Who Are You Again

Truth be told, if one really had to say, the quality of this apartment was actually quite impressive.

It successfully blended the so-called Western "Old Money" aesthetic with domestic living habits, and did so with style.

Take the kitchen, for instance. Since Su Bai had an interest in cooking, he placed great importance on the culinary setup of his new home.

Generally speaking, large flats modeled after Western styles feature massive kitchen islands—a design dictated by the lifestyle over there.

In the jargon of real estate agents, it was called the "core hub of social aesthetics."

In plain English, it meant "a place for friends to sit around, eat, drink, and shoot the breeze when they visit."

But in China, normal gatherings usually gravitated toward the coffee table in the living room.

People certainly wouldn't treat their boss's kitchen island as a conference table, like they do in American TV shows...

So, for this unit, they simply turned the island into a fusion counter equipped for barbecue and hotpot, complete with a dedicated exhaust system.

The logic was clear: people probably wouldn't sit there unless they were eating, so why not offer something not found in ordinary homes?

"Not bad at all. It feels like grilling meat here would be pretty fun." Wan Xinyan's focus mirrored Su Bai's.

"Is there room to swap out these kitchen appliances?" Su Bai asked.

The manager hurriedly replied, "Please rest assured, we use internationally renowned luxury brands, so the quality is absolutely guaranteed..."

"Oh, I'm not questioning that. I just want to customize it."

"Customization? That would likely be at the owner's expense, and the specific specifications would need to be discussed with the property management's technical staff..."

"That's fine. The cost doesn't matter; as long as it can be modified, I'm good."

Su Bai had been staying at the Ascott for over a month and was getting a bit tired of living in places that felt like showrooms. If he was buying a house, naturally, the more he could personalize it, the better.

Reaching out to stroke the solid slab of Calacatta marble and the bronze-edged black basalt on the countertop, Su Bai nodded inwardly.

As expected, you have to see a property with your own eyes. Developments that look good in advertisements or have good reputations in the industry don't necessarily align with one's own aesthetic.

"I'll take a unit. Senior Sister Xiaolu will handle the specific contracts and paperwork."

After making the decision, Su Bai dumped the administrative chores on his housekeeper and maid, while he ran up to the rooftop terrace. There was a sky garden up there, as well as a tennis court.

The sales manager watched the whole process, dumbfounded. He had thought Su Bai was still in the evaluation phase; he hadn't expected the decision to be made so casually.

The "Cash King of Jiangcheng" certainly lived up to his reputation.

Seeing the manager's dazed expression, Zhou Jialu covered her mouth and chuckled softly. "Oh my, our boss is just like that. He's very spontaneous."

"I can see that..." The manager snapped out of it and adopted a serious tone. "Regarding installment payments, we offer a variety of flexible policies, even including asset liquidation..."

"No need for installments. Full payment."

"..."

Since when did her junior need installment plans to buy things?

Riding on Su Bai's coattails to flex like this gave Zhou Jialu a secret thrill. If she had to rely on her own hard work, she'd probably have to rack her brains calculating mortgage rates just to buy a small one or two-million-yuan apartment in the suburbs of Jiangcheng. Yet here was this luxury flat, costing over ten million, being paid for in full with a single swipe of a card.

Of course, swiping a card for this was much more complicated than just walking into a store and buying a handbag.

Meanwhile.

Up on the rooftop tennis court, Su Bai ran into a familiar face.

It was somewhat familiar, though familiarity seemed unlikely.

It was just that the face, which looked a bit prematurely aged, paired with the sportswear, gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

Moreover, the guy kept staring at Su Bai, his expression far from friendly—gnashing his teeth would be a more accurate description.

He probably had some grudge against Su Bai... Oh well. Su Bai was always inadvertently offending people, mostly completely unimportant nobodies. How could he possibly bother to remember their names?

Out of politeness, Su Bai flashed a toothy grin.

"Hello."

"Heh, little student, I didn't expect to see you here... What do you say? I heard you're pretty good at tennis. Want to rally for a bit?"

Bai Feili felt like he was smiling, but the expression on his face came off as a bit hideous.

The word in their circle was that these teachers who had returned from studying abroad to teach at Jiangcheng University were supposed to be relaxed and classy, but Bai Feili truly couldn't relax in front of this kid.

He was indeed pining after Xia Lin, but the problem was that Xia Lin completely ignored him. As it stood, he was stuck in the state of a unrequited simp who couldn't even get a crumb of attention. It was painful.

There were plenty of simps like him. Xia Lin had been the object of many secret crushes since middle school. Even in a place like Shanghai, where beauties were as common as clouds, Xia Lin stood out like a crane among chickens.

Since they were all simps, and Xia Lin treated them all with the same polite indifference and dignified rejection, it was actually bearable. It was hard to say who was doing better or worse.

Since no one could have her, there was a psychological balance.

However, since the start of this academic year, Xia Lin had suddenly become ambiguously close with a student she was mentoring, calling herself his "god-sister." Her attitude toward Su Bai wasn't just enthusiastic; it was downright attentive.

The goddess you couldn't even get close to was suddenly acting like a sweet, caring big sister to some little boy—who could tolerate that?

The combat spirit of the male animal was burning fiercely.

Standing on the other side of the tennis court, facing Su Bai from a distance, Bai Feili felt an inexplicable surge of fighting spirit.

Opposite him, Su Bai was pondering a very practical question:

*Who is this guy again?*

*Whatever.* Since this guy had invited him to play, it was the perfect opportunity to test out the surface of the rooftop tennis court at the Riverside Sky Villas.

Come to think of it, this was Su Bai's first time playing on a court atop a high-rise building.

Basketball, tennis, badminton, even ping-pong... it seemed anything could be turned into a sky court.

He'd have to try them all when he had time.

Sky courts seemed to be more expensive than ordinary ones, but that didn't matter.

While Su Bai's mind was wandering, his opponent served.

You had to admit, it looked pretty decent.

Having successfully served, Bai Feili smiled faintly.

He had hired a French coach to train him in tennis. He wasn't at a professional level, but he was more than capable of handling amateur players.

To be Xia Lin's man, one had to be versed in both civil and martial arts, blossoming in both culture and sports... *Holy shit?!*

Bai Feili didn't even have time to react to what happened.

He only saw Su Bai execute a seemingly ordinary swing and drive. The tennis ball traced a reverse-angle arc, landed on the far side of Bai Feili's court, and, with undiminished force, slammed into the fence with a loud, rattling thud.

*Dude, are you playing murder tennis or something?*

*Is that kind of power even human?*

In reality, Su Bai had just gotten lucky. With his absolute beginner skill level, he had no idea how to properly return a serve. He had just swung his racket based on pure reaction. He hadn't expected to produce such a heavy, powerful shot that left the guy opposite him dumbfounded.

"So seriously... who is this guy again?"