The two of them registered their names with the security guard and left the school gate together. The hotpot restaurant was only a few dozen meters from the school entrance, a fairly large establishment. Among a row of small restaurants, its vibrant red storefront looked quite impressive.

Hotpot was usually eaten by groups of people. When they were in high school, Xu Ningqing and Jiang Wang often came here with their group of friends, eating until the end of the afternoon self-study period before sneaking back past the teachers.

As for Shi Niannian, apart from coming once for a class gathering in her first year of high school, she had never been here. She rarely went out of school to eat.

Crossing the road, she looked up and saw Xu Ningqing standing at the intersection.

White shirt, black pants, with half the shirt casually tucked in, broad shoulders, and narrow waist. He was attractive, drawing many girls around to secretly photograph him.

Despite being the same age, Jiang Wang still had to wear a school uniform.

Seeing the two of them, Xu Ningqing raised his hand to wave while continuing to talk on his phone.

As they got closer, Shi Niannian could finally hear what he was saying.

“I’m right at her school gate now, I’ve seen them. Come on, she’s almost an adult. How could she be kidnapped just by leaving the school?” Xu Ningqing said while patting Shi Niannian’s shoulder and pointing inside. “Go in first.”

Shi Niannian asked: “Which… table?”

“I forgot. Fan Mengming is also there, that fat guy you met last time.” Xu Ningqing finished and then spoke into the phone, “Yes, I’m talking to Shi Niannian. What do you mean, why am I letting my friend eat with Shi Niannian? Don’t worry, how would my friend dare to have feelings for my sister?”

Xu Ningqing switched the phone to his other hand: “I’m here, aren’t I? How could I let anyone bully her?”

Shi Niannian had just walked a few steps when she was pulled back by Xu Ningqing, who grabbed her collar. He put the phone to her ear: “Say something.”

“…” She glanced at the contact name—Ms. Lin.

Beside them, Jiang Wang was already leaning against a lamppost, turning his head to light a cigarette, lazily tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Shi Niannian exhaled and said into the phone: “Aunt.”

“Hey!” Her aunt responded happily, “Your brother is usually so unruly, and those friends of his… You need to be careful…”

Before her aunt could finish, Xu Ningqing had already moved the phone away from her ear, raising his chin to indicate she should go in first.

Inside the hotpot restaurant were many students in school uniforms. Shi Niannian looked around and saw a plump hand raised high. Fan Mengming opened a beer bottle with his teeth and said, “Sister, over here!”

Shi Niannian walked over.

“You can just… call me by my name… Shi Niannian.”

Fan Mengming waved his hand cheerfully, “Brother Xu’s sister is my sister too. Don’t be so formal with me.”

“…”

Outside.

Xu Ningqing hung up the phone, somewhat annoyed by Ms. Lin’s nagging. He put his arm around Jiang Wang’s shoulder and sighed: “Today you came out when I invited you to eat, but valuing romance over friendship isn’t right, brother.”

Jiang Wang turned his head and exhaled smoke.

Xu Ningqing looked at him and smiled: “It seems like you and that girl are getting along quite well.”

Only then did Jiang Wang glance at him, flicking away some ash: “It’s alright.”

“Tsk tsk.” Xu Ningqing shook his head with a smile, “My mom is always worried that my group of friends will lead the little girl astray, but I think the person we should be most wary of is you.”

The person beside him didn’t respond, just stubbed out his cigarette on top of the trash can.

From his angle, looking into the store, he could just see his little tablemate’s forehead, with some fluffy, unruly hair at her temples. Fan Mengming sat across from her, using all his charm to try to make her laugh.

Unfortunately, Shi Niannian was very serious and probably didn’t even realize Fan Mengming was trying to joke with her.

Then, Shi Niannian sat up straight and glanced toward the door.

Jiang Wang made eye contact with her for a few seconds, then patted Xu Ningqing’s shoulder: “Let’s go in.”

“Hey—” Xu Ningqing tried to stop him, but Jiang Wang had already avoided his hand and walked in. “I haven’t finished my cigarette yet.”

He stood outside for a moment, then had no choice but to extinguish the cigarette he’d just lit and enter the hotpot restaurant.

