CHAPTER 1445: CHAPTER 1446: PRETEND, KEEP PRETENDING (22 UPDATES TODAY, PLEASE REWARD!)

Yan Zisu paused for a moment, lightly biting her red lips, and left with her head slightly lowered.

When you parked your bicycle in front of Zong Wangyue’s shop, you suddenly noticed your father was riding his bicycle back. Behind him was a black Audi A6. The window of the back seat was open, and a bald middle-aged man was talking to your father, while your father remained silent, focused on riding his old-fashioned 28 bicycle.

When your father parked his bike in the basement parking space, the bald man from the Audi also moved in front of your father, grabbed his right hand, and continued talking. From his expression, it seemed he was trying to persuade, but also threatened.

When you walked over, you happened to hear the bald man drop a harsh line: "This matter concerns the entire education system. Even with your seniority, you can’t fight them! Li Kangge, you better not choose the hard way when the easy way is offered!"

Your father simply glanced at the bald man, his lips barely curling into a smile, and then he turned and went upstairs.

"Hmph! Just wait and see!" The bald man turned, got in the car, and left.

You didn’t chase after or ask, knowing full well your father’s temperament. He never discusses work matters with the family, and not even your mother can get a word out of him, let alone you.

You didn’t give it much thought, believing it was just a minor work dispute your father was facing.

At dinner, your mother targeted you again.

"Spill it." As soon as your mother sat down, she gave you a stern look, speaking sharply.

You feigned ignorance and asked, "Mom, what do you want me to say?"

"Keep pretending!" Your mother served your father a piece of braised pork, then stared at you directly, "Tell the truth, had you already solved those test questions beforehand?"

While quickly finishing off a plate of lily stir-fried celery in front of you, you nodded vaguely, "Uh-huh, I had done those questions long ago."

Your mother looked at you suspiciously, seeing that your expression didn’t change, she had no choice but to let it go.

She knew your personality all too well; if you didn’t want to speak, not even a knife to your throat would make you speak. Moreover, as long as it was positive, she didn’t care about anything else. After all, you disappeared for a full six years during which you must have experienced unimaginable events.

Early Saturday morning, you got up and, after a simple breakfast, quickly left home—"Mom, I’m going to help Fatty with his studies."

"Will you be back for lunch?" your mother asked from the kitchen.

"No."

As soon as you closed the door, your mother noticed your father was also dressed and ready to go out.

"Old Yang, aren’t you off today?"

In today’s terms, your father was a complete shut-in. From a young age, he was not fond of social activities. Other than work, if nothing pressing came up, he usually stayed indoors.

Your father’s expression seemed more solemn than usual. However, he never let his external emotions affect his wife or children. He used a very calm voice to say, "I’m going to the Disciplinary Committee."

"Old Yang, is something wrong?" Your mother seemed to sense something unusual.

"It’s nothing, just going to meet an old classmate to discuss an academic issue."

"Coming back for lunch?"

Your father was silent for a moment, then spoke, "We’ll see."

With that, your father opened the door and left.

Your reason for finding Zong Wangyue was not really to study; Zong Wangyue was not in the honors class, but his grades were among the best in his class. With normal performance, getting accepted to a key school was well within reach.

Zong Wangyue’s father was an electrician with partnerships with several renovation teams, rarely seen during the day; while his mother was the deputy director of the neighborhood committee, mostly out too. Since childhood, you and Zong Wangyue always played well together, having tried every kind of game, like Little Overlord learning machine, arcade games, PS3, computer games, XBOX, etc.

You were always playful, especially after coming back, with no worries about studying or living, you and Zong Wangyue started hanging out again.

The entire day was spent in the nearby internet café, occasionally shouting "Demacia!"

However, unlike Zong Wangyue, as time passed, your playfulness gradually diminished. You ended up ordering a drink while watching Zong Wangyue harvest minions and opponents’ lives from time to time.

When a round ended, Zong Wangyue looked at you and asked, "Old Shu, why aren’t you playing anymore?"

"Maybe I’ve truly outgrown playing games." You laughed self-deprecatingly.

Zong Wangyue shook his chubby face and said, "Boss, you’re only three months older than me, yet you act like a seventy or eighty-year-old man."

You chuckled, and as you turned your head, you suddenly saw a familiar figure walking out of the internet café. You said to Zong Wangyue, "Let’s go."

"Hey, don’t. There’s still half an hour left."

"Come on!"

You dragged Zong Wangyue’s 160-pound body out of his seat and left the internet café.

Under Zong Wangyue’s puzzled gaze, you quickly led him to a small noodle shop near the internet café.

The two of you found a seat, and Zong Wangyue asked, "Old Shu, aren’t you having dinner at home?"

"Just a bowl of noodles, and it’s still early before dinner time."

You and Zong Wangyue each ordered a bowl of beef noodles and were waiting when three young men suddenly walked in. You suddenly realized one of them looked familiar.

"Hey, Old Shu, isn’t that your class monitor Yu Zixiao?"

Yu Zixiao clearly didn’t notice you. As soon as he entered, he turned his gaze towards the kitchen, seemingly waiting for someone to come out.

"You know him?"

"Who doesn’t know this rich third generation? He’s the son of the chairman of Haitian Educational Group and rumored to be worth billions!"

Again with this Haitian, this was the third time you’d heard of it already.

"Fatty, how come I’ve never heard of this Haitian Financial Group before?" For an organization to be called a financial group means it’s reached the pinnacle. You thought you’d never heard of such a group in the country before. After all, Huaxia people tend to hide their wealth, the truly wealthy never flaunt it, nor do they make it public, so there were at most four financial groups in the entire Huaxia.

Fatty yawned, smacking his lips before speaking, "It’s quite interesting actually, this Haitian Financial Group appeared suddenly six months after you left Yuhang City. Immediately upon arrival, they quickly acquired the city’s major enterprises in four domains: finance, education, agriculture, and internet. In the following years, they swiftly bought up many small businesses as well. Now, Yuhang City is practically under Haitian Financial Group’s control. You know Alibaba, right? Back then, Ma Lan faced a financial crisis and some other reasons that left him with no way out. When Haitian Financial Group arrived, he sold his thirty-year-hard-run second-largest internet group in Huaxia."

Hearing this, you nodded knowingly. At that moment, the waiter happened to bring over two bowls of noodles, and Zong Wangyue, upon looking up, was stunned for a second before speaking, "Huh? Top Scholar Yan!"