Perhaps because of what Li Shu said that day, in the following days, Ruan Muyan didn’t come to find Li Shu, and Li Shu was also quite happy.
Without Ruan Muyan’s disturbance, Li Shu’s university life was very peaceful. Apart from the occasional irrelevant gossip behind his back, his life was quite comfortable.
Of course, as one of the popular figures, Ruan Muyan has not had a good time during this period. She didn’t know why her charm halo had ceased to affect Li Shu. It seemed like a signal, as shortly after, many people broke away from the halo’s influence.
The men Ruan Muyan was pursuing all had their own merits. Outstanding people often had their own principles of conduct. Previously, the halo affected their minds, causing them to subconsciously overlook many things. Now that the halo’s influence had diminished, their infatuation with Ruan Muyan decreased, and many irregularities became apparent.
In short, Ruan Muyan’s “harem” was now in trouble.
Now she was too preoccupied to bother Li Shu. The men Ruan Muyan targeted all had pride; how could they tolerate being toyed with by an ordinary woman?
Li Shu would always hear about Ruan Muyan’s situation from various places. The situation changed frequently, making it the drama of the year. The classmates enjoyed gossiping about it. It was truly a blessing for them and their brothers to have escaped from the sea of suffering.
Even Li Shu’s roommates paid attention to what was happening there every day. They had always felt that Ruan Muyan’s actions would eventually backfire. Now that it had, they felt relieved.
At noon, the plane from City S to City B arrived on time. The assistant received an esteemed guest from City S and hurriedly took them to the agreed location.
This guest from City S was a big shot over there. The assistant had heard about this person before and was seeing him in person for the first time. He knew this person was connected to his boss’s past, and over the years, they had been involved in many transactions. However, the leaders of the two cooperating sides had never met in person, as if bound by some agreement. Even when faced with a major crisis like back then, they never met to discuss.
The assistant didn’t know why these two big shots had finally decided to meet this time, but that wasn’t his concern. Having reached his current position, the assistant knew best that there were some things that one shouldn’t know, so he had to control his curiosity.
The assistant received a very elegant middle-aged man. The man took good care of his appearance, dressed in a meticulously tailored suit and silver-framed glasses on his nose. He had deep features, and his eye color wasn’t typical of Chinese people but was very attractive. The man exuded a unique temperament, like a nobleman from the old century, displaying a reserved elegance in his every move.
The car was already waiting outside. The assistant opened the door for the man and only took the front passenger seat after the man got in.
The car slowly merged into the traffic, and no one spoke inside.
Glancing at the rearview mirror, the assistant noticed the man with his eyes slightly closed, his long eyelashes casting shadows under his eyes. Sensing the assistant’s gaze, the man raised his eyelids and glanced ahead. The assistant quickly withdrew his wandering gaze and focused on the road ahead.
The car stopped at a five-star hotel.
As he guided the man inside, the assistant said, “Everything has been arranged for you here. If there’s anything you’re not satisfied with, please let us know.”
“It’s fine,” the man obviously didn’t care about these things. “Where’s President Li?”
“There’s been a bit of a situation at the company. Please rest here for now,” the assistant hurriedly explained, “President Li will come over after sorting out the matters there.”
“Okay,” the man responded lightly, indicating that he understood.
He had booked the presidential suite here. The room was large and decorated in European style. In fact, he was very familiar with such places. He would often stay in such places whether that person was there or not.
He didn’t know why Li Heyuan hurriedly called him over here. They had clearly made an agreement so he was curious about what had caused Li Heyuan to personally break that agreement.
He didn’t have to wait long. Li Heyuan appeared at this hotel.
Located in the city center, not far from where Li Heyuan worked, it only took a few minutes by car. Li Heyuan had originally postponed his work today, but due to a sudden problem with the project, he had to return to the company.
When Li Heyuan arrived, the man was already waiting at the agreed place.
After not seeing each other for more than ten years, even the most familiar people will become strangers, not to mention that they were not that familiar with each other before. If it weren’t for that person acting as a bridge, they would never have crossed paths in their lives.
The man stood up and asked directly: “I wonder why President Li asked me to come over?”
“I want to take you to meet someone,” this was Li Heyuan’s decision after careful consideration. He couldn’t let it go, even though the whole thing seemed absurd. He had to confirm it again.
He was certain that he wouldn’t develop any special emotions towards someone just because they resembled someone else. But he had only interacted briefly with this other person named Li Shu a few times. However, he and this person named Li Shu had only met briefly a few times, but he could not feel any guard against this person. Even his stagnant heart began to ripple.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he had to admit that they were too alike. When he looked at that young man, he couldn’t help but wonder if Sir would look like that if he was ten years younger.
Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t control himself from thinking too much. Despite knowing that person had already left for good, he still harbored hopes. What if?
Regardless of the eventual outcome, he needed closure.
