It had been seven or eight years since junior high graduation. Back then, Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan were rather independent in their ways. Whatever was popular among the students at the time, these two were sure to get the whole class or even the whole grade playing it. However, Zhuang Rui had excellent grades, while Liu Chuan had been the teachers' and parents' negative example throughout his three years of junior high.
Students back then were still relatively pure in their thinking. Their interactions with each other weren't so driven by ulterior motives, unlike schools today where, from elementary school, choosing class cadres starts with a comparison to see whose parents have more power and higher status. The competitive comparison among students is quite severe.
Compared to the intense high school life crammed with studies, junior high left Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan with plenty of fond memories. After graduating, Zhuang Rui went to college in Shanghai and lost touch with most of his junior high classmates. Hearing Liu Chuan's suggestion, he felt eager to see those old friends again.
Lei Lei transferred to Hong Kong in her third year of junior high. As everyone knew, in the early 1990s, hardly anyone in Hong Kong spoke Mandarin; many couldn't even understand it. For mainlanders going to Hong Kong, not knowing Cantonese would make life extremely tough. When Lei Lei first arrived, she struggled with the language barrier at school and had few friends, so she naturally missed life in Pengcheng deeply. Hearing Liu Chuan's idea, she was immediately tempted.
“Li... uh, Dachuan.” Zhuang Rui was used to calling Liu Chuan by his nickname and found it really hard to switch.
“Except for a few classmates who ended up in the same high school with us, we haven't kept in touch with the others. How are we gonna gather everyone for a reunion? You got a plan, man?” Zhuang Rui was doubtful. They hadn't seen many classmates in seven or eight years—probably wouldn't even recognize each other.
“Isn't that obvious? I'm a local boss here, bro. We had a reunion three years ago, and I've got everyone's contact info. Oh yeah, last time you couldn't make it back from Zhonghai, I called and told you, remember?”
Liu Chuan wasn't just bragging. After failing his high school exams, he started hanging out in society. Once you leave school, it's all about connections and networks. Liu Chuan's pet shop had only been open a few years, but he'd already made a decent chunk of change by Pengcheng standards. That had a lot to do with his loyalty and love for making friends. Pengcheng isn't that big, and most of his junior high classmates still lived in the same district, so they'd gradually reconnected over time.
Among the classmates, some are doing well, others not so much, and they occasionally help each other out with small favors. So a few years ago, Liu Chuan organized a gathering. When it comes to social skills and relationships, Zhuang Rui is really far behind Liu Chuan.
When Liu Chuan said that, Zhuang Rui remembered—yes, something like that did happen a few years ago. But back then he was studying in Zhonghai, with a tight schedule, and didn't pay much attention to the junior high reunion. He had long forgotten about it.
“Dachuan, the day after tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Having a gathering before the New Year might be too late……”
From the first day to the fifth day of the New Year, you have to visit relatives and friends to pay New Year's calls. If the gathering is scheduled after the New Year, it would have to be at least after the fifth day. But after finishing the New Year in Pengcheng, she still has to go with Qin Xuanbing to a few other cities to check out the markets, so she probably won't make it to this gathering. That's why there's a hint of regret on Lei Lei's face.
Liu Chuan's eyes darted around—this was a chance to show off his skills. He calculated silently in his mind. The day after tomorrow is New Year's Eve. If the gathering has to be before the New Year, it can only be scheduled for tomorrow. There are 38 people in the junior high class, with over a dozen studying in other cities. But most of them came back to work after graduation. Those working elsewhere should be back in Pengcheng for the New Year too. He's kept in touch with about seventeen or eighteen people. If he gets them to contact a few more, maybe over twenty people could show up. The key is whether these people have time tomorrow.
“You all don't worry about it. I'll handle the arrangements. Let's meet tomorrow at noon.” Liu Chuan did a quick tally, felt it was doable, and spoke up.
Liu Chuan hasn't been wasting his time all these years—he's very organized. First, he called the hotel to book a few tables, then pulled out who-knows-where he'd been hiding his address book and started making calls. Within half an hour, he'd rounded up about a dozen people: five male classmates and seven female classmates. After telling them the hotel name, everyone agreed over the phone to show up on time tomorrow. A few even offered to help contact other classmates. All counted, that already made seventeen or eighteen people. As for a few others who didn't have home phones, Liu Chuan planned to drive over later and notify them one by one.
