Xue Rui casually got into Gu Muxue’s car.

"Master Yang, let’s head to my family’s restaurant. You can have a bite with my dad," Xue Rui said with a smile. He and Yang Xing had known each other for two years and were now quite familiar.

"Mm," Yang Xing said with a nod.

He had just called Director Gu, who had agreed to Xie Jianfeng’s arrangement.

The group arrived at Qunfang Tower.

The peak hours for a high-end restaurant like this were in the evening. Since it was daytime, the place seemed a bit empty, and even the staff were unusually idle.

Some parents, worried their children wouldn’t get enough rest, had declined Xue Rui’s kind invitation.

But Xue Rui’s closest classmates were still there.

Yi Bing and Qiu Mengze had their arms slung over each other’s shoulders, chatting about the popular online games of the moment. A few other classmates had come along as well.

Xue Rui had also called Mei Lili over. After all, she had been Gu Muxue’s loyal sidekick for years and was one of the few friends Gu Muxue could truly confide in.

As he went upstairs, he saw the little girl with a huge backpack on, trailing behind Director Wang with her head down.

But what he couldn’t stand the most was that Chen Tingting had actually tagged along.

The key thing was, he couldn’t say anything about it...

’I don’t know what the lobby manager was thinking. Couldn’t he find any other part-timers? How did he end up hiring her?’

When he saw the manager, Xue Rui couldn’t help but pull him aside and ask, "Why would you hire such an unstable employee?"

"Xiaorui, that’s where you’re wrong. Chen Tingting is very serious about her work," the manager explained.

And it was true. But that wasn’t the most important part.

Many customers knew the girl. After interacting with her more, he had also learned that Chen Tingting’s father was no ordinary person.

Having Chen Tingting work part-time here was good for the restaurant’s business, good for his personal connections, and good for indulging Chen Tingting’s own little desires...

In short, it was a win-win-win situation.

Xue Rui saw right through it. He gritted his teeth and said, "This is bad for me."

’There’s no such thing as a multi-win. Someone always has to lose out.’

"Huh? You really don’t like such a cute girl?" The manager was a bit stunned.

Chen Tingting was clearly a beautiful girl throwing herself at him, and Xue Rui didn’t want her?

"I don’t." Xue Rui waved his hand dismissively and walked away.

He could eat and drink here for free, and take whatever he wanted, but he truly had no authority to interfere with personnel changes.

His classmates watched Xue Rui in amazement. For many of them, it was their first time eating here.

The prices were too high for their families to afford.

"Brother Rui, is this really your family’s place?" someone asked, feeling a bit awkward.

They had noticed when they came in that Xue Rui was the one leading the way, and the staff seemed to know him well.

They often heard their teachers say in class, "What will you do if you don’t study hard?"

"If you don’t get an education, you’ll just end up doing manual labor..."

...

Job discrimination was still quite serious in this day and age, especially at this point in time. The social consensus was that white-collar jobs were far superior to blue-collar ones.

But where did a boss fit into that?

At that moment, they suddenly felt the gap between people and were filled with a sense of bewilderment.

Mei Lili, however, wasn’t too impressed. She asked, "Is your family’s restaurant not doing well? It’s mealtime, why is no one eating here?"

Hearing this, everyone froze for a moment.

Some of them started to think that Mei Lili had a point. When they usually went out to eat, they often had to wait in line, but Xue Rui’s family’s place seemed empty.

Xue Rui smiled. ’These students have zero real-world experience.’

High-end restaurants and little hole-in-the-wall eateries didn’t have the same peak hours.

But he didn’t explain. Instead, he said sorrowfully, "Yeah, business is bad. I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up."

The class monitor, Guo Qingqing, spoke up. "Oh, I’m sure it’ll get better."

"Yeah, and I think the decor is really nice."

...

Many of them didn’t know what to say, and for a moment, they all started chiming in to comfort Xue Rui.

