Best to Have Met You

Chapter 4: School Reunion

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Chapter 4: School Reunion

As expected, Qiang Wei advanced to the semi-final of the contest. Anyway, her singing skill wasn’t bad, but her style was just unorthodox. Under the adoration of the support group with the X University banner, she actually should be eliminated, but one of the judges said, “I like animals from the cat family, so you sang pretty well.”

Six of the judges did not understand what was spoken. Three of the judges also did not understand but said “graceful ah”. One of the judge said “The leader from the Faculty of Foreign Studies is really unfathomable.” All of them were deeply moved and applauded enthusiastically!

The first thing Qiang Wei did after coming down from the stage was to go backstage to smile and say to B who has not made her appearance yet: “Strength is the only way to test the truth.”

B: “Fu Qiang Wei, are you having fun?”

Qiang Wei: “Yes, very fun, I am waiting for you to go up to verify the other half of it.” Then she burst into loud laughter and walked away.

Later, Qiang Wei described her feeling at that time: Just like paradise.

Zhao Yang described Qiang Wei’s way of describing her feeling: Just like seeing someone who was selling herself yesterday but was visiting a prost.i.tute today.

In short, Qiang Wei was very c.o.c.ky. What made her even more c.o.c.ky was that she thought there was something fishy between An Ning and a certain someone. She did not expect there was really something fishy between them! !

When Qiang Wei returned to her home turf, the research inst.i.tute support group, she got a warm welcome, “Qiang Wei, you’ve done us proud!”

Qiang Wei: “Aiya, nothing much, just my strength.”

“But Wei Wei, why didn’t you mention me ah? Why you only mentioned Meow Meow ah? Why ah?!” Her fellow cla.s.smates who had been snubbed, questioned her.

Qiang Wei smiled and held An Ning’s arm. An Ning was helping Zhao Yang adjusting the camera, “Because Meow Meow is pleasant!”

At this moment, B was singing on stage and Mao Mao who was looking below the stage, spoke in a bewildered tone, “Huh? He is leaving?!”

He nodded his head slightly at the teacher who was sitting beside him and got up with one hand inserted in his pants’ pocket and the other hand holding his mobile phone. Then, he walked to the front door and got out of the venue.

Zhao Yang smiled: “He is probably replying his girlfriend’s text message?”

Qiang Wei pondered: “Why is he leaving? Isn’t he ——” She subconsciously looked at An Ning.

On this end, after adjusting the focal length, An Ning lifted her head. Her mobile phone rang.

“Suddenly something came up, I’ll come over again tomorrow.”

“An Ning, the camera.” Zhao Yang didn’t get a response: “Meow Meow, what are you day dreaming?”

An Ning’s faced looked a little red: “En …… I want to take tomorrow off to go home.”

Out of more than two hundreds partic.i.p.ants in the preliminary round, fifty got through to the semi-final, including Qiang Wei and B.

The next day, An Ning requested “leave of absence” to go home …… In fact, she really has something to do. Some time ago, her mother told her she has been feeling unwell, so An Ning had always wanted to take her to the hospital for a check-up, Thus…… she selected Wednesday.

When Mrs. Li was chatting with the doctor in charge, An Ning was bored so she used her mobile phone to go online to browse for information on ancient Egypt. When she was reading the 27 century BC part, someone called her name.

In this kind of place, she unexpectedly encountered her high school cla.s.smate, a little strange.

“You are Li An Ning?!” The other person was feeling very excited until beyond words, “You’ve become more beautiful ah.”

An Ning smiled.

“We used to be cla.s.smate ah!”

“En ……”

“You lent me fifty dollars before which I still have not repaid you! Ha ha!”

“……” She had forgotten.

After exchanging conventional greetings, the other person asked for her number, “If you’ve time, keep in touch more often la.”

“Okay.” An Ning thought they probably will not actually keep in touch much?

She did not expect the next day, her cla.s.smate will actually call her, saying there will be a high school reunion at a certain restaurant this weekend and asked her to go —— it had taken a long time to organize.

This was more than unexpected, as she was unfamiliar with this kind of school reunion…… After An Ning regained her composure, she initially wanted to say she may not be free. Actually it was also the truth, as the learning research she had recently applied, has been granted. She was responsible for finding information, so she has to take the lead. When she was about to say something, the other person said, “Li An Ning, you have disappeared for 5 to 6 years, so no matter what, you must come at least this one time?”

“……”

“Meow Meow, come and look at the photos.” Zhao Yang called her, “I did not expect Qiang Wei to look so photogenic, pretty good, pretty good.”

Mao Mao: “What a pity, only managed to take the rear view photo of that handsome guy.”

An Ning hung up the phone and walked over to take a look, “En ……”

Zhao Yang: “Pretty good, right?”

