1994: From a young man from a small town to a second-generation resident of Shanghai

When Ye Huiling went to class in the morning, she happened to run into Huang Lei at the entrance of the teaching building.

"Good morning, junior." Huang Lei greeted her first.

Such chance encounters happen every day, but Ye Huiling was in a good mood today, so she smiled at him.

However, this smile led Huang Lei to misunderstand, thinking that his long-term efforts had finally won over the junior student.

So after finishing his classes for the day, he waited outside Ye Huiling's classroom. When Ye Huiling came out, he took the initiative to go up to her and invite her to have dinner together.

"I'm sorry, senior. I have something to do tonight. You can eat by yourself."

"What's wrong? Do you need my help?"

As it turned out, Ye Huiling had already left.

Xu Wenwen couldn't bear to see her senior continue to persist without any results.

Huang Lei dressed himself up so exquisitely today. Although he's not handsome, he's still quite pleasing to the eye.

"Senior, you're still so persistent. I advise you to give up sooner rather than later."

Huang Lei laughed and comforted himself, "It's okay, I've persisted for so long, I think it's working. Ye Huiling even smiled at me today."

"She smiled at you??" Xu Wenwen immediately explained, "Senior, I think you've misunderstood. Ye Huiling is in a good mood today because of something else!"

"Why?" Huang Lei's heart tightened.

"I can't say for sure, but you'll find out if you follow Ye Huiling."

If she were to tell him herself, it would definitely hurt him. It's better to let him see for himself.

"Should I go with them? Is that alright?"

However, his curiosity compelled him to follow Ye Huiling.

After finishing her class, Ye Huiling carried her schoolbag, left the school gate, and went directly to Fudan University across the street.

This was the first time she had taken the initiative to visit the university where Chen Yong was studying.

In the past, because of his somewhat arrogant attitude, Chen Yong never took the initiative to invite her, so she wouldn't come on her own initiative.

But now her mindset has changed; Chen Yong has become outstanding enough for her to take the initiative.

The past was just a small price she paid for her arrogance.

Ye Huiling had no idea that the moment she stepped out of the school gates and into Fudan University, Huang Lei, who had been pursuing her for a long time, was heartbroken.

If he still doesn't understand what Ye Huiling is trying to do, then all those years of studying have been for nothing.

Although she understood that Ye Huiling might be going to Fudan University to visit her high school classmate, she just couldn't bring herself to admit it.

She was still trying to convince herself that Ye Huiling's visit to her high school classmate was probably just for something, and that the two of them probably didn't have any special relationship.

…………

Ye Huiling asked many people at the school before finally finding the location of Chen Yong College. It was after class and there were no classes in the evening, so she could only ask the students in the college if they knew any of the first-year finance students.

"Excuse me, do you know anyone from the 94 Finance class?"

"From the '94 Finance class? There's a girl over there who seems to be her, you can go ask her."

The other person pointed to a short-haired girl who looked very pretty, with a delicate face that made her heart flutter.

This beautiful girl is actually Chen Yong's classmate; she doesn't look like the girl I saw on the bus last time.

That girl had a more aloof and reserved demeanor, while this one was clearly more lively, and also had short hair.

Mustering her courage, Ye Huiling walked over and asked, "Are you a student from the 94 Finance class?"

"Who are you?" Ye Linghuan looked at the woman in front of her with a puzzled expression. She was quite pretty. "Is there something you need?"

Ye Linghuan secretly wondered to herself, "Could this person be here to see the class monitor? Ever since the class monitor's song was released, quite a few pretty girls have come to him."

Everyone wanted to find out about the class monitor from their classmates.

Fortunately, the class monitor didn't like attending classes and was always elusive, appearing and disappearing without a trace, so he wasn't bothered by these girls.

"I'm from the school next door. My name is Ye Huiling. I'm looking for your class monitor."

"Not here!"

Ye Linghuan said decisively.

Hearing the other person's decisive tone, Ye Huiling was momentarily stunned. This person's words felt so offensive. Couldn't she even say something to her own classmate? He just said he wasn't there.

"Hey classmate, I need to talk to him about something, something very important."

"Everyone who comes to him says they have something important to say. But all they really want is the class monitor's autograph, and maybe even to date him. Our class monitor hasn't even finished dating all the girls in our class yet, so he can forget about girls from other places."

Upon hearing this, Ye Huiling realized that Chen Yong had become the class darling.

All the girls are lining up to date him?

Although I knew Chen Yong was very capable, I didn't expect him to be this capable.

It seems I underestimated Chen Yong's abilities.

She secretly regretted that if she had agreed to be with Chen Yong after graduating from high school, she wouldn't be facing so many difficulties now.

However, this also shows that Chen Yong can easily get dates with any pretty girl. The girl he met last time was probably like that too, or maybe she was Chen Yong's classmate.

"Classmate, you've misunderstood. I'm from Chen Yong's hometown, and I'm here to see him because of some family matters."

"Ah—? You're from the same hometown as the class monitor!"

Ye Linghuan was immediately embarrassed. "Why didn't you say so earlier? Since we're from the same hometown, then there's no problem. Tell me about the class monitor's hometown. Do you know his parents? What kind of person was the class monitor in high school?"

A woman's gossipy nature is ingrained in her bones, hidden in her genetic sequence.

Ye Huiling gave a stiff smile, thinking to herself that the girl in front of her was so materialistic. She was so enthusiastic just because she was from Chen Yong's hometown, but if she came to see Chen Yong for other reasons, she would immediately turn cold.

"Could you take me to Chen Yong first? Isn't he about to leave the country? His family asked me to send him money."

"Our class monitor is going abroad, and we'll be going together," Ye Linghuan said with a hint of pride. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of her."

When Ye Huiling learned that the girl in front of her had also received an opportunity to go abroad, she felt a little envious and jealous. How come they had so many spots to go abroad? They were only freshmen and already had the opportunity to exchange.

"Don't the class monitor's parents know? The class monitor isn't short of money at all!"

"He's the only student who signed a career contract with the college in his freshman year. After graduation, he'll become a full-time faculty member. He's already earning more money than he can spend in college, and he even released a song that became a nationwide hit. His songs are even played as background music during breaks at our school."

Ye Linghuan revealed all of her class monitor's achievements to his fellow townsman, as if she were showing off her boyfriend.

Ye Huiling knew that the girl in front of her must also like Chen Yong, but the two of them were not together.

Chen Yong's excellence only deepened her sense of regret.

If only I had been more proactive from the beginning, I would have missed out on Chen Yong, a super potential stock.

Chen Yong had already shown great potential in high school, but because of his youthful arrogance, he thought that once Chen Yong entered university, he would fall behind in the new environment and that he would meet better boys in university.

So far, the best guy she's met in college is someone like Huang Lei—not handsome, but incredibly capable and from a good family.

But compared to Chen Yong, the gap is huge.

The more she compared them, the more she realized how outstanding Chen Yong was, and how much of a gold mine she had missed!

I should have realized this as soon as Aunt Chen Yong came back!