Xue Rui found these students adorable. He had only invited his good friends, and not one of them was gloating over his misfortune.

Gu Muxue shot Xue Rui a glare. He couldn’t fool her.

Lin Ruoxi wasn’t far from the students behind her, and she overheard what Xue Rui said.

’Is Xue Rui’s family restaurant really doing poorly?’

’Xue Rui seemed so troubled just now...’

Just as she was thinking this, she saw Ren Qunfang and Teacher Xue coming up, hand in hand.

"Hello, Auntie," Lin Ruoxi said obediently.

"Xixi? Come, come, you’ll eat with me today." Ren Qunfang’s face lit up with a joyous smile. ’My son does have a conscience after all,’ she thought, ’he knew to bring Lin Ruoxi over for a meal.’

However, she scanned the area but couldn’t find Xue Rui anywhere.

"Sister-in-law, I’m going to go find my colleagues," Xue Xiaying said with a sigh.

She and Ren Qunfang had just been talking about Lin Ruoxi. Ren Qunfang had mentioned it had been a long time since she’d visited Lin Ruoxi, as she was afraid of disturbing her during her college entrance exams...

"Auntie, is the restaurant’s business not doing well?" Lin Ruoxi asked in a small voice, a worried look on her face.

In truth, it was none of her business, but the young girl didn’t want to see anything bad happen to Xue Rui.

Ren Qunfang paused. Although she didn’t spend her days at the restaurant, she did occasionally look over the account books and had a good grasp of how the business was doing.

She smiled and said, "Not at all."

"Xue Rui just said it was bad," Lin Ruoxi said with a blank expression. She didn’t know who to believe, but in the end, she subconsciously chose to believe Xue Rui.

’But if the restaurant’s business is bad, how can I help?’

The young girl thought for a moment, then pulled a bank card from her bag. "Auntie, there’s lots and lots of money in here. Please, take it and use it."

Lin Ruoxi couldn’t think of any other way to help. Xue Rui had told her this was her salary and she could spend it however she wanted.

Ren Qunfang’s eyes filled with exasperation. ’Just because Xue Rui said business was bad, she’s trying to give me money?’

She figured Xue Rui was just teasing the silly girl. She smiled and said, "You’re giving me the bank card, but what about the PIN?"

The young girl glanced around, as if afraid someone might overhear.

She leaned close to Ren Qunfang’s ear and whispered, "It’s Xue Rui’s lunar birthday."

Yu Minlan had told her not to use her own birthday as a password because it could be easily stolen, so she had used Xue Rui’s birthday instead.

Ren Qunfang pushed the card back into her hands. "What does Xiaorui know? He’s not involved with the restaurant business. I don’t need money."

Lin Ruoxi’s earnestness was enough to melt her heart.

’This girl uses Xue Rui’s birthday as her PIN? That’s something only lovers do.’

...

Xue Rui and the others walked into the private room.

Qiu Mengze plopped right down in the host’s seat.

These students spent three hundred days a year at school. How could they possibly understand the social etiquette of seating arrangements?

Xue Rui just smiled, planning to take any random seat.

But Yi Bing tugged at Qiu Mengze. "What do you think this is, a village banquet? You sit over there. Brother Rui sits here."

Xue Rui was slightly surprised. ’Yi Bing knows about this stuff?’

"Don’t worry about all the rules. Sit anywhere," Xue Rui said, pulling out a random chair and sitting down.

"What rules?" Qiu Mengze looked utterly confused, still not understanding what had just happened.

The other students looked just as puzzled, though some fell into thought.

Yi Bing was about to explain, but Xue Rui raised a hand to stop him. "Let’s just eat. Don’t worry about all that."

His friendship with these classmates was pure, and he didn’t want to bring the rigid rules of society into it.

’This stuff isn’t important now. Someone else will teach them in the future.’

Since Xue Rui didn’t care, Gu Muxue certainly didn’t either. She naturally sat down to Xue Rui’s left, just like they did when eating at school.

