108. Graduation Party

After Ganyi’s gathering ended, Chen Ruowen immediately got into Bai Jinyan’s car, and they hurried nonstop to the next event.

Only after getting in did she realize that Bai Jinyan had somehow already obtained his driver’s license; the car he drove to Ganyi’s place yesterday was actually his own.

The reunion of ordinary high school classmates was far duller than the usual banquets and business gatherings Chen Ruowen attended. There was no equestrian club, no hot springs, not even a single performance.

Class 3 of senior year, including Chen Ruowen, had forty-one students in total. More than thirty showed up today. The chosen venue was an unimaginably ordinary restaurant. They didn’t even book a private room, instead arranging four adjacent tables in the main hall. The surrounding noise was relentless, and anyone passing by risked accidentally brushing against the clothes at the neighboring table.

Chen Ruowen’s face darkened.

“This time you came on your own. No throwing a tantrum later,” Bai Jinyan warned her in advance.

This little lady’s bad temper almost grew exponentially in crowded places like this.

Judging by the tension in Chen Ruowen’s expression and muscles… she would probably lose it and flip a table in thirty seconds.

Chen Ruowen bit her lip and said nothing.

A waiter hurrying to serve dishes on the other side of the hall accidentally spilled two drops of soup onto the floor about a meter from Chen Ruowen’s feet.

Well, at least it didn’t touch her. She gritted her teeth and endured it.

Someone at the next table, apparently heading to the restroom, reached out and roughly grabbed the back of Chen Ruowen’s chair while passing between the two tables from their school.

Walking and having to hold onto someone’s chair—didn’t they have hands?

The revolving door swung open again as a noisy group of people, families with children in tow, entered the restaurant. Two five- or six-year-old little brats screamed for some unknown reason and one chased the other into the room.

The accompanying adults glanced at the unruly kids, then smiled approvingly.

“Look at these two kids, so adorable!”

The cute little troublemakers chased each other across the aisle. The one in front suddenly darted under Chen Ruowen’s table, and a small hand, washed or unwashed, grabbed the hem of her skirt, cheerfully peeking out from under the table…

Chen Ruowen snapped her chopsticks down with a loud crack, kicked her chair aside, and stormed out. The two little brats circled around that table and slipped under the next one, completely unaware they had narrowly escaped a severe rebuke from society.

Ma Yunan, who had just clinked glasses with the neighboring table, leaned over with half his head.

“Yan, did you make Sister Ruo angry again?”

Bai Jinyan smiled wryly. It’s not like I’m the one who upset her…

Near the end of the meal, Chen Ruowen returned gloomily and changed from a skirt into long pants—a deep gray pair that would hide any dirt stains.

She had disappeared for nearly two hours. Had she really gone home to change clothes?

Estimating by the time, maybe she even ate or took a shower?

Bai Jinyan wiped sweat from his brow.

Around Class 3’s table, about ten boxes of beer had already piled up. Except for Bai Jinyan, who was driving, even several girls had one or two empty bottles in front of them. Multiple tables were buzzing with lively chatter, and some people had even switched seats several times.

“When is this going to end?” Chen Ruowen asked gloomily.

“Soon,” he replied.

As they spoke, the remaining alcohol on the table was quickly drained. It looked like a male student from the class monitor’s group—well, Chen Ruowen couldn’t even remember his name.

The class monitor called the waiter to settle the bill. The cost was split among the thirty-plus people, and they slowly began to leave the restaurant.

The meal cost less than two thousand yuan, but the bill took twenty minutes to finalize. Chen Ruowen was getting impatient and wanted to pay herself, but Bai Jinyan wouldn’t allow it.

“My time is valuable,” Chen Ruowen grumbled.

Bai Jinyan had no response.

“So, where does everyone want to go next?” As they left the restaurant, the class monitor began to ask about plans. “There’s a karaoke nearby. How about we go sing?”

“More than thirty people—where’s there a karaoke room that big?”

“I’m tone-deaf. I don’t want to sing.”

“Singing means you can’t really chat. We only get together like this once in three years. We don’t know when we’ll have this chance again. Going to karaoke would be a waste.”

Unexpectedly, most people disapproved of this idea.

But student reunions were usually about eating, singing, or watching movies. If not karaoke, what else?

They couldn’t just disperse so abruptly.

“How about we go back to school?” a female classmate suggested. “We don’t know if we’ll ever be able to come back after graduation. Maybe this is our last time at Yizhong…”

The crowd fell silent.

After the college entrance exam scores were announced, almost everyone had roughly estimated their results. Although Class 3 was the best class at Yizhong senior year, there was no easy university in Nancheng. The competition was fierce because the student quality was so high. The admission cutoff scores for ordinary top-tier universities in Nancheng were even higher than some Double First-Class universities in smaller cities.

To get into better schools, many classmates had already decided—or were decided by their families—to apply out of town.

Once they left, they might never return.

“Then let’s go back to school one more time!”

The reunion spot wasn’t far from Yizhong, and the young crowd wasn’t overly sentimental. They linked arms and walked over together.

Yizhong campus, usually bustling by day, was eerily quiet tonight. Only a few classrooms on the floors for sophomore and junior middle school students still had lights on.

More than thirty people hushed each other and carefully tiptoed through the stairwells, climbing up to their old senior year floor.

“Hey, our ranking list is still here!” A small boy at the front excitedly pointed to the stairwell entrance.

Two large lists were posted on the opposite wall: one titled “Senior Year Science and Arts February Mock Exam Rankings,” the other “Senior Year Science and Arts April Mock Exam Rankings.”

Each list had only 150 names—top 100 for science, top 50 for arts—representing Yizhong’s brightest stars.

“I made the top ten in April’s mock exam. Worship me?”

“Not bad, probably your greatest achievement ever.”

“Tch, get lost. Wait till June 28th, when I bloom and outshine all. At least 650 points—if not Nanda, then Beida!”

“You even changed the exam date just to rhyme. You really put effort into it…”

“650 points my foot. I think you’re just an idiot!”

“I hear you always rambling about passing 250. Be careful you don’t curse yourself!”

“Jerk! I was talking about ‘dust to dust, soil to soil, I need over 250 in science,’ in science!”

“Still 250 though…”

“If you’ve got guts, don’t leave after class. I’ll beat you up!”

…

The boys exchanged a few quiet jabs and jokes, laughing as they dashed to their classroom door.

The door was locked, but the athletic Ma Yunan easily climbed in through the window and opened it.

One by one, the thirty of them entered silently and went to their desks, touching the thin layer of dust that had settled.

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“This time, we’re really graduating…”