Fu Yingqi nodded in greeting, but there was no warmth in his smile.
The Capital Club operated on a membership basis. What were the odds that people from their circle would simply happen to run into each other?
Xu Zhengda spoke with concern, sounding as though he were deeply worried about Fu Yingqi’s condition. “I heard you were injured a few days ago. How are you feeling now?”
“Thank you for your concern, Uncle Xu. They’re only minor scrapes, nothing serious.”
“That’s good to hear. How about we have lunch together when you’re free? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”
“Sure. Lunch will be on me.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Xu Zhengda, Fu Yingqi turned and took his leave.
The instant he turned his back, the faint smile on his face disappeared completely.
Hah.
“Dad, Third Master Fu really doesn’t take you seriously at all. You’re his elder, after all!”
Xu Jiaheng was furious, but even he didn’t dare openly offend Fu Yingqi.
“Shut up! You useless fool who can’t keep your composure.”
If Xu Zhengda hadn’t had only this one son, he would have strangled Xu Jiaheng long ago!
Xu Zhengda narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Fu Yingqi’s retreating figure disappear from sight.
“He’s probably already noticed something…”
His probing today had alerted Fu Yingqi again.
“What do we do now, Dad? Didn’t the Heavenly Master say that Third Master Fu wouldn’t live much longer?”
“Let’s go back to the old residence and discuss it with your grandfather.”
That Third Master Fu really had a charmed life.
After all these years, they still hadn’t managed to get rid of him!
Meanwhile, Shen Sangyu was happily sharing her excitement with Fu Yingqi.
Her phone suddenly lit up with a new message.
[Sang! Lemme borrow your math worksheets and have a look?] , Tang Yuan.
Shen Sangyu froze on the spot.
She had almost forgotten!
She was a miserable high school senior now!
She hurriedly left him with a single sentence, “I have to do my homework,” before hanging up Fu Yingqi’s call.
After being reborn, she had completely forgotten that she still had New Year’s homework to deal with!
She hadn’t even realized that she had become bold enough to hang up on the big shot herself!
Meanwhile, Fu Yingqi was already surrounded by his gossip-loving friends.
“Why were you on the phone for so long?”
“Calling your beauty?”
“Third Master Fu, come on, tell us already. Who is this beauty?”
“Third Master, why don’t you bring Beauty Sis over here to hang out with us?”
“She has homework. She doesn’t have time.”
Homework…?
Fu Yingqi paid no attention to the shock his words had caused among his friends.
He picked up the coat draped over the back of the sofa.
He had a task from Sangyu to complete, after all. He had better do it properly.
It never occurred to him that before long, a rumor would spread throughout their circle.
The youngest son of the Fu family’s third branch had a girlfriend more than ten years younger than him…
As for Shen Sangyu, she had no time to care about rumors.
Because she had just discovered that, aside from three math worksheets, five sets of comprehensive humanities multiple-choice questions, two college entrance examination essays, and six English worksheets…
She hadn’t done any of them!
Not. A. Single. One!
God, save me!
“Good morning, Sang!” Her deskmate was Tang Yuan.
And no, Tang Yuan wasn’t a nickname. Her surname was Tang, and her given name was Yuan.
Shen Sangyu weakly lifted her head from the desk.
“Tang Yuan, why is your face still so round?”
“Hey, Sang! Did you go out robbing houses last night?”
Tang Yuan stared at Shen Sangyu’s dark circles, which made her look like a panda, in utter astonishment.
Shen Sangyu had started catching up on her homework the night before last.
Thankfully, she hadn’t completely returned to the teachers what little sanity she had left.
She kept working until four in the morning!
If she hadn’t secretly eaten a spoonful of the donkey-hide gelatin paste mixed with lotus flower dew, she definitely wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed today.
She raised a hand toward Tang Yuan and pointed at the banner hanging above the podium.
“See that? As long as studying won’t kill you, study until you’re dead. I’m putting that motto into practice to the fullest!”
“Hahaha, Sang, you look exactly like a panda who loves studying!”
