Contains Movie Plot

Li Rongxiu walked among his classmates, his steps unhurried and composed as he entered Diwan High School's grand auditorium. Following the usher's directions, he found his seat—in the third row. Zhou Ruixin and Allen Yaksa from his team were already seated there. Seeing Li Rongxiu arrive arm in arm with Zhao Qijun, Alan waved cheerfully and laughed. "After all these years at school, this is my first time sitting within the first seven rows of the auditorium. Quite an experience."

Before he had even finished speaking, Li Rongxiu and the others laughed. The first seven rows on both sides of the auditorium were reserved for the school's faculty, invited guests, Student Council officers, and club members or individuals competing for Top Student. Those seven rows represented excellence and distinction. Clearly, before his rebirth, Li Rongxiu and his companions had had nothing to do with either word.

As they spoke, Xin Mengmeng and the others found them as well. Although Rosen and William Wood had returned only later, Li Rongxiu and the others had still found a way to involve Rosen in the filming. As for William Wood—there was no need to elaborate on his contributions to the Super Alliance, even though he had caused some trouble in the beginning.

Seated in front of the Super Alliance members were Student Council President Cheng Mufeng and the other Student Council members. Perhaps because they rarely saw faces like Li Rongxiu's group at such events, the people in the front rows displayed varying degrees of curiosity. Some even deliberately turned around and smiled as they struck up conversations with them.

Born brimming with enthusiasm and possessing endless energy for socializing, William quickly began chatting with the officers in front. Zhao Qijun soon got along well with them too. Li Rongxiu had always felt that, with Zhao Qijun's personality and abilities, he should not have ended up with playboys like them. Zhao Qijun naturally carried himself like a practical man. He rarely bragged, and he did his utmost to complete every task Li Rongxiu assigned him. Apart from the unconcealed arrogance that did not belong to a Diwan elite whenever he defended Li Rongxiu, Zhao Qijun had always seemed dependable and reassuring.

Apparently noticing Li Rongxiu's probing gaze, Zhao Qijun paused his conversation with the student officers in front and turned to look back at him questioningly. Resting his chin on one hand, Li Rongxiu shrugged boredly. The gesture was somewhat lax and disrespectful for such an occasion, yet it looked strangely fitting on him—as though a wealthy, unruly young man like him ought to be this way.

Knowing Li Rongxiu's nature well, Zhao Qijun understood his boredom in an instant. He smiled faintly, a flash of smugness and cunning appearing between his brows before vanishing. Then he pulled a thin little booklet from his pocket and handed it to Li Rongxiu.

Li Rongxiu raised an eyebrow suspiciously, took the booklet, and flipped it open. He could not help but smile. "Where did you copy so many jokes from? They're ridiculously lame."

"Still better than listening to those dull speeches." Zhao Qijun spread his hands indifferently. Several days ago, he had already instructed his underlings to collect popular jokes and comedic snippets online and bind them into a small booklet, all to entertain Li Rongxiu when he got bored out of his mind during the anniversary ceremony. It seemed that had indeed been the right move.

At precisely nine o'clock, Diwan High School's principal, Zhang Yaolin, entered the grand auditorium with the faculty. All the students immediately fell silent and rose to welcome the distinguished guests who had come to observe the ceremony.

...Prominent figures from Wancheng's political and business circles, famous alumni who had graduated from Diwan High School, invited foreign business and political figures, and members of the Empire's royal family. After a lengthy introduction accompanied by applause came Principal Zhang Yaolin's anniversary address, Ninth Prince Li Jiuying's words of encouragement to the students on behalf of the royal family, the Wancheng mayor's speech to the students, and last year's outstanding student representative, Student Council President Cheng Mufeng, speaking on behalf of all students...

After the long, tedious speeches came the celebration performances by the school's various clubs. The Song and Dance Troupe's musical productions, the Choir's choral performances, the Drama Society's plays, and more were staged one after another. The Diwan blockbuster Above the Elite, funded by the Super Alliance members, was scheduled to premiere at 2:40 in the afternoon. After the film, Diwan would hold its final banquet, where that year's Top Student and top club would also be announced.

The entire day's schedule was exciting and packed—but that pace was for students striving to become elites. For an aimless playboy like Li Rongxiu, this dull political spectacle was simply boring beyond belief.

"Oh, hurry up and get to the movie already. Have you seen the final cut? I haven't—even though I'm an investor, I don't even know what the finished movie looks like. How ridiculous."

At lunchtime, Li Rongxiu and the others stood on the lawn outside Diwan Grand Auditorium. As they selected items from the buffet, he spoke.

"I haven't seen it either, but I believe our movie will definitely be the most exciting one." As Li Rongxiu spoke, he set the plate in his hand on the long buffet table covered in a white tablecloth. He had little appetite that day, though it had nothing to do with the pressure brought by the anniversary celebration. In truth, Li Rongxiu simply did not like eating seafood during a proper meal. Yet aside from the overly sweet Western desserts, most of the buffet dishes that day were seafood. Wancheng was located by the sea, and seafood was one of its culinary specialties.

Having just finished making small talk with the mayor of Wancheng, the Ninth Prince approached with a glass of champagne. When he reached Li Rongxiu, Li Jiuying smiled and glanced at the companions beside him. Allen Yaksa and the others tactfully stepped away for the moment. Once he saw that no one around them was paying attention, Li Jiuying quietly asked Li Rongxiu, "Has Yujun contacted you recently?"

