Xiaole rolled her eyes at him, using her own seat to separate Qiao Ling from that guy, directly ignoring the latter half of his topic: “Making a fortune? Don’t flatter us, how can we compare to you government staff.”
“As a public servant, you better behave properly, or else I’ll report you.”
Qiao Ling swept a glance around without showing it, leaned toward her friend’s ear and asked quietly: “Didn’t see that person. Is he a groomsman?”
“No, I asked around.” Xiaole poured herself some tea, saying: “The groomsmen for senior schoolmate are his three childhood friends. Maybe that person had something come up and suddenly didn’t show. Don’t panic, just relax and eat.”
She nodded, starting to examine the pre-meal desserts on the rotating table, but she still thought carefully about what that guy said just now.
As expected… everyone at this table had probably seen the content in that gossip group.
Now it’s probably known by all these university classmates attending today that she has an “out-of-town boyfriend who’s both poor and doesn’t have a proper job.”
There were many drinks on the table. A classmate next to her asked which one she wanted. Qiao Ling didn’t want to drink too much fizzy stuff before eating and fill her stomach, so she just said something without carbonation would be fine. The classmate picked up a box of strawberry milk, insisting on handing it to her.
Qiao Ling saw the milk, smiled apologetically, just about to open her mouth to explain, when someone suddenly approached. A hand pinched a bottle of coconut juice and placed it beside her hand.
The voice sounded a bit familiar, somewhat pleasant.
“She’s lactose intolerant, let her drink this.”
Qiao Ling recognized who that voice belonged to. For a moment, she didn’t dare move, blinked, her expression slightly changing.
Everyone at the table all simultaneously lifted their heads to look at Gao Ziyao, then all simultaneously turned to look at Qiao Ling, the atmosphere instantly falling into a tacit melon-eating state, excitement surging under the quiet surface.
That male classmate from earlier who had been joking saw Gao Ziyao and couldn’t help but laugh, teasing: “Brother Yao, it’s been a year since graduation and you still love dyeing your hair yellow, huh!”
“So trendy my rheumatism’s acting up.”
Hearing this sentence, unable to hold back her curiosity, Qiao Ling slowly turned her head, raised her eyes, and met the gaze of the man behind her.
Not seeing each other for over half a year, Gao Ziyao hadn’t changed at all, seemed even a bit thinner than before.
He had newly dyed a deep chestnut hair color, permed a slightly French-style textured hairstyle. Because his facial features were quite handsome, dressing up like this actually became a plus.
“Need me to call 120 to take you to the hospital? Talking about rheumatism.”
“Loving to dye my hair yellow is because I can pull it off. That pig face of yours, even if dyed like a parrot no one would look at you.” Gao Ziyao naturally leaned on the back of Qiao Ling’s chair, his mouth showing no mercy.
The girls at the table covered their mouths and laughed.
The atmosphere seemed to have returned to university days again. Whenever Gao Ziyao appeared, there were always girls secretly looking at him with that kind of gaze.
Gao Ziyao pulled out the empty chair next to him that someone had suddenly given up, sat down, opened the coconut juice for Qiao Ling, his tone calm and unhurried: “Heard you’re dating again.”
Qiao Ling didn’t touch the coconut juice he gave, drank a sip of water instead, quietly said: “So what.”
“Even though I’m not anything great either.” Gao Ziyao took a sip of coconut juice, let out a scornful laugh: “But there’s no need to keep looking lower and lower, right?”
Qiao Ling gripped the glass tightly, her expression a little hard to maintain.
All because of that damn gossip group. Whether Chen Kuang is poor or rich, what dog-feather business is it of yours! Really want to drag them all out one by one and shoot them.
She wasn’t good at arguing, and even less wanted to bicker with him. Pretending not to care, she smiled at Gao Ziyao and said, “As long as I like it, that’s enough.”
Little did she know, for Gao Ziyao, this sentence “like” was the one that could mock him the most.
He was choked silent, stuffy anger rushing up, turning his head to chat with others, no longer looking for words for the sake of saying something.
Those who knew the inside story were all secretly paying attention to the two exes who had already broken up but just happened to sit together.
But because Qiao Ling and Gao Ziyao each chatted their own, not even exchanging glances, everyone gradually felt it wasn’t fun anymore.
A few of Gao Ziyao’s bros sitting at another table came over to drink, one male classmate slinging his arm around his shoulders, carelessly asked: “Why didn’t you bring your girlfriend along! What, can’t bear to pay another share of wedding money?”
Gao Ziyao clinked glasses with them, smiling as he cursed him: “Get lost, where would I have a girlfriend.”
“Hurry it up, someone’s already one step ahead of you.” That guy glanced at Qiao Ling, meaningfully, with a clear tone of cold sarcasm.
Xiaole glared back, couldn’t hold it in and was about to stand up and snap back, but got patted on the hand by Qiao Ling and pressed back down.
“What’s he talking all yin-yang weird tone for, stupid bastard.” Xiaole cursed quietly.
Qiao Ling’s lip line stretched into a straight line, back facing them as she rolled her eyes, “Forget it, argue with fools and you become a fool yourself.”
