Jiang Yun and Huang Xiaoli saw Zhong Chuxi constantly winking at them from the side.
The two of them looked at each other with some embarrassment.
Then, they simultaneously came up with an excuse.
They said they wanted to take a look around the house.
In the process, they pulled Zhong Chuxi aside as well.
Once they were in a secluded spot, Zhong Chuxi's face clearly showed her displeasure.
Frowning, she said, "What on earth is going on? I clearly only invited the two of you. Why did she come too? Don't you know she and Zhou Ying don't get along?"
Bringing an uninvited guest to someone else's home was a breach of basic etiquette.
Among the three of them, Jiang Yun was the closest to Xu Ya.
So, Zhong Chuxi turned her gaze toward Jiang Yun, seemingly waiting for an explanation.
Seeing this, Jiang Yun scratched her head sheepishly.
She quickly explained, "I didn't invite her, I really didn't! I don't know how she found out about the dinner at Jiang Cheng's house today either. When she messaged me to ask, I was quite puzzled and asked where she heard the news. She just said she heard it from someone else."
"Just as I was about to head out, I actually ran into her near my house. Then she just insisted on following me and coming along. I think she did it on purpose; I really didn't tell her."
At this moment, Xu Ya was holding her phone, frantically taking selfies in various corners of the villa as if no one else was there.
She completely ignored the complaints from Zhong Chuxi and the others.
Zhong Chuxi pursed her lips, though she couldn't really say anything more.
Today was already the sixth day of the New Year, unlike the previous few days spent visiting relatives.
Everyone was free now.
Although Zhou Ying had asked her to invite people over to hang out...
She had immediately invited all the Girls from their class that she had on wechat in one go.
Except for Zhao Jia, of course.
But with Xu Ya coming, things felt a bit improper.
Jiang Cheng put his arm around Zhou Ying and asked, "Should I ask her to leave?"
Hearing this, Zhou Ying smiled and shook her head. "No need. Everyone is just here to get together today. We're all classmates, and she hasn't done anything to me, right?"
Noticing Zhou Zhiyun's eyes frequently drifting toward Xu Ya...
Zhou Ying whispered, "Doesn't he like Chuxi? Why is he looking at Xu Ya so strangely?"
Following Zhou Ying's lead, Jiang Cheng looked over at Zhou Zhiyun.
Sure enough, he saw Zhou Zhiyun sneaking glances at Xu Ya while taking things out to set the table.
Jiang Cheng criticized him mercilessly, "Zhou Zhiyun is such a scumbag."
To be fair, Xu Ya's charm was indeed quite good.
A charm score of 88 reached the level of one in ten thousand.
However, Jiang Cheng remembered that the last time he scanned Xu Ya, her privacy value seemed to be 30.
Thinking of this, he focused his gaze on Xu Ya and scanned her again.
[Name: Xu Ya]
[Age: 19 years old]
[Height: 163 cm]
[charm: 89]
[Figure: 88]
[Privacy: 40]
[favorability value: 95 points]
...[Name: Jiang Yun]
[Age: 19 years old]
[Height: 165 cm]
[charm: 70]
[Figure: 90]
[Privacy: 3]
[favorability value: 88]
...[Name: Huang Xiaoli]
[Age: 19 years old]
[Height: 163 cm]
[charm: 68]
[Figure: 80]
[Privacy: 1]
[favorability value: 75]
...[Name: Zhong Chuxi]
[Age: 19 years old]
[Height: 167 cm]
[charm: 88]
[Figure: 90]
[Privacy: 0]
[favorability value: 85]
After the scan, Jiang Cheng was greatly shocked.
In just one semester, Xu Ya's privacy value had increased by 10 points?
While it was impossible to tell if this growth rate was slowing down or in a steady upward trend...
This privacy value clearly didn't represent the value added by a normal relationship.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yun's had increased by one. Apparently, she had gotten a boyfriend in college?
A Girl's college life was indeed "colorful" and "vibrant."
Remembering their last meeting, when Zhou Zhiyun said he was pursuing Jiang Yun...
Jiang Cheng silently mourned for him.
Zhou Ying shook her head. "No wonder Chuxi would still mention him for a while after graduation, but now she doesn't mention him at all."
"Sigh, let's not talk about it. Assessment complete: a total scumbag."
Hearing this, Zhou Ying added another meaningful sentence.
"Now, she seems to mention you more often."
These words caused infinite question marks to suddenly appear over Jiang Cheng's head.
"So, you're saying I'm just sitting at home and trouble is falling from the sky? Please, give me a break..."
During the tour, five more Girls arrived.
"Jiang Cheng, Happy New Year~"
Facing the New Year's greetings from the Girls...
Jiang Cheng replied with a smile, "Happy New Year, everyone!"
As Zhou Ying had said, during their three years of high school, Jiang Cheng's popularity in class was actually quite good.
Although he didn't really talk to these Girls much, most of them had silently paid attention to him.
