Zhu Wan was Chen Yuan's classmate in junior high school, and also a friend within a small group.

And this circle consisted of just a few people: two boys and two girls.

The other boy was Yang Yifan, the one who initially claimed to be Chen Yuan's son.

The guy next to him was also someone he got along with well back then, but he wasn't part of the core group of four.

In short, they were all close friends from junior high.

"Happy New Year, everyone. My name is Xia Xinyu."

After greeting everyone, Xia Xinyu looked at the two red sugar cakes in her hand and said a bit shyly, "I wish I had bought a few more."

"It's okay, we'll share one." Chen Yuan generously split one of the red sugar cakes. "I'm going to give this red sugar cake to the ugliest person here..."

"I'm the ugliest! I'm the ugliest!"

Yang Yifan interrupted Chen Yuan, eagerly saying.

"See? It's easy to distribute." Chen Yuan handed the cake to Yang Yifan.

"..." Zhang Nuan's mouth twitched, and she complained, "Why are you still so abstract?"

"What was he like in junior high?" Xia Xinyu asked curiously.

At this, Zhang Nuan's interest was immediately piqued, and she blurted out, "He was even more clueless back then! His eyes didn't seem as bright as they are now, and he looked like he was half-asleep all the time..."

"Alright, alright, that's enough. What are you talking about?" Chen Yuan already wanted to cover her mouth.

*If you keep talking nonsense, I'll kill you.*

"Oh? Was he that different?" Xia Xinyu was surprised.

"What was he like in high school?" Zhu Wan asked curiously.

"Well, there were two phases. Before studying hard, and after. It was quite different," Xia Xinyu said.

"Studying hard?"

Hearing these four words, everyone questioned in unison.

"Seriously, what kind of reaction is that?" Chen Yuan was speechless. He retorted, "Am I not the only one among us who got into Xia Hai High School?"

"I heard it was through connections," Zhang Nuan said leisurely.

"Based on his junior high school entrance exam scores, it would have been a bit difficult for him to get into Eleventh High," Zhu Wan added.

"Just tell me if I got in or not."

Chen Yuan was about to overheat.

The feeling of having your past exposed was truly unpleasant.

It was like being stripped naked and judged.

"So, what was he like? Before, and after."

Zhu Wan returned to the previous topic and asked.

Although she did like Chen Yuan in junior high school, and was quite happy to run into him now, his girlfriend was standing right next to him after all...

Wait, how did she know about Chen Yuan's high school life?

Was she Chen Yuan's classmate?

Then was she also a student at Xia Hai High?

Then why was she visiting He Xiang for Chinese New Year…

"Whoa, speaking of which..." Zhang Nuan also noticed the key point, "Are you Chen Yuan's high school classmate?"

"No, I went to the school next door..."

"Xia Hai Fourth High," Chen Yuan answered for her before Xia Xinyu could finish.

Then, these classmates looked as amazed as disciples from a minor sect encountering disciples from a prestigious one while traveling.

"Holy crap, Fourth High?" Yang Yifan was immediately stunned. "Did you get in through the entrance exam?"

Chen Yuan felt the need to clarify, "I did technically get in through the exam..."

"I'm ashamed." However, Xia Xinyu didn't seem to want to pretend at all, and replied, "I got in through my aunt's connections."

"That's still impressive. Even if it's through connections, Fourth High doesn't accept useless people," Yang Yifan said.

"So how did you two get together? And how did you end up spending Chinese New Year together?" Zhang Nuan asked, very curious.

"Uh, well... It's a long story." Xia Xinyu didn't know where to begin.

"Then tell us about Chen Yuan. Describe him, and see if he's the same scumbag Yuan we remember," Zhang Nuan said.

Xia Xinyu thought for a moment, then said, "At first, before I knew him, I thought he was very aloof, unapproachable..."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhang Nuan felt particularly empathetic. "Back then, when the girls were secretly ranking the heartthrobs of Class One, a lot of people put him in first place because he was quite pretentious."

"Where was I in the rankings?" Yang Yifan quickly asked.

"Sorry, we only ranked the top ten," Zhang Nuan politely replied.

Yang Yifan: "..."

"But after getting to know him, he's actually quite funny, not aloof at all," Xia Xinyu said.

"That's right, a complete goofball," Zhang Nuan agreed wholeheartedly.

