Chapter 52.1

Xu Yuan and Meng Zhengrong’s life together could be described as both mundane and exciting.

The mundane part was that, like all couples, they went to work every day and occasionally went out shopping, dining, or watching movies. It seemed simple, but this was the life Xu Yuan wanted. She wasn’t someone who liked to put too much thought into her daily life; if things could be simple, she preferred that way because she felt there were many other things to do.

What was not mundane was that since Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan had truly established their relationship, it was as if he had unlocked his romantic side. He was constantly thinking of ways to surprise Xu Yuan and make their ordinary life more interesting.

One day, after work, Meng Zhengrong casually mentioned, remembering a notification he saw in their WeChat group, “You should be free this Friday, right?”

Xu Yuan’s life was simple yet well-organized.

She had found herself an English tutor to quickly learn to speak fluent English. No matter which company wanted to develop, international trade was essential, and that inevitably required communication and understanding of the other party’s situation. If she couldn’t speak English, it would be like groping in the dark.

Xu Yuan didn’t want to be outdone by others. After all, the employees she had on hand were all proficient in English; she couldn’t be worse than her subordinates.

Meng Zhengrong had no objections. Over time, he had come to understand her better, and his perception of her was different from before. How should he put it? His wife was a very ambitious person.

She wanted to learn more, and he naturally had no objections.

In addition to hiring an English tutor, Xu Yuan had also enrolled in a management course. The interpersonal skills from ancient times could still be applied today, but some of the ancient practices were becoming outdated.

Seeing her so diligent, Meng Zhengrong jokingly asked, “You’re not planning to become a female entrepreneur, are you?”

He was just making a joke, but Xu Yuan calmly looked at him and replied, “Is that not allowed?”

“Of course it is.”

Xu Yuan was thinking about how to translate Meng Zhengrong’s statement into English, pondering, “What’s wrong with that?”

Although her leisure time was richly scheduled, it was not chaotic; everything was progressing in an orderly fashion.

While opening the car door, Meng Zhengrong said, “I have a class reunion this Friday, uh, high school classmates. They said to bring family along. What do you think? Do you want to go?”

Sitting in the passenger seat, Xu Yuan let him fasten her seatbelt and asked, “Do you want to take me?”

This counter-question was interesting. Meng Zhengrong patted her head—a gesture he had been doing frequently lately. At first, Xu Yuan would resist, but she had grown indifferent to it.

“Of course I want to. You don’t know this, but my classmates have mostly married off, and some kids are already in kindergarten. This year, I can finally take my wife along to show off. How could I miss this good opportunity?”

Speaking of this, it truly was a saga filled with tears and blood.

Meng Zhengrong’s high school class was not large, with only about twenty students. Some had settled abroad, and there was little contact with them. Among those who frequently communicated, there were only about ten left.

Since two years ago, it had been Meng Zhengrong who went alone every year.

The others either brought their wives or partners; no one went alone.

Xu Yuan glanced at Meng Zhengrong and asked, “Didn’t you ever take your girlfriend before?”

“Actually, no.” Meng Zhengrong replied earnestly, “I’m not like those guys. Unless I was certain about marriage, I wouldn’t take anyone with me.”

“So, you had so many relationships before, but none made you think about marriage?”

Meng Zhengrong was clearly taken aback by her question. “You say that, but I was young back then; who thought about marriage?”

“If a relationship isn’t for marriage, then isn’t it just fooling around?”

Meng Zhengrong didn’t want to continue this topic, which seemed dangerously sensitive. He leaned closer to Xu Yuan, grinning shamelessly, “I need to stay single to marry you, right?”

“Alright, I’ll be free on Friday, but I hope I won’t run into your ex-girlfriends,” Xu Yuan pondered before adding, “If I do, I won’t go. No need to stir up family conflicts.”

Being able to speak so openly about the topic indicated that Xu Yuan had accepted Meng Zhengrong’s past.

Meng Zhengrong shook his head decisively. “No, really. I’ve never dated anyone from my class.”

Looking back, he thought it was quite clever. At a young age, he had already prepared for unforeseen circumstances. If he had dated someone from his class, running into them at the reunion would be an unnecessary disaster.

“Alright then, let’s go together on Friday.”

Meng Zhengrong was very happy, counting down the days until Friday.

In the past, he had always gone to reunions alone, but now he was finally going to turn the tables!

==

Friday came quickly. After work, Meng Zhengrong took Xu Yuan to the agreed-upon location.

Meng Zhengrong’s classmates were doing quite well, supported by their families. No matter how bad they were doing, they were still much stronger than the average person. The chosen restaurant for the gathering was one of the best.

There are two types of class reunions.

One type is the most common, where people gather to brag. Men compare their careers, salaries, and cars, while women compare handbags and men. After such a reunion, everyone is beaming, and those who brag the most might even rush to catch the last subway home.

This isn’t hard to understand; many people hope to appear better in the eyes of others, as if that would truly make them impressive.

In reality, most people live ordinary lives, struggling to get by.

The other type is a true gathering, usually involving a few of the closest friends from school days, where they don’t talk about work or housing prices, but reminisce about past friendships.

When Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan arrived at the private room, everyone was already present.

One of the heavier guys stood up, holding two glasses of liquor. His voice was loud and cheerful, “Hey, Meng! You’re here. No need to say anything else; let’s have a drink, and you can take your wife’s share too!”

Meng Zhengrong knew that drinking was inevitable today. He gladly accepted the two glasses from the chubby guy, downed them in one go, and flipped the glasses over. “I’m done! How about you all?”

There were two large tables in the private room.

Ten people had come for the reunion, and everyone brought their families, so with Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan, there were twenty people in total.

The ten of them sat at one table.

As soon as Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan sat down, the chubby guy said, “Meng, aren’t you going to introduce your wife to us?”

“Yeah, introduce your sister-in-law!”

Meng Zhengrong slapped his forehead, poured himself a drink, and began introducing Xu Yuan. “This is Chen Fei, and this is his wife.”

His introductions were simple, until he pointed to a man wearing black-framed glasses. “This is Zhang Mian; he works as a program director at a television station. The parent-child program you watched recently was planned by him.”

Zhang Mian, the program director, was quite smooth. “Zhengrong, I won’t toast you; you already said it. Your family is under your wife’s command. From now on, we’ll have to curry favor with sister-in-law!”

Meng Zhengrong didn’t dispute this and nodded repeatedly. “In our family, I don’t have a say; everything is up to her.” He paused, “So don’t come to me for loans; ask her instead. The finances are under her control.”

In reality, who among them was truly short of money? Even if someone was, they wouldn’t ask friends to borrow it.

Indeed, everyone here could lend money, but the friendship between friends often suffers from such things; borrowing once would reduce the friendship a little.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, no one would ask the other for money.

Meng Zhengrong’s words were merely to lighten the mood, and immediately several people smiled and greeted Xu Yuan, ensuring she didn’t feel neglected.

At gatherings like this, it’s often the plus-ones who feel the most awkward. After all, they haven’t shared in the youthful experiences that the others reference, so they can’t contribute much to the conversation.