An Ning: “…… It is a pity.”

“……” Zhao Yang: “Who did you speak to on the phone just now? You appeared to be at a loss.”

An Ning: “High school cla.s.smate said there will be a gathering on Sat.u.r.day…”

Mao Mao: “A gathering? Go! It’ll be a waste if you don’t go to eat!”

An Ning’s face darkened: “I’ve agreed to go, but ……” not used to touching the past. Senior high school was the most difficult period of her life due to her parents’ divorce……

Nevertheless, on Sat.u.r.day, An Ning still went to the reunion venue which was in a restaurant. At the doorway, she saw two men standing there to greet the guests, a little familiar-looking, but she can’t remember their names since it has been so long ago …… dyed hair, wearing jackets, one of them was even holding a cigarette in his hand …… An Ning could not help but lament the youngsters of yesteryear have grown up to be adults now.

The two men were a little surprised to see her. One of them, W personally led her to the booked room and on the way, he very shyly asked: “You probably don’t remember me, right?”

An Ning was embarra.s.sed, as she really did not remember, “En …… I’m sorry.”

W smiled: “You really have not changed much ah.”

There was already more than 10 people in the room. Apart from K appearing a little familiar as An Ning had encountered him in the hospital, the rest looked unfamiliar.

Someone gave a loud cry, “Li An Ning ah?!”

K was smiling when he got up and walked towards An Ning: “I am so amazing to actually manage to invite even the most well-behaved girl in our cla.s.s.”

W who was still standing at the doorway, said: “Very amazing,” which attracted a lot of laughter

This gathering was organized in conjunction with the cla.s.s next door. An Ning remembered a cla.s.s in senior high school had thirty something students. Today, a total of twenty-five people have come, which was pretty good. However, everyone was rather reserved, so occasionally one will only say a word or two and most of the time they’ll chat in a low voice with those who sat around them: “Hey, who is this and that? I can’t recognize them.”

When they were seated at the dining table to have their meal, most started to relax, smilingly sent regards and asked after each other, who were attending graduate school, who were working, who went abroad and who got married.

“Li An Ning, how come you’re not talking ah?” Someone gave her a toast, so An Ning accepted it with her fruit juice.

K lamented: “An Ning has always been very quiet ah.”

An Ning gave a lovely smile to present an image of a wise and virtuous lady ……

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor who was sitting next to her, said: “I remember at that time, the male students who wooed you, included me. But you rejected all of us —— aiya.”

Huh? There was such a thing…… she was completely unaware.

At this time, L from the cla.s.s next door came and gave the a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor a toast. The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor was currently studying in j.a.pan, so L who has the appearance of a pervert, asked: “Can bring back some AV discs for me?”

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor seriously replied: “Okay, but they are kind of expensive, about one or two hundred dollars a disc.”

L: “Aiya, if don’t buy now, it’ll be too late! Look, Ran Asakawa has died, Ai Iijima has also died and at last Kaede Matsushima made a comeback ……” (they are all Adult Video actresses)

An Ning: “Uh, Ran Asakawa is not dead ……”

L: “Dead, dead!”

An Ning: “…… It’s just a rumor on the internet, later she officially denied it.”

The world momentarily paused, L looked bewildered and asked: “How do you know all these?”

An Ning: “……” Wei Wei said so ……

At this moment, someone pushed open the door. An Ning heard the a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor called out: “Xu Mo Ting”.

What was the situation now? He …… was her senior high school cla.s.smate?

An Ning watched Xu Mo Ting greeting the people, politely and gently in a refined manner …… L put his hand on his shoulder, “Old cla.s.smate, long time no see ah.”

En …… was from the cla.s.s next door ……

She could not remember even a little ……

“I remember you came to notify me last week.” His voice was m.u.f.fled, as if he has a cold.

L laughingly withdrew his hand: “I forgot leader does not like people to put their arms around your shoulders.”

Xu Mo Ting just smiled without saying a word, walked over and sat down on an empty seat next to An Ning …… he seemed not to have noticed her.

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor handed him a can of beer, “It is really not easy to get you to come.”

“I’ve got some time so I came.” He shook the can of beer in his hand, picked up a gla.s.s of fruit juice on the table and took a sip. An Ning who was sitting next to him was surprised, “That …… is my gla.s.s.”

Xu Mo Ting turned his head and asked softly: “It’s yours but so what?”

“……” Okay, he was the leader, so in view of the situation An Ning said: “Please, enjoy …….”

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor who was sitting nearest to them, saw what had happened and stared in disbelief, “Xu Mo Ting, did you bully a girl?!”

The volume level and content of his question immediately attracted a lot of attention.

Mo Ting raised his eyebrows, and An Ning said: “No no, he did not bully me, I was willing.”