"So, you're saying things were different after he 'studied hard'?" Zhu Wan was still very curious about Chen Yuan's change.

Back then, she and Zhang Nuan had secretly talked about Chen Yuan, thinking he was handsome and very aloof.

And Zhang Nuan was a social butterfly, and insisted on becoming friends with him.

Later, they just mixed together and became good friends.

Zhang Nuan had always known that she liked Chen Yuan, and asked her why she didn't pursue him...

But in this kind of thing, how could a girl take the initiative?

But now, after seeing the girl standing next to Chen Yuan, she realized that it had nothing to do with being proactive or not.

Several girls liked Chen Yuan back then, but he remained single for three years, without any thought of early romance.

It seemed that Chen Yuan wasn't the kind of ascetic who had no desires.

He just purely liked beautiful girls.

"Changes? I think there were some..." Xia Xinyu said halfway, then, with a playful mind, asked them, "So, where do you think the changes were?"

Then, all five people looked at Chen Yuan together.

This made him a little uncomfortable, and he put his hands in his pockets, his eyes wandering.

"There were." At this moment, Yang Yifan suddenly thought of something, took off the gold-rimmed glasses from the guy next to him, and put them directly on Chen Yuan.

Then, everyone suddenly understood.

"So, it was the aura of knowledge."

Zhang Nuan was no wonder that he felt his eyes were a little smarter than before.

"Quickly take off the glasses. You can't support this look unless you have a score of 600," the guy next to Yang Yifan said smugly.

Huh?

Chen Yuan was immediately amused.

"Indeed, now he's the most awesome among us, a powerhouse with a score of 600," Yang Yifan also said, then took off Chen Yuan's glasses. "Bro, you should move aside."

Alright, it's time for me to start showing off.

"A89 milk tea is ready." At this moment, the store clerk called out.

"Oh, that's my milk tea."

Chen Yuan glanced at his phone, and then went to pick up his order.

*After I get my milk tea, I'll show you all.*

However, just as Chen Yuan turned around to get the milk tea, Zhang Wan suddenly shouted.

When he turned his head back, he heard Yang Yifan angrily saying, "Don't you know how to apologize after bumping into someone?"

"I bumped into you?" A crew-cut man turned his head and glared at him.

Judging by his age, he was older than them, and he was wearing a gold chain around his neck, with a fierce expression. He was definitely a tough guy.

Being glared at, Yang Yifan's aura weakened a lot.

"You did bump into my friend just now..." Zhang Nuan was still very righteous, but the other party's appearance was too fierce, and she didn't have much confidence.

"Forget it, forget it." Zhu Wan waved her hand, trying to dissuade them, not wanting everyone to cause trouble.

"Heh." The man saw this, gave Yang Yifan a mocking smile, and then turned around and left.

"It's Chinese New Year, no need to ruin our mood because of people like this. I'll treat you all to milk tea."

The man hadn't walked a few steps when he heard the undisguised comforting words.

And the phrase "people like this" was very grating to the ears.

Obviously, it was referring to him.

He turned his head unhappily, wanting to give that little punk a look.

But upon realizing that the person speaking was so tall and strong, he became a little more rational.

So, he chewed on a betel nut and glared fiercely at Chen Yuan.

But that kid didn't seem to feel his gaze at all, and never looked at him directly from beginning to end.

It wasn't avoiding eye contact.

It was clearly said for him to hear, but it was as if he didn't take him seriously at all.

This little punk was really putting on an act.

*Forget it, why bother with him? I'm leaving.*

"That's right, we'll treat everyone to milk tea. Don't think about unhappy things," Xia Xinyu comforted.

However, at this time, everyone's mood was obviously a bit low.

You could see that several of them were feeling blue.

Yang Yifan was the most upset.

Because he wanted to stand up for Zhu Wan just now, but after being frightened by the other party, he wasn't very confident, so he must be feeling very embarrassed now.

It could only be said that it was really unnecessary to get into an argument with people during Chinese New Year.

"Thank you, you two bosses. Then we'll just order whatever we want." Zhang Nuan also wanted to liven up the atmosphere, and said first.

"Order whatever you want. Your boy got a scholarship this year." Chen Yuan directly handed her his phone.

So, she started ordering.

The others also crowded around, discussing what to drink.

"..."

Wasn't there anything anyone wanted to say?

There was a very important keyword in my previous sentence!

Scholarship, scholarship you guys!

