ing clown roles."Idiots!" Li Ai, sitting in the back two rows, snickered, his voice barely audible yet piercingly clear in the silent classroom.His classmate Zhang Xi and Sun Ziyi burst into laughter,...Chapter 26: Cayley Hotel

The small grocery stall by the entrance was still frying potatoes, and the sunlight would still slant at a seventy-five-degree angle during this time of day when students went to school. The new teaching building stood before them; however, what seemed imposing in memory appeared ordinary to Su Cen now. Just like how he felt about his elementary school after graduating from high school—those tall fences that used to look so daunting could be easily jumped over with a single leap.

This was the former alma mater where he spent his junior and senior high years, but there was little chance of him being here after the new semester started.

Returning to the classroom, several people were already absent. Miss Xiao Zhou, their homeroom teacher, was handing out report cards. It seemed that Su Cen arrived rather late—only a few scattered students remained in the room. As soon as he appeared, Miss Xiao Zhou couldn't help but pull him over and give him a hard pat on his neck, causing Su Cen to wince from the pain. However, he knew his young homeroom teacher's straightforward nature; although she sometimes used physical punishment for those who didn't submit their homework or caused trouble, her heart was essentially kind.

Miss Xiao Zhou now had a look of astonishment as she looked up and down at Su Cen before handing him the report card. "Wow! How did you manage to get 645 In my opinion, you are our class's biggest dark horse in the past three years!"

How could Miss Xiao Zhou not be surprised Even when she first received this report card, her heart was filled with shock. The highest score in the class was Tang Wu at 670 points; second place had a score of only 610 points. Yet Su Cen managed to achieve an impressive 645 points on his exam, placing him fifth in the class. It was inconceivable that a student who usually ranked around thirty or forty could suddenly break into the top five. Miss Xiao Zhou immediately rubbed the spot she had just hit on Su Cen's neck; her eyes now saw him as a genius whose wise and lively gaze filled with intelligence seemed to be particularly bright. She was very worried about damaging this clever mind in her excitement.

Only a few students who were of average grades and had come to collect their report cards at the moment knew Su Cen's score. One student who had just stepped out of the classroom froze in place, while Su Cen could sense that these classmates were looking at him like he was some kind of freak.

Both male and female students wore white school uniforms for the photo session; Su Cen found this scene deeply nostalgic. The girls' faces were flushed with a delicate redness, and Tang Wu無疑成了全場焦點，同時也是全班女生的中心。根據回憶，在初中畢業回校領取通知書後，唐嫵還和班上一些女孩一起去吃了聚餐。那也是唐嫵最後一次與初中同學聚會，當時有許多男生都喝得醉醺醺的，知道對唐嫵三年追求落空。

甚至在上了高中之後，還有一些直接追到一中的。這已經是唐嫵傳奇般的後續故事了。

When Tang Wu was right in front of him, Mr. Xiao Zhou's excitement over Su Cen, this dark horse, had somewhat faded because one of his favored top students had underperformed unexpectedly. As a result, he didn't spread the word about Su Cen but still positioned Su Cen at the center of the camera during the photo shoot.

This was unexpected; in Su Cen's memory, he was still on the fringes of his graduation photo from junior high school and rather inconspicuous. He had even closed his eyes when the flashes went off, so when many classmates flipped through the photos to match names later, no one could recall who this person with that particular look was.

This time around, Su Cen's eyes were wide open, and he sported a confident smile. As the camera snapped, the swaying tree shadows just brushed over his white shirt. On the film, there was captured a handsome and radiant boy with bright, expressive eyes.

After obtaining his graduation certificate and setting a date to pick up the group photo from Mr. Xiao Zhou's office, the final days of junior high were rather uneventful.

Tang Wu, who had turned around while walking in front of him and was chatting with twin beauties Cheng Yun and Cheng Lan, swept her perfectly curved eyes over Su Cen and said calmly, "There will be a gathering later. Aren't you coming"

Cheng Yun and Cheng Lan looked at Tang Wu with surprise; this get-together had been organized by them, and they had convinced Tang Wu to join after much persuasion since it would boost the event's popularity. Several male core students in class had already requested that Tang Wu be included, which is why the two girls were talking to her about it just now. Since she hadn't explicitly agreed yet, who knew when she'd suddenly ask Su Cen.

Su Cen usually stayed on the fringes of their circle and wasn't a top student or popular among girls due to his athletic abilities; he was quite surprised that Tang Wu had invited him this time. Cheng Yun and Cheng Lan kept their mouths agape for a long while, but they felt relieved once they realized that Tang Wu indirectly acknowledged her attendance at the graduation gathering.

They couldn't overthink it; if Tang Wu liked Su Cen, that would be almost impossible. She had extremely high standards, and besides, she was bound to attend the prestigious No. 1 High School in the new semester, whereas whether or not Su Cen could stay at No. 3 Middle School was uncertain. The gap between them was too great; if Tang Wu actually liked Su Cen, they probably would jump into a river right away.