"Liu Chuan, I didn't know you were so well-liked. Even after all these years, you're still in touch with your female classmates." Just as Liu Chuan hung up the phone, Lei Lei asked with a smile, instantly making him deeply regret calling the female classmates—why didn't he just let those guys handle the notifications?
"Uh... they're all mothers of kids now. I've already been to a few of their kids' full-month banquets. Come on, Lei Lei, Miss Qin, let me take you home first. Then I'll go around notifying everyone else one by one." Liu Chuan quickly changed the subject, speaking with righteous seriousness.
……
"Lei Lei, there must be plenty of guys chasing you in Hong Kong. I've never seen you go on a date with anyone. Turns out you've been hiding a childhood sweetheart boyfriend at home. Liu Chuan is a decent guy, sure, but he's not especially outstanding. How did you really end up falling for him？"
Lying on the big bed in Lei Lei's room, Qin Xuanbing's earlier cold and aloof demeanor vanished completely as she said teasingly. She was genuinely a bit puzzled. Given Lei Lei's maternal grandfather's family influence and her own qualifications, she should have been able to find a more suitable boyfriend.
"Do you know what I looked like when I first went to Hong Kong？" Lei Lei had been playing on the computer at the head of the bed. Hearing this, she turned around and looked at Qin Xuanbing as she asked.
"Haha, back then you were wearing thick glasses and dressed very unfashionably. A lot of people in class called you Mainland Girl, right?"
When Lei Lei first arrived in Hong Kong, she was placed into Qin Xuanbing's class. Back then, Lei Lei couldn't even understand Cantonese, and the people in the class couldn't understand her Mandarin either. If it weren't for Qin Xuanbing, who had learned Mandarin from her grandfather since she was young, they wouldn't have become such good friends.
"Yeah, I was the same way before I came to Hong Kong. The people in my class used to call me four-eyes. Liu Chuan was pretty tough in the class back then—a lot of people were afraid of him, but he never bullied anyone. One time, he beat up a classmate who called me four-eyes, and after that, no one ever called me that again..."
Lei Lei recalled, and it was clear that incident had a big impact on her later life. Maybe Liu Chuan's image had already been etched into Lei Lei's mind back then.
"It's not like I'm planning to let Liu Chuan support me. Anyway, Xuanxuan, are you going to let Young Master Wang support you, or are you going to give yourself to Young Master Huo？ If they knew you were in the mainland, they'd definitely chase after you." Lei Lei's words made Qin Xuanbing both embarrassed and angry, and the two of them started playfully wrestling on the bed.
After they both got tired and were panting, they stopped. Lei Lei was worried that Qin Xuanbing would be bored at home while she went to the gathering tomorrow, so she asked, "Xuanxuan, why don't you come with me to the class reunion tomorrow? Oh, and Zhuang Rui is pretty nice—you could also add another man at your feet in the mainland..."
"You're gonna die, that's such an ugly thing to say. No way, I'm not interested in that guy at all. The way he looks at people is totally pervy. Hey, Lei Lei, did you notice? That Zhuang Rui's mom has such class—she doesn't seem like she's from a regular small household."
Qin Xuanbing's words also made Lei Lei a bit puzzled. Zhuang Rui's mother's remarkably graceful table manners today were absolutely impossible to have developed without long-term cultivation in a good environment. This surprised even them, who usually paid great attention to etiquette. In front of Zhuang Rui's mother, they even felt as if they were facing an elder from their own families.
Lei Lei didn't say anything more. Perhaps Zhuang Rui's mother was a person with a story, but Zhuang Rui was clearly not born into a wealthy family. Given Qin Xuanbing's family background, he and Qin Xuanbing were obviously people from two different worlds who could never cross paths, so she no longer intended to set them up.
……
The next day, before 11 o'clock, Zhuang Rui was pulled by Liu Chuan to the hotel where the gathering was held. According to Liu Chuan, he was also one of the organizers, so naturally he had to come and help. After dropping Zhuang Rui off at the hotel, Liu Chuan went to pick up Lei Lei.
When Liu Chuan came back, only Lei Lei got out of the car, which made Zhuang Rui both happy and a little disappointed. Although he didn't want to have an ice cube around him in the cold winter, if he kept his distance, he could at least admire her from afar. As the saying goes, beauty feeds the eye.
