Chapter 4: Gathering
Fan Ren truly admired Li Jian. This guy, over four years of university, played games but always went to bed on time, and could get up early the next day to run.
He persisted with various fitness routines every day without missing once.
To be honest, someone with this kind of perseverance won’t do too badly in the future no matter what.
Not to mention, he passed the enlistment and joined the military as a university student, becoming an honorable soldier.
He believed in the boss; with his astonishing perseverance, his future was bound to be bright.
But Lin Chang was different. These past few days he had been listless. Fan Ren asked around and found out it was because no company had extended an olive branch to him.
Fan Ren was helpless about this. Although he had his own company now, there were no products yet, he still owed 200,000 in huge debt, and the staff was just him, the boss.
He was a bachelor who could eat his fill without worrying about others. Even if it all came to nothing in the end, at least he wouldn’t drag anyone down.
But Lin Chang was different. Fan Ren still suggested he spend some time submitting more resumes, lower his sights a bit, and not limit the positions too strictly.
If it really didn’t work out, once his company picked up, he could bring Lin Chang over no problem.
But it was too early to say that now.
That night, unusually, the four of them played games together until nearly dawn, and Li Jian was no exception.
The next day they slept until noon, and the atmosphere in the dormitory grew even quieter.
Over there, the usually decisive Li Jian had already started packing his luggage. After tonight’s last gathering, he had to go to military headquarters to enlist.
Liu Jun lit a cigarette and tossed the cigarette pack toward Lin Chang, who was still groggily asleep nearby. Looking at Fan Ren, who was also packing, he asked, “Brother Fan, have you rented the house?”
“Yeah, in the suburbs, pretty remote. It takes half an hour by car. Fourth Brother, get up and pack. Tomorrow come stay at my place, and roll out once you find work.”
Before Lin Chang could respond, Liu Jun’s eyes started darting around.
“Second Brother, how about adding me too?”
Hearing this, Fan Ren set down what he was holding and asked back, “What’s your plan?”
Liu Jun took a drag on his cigarette, thought for a moment, and said, “I haven’t figured it out. Not going home for now. Mind if I crash at your place for a while?”
Fan Ren nodded without refusing.
Speaking of taking care, Li Jian naturally took the best care of him, but over four years of university, Liu Jun had really treated this group of dormitory brothers to plenty in terms of material things.
His car, drive it anytime. Eating out, he was always the first to grab the bill.
And so on—anywhere money was spent, Liu Jun was basically the first to charge forward.
Now that his good brother was in trouble, he naturally wouldn’t refuse.
For some reason, Liu Jun, who had been sulking, visibly lit up with excitement upon hearing this answer.
“Fourth Brother, get up quick, hustle! Moving house tomorrow! Brothers together again.”
Seeing this, Fan Ren amusedly continued sorting his few belongings.
Until evening, the four arrived at that same restaurant—this was the location for today’s classmate gathering. Basically all the graduating seniors who could make it and had the means were here.
The huge hall on the first floor was nearly packed.
The group went to their class’s table and sat down with their companions.
Unlike last week’s farewell drink, today’s scene was obviously much livelier. Each slightly immature face was filled with excitement.
After today, it was their first step into society.
As if strength in numbers, the crowd here no longer felt hesitant or timid. After the student minister’s passionate speech on stage, the future path didn’t seem so dark anymore.
Fan Ren remembered the names of the classmates at their table, but they had little interaction.
Perhaps because he was an orphan since childhood, he had always been rather cold in personality and wouldn’t socialize unless necessary. If not for meeting these three good brothers beside him, Fan Ren figured having no friends over four years of university wouldn’t have been strange at all.
“Hey? Isn’t that Fan Ren’s girlfriend? How come…”
Across from them, a female classmate with a ponytail pointed not far behind him, her tone surprised.
Fan Ren came back to his senses and glanced back—it was indeed Xu Min, but sitting beside her right now was a handsome guy.
Their demeanor seemed somewhat intimate.