She turned her head back, and suddenly met Gao Ziyao’s eyes who had also turned his head.
He seemed a little guilty, as if wanting to apologize on behalf of his bros.
But Qiao Ling didn’t give him that chance, only met eyes for a second, then turned her head back again, showing him her back.
If not for admitting she still felt a little guilty toward him, she wouldn’t be putting up with this silent suffering now.
…………
Wedding procedures plus toasting and eating, after three hours the guests gradually left, leaving full and satisfied.
When one person left, a bunch of people would take the chance to leave together, all afraid of continuing to be forced to drink here.
The result was a group of university classmates clustered together to say goodbye to the newlyweds, walking out together.
Among classmates, some planned to find a place for a second round to catch up alone, some suggested carpooling home.
Qiao Ling originally planned to go find a café with Xiaole to sit for a while, but at this moment received a WeChat message from Chen Kuang.
[Gum: Is it over?]
She replied: Just finished, what’s up?
The other party immediately sent—【I’m near the restaurant, here to pick you up.】
Qiao Ling’s heart stirred, she lifted her head and looked around in all directions.
“What’s up? Where are we going later?” Xiaole asked.
For a moment her mind was in a mess, she said to her friend: “Um, I might have to leave first today, my boyfriend came to pick me up.”
Ai, telling one lie takes three hundred more to cover it up.
As soon as she said this, a girl nearby who overheard exclaimed: “What! Qiao Ling, your boyfriend came?! Where, where, I heard he’s really handsome, right!?”
Once she shouted, everyone around turned their heads to look over.
Being stared at by so many pairs of eyes, Qiao Ling’s back immediately felt cold.
This…
At that moment, the guy standing next to Gao Ziyao who liked to stir things up couldn’t hold back again, speaking up for his brother to make trouble for this woman, letting out a laugh, pretending to joke: “Should be easy to recognize, right? The one riding a bicycle to pick someone up must be him.”
“Better take a taxi back, the temperature’s dropping so fast, if you catch a cold sitting on your boyfriend’s back seat that’d be bad.”
Someone couldn’t help but laugh along a few times.
Qiao Ling’s brow twitched, her fists clenched.
Your damn grandpa…
Gao Ziyao glanced sidelong at this brother of his who didn’t fear making things bigger while watching the show, his brows furrowing, just about to speak—
From not far away, a deliberately drawn-out honking sound suddenly rang out.
“Du——!”
Everyone was startled by the car horn, turned their heads following the sound—
Qiao Ling looked over, the gloomy and aggrieved expression in her eyes immediately dispersed.
In the temporary parking spot at the restaurant entrance, a brand new white Mercedes SUV was parked horizontally.
Chen Kuang, wearing trendy brand hoodie and sweatpants, leaned against the car door. Seeing her finally spot him, only then did he slowly withdraw the hand pressing on the steering wheel.
Chen Kuang lifted out a cup of milk tea from the passenger seat, raised it and shook it toward her, his striking features under the noon light showing completely, blending with a lazy smile.
Among this group of people at the entrance, someone who knew about cars glanced at that car’s appearance and couldn’t help but curse: “Damn, is that a Mercedes AMG GLS?!”
The girls all looked at each other: “Who is that? Anyone know him?”
“So handsome… is he an influencer?”
Qiao Ling met his eyes from afar, relieved, smiling.
He must have found out something, but she didn’t have time to think about all that now. Holding it in for so long, if she didn’t put on a show now, when would she?
She said goodbye to Xiaole, deliberately raising her voice: “I’m going now, saw my boyfriend.”
After saying that, she didn’t look back, walked around the crowd and lightly jogged toward that luxury car.
Everyone nearly dropped their jaws, falling into complete silence.
Among the group of people, Gao Ziyao’s face darkened, his gaze fixed on that pair of man and woman drawing closer and closer.
Watching Qiao Ling radiate genuine admiration toward that man, his forehead tightened so much it ached, his eyes dry and unable to look away.
…………
Qiao Ling knew everyone was watching, so she deliberately acted even more intimate than usual, leaning in front of Chen Kuang to take the milk tea and drink a sip, hooking her finger at him.
Chen Kuang raised an eyebrow, bent down to tilt his ear toward her.
In the eyes of outsiders, this was clearly like a little couple whispering in each other’s ears.
Qiao Ling kept an eye on those people from the corner of her eye, smiling sweetly on her face, but her tone was calm, even carrying a bit of worry: “Where did you get a Mercedes from? Big brother.”
He answered as if it was perfectly natural: “Bought it, what, you think I’d steal it?”
“Just picked it up.”
“Bought it? When did that happen? Why’d you suddenly want to buy a car?”
Qiao Ling glanced at this car that was exuding luxury from every angle, saw that even the protective films inside hadn’t been torn off yet, “You… how… how much did you spend to buy it?”
Chen Kuang pulled her along, his other hand opening the passenger door for her.
Qiao Ling sat inside, the moment her hips melted into the soft, bouncy genuine leather seat, she heard his calm, assured answer.
“Not expensive.”
“Also just around two million.”
Qiao Ling: ?
……
……
How much?