"No. What's wrong?" Li Rongxiu asked with a frown. No matter what, having a friend who disappeared without warning now and then was never particularly pleasant.

"It's nothing. You know Yujun has some secret forces under his control. Secret as they may be, if someone is determined to investigate, they can still uncover a few traces. But over the past month... Pandora's Box has practically vanished. It hasn't taken on jobs, sold information, or even left behind any basic signs of operation... So you understand, I'm worried something may have happened to Yujun."

Unlike others, who preferred secluded places to discuss important matters, Li Jiuying had always liked discussing important intelligence at noisy banquets. Holding his champagne with a refined, gentle air, speaking in a calm, low voice that only the two of them could hear amid the soaring music, the more composed Li Jiuying appeared, the less anyone would suspect him of plotting anything. There was not even any need to worry about eavesdroppers.

Of course, if anyone knew how to read lips, they might be able to guess what the two were discussing. But at an occasion like this, who would bother hiring a lip-reading expert to investigate some irrelevant, tedious matter?

Upon hearing Li Jiuying's words, Li Rongxiu's heart sank slightly. He stood before the buffet table in thought for a while before saying, "Perhaps there's someone who knows Shen Yujun's whereabouts... Wait here for me."

With that, Li Rongxiu turned and left the buffet table. His goal was to find Uncle Li among the crowd, the representative in charge of Fate Group's Greater China region. Shen Yujun had begun acting strangely only after speaking with Li Bingru. Li Rongxiu had always felt Shen Yujun's abnormal behavior was connected to the woman named Judy whom Li Bingru had been seeking. But when he had previously asked Li Bingru about it, Li Bingru had made it clear that he did not wish to discuss it. Out of respect for his family, Li Rongxiu had gone along with Uncle Li's wishes. That did not mean he could turn a blind eye to his friend's safety, especially after Li Jiuying, a friend who clearly had business interests intertwined with Shen Yujun's, had also expressed concern for him.

When Li Rongxiu found Li Bingru, Uncle Li was chatting with several famous alumni who had graduated from Diwan High School and now held important positions in the Imperial Ministry of Commerce. Li Rongxiu stepped forward with a smile and greeted them. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he tactfully expressed his wish to speak with his uncle alone. The alumni considerately departed. Li Rongxiu then dragged his uncle through the buffet area on the lawn and into the empty athletic field. Seeing the expression on Uncle Li's face that plainly said, "Here you go again," he solemnly asked, "Where exactly is Shen Yujun? He didn't even attend the Centennial School Anniversary today. What are you people trying to pull?"

Hearing Li Rongxiu's blunt questioning, Li Bingru knew his well-behaved nephew was truly worried. Shen Yujun had previously made him promise not to reveal his private matters to anyone without permission. But compared to a promise made to an outsider, making his family happy obviously mattered more to Li Bingru—or rather, it was not particularly difficult to keep both matters going at once.

After only a brief moment of consideration, Uncle Li said, "Do you remember the woman I told you about? If you can promise that, no matter what happens, you'll keep what I'm about to say completely confidential, then I'll tell you something."

Li Rongxiu nodded.

Li Bingru continued, "She was a beautiful encounter my boss had twenty years ago while traveling in Wancheng... In fact, there have been many such encounters throughout my boss's life. Some of those women knew who my boss was, while others did not. Some took precautions during their relationships, while others did not. None of those trivial matters originally mattered. Until a year ago, when my boss was seriously injured in an accident and also lost his sixteen-year-old only son. So now he urgently needs a qualified, outstanding heir... And your friend is one of them. Or rather, he is qualified to compete for that position."

"Don't worry. He is definitely safe right now—at least, he will be safe until he leaves the Empire and returns to Enoria. As for why he is mysteriously avoiding everyone and creating the illusion that he has disappeared, I assume you can understand. When someone with his personality resolves to set off on a long journey, he always has to put everything in order first so that he has no worries behind him."

Li Rongxiu suddenly understood. As a direct descendant of the Li family who had been reborn, he naturally knew exactly whom his uncle served. The Alie family, long known as Enoria's hidden royal family, had always been renowned for its immense power and influence. Likewise, the rumors surrounding the family's struggles for power and profit could practically be made into an entire series about the brutal ascent to power. Then there was that vague conversation Shen Yujun had held with him before disappearing...

Just as Li Rongxiu, believing he had pieced everything together, was about to speak, a crisp bell rang throughout the campus. Uncle Li calmly raised his arm to check his watch, then smiled. "It's time for the movie. So that we don't miss your first endeavor, we should head back to the auditorium. We can talk about your friend when we get home."

When Li Rongxiu and Uncle Li arrived at the school cinema, the movie was about to begin. Passing through the bustling crowd inside, the two headed separately toward the guest seating and the student seating.

Watching Li Rongxiu sit down beside her, Xin Mengmeng casually handed him a bag of popcorn and a cup of cola. Then she covered her mouth and whispered with a smile, "Look behind you... last row in the corner on the right... Chi Junrui and Shen Manyao came too. They didn't even manage to get seats in the student or guest sections. They're sitting with the students' families."

Li Rongxiu shook his head indifferently without looking back. He simply accepted the popcorn and cola, passed them to Zhao Qijun, and said to Xin Mengmeng as he settled into his seat, "What's so strange about that? You were the one who invited them."

After a pause, he added, "Didn't you arrange seats for the two of them? Since you invited them, you should at least observe proper courtesy. Otherwise, after the premiere, they might find fault with us and say our invitation wasn't sincere."