Alas, the World

Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun arrived quite early, and so did Li Shiyan.

All three of them arrived at the mall twenty minutes before the agreed time.

Li Shiyan had a low tolerance for the cold. As soon as the weather turned chilly, she liked to bundle up tightly, leaving only her small face exposed. When she walked, she would unconsciously open her mouth, breathing out puffs of white mist.

When the white mist formed, she would take two quick steps forward to scatter it at once.

It looked a bit silly and endearing.

"Xiaochun, after we finish eating, let's go buy a couple of scratch-off lottery tickets!"

"Sure."

"If we win, we'll exchange the money for a hundred tokens to play the claw machines, hehe."

Shen Nian stroked his chin, wondering if he should make an investment in Li Shiyan.

The very first investment of his life was treating Li Shiyan to a scratch-off ticket in this exact mall. They split the winnings fifty-fifty, maximizing the return rate.

If Li Shiyan ever ended up destitute in the future, she could just print money with scratch-offs.

As they were talking and laughing, Chen Dong waved at them from the other side of the mall and immediately ran over.

"Long time no see, everyone. Phew, it's freezing," Chen Dong said, rubbing his hands together. "Is Ma Mingfan not here yet?"

"No, but he should be here soon. Chen Qiuyu hasn't arrived either."

"Whoa, quite a crowd today."

"It's only a proper dinner party if there are a lot of people. Let's go in first and wait for them to arrive before ordering." Shen Nian pointed in the direction of Haidilao.

The group went to Haidilao together. Knowing that three more people were still on their way, the staff gave them a large table that could seat seven or eight people, with the option to add more chairs if needed.

Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan were chatting enthusiastically, having no time to pay attention to Shen Nian. He sat on the side, silently enduring the cold shoulder.

Before long, Chen Qiuyu, following the location pin, also arrived and sat next to Li Shiyan. The three girls always had endless topics to talk about. No one knew how Chen Qiuyu managed to seamlessly join their lively conversation the moment she sat down.

"Damn, these are so expensive," Chen Dong muttered softly as he kept swiping through the ordering tablet.

"A little bit, yeah. Does this count as an aesthetic meal?"

"I don't know, but it should look pretty good if we take pictures."

"Doesn't your childhood sweetheart make you take her out for aesthetic meals?"

"Not yet. I don't even know what counts as an aesthetic meal. Does dry-pot bullfrog count? She's always urging me to take her to eat that."

"An aesthetic meal is something that looks good in photos and seems high-end. Dry-pot bullfrog isn't high-end enough." Shen Nian shook his head and sighed. "Alas, the one on my end always makes me treat her to aesthetic meals. I'm so done."

As a result, Xia Yanchun slapped him.

Her eyes seemed to remind Shen Nian to keep his voice down when speaking ill of others, as she had heard everything.

After hitting Shen Nian, Xia Yanchun went back to chattering with the other two girls about funny high school stories, acting as if nothing had happened.

Shen Nian and Chen Dong looked at each other in dismay.

"Did you see that, bro? Watashi is living a miserable life now. I get violently assaulted over the slightest disagreement, but I can only blame myself for being too affectionate."

"I feel like you just ask for it. Mine wouldn't do that." Chen Dong couldn't hold back a laugh.

"How bold! Is that how you speak to me?!" Shen Nian trembled with cold anger.

It turned out that the overly snobbish class reunions in novels weren't fake. Human hearts really do change. A brother who used to talk trash and tell dirty jokes together would now kick his good brother when he was down.

Alas, the ways of the world. Alas, life.

"They're here, they're here!"

A familiar voice came from behind. Shen Nian glanced back and sure enough, he saw Ma Mingfan walking briskly toward them.

Following behind him was classmate Liang Jing, dressed beautifully, wearing light makeup, and sporting a high ponytail.

"Hehe, we haven't started eating yet."

"We were waiting for you and Liang Jing. Have a seat, have a seat. We'll squeeze together on this side, and Liang Jing can sit with the girls." Shen Nian made some room.

"Okay."

Liang Jing nodded and sat next to Xia Yanchun, opposite Ma Mingfan.

Because she wasn't very familiar with everyone, Liang Jing felt a bit uneasy. Even though they had been classmates for so long, she hadn't talked much with the people here.

She had mustered up a lot of courage to come with Ma Mingfan today.

Her face flushed, Liang Jing discreetly looked up at Ma Mingfan. Seeing that he was looking at the tablet with Shen Nian and Chen Dong, she withdrew her gaze and played with her fingers alone.

Someone was celebrating a birthday nearby, and the speakers and staff were quite noisy.

"Hehe, Xiaojing, are you and Ma Mingfan in that kind of relationship?" Xia Yanchun leaned her little head over, covering her mouth to whisper in Liang Jing's ear.

"N-not yet..." Liang Jing's voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"Not yet? Does that mean you will be in the future?"

"I-I don't know!"

"Hehe, so fun."

"..."

Being teased by the class monitor, Liang Jing felt her life turn completely dark, and her brain chose to crash.

Xia Yanchun covered her mouth and giggled. Although Liang Jing was a quiet and invisible presence in the class, since she was sitting here, they were all good classmates and friends of three years. There was nothing they couldn't talk about.

Seeing Liang Jing's shyness, Xia Yanchun felt that if she asked any more questions, Liang Jing might start emitting steam, so she stopped teasing and reached out to ask Shen Nian for the tablet.

After the boys finished ordering, it was the girls' turn. Finally, they had the staff calculate the bill. The seven of them only spent a little over five hundred. If it wasn't enough, they could order more later.

Even knowing that Shen Nian was treating, everyone held back from ordering too wildly.

Shen Nian didn't point it out; they could just order more later if there wasn't enough food.

He tilted his chin toward Ma Mingfan. "How are your grades? Can you change your major?"

"It's a sure thing. Next year I'll go all in on computer science with Chen Dong."

"Not going all in on AI?"

"That works too, I'll think about it when the time comes."

Ma Mingfan had chatted a lot with Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan back in high school. They were among the few girls he didn't feel nervous talking to face-to-face, so he didn't feel awkward at all coming to mooch a meal.

He was more worried about Liang Jing.

After all, Liang Jing rarely talked in class and always buried herself in her studies... You could say she was friends with everyone, but not truly friends with anyone. She didn't have friends like the class monitor and Li Shiyan.

Stealing a glance, he saw that Liang Jing had indeed lowered her head to play on her phone. Her face was still a bit red, probably feeling awkward.

"Ahem, uh, Liang Jing, do you want to mix some dipping sauce? I can do it for you, or we can go together."

"Let's go together then!"

Liang Jing stood up rapidly, followed behind Ma Mingfan, and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you feel really awkward?"

"No..." Liang Jing was purely shy. Being asked about that kind of topic, there wasn't a girl in the world who wouldn't be embarrassed!

Ma Mingfan scratched his cheek. When his eyes met Liang Jing's dark, bright pupils, his face inexplicably heated up, and he suddenly felt entirely overwhelmed.