Time Travel: The Queen's Coronation

Rong Zixuan and I drove home right after class.

"Auntie Wang!" I called out to Auntie Wang as soon as I entered the door.

"Hey!" Aunt Wang came out of the kitchen. "What's wrong?"

"Auntie Wang, this is it. Our two children's first birthday is this Friday, and we'd like to invite some friends over to celebrate. We need you to prepare some food."

"Oh my! This is such a big deal! Let me tell you, in our hometown, a first birthday is a big deal! And it's twins, so it's even more grand! I'll make a list and see what I need, and I'll buy it tomorrow."

"Because we are abroad, we don't know many people, so there are probably about 20 at most."

"It's okay! I will prepare everything properly!" After saying that, Aunt Wang walked back to the kitchen excitedly.

"Who do you want to invite?" Rong Zixuan asked while sitting on the sofa.

"Zheng Lan, Li Zhanwen, Shen Junhui, please remember this, I might forget it later."

"Okay!" Rong Zixuan took out a pen and paper and wrote down the people I wanted to invite.

There were probably about 20 people, mainly Zheng Lan and a few other compatriots, as well as a few professors, classmates, and former colleagues at Zero.

The next day, we distributed invitations, and professors and students happily accepted. Zero's former colleagues, who were in New York and couldn't make it, expressed regret that they couldn't attend. However, Zero's former boss, Mr. Borg, accepted the invitation and agreed to attend. I'd already called Zheng Lan, leaving only Li Zhanwen and Shen Junhui. I'd also contacted Li Zhanwen on WeChat, but Shen Junhui's phone number in China was unreachable, and I didn't have any other contact information. I'd previously rejected his friend request, and now I couldn't find him.

"Why don't you just not invite him? We can't find him anyway," Rong Zixuan said with some pride.

"That's not good. He's one of the few compatriots we know here, and we'll be partners in the future. You should put aside your prejudice against him. At least maintain harmony on the surface."

"Okay! I'll try my best!"

At this time, someone was knocking on our car window, and Rong Zixuan rolled down the window.

"Why are you stopping here?" Speak of the devil, and he appears. Shen Junhui is standing outside talking to us.

"We just said we couldn't find you!" I said to him.

"What do you want from me?" he said to me with a smile.

"Here, this is an invitation. My son's birthday is on Friday. Please come and join us!" I handed him the invitation.

"No problem! But can I invite some friends over?"

"Are you bringing your girlfriend?" I said jokingly.

"I don't have a girlfriend yet! Just a few buddies."

"A rich second-generation playboy like you?" Rong Zixuan interjected.

"How can you talk like that!" Shen Junhui was dissatisfied with Rong Zixuan's words, "Not all of my friends are playboys!"

"So you admit that you are a playboy?" Rong Zixuan smiled proudly.

"So what if you admit it! I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth and was born to be a playboy. I'm not like some people who look poor!" Shen Junhui looked at Rong Zixuan sarcastically.

"I'm poor, so what! Anyway, I have a happy family and a loving couple! I'm so many times happier than you. This is something you can't buy with any amount of money!" Rong Zixuan retorted.

"You! Forget it, I won't bother with you. I want to be broad-minded! Mature and steady!" Shen Junhui said after taking a deep breath.

"Did you take the wrong medicine?" I said in surprise.

"No, I just want to change myself! After all, Haoyang will rely on me in the future, so I have to work hard!" Shen Junhui seemed like a different person when he said this.

"Not bad, not bad! Keep it up! But who are you going to invite?"

"There are only a few people, my cousin's brother Xiao Yi, and two childhood friends Teng Kan and Liu Ke."

"That's okay!"

"You are considerate and emotionally stable. It would be a great pleasure for a person like you to marry Rong Zixuan..." Before Shen Junhui finished speaking, Rong Zixuan stepped on the accelerator and drove away.

"Be careful, don't be afraid of bumping into Shen Junhui. He's the only child in his family, and if anything happens to him, his family won't let us go!"

"He deserves it! He belittles me every day!"

"Don't bother with him! You men are so childish! You're always bickering like elementary school kids. Seriously, how about I take you to the boxing gym for a fight someday?"

"Hey! That's fine! I'm going to beat him to a pulp!"

"Shen Junhui seems to be a bit bigger than you!"

"What's the use of being big? Muscles are the real deal!" After saying that, Rong Zixuan showed me his biceps.

"Shen Junhui also does fitness, and he seems to be even better than you..." I looked through Xiao Yuan's circle of friends to find the fitness photos they had posted before and showed them to Rong Zixuan.

"Wife, why are you encouraging others and destroying your husband's prestige?"

"I'm just telling the truth!"

"Hey, hey, hey, there's a boxing gym up ahead. Hurry, call Shen Junhui to come over!" Rong Zixuan parked his car on the side of the road.

"Are you really planning to fight Shen Junhui?"

"What else? I feel itchy inside if I don't hit you!"

"Let's do it another day! Let's wait until after the child's birthday. Otherwise, it would be so embarrassing for the two of you to show up at the birthday party with bruised faces!"

“Yeah, I didn’t think of that.”

"You're a father too, so you need to be more mature and steady. Don't be so impulsive and reckless!"

"Got it, wife!"

On the night of the birthday party, guests arrived one after another and we were entertaining them.

"This is the birthday gift I prepared for my child," my professor Rodrigo handed me a beautiful box.

"Thank you! The children will definitely like it!" I took it with both hands.

"Please come in and have a drink!" I invited him in.

"This is the hat I picked for my children. I hope they like it!" My classmate Lucia handed me two hats. "I heard that twins will fight over each other, so I specially picked two of the same color!"

"Thank you so much! I'm so touched that you even thought of such details!" I gave Lucia a hug and invited her in.

Zheng Lan, Li Zhanwen, and others arrived shortly afterward, but Shen Junhui and his friends arrived late, arriving after we'd already started. The stars of this birthday party were two children, barely able to speak fluently. They embraced everyone's well wishes and gifts. They clearly loved some of the toys and couldn't let go. We didn't dare keep the party going too long, fearing a disturbance complaint from the neighbors. But everyone had a blast, and many left with comments about how delicious the cakes were!

Before leaving, Zero's former boss, Mr. Borg, handed me a document and told me to contact him if I was satisfied. I later opened the document and found it contained a proposal for collaboration on the Dalan Bay project. I hadn't expected them, even on the other side of the ocean, to be interested in the project. That evening, I sent the document, along with my opinions and the references I'd gathered, to Xiao Yuan, asking him to consider whether to partner with Zero.