A group of people chattered and laughed their way to the restaurant and everyone had arrived in no time. Surprisingly, no one was late, including Jiang An.
From elementary school friends like Ye Chen, Zhang Sheng, Zhang Jingjing, Jiang An, and Jiang Qian, to middle school friends like Pei Yuhao, Pei Yutian, Gu Yanzhi, Qiao Xiyang, Yang Weizhuang, and Li Qi, and even Chu Ci who couldn’t make it back from her uncle’s in Provincial City, to high school friends like Fu Mingxue and Tang Chen, Luo Qianqian was really overwhelmed seeing all these familiar faces.
"Hey, why are you still so short?" Fu Mingxue leaned close to Luo Qianqian with a smile on her face. Although they had only spent about a week together, it was impossible to forget someone who He Wenyu and Tang Chen often mentioned.
"Discussion of height-related topics is prohibited," Luo Qianqian said with a stern face.
"Alright, alright, what are we doing? Dinner doesn’t start until five," Gu Yanzhi said, pulling out a coupon from his bag and checking the time. Seeing Luo Qianqian’s slightly dissatisfied expression, he shrugged his shoulders, "I didn’t buy this; I won it in a lottery a while back, twenty coupons in total."
"Then I’ll mercifully forgive you!" Luo Qianqian finally relaxed, left He Wenyu’s side, and twirled around Li Qi and then Jiang Qian, only to return to He Wenyu with a forced smile, "You still suit me best..." It was obvious even to the eye that they were the two youngest and shortest, yet Luo Qianqian, refusing to believe it, had to compare their heights, with He Wenyu helplessly accepting it.
"Come on, let’s go. Movies or amusement park, today brother here is treating," Pei Yuhao announced generously.
This was met with scorn from everyone, "Who’s your brother?" Luo Qianqian asked without doubt.
"Looks like you need to calm down with a set of exam papers?" He Wenyu said mercilessly. She still adopted the good habits she had when studying with Luo Qianqian and Luo Shufan—the habit of dealing with issues by doing a set of exam papers first to calm down, unless it involved something to do with their parents or godmother.
"Heh..." Gu Yanzhi scoffed without even looking at Pei Yuhao.
"Such a big face." Li Qi rolled his eyes.
"Who cares." Zhang Jingjing also snorted.
Pei Yutian covered his mouth, smiling, and followed the group into the shopping mall, unable to refute since that was indeed his older brother.
"Little kitten." An inappropriate flirty voice called out, prompting several boys to immediately protect the girls around them. Luo Qianqian frowned slightly—flirting like this now? Wasn’t that a bit too bold?
"Luo, Luo Shufan... Qianqian, yes, Luo Qianqian!" the voice continued. Luo Qianqian turned her head in surprise toward the source of the voice, only to see a youth whose appearance screamed flamboyance. She shuddered—did she know someone like this?
Seeing He Wenyu’s puzzled look, Luo Qianqian was also confused, "Hello, do you know me?" Watching the youth point directly at her, Luo Qianqian started to doubt—had she really met this person before?
"You child, I am your godbrother," the youth claimed seriously as he walked towards Luo Qianqian.
Seeing Luo Qianqian’s furrowed brow, He Wenyu instinctively stood in front of her, with Gu Yanzhi also blocking in front of He Wenyu, all looking warily at the youth. Luo Qianqian’s face clearly showed that she did not recognize this person.
Watching the young kids protect Luo Qianqian, the youth smiled and reminded, "You forgot? We went together to Provincial City for the competition retests, and one of the guys in our room was a fat guy who snored loudly."
Luo Qianqian’s mind raced back to many years ago when she was in third or fourth grade of elementary school, her first time attending a competition...
"Yang Yang, Brother?" Thinking that calling her brother’s classmate by his name directly was a bit impolite, Luo Qianqian added the term "brother" politely.
"Ha, I knew I was handsome, how could you forget me." Yang Yang walked pridefully over to Luo Qianqian, "Haven’t seen you in years, you’ve grown up quite a bit, huh? Gotten so much taller."
Luo Qianqian nodded her head with moved expression, exactly, she had grown taller, okay?
"How’s your brother doing? He was quite the figure back then. Do you have his number? We couldn’t find him at the class reunion." Yang Yang casually placed his arm around Luo Qianqian’s shoulders, prompting her to frown, "Back then you refused to be my sister, do you regret it now?"
"Do you believe I’ll punch you if you don’t let go?" Luo Qianqian calmly glared at Yang Yang, "I’ll ask my brother if he wants to get in touch with you, you can give me your contact information."
"How is it like the emperor favoring a consort in the harem..." Yang Yang muttered, but he still released his hold, the kid was like a spiky kitten back in the day, even more so now. After he gave her his contact details, he then sighed deeply, "Little sister, if you need tutoring, brother can do it for free, free tutoring, after all, brother is much closer than your unreliable brother in this city."
He Wenyu interjected coldly from the side, "Didn’t you see the news a few months ago?"
"What?" Yang Yang looked puzzled.
Luo Qianqian smiled, "Sorry, but I’m in my first year of university." She nodded with a smile, "So I don’t need a tutor anymore, but thanks anyway for your kind offer."
Seeing the expectant looks of the friends around her, she bowed slightly to Yang Yang, "I’ll pass the message to my brother. We have a gathering to attend, so I’ll talk to you later. Goodbye, Brother Yang Yang."
Watching the group of young men and women leave, Yang Yang suddenly remembered, the top scoring student in this year’s college entrance exam was also called Luo Qianqian.
"Truly all in the family." Remembering the appearance of the siblings on the train that year, Yang Yang’s mouth curved into a bitter smile, "Back then, you two were the best, and you still are. Unfortunately, I still don’t have a sister."
"No way, that guy who looks like a street punk is Brother Shufan’s classmate?" Everyone was surprised.
Which one of them didn’t know about Luo Shufan’s fame? Not mentioning that his photo was always on the honor roll in elementary and high school, the brother who often came to pick up Luo Qianqian in middle school was also well-known by everyone.
"He looks really old." He Wenyu said disdainfully.
"My brother’s middle school classmate, how old can he be? He’s not even twenty, okay?" Luo Qianqian defended Yang Yang for a bit, but also showed disdain, "You guys better not dye your hair in the future, it really doesn’t look good, better to stay handsome as you are now."
"Seeing him, I’ve also given up on the idea of dyeing my hair for years, okay?" Zhang Jingjing pouted, "I wanted to dye my hair pink like in the novels, really princess-like."
"It doesn’t matter for girls, I just feel boys should stay clean and neat," Luo Qianqian expressed her opinion with a calm face.
Pei Yuhao looked at the few boys around him including himself, all following the school’s strict hair requirements, how could they dye? Dye their scalp??? Aren’t they afraid of getting poisoned?