Wedding Banquet Gathering

After Shen Qiong paid Ren Tianxue her salary, he had over sixty thousand yuan left in his account. This meant he had earned nearly eighty thousand yuan this month.

This was even after factoring in the time cost of not being able to open his shop for fortune telling for a few days due to Yuan Jiancheng.

He figured his income next month might even break the 100,000 yuan mark, which would be a massive leap for Shen Qiong.

Yesterday, that young lady said her best friend was sick and she needed to take time off to accompany her to the doctor. Shen Qiong, of course, approved it, and decided to take a break himself since he was attending a classmate's wedding banquet.

The wedding banquet was naturally Lu Caishuang's. Back then, Lu Caishuang hadn't invited him because they weren't very familiar with each other, but things were different now. Shen Qiong was considered a minor celebrity in the area, so of course, he had to be invited.

Lu Caishuang hadn't expected Shen Qiong to agree so readily, and she happily discussed it with her husband.

Shen Qiong pondered how much to put in the red envelope, and casually prepared three thousand yuan. He murmured, "It shouldn't be too little, right? Anyway, they're just ordinary classmates, and we're not that close."

The news that Shen Qiong was attending the wedding banquet naturally spread through their university WeChat group. The most excited person was his roommate, Zhu Zhengzhi.

The most awkward was Jiang Lekang, who had said a lot of bad things about Shen Qiong back then.

The person with the most complex feelings was Dong Yanshan. She was still single. Although she had been in a relationship after breaking up with Shen Qiong, it ended quickly.

As for the other classmates, they were naturally very happy and were already thinking about finding time to ask Shen Qiong for a fortune telling session.

University classmates scattered all over the country after graduation, and not many were in Lingxi City, perhaps only seven or eight. Considering that classmates from other places might also come, Shen Qiong agreed to attend the wedding banquet. Besides, he had a small selfish motive: he was doing well for himself now and wanted his classmates to see it.

Class reunions had long since lost their original meaning. After entering society after graduation, it was inevitable to be assimilated by the mundane world. Many people would show off their wealth, boyfriends, or girlfriends upon meeting.

Shen Qiong never denied that he was attending the wedding banquet with this mindset. He was a worldly person and didn't pretend to be noble.

He might not be the most successful among his university classmates, but he was definitely the most talked-about recently. As a result, Shen Qiong received a lot of attention when he first arrived, as he noticed all his classmates were waiting for him at the entrance.

Shen Qiong had taken a taxi. He hadn't bought a car yet, and it was quite awkward at that moment because Jiang Lekang also happened to arrive at the hotel entrance in his car.

Shen Qiong got out of the car and paid the driver, while Jiang Lekang, sitting in his own car, laughed, "Isn't this our awesome Master Shen? Why are you taking a taxi? If you don't have a car, you could have told me in advance! I would have picked you up."

Although Shen Qiong had mentally prepared for this kind of interaction, he still felt uncomfortable. Shen Qiong smiled and replied, "Stop messing around!"

"Oh, Shen Qiong is here, and Jiang Lekang is here too!"

"Jiang Lekang is doing well! That car must be around two hundred thousand yuan, right?" a classmate joked.

"The high-end model is over three hundred thousand. It seems Lekang is indeed doing well," they discussed.

Someone looked at Shen Qiong walking over and teased, "Why didn't Master Shen drive here? Is he afraid his luxury car would scare us?"

"Most likely! Master Shen is considerate of us!" two men joked with each other.

Such jokes were normal among classmates, but Shen Qiong felt there was more to their words this time.

Shen Qiong honestly replied, "Actually, I haven't bought a car yet!"

He glanced at Dong Yanshan standing in the corner. She looked the same as he remembered, but after two years of societal experience, she appeared a bit more mature than before.

Zhu Zhengzhi came up, chuckling, and put his arm around Shen Qiong's shoulder, "We've been waiting for you for a long time! Come on, let's go inside and chat..."

Of the three from their university dorm, Zhu Zhengzhi was a minor heir and often took them out for fun. Although his relationship with Shen Qiong wasn't extremely close, it was still deeper than with ordinary classmates.

"Shen Qiong, you're a bit different from what I imagined!" Zhu Zhengzhi whispered in Shen Qiong's ear.

Shen Qiong smiled, "Not as successful as you thought, right?"

"To be honest, what they said just now was all in jest. Don't take it to heart," Zhu Zhengzhi comforted him.

Shen Qiong pouted. Who knew! But he wasn't the type to dwell on such things for long.

Seeing Shen Qiong's expression, Zhu Zhengzhi knew he still cared a little and could only force a smile, "You're still so detail-oriented!"

"A great man doesn't get bogged down by trivialities! I know..." Shen Qiong murmured.

