6: Summer and Late Autumn(1)

There was an eerie silence at the dinner table.

The waiter didn’t seem concerned about alienating the customers. Their tone of speech was flat and cold.

Yu Yue had been looking up at the waiter the whole time.

Sure enough, not long after the incident with the beer, those boys completely backed down and muttered, “Okay… let’s have soda.”

They placed their orders, but due to the alcohol-related hiccup earlier, no one remembered to order soy milk for Yu Yue. Even Dan Hang forgot, and Yu Yue saw that the waiter had already walked away without saying a word.

However, unexpectedly, when the waiter came back with four bottles of soda in one hand, there was also a bottle of soy milk.

Yu Yue was taken aback for a moment.

He raised his head again to look at the waiter, but the waiter was focused on work, and after opening the bottle caps for them, they walked away without a glance at Yu Yue.

While sipping his soy milk, Yu Yue thought that the waiter must have overheard their conversation earlier.

He was curious about the waiter and frequently turned around to look at them during the meal. The waiter seemed quite busy, either cleaning tables, serving food, or arranging tables and chairs.

After finishing their meal and settling the bill, they left the barbecue restaurant.

As they walked along the road toward the intersections leading to their respective paths, one of the boys finally spoke up in annoyance, “Who was that waiter? How did he know we were underage?”

Another boy said, “Hey, you look underage, and you look underdeveloped too.”

The angry boy retorted, “Get lost! You’re the one who’s underdeveloped!”

Zhang Xiaoxiao chimed in, “He’s a senior student in high school, I know him. He must recognize you all as the prominent students from our school and know which class you belong to, which is why he said that.”

“A senior student in high school?” Several boys were stunned. “A senior student in high school working part-time?”

Zhang Xiaoxiao lightly shrugged and said, “Don’t you really know him? His name is Xu Yuanzhe, he’s quite famous at No.3 High School because he’s handsome, does well academically, but his family is very poor.”

One of the boys sneered, “Only you girls care about who looks handsome at school, right?”

Other boys, clearly feeling inadequate in the looks department, echoed his sentiment.

Zhang Xiaoxiao resisted the urge to roll her eyes and walked over to Yu Yue, deciding not to talk to them anymore.

Xu… Yuanzhe.

Yu Yue turned around, looking towards the direction of the barbecue restaurant. They had already walked a distance, and the restaurant’s sign was partially obscured by the trees, making it difficult to see clearly. However, through the streetlights and the restaurant’s lights, Yu Yue could still make out the silhouette of the waiter.

High school senior… Xu Yuanzhe.

He should be only two years older than Yu Yue. And high school senior year was the time to study hard and give it your all, yet this Xu Yuanzhe was working so hard.

Yu Yue had never experienced working part-time jobs from childhood to adulthood. He could easily buy limited edition shoes, clothing, and the latest phones from high-end brands. The barbecue restaurant they had visited earlier was not only busy but also had a strong odor.

Yu Yue could still smell the distinct barbecue odor on his clothes, and he wasn’t sure if he could salvage the outfit.

But someone close to his age was working in such a place.

For the first time, Yu Yue felt the disparity in the world and life.

He didn’t even hear what Zhang Xiaoxiao was trying to tell him.

When he returned home that evening, Dan Hang messaged him.

At that moment, Yu Yue had just managed to clean himself from head to toe, and he was lying in his comfortable king-sized bed, rolling around a few times before he picked up his phone to read Dan Hang’s message.

Not Hangzhou’s Hang: “I’m sorry, my buddies can be a bit arrogant. Don’t take them too seriously; that’s just how they are.”

Yu Yue couldn’t quite remember what those people looked like or what they had said.

Is a Fish: “It’s okay; I didn’t pay them any mind.”

Not Hangzhou’s Hang: “That’s good.”

After a whole day of fun, Yu Yue only remembered the waiter.

He was now lying on the bed, still able to recall Xu Yuanzhe’s face, bathed in the lamplight, like a beauty from a movie, with the light casting shadows on his eyelashes.

Yu Yue casually opened one of the movies his father had directed.

After watching for a while without finding what he was looking for, he turned it off again.

The entire summer break passed peacefully and uneventfully. This tranquility and monotony persisted until the autumn of October. One day, when Yu Yue returned home from school, he was surprised to find unfamiliar shoes in the house.

The housekeeper explained that Yu Yue’s grandfather had come to visit.

Upon hearing this, Yu Yue’s eyes lit up. He didn’t even take off his school bag but hurried upstairs. However, when he reached the second floor, he heard crying from a room at the end of the hallway.

That crying was coming from Jiang Qian. Yu Yue froze.

After a moment, he slowly made his way to the partially open door of the room. Standing at the door, he listened to Jiang Qian’s nearly heart-wrenching sobs and his grandfather’s aged, yet angry voice, “Yujingnian… he’s finished!”

Yu Yue stood at the door, utterly clueless about what had happened. However, over the years, he had learned one thing – whenever it involved his father, he could search for information on Weibo. In many cases, public opinion would provide more information than his family.

Yu Yue had just opened Weibo and was typing “Yu Jingnian” into the search bar when a suggested search term popped up at the bottom.

#Yu Jingnian and female actress return to hotel, suspected of having an affair#