A familiar stranger

"What? Who's Li Rui?" Beside her, Liu Yan was completely bewildered by Yunrong's words.

Without answering her best friend, Yunrong bent down again, wanting to check whether her eyes had deceived her. Just then, however, the light turned green, and the sports car shot away with a whoosh.

Watching the purple supercar disappear into the distance, Yunrong stared blankly and murmured, "Impossible. This can't be."

Liu Yan looked in the direction the car had gone, then back at the dazed Yunrong, and asked in surprise, "Don't tell me you know that handsome guy driving the supercar?"

Liu Yan's jaw nearly dropped. She had just jokingly told her best friend to ask for his number, but she also knew that someone so rich was far beyond what ordinary people like them could hope for. Judging by her friend's reaction, she might really know that handsome guy.

Still in a daze, Yunrong instinctively nodded.

"He's not your ex-boyfriend, is he? You let a boyfriend that rich slip through your fingers? What a shame," Liu Yan said regretfully.

"No, don't make things up. He does look a bit like my little sister's ex-boyfriend, but that's impossible. Her ex came from a very ordinary rural family. How could he afford a supercar like that?" Yunrong first answered her best friend's question, then began muttering to herself again.

"You mean Lingxuan's ex-boyfriend? Didn't she only ever have one boyfriend, the one she broke up with after graduating from college? No way. I've never met him, but I've heard you talk about him. How could he afford a supercar like that? Were your eyes playing tricks on you?"

As she spoke, she pulled up the photo she had just taken and searched online, then let out an earth-shaking cry of shock. "Oh my God, this car costs over eighty million! Good heavens, Yunrong, hurry up and call your sister to check if that's her ex-boyfriend. If it is, she needs to win him back right away. He's way too rich!"

"Impossible, impossible. That's absolutely impossible." Hearing her best friend say the car cost over eighty million, Yunrong shook her head like a rattle drum. It was simply unbelievable. Could that ordinary college student from back then really afford a car worth over eighty million?

"My eyes must have been playing tricks on me. Come on, let's keep shopping," Yunrong said quietly, her head slightly lowered.

But after holding Liu Yan's hand and taking two or three steps toward the crosswalk, she immediately pulled her back off it, then took out her phone and made a call.

In an old rented room in Magic City, the entire space measured less than ten square meters. After a small bed and a basic wardrobe had been put in, there was barely enough room for a desk and nothing else. The space felt exceptionally cramped and narrow.

Yun Lingxuan ate instant noodles while writing furiously at her computer, working on a proposal. Even though it was Sunday, the girl had not gone out shopping like other girls, but had volunteered to work overtime instead.

Because she needed to earn money. She wanted to change her parents' circumstances, to spare them from living in a mud-brick house that was on the verge of collapsing. That was also one of the reasons she had chosen to come to Magic City after graduating.

Everyone said it was easier to make money in Magic City, but reality was completely different from what she had heard. Even a rented room of around ten square meters like this cost over three thousand, reaching four thousand with water and electricity. But for the sake of her job, she had no choice.

As Yun Lingxuan ate her instant noodles and reviewed the proposal she had written, she was startled by the ringing of the phone lying beside her. She picked it up and saw that it was her older sister calling.

"Hello, Sis. Didn't you go out today? How come you have time to call me?" The instant noodles she had not quite swallowed made her normally clear, lovely voice sound a little odd.

On the other end, Yunrong could also tell that her sister was eating, but paid it no mind and asked, "Xuanxuan, has Li Rui contacted you at all these past few years?"

Hearing that familiar yet unfamiliar name from her sister's mouth, Yun Lingxuan's lips parted slightly. A strand of instant noodle that had not made it all the way into her mouth broke off and fell to the floor. Her hand seemed to lose control as well, and the plastic fork she was holding dropped onto the desk.

When her sister did not answer, Yunrong asked again, "Xuanxuan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Sis, why are you asking about Li Rui today? We broke up almost three years ago. We haven't been in touch since." Only after hearing her sister ask again did Yun Lingxuan come to her senses and answer her question.

"I saw him in Star City today."

"Ah, is he... is he doing okay?" Her voice at the end was as faint as a mosquito's hum.

"If I wasn't mistaken, he's doing very well now. He's driving an eighty-million sports car. How could he not be?" Yunrong said with feeling.

"What? Sis, you must have been mistaken. With his family's circumstances, how could he afford an eighty-million sports car? Where did you see him?" Yun Lingxuan's shocked questions came one after another.

"I saw a supercar while I was waiting at a traffic light. The person inside was Li Rui."

"Sis, could you have mistaken him for someone else?"

"At first, I thought I'd been mistaken too, but now that I think about it, it was definitely him. I couldn't have mistaken him," Yunrong said firmly. Back then, she had attended the same university as her sister and had been in the same year. She had known Li Rui since he and her sister first started dating. How could she mistake someone she had known for two or three years?

On the other end of the phone, Yun Lingxuan fell silent again after hearing her sister's certain reply. Had that person she had once known so well, the one who had pampered her like a princess, the one who had said he would marry her and bring her home, become so rich now? But what did that have to do with her anymore?

"Xuanxuan, what exactly happened between you and Li Rui? Weren't things always good between you two? Why did you suddenly break up back then?"

"Sis, just think of us as having the fate to meet, but not the destiny to stay together," Yun Lingxuan said dejectedly after a long silence.

"Xuanxuan, I know you went to Magic City to earn more money because you wanted our family to have a better life. More than that, you went there to make money because Mom said anyone who wanted to marry you had to pay a bride price of three hundred thousand, not a penny less. You wanted to earn the money so Li Rui could marry you. How did you two end up breaking up?"

"I... Sis, what's the point of talking about this now? We broke up almost three years ago. He's so rich now, he might have found another girlfriend already. What's the point of dwelling on the reason?"

"Not necessarily. The supercar's passenger seat was empty. Maybe he's still single. Why don't you try getting in touch with him again?" Although Yunrong was no gold digger, who didn't like money? If her sister found a rich husband, she could bask in some of that reflected glory too, not to mention that this was someone her sister loved.

"Sis, just stay out of things between Li Rui and me. It's already been three years. Our destined bond has ended. We're only familiar strangers now." Before Yunrong could say anything else, Yun Lingxuan hung up.

Yun Lingxuan picked up the plastic fork she had been using to eat her instant noodles again and put a few strands into her mouth. But the owner of that mouth seemed to have forgotten to chew, and another noodle broke off and fell onto the desk.

"Wah... wah... wah... wah..." Before long, stifled sobs rose in the cramped, dim, shabby room.