Ji Li was persuaded by Tan You. "Yeah, I’m just a normal person with limited time, so I should just focus on doing the things I like and am good at within that time."

After Ji Li entered a breakfast shop, Tan You went invisible. What else was she supposed to do, watch Ji Li eat? ’That said, the soup noodles here look really good.’

Reining in her thoughts, Tan You told herself this was Ji Li’s life. No matter how much she was craving it, she had to control her appetite.

When traveling, the most important thing was eating and drinking. As for the tourist spots, Ji Li was content just to have seen them. She only felt that the city walls were built on a grand and magnificent scale; she didn’t feel any deep cultural heritage or anything of the sort.

"I’m just an uncultured person, and an engineering student at that." Ji Li had her own reasons for this. If she were asked to compose a poem on the spot at a scenic location, she probably couldn’t even recite one from memory, let alone write her own.

Despite saying this, Ji Li raised her camera and snapped a flurry of pictures of the sights. Whether the photos were beautiful or not didn’t matter; as long as she was happy, that was enough.

Although it was a solo trip, Ji Li was very good at finding her own fun. ’Besides,’ she thought, ’I’m not really alone. All I have to do is call out, and Tan You will be here, right?’

Ji Li dawdled outside until around four o’clock before slowly heading back to her hotel. She needed to go back, clean up, and get ready for the class reunion that evening.

It had been over ten years since she’d last seen her old classmates—though in this lifetime, it had only been a little over two. In her past life, almost all of them had eventually found out about her and Wen Zhe. They had been stuck in that ambiguous relationship for so long, neither of them getting married, and it had all come to nothing...

Pushing those thoughts aside, Ji Li reminded herself. ’I’m not the same person I was in my past life. The me right now has absolutely no connection to Wen Zhe. What does it matter to me how he’s doing now?’

’So, really, don’t worry about men. They’ll only drain you.’

The class reunion was near her hotel. After washing up, Ji Li just did her basic skincare routine before heading out. While beautiful women certainly benefit from careful grooming, Ji Li’s current looks could really hold their own, so she rarely spent much time on makeup.

When she arrived at the private room, no one was there yet. That made sense; it wasn’t even five o’clock. Ji Li checked the time, unconcerned, and found a seat to scroll through her phone.

She waited until it was nearly six o’clock. Ji Li was getting a little confused. ’Why hasn’t anyone shown up yet? Even if everyone is busy, there’s no way not a single person would have arrived by now, right?’

While she was waiting anxiously, her classmates were, unbeknownst to her, having a similar discussion. "Why isn’t Ji Li here yet? We’ve been here for almost an hour..."

"She’s not bailing on us, is she?"

"No way, right? Even if she wasn’t coming, she would have said something in the group chat, wouldn’t she?"

Tan You suddenly appeared. "You’re in the wrong place. I just checked. This place is divided into Building A and Building B. The reunion is in Building B, but you went to Building A."

Ji Li wanted to cry but had no tears. "But I even asked a lady for directions when I came in... Forget it, I’ll head over now. Youzi, why are you only telling me this now?"

Tan You was helpless too. "I saw you talking with that lady so smoothly. How was I supposed to know she’d give you the wrong directions?"

Ji Li grabbed her small bag and, while walking briskly out, sent a voice message to the group chat. "Hey, sorry everyone, I got to the private room at five, but I went to Building A. I was wondering why no one had shown up yet..."

"Wait for me, I’m on my way over..."

The moment Ji Li posted, her classmates immediately understood, and a flood of reassuring messages came in.

"It’s okay, take your time. We’re not in a hurry," Lianjie, the organizer, was the first to reply.

Ji Li was a little embarrassed. "I’m so sorry, I’m not familiar with this place. I even made a point to ask someone, but maybe they misheard me. You guys go ahead and eat. I’ll get there as fast as I can."

She hurried out as she spoke, naturally not paying attention to anyone else. After brushing past a few people, Ji Li didn’t slow her pace in the slightest. Instead, she stopped a nearby waiter to ask, "Excuse me, what’s the quickest way to get to 501 in Building B?"

The waiter hesitated for a moment. He wanted to guide Ji Li, but after seeing the group of people she had just passed, he seemed hesitant again. Ji Li noticed this and took a small step back. "If it’s inconvenient, never mind. Sorry to bother you at work."

She turned to leave, but unexpectedly, one of the men suddenly spoke up. "Little He, go ahead and take Miss Ji over. We’re not in a hurry here."

Little He breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright. Miss Ji, please follow me..."

Ji Li only had time to flash the man a smile before her tone with Little He became urgent. "Can we be quick? I’m in a hurry..."

Only after Ji Li’s figure disappeared down the end of the hallway did the others speak. "Third Brother, that’s not like you. Do you know that girl?"

A man next to him answered breezily, "I do. Third Brother and I both saw her yesterday."

"Where’d you see her? Old Wu, give us the details."

"Let’s go inside to talk. What’s the point of blocking the doorway?"

Once the men were seated in their private room, the most curious one started gossiping, clearly intrigued by Ji Li.

"I gotta say, she’s gorgeous. I was a little dazed when she smiled just now."

Zong Qi glanced at the speaker, who continued, "You think her showing up here all of a sudden was on purpose? Like, to run into one of us? I wonder who she’s after..."

Old Wu couldn’t stand it anymore. "You’ve got a lot to say. Why don’t you have some water to wet your throat first?"

’Can’t you see Zong Qi’s face has darkened? Have some damn perception.’

Zong Qi rubbed his cup. "She’s not that kind of person. Don’t look at her the way you look at those other women."

Chastised by Zong Qi and Old Wu, the man realized he had misspoken. "My bad, I have a big mouth. Old Wu, who is she, really? How do you guys know her?"

Seeing that his tone was no longer demeaning toward Ji Li, Old Wu sighed in relief. "It was just last night. Third Brother and I were drinking at Old Hu’s place. Old Hu has all sorts of little events from time to time, and she went up to perform. It was a pure coincidence."

"Really? I’ve gotta see this..." he said, fumbling for his phone. Old Hu’s social media account was actually quite well-managed. The pinned post was the video from last night, with a thumbnail of Ji Li’s face.

She was wearing just a simple, form-fitting dress, without even a trace of makeup, yet no one could tear their eyes away from her.

After clicking on the video and seeing Ji Li dance, Old Liuu’s jaw dropped wider and wider, and he practically started drooling.

Old Wu said, "Incredibly beautiful, right? I used to think ’sexy’ just meant a great figure and revealing clothes. But after seeing her yesterday, I realized that showing a lot of skin isn’t what makes someone sexy."

He then covered the lower half of Ji Li’s face on the screen, leaving only her eyes visible. "Her eyes... it’s like they can talk."