1987 My Era

Chapter 673
The end of the month is fast approaching, and final exams are getting closer.

Li Heng remained the same as always: he would go to the playground to run and play basketball in the early morning; during the day, he would study with Mai Sui and others, and take a walk after dinner.

Overall, life is pretty much the same as before, and I can do whatever I want.

If we had to find a difference, it would be that Miss Zhou hadn't spoken to him for a long time, nor had she visited the small building at No. 26.

Even if they occasionally bumped into each other in the teaching building, library, or alley of Lushan Village, she would pretend not to see Li Heng and walk past him expressionlessly, without even glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

Sure enough, Li Heng was just about to go to the "Foolish Noodle Shop" for lunch when he ran into Zhou Shihe. He stood in the middle of the road, staring intently at her.

As a result, when the girl saw that he had blocked her way, she simply stood against the wall with her book in hand, tilting her head to examine the ivy on the wall, as if the ivy had flowers and was even more beautiful than him.

Since her birthday, the two hadn't spoken for almost 20 days. This time, Li Heng finally couldn't hold back and asked directly, "Comrade Shihe, why are you the only one who came back today? Where's Maisui?"

Unexpectedly, Zhou Shihe completely ignored him, remaining silent and unresponsive.

Damn it! I've been ignored again.

Li Heng thought to himself in frustration, then took two steps forward, getting closer to her, and without saying a word, just silently gazed at her profile.

For a moment, you looked at the wall, I looked at you, and the two of you stood there, frozen in place, neither of you breaking the eerie silence.

Suddenly, someone approached from the other end of the alley. Li Heng looked in the direction of the sound and found that it was a female professor living in Lushan Village and her daughter returning. He immediately took two steps back without making a sound and made way for them.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, Zhou Shihe deftly stepped past him and left with light steps, showing no joy or sorrow throughout, her movements graceful and clean.

Li Heng glanced back at her slender figure, then headed towards the exit of Lushan Village.

He was speculating: Mai Sui, Sun Manning, and Ye Ning hadn't returned, probably because something had happened at the student council, otherwise they wouldn't be so uniformly together.

Upon arriving at Chunhua Noodle Shop, Li Heng first teased the little girl for a while, then asked the dim-witted boy, "Old Yong, I have my final exams tomorrow, are you going home for summer vacation?"

Zhang Zhiyong scratched his head, then chuckled and refused: "The child is too young, it's not good for him to travel such a long distance. Chunhua and I have discussed it and decided to stay in Shanghai. We'll take him back to our hometown when he's older."

Li Heng nodded in agreement: "That makes sense, the child is the most important."

Zhang's mother tried to speak up, but couldn't say anything several times.

Li Heng noticed this and asked, "Auntie, would you like to come back with us?"

Zhang's mother did want to go back, but after looking at her son and daughter-in-law, she shook her head and said, "I'm most afraid of traveling by car, so I'll pass. If you're going home, could you please give Yongzi's maternal grandparents 500 yuan on your way?"

As she spoke, Zhang's mother took out 500 yuan and handed it over.

"Okay, sure." Li Heng replied, taking the money and putting it in his pocket.

The beef noodles arrived, along with three small dishes of snacks to go with the drinks. The dimwit grabbed a few bottles of beer and excitedly shouted, "Uncle Heng, we haven't had a drink in ages! Come on, let's have a few to treat ourselves!"

Li Heng smiled and said, "It's rare to see you in such a good mood today, so I'll gladly keep you company."

They each drank two bottles of beer. Because the store was quite busy, he didn't stay long and went straight back to Lushan Village.

Yu Shuheng returned and found Li Heng. She said in a consultative tone, "I have something to do in mid-July, so I'll adjust my schedule and visit your hometown on July 1st."

Li Heng thought to himself, "It seems I'll have to go to the Xiao family on the 29th." "Okay, no problem."

Yu Shuheng suggested, "If you have time during the summer vacation, you can go to Tokyo and visit Hengyuan Investment."

Li Heng did not give a definite answer: "It depends. I'll go if I have time, but there's a high probability I won't."

After all, he will be staying in Dongting Lake in August, leaving him little room to maneuver.

