In recent years, more and more people were returning back to Chen Fan’s home county from the city.
Chen Fan politely refused a few magnates’ invitations of giving him a ride home as he preferred the quietness and secluded time on a bus.
“Six months ago, I was reborn on the bus operated by Golden Dragon Travel Group. However, I was traveling in the opposite direction.” Chen Fan lamented.
When he first woke up on the bus, he was nothing but a normal student. Six months later, he had already become a household name in the Jiang Bei region.
“I wonder if my mother and Sister An had returned home or not. I hope father is still doing all right. What about my childhood friends? I wonder if they have changed at all?”
Chen Fan thought to himself.
As the winding country road took him closer toward home, he felt slightly scared.
He would be lying to say that he didn’t feel guilty for ignoring his parents in the six months.
After the bus pulled into the station, Chen Fan walked off the bus; he didn’t bring any luggage with him. As soon as he was through the exit, he got a phone call from his father’s administrative assistant.
“Hi, Brother Sun. Are you coming to pick me up? No, you don’t have to…”
Before Chen Fan could finish his words, he saw a young man waving at him across the street. That was his best friend Jun Jie. Chen fan cracked a smile and then spoke to the phone: “Thank you, Brother Sun, Jun Jie is already here to pick me up. Thank you anyways. Stay in touch.”
He hung up the phone and watched as the young man darted towards him and then threw a punch at his chest.
“Asshole! Why have you been ghosting me for six months! I thought you have traveled outside of China.”
A light-hearted smile broke over Chen Fan’s face. He thought to himself.
“I have traveled much further than just outside of China. I was five hundred years away, and now I am back.”
“Stop it, Jun Jie. Xiao Fan must have kept himself busy with school. Gaokao is in just a few months.” A young man wearing a black-rimmed glasses spoke calmly.
Hearing the words, Jun Jie shook his head and unclenched his fist.
Despite the teenagers’ accusatory tone, Chen Fan knew that their intentions were good. Chen Fan felt warmth rose inside of him.
The boy who rushed to Chen Fan was called Wu Junjie while the boy with the black rimmed glasses was called Xu Haoxuan. Both of them were Chen Fan’s best friends ever since childhood.
The three walked alongside each other and arrived at a car. Chen Fan plastered on an impressed look and then said: “Holy shit! Young Lord Wu, it’s only been six months, and you can afford a BMW now?”
“Hehe, it’s just a 320 series, the most affordable line. Only two hundred thousand, one of my friends gave me a discount on it. “Wu Junjie put on a smug smile and then said: “I have met a lot of rich and powerful young people while I was at Jin City.
“You have to see their wealth for yourself. They drove million yuan race cars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Their house built along the river is worth over ten million. One of them, the Young Lord Wei was particularly close to me. We are planning to open a business together in the future. When I am finally rich, I will ditch this BMW and get a Maserati or what have you.”
The longer Wu Junjie went on, the more imaginative his story became.
“Young Lord Wei? The Wei Family of Chu Zhou City?” Xu Haoxuan asked with two raised eyebrows.
“You bet. Who else do you think I am talking about?” So saying, he plastered on a smug smile, but a gloomy concern flashed across his face.
Chen Fan recalled what Wei Zipin had said about Wu Junjie. He reckoned that his friend had stomached a lot of humiliation when he was away from home.
Wu Junjie was the son of the richest man in the county. He never had been school material and skipped classes every day to hang out with his rich and spoiled friends. When he moved to a big city, his advantage from his family background suddenly disappeared into thin air. This amount of wealth his father amassed in the little county couldn’t compare with the rich city magnates.
On the other hand, both of Xu Haoxuan’s parents were ordinary government employees, but Xu Haoxuan’s grades were high, and he was vying for top universities such as Qinhua.
The Number One Middle School at the Chu Zhou City used to fight over him with the Sishui County High School. But in the end, the boy decided to stay in the county.
“Bah, let’s talk about something else.” Wu Jun Jie patted Chen Fan’s shoulder and said: “Everyone is waiting for you at the Deng Yin restaurant. I even invited your dream girl.”
