Back in her student days, English exam papers always seemed to be dominated by long reading comprehension passages. Jin Zhao still remembered one she had done in high school.

The unlucky female protagonist had a string of misfortunes in a single day. To put an end to it all, she hurried to bed, only to wake up the next morning and realize she’d fallen asleep in too much of a rush and forgotten to feed the cat. Starving, the cat tore her home apart.

It was an ordinary budget hotel. The room was small, the air damp. Jin Zhao raced against time to shower and go to sleep, afraid that something else unlucky might happen.

Lying on the bed, she thought of that long-ago reading passage and secretly felt fortunate—good thing she didn’t keep a cat.

An unlucky day had finally come to an end.

She woke up the next morning to the sound of doors opening and closing in nearby rooms. Reaching for the phone by the bed, she saw the time: 8:30 a.m.

There were several unread WeChat messages, most of them from her aunt, asking how yesterday’s blind date had gone. Presumably she had already heard feedback from the matchmaker and, unwilling to give up, praised Li Jin’s objective conditions again, tactfully implying that some people couldn’t be judged from just one meeting, that they could try being friends first and slowly get to know each other better.

Jin Zhao didn’t really want to brush off her aunt’s good intentions, but she also truly couldn’t bring herself to agree and just make do. She simply didn’t reply for the time being.

At the very top was a message from Meng Yanxi. There was only one. The timestamp showed 11:52 p.m. last night. Not long after he had left—either he was still on the way, or he had just gotten home. At that time, she must have been racing against the clock to shower to avoid even more awkwardness, and afterward she hadn’t checked her phone.

So Meng Yanxi’s message lay there alone, unanswered all night.

Meng Yanxi: 【Are you close with your students?】

The hotel’s blackout curtains were tightly drawn, leaving the room dim, as if it were still night. Lying on the bed, Jin Zhao held her phone in both hands, her heart suddenly pounding.

She should be thankful that Meng Yanxi hadn’t directly asked what her student’s “pay attention to safety” meant.

But when he didn’t ask at all, she instead suspected that he understood. After all, even she had caught the implication—let alone Meng Yanxi.

He had had eight hundred schemes and a mind full of twists since he was young; now he had grown into this disaster of a man, and he was so rich. There must be plenty of girls who liked him. What kind of obvious or subtle flirting hadn’t he seen?

Oh no—he definitely understood!

—Her students thought they had come to the hotel to book a room.

A wave of shame crawled from her toes all the way up to her scalp. Jin Zhao collapsed and buried her head in the quilt.

……

She didn’t reply until an hour later.

Jin Zhao spent the first half hour painstakingly dragging herself out from under the quilt, then another half hour washing up and getting ready, all the while racking her brains over how to reply.

She didn’t understand why Meng Yanxi, with his eight hundred schemes, refused to pretend he hadn’t understood—why, when it was already over, he still had to ask on WeChat.

In the end, Jin Zhao replied in a perfectly proper manner: 【Sorry, I fell asleep last night and didn’t see the message.】

She explained without any stray thoughts: 【The age gap isn’t that big. They used to call me “jie,” but I felt it was like a broker, so I didn’t allow them to call me that.】

Meng Yanxi had gone back to the Meng family’s old residence last night. At this hour, he was sitting in the dining room eating breakfast.

Meng Huai and Meng Shixu weren’t in Suiyi. Meng Zhuxi was on vacation and had slept until the sun was high before lazily coming downstairs. When she saw him, she softly called out, “Ge.”

Meng Zhuxi had gotten into trouble last month, and Meng Yanxi had paid quite a lot of money on her behalf. Recently she’d been extremely well-behaved. She sat down beside him and asked, “You came back to stay last night? Didn’t you say you’ve been busy lately, and that you’d only be free on Mid-Autumn Festival?”

Meng Yanxi didn’t make a sound, looking at his sister thoughtfully.

Meng Zhuxi didn’t know why, but all of a sudden she had a bad premonition, a chill running down her back. This feeling hadn’t appeared in a long time—the last time was back in elementary school, when something short-circuited in Meng Yanxi’s brain and he insisted on sending her to learn dance.

