I suggest you investigate; this person doesn't seem to be a first-time reborn individual.

With the start of the new school term approaching, the students of Class 5, Grade 12, held a gathering. Lin Ran, who lives far away in the countryside, was not present.

There are no tigers in the mountains, and the monkeys are kings.

At the dinner table, Chen Xu talked incessantly about his glorious achievements as a tutor during the summer vacation, glancing every now and then at Huang Lingyue, who had a high ponytail, trying to get her attention.

Unfortunately, Huang Lingyue just kept her head down and ate her food silently, as if she hadn't heard what he said.

Wang Zihao listened to Chen Xu's boasting and felt something was amiss. He looked up at Gao Xiaoming, the organizer of the gathering, with some doubt.

In his memory, the two of them didn't get along well because they both liked Huang Lingyue. But today, Chen Xu was making a big fuss in front of Gao Xiaoming, while Gao Xiaoming looked indifferent and ate his food slowly.

Unbeknownst to him, Gao Xiaoming's mindset had changed long ago after he had seen the "world" a few times with his father, Gao Fuyuan, and he now thought that pretty women were nothing special.

Gao Xiaoming only realized that day that even in the 21st century, one could still "select concubines".

Wang Zihao nudged Gao Xiaoming, who was somewhat lost in thought, and said with a hint of teasing:

"Xiao Gao, what's wrong? Chen Xu is putting on an act in front of you, and you're not even reacting?"

Since learning about Gao Xiaoming and Lin Ran's new relationship, he has changed his way of addressing Gao Xiaoming from his full name to "Xiao Gao".

Gao Xiaoming looked up at him, but instead of answering his question, he squinted and asked Wang Zihao a nonsensical question, as if he had seen through the world.

"Zihao, tell me, how many legs does a rabbit have?"

"?????? Of course it has four legs."

"How many legs?"

"Four legs."

"How many?"

"Four." Wang Zihao rolled his eyes at him. "Are you still half asleep?"

"I'll ask you one more time," Gao Xiaoming said, taking out his phone and showing Wang Zihao a photo he'd taken two days earlier, "How many legs?"

"Hiss..." Wang Zihao stared at the hot bunny girl in the photo, his eyes wide and his expression blank.

"It really does have two legs!"

……

After a few rounds of drinks, the atmosphere became lively.

Chen Xu casually showed off his new phone and sighed, "Sigh, I'm so busy teaching during the summer vacation. Parents insist on sending their children to school, and I can't refuse them."

He did quite well on the college entrance exam and was admitted to an ordinary first-tier university in his province. During the holidays, he taught classes at his cousin's tutoring center.

"Therefore, knowledge and ability are the real capital. By relying on ourselves steadily, we can earn this amount over the summer."

He held up his hand and made a "two" gesture.

"You won't have to worry about living expenses and tuition at university." His gaze swept across the room, especially lingering on Huang Lingyue's face.

"Unlike some people," he glanced at the silent Gao Xiaoming, "who relies on their family's money to do nothing during holidays; that won't last."

Seeing that Gao Xiaoming didn't react, he became even bolder:

"I wonder what Gao Xiaoming did during the holiday."

With Lin Ran not present, he felt confident that he was invincible again.

Gao Xiaoming felt the gazes from all around him, his eyelids twitched, and he asked, "Me?"

"I was just settling your score." He put down his chopsticks and looked at Chen Xu expressionlessly.

"Chen Xu, with your grades, you can only tutor first-year high school students at most. According to what you just said, three times a week, two hours each time, the hourly rate of top tutors in Beilu City is about 200, and that's the rate for famous teachers."

"Even if you are paid the maximum amount, after deducting student leave and the inevitable intervals, the total income for two months will not exceed 10,000."

"Your 20,000..." He paused, a playful smirk playing on his lips, "Does it also include the phone your parents gave you?"

The students began to whisper among themselves, and those who were good at math showed expressions of sudden realization and amusement.

Chen Xu's face flushed red, and he tried to argue, "I...I have other students, and...consulting fees."

Gao Xiaoming waved his hand, looking like he knew what he was doing. "Don't be nervous. I've just been learning accounting at my dad's company recently, so I'm a bit good with numbers."

