Chapter 36

Xiang Wan's gaze gradually focused on his face. She had guessed it when she heard his voice, so she wasn't very surprised.

Although Zhou Chengze is only a freshman this year, he is actually the same age as her. The reason he started school two years later is because of the weak teaching staff in Lijia Village.

With only one college student coming to teach in the rural area, how could they possibly divide the grades into such a detailed range? Dividing them into junior high school students and senior high school students would already be the limit.

Therefore, although he is the same age as Xiang Wan, he just started his freshman year.

The boy's face was no different from his previous life; he was still handsome. Xiang Wan looked at 21-year-old Zhou Chengze and suddenly remembered some things from her previous life.

She suffered a heart attack at the time, but he comforted Zhou Xinyi, telling her not to be afraid. Xiang Wan, after her rebirth, always held a grudge about it.

But when she saw him, her heart was surprisingly calm, without any ripples. It seemed to confirm the saying that when you forget someone, the first thing you forget is their bad side.

"Senior?" Zhou Chengze repeated when she didn't speak.

Xiang Wan lowered her eyes to conceal her emotions, and when she looked up again, her eyes were calm: "The finance department's reporting office is just ahead, go straight and turn right."

"Thank you, senior."

"Um."

Just then, the iced milk tea arrived. Xiang Wan took a sip of the milk tea, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Zhou Chengze had not left.

She looked up at him, but noticed that his gaze was somewhat intense.

"What's wrong?" she asked, puzzled. Zhou Chengze, sitting opposite her, suddenly blushed.

"..." Xiang Wan took a bite of the pearl, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

Why is he blushing for no reason?

Zhou Chengze's knuckles tightened around his schoolbag, as if afraid that if he didn't speak now, he would never have the chance again: "Do you remember me? We met once when we were little."

As if afraid the other person wouldn't remember, he added, "My mother is Li Taohua from Lijia Village in Xinbei Town."

"..."

Although it was only indirectly, she died because of him in her previous life, so how could she not remember him?

'Not only do I remember, but every three months someone monitors your every move and reports to me.' Yet these people in front of her are unaware of this and are still asking her if she remembers them.

Xiang Wan's eyelids twitched, and she felt a sense of unease. Since they had already started over, she had originally planned to pretend they didn't know each other, but she hadn't expected that after only meeting once, Zhou Chengze would fall for her again.

The adoration in his eyes when he spoke was almost overflowing; it would be hard for Xiang Wan not to notice.

Zhou Chengze is a newcomer to finance, and their paths will likely cross frequently in the future, so Xiang Wan didn't pretend to be clueless: "I remember you, Zhou Chengze."

After all these years, the white moonlight still remembers him. Zhou Chengze was so excited that he wanted to shoot a basketball on the spot: "Then can I call you senior sister from now on?"

"..."

Xiang Wan opened her mouth, but before she could say yes or no, she heard a voice behind her: "Sister—"

It's Chen Yan.

She turned around and saw Chen Yan running over and standing beside her.

She glanced behind him; there was nothing there, not even a suitcase. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and ask, "Where's your luggage?"

"I only brought one suitcase, which is already in my dorm room."

Xiang Wan nodded, noticing that the two of them showed no intention of introducing themselves to them. However, neither of them left; they were both secretly sizing each other up.

The moment their eyes met, they recognized each other.

Chen Yan was the first to recognize Zhou Chengze. Zhou Chengze hadn't changed much; you could still see traces of his childhood self.

Although he disliked Li Taohua, Zhou Chengze was the only one among the group of children who had never bullied him, so he didn't harbor any hostility towards him.

But he still asked Xiang Wan, feigning ignorance, "Sister, who is this?"

Upon hearing this, Xiang Wan said to the two of them, "Let's get to know each other. From now on, you will be freshmen in the Finance Department of Class of 2020."

Upon hearing this, both of them looked somewhat surprised and subtly sized each other up.

The atmosphere between them had been strange since the beginning, like two wolf cubs raised in different environments, cautiously sniffing each other's scent, feeling both curious and tacitly wary.

After a while, the two pretended not to know, as if they had just recognized each other.

"I didn't recognize you just now. Are you Chen Yan from Lijia Village?"

"What a coincidence, you are Zhou Chengze from Lijia Village."

The two actors' acting was so bad that Xiang Wan saw right through it: "..."

She looked at the two of them, her expression somewhat subtle.

In his previous life, Zhou Chengze climbed his way up using her resources. His abilities might be considered outstanding compared to ordinary people, but he wasn't cut out to start from scratch.

Xiang Wan was well aware of this, but Chen Yan in his previous life was all alone, yet he eventually forged his own path.

The difference in their abilities was already obvious, but she dared not underestimate her opponent. As the male protagonist in the book, Zhou Chengze's luck was not to be underestimated.

Although she didn't really want to keep people around, the safest place to plant a bomb was still right next to them.

She looked at Zhou Chengze and said in a calm tone, "Since you know Chen Yan, why don't you bring your sister and we have dinner together tonight?"

Upon hearing this, the two people opposite him reacted differently. Zhou Chengze was surprised, but then delighted, while Chen Yan's smile was somewhat forced despite his initial surprise.

