Chapter 40
When the dishes were halfway served, another boy came and sat directly in the empty seat next to Zhang Xuan. He smiled and greeted everyone present one by one.
He was also from the next class. His name was Lin Ziqi, and he'd been on the same school basketball team as Xu Le. Lu Jiyu and Zhou Zifang weren't familiar with him, though they'd played a few games together. Zhou Zifang's assessment of him was a single word: fake. The ball was fake, and the player was even faker.
Lin Ziqi came over and before he even had time to sit down, he started asking for a drink.
"This is a graduation dinner anyway, how can we not have wine?" As he said that, he raised his hand to call the waiter and asked for a case of beer.
Lu Jiyu is not very interested in drinking, especially with people he doesn't know well.
The beer arrived, and Lin Ziqi distributed a few cans to the boys. Chen Mingjia also reached out for one, and Xu Le tried to stop her but failed. Lu Jiyu lowered his head and continued to drink his fermented rice dumpling soup.
After a round of drinking, Xu Le looked at Lin Ziqi and asked, "What are your plans for the future?"
"Sports University gave me an admission preference, so I will most likely go to Sports University."
Zhang Xuan smiled and congratulated him, "I really envy you guys who have found a place so early. Unlike us, we still have to wait in fear for a month."
Lin Ziqi waved his hands to show his modesty, but the words really sounded useful to him, and he didn't even hide the pride on his face.
but.
On the other side, Chen Mingjia, who had been silent the whole time, put down his beer and suddenly said, "If we talk about the person who deserves the most envy, it's Lu Jiyu, don't you think?"
This is the second time today that Chen Minjia has taken the initiative to cue Lu Jiyu, as if she wants to roast him on the fire.
Zhou Zifang nudged him with his elbow: "What's going on? Did you really scumbag her?"
Lu Jiyu thought about it for a moment, and realized that it was because he had exposed her feelings for Xu Le right in front of her that day that she held a grudge against him. He began to feel that he should not have come to this dinner in the first place, especially the look Xu Le gave him when he first entered the room.
Lu Jiyu understood everything.
Lin Ziqi seemed to have just noticed the untouched beer in front of Lu Jiyu, and asked with a forced smile, "Lu Da's campus hunk won't even offer a drink?"
"As expected, he was admitted to F University. His temperament is on a completely different level from ours."
Lu Jiyu thought, they all have the same sarcastic tone, but why is it that some people can handle it just right, while others are so annoying that you don't want to say a word to them.
Xu Le came to the rescue and picked up the wine to look at Lu Jiyu: "No, Mr. Lu, let's go for a walk together."
Everyone who knew Lu Jiyu knew that he rarely drank outside. Zhou Zifang was so engrossed in his meal that he didn't appreciate the subtleties of his drink. He also picked up his drink to clink glasses with the boys at the table, but he still had a conscience: "Lu Jiyu is a very delicate guy. He never drinks outside. We can just drink, don't bother him."
"This isn't a normal meal."
"Three years of high school love are involved, but it seems I still can't win even a little favor from Mr. Lu."
Lin Ziqi's words were a bit relentless, and even Xu Le looked at him disapprovingly.
There was a new message on Lu Jiyu’s phone.
It's Gao Zhuo's.
Gao Lego: Brother Lu, I got the answers right. I feel like I might actually have a chance this time. If I do get into C University, I'll definitely thank you very much.
Lu Jiyu curled the corners of his mouth.
gazer: You held the pen yourself, and you wrote the answer yourself. Why should you thank me? Just thank yourself.
Gao Zhuo felt that the tone of voice looked familiar.
Gao Lego: Brother Lu, what you said is very similar to a friend of mine. She is also a top student and a very nice person.
Lu Jiyu stared at the girl next to the word "female" in the message. He might have been a little distracted recently. Whenever he mentioned a female academic master, he would always think of someone.
The hotel door opened again. They sat near the entrance, a sliver of the early summer air outside wafting in. The waiter at the door mechanically called out, "Welcome!" One voice shone, like a single flower growing too fast and out of place among the flowers, suddenly rising to prominence and illuminating the world.
"Chen Meiyun, you really should stop looking at your phone while walking. If you break something, it will heal on its own, but if your phone breaks, you'll have to pay to repair it."
