Volume 3: High School Arc - Mirror Game
As someone who had never experienced the lives of second-generation rich kids, official heirs, and aristocratic descendants, I used to find it hard to imagine.
But now that I was actually facing it, looking at the dishes being served one after another, I suddenly felt... it was nothing special.
As I mentioned before, I had learned many things and worked several jobs, among which being a chef was the one I had done for the longest time.
I won’t go into the details of those years of work experience, but just looking at these delicious dishes in front of me, I could instantly recall in my mind how each of them was made, step by step, what needed to be done and what should be added at each stage.
As a homebody, my cooking skills were still quite solid.
The sun hung high outside.
Summer had passed, but the autumn tiger had arrived.
The scorching midday sun could practically roast a person alive.
Fortunately, the private room in this five-star restaurant was equipped with one of humanity’s greatest inventions—air conditioning—continuously pumping cool air into the room to resist the blazing heat outside.
Inside the room, thirty-one people sat in their seats, each looking for classmates they got along with, forming little groups of two or three.
The atmosphere was lively.
As for me, of course I was sitting with Bai Juanjuan.
The meal was fairly lively, but I wasn’t the type who enjoyed mixing into such excitement.
Besides, I was a man in my thirties, and I had little in common with this group of teenagers.
Still, I couldn’t leave right away.
That would make me seem too aloof.
So I could only sit there, eating while mentally evaluating the chef’s skills, and listening to Bai Juanjuan chirping away beside me.
Of course, I kept a smile on my face the entire time.
Even if it was a fake smile, in this setting, not smiling wasn’t an option.
I didn’t want to have too much interaction with my classmates, but I also didn’t want to be completely isolated.
So sitting with Bai Juanjuan at least helped me blend into the group a bit.
Fortunately, this gathering didn’t turn into the kind of mess I imagined.
Even that chubby girl in the class who disliked me didn’t come over to provoke me, which left me a bit disappointed.
I had expected to play the protagonist and slap her face, figuratively.
Throughout the process, I kept an eye on Lu Haochen, but I didn’t notice him doing anything out of the ordinary.
And at a banquet, the one thing you could never leave out was alcohol.
Teacher Xue Li wanted to stop it, but with so many students, if she set herself against them on the very first day, her future work would be difficult.
So although she said a few words about how drinking was bad, she ultimately couldn’t curb the boys’ excitement.
So, the alcohol was brought in.
On such occasions, regardless of whether one could drink or not, a glass was poured in front of everyone.
Then, the one who first suggested drinking—the sturdy guy who helped me move the desk, and who was later chosen as the class monitor—stood up.
“Classmates, from today on, we are one group. I’m honored to meet you all. But as the saying goes, personal and public matters must be kept separate. Now that I’m the class monitor, I must set an example. This glass... is my toast to all of you. Today we celebrate and enjoy ourselves, but starting tomorrow, as class monitor, I might have to do things that may offend some of you. So this drink is to apologize in advance. If I, Ning Cang, offend anyone in the future, I hope you can forgive me and be understanding…”
With that, class monitor Ning Cang raised his glass.
“I’ll finish mine! Everyone, drink as you please!”
After saying that, Ning Cang brought the glass to his lips and downed the entire two-liang cup in one go.
“Nice!!”
Among the classmates, someone immediately shouted in approval.
Right after that, another student I didn’t recognize stood up, holding a glass.
“Brother Ning, you’re making it sound too distant! You deserve another cup as punishment! But what Brother Ning said makes sense. We should all drink this cup. Come on, let’s drink together!”
With the class monitor leading, the classmates followed suit.
Even those who didn’t want to drink couldn’t refuse at this point.
One after another, they picked up their glasses and stood up.
Naturally, I followed along, stood up, and picked up my wine glass.
But just as I stood, I suddenly remembered something…
I glanced to the side and saw Bai Juanjuan standing up with a conflicted expression, holding a glass of baijiu in her hand, seemingly about to drink it.
This silly girl—did she have a death wish?
I reached out and grabbed Bai Juanjuan’s wrist.
Seeing her look at me in surprise, I gently shook my head.
Then I reached over, snatched the glass from her hand, and without hesitation, finished the wine in my own glass in one gulp.
Then I raised her glass and poured it into my mouth too.
Given my current physical condition, a catty or so of baijiu was nothing.
This little bit—if I could take it for her, I would.
Sometimes, acting like a saint wasn’t a bad thing—as long as you didn’t do it with everything.
The two gulps of alcohol went down, and it packed quite a punch.
A burning sensation instantly rose from my abdomen, surging up my throat.
“Phew…”
As I exhaled, a rich aroma of alcohol lingered in my mouth, and my throat was filled with a lingering sweetness.