It was just that back then, his mind was entirely on Zhao Jia, and he didn't pay special attention to anyone else.
But now that he had the mind to stop and notice these Girls, his standards had been raised by the Girls around him.
Looking at them now, in his eyes, besides Zhou Ying, Xu Ya, and Zhong Chuxi...
The rest were all just ordinary Girls.
Some of the Girls hadn't seen each other for nearly half a year.
As soon as they met, they began to chatter and catch up.
Of course, some who hadn't hung out with Zhou Ying much before were now pulling her aside to reminisce.
Jiang Cheng took the opportunity to walk over to Zhou Zhiyun and whispered, "Hey, buddy, what's with that expression? Didn't you move on? Why do you look like you're about to start simping?"
Zhou Zhiyun had once gotten dead drunk out of anger because Li Xudong and Xu Ya were secretly seeing each other.
When Jiang Cheng asked this, Zhou Zhiyun suddenly felt a bit guilty.
He subconsciously touched his nose and then answered stutteringly.
"Uh... was I being that obvious?"
As soon as those words were out, Jiang Cheng, Huang Cheng, and Wang Xiaochui all turned their gazes toward Zhou Zhiyun in unison.
The three of them couldn't help but let out a "Holy crap."
"If she could actually like you, I wouldn't say anything. As the saying goes, if you want life to go smoothly, you have to wear a bit of green on your head."
Huang Cheng said as he took plates out from the kitchen cabinet to set them out, "Exactly. You'd be better off continuing to chase Jiang Yun or Zhong Chuxi than her."
Wang Xiaochui chimed in, "Right. I think Huang Xiaoli is pretty good too. At least she's a bit more simple; I feel like her standards would be lower."
Zhou Zhiyun let out a sigh.
"Sigh, Girls aren't that easy to chase. And decent Girls have so many requirements. People used to say there are plenty of fish in the sea, but after getting to college, I realized there are plenty of fish, but catching one is hard. It's better to chase someone like Xu Ya; spend a little money and it's easy to get started. When the time comes to break up, we break up. Either way, it's not a loss."
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng looked at Zhou Zhiyun in surprise.
Jiang Cheng really wanted to tell Zhou Zhiyun that his thinking might be right...
But the prerequisite was that you had to have money.
Even though he was his good buddy, Jiang Cheng wanted to ask: can your spending level keep up?
In his current situation, he could at most act like a big shot and be treated as a simp and a cash cow.
He'd be better off finding an honest Girl to date.
Jiang Cheng didn't say it outright.
With this kind of thing, if you don't hit the wall a few times, you won't come back to your senses and face reality.
Huang Cheng said directly, "To win over Xu Ya, you'd at least need to be in the same league as Brother Cheng. Or at the very minimum, match Li Xudong. Otherwise, would she even look at you?"
As they were talking, Li Xudong actually arrived.
Behind him were several female classmates from their class.
The moment they saw Li Xudong...
Zhou Zhiyun's expression instantly became extremely ugly.
It was as if he had swallowed a fly.
His face was full of shock and disbelief.
"Damn, why is this guy here too?"
Jiang Cheng shrugged. "How should I know?"
While they spoke, Li Xudong had already approached with a smile, warmly greeting everyone, "Happy New Year, classmates!"
Today's Li Xudong was clearly dressed very modestly compared to the past.
The clothes he wore didn't have any special styles or brands.
He wasn't even wearing the Longines watch he used to show off constantly.
Even the brand of the shoes on his feet couldn't be discerned; all of his former flashiness was completely gone.
However, the two red gift bags he was carrying were quite eye-catching.
Although Li Xudong seemed a bit pretentious to the guys...
He was still quite popular among the Girls.
After several Girls greeted him, Li Xudong walked toward Jiang Cheng with the bags.
He warmly greeted the few of them.
"Jiang Cheng, Zhiyun, Huang Cheng, Xiaochui, Happy New Year."
That smile was practically more brilliant than the spring sunshine.
One had to know that the former Li Xudong was full of arrogance in front of them.
He always put on a superior air.
But now, he seemed like a different person.
Although Zhou Zhiyun and the others knew it was because of Jiang Cheng...
The sudden humility still caught them all off guard.
Except for Jiang Cheng, whose face showed no obvious emotional fluctuations...
Zhou Zhiyuan, Huang Cheng, and Xiaochui all had clearly surprised expressions on their faces.
As the saying goes, one doesn't strike a smiling face.
Facing Li Xudong's humble smile, no matter how unhappy Zhou Zhiyuan and the others were in their hearts...
It wasn't appropriate to lash out directly.
They could only suppress their surprise and reluctantly replied, "Happy New Year."
After all, during their three years of high school, although there were some minor frictions...
They were all just verbal.
It wasn't to the point of a deep-seated grudge.
And most of it involved Xu Ya.
"Jiang Cheng, Happy New Year. I just ran into Xu Ya on the road and heard everyone was coming over for a meal. I thought I'd come by to give you New Year's greetings and get together with everyone to catch up."