He's too lazy to waste words on Chen Xu now, and even less inclined to compete with him for attention.

"Wow, Xiaoming, you've already started taking over the family business?"

"What's it like working at the company? Tell me..."

Chen Xu, having been rebuffed by Gao Xiaoming, glanced at Lin Ran's empty seat, as if he had found an easy target.

"Yes, yes, I'm not as big as your family business." His tone was somewhat sarcastic.

"But for those of us from ordinary families, we have to take things one step at a time to make steady progress."

He said pointedly, "What I'm afraid of is that some people, just because they got good scores on the college entrance exam, will disappear completely before even starting university..."

Before he could finish speaking, Wang Zihao stood up first.

"Chen Xu, watch your mouth. Who are you talking about?"

"Of course I'll name whoever isn't here," Chen Xu retorted without hesitation.

"Untraceable?" Gao Xiaoming, who had just taken a bite of food, spoke again. "Chen Xu, do you know that this hotel is one that my Uncle Lin is collaborating with?"

"You, you, and you," Gao Xiaoming called out to three classmates in a row, "You all held your graduation banquets here, right?"

"Do you know why such a high-end hotel can have such a cheap price? It's because my Uncle Lin negotiated it!"

"Even all our expenses today were covered by the agreed-upon rate between my Uncle Lin and the hotel."

As if to verify the truthfulness of Gao Xiaoming's words, the hotel lobby manager personally brought in a bottle of fine wine, nodded to Gao Xiaoming and Wang Zihao respectively, and said with some respect:

"Young Master Gao, Young Master Wang. General Manager Xu heard that General Manager Lin's classmates were having a gathering here, so he specially brought over a bottle of wine."

Lin Ran's group purchase plan for graduation banquets has accounted for almost half of the hotel's revenue in the past two weeks; it's a real money-maker.

"Mr. Lin is an important partner of ours. Please enjoy yourselves. Everything is done according to the VIP standards that Mr. Lin instructed." The last sentence was said to the waiter behind him.

Wang Zihao coughed, pointed at Gao Xiaoming, and explained to the surrounding classmates, "His Uncle Lin is my Brother Ran."

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent.

After a few seconds of deathly silence, a burst of discussion erupted:

"The graduation banquet package was actually negotiated by Lin Ran? That's outrageous!?"

"No wonder it's so cheap! I should have ordered it too!"

"Xiaoming, what did you just call Lin Ran... 'Uncle Lin'?!"

Gao Xiaoming raised his chin, seemingly quite pleased with himself.

"Oh, this."

His tone was casual, yet every word was clear and distinct.

"It's nothing. Uncle Lin and my dad did a business deal worth several million a while ago and made a little money."

"The two of them drank too much and insisted on becoming sworn brothers."

He shrugged, looking like he was helpless: "I couldn't stop him."

The moment the words were spoken, time seemed to freeze for two seconds.

Hearing that Lin Ran was collaborating with the hotel was both surprising and admirable.

So, the combination of information such as "a business deal worth millions" and "becoming sworn brothers with Gao Fuyuan" completely exceeded their understanding of the word "classmate".

Someone's chopsticks landed on the table with a "clatter" without them even noticing.

Someone had their mouth open, forgotten to close it, and their eyes were glazed over.

No one found Gao Xiaoming's smug expression incongruous; in fact, they thought he was a bit like Versailles.

The silence lasted for about three or four seconds.

"Hiss..." Someone gasped first.

This breath seemed to flip a switch, and all sorts of unbelievable sounds spread out.

"A deal worth... a few million?"

"And Gao Fuyuan? That's the biggest building materials boss in the area?"

"My God? We were just talking about how we could make thousands of dollars this summer..."

Chen Xu's face turned from red to white, and finally to ashen. He put away his new phone on the table and slumped down.

Only Huang Lingyue unconsciously tightened her grip on the glass, her eyes growing brighter and brighter.

At that moment, far away in the countryside, Lin Ran, who was bending over and shaking peanut vines, suddenly sneezed twice.

"Who the hell is cursing me?!"

He was unaware that someone was using his name to give him a big boost.