Class Reunion (3)

"Thank you all for your support and your care for our alma mater. On behalf of our alma mater, I thank you once again!" Seeing that nearly everyone in the class had transferred their donations, Xing Zhiyu said a few words and drank another glass.

But instead of continuing his meal, Xing Zhiyu unexpectedly took a computer out of the bag he had brought and placed on a table behind him. Everyone watched him in bewilderment.

"Don't just sit there, everyone. Go ahead and eat! Keep eating. If there isn't enough, we can order more dishes. As for me, to make sure everything is fair and impartial, I'll tally everyone's donations right here in front of you!"

Seeing everyone fall silent and stare at him, Xing Zhiyu explained what he intended to do.

Su Ziyang, Ma Jun and the other two exchanged glances, at a loss for what to do. They simply couldn't make sense of Xing Zhiyu's baffling behavior.

"Wang Qiang, 2,000."

"Wang Zhiyong, 5,000."

"Zhang Yaxin, 2,000."

After fiddling with the computer for a while, Xing Zhiyu actually began reading the names aloud as he tallied them, rather like counting votes in a student election.

Buzz, buzz...

Su Ziyang's phone rang. It was his dormitory group chat.

Lizhi: "What's going on? Wasn't this supposed to be a class reunion? How did it turn into a fundraiser?"

Ma Jun: "No idea. We haven't even eaten our fill, and now he's pulled this. He's even started reading out the votes!"

Wang Jinqiu: "Isn't this fucking illegal fundraising? We haven't seen a damn thing, so why should people have to donate just because he said a couple of words..."

Han Peng: "I said nothing good would come of this. If we'd known, we wouldn't have come. We could've gotten together ourselves today, walked around a bit, and gone home. We could've treated it like a trip!"

Su Ziyang ignored the messages in the group chat for the moment and gently tugged on Zhang Yaxin's clothes.

"Jiarou, is what Xing Zhiyu said true? Why did he suddenly pull something like this?" Su Ziyang asked softly.

Wang Jiarou lowered her head and replied softly, "It's true. There really is something like that. But he probably took the job on himself. Those statues really are for building campus culture. Because of funding problems, the school brought some alumni back to raise money. But those reunion notices were all sent out officially by the school; none were privately organized. I think it has something to do with him wanting a promotion!"

Wang Jiarou was still pursuing her doctorate at the school, after all, so she knew more about some of the news there.

Su Ziyang picked up his phone and relayed what Wang Jiarou had just told him to the group.

It left the five men from the dormitory grumbling with anger...

While Su Ziyang and the others were complaining among themselves, the tally continued.

Xing Zhiyu had already finished tallying the list of donations at remarkable speed. Su Ziyang had thought at least some people would ignore the whole thing. But to his utter surprise, only the five old brothers from his dormitory hadn't transferred any money. Everyone else actually had.

At that point, Xing Zhiyu stood up and raised his glass. "Classmates, fate has brought us together again, and of course, we're also here to give back to our alma mater. Nearly everyone in the class has contributed, but some classmates haven't donated in time. I don't know whether they didn't hear the announcement or had some other reason. Of course, I'm sure none of you will blame them! They're still members of our class, after all. When the sculpture is built, it will bear an inscription saying it was donated by our class as a whole!"

Most people hadn't paid close attention, but a few observant ones realized that the only people who hadn't donated were the five from Su Ziyang's dormitory.

Xing Zhiyu had been reading out names and tallying the amounts just now. He had read exactly sixty-two names, leaving Su Ziyang and the other four.

Some people had already turned their eyes toward Su Ziyang.

As the saying went, people suffered not from scarcity but from inequality.

A great many of them had been very reluctant to donate, but since they had donated, they naturally hoped everyone else would too. They couldn't accept only some people paying while the sculpture ended up bearing the name of the whole class.

"Class monitor! Who hasn't donated? Tell us," a female classmate suddenly said.

Su Ziyang remembered this woman very well. Looking at her closely, he saw that she was very "pretty."

Her eyes were especially large, with double eyelids. Her ears were small, and her nose was big, like a bulb of garlic. Her lips were thick and painted a very bright red.

Taken separately, those facial features might not have been ugly, but combined on her face, they looked awkward no matter how one viewed them. In particular, whatever she had put on her face made it look as though it were covered in a layer of white frost.

It wasn't that Su Ziyang looked down on the woman for her appearance. After all, no one could control how their parents brought them into the world and raised them. The real reason he remembered her so well was that she had once done something sensational: she had confessed to Xing Zhiyu, shouting beneath the men's dormitory that she wanted to have his children.