Shen Sangyu put on an expression that practically screamed, “Who else but me?”
Tang Yuan and the students in the row ahead burst into laughter.
Her long-lost senior-year life had begun again in the midst of complete chaos.
Perhaps because Shen Sangyu had undergone the process of cleansing and tempering her body, she discovered that her memory was far better than it had been in her previous life.
She quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
The final exams were coming up soon. If her grades suddenly dropped…
Yan-jie, the homeroom teacher of Senior Three Experimental Class 1, would definitely call her parents in.
Ding!
The moment the evening dismissal bell rang, Shen Sangyu saw Tang Yuan looking at her with her hands clasped together.
“Sang-sang~”
“Tang-tang~”
Jing Fan, who was sitting at the desk in front of them, shuddered as goosebumps ran all over his body.
He turned around and looked at the two girls.
“If you two have something to say, can’t you just talk normally?”
Did they really have to make it so disgustingly sweet?
“Class monitor! You clueless straight guy wouldn’t understand the secret language between us sisters!”
Tang Yuan planted her hands on her hips and stood up, proudly showing off to Jing Fan.
Seeing the complete confusion on the class monitor’s face, Shen Sangyu laughed and explained.
“When Tang Yuan talks like that, it usually means she wants to go eat at Qinan Restaurant. Come on, Class Monitor, you should come with us too!”
Don’t think she hadn’t noticed that Jing Fan had a thing for Tang Yuan.
It was just that Tang Yuan was such a big airhead that she hadn’t noticed a thing.
After the New Year’s holiday, there might actually be an empty table in the main dining hall at Qinan Restaurant.
And there was also that bronze vessel.
Not long after Shen Sangyu had told Fu Yingqi about it, the big shot had helped her find a researcher from the National Museum of China.
The researcher specialized in ancient bronze artifacts. The moment he saw the pictures Shen Sangyu had provided, he couldn’t wait and immediately contacted her himself.
He said he would fly to Haishi today to examine the bronze wine vessel in person.
Shen Sangyu had deliberately chosen Qinan Restaurant as their meeting place.
She had also found a large box for the bronze wine vessel and asked her father to take it to Qinan Restaurant.
When Shen Qian received the box, he was a little curious.
But Shen Sangyu had been up until four in the morning catching up on homework. She really didn’t have the energy to explain anything to him.
Besides, the professor was coming today.
Shen Qian would find out soon enough.
The three of them had just gotten out of the car when Shen Sangyu saw someone standing at the entrance of Qinan Restaurant.
Fu Yingqi!
Was she hallucinating from staying up too late doing homework?
“Third Brother Fu? What are you doing here?”
Shen Sangyu walked over without paying any attention to the stunned looks from the people around them. She tugged lightly on Fu Yingqi’s sleeve.
“Did something happen? Are you having trouble with something?”
Fu Yingqi’s sudden appearance made Shen Sangyu worry that perhaps her request had caused him some trouble.
She hadn’t expected him to turn slightly toward her and lower his head.
“There’s nothing going on in the capital. I came to see this treasure you were talking about.”
“Sangyu, this is Professor Du Yansong from the National Museum of China. He’s been studying bronze artifacts for nearly sixty years. Professor Du insisted on waiting for you here at the entrance.”
The old man standing before her had a head of white hair. Even his thick glasses couldn’t hide the intense thirst for knowledge in his eyes.
Shen Sangyu couldn’t help but admire him.
“Professor Du, my name is Shen Sangyu. Thank you so much for coming all this way.”
“Student Shen, there’s no need for all these formalities. Hurry and take me to see the wine vessel. I heard it even has an inscription on it…”
Du Yansong grabbed Shen Sangyu’s hand and hurried toward Qinan Restaurant, completely treating Fu Yingqi, Tang Yuan, and the others as if they were invisible.
Fu Yingqi looked down at his arm, which had suddenly lost its point of contact, and followed helplessly behind them.
Even though he was already over eighty, Professor Du was still the same as ever.
The moment he heard the words “bronze artifact,” he could practically run faster than anyone else.