Chapter 42: The Jester Was Me All Along?

“I’m not like that with Xu Qingzhou; don’t go saying things like that.” Song Yao’s ears turned red; she glanced at Xu Qingzhou, who was driving with no reaction, and added, “He’s not interested.”

Xu Qingzhou also said, “Alright, Fatty, I’m driving—I won’t come to the class reunion.”

Seeing that Xu Qingzhou truly had no intention of coming, Guo Zi didn’t press further, thinking that if he had a girlfriend to accompany him, he probably wouldn’t want to come either.

After hanging up, Guo Zi scratched his head, put away his phone, and walked toward the private room.

He’d originally planned to drag Xu Qingzhou along for moral support; now he’d have to pep himself up alone.

He muttered to himself: Guo Zi, you’re not the same person you were three years ago. Go in—make everyone tremble!

The private room had two large tables and was lively; there were three unfamiliar faces—two women and one man—brought by classmates as family. The man was the boyfriend Zhang Xia had brought.

“Guo Zi’s here!”

“Mm.” Guo Zi nodded.

Ding!

“Whoa, great school—I applied too, but got rejected.”

Tian Shuang smiled sweetly: “You guys too—three years apart, if we met on the street, I’d definitely not recognize you.”

The person approaching was the organizer, Liu Jihui, their junior high class president, who had been admitted to Jinling University and just held his college admission banquet.

Tian Shuang humbly said she’d applied to Beijing University of International Business and Economics.

Someone looked at Guo Zi: “Then you two can get together more often.”

“Yeah, didn’t you see the news recently?” another classmate asked, puzzled.

“What school did you get into?”

Finally, a female classmate couldn’t take it anymore; after hesitating, she said: “Tian Shuang, actually, Xu Qingzhou did really well on the Gaokao.”

Pfft~ Guo Zi mentally scoffed—so what if he went to college for a year? Still had to chase after these naive little freshmen.

“Wasn’t Xu Qingzhou with you?” Liu Jihui asked. Xu Qingzhou was the top science student in Sichuan—his father had said these connections mattered.

For these fresh graduates, university was an unavoidable topic; finally, they reached Tian Shuang’s school.

“I ran into Xu Qingzhou recently—he said after the Gaokao he just picked any school. Sigh~ he used to be such a good student; how did he fall apart in high school?” Tian Shuang said regretfully.

!

“Who’s this?”

Guo Zi modestly shook his head; he hadn’t yet savored enough of the admiring glares when everyone’s attention was drawn to a man and woman Liu Jihui had just brought in.

“Yeah.”

Tian Shuang and Wang Jiangfei sat down beside Guo Zi.

“Guo Zi? You’re at Beijing University of International Business and Economics too?” Tian Shuang finally noticed the boy beside her. “Class president,” Guo Zi greeted with a smile.

Tian Shuang basked in the envious glances from her junior high classmates; Wang Jiangfei unconsciously puffed out his chest. He’d heard Tian Shuang say her old class was a regular stream—only the top few were decent, the rest were mediocre. Though he hadn’t performed well on the Gaokao, he’d still gotten into Capital University of Economics and Trade—better than most here.

“My boyfriend—he’s a second-year student at Capital Medical University,” a girl said proudly.

Were they talking about Xu Qingzhou? Finally, a girl nearby couldn’t hold back: “You just said… Xu Qingzhou?”

The man also greeted everyone politely and gracefully, drawing admiration. He spoke confidently and calmly, fully displaying the maturity expected of an upperclassman before a group of incoming freshmen.

“Wow~ Tian Shuang, you’ve gotten so beautiful!”

“Guo Zi, it’s been three years, right?”

“No, he has other things to do.”

“Beijing University of International Business and Economics…” Guo Zi knew his moment to show off had arrived.

Though his family had paid heavily for tutors, the people around them now looked strangely at the two.

Wang Jiangfei smiled lightly and said: “Shuang’er, people change. Not everyone can stick to their goals for three years like you.”

“Xu Qingzhou—the top science student in Sichuan, 740 points, broke the previous record. I heard Tsinghua and Peking University were both fighting to get him, but he finally chose Peking.”

“News? What news?” Tian Shuang asked, confused. After the Gaokao, she’d traveled abroad with her boyfriend, and since they’d taken the Shanghai exam, she had zero interest in Sichuan’s top scorers.

Guo Zi nodded with a smile and sat down at an empty seat; the classmates’ attention instantly shifted to this latecomer.

Sure enough, the classmates around him stared in surprise.

“No problem, just find a seat,” Liu Jihui chuckled, then added: “Tian Shuang and the others just arrived—they said they hadn’t been to Rongcheng in ages and got lost. I went out to pick them up.”

“Mm,” Tian Shuang nodded. “He’s one of the top few from our junior high class. Too bad he’s fallen now.”

After high school, most girls had started wearing makeup—completely transformed from their high school selves.

Several girls envied her for traveling abroad right after the exam.

He’d seen photos on her QQ space—Tian Shuang had gone to England for vacation after the Gaokao; the boy beside her had appeared in one of those pictures.

“You’re saying Xu Qingzhou was the Sichuan science Gaokao top scorer? 740 points?”

“Yeah, the news covered it a lot.”

Tian Shuang froze completely. Xu Qingzhou—740 points, Sichuan’s top science student, fought over by Tsinghua and Peking? That guy was the Sichuan Gaokao top scorer! Wang Jiangfei’s expression stiffened too; he found the situation absurd. Now he finally understood what Xu Qingzhou meant by “picked any school”—it wasn’t because his score was too low to choose, but because it was so high he could pick anything. He took a deep breath; Tian Shuang and Wang Jiangfei finally accepted the truth.

“Then why didn’t Xu Qingzhou come to the reunion?” Tian Shuang’s heart ached. When he’d rejected her friend request, she’d thought he was the one who lost out—missing a top-tier friend. Who knew the fool was herself.

(End of chapter)