She spoke in an orderly and serious manner, and the people passing by her couldn't help but smile slightly, especially after seeing her face clearly.
Gao Zhuo's WeChat message arrived without stopping.
Lu Jiyu took a distracted look.
Gao Lego: I’m having dinner at Mingyue Tower with some friends. Didn’t you also tell me last time that you had an appointment to dine here? I’ll try the food for you first.
Lu Jiyu stared elsewhere, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he replied word for word: "No." Then he said: "Look up and to the left."
Gao Zhuo excitedly said, "Brother Lu, you are here too!"
Chen Mingjia saw Jiang Wan stand up to greet him: "Want to eat? Let's go together."
There is no reason to refuse.
The table Xu Le had booked was a large table for twelve people, with seven of them sitting there. Together with Jiang Wan and the other three who showed up, it made up a perfect integer.
The waiter came up to refill the dishes and water.
Gao Zhuo sat next to Lu Jiyu, unable to hide the happiness on his face.
Zhou Zifang smiled and extended his hand to greet him: "Hello, I'm Lu Jiyu's friend, Zhou Zifang. I've heard a lot about you, and today I finally get to meet you."
He always liked to exaggerate when he spoke, and Gao Zhuo was a little embarrassed by him. He quickly waved his hands and said, "No, no, no, I'm not famous. It's just that I have heard a lot about you guys."
Lu Jiyu took a can of Coke from the table and placed it in front of Gao Zhuo.
Jiang Wan, who was sitting next to Gao Zhuo, didn't even look up, but calmly read the menu. Lu Jiyu reached for a bottle of Coke and coconut milk and asked in a low voice, "Which one do you want?"
Jiang Wan then looked at him, but didn't say anything. He turned to Chen Meiyun and asked, "Which one do you want?"
"Coconut milk, please."
Jiang Wan took the coconut milk from Lu Jiyu's hand, and then their eyes met: "Thank you." Jiang Wan said very politely.
Not only polite but also unfamiliar.
Lin Ziqi, who was sitting opposite, saw Jiang Wan and his eyes lit up: "Which school are you from, beautiful girl?"
Jiang Wan lowered his head to look at his phone and ignored him.
The atmosphere grew colder and colder. Jiang Wan, who was called out, raised his head and said in a daze, "Are you talking to me?"
Very blatant disregard.
Frustrated, Lin Ziqi turned his gun around and said, "Lu Jiyu, are these three your friends? I don't think Xu Le mentioned that you would bring friends."
Lu Jiyu was really getting annoyed with him now. The perfunctory look in his eyes had completely faded, leaving only coldness. He used a spoon to stir the bowl of seafood porridge in front of him without rhythm, not even bothering to say a word. He looked at Xu Le and said, "I'll treat you to dinner today."
Zhou Zifang knew that although Lu Jiyu was wealthy, he never flaunted his wealth outside, especially since Xu Le had originally agreed to host this dinner. It was only fair to say that he was truly irritated, even his rarely displayed temper being provoked.
But just as Lu Jiyu finished speaking, Jiang Wan, who was ordering food, suddenly said to the waiter next to him: "Then the king crab we just ordered is returned."
Lu Jiyu: ...
The waiter was halfway through writing the name of the dish when he said regretfully, "Do you really want to return it?"
Xu Le immediately waved his hand after hearing this: "It's my treat, so since they are your friends, they are also our friends."
Xu Le looked at Jiang Wan with a meaningful look.
Jiang Wan also reciprocated the favor and gave a particularly bright smile in return, which made the boys present stunned.
This beautiful lady knows that this is the most beautiful and seductive way for her to smile.
"Then add back the king crab." After hearing Xu Le's words, Jiang Wan changed his mind again.
"Wait." She looked around the field and thought for a moment, "We have a lot of people here, so let's take two."
"What do you think?" Jiang Wan looked around and saw that no one had any objections, so the ordering process ended.
Even a fool could see from the people sitting there that this girl's action was too intentional to "kill".
Lu Jiyu lowered his head and remained silent as if he was not involved. Zhou Zifang turned his head to take a look and saw that the dog was indeed sending WeChat messages.
The atmosphere at the table was not lively to begin with, and now with the addition of Jiang Wan and a few other strangers, everyone's enthusiasm dropped to freezing point.