Some people couldn’t taste this sweetness because they couldn’t drink, but I really enjoyed it.
I wasn’t addicted, but I liked how every drink left my throat sweet.
That burning sensation, surging up from the stomach, actually felt quite pleasant.
Just as I put down the glass and was about to sit down, I suddenly felt a gaze filled with malice.
Instinctively, I looked in the direction it came from…
Wasn’t that the chubby girl who asked me to perform martial arts in the classroom?
When she saw me look at her, a smile flashed across her lips—but that smile made me very uncomfortable.
“You boys have said your part. We girls haven’t had our say yet. Vice class monitor, this cup is from us girls! Show them—we girls can hold up half the sky too!”
I knew she was up to no good, but this tactic… left me a bit helpless.
In this setting, no matter what she said, as long as it was even slightly appropriate, a group of classmates would surely echo her.
And sure enough, the glasses in front of the girls were all filled.
A bunch of guys eagerly joined in, each carrying bottles of Moutai and walking over.
Seeing this, I couldn’t help but frown.
What was this girl trying to do?
If it were just about forcing drinks, I wouldn't be afraid.
But if she had something else planned, that would be trouble.
Tsk!
That martial arts routine this morning didn’t scare her off.
Did I choose too soft a method?
Once the cups were filled, naturally, we girls all had to stand and drink together.
As for me... I directly reached out and took the glass from Bai Juanjuan’s hand.
Under her worried gaze, I gave her a reassuring look, then downed both glasses in one gulp.
Just as I finished drinking, that chubby girl suddenly exclaimed, “Our class beauty is holding two cups?”
Originally, I didn’t intend to draw attention.
But at this moment, I had no choice but to helplessly set down my glass and look at the group in front of me, thinking about how to hide Bai Juanjuan’s condition.
“I...”
Just as I was about to speak, Bai Juanjuan’s voice suddenly came from beside me.
“It’s my fault. I... I—I have asthma... Yunyan just didn’t want me to drink and was helping me hide it from you... S-sorry...”
In an instant, the entire room fell completely silent.
Looking at the rest of the classmates in the room, some had amusement in their eyes, some had concern, and a few showed cold indifference.
In that moment, I immediately saw through everyone’s thoughts in this class.
Some people saw that the chubby girl and I didn’t get along and wanted to watch the drama.
Most of the ones thinking that way were the boys—nothing spices things up like a bit of conflict, especially when it’s between girls.
But there were still a few boys who didn’t want to watch a scene.
Among them, Huang Lishan, that chubby guy who looked silly, suddenly appeared quite clever.
“So that’s how it is. No problem, then don’t drink. Hey, waiter... clear away the alcohol and bring soft drinks instead.”
The awkward atmosphere instantly dissipated.
This move from Huang Lishan was quite smart—he directly downplayed the whole incident and neutralized the tension between me and the chubby girl.
Teacher Xue Li had already sensed something was off, and had called the waiter in advance.
All the Moutai that was just being poured was swiftly taken away, and the waiters and Teacher Xue began bringing in soft drinks.
But... because of that, the originally lively atmosphere at the table immediately cooled down.
At that moment, I suddenly understood the chubby girl’s intention.
She wanted to subtly guide the classmates to develop a faint sense of disgust toward Bai Juanjuan and me, for supposedly ruining the mood.
“No switch!”
Just as the others’ mood began to sink and the atmosphere started fading, I knew—if I didn’t stop this now, Bai Juanjuan and I would end up being excluded from this class.
This kind of exclusion wasn’t about bullying.
It was simply... “We’re not playing with you.”
That might not sound so bad, but I had experienced it when I was younger.
It was definitely not a feeling one could call “good.”
So, to prevent that from happening, I decisively slapped the table.
“No need to switch!!”
Seeing the classmates’ surprised expressions, I snatched the bottle of Moutai from the waiter’s hands, twisted the cap off with a flick of my wrist, and slammed it onto the table!
Bang!
Then, I raised my eyes and swept a glance across all the classmates.
“Keep drinking! I’ll drink for Juanjuan!!”
“Nice one!”
“Big sis is badass!”
“That’s what I call a real one!!”
“Come on, let’s keep drinking!”
“What are you looking at? Bring another crate!”
The atmosphere in the room instantly returned to full-blown excitement—
Even more so than when the class monitor first kicked things off.
Seeing the admiration and amazement in the classmates’ eyes, I couldn’t help but glance at the chubby girl from the corner of my eye.
Though she still had a smile on her face, the corners of her mouth were twitching.
Damn you!
Trying to go up against me?
You’re thirty years too early!!