“Yo~ Our Miss Rose is here~”

As soon as Su Qing walked into the private room, she heard the four-person group teasing. She had originally planned to make a graceful entrance, but immediately covered her face.

“You’re really planning to tease me with that joke for the rest of my life, aren’t you?!”

She sat down next to Zhao Xiaxia and gently patted her, looking completely speechless.

The gossiping four laughed mischievously, with expressions that only a true group of troublemakers could have.

The classmates nearby also let out kindhearted chuckles.

Su Qing was already used to them behaving like this. After laughing and joking with them for a bit, she began talking about the current situation.

Ever since breaking up with Zhou Mu in their second year of high school, Su Qing had become friends with the gossiping four and had expanded her social circle significantly. Even into college, they kept in touch.

They even met up from time to time. After all, many of them had done well on their exams thanks to Yan Yi’s notes and got into their dream universities.

As for Zhou Mu…

Su Qing already felt very calm when she mentioned Zhou Mu.

This time, Zhou Mu didn’t attend the high school reunion—probably because he felt embarrassed. It was said that he got into a business management program at a junior college. Although no one knew exactly which private institution offered the program, it was clear Zhou Mu had been badly misled.

He had always been arrogant. Although military school training had toned it down a little, it wasn’t by much. He probably chose that program because he wanted to be a CEO like on TV.

Even though his uncle tried to talk him out of it, Zhou Mu insisted on sticking with that choice. Sometimes, a person’s future was already determined by their personality.

The last time anyone heard news about him, he had been job-hunting everywhere and getting rejected repeatedly.

Normally, such things wouldn’t spread to the class circle—but his story was too absurd to stay quiet.

—The reason? He had stuffed height-increasing insoles into his leather shoes.

Interviewers weren’t blind—his heels were sticking out. Naturally, he didn’t meet the standards and was eliminated.

Coincidentally, one of his classmates had gone to the same interview and posted about it on the school’s confession wall. Soon, the whole school knew.

And that’s how the gossip spread back to their high school classmates.

Su Qing, thinking about it, casually picked up a cup of milk tea on the table. She took a sip, squinting in satisfaction at the familiar taste. Looking at the familiar logo on the cup, she sighed as she thought of the three people who didn’t attend.

“Ye Wangxing’s milk tea shop has probably opened all across the country by now. Back in sophomore year, it was just a small store. I really didn’t expect this.”

The four-person group, who had just been chatting, nodded in agreement.

“Who says not? I climbed Mount Laojun last time, and there were several milk tea shops at the summit—his was the cheapest. The rest were absurdly overpriced, costing twenty to thirty bucks. His shop literally saved my life up there!”

Li Jun recalled the experience with relief on his face.

Zhang Le, sitting nearby, added: “My senior brother was overseas attending a seminar and even spotted their shop on a random street. I told him I’d had it back in sophomore year, even drank their two-yuan lemon water and one-yuan ice cream—he didn’t believe me until I showed him the news. He was so jealous, hahaha!”

Zhao Xiaxia also chuckled: “And Old Li! Back in our senior year, didn’t their shop launch that ‘Good Luck Persimmon’ drink and even wrote a thank-you note to the two teachers? He and Old Zheng were so proud, they practically wanted the whole school to know that their students made a milk tea recipe just for them!”

Everyone smiled as they recalled those high school memories, but few brought up Su Qing and Zhou Mu’s past.

After all, their relationship back then hadn’t drawn much attention. Many classmates didn’t even know when they got together or broke up.

Su Qing, laughing as she spoke, also brought up the three who weren’t there.

“Speaking of which, when Nan Jiu first got into Peking University, it caused a bit of a stir. I mean, he’s 190cm and handsome. But then he just ignored everyone’s flirty hints and ran off to the Agricultural University to hang out with Ye Wangxing every day.”

Su Qing laughed as she recalled the wails on the university confession wall. The gossiping four all had amused expressions.

“And Yan Yi—every time Nan Jiu went to the Agricultural University, he always showed up in the background. It wasn’t until he joined the lab that his appearances dropped, though their relationship didn’t cool off. Ye Wangxing still brought him food all the time to care for that ‘lab workhorse.’”

The four of them exchanged glances, all showing a knowing expression. They spoke in unison like it was some secret code:

“Ye Wangxing cared about those two even more than he did in high school. Nan Jiu and Yan Yi were still the same as ever.”

Su Qing got a bit excited hearing Zhao Xiaxia’s words. “Exactly! I visited Ye Wangxing last time—my brother’s company had moved to the capital, so I wanted to ask if he’d take on a job. And guess what? I saw Nan Jiu and Yan Yi there too!”

“Ye Wangxing seemed to be recording something at the time. I didn’t see the other two at first because they were hiding behind a tree, totally silent. Only when Ye Wangxing looked up did I realize they had come especially to see him. They seemed to want to say something but didn’t, so I didn’t ask.”