The phone placed beside him chimed twice in succession. Meng Yanxi withdrew his gaze.

He looked at the screen and didn’t move for a moment, as if thinking about something.

Jin Zhao soon sent another message.

Zhaozhao Mumu: 【Sorry, they’re used to being overfamiliar, always loud and unruly. Don’t take it to heart.】

Meng Zhuxi, who was eating breakfast with her head down, suddenly heard her brother let out a very light laugh. It was a breathy sound, with a hint of mockery.

Jin Zhao then cautiously asked: 【Should I deduct 2 points from her usual grade?】

As soon as this last message was sent, the words “the other party is typing” immediately popped up at the top of the screen.

Meng Yanxi: 【No need. You’re a teacher. Set an example, don’t bring emotions into your work.】

With such a tall hat placed on her head, Jin Zhao suddenly felt her neck ache and was instantly ashamed. Though she’d only said it casually, and didn’t even know the name of the girl from last night, no matter what, Meng Yanxi’s noble conduct only served to highlight her own pettiness.

She immediately went along with it and replied: 【Mm-hm, as long as you don’t mind.】

Almost at the same time, Meng Yanxi’s message jumped into the chat together with hers: 【You can add her 2 points.】

Jin Zhao: 【?】

Meng Yanxi: 【It makes you look magnanimous. A good chance to teach by example.】

Jin Zhao: “……”

Meng Yanxi’s level of moral cultivation was too high. She didn’t know how to reply anymore.

While eating breakfast, Meng Yanxi’s eyes scarcely left his phone screen. Normally such a lazy person, yet he was there typing without finding it troublesome at all. Meng Zhuxi saw it and, sharp as she was, leaned over and asked, “Ge, are you still going to tomorrow’s blind date?”

Meng Yanxi pressed the screen dark. “What blind date?”

“You forgot? The one Dad arranged for you.”

Meng Yanxi’s thick, handsome brows knit slightly. “You mean the Zhou family?”

“No, that one was arranged by Grandpa, and that was ages ago.” Meng Zhuxi always had an exceptionally clear memory when it came to these things, reeling them off one by one. “After that was the Lin family’s second daughter, but you said you had a girlfriend, so you didn’t go. Last month Dad told you to bring your girlfriend home to take a look, and you said you’d broken up. That’s when he arranged the Qiao family for you. Remember now?”

Meng Yanxi: “……If only you had this kind of memory when you studied.”

A poor student’s skin was always particularly thick in this regard. Meng Zhuxi wasn’t ashamed at all and continued with a grin, “You didn’t get a new girlfriend again, did you? Then are you still going tomorrow?”

Meng Yanxi didn’t respond to her.

Meng Zhuxi shook her head and said with heartfelt sorrow, “Ge, you change girlfriends way too fast. You should at least think about me a little.”

Meng Yanxi said oddly, “What does that have to do with you?”

Meng Zhuxi replied righteously, “Of course it has to do with me! We’re siblings, blood relatives. If my brother changes girlfriends every month and word gets out, people will think the sister is also a fickle playgirl. If you keep this up, how am I supposed to find a boyfriend in the future? Those who know will say I’m looking for a boyfriend; those who don’t will think I’m trying to find male concubines.”

Meng Yanxi: “You can say you were picked up.”

Meng Zhuxi: “……”

Having received favors and thus soft-handed, Meng Zhuxi—who had only gotten into trouble last month—decided not to argue with him for the time being and silently swallowed this grievance.

Meng Yanxi then suddenly asked lightly, “When does your course selection system close?”

Meng Zhuxi didn’t react right away and blurted out, “Before the holiday ends, I guess. Why?”

Meng Yanxi turned to look at her. “Perfect. Go back and select British and American Poetry.”

For two or three seconds, Meng Zhuxi genuinely suspected she had heard wrong and stared blankly at her brother.

After a long while, still unwilling to give up, she asked again, “Select what?”

