Chapter 291 Junior High School Friends


    “Li Xiaoling?” Chen Hao couldn’t help but smile when he saw the girl.


    Li Xiaoling grew up with Chen Hao, Li Xiao, and the rest of them. Come to think about it, she was


    probably from the same Li n as Li Xiao, so she was practically his sister. However, Li Xiaoling came


    from a family that was reasonably well off; her family owned shops in the town, selling cakes and


    pastry, which was why she often stayed in town and rarely went back home.


    On top of that, at that time, Chen Hao and Li Xiao were both poor, so they didn’t dress well. Therefore,


    Li Xiao rarely hung out with Chen Hao and Li Xiao. Although they were ssmates in elementary


    school, they rarely talked with each other. As a result, she was not that close with the both of them,


    unlike Wu Qian.


    It was during their junior high school years when they got close with each other. Coincidentally, Li


    Xiaoling ended up in the same ss as Li Xiao and Chen Hao.


    During the first and second year of junior high school, she didn’t talk much to Chen Hao and Li Xiao,


    but in their third year, something happened.


    Li Xiaoling quarelled with another girl, and the quarrel was very heated. Then, that girl asked a few


    hooligans from their year to cause Li Xiaoling trouble; after school, they blocked Li Xiaoling on her way


    back home and wanted to teach her a lesson.


    When Li Xiao and Chen Hao saw this, they pulled Li Xiaoling away. Chen Hao wasn’t really well-known


    at that time, but Li Xiao was known for fighting in school, which was why that group of people didn’t


    dare to do anything to Li Xiaoling. So, that was how they rescued Li Xiaoling.


    Since then, Li Xiaoling treated Chen Hao and Li Xiao very well and they became friends; she even


    secretly bought Li Xiao cigarettes and brought steamed sponge cakes for Chen Hao to eat.


    For her high school years, she entered No. 3 High School, which was the school that was ranked the


    lowest in the entire county. Besides, during their high school days, they didn’t own cell phones. As a


    result, they couldn’t contact each other very often; all they could do was to gather during Chinese New


    Year for chit-chats.


    “When did you get back? And why didn’t you send me a QQ message?” Li Xiaoling said grudgingly.


    “I’ve been back for a few days, but I’ve been wandering around in town. I was about to ask Li Xiao for


    your phone number,” Chen Hao replied with a smile. This was the truth; these were the people who


    were going to spend his birthday with him.


    “Hmph, at least you didn’t forget me. Oh right, haven’t you been reading the group chat messages for


    our junior high school gang? Uh, I forgot, you aren’t in the group, are you? Today is our ssmate


    Chen Chao’s birthday. He realized that our ss had not gathered in a long time. Therefore, he wants


    to use his birthday as an opportunity for everyone to gather. Also, our junior high school ss teacher


    and the English teacher will be there. Will you apany me?” asked Li Xiaoling.


    “Mr. Wang will be there too? I thought he retired this year?” Li Xiaoling mentioned Chen Chao, but


    Chen Hao had nearly forgotten that name. On the other hand, Chen Hao still had fresh memories of the


    ss teacher, Mr. Wang Changgui; he was an especially kind teacher that taught Mandarin.


    At that time, Chen Hao’s family was poor and he couldn’t afford to pay for the textbooks. Twice, Mr.


    Wang forked out his own money to pay for Chen Hao. There was another time when it was raining


    heavily and Chen Hao didn’t have an umbre, so Mr. Wang sent him home in his car. These scenes


    were still fresh in his memory.


    During his first two years in university, every time his parents sent him money, Chen Hao would save


    some money so that he could buy something, no matter if it was expensive or not, as gifts for Mr. Wang


    when he went back home for Chinese New Year. However, during the next two years of university, he


    had problems even with paying his school fees. He was financially difficult during that time, which was


    why he could no longer afford to do so.


    “I heard that Mr. Wang got seriously illst year. Is he alright?” Chen Hao asked.


    “He recovered a long time ago. Otherwise, how would he attend Chen Chao’s birthday feast?” Li


    Xiaoling continued, “Don’t ask anymore. When you show up you will find out. Mr. Wang spoke greatly


    of you and Li Xiao, so if you go, he will definitely be very happy. Speaking of which, we must meet at


    eight o’clock. Mr. Wang will definitely go there early because he wants to spend more time chatting with


    us.”


