The third-floor private room had been designed with large gatherings in mind, so all the wall panels could be dismantled.
When Zhou Pengcheng brought his classmates upstairs, even he was stunned. There were actually more than a dozen private rooms on the third floor, but now all of them had been opened up into one enormous space.
They had rented out the entire place!
Of course, that was far from the only thing that shocked Zhou Pengcheng.
The first dish served was the Large lobster, nearly as thick as an adult's arm. After that came abalone and sea cucumber, and there was no need to introduce the dishes that followed. Although everyone present had grown up in Shao City, they could not necessarily afford to eat food like this until they were tired of it. The seafood alone was enough to satisfy everyone, to say nothing of the exquisite dishes that came afterward.
Finally, the servers brought out several bottles of Red wine from the private collection. Some of them did not even seem to be something Xiaoxiang Flavor Restaurant could produce. It truly fulfilled the server's earlier promise: even if the restaurant did not have something in stock, they would find a way to purchase it elsewhere.
After adding everything up, several of Zhou Pengcheng's friends whispered among themselves. It probably cost at least fifty thousand yuan to start.
The drinks were charged separately!
“Old Zhou, what's going on?”
“Exactly. Is our eight-hundred-and-eighty-eight-yuan standard really this lavish?”
“Damn, you really know how to surprise people.”
Zhou Pengcheng's friends were all dumbfounded. Since when could a feast this lavish be arranged for only eight hundred and eighty-eight yuan?
However, Zhou Pengcheng was even more shocked.
He had originally thought they were merely switching from the second floor to a private room, with the eight-hundred-and-eighty-eight-yuan package becoming one costing a little over a thousand. He had never imagined the other party would go this far.
“What is this supposed to be?”
Zhou Pengcheng felt somewhat bitter inside. He sensed that something was wrong because he did not even know the name of the person who had paid the bill for him. The whole matter had become a complete mess.
“Pengcheng, thank you so much this time. I'm really happy.”
Su Ya raised her wineglass and looked at Zhou Pengcheng with a radiant smile.
A beauty's smile left Zhou Pengcheng with no choice but to smile along.
Only Li Jiaming, sitting to one side, had flames of anger flickering in his eyes.
Clearly, Zhou Pengcheng was going to earn plenty of face in front of Su Ya that evening.
“Come on, classmates. Let's raise our glasses together and wish Su Ya a happy birthday.”
Zhou Pengcheng proposed loudly, and everyone eagerly followed.
Su Ya's smile was as beautiful as a blooming flower, breathtakingly lovely. Her gaze toward Zhou Pengcheng held several shades more tenderness, and Zhou Pengcheng sensed that tenderness. His heart surged, and he became even bolder and more exuberant.
How could this group of high school students, still carrying the immaturity of youth, know how people would change once they entered university?
..
The moment the banquet began on the third floor, Fan Xiwen settled the bill and left.
In his previous life, Fan Xiwen had lived under the same roof as Zhou Pengcheng for two full years, so he naturally knew certain things.
Before entering university, Zhou Pengcheng had indeed been dating Su Ya, and later they attended university together in Xiangcheng. However, the good times did not last. Not long after their sophomore year began, the two broke up. Su Ya then immediately threw herself into the arms of the boy named Li Jiaming. Fan Xiwen still remembered the scene when Zhou Pengcheng returned to the dormitory on the night they broke up: a grown man carrying a case of liquor back to the dormitory, then sitting alone on his bed and downing one bottle after another.
The reason for their breakup was naturally quite materialistic. Zhou Pengcheng's family merely ran a small supermarket, while Li Jiaming's father suddenly found his fortunes changing two years later and somehow became the chairman of a listed company.
People's hearts could change, especially after several years of university. Many people would become strangers.
Fan Xiwen did not know how much love Zhou Pengcheng still held for Su Ya, nor did he know how long after leaving Unnamed Star he had met his other half in his previous life. But what Fan Xiwen wanted to say was that in this world, only Fan Xiwen's brothers could dump women; there was absolutely no reason for a woman to dump one of his brothers.
Regardless of what kind of person Su Ya was now, Fan Xiwen merely wanted to tell her that his brother was a truly wealthy man.
As for what would happen in the future, Fan Xiwen was unwilling to waste time thinking about it.
After leaving the Wine Tavern, Fan Xiwen slowly walked back up the mountain. Along the way, he encountered quite a few people out taking walks.
Back at the villa, he took out his phone. The small screen reminded Fan Xiwen that it was already the thirtieth, and Longcheng No. 2 High School had in fact already gone on vacation.
“It's vacation. Tang Qingrou should have returned to Shao City too, right?”
Only at times like this would a hint of a smile appear on Fan Xiwen's usually indifferent face.
“Should I have Mo Younian investigate Tang Qingrou's background?”
In his previous life, Tang Qingrou had transferred away from Second High School at the end of the following month. After that, Fan Xiwen never saw her again.
But in this life, Fan Xiwen wondered what he should do.
“If this monthly exam gives Tang Qingrou the will to fight, I wonder whether she will stay in Dragon City?”
“Or should I make another one-year agreement with Tang Qingrou?”