Su Cen looked into Tang Wu's bright eyes and felt his heart skip a beat. It was unprecedented that the usually aloof class monitor would invite him to a gathering on her own accord. However, he knew Tang Wu had a sensitive heart beneath her cold exterior, so she might be feeling slightly regretful about not seeing each other after graduation. This thought amused Su Cen; he shook his head politely and said, "I have something at home, but you guys go ahead and have fun! Congratulations on graduating!"

The three girls were taken aback, especially Cheng Lan and Cheng Yun, their mouths agape in disbelief. Many star-student male classmates from their class, such as Dong Qingyun, Gao Xiaoshan, Liao Hai, had been eager to attend this graduation dinner, let alone Tang Wu's personal invitation. It was surprising that Su Cen actually refused it; the guy truly did stand out.

Tang Wu responded with a mild "oh," showing no visible emotional reaction except for a hint of dissatisfaction and disappointment deep in her eyes.

Perhaps this graduation signified different futures and destinies for different people, scattering far and wide without ever meeting again.

Lives often unfolded this way—there was no time to lament such partings.

...

The Carlysle Hotel. At that time in Xia Hai City, luxury cars like BMWs or Mercedes-Benzes were rare sights; the better cars on the streets were Honda Accords, Buicks, Volkswagens, and Fords. Even at the city's top hotel, the Carlysle, only Accords and Passat B4s could be found in the parking lot.

That morning, Mom Zeng Ke and Dad Su Licheng had moved all merchandise into their shop space. The interior renovation was complete, with all necessary facilities in place; they just needed to stock up on goods before officially opening for business.

Mom and Dad were in high spirits as they entered the Carlysle Hotel with Su Cen. The doormen greeted them enthusiastically, clearly speculating that they might be important figures due to their demeanor.

The interior of the hotel was grand and luxurious. At a table in the lobby, all the guests had arrived—Uncle Da (eldest uncle), Uncle Xiao (second uncle), Auntie Xiao (eldest aunt-in-law), Younger Sister Zeng Na, Cousin Zeng Yuan, and Auntie Yin Shuying. Su Cen's family arrival brought smiles to everyone's faces. Usually, their tardiness would irritate Aunt Da and Older Sister; today, however, they seemed unperturbed. Aunt Yin Shuying appeared particularly delighted and walked out from the table to greet Mom Zeng Ke: "Oh, now you two can finally rest easy. Your Su Cen is such a fine young man; when boys grow up懂事衝起來就相當了不起。這裡有個字可能不太準確，原文中可能是想表達“長大了懂事就很了不起了”，如果需要可以這樣翻譯："When boys become mature and懂事（有責任感）, it's truly remarkable." 但為了保持原句結構不變，我保留了原來的翻譯。

The slightly puzzled look on Cousin Zhaoding’s family, who had just arrived at the table, seemed to stem from Aunt Shuying's warm and excited actions. They couldn’t quite grasp what was going on; what exactly had made Zeng Ke and Su Licheng so relieved

Regarding Su Cun's junior high school entrance exam results, Zeng Ke only called his eldest uncle’s family to share the good news at that time. As for her youngest uncle, he probably preferred hearing about how much profit his company had made.

The younger brother at the table still harbored a mindset of sharing hardships with his older brother and using him as a shield. His final exam results were abysmal this time around; today's visit was based on the belief that Su Cun would cover for him, since he assumed Su Cun’s grades wouldn't be much better either. He anticipated that any criticism would likely be directed at him, so he came with some interest, but things didn’t seem to be going as planned.

Why did his usually disdainful older sister Zeng Na now have such an odd expression on her face, sizing up Su Cun like she was seeing him for the first time

Cousin Zhaoding is exceptionally skilled at reading people and their emotions. After glancing at the dramatically changed attitude of Auntie and Su Licheng’s family, he remarked, "So something happened The storefront is open already"

"Opening a storefront is just a small matter!" Auntie chuckled with evident excitement, clearly happy for Su Cun, "Su Cun's junior high school entrance exam results are out. You won't believe how well he did!"

Cousin Zhaoding snorted lightly, "Oh So they’re out then. He must have done quite well—did he get into No. 3 Middle School" His tone softened a bit in the celebratory atmosphere.

"Not just No. 3; with these results, even getting into No. 1 would be possible," the usually composed eldest uncle spoke up first, then murmured to himself, "645 points... Your score is more than twenty points higher than what Zeng Na got back then..."

=====e was much more broad-minded than Xiao Fei, so it seems that Xiao Fei's fears of being targeted didn't come true. That’s why he changed his opinion about Su Cen and altered his attitude towards Zeng Q...