    “Oh that’s good then. However, I have no time to attend this gathering,” Chen Hao said sadly.


    “Huh? You’re busy? Tsk, don’t worry. This time, Chen Chao will be paying for the feast. Even if we were


    to pay separately, you can still rely on me.” It was as if Li Xiaoling could see through Chen Hao’s


    thoughts.


    But of course, this wasn’t about money; it was because Chen Hao wanted to celebrate his own


    birthday. Li Xiaoling probably would not have minded if he rejected her invitation, but the problem was


    that since she had already informed him about the party, he would feel bad not attending the party


    knowing that Mr. Wang would be there also.


    “Yes, I really don’t have time today. I originally wanted to invite you to celebrate my birthday with me,”


    Chen Hao said. “What about this? What if I go and show my face, say a few words to Mr. Wang, then


    Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    “Huh? You want to celebrate your birthday? This is awkward... Alright, why don’t we do it this way? We


    go together, say hi to Mr. Wang and the rest, chat for a little, and then we’ll bothe back and


    celebrate your birthday. What about Li Xiao? Have you informed him?” Li Xiaoling was quite loyal to her


    friend.


    “I have informed him, but he’ll only be here near noontime. He just started a business and has not had


    the time to recruit workers yet, so he’s very busy,” Chen Hao answered.


    “Okay then,” Li Xiaoling said. Then, she sighed and continued in an envious tone, “Li Xiao has be


    quite the person nowadays. Last time, my dad looked down on his family, but just yesterday, my father


    brought presents to their house for them.”.


    Chen Hao didn’t answer and only nodded his head.


    With their appointments scheduled, they noticed that it would be eight o’clock soon.


    Chen Hao and Li Xiaoling then rushed to the restaurant in town. Chen Hao lived in an area in the


    middle of the town. Therefore, it was only a short distance to the town’s main street, so the both of


    them walked there.


    By the time they arrived, there were quite a number of their ex-junior high school friends in front of the


    restaurant who were gathered around in groups and chatting away; when old ssmates gathered like


    this, they would surely have felt an indescribable sense of familiarity with each other as they talked


    about how they were doing ofte, or to reminisce about the past.


    “Hey guys, look! Xiaoling is here!” Some of their ssmates pointed at Chen Hao and Li Xiaoling.


    “Huh, that’s Chen Hao? Damn, even Chen Hao is here today?”


    “Hahaha, yes. I thought Chen Hao disappeared. I didn’t think that we''d see him at this gathering.”


    Someone else sighed and chimed in, “I heard that Chen Hao had a hard time in university. He couldn’t


    even pay for his school fees. Someone told me that once, he went to Jin Ling to eat with his friends and


    bumped into Chen Hao, who was doing the dishes in the back of the kitchen. He couldn’t even bring


    himself to say ‘Hi’!”


    “Hehe, since he had no money, he’d have to do any job.”


    When everybody saw Chen Hao, they started giggling and chatting with each other. Among them was a


    girl who looked exceptionally graceful, who was chatting with a few other girls. She heard someone


    talking about Chen Hao, so she gave a slight shudder and turned to look at Chen Hao with a slight


    blush on her face.


    “Hehe, Wang Xue, didn’t you use to date Chen Hao? I remember that you used to date him!” a girl said


    as she covered her mouth.


    “Nonsense. Since when did we date each other?” Wang Xue blushed even harder.


    The girl answered back, “You two were definitely together. I remember that you two used to write letters


    to each other. Also, you and Chen Hao were pretty close with each other.”


    “I didn’t!” Wang Xue said softly.


    “Admit it. Don’t you remember the reason behind that incident where Li Xiao stabbed someone was


    because... Erhem. Okay I’ll stop talking!” It was as if the girl realized that she brought up something


    bad, so she felt embarrassed and hurriedly shut up.


    Wang Xue didn’t say anything else.


    “Oh yeah, Wang Xue. You and that guy Chen Hao, are you two still dating?” asked a girl.


    “We haven’t been with each other since a long time ago…” Wang Xue blushed.


    Then, along with the other girls, Wang Xue raised her head to look at Chen Hao, whom she had not


    seen in six years.