Everyone's mood wasn't very good because of what just happened, which caused Chen Yuan's showboating to end prematurely.

That damn tough guy ruined my moment.

Just then, a middle-aged uncle came over and pointed at Chen Yuan's phone, his hand trembling.

Because of this strange person, Chen Yuan quickly hugged Xia Xinyu's arm and moved away from him.

The others also became very alert.

But he was still pointing at Chen Yuan's phone, looking very anxious.

Just as everyone was tense and confused, the uncle suddenly started babbling, and used his hand to open his empty pockets, then drew a circle, and finally pointed at Chen Yuan's phone...

Everyone knew that he was deaf and mute, but they didn't know what had happened.

Superpower, activate.

[How could my phone be lost here... My son just bought me a new phone, ah!]

Understanding this, and looking at the other party's anxious gestures, an unpleasant feeling instantly surged into Chen Yuan.

Superpower, activate.

Time, pause.

Range, the street corner within my sight.

But with so many people, how could I find it...

Chen Yuan remembered that the red and blue bars didn't represent heart rate, nor the degree of excitement, but purely the mood.

And after a day of experimentation, he learned that you wouldn't be happy when you were nervous.

The moment of successfully stealing a phone was happy.

But when preparing to leave after succeeding, the mood would definitely be very tense.

So, it had to be a blue bar.

Just like that, in five seconds, Chen Yuan frantically searched, and finally found several targets a dozen meters away.

Time, stop, end.

Mind reading, activate.

[I really want to take a shit, it's about to come out...]

Not this one.

[I'm so hungry, why is there a line for everything I want to buy?]

Not this one either.

[It seems like that mute realized something.]

Okay, this is the one!

[Damn, it's wrapped so well in a phone case, I thought it was some kind of good phone. What bad luck.]

You son of a bitch thief, spend Chinese New Year in jail.

Chen Yuan was ready to start his hunt.

"Was your phone stolen? Do you want me to help you call the police..."

Just as Zhu Wan was communicating with the uncle, Chen Yuan suddenly handed the two cups of milk tea to Xinyu, and then immediately rushed out.

"Excuse me, excuse me..."

Pushing through the crowd, ignoring their unhappy and disgusted sounds, Chen Yuan ran towards that person.

Just as he was approaching, he suddenly realized that the crew-cut gold chain man was the one who bumped into Zhu Wan earlier, so he was the only one he didn't say "excuse me" to. Instead, he built up momentum and swung his elbow towards his shoulder.

Iron Elbow Opens the Way!!

Then, he immediately let out a 'fuck' scream.

*Damn it, this kid elbowed me and wants to run!*

The crew-cut man realized that it was the same person who had mocked him, and immediately chased after him.

However, before he could catch up, the boy directly tripped a skinny man, pinned him to the ground with one knee, his hands were cuffed behind his back, and he accurately pulled out a phone.

At the same time, the uncle who lost his phone also ran over babbling, and excitedly took back his phone.

What the hell?

The crew-cut man was only two meters away from Chen Yuan, but seeing this situation, he suddenly didn't dare to move.

"Everyone, please call the police. He's a phone thief."

Chen Yuan calmly said to the people who had already formed a circle around him.

And everyone just looked at him, at the thief pinned to the ground, and at the deaf-mute uncle who was frantically nodding his head in gratitude to the boy. Everyone immediately understood the situation...

Suddenly, thunderous applause rang out.

"Call the police! Call the police!"

"What a handsome and righteous guy, amazing!"

"Stealing a phone from a deaf-mute person, what a scumbag!"

"This takedown is so cool, is this brother an off-duty cop?"

Suddenly, Chen Yuan became the focus.

And the crew-cut man, who was about to cause trouble, realized that charging over now would be tantamount to admitting he was an accomplice of the thief, so he quickly shrunk back into the crowd, not daring to say a word...

Then, Xia Xinyu and the others also rushed over.

Then, they saw Chen Yuan subduing the thief on the ground.

"Chen Yuan!" Xia Xinyu was too worried, so she put the milk tea in Zhu Wan's hands and wanted to go over.

"Don't come here, Bao!"

Chen Yuan knew that Xia Xinyu was afraid of him getting hurt, so he directly shouted at her.

But after shouting, he was stunned...

*Damn, the whole He Xiang is going to know about my 'Bao' now.*

(End of chapter)