215: Chapter 214 Gathering

The meal was enjoyable for both of them.

Lu Qingfeng walked her all the way home.

At the entrance of the residential complex.

Mo Xiaoyu reminded him once again.

"Lu Qingfeng... tomorrow at noon, okay? You promised me, you have to come."

"I know, I'll definitely be there tomorrow." Lu Qingfeng nudged her toward the complex and waved. "Your parents are waiting for you."

After speaking, he looked up at Mo Xiaoyu's parents on the balcony and smiled; they returned the smile.

The moment Mo Xiaoyu stepped through the door.

Mother Mo pulled her aside and asked, "Who was that young man who walked you back? He looks a bit old-fashioned with such a long beard, but he also looks somewhat familiar."

Father Mo watched her with a nervous expression. Was the little cabbage he had raised for twenty-four years finally going to be snatched away? His heart felt a bit sour...

Mo Xiaoyu looked helpless.

"Dad, Mom... that's Lu Qingfeng. He just grew a beard, and you don't recognize him anymore?"

They breathed a sigh of relief.

That kid... holy crap, that's even worse.

"Ahem... Xiaoyu, uh, how far have things developed between you two?" Father Mo asked in a low voice.

Mother Mo was more direct, saying with concern, "Xiaoyu, logically, we shouldn't interfere, but you have a limitless future and will definitely reach Level 6 Cancerous Mutation. That Lu Qingfeng might be famous now, but what about his lifespan? When the time comes, I'm afraid you'll be left a young widow..."

Father Mo nodded vigorously beside her.

Mo Xiaoyu: ...

She felt a headache coming on and explained helplessly, "Dad, Mom, nothing has even happened yet. What are you thinking? Besides, I have a long life ahead of me; I'm not considering those things right now."

"That won't do!" Mother Mo said seriously. "Xiaoyu, as a woman, regardless of your lifespan, you'll still change after forty. If you're no longer young and beautiful then, what will you do? Now is your prime; you should seek your own happiness... We're just ordinary people; it's better to get married sooner rather than later..."

Mo Xiaoyu: ...╯□╰

Help...

...

The next day, he was woken up early in the morning by his bracelet ringing.

A look showed it was Li Tianran.

"Old Six, Old Six, I'm back! Hahahaha... come pick me up!"

"Come back yourself." Lu Qingfeng refused immediately. Was he kidding? Li Tianran was going home, not to his place. He wasn't picking him up...

"Old Six... you're using double standards." Li Tianran sounded aggrieved.

"Am I? I'm not!"

"You went to pick up the Class Monitor yesterday."

Lu Qingfeng: ...

"How do you know that?"

"Moments. The Class Monitor posted it!"

“Damn... what time do you arrive?"

"Nine o'clock. At least you're not completely abandoning your friends for a girl."

"Shut up, I'll pick you up later."

Hanging up the call, Lu Qingfeng opened his Moments.

Mo Xiaoyu: A ray of light in my life (Image)

The image was of Lu Qingfeng's back as he dragged her suitcase through the snow.

It was so blurry, and yet Li Tianran could recognize him?

Looking at the photo, he clicked it and hit save.

After washing up, he prepared to pick up the nearly 300-month-old Baby Li.

At nine o'clock sharp, he picked him up.

Li Tianran gave him a bear hug the moment he saw him.

"Old Six, you're heartless! It's been four years. Do you know how I've spent these four years?"

"Get off, get off. Tell me then, how did you spend them?"

Lu Qingfeng pushed him away.

"Spending them happily! Hahahaha, you have no idea. When I stopped caring about everything, life couldn't screw me over anymore; I was the one beating the crap out of life! Hahaha, I feel like I've understood the true meaning of existence."

"So you just slacked off? You make it sound so grand."

"Old Six, you don't understand. I call it 'slacking but not rotting'... understand?" Li Tianran said very seriously.

"Yeah... I get it, I get it! Hurry up and drop your stuff at home so we can head to the hotel for the reunion."

"Got it. Hey... Old Six, that beard is pretty sexy. I'll grow one too someday, though I'm afraid my dad would beat me to death. Forget it, forget it..."

Li Tianran looked at him with some envy.

"Whatever. I have to shave this beard tomorrow. When I went to the countryside a few days ago, my grandfather almost beat me. If it wasn't for my grandma, I would've been thrashed. A son shouldn't keep a beard while his father is alive..."

"Serves you right..."

"Screw you."

The two bantered for a while, and after dropping Li Tianran off at home, they sat there for a bit.

Around ten-thirty, the two headed downstairs together toward the hotel for the reunion.

"Old Six, why were you willing to come to the reunion this year? I haven't seen you come in previous years!"

"I was immature before. Looking back now, the best times really were the student days."

Li Tianran also lamented, "Yeah, it has to be junior high and high school. Back then we were carefree, thinking that doing poorly in school was the worst thing in the world. But after starting university, I realized that was only one thing. Once I entered society, I found out that studying wasn't a difficulty at all... Hahaha!"

Talking and laughing along the way, they arrived at the hotel at eleven o'clock.

Mo Xiaoyu and two other girls were standing at the hotel entrance welcoming other classmates.

When they saw Lu Qingfeng and Li Tianran arrive.

They looked at him with some disbelief.

"Xiaoyu... is this Lu Qingfeng? How come he's here?"

"Doesn't the beard look ugly?"

"Not at all... he feels so manly... Why didn't I think he was this handsome before? So masculine. Xiaoyu, you really have a good eye..."

Another girl said, "I actually think Li Tianran is quite handsome. Lu Qingfeng's beard makes him look too old."

"Nonsense, that's not old, that's mature."

Mo Xiaoyu: ...

He casually greeted everyone, and they were all surprised by his arrival.

After all, they were high school classmates living in the same city, and they had reunions every year, but this biggest celebrity had always been missing.

Everyone ate and drank, and nothing melodramatic happened.

Finally, they shared a moment of silence for Teacher Huangfu.

While everyone was drinking and in high spirits, Lu Qingfeng held his wine glass and patted Li Hao on the shoulder.

"Shall we have a drink?"

Li Hao was flattered. "Ah... okay, Brother Feng!"

"Mouse, bottoms up..." Lu Qingfeng downed it in one go.

Li Hao was somewhat moved. After all, Lu Qingfeng was not only a student at Yan University but also a social celebrity, while he was just a vocational school student. It was already great that he didn't look down on him.

He also downed his drink. "Brother Feng, you're awesome..."

He pulled Li Hao aside and said, "There's something I want to ask you about, if it's convenient?"

Li Hao patted his chest. "Please speak, Brother Feng! I'll tell you everything I know!"

"Good..." Lu Qingfeng pulled him a bit further away from the banquet.

"Your family runs mining operations on Mars, right?"

"Yeah... that's right. I did my internship there."

"Then in the past few years, have you heard of anything... strange happening on Mars? Like hollows, or digging up something weird."

Hearing this, Li Hao thought for a moment and nodded. He said in a low voice, "Brother Feng, because it's you... I definitely wouldn't tell an ordinary person. My grandfather said we can't talk about it."

As he spoke, he looked left and right, and finally lowered his voice even more. "Brother Feng, there really is something. A year ago, everyone in the Martian mine shafts heard a massive heartbeat—thump, thump. The experts announced it was an auditory hallucination. Bullshit. Everyone having the same hallucination at once?"

"Later, I heard that in one shaft, they dug up something incredible. Supposedly it was a corpse, and many people died... I don't know the specifics."