driver’s license wouldn’t be enough. You needed an A1 license.
“I wonder which big boss that is,” Wang Hao muttered.
“Man… if I could sit in that car just once in my life, it’d be worth it.”
As he spoke—
The Maybach stopped directly in front of them.
Jiang Ran and Wang Hao exchanged a look, both completely confused.
Then the driver’s door opened.
A tall, muscular driver stepped out, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit and wearing white gloves.
He jogged forward with professional posture, stopped beside the rear door, gently opened it, shielded the door fra with one hand, and bowed.
“President Zhou, please step out.”
P-President Zhou?!
Jiang Ran and Wang Hao stared at each other, wide-eyed.
A polished leather shoe erged from the Maybach.
A hand wearing an exaggerated Richard Mille watch extended out, flicking the sleeve.
Then a young man—only eighteen or nineteen—stepped out of the car, straightened up, and smiled toward them.
“Class Monitor. Jiang Ran. Long ti no see.”
“Zhou Xiong!”
Wang Hao was completely stunned.
“Y-you…”
“Holy crap! That Maybach is really yours?! Yesterday I saw your post and didn’t believe it!”
…
By the ti the reunion had been underway for an hour and a half, everyone was a little drunk. Conversations beca increasingly direct.
Many classmates gathered around Zhou Xiong, n and won raising glasses and asking what had happened to him—how he had made so much money just two years after graduating high school.
“No, no.”
Zhou Xiong had drunk quite a bit. His face was flushed and his body swayed slightly, but he still wasn’t drunk. His mind remained clear.
“It’s not as exaggerated as everyone thinks. I just encountered so opportunities and managed to seize them.”
“But no matter what, we were classmates for three years. I hope everyone can still treat the sa as before. I’m nothing special—I’ll always stand equal with you all.”
“When we were in school my abilities were limited, nothing I could do. Now that I’ve done a bit better, of course we should help each other.”
“As for the gifts and drinks today, don’t take them too seriously.”
“In short, being classmates is fate. From now on, don’t be strangers with .”
“If anyone runs into trouble in life—any kind of trouble—you can co to !”
“No matter how difficult it is, one phone call from will solve it!”
…
Zhou Xiong took out his phone and raised it to his ear.
“[Lilith].”
Boom.
Jiang Ran’s spine turned ice-cold.
It felt as if a massive hamr had slamd into his chest.
His heart stopped beating.
His wineglass froze midair. The liquid surface trembled.
His neck stiffened as he slowly raised his head and looked toward Zhou Xiong, who stood surrounded by the crowd.
“I have a classmate whose mother is at Peking Union dical College Hospital.”
Zhou Xiong spoke into the phone, his tone carrying unquestionable authority.
“Arrange the best hospital room, the best specialists, and the fastest surgery.”
“Do it now. Imdiately.”
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