Anna and Su Feifei

"By the way, the class monitor called me two days ago and said there'd be a gathering in a couple of days. He said we'd all be going our separate ways afterward, so we should leave ourselves something to remember." After seeing his game character die miserably, Lin Ran turned to Xue Chen. "Tell me honestly, is this your first time playing?"

"It really is my first time." Xue Chen wasn't lying. He simply found it boring and shut off the console. "When is it?"

"He called a couple of days ago. It's tomorrow night. But that bastard Li An is hosting it. I heard he got into the same school as us this time. Damn it, why do I have to run into him?" Lin Ran couldn't help rolling his eyes at Xue Chen's answer.

"You're still fighting with him?" Xue Chen patted Lin Ran's shoulder comfortingly.

"I'm telling you, as long as I'm alive, I'll fight him to the end! There are plenty of other schools he could've gone to, so why did he have to come to mine? That bastard definitely has ulterior motives." Lin Ran fumed.

"All right, look at you. You're about to puff up like a pufferfish. If you're not in good shape when the time comes, he'll just laugh at you again." Xue Chen soothed him.

"No matter what, I can't lose to him. Otherwise, how will I ever hold my head up in the future? By the way, do you have any good clothes? I absolutely have to be the sharpest guy at the gathering. I'll make him drool—" Lin Ran narrowed his eyes.

"No problem. There are two new outfits at home, but I thought the style was too flashy. You can wear one tomorrow." Xue Chen patted Lin Ran on the shoulder, then went over and lay down on the sofa.

The reason Li An and Lin Ran got along so badly was mainly because they both liked the same girl. They had both gone all out pursuing her, but she wasn't moved in the slightest. After some time, she even came back with another girl.

That's right, the girl came out in front of everyone. Nearly the whole class knew about it. After that, the relationship between the two became even worse, with each believing the other had driven her onto the path of lesbianism.

Li An and Lin Ran competed over everything: grades, sports, even looks. Neither was inferior to the other, so they kept fighting. Neither was willing to yield, and the stalemate had lasted for two years.

"How flashy?" Lin Ran asked.

"It'll definitely make you the sharpest guy there." Xue Chen was brimming with confidence.

Anna and Su Feifei

"Wow, has Li An gone crazy? He's treating everyone in a place like this? Isn't he afraid of going broke?" Lin Ran looked up at the luxurious building before him, stunned.

"Excuse me, are you looking for someone, or are you staying here?" the greeter at the entrance asked politely.

"I-I'm looking for Li An..." Lin Ran glanced at the smile on the greeter's face and said a little shyly, "We're friends."

"Oh, Mr. Li An? Please follow me to the Soaring Cloud Pavilion private room on the second floor." The hostess smiled and led them inside.

"Well, well, Lin Ran. I didn't expect you to come too." The moment Lin Ran and Xue Chen entered the private room, class representative Liu Neng came over cheerfully to greet them. Then, seeing Xue Chen beside him, he gave him a bear hug. "Ah, Chen! One day apart feels like three autumns! We haven't seen each other in so many days—I've practically become a stone wife waiting for her husband!"

"Get lost." Xue Chen could barely breathe from the hug. He shoved Liu Neng away and cursed.

"All right, stop messing around. Sit down." Liu Neng patted Xue Chen's shoulder, then pulled him over to sit.

"Liu Neng, when did you become so close with Li An?" Lin Ran looked at him and asked with narrowed eyes.

"Networking more is good for us after we graduate from college, isn't it? I think you should stop going against Li An in the future. It's really not worth it over one lily. Do you know what happened to An Duo now?" Liu Neng answered with a mysterious smile.

"What happened?" Xue Chen had gone to Hong Kong Island, so he didn't know what had happened, though he could roughly guess.

It was now the 1980s, an era when same-sex relationships were almost universally despised and rejected. Even forty years later, although some people had accepted them, most still remained hostile toward homosexuality.

Sure enough, what Liu Neng said next confirmed Xue Chen's suspicions.

"An Duo has already been sent abroad by her family. I heard they practically forced her to go."

Liu Neng sighed helplessly. "She made too big a fuss last time. Her father was angry, but there was nothing he could do because she insisted. So he made up his mind and even sold the house here. She probably won't be coming back."

"What about Su Feifei?" Lin Ran's eyes widened as he cried out. Then he frowned. "They didn't really break up, did they?" Lin Ran had a faint premonition.

"Can an arm twist a thigh? She moved away a couple of days ago. No one knows where she went." Liu Neng shook his head.

"I see..." Lin Ran nodded. To be honest, when he first saw An Duo, he had already thought up names for their future son and daughter. Unfortunately, the girl had no interest in him—and she was still a lesbian?

"Actually, her father was protecting her too. I heard her second aunt found out about her and tried to persuade the old man to throw her out, but the old man beat her and threw her out instead." Liu Neng wasn't someone who talked nonsense, so An Duo and Su Feifei were clearly having a hard time.

"But An Duo is very stubborn. Once she makes a decision, it's hard to change it. I only hope An Duo can... Sigh."

"Isn't that so?" Liu Neng sighed as well. Looking around at their surroundings, he suddenly felt a little envious. "By the way, Brother Chen, did you see anything interesting on your trip? I heard gambling in Macau really isn't illegal?"

"It's true, but once you get involved with gambling, it never ends well. Don't get curious about it." Xue Chen shook his head.

"I was just curious." Liu Neng curled his lip, said nothing more, and lowered his head to drink water.

Many people had gradually arrived in the Soaring Cloud Pavilion private room. Li An greeted the people coming and going with a smile, occasionally looking toward Lin Ran and Xue Chen with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Hey, Li An is actually a pretty decent guy. You really don't need to keep fighting him." Xue Chen glanced at Lin Ran and said.

"There are two kinds of grudges in this world that can't be erased: the murder of one's parents, and the theft of one's wife." Lin Ran gritted his teeth, then said to the two people in front of him, "You're both my good friends. You're not allowed to betray me."