Xiang Wenwen wore a simple T-shirt that was mostly soaked through, paired with loose beach shorts. He looked as though he had just climbed out of the swimming pool.
He looked almost exactly the same as he had at the wedding a year earlier: fair and handsome, with neat short hair and an elegant, gentle smile. Even after all these years, he still resembled the courteous and considerate class monitor he had been in high school.
The only real difference was that he was much more muscular than before. His wet T-shirt clung to his body, faintly revealing the definition of his muscles beneath it.
Wen Ci was somewhat surprised. She stood politely.
“Class Monitor, long time no see.”
Xiang Wenwen was already used to everyone addressing him that way and did not correct her.
He smiled.
“You look beautiful today.”
Wen Ci assumed he was only being polite.
“Thank you.”
“What do you mean, Class Monitor?”
Dou Yiqing poked her head forwards.
Xiang Wenwen immediately said, “You’ve always been beautiful.”
Only then was Dou Yiqing satisfied.
At that moment, the stranger occupying the lounger on Wen Ci’s other side suddenly stood and jumped into the pool.
Water splashed onto the edge.
Wen Ci turned her face away to avoid it, but Xiang Wenwen had already stepped in front of her and blocked the splash.
“May I sit here? I won’t be interrupting your conversation, will I?”
Xiang Wenwen gestured with his chin towards the newly vacated lounger and asked like a gentleman.
“Of course,” Wen Ci immediately replied. “You won’t be interrupting us.”
Xiang Wenwen sat down.
“I didn’t expect either of you to come.”
He remembered that they had never been particularly close to Qin Yun. Dou Yiqing and Qin Yun’s relationship had been especially terrible.
“To be honest, neither did I,” Dou Yiqing said.
Then she remembered something.
“By the way, Class Monitor, I happened to be studying outside the province when you got married, so I couldn’t attend. Let me belatedly wish you a happy marriage—although it’s probably rather late.”
“It is a little late,” Xiang Wenwen said with a laugh. “But thank you anyway. I heard from Weiwei that both of you are teaching at Jiangcheng Middle School now?”
“No,” Wen Ci replied. “I teach third grade at the primary school division. Yiqing teaches at Jiangcheng Middle School.”
“Close enough. No matter how the divisions are separated, it’s still the same school.”
“Please stop mentioning school. My head is beginning to hurt again.”
Dou Yiqing blinked and asked, “Class Monitor, why didn’t you attend the anniversary celebration a while ago?”
A subtle expression appeared on Xiang Wenwen’s face.
However, he quickly returned to normal.
“Like you, I was outside the province at the time and couldn’t come.”
Dou Yiqing nodded.
“That’s right. You’re a company owner now—a very busy man.”
Gossip was how Dou Yiqing relaxed outside work.
Since Duan Wei and Xiang Wenwen had many friends, various pieces of news about them would always drift into her ears.
It was said that after Xiang Wenwen and Duan Wei began dating, even his university internship had been completed at the company owned by Duan Wei’s family.
After graduating, he had naturally joined the company full-time.
Everyone had assumed that within a few years, his future father-in-law would promote him to a senior executive position.
Unexpectedly, not long after the two married, Xiang Wenwen left his father-in-law’s company and established a small company of his own.
“I wouldn’t call myself a company owner,” Xiang Wenwen said modestly. “I’m only a small-time entrepreneur.”
After finishing her grilled meat, Dou Yiqing noticed that some fresh fruit had been brought out nearby.
“I’m going to bring over some watermelon to cleanse the palate. Wen Ci, save my seat.”
After Dou Yiqing left, the area finally became a little quieter.
“She’s still exactly the same as before. Do you remember our biology laboratory group? The three of us were together, and it always seemed as though she was the only one speaking.”
Xiang Wenwen smiled.
“In the end, the teacher punished all three of us by making us stand outside.”
Wen Ci smiled.
“I remember.”
“Time passes so quickly. In the blink of an eye, we’ve been away from high school for so many years.”
Xiang Wenwen sighed and looked at her face through the dim lighting.
“I was too busy during the wedding last time and didn’t have the opportunity to speak with you properly. How have you been these past few years? Has work been going well?… Have you found a boyfriend?”