“The Deng Yin restaurant? Damn, did you strike it rich while you are in the city?” Xu Haoxuan asked with surprise.
Deng Yin restaurant was one of the oldest restaurants in China, a banquet there would cost at least two thousand yuan per table.
“Hehe, I just thought that we should go all out and celebrate.” Wu Junjie said as he pounded his chest. “Don’t try to save money for me when you are there, order whatever you want. ”
When the three arrived at the Deng Yin restaurant, they saw two girls and a young man were already waiting for them by the entrance.
The young man hung an amiable smile on his face while the two girls looked dazzlingly attractive.
One of the girls was tall in stature; a pair of short pants barely covered her and revealed much of her elegant curvy thighs. The other girl was slightly shorter than the first one and had well-defined features that made her look much more sophisticated.
“Wei Wei, Wen Jin! look who is here?”
Wu Jun Jie got off the car first, and he dragged Chen Fan out of the back seat.
Before Chen Fan could say a word, fire spill out from the tall girl’s mouth.”Hey, you dipshit! Where have you been? I will teach you a lesson today so that you won’t disappear like that again!”
“Indeed. Brother Fan, you should have not been ghosting us.” The plump teenage boy said.
“Quit it, you two. Chen Fan had just come back; let him take a rest.” The girl with an elegant face said lightly.
The plump boy was called Yan Xiaobai. His family runs a textile company in the county.
The tall girl’s name was Lin Weiwei. Both of her parents were martial artists. She had a hot body and an even hotter temper.
The girl with refined features was Yu Wenjin, the dream girl of all boys in the county high school.
Yu Wenjin, Lin Weiwei, Xu Haoxuan, Wu Jun Jie and Xu Haoxuan were all friends with Chen Fan ever since they were kids.
Chen Fan looked to his group of friends, and the first he saw was Yan Xiaobai. He didn’t change at all: friendly and plump like he always was.
Lin Weiwei remained the same as well; her temper didn’t improve at all. However, Chen Fan’s eyes lingered on Yu Wenjin’s face for a while as he found something was different and strange.
“Uh?” Chen Fan was taken aback as he felt strange and otherworldly energy flowing around Yu Wenjin.
“She came to our county at the grade seven, and since then she had captivated the hearts of all boys at the school.”
Chen Fan recalled.
Yu Wenjin was even more attractive than Jiang Churan. Chen Fan conceded that she was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever met in the first thirty years of his past life. Not only was she drop dead gorgeous, but she also had exceptionally good grades.
It was not a secret to Chen Fan and his other friends that Wu Junjie and Xu Haoxuan were competing with each other for the girl’s attention.
Memories of Chen Fan’s past life surfaced in his mind, and his look grew increasingly wistful.
“No wonder things were so awkward in my past life, it all makes sense now.”
“Let’s go in.”
Wu Junjie hurried everyone to enter the Deng Yin restaurant. He had booked a VIP room that was decorated with traditional style Chinese furniture. A few waiters stood in the corner of the room and were at the guest’s beck and call.
“Stop staring at me.” Yu Wenjin protested. She never liked the attention, and Chen Fan’s insistent gaze started to creep her out.
“Pervert! Why are you ogling Hottie Yu?” Wu Junjie said bitterly.
“Don’t call me that.” Yu Wenjin flung back at Wu Junjue with a frown.
“Fine, fine, I will call you sister Wenjin, how about that?” Wu Junjie said as he raised both hands in surrender.
Chen Fan watched as the two threw lighthearted banter at each other and felt a strong sense of nostalgia.
“They are my real friends! I have made it back just to hang out with you guys again because our friendship was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
To Chen Fan, the relationship with his friends weighed more than the entire planet. Without them, the earth was just another grain of sand in the desert.
Everyone chatted with each other as they enjoyed the meal. Yu Wenjin glanced at Chen Fan curiously from time to time.
She could sense that Chen Fan had changed a great deal over the six months; however, Yu Wenjin could not put a finger on exactly what had made the boy different.