For some reason, Chen Yan didn't really want to interact with Xiang Wan and Zhou Chengze. He always felt that if they got to know each other, she would drift further and further away from him.

Just like the grasshopper woven from straw that the village keeper gave him back in Lijia Village.

However, this was Xiang Wan's decision, and he never interfered, nor did he have the right to interfere.

In the evening, in a private room at a Japanese restaurant.

Before the head chef could serve the dishes, the apprentice brought over some side dishes and neatly arranged them on the square table. After he left, the four of them looked at each other in bewilderment.

The seating arrangement of the four was also extremely subtle. Although none of them had discussed it beforehand, the positions they sat in were exactly the same as in their previous life.

Xiang Wan sat in the main seat, with Chen Yan beside her and Zhou Chengze opposite her. Next to Zhou Chengze was Zhou Xinyi.

From childhood to adulthood, whenever there were no elders present, Xiang Wan would always sit in the main seat, and she was already used to it.

But as her fiancé, Zhou Chengze should actually be sitting next to Xiang Wan.

But whenever Zhou Xinyi is at a dinner party, the two siblings always sit on one side, while she sits in the main seat opposite them.

Xiang Wan wasn't one to dwell on trivial matters, and she simply assumed that the siblings had been together for decades as a habit. But now it seemed that there had been signs of their forbidden relationship all along.

Their simultaneous seating arrangement, like a subtle detail in the author's writing, foreshadowed their eventual fate.

Xiang Wan had long disliked Zhou Chengze, so when she discovered this small detail, she didn't feel any heartache. Instead, she became more curious about the author who seemed to be controlling them like a god.

Inside the private room, each of the four harbored their own secrets. Xiang Wan was lost in thought, while Zhou Xinyi across from her was secretly observing her out of the corner of her eye.

From the moment this young lady first appeared in Lijia Village, Zhou Xinyi never forgot her for a single day.

If Zhou Chengze couldn't forget Xiang Wan because he liked her, Zhou Xinyi's feelings for her were more complicated.

She loved her brother, but he loved Xiang Wan. For nine long years, she lived in Xiang Wan's shadow, and she undoubtedly hated Xiang Wan.

But the period of dislike lasted so long that, without her knowledge, something else was mixed into it, something she herself didn't know.

Zhou Xinyi raised her eyes and glanced at Xiang Wan casually. She was still so dazzling, exuding nobility and elegance in every gesture.

Even the restaurant they chose was so expensive; it was clearly not a place they could afford. Zhou Xinyi looked at the chopstick rest on the table, a pang of sadness welling up inside her.

She knew in her heart that even if her brother was an excellent student and a model student every year, he was not good enough for Xiang Wan.

She was the moon that the siblings could never reach, which is why she was momentarily stunned when Zhou Chengze said that Xiang Wan was going to treat them to dinner yesterday.

It wasn't until the head chef personally brought the ingredients over and sliced ​​and grilled them for them in the private room that Zhou Xinyi came to her senses.

Xiang Wan took a sip of tea, looked at Zhou Chengze across from her, and asked casually, "With so many universities, why did you choose Beiyi University?"

Upon hearing this, the remaining three people all had strange expressions, but without exception, they were all waiting for his answer.

However, Zhou Chengze's answer was very official: "After all, it is the best university in Beiyi, and it is also closer to Lijiacun."

Xiang Wan nodded and didn't ask any more questions, but the other two knew that Zhou Chengze was definitely not telling the truth.

Based on the way he looked at Xiang Wan, Chen Yan was certain that Zhou Chengze had come specifically for Xiang Wan. Because he also liked Xiang Wan, he knew very well what Zhou Chengze's gaze meant.

That was the look in his eyes when he had liked someone for many years.

Zhou Chengze's nine-year-long affection for Xiang Wan was based solely on a brief encounter years ago. Others might not believe it, but Chen Yan was absolutely convinced of it.

He could even imagine the shock Zhou Chengze felt when he saw Xiang Wan back then.

Growing up in a poor village where everyone just made do, one day a proud city girl suddenly arrived.

It's like the most beautiful flower blooming on barren land; the shock and amazement are something only those who have experienced it firsthand can understand, and it's something they'll remember for a lifetime.

Chen Yan dared to assert that Zhou Chengze applied to Beiyi University because of Xiang Wan.

Across from her, Zhou Xinyi also lowered her head in silence after Zhou Chengze finished speaking.

That year, in her third year of junior high, her brother drew a small portrait of himself in his workbook with a ballpoint pen, which is still tucked inside her books.

Later, electricity was brought to the village, and black-and-white televisions were installed in every home. Life returned to the peaceful state it had been before Xiang Wan appeared.

One day, they saw Xiang Wan representing Bei Yi University in a business competition on TV. Although both of them acted as usual after watching, Zhou Xinyi knew that everything had changed.

Later, when Zhou Chengze filled out his college application, he only applied to one university, Beiyi University. But now he says he applied to Beiyi University because it was close to home.

After hearing her brother lie, Zhou Xinyi lowered her eyelashes, feeling a mix of emotions, as if she had returned to eight years ago when she saw the drawings in her brother's exercise book, feeling as if her heart was being pierced by needles.

The three were eating, completely unaware that the wheels of fate had already begun to turn. A group activity a month later would put them all in mortal danger...