“……”

This was what you called, the more you wipe the more black.

An Ning wished she could dig a hole and bury herself. Why every time she encountered him also like this ah? Despise herself!

“The youngest among us should be Li An Ning, right?” W changed the subject to help her out.

An Ning gratefully cast him a glance. Xu Mo Ting who was beside her, seemed somewhat indifferent, his index finger kept on tapping the gla.s.s lightly.

“I remember An Ning is a year or two younger than us.” The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor recalled nostalgically, “At that time, I was brooding over her ’86 year’ ah, younger than me but scored better than me in every exams!”

An Ning felt rather embarra.s.sed and looked down, “…… I tried my best.”

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor looked distracted. He also tried his best, tried his best but still did badly in the exam …… “I don’t want to live la!”

After this episode, everyone became more at ease with each other and the atmosphere more relaxed …… the topic of conversation also started to be completely unrestrained and there was no lack of dirty jokes which made several girls constantly blushed. An Ning thought if Qiang Wei was here now, she will definitely be very delighted, moreover … … she’ll be the star.

W came over with his wine gla.s.s, “Li An Ning, I’ll give you a toast, okay?”

An Ning saw he was someone who had just helped her, so she was about to take it but the person next to her was one step ahead, “She still has something on later so she can’t drink too much wine. I’ll drink it for her.”

This was what we called smearing somebody’s name then pretended to act like normal.

There was already someone looking suspiciously at Li An Ning …… but everyone admitted, they dared not look at Xu Mo Ting ……

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor laughed and said: “Do you know why I broke up with my ex-girlfriend? —— because after drinking three bottles of XO, her face color remained unchanged. At the time I saw this, I felt our fate has come to an end.”

Everyone laughed loudly, “Is it because your girlfriend was too tough so she made you lost face ah?”

“Heehee, mainly because I want to look for one who’ll get drunk after just one gla.s.s of alcohol.”

“Brother, you’ve been corrupted and is no longer our a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor who is a paragon of virtue and learning. However, you are still a model for learning!”

a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor: “With Li An Ning around, I dare not accept the honor of being the ‘paragon of virtue and learning’. Moreover, Xu Mo Ting is also here.”

An Ning can only smile. She felt the person beside her, although was smiling faintly all along, he appeared somewhat preoccupied …… She reached for that can of beer which he had put aside. However, when she was about to touch it, he prevented her …… strictly speaking his palm covered her fingers ……

He turned to look at her, “What?”

An Ning: “…… Thirsty.”

Xu Mo Ting smiled and opened the can of beer for her, then pushed it to her, “Don’t drink too much.”

“……” She was not an alcoholic. An Ning watched him picking up her gla.s.s and slowly drinking the fruit juice …… Well …… Can she suspect he has been playing with her all along ah?

A female student suddenly asked: “Li An Ning, are you doing postgraduate study in X University?”

An Ning: “Yes.”

Female student: “Then, in the same university with Xu Mo Ting?”

An Ning: “…… Yes.”

Mo Ting: “Oh.”

An Ning: “……”

Xu Mo Ting scooped two ladle of corn soup into her bowl and muttered, “Don’t just talk to people, eat.”

Where got? An Ning was depressed …… drooped her head and ate.

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor who was sitting beside her, moved closer: “What did Xu Mo Ting say to you?”

An Ning thought for a moment: “If it is now…… then it is not to talk to you ……”

a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor: “……”

L who was on the other side, heard and could not help laughing out loud. He also very sympathetically patted someone on the shoulder, “Ai brother, ten years like one day ah (An Ning’s character is still the same).”

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor did not know whether to laugh or cry.

At this moment, a female cla.s.smate came over to propose a toast. L who was in high spirits – was about to get up but she said: “I am sorry, I’ve come to toast my cla.s.smate Xu Mo Ting.”

“I was also your ‘cla.s.smate’ ah!” L was unhappy, “Lady, are you looking down on people who are less than 1.8 metres, ah?”

The other party mocked, “I did not look down, just not interested.”

L shrieked with misery and threw himself into the arms of the a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor ……

An Ning seeing them goofing around, cannot help but broke into laughter.

On this end, the female cla.s.smate was already giving Xu Mo Ting a toast: “I’ll drink first, you do according to your wish.”

Then, Xu Mo Ting really casually accepted the toast by drinking fruit juice……

In the end, under the female cla.s.smate’s meaningful gaze, An Ning turned her head and looked at the beautiful wall lamp, uh …… even if she was blushing, it was all because of the shinning light ……

The meal lasted for nearly two hours. When they came out of the restaurant, the a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor actually suggested to continue to go and sing karaoke. An Ning had to admire his energy. She was waiting for everyone to voice their objections, but in the end most of them were still in an exuberant mood ……

An Ning: “I ……”

“Li An Ning, go la since this is a rare opportunity. I recalled you can sing pretty well!” A female cla.s.smate came and persuaded her.

