This month, Lu Caishuang was getting married and would be holding a wedding ceremony and banquet. She sent the news to all her friends on WeChat, then created several group chats for everyone from her elementary school and university classmates to her relatives and friends in the neighborhood.
The group chat for her university classmates was the liveliest, with plenty of people popping up to offer their congratulations.
Shen Qiong had gone to university with her, but Lu Caishuang wasn't close to him, so she didn't add him to the group.
"I can't believe the goddess of our youth is getting married just like that. My heart is breaking!" Jiang Lekang cheerfully typed into the group.
"Give me a break, Brother Kang! You changed girlfriends three times a year back then. We all know what you were like," Xu Hongchang teased.
A sweet, delicate voice message popped up. "Congratulations, Sister Shuang! I'm still single. I'm so jealous!" The girl's voice was lovely, and a pack of wolves immediately descended.
"Perfect, I'm single too. Want to give it a try?" Jiang Lekang sent a grinning emoji.
"Get lost! Qiao'er is mine," another classmate chimed in to compete.
"You bunch of hungry wolves! You never confessed to us when we were at school, but now you're all coming out of the woodwork," Lu Caishuang replied.
"Sister Shuang, that's not fair. You and Qiao'er were both goddesses in our class back then—beautiful from afar, but not to be touched. We wouldn't have dared commit such a grave offense," Xu Hongchang said. He got along well with everyone and had a good sense of humor.
"You sure know how to sweet-talk," Lu Caishuang said with a laugh in a voice message.
"Whoa, this is lively! I thought I'd pop in and say hi." Shen Qiong's roommate, Zhu Zhengzhi, made his presence known.
"Isn't that our very own Boss Zhu? You actually have time to chat on WeChat?" Since Zhu Zhengzhi's family owned several factories, his classmates usually called him Boss Zhu or Zhu the Tycoon.
Zhu Zhengzhi shared a dorm room with Shen Qiong. When he noticed Shen Qiong wasn't in the group, he immediately called out, "How come I don't see my buddy Shen?"
Shen Qiong's family ran a fortune-telling business, so his roommates usually called him Shen the Fortune-Teller. Over time, the nickname had turned into Shen Garlic.
"Why don't you add him?" someone suggested.
Jiang Lekang immediately said, "Don't! You might not know this, but Shen Qiong's gotten himself into trouble lately."
"What happened?" Zhu Zhengzhi asked curiously.
"I'll send you the link. Take a look for yourselves. I only found out because a friend told me about it." Jiang Lekang shared a link to an article that was over ten thousand words long.
Everyone clicked on it, curious to see what it said...
About five minutes later, someone finally spoke up. "Holy crap, that's outrageous!"
"I listened to the recording, and it really does sound like Shen Qiong. He must be doing pretty well after graduation if he dares make a bet like that."
As his roommate, Zhu Zhengzhi knew Shen Qiong fairly well, so he immediately explained, "I think there's something fishy going on. Shen Qiong isn't that kind of person."
"Hard to say. His family does fortune-telling, after all. How many people in that line of work are aboveboard?"
"People's hearts are hard to fathom."
"To be honest, if that article weren't written so convincingly, and there weren't so many comments underneath, I wouldn't believe Shen Qiong could be that kind of person," Jiang Lekang said.
Lu Caishuang was secretly glad she hadn't added Shen Qiong to the group. Otherwise, things would have been awkward.
"I think the article has clearly exaggerated things. But it doesn't seem completely made up; it just blows the whole incident out of proportion," Xu Hongchang analyzed sensibly.
Just then, someone tagged Dong Yanshan, and the group fell completely silent.
Dong Yanshan had been Shen Qiong's girlfriend at university, but they had broken up after graduation. Quite a few of their classmates who'd been close to them both knew about it.
"Sister Shan, say something," Jiang Lekang was the first to speak.
Dong Yanshan had been following the group chat the whole time. She'd just finished reading the article a classmate had shared, and she was utterly stunned. She was certain Shen Qiong would never do something like that.
"The Shen Qiong I know wouldn't do that," Dong Yanshan replied decisively.
"I believe Shen Qiong too," his roommate Zhu Zhengzhi chimed in to support him.
Someone joked, "The question isn't whether we believe him. The question is that a lot of people online are cursing him out right now."
One classmate who wasn't particularly close to Shen Qiong sneered, "I can't stand that kind of superstition anyway. You and he have already broken up, haven't you, Shanshan?"
"Yes, we broke up amicably after graduation," Dong Yanshan answered.
"Then there you have it. It's been two years now. Who knows what he's like these days?"
Although they'd broken up, Dong Yanshan still had a good impression of Shen Qiong. Seeing someone talk about him like that made her unhappy. "Everyone only knows part of the story. I don't think we should keep discussing him."
Lu Caishuang popped up. "Exactly! Let's talk about something fun."
"Tell us when the wedding is, Sister Shuang! I've never met your husband. Which handsome guy managed to win your hand?" Xu Hongchang chimed in to smooth things over.
Lu Caishuang posted her wedding photos, and everyone immediately showered her with praise.
"So beautiful!"
"Your husband is pretty handsome too..."
Once the conversation had smoothly moved on from Shen Qiong, Dong Yanshan quietly opened his WeChat profile, only to find that he hadn't posted anything on his Circle of Friends in over a year.
"I wonder how he's doing these days," Dong Yanshan murmured.
She wanted to message Shen Qiong and ask how he was doing, but found it hard to bring herself to do so. After all, they'd once been together, and now they were the most familiar of strangers.
How have you been lately? She smiled bitterly and shook her head. No, that was too cliché! It was such a melodramatic way for exes to check in on each other. She couldn't bring herself to send it.
After hesitating for a moment, she gave up on the idea of messaging Shen Qiong.
As for Shen Qiong, he was sitting leisurely in his shop, reading the I Ching and joking around with Brother Li and the other guys.
"Master Shen, you really had the nerve to make that bet! Weren't you worried that the guy might make money on the stock market and come back to cause trouble?" one of the guys asked with a laugh.
Shen Qiong smiled and shook his head. "Impossible!"
Brother Li rolled his eyes and glared at the guy. "What are you talking about? Master Shen said the guy wasn't suited to playing the stock market. He could throw in a million and still come up empty."
"Right, right!" the guy said with an ingratiating smile.
Sitting around was a little boring. Brother Li was itching for a game, so he rubbed his hands together and asked with a grin, "Master Shen, could you tell me how my luck looks today?"
Shen Qiong knew the guy's gambling itch had returned. He opened WeChat, found him under "People You've Said Hello To," and checked his profile. His Luck Value was 6.
"Not bad. You should be able to win a few small rounds. Don't get greedy," Shen Qiong said with a smile.
Brother Li's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood. "You guys stay here. If anyone comes looking for trouble, let me know right away."
"Where are you going, Brother Li?"
"I'm going to win some money. Tonight, let's grill a few beef kidneys and build up our strength." Brother Li was in a great mood.
Shen Qiong smiled faintly, picked up his teacup, and took a sip...
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