"That's right! Don't let them get to you. I saw you glance at Shan Shan when you first arrived. Don't tell me you're still single?" Zhu Zhengzhi chuckled.

Shen Qiong rolled his eyes. This guy really knew how to hit a sore spot.

"Alright! Don't say I didn't look out for you. If you still have feelings for her, go for it quickly, while she's also single."

Shen Qiong looked at him in surprise, "How did you know?"

"She asked me about you that day, and we chatted for a bit," Zhu Zhengzhi said, pulling Shen Qiong to sit on a chair in the corner.

Shen Qiong frowned, then sighed, "Forget it! We broke up back then because our feelings faded. Maybe we were just not meant to be."

"That's fine too! With your reputation as Master Shen, it's easy for me to introduce you to someone. Rich background, good figure, high attractiveness, I know quite a few," Zhu Zhengzhi lit a cigarette and offered it to Shen Qiong.

Shen Qiong shook his head, indicating he didn't smoke, and then smiled, "Can I have them all?"

"Holy crap, you're still so greedy!" Zhu Zhengzhi grinned.

They chatted for a few more minutes. By then, most of the classmates had arrived and were seated at a round table.

The two tables next to them seemed to be filled with the groom's classmates and friends; there were no acquaintances of Shen Qiong among them.

Before he could even settle in, Xu Hongchang joked, "Shen Qiong is a Master now. We're all lucky to see him thanks to Shuang Shuang; otherwise, getting an appointment would be difficult."

Shen Qiong smiled politely. He wasn't good at handling such situations and didn't say much.

"Your fortune telling is so accurate! Why don't you give us old classmates a reading too!" someone seized the opportunity to ask.

Shen Qiong's brow furrowed. He hadn't really considered this. If he had thought of it earlier, he probably wouldn't have come.

Seeing Shen Qiong frown, Jiang Lekang perked up and immediately said, "You're not going to refuse even your classmates, are you? It's rare for us to get together after two years."

Shen Qiong glanced at the guy. When Jiang Lekang first arrived, he pretended to be kind and offered to pick Shen Qiong up, but in reality, he was mocking Shen Qiong for not having a car.

Shen Qiong said, "I don't usually do fortune telling outside of my business hours."

"That's not right! Shen Qiong, look, everyone's looking forward to it!" Jiang Lekang said deliberately.

Zhu Zhengzhi stepped in to smooth things over, laughing, "Why don't we all eat something first? There's no rush for fortune telling!"

Jiang Lekang could see that Shen Qiong was clearly unwilling. He had even been snapped at by Zhu Zhengzhi in their group chat for saying Shen Qiong was unfeeling! This was a great opportunity for a comeback, and he naturally wouldn't miss it.

"Boss Zhu, we can eat anytime. If not, we can set a date for just a few of us classmates to get together, but it's rare to have Master Shen here!" After speaking, Jiang Lekang specifically looked at Shen Qiong and called out, "Master Shen, isn't that right?"

Suddenly, all eyes were fixed on Shen Qiong.

Jiang Lekang savored the feeling, looking at Shen Qiong like a victor.

Dong Yanshan could see that Shen Qiong was in a difficult spot and helped by saying, "I think everyone should stop pressuring him. Fortune telling isn't something you can just do whenever you want. You need some props or something, and there's nothing here, so it's really inconvenient."

Shen Qiong looked at her gratefully and then continued, "That's exactly right. There are no props for fortune telling here. If I were to do it for everyone, I'd just be deceiving you, and I don't want to cheat everyone at a class reunion."

Jiang Lekang's eyes darted around. He wants to get out of this just like that? Not so easy. He feigned regret and said, "Then it seems there's nothing we can do. Although we all want you to tell our fortunes, we can't force you. How about this! We'll visit you in a couple of days. Shen Qiong, don't turn us away then!"

As soon as he said this, everyone chimed in, "That's right, we can go to your shop. It's all good!"

How disgusting can this get? Shen Qiong coldly glanced at Jiang Lekang. Does this guy want to fight me to the bitter end?

The more displeased Shen Qiong looked, the happier Jiang Lekang became. He laughed, "It's settled then. Everyone will look for Shen Qiong then." He then looked at Shen Qiong and asked, "We don't need an appointment, right? We're classmates, surely you can make an exception!"

Shen Qiong's mouth twitched slightly. The favor could have been granted. The cumbersome appointment process was just a cover anyway. After all, to do fortune telling, the other party has to appear in my 'nearby people' list, otherwise, it's all for nothing.

Jiang Lekang said with a laugh, "Are we going to have to make an appointment like everyone else?"

"Yes," Shen Qiong said, the word difficult to get out.

Suddenly, everyone's gaze towards him changed. Even Dong Yanshan, who had spoken up for him earlier, exclaimed in dissatisfaction, "Shen Qiong!"

The atmosphere at the scene became extremely awkward