She took another sip of her milk tea and continued: “I wonder how their overseas trip went this time? I think they went to Antarctica, right?”

Zhao Xiaxia nodded. “Yeah, Antarctica. It cost more than a hundred grand per trip, and they even picked the highest-tier cruise room.”

The others all looked visibly envious.

Zhao Xiaxia, sipping her milk tea, then absentmindedly said: “I wonder if their confession worked this time.”

Su Qing, who was just about to speak, immediately forgot what she was going to say after hearing that line: “……”

The next second, a familiar sharp shriek rang out.

“Ah?”

“Ah?????”

“What?????”

The sound caught everyone’s attention in the room. All the classmates looked over.

“Why is the class belle screaming? What happened?”

“No idea. Everything was fine—then she suddenly exploded.”

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, but the gossiping four were just as shocked as Su Qing. Once they processed it, they shouted: “Wait, you’re at the same school as Nan Jiu, and you didn’t know the two of them confessed to Ye Wangxing multiple times and failed?!”

The other classmates: “……”

“Ah???”

“What???”

“Weren’t they just bros?????”

After the kind server who came to check on the noise left, the entire room collapsed limply into their chairs.

Only Zhao Xiaxia and her group wore expressions of disbelief.

“Wait—you all seriously didn’t know? After all these years? You never noticed a single clue? Those two were so obvious!”

Zhao Xiaxia suspected her classmates must be brainless crawfish. How could no one have noticed such obvious signs?

The class monitor raised a trembling hand and said: “Come on, with Zhang Le and Li Jun always around them, who would notice anything?”

The class president nodded blankly: “At most, the three of them patted each other’s heads, massaged necks, and shared milk tea. But Zhang Le and Li Jun? They were shouting ‘my beloved concubine’ and ‘your majesty’ all the time. With those two around, who would think anything was off?!”

The truly oblivious Zhang Le and Li Jun: “…So this is our fault now? Didn’t the class committee and others play stacking games too? The teacher almost thought we were doing something weird in class—we even lost our shoes!”

Su Qing finally came to her senses. Her worldview had collapsed like a grieving innkeeper widow.

“…So, the way they looked at me back then wasn’t just because they looked naturally fierce—but because they actually disliked me?”

Jiang Yue, sitting beside her, gently patted her shoulder, then cruelly nodded.

“In sophomore year… That time in the alley, was that also because…”

Su Qing looked at Jiang Yue, who nodded again. Su Qing covered her forehead in despair.

“Oh my god…”

Just how much had she missed over the years?!

Other classmates also started remembering strange things: “Now that I think of it—remember how odd the sports meet felt that year? How suddenly an investor sponsored it? For two years in a row?”

“And Yan Yi—no wonder he tutored Ye Wangxing every day! Even my dad wouldn’t have made notes that detailed for me!”

Someone gasped.

“I always thought they were the perfect example of brotherhood… even told my bros ‘true bros for life’…”

Whoever said that shivered a bit.

Well now… it was more like “true bros for a lifetime…”

After the initial shock wore off, the entire room was ablaze with gossiping energy.

Starting from the day Nan Jiu and Yan Yi transferred, they began a thorough review of all their little actions.

Like how Ye Wangxing could unlock their phones with his face… how those two got mad when he climbed a tree without telling them… how they tried to win over Ye Wangxing’s parents…

“—I knew the school wall was wrongly blamed! What did the iron bars do? After that, they had to get takeout from the police station next door. There was even a senior girl who’d tattle to Teacher Zheng if they made one wrong move.”

A classmate practically collapsed retelling it.

“And that time they dragged Ye Wangxing up Mount Tai! They arrived one after the other—it already felt off. Now it seems like Yan Yi wanted to confess but was intercepted by Nan Jiu, so he dragged him up the mountain instead!”

Another classmate shouted.

The whole reunion was immersed in a sea of gossip, but honestly—this was probably the most successful class reunion in years. No one was slapped in the face. No one felt emotionally drained.

Who said this reunion was bad? This reunion was perfect.

Bean sprout.jpg

And just when the gossip reached its peak, Jiang Yue—who was checking international updates before her study abroad—suddenly screamed.

She waved her hands frantically but couldn’t speak. So she shoved her phone in everyone’s face.

On the screen, a post read:

“Rich people really know how to play. I, a humble worker, finally saved enough for an Antarctic trip—only to become the background of someone’s confession. But I forgive them, because they gave everyone a little gift beforehand.”

“But this number is not right.”

“This gender doesn’t seem right either.”

“The person being confessed to doesn’t seem to be reacting properly either!”

“Wait a minute, that guy looks so familiar to me.”

“Wow! The young boss of the Milk Tea Company family was confessed to by his two best friends and tried to escape but failed. He was carried to the presidential suite. Fuck!!!!”

Everyone at the class reunion: “…”

“Ahhhhhhhh!!”

 

 

 

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