Xing Zhiyu had been too frightened to come out. His faithful lackey Wang Zhiyong had gone down and told the woman that Xing Zhiyu wasn't in the dormitory that night. It had taken him half an hour of persuasion to trick her into leaving.

The incident had caused quite a stir at the time. Some students had even called it the brave girl's confession. Xing Zhiyu had become the talk of the school for a while. Even many young teachers had heard about it and would tease him whenever they ran into him.

After that incident, not only had the woman felt no embarrassment, but she had also grown even fonder of Xing Zhiyu. She had fussed over his well-being and pursued him even more closely.

Later, two versions of the story circulated through the jianghu:

First, Xing Zhiyu had later arranged to meet the woman, cursed her out, and thrown back everything she had given him through various channels, putting an end to their ill-fated entanglement.

The second version was the most widely accepted and the most melodramatic. It said that Xing Zhiyu and the woman had secretly gotten together, but Xing Zhiyu had stipulated that they could only meet in private and that she wasn't allowed to approach him in public. That showed just how much of a scumbag Xing Zhiyu was.

People had differing guesses about which version was more credible, but Su Ziyang thought the second was likely true. Once, when Su Ziyang had been accompanying his supervising teacher on a night shift at the hospital, he had gone out to buy something.

It had already been past ten, and the dormitory doors had long since been locked. Su Ziyang had seen Xing Zhiyu and the woman walking side by side out of the school. If they claimed they had gone out to study in the middle of the night, probably no one would have believed them.

But back to the main story. Let the affairs of the jianghu continue to circulate in the jianghu!

Hearing the woman's question, Xing Zhiyu shook his head. "No, no. These donations are voluntary, after all. We can't force anyone. If we named certain people, everyone would feel rather awkward! So let's save certain people some face. We were classmates, after all!"

"Oh, what's there to be embarrassed about? This is such a serious matter, and they don't feel ashamed about not participating. If you ask me, class monitor, you're just too nice! Some people don't deserve so much consideration!" the big-eyed woman continued.

In Northeast China, this behavior was called egging people on and stirring up trouble-she simply feared the world wasn't chaotic enough!

"Oh, come on!" Seeing that Xing Zhiyu still hadn't moved, the big-eyed woman actually got up from her seat and pulled his computer over. After a glance, she read out several names.

"Su Ziyang, Ma Jun, Han Peng, Li Lizhi, Wang Jinqiu."

As soon as the names were read out, the room erupted in a clamor.

Su Ziyang noticed the faintest trace of a smile on Xing Zhiyu's face, so slight it was hard to detect, but it vanished in an instant.

Xing Zhiyu put on an embarrassed expression and shooed the big-eyed woman back to her seat. "Go back, go back. Don't cause trouble! How could you read out their names?"

Although Xing Zhiyu put on an air of righteousness and seemed to be trying to smooth things over, Su Ziyang and the others had clearly incurred everyone's anger. No one said so outright, but the questioning gazes directed at the four of them made them deeply uncomfortable.

"It's all right, it's all right! Brother Jun, Ziyang, I'm sure you have your own difficulties and reasons!"

Xing Zhiyu immediately stepped in to ease the awkward atmosphere.

"What difficulties could they have? It's been three or four years since graduation, and they can't come up with 2,000 yuan? If they don't have 2,000 yuan, they shouldn't have come at all! Why even attend a class reunion?"

Someone suddenly spoke up, though no one knew who.

"Exactly! They might as well leave the class!"

"That's right!"

"Sigh, I really didn't expect this. It's only been three or four years since graduation, and they don't care about their classmates at all anymore!"

The room instantly grew noisy.

Ma Jun had a bit of a temper and couldn't stand being accused like that. He shot to his feet.

Han Peng quickly pulled Ma Jun back, while Wang Jinqiu sat in his seat, staring at the chattering crowd.

"Brother Jun! Don't be angry. I believe you!"

For some reason, Xing Zhiyu's words sounded utterly hypocritical to Su Ziyang, especially the line, "Don't be angry. I believe you!"

"Ma Jun, what kind of work are you doing now?!" The big-eyed woman, fearing the world wasn't chaotic enough, actually asked another question.

"Let me ask you, who are you?" Ma Jun's brows drew together. "Are you the class monitor? A class officer? A school leader?"

The big-eyed woman was momentarily struck speechless, not knowing what to say.