..
While Fan Xiwen was thinking about Tang Qingrou, a low-key black sedan also drove into Longjiang Residence.
The car headed straight for a villa halfway up the mountain. A family was already waiting at the villa's entrance. If Fan Xiwen had been there, he certainly would have been astonished. Things in this world were truly too coincidental.
Because Tang Qingrou, the person he had been thinking about, was conspicuously among the family of three.
Tang Qingrou's father was named Tang Yongding, and he was already forty-two years old. Over the years, he had gradually risen to become the head of the Shao City Police Station. He had performed quite well since taking office and had a good chance of rising several more steps in the coming years. However, Tang Yongding had not bought the villa. It had been purchased by Tang Qingrou's mother, Lin Baoqin. When Tang Yongding was still only a minor civil servant, Lin Baoqin had begun building a business, growing from a small street stall into the Processing factory she owned today, with assets totaling more than two hundred million.
In Shao City, there were not many people who could make the entire Tang Family come out to welcome them.
However, the car's license plate was from Xiangcheng, the provincial capital of Hu Province, rather than Shao City.
Once the car stopped, an elderly man with a head of white hair stepped out. He stood there ramrod straight, naturally radiating an imposing authority. Clearly, this old man had once held power over an entire region.
Moreover, the old man bore some resemblance to Lin Baoqin.
“Dad.”
Upon seeing the old man, Tang Yongding respectfully called out to him. Tang Qingrou also sweetly called him Grandpa, while Lin Baoqin stood there wanting to speak but hesitating.
The old man smiled at his granddaughter and reached out to embrace her. Only then did he glare at his daughter and say, “You've been away from home for so many years. Could it be that you really intend to abandon your elderly parents and never care about them again?”
Lin Baoqin's eyes instantly reddened!
Yet the old man continued scolding her with a stern face. “When you were little, this old man praised you for being clever. Even after you grew up, I said that if you had been born a man, you could have ruled over an entire region. But now I see that these old eyes of mine have been blind all along.”
“Your daughter has grown this much already. Do you really think your mother and I could refuse to acknowledge you?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Yongding showed a trace of embarrassment.
There was an old story behind all this. Tang Yongding and Lin Baoqin had first met at university and quickly fallen in love. However, at the time, Tang Yongding was merely a country boy who had clawed his way out of the countryside, while the Lin Family was a wealthy household of Hu Province. Old Master Lin had even governed a region in another province back then, so everyone in the Lin Family had naturally opposed the marriage with all their might. But the young Lin Baoqin had a fiery temper and dared to love and hate. When her family refused to approve the marriage, she simply severed ties with them and eloped with Tang Yongding. From then on, she never returned to the Lin Family.
And just like that, twenty years had passed.
Looking at the aged face of her father, Lin Baoqin lowered her head, overwhelmed with shame.
“Next month is your mother's eightieth birthday. If I hadn't come to invite you, would you still have refused to return?”
Old Master Lin looked at his daughter with an expression of exasperation.
But she was, after all, his youngest daughter. After speaking, Old Master Lin softened his voice and said, “You silly child. In this world, what parent could truly be cruel enough to stop caring about their own daughter?”
“Dad.”
Lin Baoqin could hold back no longer. She rushed into her elderly father's embrace and was already sobbing so hard she could not speak.
Tang Yongding revealed a faint smile from the side. He was the person in the world who understood his wife best, so he naturally knew that his wife's greatest wish all these years had been to return to the Lin Family and serve her elderly parents dutifully.
Now that Old Master Lin had come in person, it meant that his wife's wish was about to come true.
“Dad, the food is all ready. Let's go inside.”
The commotion at the Tang Family's entrance was considerable and soon attracted curious looks from the neighbors, so Tang Yongding spoke up.
“Yes, Grandpa. Let's go inside.”
Tang Qingrou also spoke happily from the side.
“All right. We'll listen to my good granddaughter.”
Old Master Lin grinned, patted his daughter's back, and then entered the Tang Family villa first.
Dinner was sumptuous, and Lin Baoqin had prepared it herself. However, once they sat down at the table, Old Master Lin suddenly changed expression and snorted at Tang Yongding beside him. “Little Qin suffered quite a bit after following you back then. And yet, after all these years, you're still going nowhere in Shao City. I know what the two of you are thinking, but if we wait until you are qualified to bring Little Qin openly through the gates of my Lin Family home, will this old man still be alive to see it?”
Tang Yongding was embarrassed once again and stammered, “Dad, actually...”
Before he could finish explaining, Old Master Lin said sternly, “You're all a bunch of fools.”
Tang Yongding, who was considered an important figure in Shao City, and Lin Baoqin, a wealthy businesswoman of Shao City, both lowered their heads like children who had done something wrong.
“Grandpa.”
Tang Qingrou gazed coquettishly at Old Master Lin from the side. He immediately burst into laughter. “Look at that. She's even smarter than her grandfather.”
“Get yourselves ready. Go to Xiangcheng after some time. I'm old and don't have many years left. I don't want to keep watching my daughter suffer outside.”
With Old Master Lin's word, everything seemed to have become settled.