Tattling

The bright moon hung overhead, and a gentle breeze stirred the night air.

A man and two women walked side by side across Dongji Bridge, a famous landmark in Dongji County.

Tian Tian had suggested it, saying they could take a walk and sober up.

"Yi, are you still in touch with Li Qian?" Jian Shuyue asked, seemingly offhand.

"No. We broke up, so why would we stay in touch?" Zhou Yi gave her a puzzled look. He didn't understand why Jian Shuyue had brought it up.

"Then have you thought about starting a new relationship?" Jian Shuyue asked with a smile, an unusual gleam flickering in her almond-shaped eyes.

"What, are you trying to set me up with someone?" Zhou Yi asked jokingly.

"Yes! What do you think of Tian Tian?" Jian Shuyue immediately reached out and pushed a blushing Demon Tian in front of him.

"Don't joke about crossing that kind of line." Zhou Yi rejected the idea without a second thought.

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm not good enough for you?" Tian Tian's expression changed, and a murderous glint appeared in her liquid, flirtatious eyes.

"You've got some nerve. I treat you two like my brothers, and you're trying to hit on me?" Zhou Yi shook his head, his tone making it clear that there was absolutely no room for discussion.

Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian both froze for a moment, then lunged at Zhou Yi with a flurry of playful punches and kicks.

Chatting and laughing, the three of them arrived outside the Maple Leaf Hotel before they knew it.

As they were about to part, Jian Shuyue looked straight at Zhou Yi and said softly, "Yi, seeing you this time, Tian Tian and I both had the same feeling. It was as though the person standing in front of us was someone else entirely!"

Zhou Yi's heart skipped a beat. You two really are good judges of people.

He was Zhou Yi, certainly, but he was no longer the original Zhou Yi.

"You've changed so much, but there's one thing that hasn't changed at all. Do you know what it is?" Jian Shuyue continued.

"What?" Zhou Yi asked, his expression turning a little odd.

"The distance you keep!" Tian Tian pursed her soft pink lips and answered first.

"We seem so close, like we can joke about anything, but in reality, someone has drawn a clear line in his heart, keeping us separate from his real friends. Can I ask why?"

Jian Shuyue gazed deeply at Zhou Yi, her clear, bright eyes seeming to look through his eyes and straight into the deepest reaches of his heart.

Zhou Yi smiled bitterly to himself. These two women had frighteningly sharp instincts. All this time, he had thought he'd hidden it pretty well.

Since they had called out that "someone," he could hardly keep playing dumb.

So he sighed softly and replied, "Because you're both too beautiful. And not just beautiful, but too accomplished. And not just accomplished-your families are too rich, too!"

"So you feel inferior?" Tian Tian asked tentatively.

"Yes, exactly." Zhou Yi immediately nodded in agreement.

"Exactly, my ass." Tian Tian rolled her eyes at him in disdain and sneered. "Who are you trying to fool? What someone is really thinking is, 'Oh, Jian Shuyue, Tian Tian, and I don't belong to the same world at all. We might get along now, but one day we'll inevitably go our separate ways, until we lose touch completely.'"

Zhou Yi was genuinely astonished.

If he hadn't known that one of these women studied law and the other journalism, he would have thought he'd run into a pair of psychology experts.

Their analysis was so damn accurate.

"That's not-I didn't-don't make things up... Anyway, it's getting late. Get some rest, you two. See you tomorrow."

Zhou Yi gave a couple of awkward laughs, waved to the two women, and turned to hurry away.

Watching him disappear into the distance, Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian exchanged smiles, then walked into the hotel arm in arm.

Bai Haoxuan and Xu Heng watched Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian enter the hotel. They waited another few minutes before going inside themselves and taking the elevator up to their room.

"What do you think of that guy?"

Bai Haoxuan poured two glasses of warm water and handed one to Xu Heng as he asked casually.

"He's all right. Better than Su Shaokai, at least." Xu Heng took a sip and answered with a frown.

"Then do you think Tian Tian might be a little interested in him?" Bai Haoxuan asked tentatively.

"Interested how? If you ask me, your little sister's the one who treats him differently." Xu Heng gave his friend a sidelong glance.

"No way. Shu Yue has very high standards!" Bai Haoxuan waved a hand, dismissing the possibility outright.

"Damn, so my sister's standards are low?" Xu Heng couldn't help shooting back.

"Because a thousand years from now, I'll be gone from this world..."

As the melodic ringtone sounded, Xu Heng glanced at the caller ID, immediately gestured for his friend to keep quiet, and answered.

"Hey, Mom. Still awake? Oh, you mean Tian Tian? She came back ages ago. She's with Shu Yue, so what's there to worry about? Besides, Haoxuan and I were looking out for them the whole time. Anyone who tried to make them drink got drunk under the table by us. Yeah, nothing special, just an ordinary class reunion. Okay, Mom, get some sleep. Good night."

Having smoothly fobbed off his mother with practiced ease, Young Master Xu put down his phone and sighed softly.

He was done pretending. It was time to come clean.

He was actually Tian Tian's full brother. Their parents had divorced and each started a new family, and Tian Tian had always used their mother's surname.

As for Bai Haoxuan, he was Jian Shuyue's older cousin.

He and Bai Haoxuan, meanwhile, had grown up in the same residential compound and were business partners.

Both had been specially dispatched by their elders on this trip to protect their younger sisters from men with ulterior motives.

Just after Xu Heng finished his call, Bai Haoxuan's phone rang.

"Auntie, I was just about to call and report to you. Yes, Shu Yue went to a class reunion tonight. Four men and one woman, all classmates from middle school or high school. There was a male classmate named Zhou Yi, and Shu Yue seemed to treat him a little differently. Oh, you've heard that name too? Yes, he's the police officer who came to help last night, the Public Security Brigade Captain at the county public security bureau. Also, he and Shu Yue wore matching outfits tonight. I'll send you the pictures in a moment..."

Xu Heng stared in astonishment at Bai Haoxuan, who was having the time of his life tattling. You sneaky bastard!

By the time Zhou Yi got home, it was past midnight.

His parents were already asleep.

He quietly washed up, then lay in bed fiddling with his phone.

There was no WeChat, and no Douyin either.

There were, however, two text messages that had arrived not long ago.

Both said exactly the same thing: "Good night."

Zhou Yi sent each of them the same reply: "Sweet dreams."

Then he opened the notepad on his phone.

It was densely filled with numerical codes.

For example: 6.3, 7.20, 8.29, 10.11...

Those were the dates on which important events might occur, as far as Zhou Yi remembered. They were also the foundation that would allow him, in this second life, to fulfill his political ambitions and rise swiftly through the ranks.