Yu Shuheng seemed to guess where he wanted to go, so she left it at that and didn't elaborate: "Is Mai Sui not home?"

Speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao will arrive.

Before Li Heng could speak, Mai Sui appeared at the door.

Yu Shuheng stood up and said to Mai Sui, "Mai Sui, come with me for a moment, I need to talk to you about something."

Mai Sui agreed and handed the book to someone. Without even changing her shoes, she followed Teacher Yu to the small building at No. 25 across the street.

Li Heng thought shamelessly to himself: "You'll all be my wives in the future, what can't I say to your faces? Why do you have to be so secretive?"

....
"Dust Settles Down" has been released.

The magazine "Harvest" was an instant hit with the market as soon as it was serialized.

In the words of Editor-in-Chief Liao: What is gold content? This is gold content! Harvest magazine had not been at the top for 10 months. As soon as my junior's work came back, sales immediately soared, surpassing People's Literature to regain the top spot.

However, while the market is booming, literary reviews are mixed.

Well, many of Li Heng's die-hard readers have been singing his praises all the way, instantly turning the long-calm literary world upside down; but some university professors have also bluntly said that while "Dust Settles Down" is good, it is far less exciting than "White Deer Plain".

Taking advantage of the fact that his work was far less brilliant than "White Deer Plain," many people who envied, were jealous, and resentful of him began to emerge and criticize him, saying that his talent had run dry and that "White Deer Plain" was the peak of the writer December's career.

Seeing literary reviews praising Li Heng popping up in the newspaper every now and then, Sun Manning cursed, "What are you spouting nonsense for? If you're so capable, why don't you write a book that can rival 'Dust Settles'? Screw you!"

"Exactly! I hate people like that the most. They have no skills whatsoever, all they know is to hide in the shadows and harm others." Ye Ning grinned and agreed.

Wheat looked at him with a worried expression.

Li Heng chuckled to himself, patted her hand, and said, "It's alright, it's alright. The overall reviews are all good, they're positive, that's enough. I'm not a hundred-dollar bill, how can I please everyone?"

Hearing him say that, Mai Sui breathed a sigh of relief, then glanced at her watch on her right wrist and said, "The exam is coming soon, let's go to the teaching building."

Li Heng grunted in agreement and urged the group to hurry towards the teaching building. Just as they left building number 26, they happened to run into Zhou Shihe coming out of building number 27.

Seeing Li Heng there, Zhou Shihe stood quietly at the courtyard gate, without moving.

Mai Sui, Sun Manning, and Ye Ning knew exactly what was going on, so they enthusiastically pulled Zhou Shihe and rushed to the examination hall.

The four women chattered away the whole way, but none of them spoke to Li Heng. Even the understanding Mai Sui was the same.

It seems they've all forgotten about Li Heng, treating him like he's invisible.

Damn it!
"I'm worth hundreds of millions, when did I become so superfluous?" Li Heng cursed inwardly as he finally arrived at the School of Management.

"master!"

A joyful shout interrupted the conversation of the four girls in front. Li Xian ran up from behind, handed them an ice cream, and said, "Eat ice cream and get a perfect score!"

Li Heng smiled and accepted the ice cream: "Princess Xian, where did this saying come from?"

"My goodness! I eat ice cream every time I take an exam," Li Xian said confidently.

"Tch! Be careful you don't get diarrhea halfway through the exam." An untimely voice suddenly appeared from the side.

"It's not just diarrhea, you might also catch a disease." Another voice chimed in.

Li Xian turned her head and glared at Sun Manning and Ye Ning with wide eyes: "Sour grapes, you two don't actually like my master, do you?"

Li Heng was taken aback. He never expected Princess Xian to have this side to her. At this moment, she looked just like a fighting rooster.

Upon hearing this, Mai Sui and Zhou Shihe both looked over and gazed at Li Xian.

Li Xian was completely unafraid when facing Sun Manning and Ye Ning. But the moment she met Zhou Shihe's gentle gaze, she instinctively took a step back and lowered her head to eat her ice cream.

"Ye Ning, even a toad's chest isn't as big as yours, what are you pretending for?" Sun Manning retorted sarcastically.

