Class Reunion

Lu Zhiyu tossed the shop keys to Xiao Le. "Xiao Le, can you keep an eye on the shop? If anything urgent comes up, give me a call!"

Xiao Le was teasing a kitten with a cat toy. She turned and nodded. "Mm-hmm, got it. Don't worry, Boss. Go take care of things!"

Lu Zhiyu put on his jacket and got into the car with Wang Yi. Although he had already sensed Wang Yi's reason for coming with his mental power, he still asked, "What's so urgent that you came to find me out of the blue?"

Wang Yi climbed into the driver's seat and shut the door. "A class reunion! Our elementary school reunion. Someone suddenly called me today and invited me, so I thought of you. I came right over to pick you up!"

Lu Zhiyu immediately remembered. "An elementary school reunion? Do you even remember what they look like? You probably don't even remember their names!"

Wang Yi immediately said, "What, you don't remember Fatty, Glasses, or Liu Dashao?"

Lu Zhiyu burst out laughing. "Now that you mention them, I remember! No way, are they all coming?"

Wang Yi laughed too. "Fatty isn't there, but Glasses and Liu Dashao are. Glasses was the one who called me!"

Lu Zhiyu nodded. "You still have their contact information? I haven't kept in touch with them at all over the years!"

Lu Zhiyu had gone to elementary school at his grandparents' home, in a small county in Hubei Province about two hours from the provincial capital. The old family home had been abandoned and sold off years ago, so he had never gone back.

Now, as the car carried him toward the hometown of his childhood memories, Lu Zhiyu found himself looking forward to the visit. But when they entered the county and he saw the traffic, the high-rises, and the jammed streets, he suddenly realized he could barely remember anything. It looked nothing like the little county town in his memories!

"Things have changed so much. I can't remember any of it. This should be the old bridge, right? They rebuilt it? I remember it being a stone bridge!" Lu Zhiyu stared out the window, his mouth agape, feeling as if time had flown by in the blink of an eye.

Wang Yi immediately replied, "You haven't been back in how many years? Of course you wouldn't recognize the place. Let me check. They picked the restaurant over there. Yeah, we're heading this way. You know the restaurant, right? When I went to middle and high school here, I used to eat there all the time, for classmates' birthday parties and things like that!"

Lu Zhiyu shook his head. "I transferred after elementary school, so I don't remember much!"

As soon as they got out of the car, Lu Zhiyu and Wang Yi saw a very fat man standing at the entrance. The moment he spotted Wang Yi, he ran over, greeting him in the local dialect. The familiar sound made Lu Zhiyu feel right at home. "Wang Yi, you're finally here! Hurry up and head upstairs. Second floor, second room on the left!"

Wang Yi hugged the big man, and they thumped each other a few times, laughing heartily. Then Wang Yi turned to Lu Zhiyu. "Li Hao, our class monitor. You remember him, right?"

Lu Zhiyu immediately remembered. A look of realization crossed his face, though he hadn't expected their former class monitor to have grown so fat. He'd been skinny as a child; now Lu Zhiyu could only find a hint of familiarity in his features.

Only then did Fatty notice Lu Zhiyu. "And who's this?"

Wang Yi laughed. "Take a guess!"

Li Hao took a careful look, then cried out, "Lu Zhiyu! You're Lu Zhiyu, right?"

A sense of closeness and joy welled up inside Lu Zhiyu. There was something special about being recognized by an old classmate he hadn't seen in years. He hugged Li Hao. "That's right, Class Monitor! How did you get so fat? I remember you could eat anything as a kid and never gain weight!"

Li Hao let go and studied Lu Zhiyu. "Let me get a good look at you. Goodness, you were the prettiest kid in class back then, and now you look like this. If I saw you on the street, I'd never recognize you. Why haven't you been back all these years? We old classmates have missed you so much!"

Lu Zhiyu felt a little embarrassed. "I studied out of town, then went to work in the capital. There's no family home left here, so I never came back. But it's true, it's my fault. I'll make it up to you with three drinks later!"

"Three won't be enough. I'll make sure you know better when we go upstairs. Hurry on up. I'll stay down here and greet the others!"

This was probably the best hotel in the county, a pretty upscale place by local standards. Lu Zhiyu thought the furnishings and decor were nice, and even the waitstaff had excellent manners.

As soon as they entered the private room, they saw that quite a few people were already seated. Everyone turned to look at Wang Yi, and several people stood up.

"Wang the scientist, you made it too! Come on, sit next to me!"

"Old Wang, look at you, showing up so late. You owe us drinks!"

"Wang Yi, that's right, you've got to drink!"

The loudest voices came from a young man wearing glasses and a big-headed man with a crew cut. Wang Yi immediately called out, "Glasses, Wang Dashao, don't even think about giving me a hard time today! Look who I brought!"

Everyone had noticed Lu Zhiyu standing behind Wang Yi, but no one had recognized him yet. He'd changed too much. Then Glasses suddenly shouted, "Lu Zhiyu! You're back! Damn, how many years has it been since we last saw you?"

At Glasses' words, everyone began to remember. Lu Zhiyu had been quite famous at their elementary school: he'd gotten good grades, been pretty, and been well-liked by both teachers and classmates.

Several people immediately gathered around to catch up with Lu Zhiyu. Bit by bit, childhood memories surfaced, and he matched each face to a name. After all these years away, Lu Zhiyu had almost come to think of himself as all alone. He'd never expected to have so many classmates and friends!

"Wow, Glasses, you're married?"

"That's nothing. Wang Dashao's kid is already in kindergarten!"

"What about you, Lu Zhiyu? Looking like that, you must be very popular. Why didn't you bring your girlfriend?"

"I'm not married yet. My girlfriend had to work today, and it was all so last-minute, so she didn't come!"

There were quite a few women among the classmates too, most of them already married. The men had mostly settled down as well. People in the county tended to marry young, and many already had children. Thinking about it now, it was enough to make anyone sigh.

Just then, the door opened and a short-haired woman walked in. She was wearing a uniform and looked as though she'd come straight from work. She was thin and slight, and her face was a little pale.

Lu Zhiyu was sitting next to Wang Yi. He immediately asked, "Who's that?"

Glasses called out, "Lu Zhiyu, you don't remember? That's Ai Shu!"

Lu Zhiyu's head jolted. "What?"