…
The moment Zhou Wu went upstairs, someone immediately approached and offered him a cigarette.
Zhou Wu raised a hand to refuse.
When Qin Yun saw him, he patted the space he had deliberately left beside him and called him over.
They were sitting on a sofa beside a semi-open balcony.
The swimming pool on the first floor lay directly below. There was even a specially constructed diving platform extending from the balcony, allowing people to jump straight into the pool.
However, the edge of the balcony was currently crowded with people, making it impossible to see the scene downstairs.
Although Qin Yun sat in the centre of the sofa, the moment Zhou Wu took his seat and casually stretched out his long legs, it seemed as though the main character had changed.
“Happy birthday,” Zhou Wu said. “Your gift was delivered to your house.”
“I received it. You’re seriously my biological brother. Do you know how long I had people searching for that bottle of wine?”
Qin Yun immediately tried to embrace him.
Zhou Wu avoided him and pushed him back into his seat with one hand.
“F*ck, we haven’t seen each other in more than half a month. Don’t you want to hug your brother?”
“No.”
Zhou Wu smiled.
Qin Yun clicked his tongue.
There were many people around them, all discussing recently purchased yachts and newly acquired women.
Qin Yun moved closer and lowered his voice.
“Did you settle everything? What are you thinking, brother? Are you genuinely not going to work under your fa—”
Seeing Zhou Wu’s displeased expression, Qin Yun changed his wording.
“…your uncle anymore?”
“Mm.”
Qin Yun was momentarily speechless.
Previously, he had still been admiring how many major projects Zhou Wu had successfully negotiated and advanced.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Zhou Wu suddenly announced that he intended to leave the company and establish something independently.
During the past half-month, Zhou Wu had returned home to confront his father.
Qin Yun had heard they had nearly come to blows.
“Everything has been settled? I mean, perhaps you should reconsider. Your mother still owned a share of that company—”
Zhou Wu gave a faint hum.
“My maternal grandfather knows. He strongly supports the decision.”
Zhou Wu’s parents had entered a business marriage.
Originally, the woman’s family had been in a stronger position. At the time, Zhou Wu’s father had merely owned a small company and had married above his station.
Zhou Wu’s mother was her family’s only daughter and was deeply loved by her relatives.
They had been equally generous towards her husband.
After marrying, the couple had genuinely loved each other for a period of time.
Not long after Zhou Wu was born, however, someone suddenly arrived at the family home carrying a young boy and claimed that he was Zhou Wu’s father’s son.
By the time Zhou Wu’s mother understood what had happened, she discovered that Zhou Wu’s father had already infiltrated the family businesses completely.
She had barely any authority left.
What followed was years of chaos.
Ten years earlier, Zhou Wu’s mother had died after a serious illness.
His maternal grandfather was already elderly, frail and sickly, and could no longer deal with the endless disputes. He returned to his hometown to spend his remaining years in retirement.
“All right.”
Qin Yun shook his head in admiration once more.
“I simply think it’s a shame…”
“There’s nothing regrettable about it,” Zhou Wu said lazily. “I’m only refusing to continue working for him. I still own my shares.”
“When Zhou Huacheng accidentally dies one day, his shares will become mine too.”
“…”
F*ck.
That was not entirely unreasonable.
Zhou Wu bit into the grilled meat Wen Ci had given him.
Qin Yun glanced at it.
“I wanted to ask earlier—why did you come upstairs carrying several skewers? We have food here too…”
He examined them.
“Those look slightly overcooked.”
He called to a nearby waiter.
“Go and bring some from over there.”
“No need,” Zhou Wu refused. “I’ll eat these.”
After finishing the grilled meat, Zhou Wu finally paid some attention to his phone for the first time that evening.
When he opened it, he could not help laughing.
Apart from numerous messages asking why he had not arrived yet, there was also a money transfer.
It was from Wen Ci.
Two hundred yuan.
The note read:
**Parking fine.**
Zhou Wu did not accept it.
He lowered his head and lazily typed:
**Zhou Wu: Aren’t we splitting it equally?**
Ten minutes passed without a reply.