Jiang Wang walked in front, patted Fan Mengming’s shoulder: “Move over one seat.”

Fan Mengming didn’t think much of it and moved over. Jiang Wang swung his long legs and sat down next to Shi Niannian.

“Wang, see what you want to eat.” Fan Mengming passed the menu over, lamenting: “You’re now a high school student without freedom, unlike us.”

Jiang Wang gave him a sidelong glance, and Fan Mengming immediately made a zipping motion across his mouth and fell silent.

He took a pen from a nearby holder, holding the cap between his teeth, and quite skillfully made several check marks on the menu.

Then he flipped the paper over and turned his head to ask the girl beside him: “What would you like to drink?”

With the pen cap in his mouth, his speech was a bit muffled, with heavy nasal tones and a hint of laziness.

“Drink beer, sister!” Fan Mengming said, “Eating hotpot means you must drink beer. Not drinking beer is like having a clear soup base—it’s a sin.”

Shi Niannian stared at him blankly, not understanding his logic.

Jiang Wang raised his hand and slapped Fan Mengming on the head: “Shut up.”

Then he scanned the menu, wrote the number 3 next to beer, and ordered a pitcher of watermelon juice.

“You’re underage, so drink this.”

Fan Mengming was dumbfounded. He took a deep breath and smiled somewhat cheekily: “Wang, I’m thinking, isn’t the role you’re playing now a bit like Brother Xu’s? Stealing someone’s scene isn’t good.”

Xu Ningqing came in from behind: “Didn’t you say my sister is everyone’s sister?”

When Jiang Wang and Xu Ningqing entered the hotpot restaurant one after another, many people turned to look at them.

Xu Ningqing put two ice cubes in his cup, filled it with beer, the alcohol foaming over the rim, and drank it in one go. He bumped against Jiang Wang and said with a smile.

“Your charm hasn’t diminished over the years. Look at all these little fangirls.”

With three guys eating hotpot, they ordered a lot of food. The table was filled with plates of various sizes, and the twin-flavored broth bubbled in the brass pot.

Even on a hot summer day, the hotpot restaurant was surprisingly full at noon.

Shi Niannian hadn’t eaten much before she felt hot. She took the bucket of ice from Fan Mengming and dropped a couple of cubes into her watermelon juice.

Fan Mengming was a chatterbox, and Xu Ningqing loved to talk as well, their back-and-forth sounding like a comedy routine.

While their table was lively with conversation, the school forum was equally bustling.

“The grade rankings haven’t been posted yet, but someone sneaked into the office to check the scores and discovered a shocking secret about the school bully!!!”

The first post contained a blurry image, secretly photographed from a teacher’s computer screen. Looking carefully, one could see an unfamiliar yet familiar name in the second column.

Jiang Wang.

The school director’s son.

The big shot who had spent half a year in jail for nearly stabbing someone to death, then returned to school after his father donated another building.

Ranked second in the grade.

A high score of 706.

A score that ordinary people couldn’t achieve.

“Holy shit, if the OP’s information is true, I’ll livestream eating shit!”

“If this news is true, then I’m already starting to doubt the authenticity of the news about Jiang Wang nearly stabbing someone to death!!”

“Even Zhao from the rocket class didn’t score above 700! What kind of miraculous class is Class 3, with both the top two and the bottom five in the grade?!!! And even the school bully is secretly a top student???”

“I think this is a fake post? Jiang Wang is famous. Back in middle school, a group of people were almost forming Jiang Wang’s fan club, but we never heard that his grades were good?? For someone like Jiang Wang, just looking at that face, it’s harder to believe he’s a top student than a school bully!!”

“I’m Jiang Wang’s classmate! I have the right to speak!! Teacher Cai already announced it in class this morning. Jiang Wang is second in the grade!! And he was supposed to be a candidate for first place! With his insane IQ, he scored 148 in math, and those last two points were only deducted because he was too lazy to write the final step! He was originally tied for first with our class genius!!!”

“I’m also a live audience member from Class 3! Let me add something—Jiang Wang handed in his math test early!”