She can sing well meh? …… Qiang Wei said she was unable to sing in tune.

However, An Ning has always been unable to reject girls. When she was put on the spot, Xu Mo Ting who has his hand in his pocket and was chatting leisurely with some people 2 metres away, beckoned to her.

An Ning could not help but whispered: “Do you want to throw another bone?”

The female cla.s.smate stared incredibly at her and was momentarily lost for words.

W who was at the side grabbed An Ning who was about to leave and asked: “Are you going back to the university?”

An Ning: “Yes.”

“I’ll give you a lift, okay? My house is near X University.”

“Uh, no need, thank you.” An Ning can feel W was giving her “special attention”, so the more reason why she can’t bother him.

W gazed at Xu Mo Ting who was not far away, “I originally thought …… you will enrol in a university further away from this city.”

An Ning was puzzled: “Why?”

W: “At that time, your family —— ”

“An Ning, let’s go.” At this moment, Xu Mo Ting called her gently.

An Ning did not notice this was the first time he called her name, as she was thinking hard how to say goodbye to W naturally, “Oh, he is calling me …… goodbye.”

When An Ning was walking quickly to his side, two more cla.s.smates came over to ask Xu Mo Ting for his telephone number. An Ning waited for a moment and was thinking if she should go first …… actually it went without saying that she didn’t need to wait for him ……

“Your mobile phone is ringing.” Xu Mo Ting called to her attention. His facial expression was one of indifferent, you won’t be able to tell, he was the one who previously half led and half commanded her to go to him.

An Ning slowly took the phone out of her pocket, it was a call from her male cousin. When she was about to walk aside to pick up the call, she heard Xu Mo Ting said: “Just answer your call here since we’ll be going right away.”

An Ning has no choice but to obey. His male cousin asked why she was not in at the weekend when they had an appointment for him to go to her house to get the stuff?!

“I forgot.” An Ning said sorry, “En, I’ll not be going back today. The stuff is in my room and the door is not locked, so you can go in and get it ……”

After she hung up the phone, the two guys in front of her were smiling and looking at her. One of the guys started to ask her: “Li An Ning, your boyfriend ah?”

An Ning: “No ……”

That female cla.s.smate cannot help but teased An Ning and she felt helpless. Xu Mo Ting seemed like he wasn’t paying attention to their topic of conversation.

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor came over to once again confirm that they were not going to karaoke and tried to persuade her again and again: “It is understandable since Xu Mo Ting is a busy man but Li An Ning, why you also not going ah?”

An Ning exclaimed: “…… Do I really look like a very idle person?”

At this time, Xu Ting Mo gave a faint smile and said to the a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor, “I’ll foot the karaoke bill, we are leaving first.”

The a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor did not have the chance to tease some more before An Ning was gently pulled away on the shoulder by Xu Mo Ting …… when the taxi was driven far away, someone sighed with sorrow, “Xu Mo Ting simply takes all, by slaying everyone ah.”

Some people smiled in agreement, some people felt slightly bitter, some people were lost in thought …… five to six years behind them, they felt somewhat emotionally stirred.

On this end, An Ning was sitting in the car, feeling …… en …… very quiet, extremely quiet. The person beside her was looking out of the window at the street view, appeared a little distracted. His side profile was distinctive and handsome. An Ning always felt he seemed familiar or perhaps because he was good looking, so she paid attention to him when they encountered each other a few times in the university campus …… in the end, to her great surprise they really did know each other.

What should she say? An Ning was not used to take the initiative to start a conversation …… thus, she only glanced at him once in a while, then continued to keep quiet.

Until he turned his head and looked at her, “What?”

This must be his catchphrase …… “You previously already knew we went to the same high school?”

“How long is previously?”

En, so cool …… An Ning felt a little frustrated, drooped her head and stopped talking. She could vaguely feel she must have offended him before.

“Do you remember Lin Wen Xin?” He asked a totally unrelated matter, “I am under the impression that you don’t remember anyone from the cla.s.s next door.”

Lin …… L cla.s.smate? When they were having dinner, the a.s.sistant cla.s.s monitor called this name several times …… An Ning did not know how to reply him, so she kept quiet. He also did not seem to want to know the answer …… the car radio was broadcasting the radio station’s music program. The radio presenter’s sweet voice was introducing the new alb.u.m of a male singer.

At the end of the day, Xu Mo Ting said something to An Ning, which made her unable to stay calm for a very long time ……

I wrote you a letter before, do you remember?

Afterwards, for a long time, her mind was disordered and confused. There were really too may unexpected happenings today!

She actually rejected …… …… Xu Mo Ting …

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