Zhou Wu listened carelessly to the people chatting around him and waited for a while.
Finally losing patience, he gestured at the person standing in front of the balcony glass.
“Move aside.”
The man froze, then obediently stepped away, revealing the scene downstairs.
Qin Yun had been chatting with his friends when he suddenly noticed that the person beside him had fallen silent.
He turned and saw Zhou Wu resting his chin on one hand, staring at a particular area below.
Qin Yun leaned over curiously.
“Who are you staring at without moving? Duan Wei? I’m telling you, Xiang Wenwen is here today. You should at least restrain yourself—”
As he spoke, he followed Zhou Wu’s gaze.
He saw Wen Ci and Xiang Wenwen beside the swimming pool.
They sat close together on the loungers and appeared to be enjoying their conversation.
Whatever Xiang Wenwen said caused Wen Ci to turn her face away and smile, her eyes curving into beautiful crescents.
Qin Yun froze.
His gaze shifted between Zhou Wu and the scene downstairs several times.
Then he asked with certainty, “You don’t want to beat up Xiang Wenwen, do you?”
Zhou Wu replied coldly, “With such a powerful imagination, you should make films instead of talking nonsense beside my ear every day.”
“How did you know I invested in film and television? What do you think? Do you want to join?”
“No,” Zhou Wu said. “Why would I invest in something that loses money?”
“Why are you cursing my business?!”
Qin Yun continued looking downstairs.
“Wen Ci has really shown me respect today. She dressed so beautifully…”
Then he said, “Hey, Zhou Wu, have you noticed that Wen Ci is quite attractive? She’s the type who becomes more pleasant the longer you look at her.”
“Is she the one in the white dress? Who is she? I wanted to ask earlier.”
The man who had previously been blocking the balcony glass finally spoke.
Qin Yun immediately replied, “She’s my former classmate. F*ck off and stay away from her.”
“F*ck, isn’t that unfair?”
The man laughed.
“Someone is already hitting on her.”
“That’s also my former classmate,” Qin Yun replied. “That’s Duan Wei’s husband, idiot.”
The moment he finished speaking, the two people downstairs suddenly moved even closer.
Xiang Wenwen stood, bent towards Wen Ci and touched her hair.
Qin Yun fell silent.
The balcony remained quiet for a moment.
Then the man asked, “So am I the idiot, are you the idiot, or is Duan Wei the idiot?”
“F*ck off. People with dirty minds see filth everywhere.”
Qin Yun looked away and continued searching through the crowd.
He muttered, “By the way, where is Dou Yiqing? Why can’t I see her? Did she go looking for food again—f*ck, she really did.”
Dou Yiqing’s long legs made her easy to spot among the crowd.
Finding her hair obstructive, she casually swept it backwards, revealing her smooth, attractive forehead.
Qin Yun watched for a moment.
“All right. She almost looks like a normal human being today…”
Then his expression changed.
“Wait. Is she seriously carrying away all the meat the chef just finished grilling?”
While he was still laughing, the person beside him abruptly stood.
Qin Yun raised his head.
“Where are you going?”
Zhou Wu finished the alcohol in his glass in one mouthful and casually placed it on the table.
“Downstairs.”
…
“Look.”
Xiang Wenwen opened his palm, revealing half a leaf.
Wen Ci touched her hair.
“Thank you. It must have caught there while I was on the way.”
Xiang Wenwen smiled and continued their previous conversation.
“Have you simply not met anyone you like, or have you been too busy with work?”
“A little of both,” Wen Ci answered vaguely.
She pressed her lips together.
The question she wanted to ask repeatedly hovered at the edge of her mouth.
Her rational mind continued trying to restrain her.
Yet Wen Ci, who was normally calm and composed, suddenly found her self-control becoming unusually weak.
The hands resting on her knees tightened and relaxed several times.
Finally, Wen Ci heard herself ask as naturally as possible, “What about you, Class Monitor? How are things between you and Duan Wei?”
“What are you discussing?”
A careless, languid voice suddenly interrupted.
Wen Ci looked up towards the sound and unexpectedly met Zhou Wu’s eyes.
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