The boss was walking by and saw the group of college entrance exam candidates looking so gloomy and silent. He thought they were just upset because they hadn't performed well on the exam. Especially the handsome guy in black. He hadn't smiled since he entered the store.
The boss was also a veteran, so he understood a lot. He walked over and put his arm around Lu Jiyu's shoulders: "Little brother, the college entrance examination is just a small test in life. Even if you fail, it doesn't matter. Life still has infinite possibilities."
Everyone was shocked.
The boss was quite sincere, but he chose the most talented student at the table and gave him a heartfelt lecture right away. Zhou Zifang was not surprised at all, suppressing the smile on his face as he drank his porridge.
Gao Zhuo wanted to explain to him, but Lu Jiyu nodded politely: "I'll keep it in mind."
The boss then asked, "Did you really do very badly on the exam?" Otherwise, why would the expression on his face be darker than his clothes?
Lu Jiyu wanted to say that this wasn’t a question of whether he did well on the test, but rather, “Actually, I didn’t take the test.”
The boss was also surprised, but then patted him on the back with regret and said considerately, "It's okay. At worst, you can start over. If you really can't continue studying and want to find a job, come find me here. I will definitely offer you a salary that will satisfy you."
Jiang Wan listened for a while and thought, "Oh, after talking for so long, it turned out that he was still attracted by Lu Jiyu's face."
There was a commotion in the box across the street, and the boss was halfway through writing a bad check when he immediately called the waiter away on his back.
The atmosphere on the field quieted down again. Seeing that no one was talking, Xu Le glanced at the box of beer at his feet and said, "It's boring just sitting there. How about we play a drinking game?"
This was the first time Jiang Wan heard about this, and she asked Xu Le, "How do we play?"
Zhou Zifang had never played this before, but after seeing Lu Jiyu play it a few times, he rushed to explain: "The drinking game was a trick that Lu Jiyu's Chinese teacher came up with."
This game was originally proposed to discipline a group of contestants, led by Lu Jiyu, who were not fond of memorizing ancient poetry and prose. They had no problems with reading, writing, or understanding classical Chinese, but they simply couldn't get full marks on the few points they needed for dictation.
Especially Xu Le, he always got zero points.
The drinking game was actually a nickname they gave themselves later. This game, which was thought up by the Chinese teacher, was just a game of ancient poetry and prose. The biggest difference was that the person who couldn't match the upper and lower sentences would be punished by the person who set the question.
In the end, it's like an enhanced version of Truth or Dare.
Zhou Zifang knew that Lu Jiyu was once very annoyed by this thing. He started reciting ancient poems for two hours at four or five o'clock every day. Finally, he got full marks in dictation in three consecutive exams before he was allowed to stop playing this game.
Now that everyone has just finished the college entrance examination and is looking to relax, who would still want to play this game?
Seeing that everyone looked uninterested, Chen Mingjia wanted to smooth things over, but before she could open her mouth, Jiang Wan, after listening to Zhou Zifang's explanation, spoke first: "It sounds interesting, but what is the punishment system?"
Jiang Wan asked Xu Le.
Xu Le bent down and moved a nearly untouched case of beer onto the table: "How about drinking if you lose?"
Lu Jiyu frowned. Xu Le himself felt sorry for Chen Mingjia drinking, but now that it was someone else, he was more excited than anyone else.
He was just about to say something when several WeChat messages came in on the phone on the table.
It was sent by Cheng Xiang.
Lu Jiyu instinctively knew something was up. The people present hadn't been particularly interested in the drinking game, but once they heard it involved drinking, they were all captivated by Xu Le's proposal. They clamored over how to play and where to start. Some, desperate for last-minute lessons, were frantically studying ancient poetry on their phones.
Cheng Xiang put it very concisely on WeChat.
Chen Xuyang, Lu Jiyu's nephew, accidentally hit his head while playing at home and has now been taken to the hospital.
The fall wasn't serious, but the child suddenly wanted to see him. He asked Lu Jiyu to video call her when he was free.
Lu Jiyuren leaned over to Zhou Zifang and said, "I'm going to go out and call Ms. Cheng back. You stay here and watch over me. Don't go too far."
He couldn't explain the reason, but Lu Jiyu felt that there was something wrong with the way Jiang Wan looked at Lin Ziqi, but he didn't have any chance to ask at the moment.
Zhou Zifang nodded in understanding: "Okay, you can trust me to do the job."
