As soon as he got home, Chen An sat on the sofa and pulled out his phone to search for methods to extend a pomegranate’s lifespan.

Suddenly, a call came in from Quan Zirong. As soon as he picked up, he heard: “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.”

Chen An pressed the speakerphone button, exited the call interface, and continued reading about pomegranate preservation: “Who are you going to shit about?”

Quan Zirong took a deep breath on the other end and said mysteriously: “What I’m about to tell you, you need to prepare yourself mentally. Don’t say I didn’t warn you beforehand.”

“Okay. Speak.”

Quan Zirong began: “There’s news about your Lele. Early this morning, she asked Bai Xue about our class WeChat group. Just now, Bai Xue pulled her into the middle school group.”

Back in middle school, they didn’t have WeChat yet. After graduation, everyone kept in touch individually. Last year, several classes jointly organized a reunion with the theme of commemorating the ninth anniversary of graduation and temporarily created a group. It basically consisted of classmates who were developing their careers in the province. Chen An hadn’t attended, and Quan Zirong hadn’t pulled him into the group either.

As soon as Quan Zirong heard about Cheng Lele’s movements, he hastily called Chen An to notify him. After speaking, he felt a bit regretful.

Back when Cheng Lele left without a word, Chen An’s emaciated appearance had been too shocking—it was still vivid in his mind even now. He didn’t want Chen An to get entangled again.

“Then pull me into the group too,” Chen An said.

As expected, whenever it involved Cheng Lele, Chen An had no principles.

“Isn’t that a bad idea? There are quite a few people in that group, and several are pretty gossipy and troublesome.”

“I haven’t broken any laws—what is there to be afraid of?”

“It’s not about being afraid—it’s about being annoyed.” In small places, interactions relied too heavily on personal connections. When inappropriate requests came knocking, it was awkward when you couldn’t help but also couldn’t refuse. Quan Zirong’s father had already risen to become the second-in-command in the county. As the son of a minor official, he had deep experience with these social obligations. Chen An kept an excessively low profile in Taixi—he must have considered this factor. Quan Zirong said, “You were quite a prominent figure at school back then. Once you enter the group, a bunch of people will definitely add you individually. If you don’t accept, gossip will spread. If you do accept, it’ll be endlessly annoying.”

When Chen An was away from home, he indeed didn’t easily add people on WeChat. In some unavoidable social situations, he inevitably encountered people asking for his WeChat. When it was awkward to refuse directly due to social courtesy, Tang Xin would help him deflect most of them—because he found such things very annoying and had included it in Tang Xin’s work performance evaluation criteria.

“I won’t. Just pull me into the group,” Chen An insisted.

“Then after you get in, don’t say anything. Just be a zombie account.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. We’re brothers.”