Chapter 436: Chapter 435: Brother’s Heartbreaking Past

Ah, these folks are just too enthusiastic, making me feel all embarrassed!

“Isn’t this just meeting up,” Wang Hao sniffled and laughed, “I haven’t had lunch yet anyway, let’s talk while we eat! By the way, look at these students of mine, and there’s Director Zhao and Mr. Zhang…”

“Let’s all go together!” the crowd cheered, “With Brother Hao here, we definitely have to go together! We’ll host! Can’t say much for others, but we can definitely afford a meal! Let’s go, let’s go, to Kaiyue Hotel!”

Wang Hao suddenly freaked out, “Can you guys stop bringing up Kaiyue! That lousy place is where I stay every day!”

“Right, right, let’s change the venue!” Mr. Wu said cautiously, “How about we go to Fragrance Overflowing? The standard there isn’t bad either, and I just happen to know the manager, so we should be able to get a table.”

Wang Hao: “Alright, I guess, I’m starving anyway…”

Crowd: “…”

Look at Brother Hao’s standards, even Fragrance Overflowing is barely acceptable!

A group surrounded Wang Hao and headed out, leaving Master Jin Ming standing there, disheveled in the wind…

Mr. Wu found some random restaurant to accommodate Zhao Yuanchun and a bunch of students, and they gave Wang Hao a mournful look before leaving…

Brother Hao, when you get back to Earth, we’ve got to promote you big time!

Now only a few of the core characters were left, and soon they arrived at Fragrance Overflowing Restaurant, ready to start eating.

Everyone took their seats, and Mr. Wu ordered almost exclusively the most expensive dishes – it was clear he was riding high these days, impressive!

“Ah, Brother Hao,” while waiting for the dishes, Mr. Wu, with a glass in his hand, said, “If it weren’t for you, we’d probably still be nobodies. I’ve wanted to treat you to a drink for a while, but I knew you were busy and didn’t want to bother you. Today, we finally have this opportunity. Please forgive us if anything is amiss!”

Liu Bighead and the others all nodded, “Brother Hao, please forgive us!”

“No problem at all,” Wang Hao also raised his glass, smiling, “That’s all in the past, we’re all good friends now, no need for formalities! Come on, let’s drink to that!”

And with that, they all took a drink.

As time passed, they almost ate and drank nonstop, and after several rounds of drinks and a variety of tastes, Yue Peng leaned in close to Wang Hao, whispering mysteriously, “By the way, Brother Hao, I was actually planning to come find you! Guess who I saw a couple of days ago?”

Little Yueyue saw someone? Who?

“Who?” Wang Hao, intrigued by Little Yueyue’s secretive expression, asked, “A man or a woman?”

“A woman!” Yue Peng hinted with a wink, “Give it a guess! Someone from our university!”

“A woman?” Wang Hao stroked his chin, “All the girls from our class are said to have flown away, either married elsewhere or studying abroad. Some are even working as personal shoppers overseas. Who would bother to call you?”

“Can’t guess, can you?” Yue Peng was thrilled to finally stump Wang Hao and exclaimed, “Xia Lili! How about that? Didn’t see that coming, did you?!”

“Holy shit, who did you say?!” Wang Hao was utterly stunned at the name! Xia Lili! The beauty of the class and the faculty back in university! Brother Hao had chased after her once and ended up deeply hurt! The gap between them was like Earth and the Sun, wasn’t it?!

“You saw her?!” Wang Hao looked at Yue Peng with shock, “Don’t tell me you want to chase after her!”

“Good heavens, how could she possibly fancy me?” Yue Peng immediately covered his mouth, saying, “Nothing much, really. I just happened to stumble upon her these past few days in Jinhua. She’s impressive now, seems like her family’s business made a lot of money. When I saw her, she was driving a Porsche Cayenne, wearing sunglasses and looked super cool!”

Wang Hao: “…”

Xia Lili is that impressive now?!

“What did you two talk about?” Wang Hao asked cautiously, “Is she showing off that she’s getting married? Her husband must be something, huh?”

“She didn’t mention that; I don’t think that’s the case,” Yue Peng shook his head, “Remember, she was a student council cadre back then, with countless guys chasing after her. Think about it, Brother Hao, when you chased after her, what did she say? She told you the gap was too big, not a good match, hard to have a common language. I remember you were pretty devastated, I drank eight bottles of beer with you that night and ended up throwing up! That was during university times, but now I think she’s even more beautiful!”

Wang Hao: “…”

Damn, that was a sorrowful past for me. I almost wanted to cry out ‘do not belittle the poor youth’ back then!

And now she’s actually come back?

“Let’s not talk about that,” all those heartbreaking memories, Wang Hao said with a laugh while shaking his head, “I was quite devastated back then, but now it’s all just water under the bridge. Isn’t there a saying, ‘The world is full of beauty; why should a great man worry about finding a wife!’ I’m doing quite well now… By the way, I thought she went abroad after graduation, right? So, she’s back in China now?”

“Seems like it,” Yue Peng first nodded with a hearty smile in agreement, then added, “Who knows? I just stumbled upon her and got her phone number. If you’re interested, Brother Hao, should I give you her number?”

“Give me a break!” Wang Hao’s head was shaking like a tambourine, “I’ve got no business with her, and I’m doing fine. Why mix things up with her?”

After dinner, Wang Hao couldn’t even remember how he got home.

Lying in bed, his mind was full of thoughts about Xia Lili.

Wang Hao had really liked Xia Lili back in university, but unfortunately, there was no way – the chasm between them was too vast. No need to share the details, but in the end, he didn’t win her over; Xia Lili left him with a simple “we’re not a match” before going abroad to study, while Wang Hao was left working in Zhonghai for some pocket money.

And in the blink of an eye, time had changed everything, and Wang Hao was filled with a sense of melancholy. He lit up a cigarette… The world is full of beauty; I’ll just pine for one. Whatever!

Resolutely, he grabbed his cell phone and hit the internet!

Ah, one must do something online. I heard that this “drifting bottle” thing is quite interesting, time to give it a try!