Lu Jiyu picked up the phone on the table and stood up, saying simply, "Go out and answer the phone, you guys have fun."
When he passed by Jiang Wan's seat, he couldn't help but reach out and knock on the back of her chair. Jiang Wan felt the movement and turned sideways to look at him. At this moment, everyone around was busy preparing for the game, and no one paid much attention to the atmosphere between the two people.
Jiang Wan looked at him and asked: Is there something wrong?
Lu Jiyu actually had a lot of things he wanted to ask her: why did she come here, how did she know Gao Zhuo, and was she still angry with him? But he held back the words as they reached his lips.
"Take your time playing games."
"If you don't want to drink, don't drink. It's harmful to your health and boring."
"You want me to cheat?"
"Well, just blame it on me."
He thought a lot, but these were the only words he said.
Jiang Wan nodded, indicating that she understood. Lu Jiyu saw that she seemed to understand but not quite, and thought about how he hadn't seen her for several days. He felt a little itchy in his heart. Just as he was about to raise his hand, the phone in his pocket vibrated again.
Lu Jiyu had no choice but to withdraw his hand, turned around and walked out. He glanced down and happened to see the pink amulet that Jiang Wan had hung on her bag. There were two big words clearly written on it - Marriage.
I couldn't help but pause. I thought, Jiang Wan is really something.
Chen Meiyun, who was sitting next to Jiang Wan, didn't miss Lu Jiyu's hesitant look: "What's wrong with this handsome guy today? He seems to be in a bad mood."
Jiang Wan shook his head and didn't want to talk about this: "Play games first."
Seeing her determined to win, Chen Meiyun began to feel a little sympathy for the others. Growing up, Chen Meiyun had never met anyone more skilled in classical Chinese poetry than Jiang Wan. A program producing classical Chinese poetry had previously invited Jiang Wan to participate, but she had declined, citing social anxiety. The real reason, however, was that she disliked the director's father's arrogant and condescending manner.
The person who set the questions in the first round was Chen Minjia.
Xu Le clapped his hands cooperatively to get everyone to be quiet, and explained the rules of the game: "The person who asks the question can designate the person who answers it."
Chen Meiyun grumbled unceremoniously from the audience, "Why is she the first one to set the questions? Shouldn't we all compete fairly?"
Jiang Wan patted her hand to comfort her, then continued with Xu Le's question: "After the answerer answers the question, does that automatically make him the questioner?"
"Yes."
"Okay, let's get started."
The person Chen Minjia chose to answer the questions in the first round was Jiang Wan.
There was a small uproar among the people present.
Even Xu Le couldn't help but turn his head to look at Chen Mingjia, with complicated emotions in his eyes, but the next second, they were well concealed by his usual smile.
Chen Mingjia looked at Jiang Wan and smiled faintly: "My friends in Jiayuan have always told me that classmate Jiang is versatile. Today I am trying to show off my talent and make friends through poetry."
Gao Zhuo applauded enthusiastically, a scholar's speech was so cultured. Chen Meiyu rolled her eyes at him speechlessly, but the other party naturally didn't see it.
"The yin and yang shift, and life is like morning dew." The two lines selected by Chen Minjia are from the anonymous poem "Driving to the East Gate" from the Han Dynasty. They are also famous lines, and there is no intention to make things difficult for others.
Jiang Wan's fingers gently stroked the edge of the porcelain plate on the table, looked into the other person's eyes, and said the next sentence word by word: "Life is fleeting, and life is not as solid as gold or stone."
"Human life is short, just like a temporary parasite in this world. It reminds us to cherish time and not waste it." Jiang Wan also explained it by the way.
Zhang Xuan, who was sitting next to Lin Ziqi, was about to applaud when he heard this, but was stopped by a glare from him.
The other party could only put down his hand in disappointment.
After successfully answering the questions, it was now Jiang Wancheng's turn to set the questions. She crossed her arms, her gaze fixed on Lin Ziqi, who was sitting diagonally across from her. "Now it's my turn to set the questions. If you don't get them right, you have to drink, right?"
"Then it's you." She stretched out her hand, palm facing up, and made a very polite invitation gesture to the other party.
Chen Meiyu supported her face with her hands and looked at him, crossing her legs leisurely, thinking, you idiot, you're done for now since you met Jiang Wan today.
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