“Oh yes, building on the comment above, the first-place girl also handed in her test early!! Both scored 148!!! And they’re tablemates!!!!”

“This doesn’t make sense. If Jiang Wang’s grades are so impressive, why has no one ever mentioned it before?”

“Perhaps the power of the school bully overshadowed the brilliance of the top student.”

“No!! Being a top student is a huge bonus, okay?! I’ve already evolved from being Jiang Wang’s one-sided follower to the president of his fan club!!!”

“I’m a current third-year student. Jiang Wang was my senior, but I never heard his grades were good. I never saw his name on the grade rankings, and I heard he never even showed up for exams!”

“Are those of you who want to pursue Jiang Wang serious?? Didn’t Cheng Qi from Class 3 already announce that she had her eyes on Jiang Wang? She’s a tough girl who beats people up at the drop of a hat. Aren’t you afraid?”

“(Just casually saying this anonymously, hehe) Jiang Wang isn’t interested in Cheng Qi, and Cheng Qi is used to playing around, changing boyfriends every week. Do you think she’s serious?”

“As a senior watching the blooming juniors from the fourth floor, if the big boss likes someone, who cares about Cheng Qi? But most importantly, the big boss doesn’t even seem to like girls?? Before his incident, the person standing beside him was another popular senior, right? The two of them were a perfect match!”

Shi Niannian looked at the forum link that Jiang Ling had sent her.

The post had been sent about twenty minutes ago and already had nearly a hundred replies.

She bit her chopstick, her index finger scrolling down.

“Even after the incident, the big boss still has that popular senior beside him—Xu Ningqing, right? I’m already bubbling with excitement next to them!!”

Below was an attached photo.

It was a picture of Xu Ningqing and Jiang Wang eating together in the hotpot restaurant.

Shi Niannian: “…”

Xu Ningqing looked at her for a while, noticing she hadn’t eaten much, and waved his hand in front of her.

“What are you looking at? Aren’t you hungry after a morning of classes?”

Shi Niannian jumped in fright, like a child caught doing something wrong. Her phone “thud” fell onto the table.

Xu Ningqing glanced at it and saw his name.

“…”

He calmly raised an eyebrow, his almond-shaped eyes curving slightly, and picked up the phone, licking his lips.

Reading word by word, he drawled: “I can die lonely, but my WangQing CP’s bed must have magnitude 8 earthquakes every night.”

Fan Mengming looked up while biting a piece of beef: “What WangQing CP?”

Xu Ningqing showed him the phone.

Fan Mengming blinked, and after understanding, he nearly fell to the floor laughing.

“Hey, brother.” Xu Ningqing put his arm around Jiang Wang’s shoulder, “This misunderstanding seems quite serious.”

Jiang Wang glanced at the phone, his brow twitching, and turned to look at Shi Niannian.

He laughed hoarsely and asked: “Little one, you look at this kind of thing?”

Shi Niannian also felt embarrassed: “My classmate… sent it to me.”

Fan Mengming had an expression like he’d eaten something awful. He desperately gave Xu Ningqing meaningful looks and leaned over to ask in a low voice: “What’s going on with Wang? If I wasn’t hallucinating just now, it seemed like Wang was… flirting with your sister?”

Xu Ningqing sneered: “Now she’s not your sister anymore?”

“I…” Fan Mengming was truly shocked. “Mistaking a sister-in-law for a sister? Isn’t that messing up family relationships?”

Jiang Wang picked up the phone, leaned back in his chair, and looked down at it.

“Let me hijack this thread… I think the big boss seems quite interested in his soft and cute tablemate… though it might just be my CP filter being too thick!”

Shi Niannian felt embarrassed after being caught. She rubbed her reddened ears and lowered her head to eat a chopstick of vegetables.

Only after swallowing did she remember—her phone was still with Jiang Wang.

She extended her hand: “Give it back… to me.”

Jiang Wang was holding the phone with both hands, seemingly typing. After pressing send, he placed the phone face down next to Shi Niannian.

She picked it up.

“Let me hijack this thread… I think the big boss seems quite interested in his soft and cute tablemate… though it might just be my CP filter being too thick!”

Below was a reply from two seconds ago:

“—I think so too.”