Ye Ning went even further: "What the hell! What did you say? Chest? Do toads have chests? If you take off your clothes, your chest and back are all the same!"

After saying that, Sun Manning and Ye Ning laughed heartily, oblivious to everyone else around them.

Mai Sui and Zhou Shihe exchanged a glance, then quietly observed Li Heng's facial expression before walking away on their own, without getting involved.

As soon as Zhou Shihe and Mai Sui left, Li Xian immediately perked up. Right in front of Sun Manning and Ye Ning, she reached out and hugged Li Heng's arm, saying in her 7% standard Mandarin in a strange voice, "Master, I'll warm your bed tonight."

Li Heng: "..."

Upon hearing this, the word "shameless" simultaneously popped into the minds of Sun Manning and Ye Ning!

As they left the teaching building lobby, Li Heng asked Li Xian, "Do you have a grudge against them?"

Li Xian jumped up and said, "Those two bastards bullied me."

Li Heng asked curiously, "Oh, you've even learned the word 'thousand-year-old'? Tell me, how did they bully you?"

When the topic of her scandals came up, Li Xian stammered and refused to talk about them no matter what.

During the final exams, everyone else was on high alert. Li Heng, however, was completely relaxed and felt no anxiety. After three days of exams, he felt okay; he didn't dare to expect much, but he was sure he would get around 80 points on the test.

On the evening of the 25th, Li Heng treated everyone to a meal together, and the two dormitories who were on a joint study group got together.

The location was still Lao Li's Restaurant.

As usual, Wei Sisi and Tang Dailing, who were imitating a couple, sat together, while Zhou Zhangming and Liu Yanling openly showed their affection.

Zhang Bing is with Cai Yuanyuan; Li Guang and Sun Ye are together.

Hu Ping and Zhao Meng sat side by side.

As for the empty seat next to Wei Xiaozhu and Dai Qing, everyone tacitly agreed not to squeeze over it, as it was reserved for someone.

Li Heng arrived last. He looked around and noticed an empty seat next to Wei Xiaozhu, then walked straight over to her.

Without Li Guoyi, the lively and cheerful host, the dinner started off rather quiet and lacked its usual vibrancy. It wasn't until Sun Ye and Wei Sisi got into a verbal altercation and the two women started a drinking contest that the atmosphere gradually improved.

After a few rounds of drinks, Liu Yanling, who had drunk too much, suddenly asked Li Heng across the table, "Mr. Li, is Song Yu really your girlfriend?"

Upon hearing this, the private room, which had been filled with shouts, suddenly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone pricked up their ears to listen, afraid of missing a single word.

Wei Sisi, Tang Dailing, Wei Xiaozhu and Dai Qing knew what was going on, but they wouldn't be foolish enough to say it out loud. At the same time, they were curious about how Li Heng would respond.

Seeing that Li Heng remained silent, Zhou Zhangming's forehead was sweating. He reached under the table and pinched Liu Yanling, secretly worried for his girlfriend. Everyone regarded Li Heng as a ballast stone, a last resort in life. They couldn't afford to offend anyone but Li Heng. Why did Yanling have to bring up such a sore spot?

When her boyfriend pinched her, Liu Yanling, who was a little drunk, sobered up a bit and immediately regretted it, but the words had already been spoken and could not be taken back.

Just as Zhou Zhangming was thinking about how to smooth things over, Li Heng spoke up, saying crisply, "I used to like her quite a bit, but I didn't manage to win her over."

He said this because there were many gossip rumors about him and Song Yu at Fudan University, which he had heard to some extent. Moreover, considering that he would marry Song Yu after graduation, he decided to plant a seed of doubt in the minds of his friends in advance.

These words left everyone stunned.

Sun Ye was the first to blurt out, "Huh? It can't be true, right? There are girls you can't get?"

Li Heng laughed and said, "Look at what you're saying. I'm not a flower, how can I be loved by everyone?"

Now the student council president, Dai Qing is very perceptive about certain things. While everyone was busy drinking and chatting, she quietly asked Li Heng, "Do you want to marry Song Yu in the future?"

(End of this chapter)