Chapter 638 - 637: Cowardly or Brave (Part 1)

Qu An, who had always been high-profile, had kept a low profile for the past two years after the previous incident. He had become much more down-to-earth.

The Qu family’s business had eventually failed, and only now had they managed a difficult recovery.

Although their business had failed, they still had experience, so they were able to slowly get back on their feet after starting over.

Qu An had also grown more composed since then.

If, at first, he still couldn’t face Su Li normally and was a bit resistant—or, you could say, had some hang-ups—those feelings had slowly faded over time.

Through two years of development, Pinjun Clothing had made a name for itself, successfully transforming into a national brand.

While they hadn’t opened specialty stores all across the country, they were present in most large and medium-sized cities. In places without a dedicated store, they had a counter in the department stores.

Nowadays, department stores, especially in county-level towns, were where you went to buy quality goods, and you could find many famous brands inside.

Pinjun’s products sold well, so department stores everywhere were happy to cooperate. In the end, Pinjun had truly made a name for itself nationwide.

A business of this scale was no longer just a small-time operation.

If Su Li’s identity as the owner of Pinjun were to be exposed, it would certainly be astonishing.

As the only person in their class who knew Su Li’s identity, Qu An saw that she had no intention of going public, so he never said anything either. The secret remained safe.

At first, Qu An kept quiet partly because he didn’t want Su Li to get the credit, but later on, it was truly because she didn’t want to reveal it, so he respected her wishes.

Once his heart had calmed down, Qu An looked back on his past actions and finally understood why his father had spoken to him that way back then.

At the farewell dinner, as an outstanding graduate representative of their year, Su Li was constantly surrounded by people talking to her and toasting her. Qu An was the last one to approach her.

Every time he saw Su Li, Qu An couldn’t help but remember the stupid things he’d said before, calling her a "worn-out shoe."

He remembered it again this time, and the memory made him want to punch himself.

’The person I was back then... I can’t bear to even think about it.’

"Su Li, I’d like to propose a toast to you. I’ll down mine, you can drink as you please."

Qu An finally stood before Su Li, and without further preamble, he spoke.

Before Su Li could even reply, Qu An drank his alcohol, downing it in one gulp.

Su Li just took a small sip.

It wasn’t that she was being stingy; she just really couldn’t hold her liquor.

She could get drunk on fruit wine, so if she drank hard liquor, half a glass would be enough to knock her out.

Before she came, Wu Sheng had warned her over and over not to get drunk. Su Li had to move heaven and earth just to keep him from coming along.

Su Li knew Wu Sheng was worried about her, but it really would have been inappropriate for him to show up at a students’ farewell dinner.

Su Li had promised she would absolutely be careful and not get drunk, so she had been controlling herself the whole time.

Fortunately, everyone knew about Su Li’s situation and didn’t pressure her. Even so, her face was gradually starting to turn red.

Qu An, on the other hand, had a pretty good tolerance. After one glass, his face was only slightly flushed.

Looking at him and then at Su Li, anyone who didn’t know the truth would have thought Su Li was the one who’d chugged a whole glass.

After he finished drinking, Qu An took a deep breath and looked Su Li in the eyes as he spoke.

"Su Li, I’m glad we were classmates. As for the past... please forgive me."

Su Li smiled back. "I won’t talk about the past, only the future. Let’s get along well from now on. We’re both in the Imperial City, so we should run into each other often."

Qu An was also staying in the Imperial City. They were even in the same industry, though he was at a newspaper agency.

He had taken a job at the Imperial Capital Daily, the same place Su Li had interned and published a story before.

Su Li had run into him twice before, but they hadn’t really greeted each other either time.

Hearing what Su Li said, Qu An finally broke into a smile. "Yeah, we will."

They looked at each other and smiled, finally burying the hatchet.

"I wish I were Qu An, staying in the Imperial City and being with Su Li," Chang E whimpered from the side.

"Didn’t you say you’d come back? I’ll wait for you," Su Li said, patting her head.

Qu An smiled to the side, inwardly letting out a slow breath.

The farewell dinner didn’t end until midnight. Most people were drunk, and many were crying, their eyes red and swollen.

Su Li wasn’t drunk, but she was a little tipsy. She was already sad to begin with, and drinking made her even more emotional. In the end, she cried a lot along with everyone else, until her eyes were swollen.

No matter how much they didn’t want to part, they had to in the end. Su Li was miserable, tearfully enacting a dramatic ’life and death’ farewell with Chang E.

Su Li had no memory of how Wu Sheng got her into the car or how she got home.

She was hiccupping from crying the entire way back. By the time they were downstairs at her building, Su Li had finally sobered up a bit.

"I made you come pick me up so late. You should hurry back."

Now that she was more clear-headed, Su Li felt a little embarrassed.

Wu Sheng looked at her with an expression that said he couldn’t bear to watch. "If I hadn’t come to get you, you might have actually followed Chang E back to her hometown."

Su Li was mortified.

’Thinking back to how I was acting just now, that really might have been possible.’

"We’re just really close..." Su Li argued. Among her classmates, she was closest with Chang E, and then Li Li.

Wu Sheng shook his head as he looked at her. "Honestly... I almost went up there several times tonight."

Su Li rubbed her nose. "Were you waiting for a while?"

Wu Sheng was silent for a moment. "Over two hours."

Two hours wasn’t a big deal. The problem was that the waiting was torture; he was constantly worried that Su Li would get drunk. That was the real issue.

"The only saving grace tonight is that you didn’t get drunk."

"I told you I wouldn’t get drunk," Su Li said, indicating that she was a woman of her word.

"It’s too late, you should go up now. Put a compress on your eyes, or you won’t be able to open them tomorrow," Wu Sheng said, glancing at the time and urging her to go back.

"I feel like I can’t open them now," Su Li said honestly, blinking.

"Good, as long as you know." Wu Sheng gently pushed Su Li toward the entrance. "So you have to use a warm compress, understand?"

"Mhm," Su Li nodded. As she walked, she asked in a low voice, "You said you had something to tell me earlier. What was it?"

Wu Sheng was silent for a moment before saying, "It’s about Zhang Ming."

Zhang Ming was Wa Wa Lian.

Su Li’s eyes lit up when she heard this. "Did he and Teacher Xiao Hong get together?"

Women are born to love gossip, and Su Li was no exception.

Wu Sheng looked at the excited glint in Su Li’s eyes, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "Why are you so happy about them getting together?"

"Hey, this has been keeping me in suspense for so long! Hurry up and tell me."

Su Li had sensed a little something unusual about Wa Wa Lian’s feelings for Teacher Xiao Hong before, and later events proved her intuition was right!

Wa Wa Lian had developed a thing for Teacher Xiao Hong. Later, she heard from Wu Sheng that he had apparently gone to see her.

How to describe Wa Wa Lian... you could say he was timid, but he could also be incredibly bold, saying things that were nothing short of shocking.

He would suddenly blurt out what was on his mind, startling you.

But if you thought he was some suave, manly man who was a master at flirting, then he would be as timid as could be.

Anyway, Wa Wa Lian was a walking contradiction of timid and bold, and his subsequent actions had left Su Li tied up in knots watching him.

It was like watching a TV series.

Having been left hanging on this plotline for so long, Su Li hoped Wu Sheng could give her some exciting good news.

But in the end... he didn’t.