Meng Yanxi enunciated each word: “An elective course. British and American Poetry.”

Meng Zhuxi was shocked. She leaned in front of her brother and waved her hand, asking in disbelief, “Ge, have you been possessed? Do I look like someone cut out for studying poetry? And I’m already a senior, what kind of sister is still taking electives in her fourth year!”

Meng Yanxi’s expression was flat. “If you make a mistake, you get punished. From now on, every time you cause trouble, you take two extra credits.”

“Didn’t you say I wasn’t wrong?!” Meng Zhuxi went crazy, her voice rising. “It was right there under Teaching Building Three—you told me feeding small animals was a good thing, that if I wanted to feed them, I should!”

Meng Yanxi was calm and composed. “I was so angry at you then that my head wasn’t clear. I was speaking ironically, couldn’t you tell?”

Meng Zhuxi finally couldn’t take it anymore and jumped up. “Get lost, Meng Yanxi! You’re so rich, how could that little bit of money possibly make you lose your head?”

The big capitalist sat gracefully in his chair, lifted his eyelids, and glanced at her. “I just have a lot of money. I’m not stupid.”

Meng Zhuxi: “……”

She thought that Meng Yanxi’s dog-like personality really wasted that gorgeous face of his. Being too much of a dog was truly enough to drag down even the best-looking face in the world.

Coincidentally, Luo Heng was thinking the exact same thing at this very moment. Thankfully, the two of them were unaware of each other’s thoughts and could only curse Meng Yanxi alone in their hearts. Otherwise, they might very well have joined forces to assassinate the capitalist.

Last month, the high school class committee had suggested holding a class reunion during the National Day holiday and asked Luo Heng to see whether Meng Yanxi would go. Although Luo Heng knew that Meng Yanxi never attended these gatherings, he still dutifully asked.

As expected, Meng Yanxi wasn’t going.

If Meng Yanxi wasn’t going, Lu Jingyue definitely wouldn’t go either. If those two didn’t go, Luo Heng actually didn’t really want to go himself. Si Tian was currently training in the emergency department, busy every day like a spinning top; for her, it was optional anyway. If they didn’t go, she wouldn’t either.

With all the key figures not attending, there was no point in holding the reunion. In the end, it naturally fell through.

Then, at two in the morning last night, Meng Yanxi—this dog—suddenly called him and asked, “Where’s the reunion being held? Send me the address.”

Lawyer Luo was about to explode. “Bro, look at the time! And you clearly said before that you weren’t going. We didn’t even form a group, where did this reunion come from?”

Meng Yanxi was silent for a moment, then said, “Then form one now.”

Luo Heng hung up with a “pa.”

Although they all cursed Meng Yanxi to his face for being inhuman, the crown prince seemed to come with his own aura of pressure. His influence on these people was top-tier. Just like how Meng Zhuxi beat her brother up but still obediently selected the elective when she went back, Luo Heng slept on it, then woke up the next day and energetically started organizing the reunion.

With the National Day long holiday and no advance notice, quite a few classmates had gone traveling. In the end, counting Meng Yanxi, at most only eight or nine people could make it.

Luo Heng loved lively gatherings and felt that this number was too small. Meng Yanxi, however, was quite satisfied. “It’s enough.”

The Sui Teachers’ Logistics Department arranged for disinfection the very next day. Not only that—considering that Building 7 of the teachers’ apartments was old and damp, and that some young teachers couldn’t live there long-term and had to rent off-campus—the school also quickly rolled out a subsidy plan during the holiday, providing a certain monthly allowance to teachers who rented housing off-campus.

Jin Zhao hesitated only slightly before immediately deciding to look around nearby for a suitable place. She had already developed a psychological shadow—poverty had forced her back into the dorms. Now that the school was offering subsidies, even if it covered only part of the cost, it at least eased her pressure.

For the next two days, she was looking at apartments, adding several agents on WeChat. That day, while she was chatting with one of the agents, a message suddenly popped up at the top.

Meng Yanxi: 【Class reunion on the 5th. Want to come together?】