Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight: Twists and Turns II (1/2)

In the end, the class gathering was indeed held in S City. Although everyone had parted ways after graduation, the majority of them were still in S City or in the neighboring cities not too far away. In fact, quite a few of them had stayed in S City to further their studies.

The specific location that was chosen was a hotel that did not have a chain in the city center, so it was reasonably priced. After all, they had only graduated from university for a few years and their average salary was not high at all. Unlike the outlier Xiao Yu, most of them were still studying for their master’s degree and did not even have an income yet.

To provide convenience for the transport arrangements of their classmates who were situated in cities further away, the gathering was set to be held on Saturday, three days later.

This time round, all of the majors in their university would be attending the gathering. It could be said that it was a large-scale event. As a senior of several years ahead of Xiao Yu, Lin Zhou should not have attended their year’s gathering. However, during his university days, Lin Zhou had participated in various activity clubs and held a position in them. He had a great interpersonal relationship with everyone, so the design school had specifically invited him.

As Xiao Yu’s vehicle had been scrapped in the accident, he was forced to periodically check the directions on his mobile while he worried about what Faye was doing.

He didn’t know if it was because Faye had been abandoned before, but that troublesome yet sticky cat had been clinging onto Xiao Yu twenty-four hours a day aside from the time she was eating, sleeping, or bathing. If he chased her away, she would use those big, watery eyes to look at him pitifully, turning back to look with every step she took. It was simply too hard for Xiao Yu to chase her away cold-heartedly.

Which was why to Faye, it was extremely difficult to be left alone when it came to such gathering that would most likely end late at night.

… But yes, Xiao Yu did end up deciding to attend the gathering.

Ever since he had thrown a hard punch at Lin Zhou at SI, Xiao Yu thought that he would not have any contact with that senior anymore for the rest of his life. Regardless of what had happened in the past, their friendship had come to an end. Even if they were to meet again, they would be strangers and no longer friends.

After the dismissal, Xiao Yu had been thrown into a huge mess of problems, andhe did not have any spare effort to think about Lin Zhou. He had simply forgotten to delete that person from his QQ friends’ list. Of course, Xiao Yu did not expect him to have the audacity to contact him either.

At the beginning, Xiao Yu had decided that he would not give in, no matter what Lin Zhou had to say. However, out of all the possibilities, he had never expected Lin Zhou to use the truth of the accident as a condition.

That accident was like a thorn in Xiao Yu’s heart, making him bleed every time he thought about it.

Yet, at that moment, Lin Zhou actually told him that the accident was indeed not a mishap.

Xiao Yu’s lack of imagination prevented him from understanding what Lin Zhou was trying to say, no matter how he tried to infer it.

Hence, he had no choice but to accept Lin Zhou’s invitation.

……

The weather was great on that Saturday with a comfortable warm temperature, moderate wind and a beautiful sun.

The hotel was booked by a person from the business school. The unique point of the hotel was that every private room had its own name, and they were named after Chinese idioms. For example there was, 双喜临门 (Shuang Xi Lin Men), 步步高升 (Bu Bu Gao Sheng) and 招财进宝 (Zhao Cai Jin Bao) ¹. There was no private room with the same name.

The commerce school which Xiao Yu was from, was in a private room called 柳暗花明 (Liu An Hua Ming). Xiao Yu took a quick glance across the room and found no one that he knew. He did not enter the room at all, and went directly towards the private room, 峰回路转 (Feng Hui Lu Zhuan), where the design school graduates were at.

“Hey, you’re Xiao Yu, right?”

Before he even reached the doors, Xiao Yu was called out by someone.

That person was smoking at the door and immediately recognized Xiao Yu.

“You are?” Xiao Yu stopped in his tracks as he studied the other person.

“It’s me, it’s me.” He said with his cigarette between his lips, as he lifted his overly-long fringe at the side of his face.

There was an obvious scar on his forehead.

“Ah, Rex.” Xiao Yu could not recognize who he was, but he remembered that scar.

The origin of the scar was an interesting story that everyone discussed about enthusiastically. It was said that this gentleman once got restless after an hour and half of engraving class. He smacked his head habitually and forgot that he was holding a sculpting knife. Later, he rejected the help of his teacher and classmates and went to the school’s infirmary alone and bloodied. In the end, he happily rested in his room for an entire week.

And the roommate of this gentleman, who rather die than to attend class, was Xiao Yu. Rex was forced by his family to enroll in the design school. But, he became close brothers with the ambitious Xiao Yu. Back then, he even went to send Xiao Yu off at the airport when the latter went overseas. It could be said that they were very close with each other.

“Who the hell is Rex? That’s so disgusting. It’s like a thing from ages ago. Call me by my name. You do remember that I’m Liu Chengxin, right?”

“Of course I remember. Long time no see, Chengxin.” Xiao Yu silently breathe a sigh of relief. Thankfully, this good friend of his was a frank and outspoken yet insensitive person.

“Well, it’s been like seven years already. How are you doing?” Liu Chengxin took two steps forward to grab Xiao Yu’s shoulder like two close brothers.

“I’m doing okay…” Xiao Yu brushed off vaguely: “Aren’t you going in?”

“There’s no one I’m close with. Boring. I came out to take a puff. Speaking of which, when you left me back then, life was so hard to endure for me. I can’t find anyone to attend classes for me anymore.”

Liu Chengxin lightly shoved Xiao Yu as if he was very annoyed. Then, at the next moment, he was grinning from ear to ear. “Thankfully yours truly is quick-witted enough to change my major in year two. Hahaha.”

“Oh, your family agreed to it?”

“That’s a long story. Come on, let’s go in and chat.” Liu Chengxin dragged Xiao Yu towards the private room.

Xiao Yu was feeling great after seeing his good friend whom he had not met for years. He went along to walk back into the room. Never had he expect to hear someone calling him from behind: “Xiao Yu.”

That familiar voice froze the moment instantly. Xiao Yu stopped in his tracks as he turned around rigidly and saw a face that he was very familiar with.

“Lin Zhou.”

“Nice to see you, senior. Haven’t seen you in a long time. Let’s head in together.” Liu Chengxin saw Lin Zhou as well and greeted him politely.

“No thank you. I have something to say to Xiao Yu.”

Lin Zhou presented an appropriate smile, just like the senior whom everyone had respected deeply seven years ago.

“Oh, you guys have a prior arrangement? Go ahead then. I’m done with my cigarette. I’ll head inside first.”

Xiao Yu waited till his friend had left before he said coldly, “What do you have to say? Spill it.”

“It’s not convenient here. There’s a bar in the basement. We’ll talk there.”