“He already ate such a big bowl and still isn’t full—he’s a pig. Don’t you know? Eat well in the morning, eat your fill at noon, eat less at night. Go play for now, you haven’t been out for two days, go get some exercise. When you come back tonight after playing, you can have the chicken soup I’ve made!”

Looks like if I don’t go out, I won’t even get to drink the chicken soup.

Ryan Carter, unwillingly, changed his shoes and went out. He memorized the location of Evelyn Lee’s house, walked past three buildings along the community road, and arrived at the fourth. The apartments from his work unit were still quite new, built just a few years ago through collective funding. But a decade later, with commercial housing everywhere, these once-new apartments had become marks of their era, aging with the passage of time.

As Ryan Carter looked back at the buildings he’d just passed, he thought of the people he once knew there. It was as if they had never existed at all, killed by time and space.

Was his own appearance here a stroke of luck, or misfortune?

From the fifth-floor window of Evelyn Lee’s home, laughter and cheerful voices drifted out from time to time. Ryan Carter looked up at that window, hearing some familiar voices. This was the reason he’d come today—to meet the childhood friends who were still around, to see the trajectory of his own life, to prove it wasn’t all an illusion. How precious such a moment was.

He started up the stairs.

……

Actually, the meal was very enjoyable. Even though everyone was from different classes, even different compounds, they were all still young at heart. Once they started playing and joking around, the atmosphere became harmonious.

Charles Sun, Ben Rowe, and Ryan Warren were a bit reserved at first, but the boys from the Huantong Company compound were on a completely different level from them. When the former spoke, the latter couldn’t even get a word in, and could only act as bystanders—like a group of lambs squeezed into a corner of the pen by wolves. The Huantong boys felt like they were in control of the whole scene, and naturally became more relaxed and at ease.

Then there was Rose Grant. Her outstanding presence initially made the other girls feel inferior, but during the meal and conversation, she always made sure to include everyone. Whenever someone spoke, she never interrupted, but listened attentively with her eyes under those long lashes, giving a response. When everyone started talking about the funny and embarrassing things that happened when they were kids in the compound, she didn’t seem out of place at all. She genuinely seemed happy to have such a group of friends who had grown up together. Emotions like that are easy to sense, and Summer Young, Evelyn Lee, and the others became even more animated. When they talked about setting off firecrackers and scaring a tricycle by the roadside, and being chased down for it, Rose Grant looked at the usually quiet Don Shaw and said, “So it was you who stepped up and took all the blame back then… That was really brave.”

Don Shaw was always quiet and shy, the most inconspicuous person at the gathering. Being looked at and praised by Rose Grant made his face flush red in an instant. He didn’t dare meet her gaze, but stammered and mustered his courage to say, “N-no problem! I’m used to it! I used to be chubby, so they all treated me like a meat shield…”

Everyone burst out laughing.

At this point, the loud-voiced Bella Yale next to Summer Young shouted, “Shawn Hughes, you and Ryan Carter went to that internet station near our work unit’s gate last night, didn’t you? I saw you two! Hey, I’m just saying, Ryan Carter really doesn’t take things seriously! He just said he wanted to get into No. 1 High School, but it didn’t motivate him at all—he’s still goofing off every day!”

Shawn Hughes felt completely wronged and was about to speak, but Summer Young looked over with a stern face. “Shawn Hughes, please tell your good friend that if he keeps this up, he’s really going to be finished!”

“We didn’t go play at all, you saw wrong! Ryan Carter has been studying at home these past two days!”

“Yeah, right, stop covering for him!” Bella Yale pouted. “What’s the point of lying to us? Can you fool the upcoming high school entrance exam? Can you fool the test papers that show the real results?”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Rose Grant just glanced at Shawn Hughes and said nothing.

He himself didn’t care, but Shawn Hughes was really trying to defend Ryan Carter. Every time he went to find him, Ryan Carter was at home studying, not even tempted by the lure of internet cafes and games. That showed Ryan Carter was really working hard, but all he got in return was misunderstanding and criticism…

But he also felt powerless, because reason told him that for Ryan Carter to start working hard only in these last few dozen days—it was already too late!

Seeing Shawn Hughes lost in thought, everyone moved on to other topics.

Evelyn Lee looked at the atmosphere and thought this was truly a perfect gathering. Part of it was because Rose Grant was here, part of it was because the food their parents made was so plentiful and suited everyone’s tastes, and part of it, well, was because that Ryan Carter hadn’t come and hadn’t run into Charles Sun, so the mood wasn’t ruined.

Just as Evelyn Lee was thinking this, there was a knock at the door. Shawn Hughes immediately jumped off his stool, dashed to the door, turned the latch with a click, and opened it.

Ryan Carter appeared there. Of course, he had no idea that everyone had just been talking about him. He just felt the atmosphere suddenly go a bit quiet, so he waved to everyone in the room.

“Everyone’s here… Hello, everyone…”

Chapter 10: The Gathering (Part 3)

Seeing the arrival of Ryan Carter, Charles Sun’s expression clearly became uneasy.