After four years of living alone after marrying far away, he went back to his parents' home and

The high school reunion was scheduled for dinner around 7 p.m.

Lan Yujuan entered the restaurant's private room about fifteen minutes early.

The moment two waiters simultaneously pushed open the door to the private room, Lan Yujuan had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, when she entered the private room, she was stunned!

Passing a set of Chinese-style openwork screens, the first thing that catches the eye is a large dining table that can seat twenty or thirty people at the same time.

On her way here, Lan Yujuan was still nervously wondering which table she should sit at.

She's never attended a class reunion before. Is it a place where you can just sit anywhere, or are the seats all arranged in advance?

In retrospect, it was completely unnecessary.

It's impossible for all the students in the class to attend; it would be good if half of them did.

There was a large table right in front of us, and everyone was seated at it.

"Hello, ma'am!"

"There are still about ten minutes before the meal starts, so you can take a walk around first."

"The private rooms include a tea room, a karaoke room, a rest area, and a children's play area. There's also a door opposite that leads to a rooftop garden."

Lan Yujuan nodded gently, "Yes, thank you!"

She couldn't help but wonder: How much will it cost today in such a luxurious hotel and such a large private room?

She glanced down at the tea leaves, bird's nest, Lego toys, and a limited-edition little princess she was carrying.

If she had known this meal would cost so much, she would have used the money to buy more gifts and had the delivery person send them directly to Xu Kai's house.

Quite a few students arrived early, but because the private room was large enough, everyone dispersed in twos and threes, so it wasn't noisy.

Lan Yujuan looked around and saw that the children's play area was empty. It was a corner and relatively quiet.

She figured that none of the classmates would bring their children to today's reunion.

Among those who arrived early, none of them were her close friends.

So, carrying her things, she walked straight towards that quiet corner.

After putting her things down and sitting down, she took out her phone and started reading a novel by herself.

Lan Yujuan was engrossed in reading a novel.

Suddenly, an incredulous voice came from above, "Lan Yujuan?"

Lan Yujuan, who was immersed in the world of the novel, was abruptly pulled out. Her mind didn't quite register what was happening. "Is dinner ready?"

Both sides were stunned by these words.

"Pfft~" The other person laughed first. "I'm Li Rui, do you remember me?"

Lan Yujuan blinked and quickly connected the fashionable beauty next to her with the English class representative from her high school class.

"Of course I remember, you had the best English in the class!" Lan Yujuan laughed as well.

"When we were in school, I always borrowed your English notes!"

The two smiled at each other, quickly rediscovering that familiar feeling from their school days.

Li Rui sat down naturally next to her, maintaining a suitable distance. Close yet respectful of boundaries.

"You seem to have changed a bit from high school, except for your hairstyle and clothing. Otherwise, there aren't many changes!" Li Rui tilted his head and looked her up and down, speaking in a cheerful tone.

"I hadn't planned to attend the class reunion at all; it was a completely spontaneous decision."

"I never expected to see you again, I'm so happy!"

Lan Yujuan was in a good mood when she met Li Rui again, her eyes full of smiles.

"Yeah, me too!"

Li Rui grinned, pulled out his phone, and leaned closer, saying, "Come on, let's exchange contact information and get together more often!"

Lan Yujuan happened to be holding her phone, and before she could even react, Li Rui had already sent her a funny emoji.

Lan Yujuan paused for a moment, then silently replied with a smiling emoji.

After exchanging contact information, Li Rui put away his phone, then glanced at the gift beside him and asked curiously:

"Why did you bring so much stuff to the party tonight? Do you have something else to do later?"

Lan Yujuan thought for a moment. Her father was a senior high school physics teacher, and everyone in the class knew him. It wasn't a secret that he was sick.

So, he explained frankly:

"I wasn't home for the past few years. I only found out when I came back this year that my dad suddenly fell seriously ill and was later transferred to Beijing for surgery. We were very grateful for the help of our squad leader."

"I rarely see the class monitor, so this is a good opportunity to thank him in person at the class reunion!"

When Li Rui heard her mention the class monitor, he hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped. After a moment's hesitation, just as he was about to speak, they were already calling everyone over to prepare for dinner.

"Let's go eat first!"

Lan Yujuan got up with Li Rui, and the two naturally sat down next to each other while they ate.

Liu Qian, who had invited her, had arrived long ago, but she was busy chatting with her old classmates and didn't notice her. The two of them were also seated far apart.

"We've been waiting so long, why isn't the food served yet?"

Almost everyone was seated, but the food hadn't been served yet, and some classmates nearby had already started grumbling.

Someone in the know whispered, "Let's wait a bit longer, the class monitor hasn't arrived yet!"

"That's strange. The class monitor always arrives early for our usual reunions, so why is he late today?"

No sooner had he spoken than Cao Cao arrived!

The door to the private room opened again, and a man and a woman walked in one after the other.

The person was still behind the screen when their voice came over: "Sorry we're late!"

After walking around the screen, the refined and gentle class monitor, Xu Kai, took the hand of the woman behind him and walked with a smile toward the empty seat in the main seat.

Seeing this, Liu Qian immediately got up and instructed the waiter, "Quick, get another chair!"

Some people in the class have already started making trouble:

"Hello, sister-in-law!"

"Sister-in-law, you look beautiful today!"

The squad leader's wife was clearly used to everyone's teasing; although her smile was shy, she was also poised and generous.

Lan Yujuan followed the crowd, her gaze unconsciously following the class monitor and his wife.

I was both curious and nervous.

She looked at the squad leader's wife and felt that she looked somewhat familiar, as if she had seen her before.

But for a moment, I couldn't remember where I had seen it before.

It wasn't until Li Rui quietly leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Look at the squad leader's wife, doesn't she look familiar?"

Lan Yujuan nodded seriously, "Hmm, he does look somewhat familiar."

Li Rui lowered his voice again, offering a friendly reminder:

"You didn't come to the previous class reunions, so you probably didn't know about them."

"Someone in the class is saying that Xu Kai's wife looks a lot like you did in high school..."

Lan Yujuan was startled, her eyes widened, and she subconsciously denied it in a low voice:

"How is it similar? That's utter nonsense!"

Aside from their long, jet-black hair that reached their waists, their similar weight and height, their facial features were completely different.

The two were whispering to each other when the class monitor and his wife were about to sit down.

"Excuse me, everyone!"

"I was supposed to arrive earlier, but I ran into one of our school's most impressive seniors in the hallway just now."

"Thanks to my senior, I even bumped into a big shot from our Xiangnan region—a tech tycoon I'd never normally even dream of meeting!"

"I mustered up the courage to ask a question in the private room next door, which took up a little time."

"Please forgive me, everyone. I'll punish myself with three drinks first!"

The class monitor's generosity immediately enlivened the atmosphere at the table.

The squad leader sat down and said with a smile:

"Is everyone here?"

"If everyone has arrived, please have the waiter serve the food!"

They looked at each other, but no one said anything.

Only Liu Qian remained staring at the door of the private room, her tone tinged with anxiety:

"Squad leader, we're missing one person: Lan Yujuan hasn't arrived yet!"