Han Peng held Ma Jun back, while a woman beside the big-eyed woman pulled her away.

"Brother Jun! What kind of work are you doing now?" They had thought the matter was over, but Xing Zhiyu actually asked the same question.

On its own, the question sounded harmless, but to Ma Jun, it cut deeply.

Perhaps some people graduated from university, went to work, and then married and had children. Though they never became rich and powerful, they at least lived peaceful, happy lives.

Few people had to face those dark sides of society, but Ma Jun had encountered them.

"I don't have a job!" Ma Jun was indeed getting carried away by anger. He forced the words out and sat down in his chair.

"Ohh-you don't have a job, but you sure talk tough!"

The big-eyed woman had just been left speechless, but now that she heard Ma Jun was unemployed, she was like a blade of grass that had been watered, bright and sunny again!

Su Ziyang looked at his three brothers, signaling them not to speak. Then he stood up from the table and raised a glass of liquor.

"Classmates, three years have passed. I trust your work and lives have all been going very smoothly!"

Seeing Su Ziyang stand up, everyone looked at him, unsure what he intended to do.

"I didn't socialize much at university, and I'm not particularly close to the people in our class. Likewise, you may not know me very well either. But I have a few things to say about what happened today! First, let me offer everyone a toast!"

With that, Su Ziyang downed the liquor in his glass in one gulp. Clack! He set the glass down on the table.

"I remember! During our undergraduate years, tuition was 5,000 yuan a year, and living expenses were around 1,000 yuan a month! Let me ask you, after working for three or four years, who among us can't come up with 2,000 yuan? I'll tell you the truth: you people are hypocrites!"

Su Ziyang used the skills his master had taught him for those words, sending qi from his dantian up to his throat. His words rang with deafening force, leaving the ears of the people at the table buzzing!

"Let me ask you! Did you all donate that money sincerely and willingly? Does the inscription naming such-and-such a class from such-and-such a year on that sculpture mean anything to you?! I don't object to any way you choose to show your love for our alma mater, and I don't object to everyone supporting its development! But I do object to certain people exploiting our classmates' love for our alma mater and using moral blackmail to improve their own performance and win promotions and riches!!!"

When Su Ziyang finished, Xing Zhiyu frowned and pointed at him in great anger. "You! What did you say???"

"Everything I said was true! If you disagree, you can explain! Explain!"

The qi from Su Ziyang's dantian continued to show its power. Those words made Xing Zhiyu's heart tighten, and the defense he had been about to voice was suddenly forced back inside him. For a moment, his chest ached dully.

Su Ziyang's two speeches had made the drinking glasses buzz, and many people lowered their heads. What Su Ziyang had said was indeed true. A large portion of them had donated under just such moral blackmail.

Apart from a very small number whose families were wealthy, most of them were still just minor resident doctors with limited salaries. Those who were married and had children lived on even tighter budgets!

Two thousand yuan was neither a great deal nor a small amount! And the main thing was that giving this money away was like throwing it into water: all they got was the sound of the splash!

But they lacked the courage to face that kind of public pressure. They were afraid they would become Ma Jun, Su Ziyang, Wang Jinqiu, Li Lizhi, or Han Peng.

They would be mocked at the dinner table, left unable to save face, and branded with the shameful name of someone who didn't love their alma mater.

They weren't brave enough. When they blamed those five men, they forgot that they themselves simply hadn't had the courage to stand up. Then they joined those other people, standing beneath a holy light of morality so bright it blinded everyone!

Ever since coming into contact with an otherworldly master like Mr. Mengfei, Su Ziyang's state of mind had changed greatly. Before, he never could have stood up and said such things. He might even have tried to persuade a stubborn, hardheaded man like Ma Jun: "Big Brother, if it comes to it, let's donate a little too. It's not as if we can't spare the money!"

But looking at those people's faces, Su Ziyang truly didn't want to go along with them any longer!

So he stood up!

"As the saying goes, those who walk different paths cannot make plans together! Since you all enjoy wallowing in the same mud so much, we brothers will take our leave! Mountains and rivers meet again, and since we practice medicine, let me offer you a few words of advice! Don't spend all your time chasing fame and profit. If you can't hang out your medicine gourds and save the world, then at least try to be good doctors who don't deceive people! Farewell!"

With that, Su Ziyang picked up the clothes on the back of his chair and called to Ma Jun, "Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, let's go!"

Seeing his brother act so domineeringly, Ma Jun and the other two readily went along with him. All three left their seats and walked away...