“To meet whom?” The man frowned. “I don’t think you’re someone who takes things lightly, President Li. You might as well tell me in advance who this person is. If you want to break the promise we made back then, there’s nothing I can do now. Why go through all this trouble?”
“Klaus,” Li Heyuan met the man’s gaze fearlessly, their eyes briefly locking before breaking away. “I will never forget what I said. You’ve known Sir the longest. When you meet the person I want you to see, you’ll understand why I went to such lengths to call you here.”
“Let’s hope so.” Klaus had never understood this man’s heart, nor was he afraid of any tricks he might pull.
The conversation was private, and Li Heyuan had left his assistant and bodyguards outside the door. He stared at the crystal glass reflecting dazzling lights, as if trying to see something through it.
Klaus didn’t want to talk further. He downed the wine in his glass. “Who is it that you want me to meet?”
“Just wait a bit longer,” Li Heyuan’s eyes, reflecting the light from the glass, seemed even more inscrutable. “Just a few more days.”
Klaus didn’t know what Li Heyuan was up to. If he weren’t curious about what made Li Heyuan insist on him meeting that person, he would have already had his secretary book a return ticket.
Klaus’s gaze grew serious. He wanted to see what kind of person would make Li Heyuan show such an expression.
Li Shu had no idea that an old acquaintance had been summoned to City S by Li Heyuan. He had been cramming for exams lately as finals were approaching, and he didn’t want to fail.
He believed he could salvage the original owner’s persona as academic master but he had never studied mathematics systematically like the original owner had. He possessed the original owner’s memories, so he naturally knew what the original owner knew. But for him to completely make this knowledge his own and use it fluently, Li Shu needed to absorb it all over again.
It was a daunting task, but fortunately, Li Shu had a memory far beyond ordinary people’s, so it was not too difficult to absorb this knowledge in a very short time.
Like Li Shu, his three roommates were also studying hard. B University didn’t offer makeup exams; if they failed, retaking the course was the only option. The next semester would be the third year, and the workload would be very heavy. Retaking a course meant adding an extra burden to the already heavy workload, so none of them wanted to fail.
As exam week approached, students’ enthusiasm for gossip decreased significantly. With exams looming over them, everything else had to take a back seat.
Li Heyuan didn’t come to see Li Shu during this period, but Lu Yuanqing and Li Shu became familiar with each other in the dormitory, and they would make plans to go out and hang out together from time to time. Male friendships often formed quickly; after playing a game of basketball or sharing a meal, they could call each other brothers.
As the exams drew near, even Li Yuanqing’s visits became less frequent. He was in the neighboring finance department, so although he wasn’t physically present, they stayed in touch.
He received messages from Lu Yuanqing every day, including developments of Ruan Muyan’s affairs and about his uncle, Li Heyuan.
Li Shu knew that he had changed the plot, and the development of this world would definitely be different from the original plot. Unfortunately, there was no updated plot development from 1314. If he wanted to know something, he could only check it out himself.
Lu Yuanqing was Li Heyuan’s favorite nephew, and Li Shu could learn a lot about Li Heyuan from him. Lu Yuanqing was a simple person, and as long as Li Shu showed a little curiosity, he would tell him everything he knew.
Li Shu knew that Yuanqing wasn’t truly naive. How could he survive in such a large family if he were truly simple-minded? If that was the case, he must have gotten someone’s approval before telling Li Shu these things, otherwise he would not have the courage to tell someone he had just befriended about his uncle’s affairs.
Regarding this, Li Shu pretended not to know. He really needed to know what had happened to Li Heyuan in recent years.
Until the exams were over, Li Heyuan still hadn’t appeared. Li Shu’s activities were confined to the school, and he wasn’t well-informed about news outside the school. He relied entirely on Lu Yuanqing for news about Li Heyuan.
This couldn’t go on. Li Shu looked at the happiness value on the mission panel that had never changed. The bright red negative numbers stood out. He didn’t know what was going on with this situation, but he didn’t want the world to reset. His intuition told him that once the world reset, he would never be able to meet “Li Heyuan” again.
The higher one’s cultivation, the more accurate their intuition. Rather than intuition, it was a kind of prediction about the future.
Li Shu hadn’t yet decided how to approach Li Heyuan when an opportunity presented itself.
After the exams, it would be summer vacation. Li Shu didn’t plan to go home; the original owner had entered Professor Yuan’s laboratory and helped there when he had no classes. This time, the professor’s experiment was in collaboration with the He Group, which Li Heyuan currently controlled.
The professor had high hopes for Li Shu; otherwise, he wouldn’t have given him such an opportunity. Early in the morning, Li Shu arrived at the He Group with the professor and two other seniors.
When Li Heyuan received the news, he instructed his assistant, “Go and invite Klaus. Tell him, ‘the time has come.’”