Before long, classmates attending the gathering arrived one after another. By the time the banquet started at 12 o'clock, 31 people had shown up. Except for a few classmates who were not in Pengcheng at the moment, basically all the classmates in Pengcheng were present. The appearance of Zhuang Rui and Lei Lei naturally delighted everyone, and also made the two, who had been away from home for a long time, feel a strong sense of old school ties.
The meal was very lively. During it, Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan became the targets of criticism from their classmates. What everyone remembered most vividly was that these two rascals had cheated everyone out of their money when they first started junior high school. One played the good cop, one played the bad cop, and they swindled quite a bit of pocket money from the group back then.
By then, many families already had TVs, and those without often went to other people's homes to watch. As Hong Kong TV shows flooded into the mainland, the earliest wave of celebrity fans emerged. It seemed to be Zhuang Rui's idea—those two kids took out all their New Year's lucky money savings, ran to Pengcheng Small Commodity Wholesale Market, and bought a batch of stickers. These were colorful little pictures with stars printed on them that could be stuck onto books.
Buying a whole sheet with dozens of star stickers was very cheap, only about 2 kuai. The two cut the whole sheet into individual pieces and started hawking them in class. Each sticker sold for either 2 mao or 5 mao, depending on the star's popularity and the size of the picture. And if you had no money, you could trade with grain coupons instead. You see, in that planned economy era, grain coupons were almost as good as cash. Thanks to their flexible payment methods, their stickers were a huge hit.
Within a few days, all the stickers were sold out. Not just in their class—the whole grade was buzzing about their stickers, and a few scalpers emerged who were probably the youngest middlemen among students nationwide. After selling out, they did the math, and the result shocked both Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan: they had spent only about 20 kuai in capital but made a full 300-plus kuai in profit—way more than their parents' salaries at the time.
This discovery thrilled the two of them to no end. You have to understand, back then having a few kuai in your pocket was already considered a small fortune. When the school organized trips, parents would only give them 5 mao or 1 kuai at most. So making over 300 kuai in just a few days skyrocketed their confidence. But just as they were about to restock and press their advantage, the teacher found out—well, to be precise, Liu Chuan's mom found out. The result? Both of them got their butts tanned, and the executor was Liu Chuan's dad.
The discovery was also quite accidental. A student from another class had bought two yuan worth of stickers but hadn't paid for them—it was on credit, and he'd promised to pay the next day but didn't. Then Liu Chuan stepped up and intimidated him a bit. What the two hadn't expected was that a few days later, the student's parent found the school teacher, who happened to be Liu Chuan's mother. Although the parent came to repay the money, it still exposed what the two had been up to.
A good beating from Liu Chuan's father kept Zhuang Rui obedient enough to get into university. But Liu Chuan himself still ended up diving into the wave of reform and opening up a few years later. Even now, whenever his old man is in a good mood, Liu Chuan grumbles about how his father crushed his business talents back then.
Lei Lei naturally became the center of attention at the gathering. The little girl with the thick glasses and yellow hair back then—none of that could be found in the stunning woman standing before everyone now. Her stylish yet understated outfit and perfectly subtle makeup drew the female classmates over, chattering away nonstop. Even some of the unmarried male classmates couldn't take their eyes off her, which made Liu Chuan overcome with jealousy.
The men, of course, bonded over drinking. Everyone treasured the friendships forged back in middle school, and as the glasses clinked and drinks flowed, the atmosphere at the table quickly heated up. Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan's drinking capacity was about the same—a skill developed from stealing bottles of Liu Chuan's dad's baijiu as kids. Nowadays, Zhuang Rui's head injury was mostly healed, so naturally, he downed every glass that came his way, occasionally bringing up embarrassing stories about their classmates that triggered bursts of laughter.
The meal lasted over two hours, and naturally, the rich guy Liu Chuan picked up the tab. He'd originally planned to take everyone to karaoke, but since it was close to the New Year, every family had things to take care of. The gathering ended in laughter and reminiscence, and everyone exchanged contact information.
After returning home, seeing his mother's busy and somewhat solitary figure in the kitchen, and then thinking back to the lively scene at the gathering earlier, Zhuang Rui suddenly wondered if his decision to stay and work in Zhonghai had been wrong. Lost in thought, he felt that the presence of spiritual energy in his eyes might be able to change something.
"Xiao Rui, come help mom deep-fry the crispy dough slices." His mother's voice came from the kitchen, interrupting Zhuang Rui's thoughts.