“That’s Ma Wei, right?”
“It’s him. This guy showed up today in a BMW and flaunted it at the entrance for a good while.”
Fan Ren helplessly turned his head back and said, “Interrupting for a sec—we broke up last week with Xu Min. No rumors, okay.”
In the class, Fan Ren had always been like a transparent person. If not for being spotted coming and going with Xu Min by those paying attention, some might not even remember his name.
Over there, Ma Wei, noticing the gazes on him, looked over and locked eyes exactly with Fan Ren, who had just turned.
As if provoking, Ma Wei considerately picked up some food for Xu Min beside him, then grabbed his wine glass and walked over toward Fan Ren.
Fan Ren was puzzled. Why had he stopped talking after saying that? Until someone patted his shoulder. He looked up to see Ma Wei smiling and raising his glass.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Ma Wei.”
Fan Ren was confused—they didn’t seem to have any connection, weren’t from the same world. What was there to get acquainted with?
‘Bang’
Liu Jun couldn’t stand it anymore. He slapped the table, stood up, and glared at Ma Wei, who was half a head taller, saying, “Don’t go too far. We’re not familiar with you.”
Clearly, Ma Wei was a bit intimidated by Liu Jun, but recalling the ‘joke’ his father at home had told him, he bolstered his courage.
As expected, the Liu Family successor was likely changing.
“Just getting acquainted, and also to pick the brain of this classmate. I’m quite curious how to make Xu Min happy, heh.”
“Fuck him up!”
Liu Jun didn’t hesitate, grabbing a wine bottle and smashing it toward Ma Wei, but his hand was blocked.
“Third Brother, the boss is here!”
The one stopping him was Fan Ren. Liu Jun had this personality; Fan Ren had been ready to intervene before Ma Wei even finished speaking.
Sure enough, this hot-tempered guy.
Today was different from usual. If a conflict broke out, Li Jian sitting over there would hardly stay out of it. But the problem was he absolutely couldn’t have any mishaps now, or his future would be ruined in his hands.
“Ma Wei?”
Fan Ren narrowed his eyes, picked up his glass, downed the beer in one go, exhaled, and continued, “Go back. We’re all adults—making a scene looks bad. I’m not afraid of jail, right?”
Hearing him, Ma Wei sobered up instantly. He’d switched cars today and, with the crowd at the gathering, got a bit carried away.
He knew Fan Ren’s background, and now he couldn’t help regretting it inwardly.
Why provoke this kind of person? To put it bluntly, if Fan Ren went berserk, trading one life for one—he’d be the one taking the bigger loss.
Struggling to maintain his aura, Ma Wei forced a smile, nodded, drained the beer in his glass, and then walked back.
Fan Ren looked in that direction. Over there, Xu Min was gazing at him, her expression neither sad nor happy. But Liu Xinyue beside her looked especially smug.
“Damn it, if you hadn’t stopped me, the boss is enlisting soon. Today I’d have beaten him—what the hell.”
Liu Jun angrily downed a glass of wine, slamming the glass down with a clank.
The people at the table finally reacted. From the earlier conversation, they’d also learned Li Jian was enlisting. If Fan Ren hadn’t stopped Liu Jun and a fight broke out, with Li Jian’s temperament, he couldn’t possibly stay out of it.
Li Jian was helpless; he’d just been pretty pissed off too.
To be honest, the moment Liu Jun grabbed the wine bottle, he was already ready to throw caution to the wind!
Bully anyone but his few ‘good sons.’
He patted Fan Ren’s shoulder, stood up to fill Liu Jun’s glass, raised his own, and said, “When brother comes back next time, Third Brother, take me to find that punk. I’ll fight him one-on-one; you handle the aftermath!”
Fan Ren quickly stopped him.
What a joke—if someone else said that, the crowd might think it was a stubborn duck mouthing off, just for face.
But everyone present knew Li Jian’s character.
With him, anything within his ability, he would do as he said.
