Chapter 3

The dining hall was run by one of their classmates’ families. Qiu Baozhu was the last to arrive, coming in late.

They clamored, insisting that Qiu Baozhu drink to make amends for being late.

“Qiu Baozhu, you damn well kept us waiting! That’s just rude!” Xiao You said, half reclining in his chair, clearly annoyed.

The boy had a buzz cut, a scarred brow with the whites showing beneath, and a gaunt face stripped of any excess flesh. No matter how you looked at him, he resembled a street thug.

The boy standing by the door looked at him awkwardly, thinking to himself, “No wonder I disliked Xiao You in my past life; it makes perfect sense.”

In the center of the private room was a long table, several meters in length, draped in pure black cloth. Plates, bowls, knives, and forks were neatly arranged; drinks and liquor were piled high like small mountains. Exquisitely wrapped gifts were stacked on another square table tucked in the corner.

Qiu Baozhu cast a glance around and saw that everyone had spared no expense.

“Qiu Baozhu, what gift do you have?” the class’s arts committee member asked curiously, shaking his grape juice.

“Just a little something,” Qiu Baozhu said, feigning a stroll toward the gift table.

“Hey, hey! Let me see, let me see,” Xiao You sat up straight.

A pale green box tied with a dark green silk ribbon in a bow on top. Xiao You had already pulled half of it undone and looked up at Qiu Baozhu, who was seated at the table. “Can I see it?”

“Of course,” Qiu Baozhu replied. “It’s already yours.”

Except for Xiao You and a few of his closest friends, the others weren’t particularly curious about what was inside the box.

They had seen too many fine things before; the world was full of wonders.

And nothing that could astonish them would come from Qiu Baozhu’s gift box.

“Holy shit!” Yet, they were still amazed.

Chen Chen, beside Xiao You, grabbed the item from the box and held it up to the light. “Qiu Baozhu, is this crystal? Or topaz?”

The translucent purple jade shimmered with a shifting glow as it spun between his fingers, the shades of purple flowing and changing.

“Zi Fei,” Qiu Baozhu murmured, as if waking from a dream.

In truth, most people in the room had long shown their true colors through their words and actions, except for a few.

Qiu Baozhu, in his previous life, was guileless, seeing everyone as good.

Even at the end, when he and Qiu Fei were isolated together, he thought it was just their different statuses that kept them apart.

The Qiu family and the Xiao family’s social standings were vastly different; giving a mediocre gift would be seen as disrespect, while giving something too precious would look like sucking up.

The crowd gathered around, exclaiming in awe, wanting to take the piece from Chen Chen’s hands to inspect it. Xiao You snatched it back first. “Don’t mess with it or I swear I’ll kill you all if you break it.”

Xiao You cradled the jade, extremely pleased. “Qiu Baozhu, how much did you spend on this? When weI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.