Xue Rui shot a look at Yi Bing, who immediately understood. He plopped down in the seat to Xue Rui’s right.

If he hadn’t had Yi Bing sit there, Chen Tingting would have.

Chen Tingting tilted her head and said with a smile, "Senior Yi Bing, how about you let me have this seat?"

Yi Bing was completely immune to a pretty girl’s charms. Without even glancing at Chen Tingting, his two-hundred-plus-pound frame remained firmly planted in the chair, unmoved.

Gu Muxue glared at Chen Tingting, then reached out and pulled her into the seat to her own left, putting a person between her and Xue Rui.

However, this made Mei Lili unhappy. Chen Tingting had taken her spot, so she squeezed in and nudged Chen Tingting aside.

Chen Tingting pouted, putting on a pitiful, helpless act.

Xue Rui had to laugh. On the surface, Chen Tingting was carefree and had a flamboyant personality; but in reality, the girl was quite timid; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been scared to tears by that group of thugs.

Facing Mei Lili, who was even shorter than her, Chen Tingting actually backed down and voluntarily moved over a spot.

Almost as soon as everyone was seated, the servers came in, pushing a cart with their food.

Everyone chatted about the morning’s exam while fantasizing about their future university lives.

Gu Muxue naturally picked up some food with her chopsticks and placed it in Xue Rui’s bowl.

It was just like when the two of them ate at school, so Gu Muxue didn’t think anything of it.

However, the way their surrounding classmates looked at them was different from before.

At school, plenty of young couples did the same thing, but now the setting had changed, and their status was different, too.

They had already graduated from high school, and when this kind of behavior occurred now, it seemed to carry a different kind of implication.

"You two..." Guo Qingqing said, her expression full of gossip.

She would never have pried at school, but now that they had graduated, her curiosity was piqued. Who would win the school beauty’s heart?

Were the two of them a couple or not? This was a question on the minds of many students from their high school.

Although everyone had tacitly accepted it, they still wanted to hear it from the people involved.

"What about us?"

Gu Muxue still hadn’t noticed anything strange, because she always ate like this with Xue Rui, whether they were at school or elsewhere.

Of course, Gu Muxue was not a dense girl like Lin Ruoxi. It only took her a second to understand the meaning in their eyes.

Instantly, the young woman’s face turned red.

It was as if a crowd of people was interrogating her about her relationship with Xue Rui.

She waited for Xue Rui’s reaction. He had definitely noticed, but he deliberately stayed silent.

She shot Xue Rui a glare, but he just kept his head down, eating the food in his bowl.

’What does he mean by this? Does he expect me to be the one to admit something?’

’Jerk!’ Gu Muxue cursed inwardly. She reached out and pinched Xue Rui’s thigh under the table where no one could see.

"Hiss—" Xue Rui couldn’t help it, sucking in a sharp breath from the pinch.

Everyone’s attention immediately shifted to Xue Rui, their faces full of curiosity.

Without batting an eye, Xue Rui said, "Hiss~ This dish is spicy."

Everyone looked confused. The table was full of mild dishes. Which one was spicy?

"Let’s just eat. We should take a nap after this. The afternoon math exam is going to be draining," Gu Muxue said, changing the subject and redirecting everyone’s attention to their exams.

She glanced at Chen Tingting. She didn’t dislike the girl.

In fact, Gu Muxue looked down on Chen Tingting, seeing her as nothing more than an annoying child.

This was mainly because Xue Rui’s attitude was very clear; he was extremely decisive when rejecting Chen Tingting.

’But there’s another girl who has feelings for Xue Rui,’ she could feel it.

But Xue Rui hadn’t invited Lin Ruoxi to eat with them today.

’Maybe it’s just as I thought. Lin Ruoxi and Xue Rui are not from the same world.’

’A genius like that naturally belongs in a place for geniuses.’