Going home for Chinese New Year, I squeezed onto a bus with three energetic young women.

The strange, sarcastic voice made Bai Li frown.

I turned around and laughed.

My old classmate, Zhao Gang.

Back in school, this guy was always following Bai Li around. He had a crush on Xia Qing, but Xia Qing was always hanging around Bai Li, which made him hold a grudge against Bai Li.

I heard that after graduation he went into the world of micro-business, posting about his new high-speed train every day on his WeChat Moments. Later, it seems he went to work on construction sites.

I never expected to run into you here.

"What's wrong? I heard you couldn't make it in Shanghai, so you came back to sponge off your parents?"

Zhao Gang rested one arm on the car window, his eyes sweeping over Bai Li before finally settling on Zhang Qian, revealing an extremely lewd smile.

"So you've come here for a job? I know this area's 4S dealerships well. Want me to introduce you to a car wash job?"

As he spoke, he patted the steering wheel:

"Just picked up a car, top-of-the-line model, cost over 300,000 yuan. These days, who's going to follow you around if you don't have a car, right?"

Next to him sat a saleswoman in a business suit, with heavy makeup and smudged lipstick, wiping her mouth with a tissue.

Look at where the female saleswoman just raised her head...

Hmm, I guess he was "working" under the driver's seat just now.

"Brother Zhao, who is this?" The saleswoman crumpled up a tissue and threw it out the window, asking impatiently.

"Zhang Yan, this is Bai Li, the most handsome guy in my high school class." Zhao Gang emphasized the words "most handsome guy," his tone full of sarcasm.

"Right now, I'm just an unemployed bum."

Zhang Yan glanced at Bai Li, then looked at Zhang Qian, who was standing behind Bai Li with her head down.

Suddenly, her eyes narrowed.

"That blue hair..." Zhang Yan squinted, as if she had discovered something new: "Isn't that Zhang Qian?"

Hearing someone call her name, Zhang Qian suddenly looked up.

When she saw the woman's face in the passenger seat, her face, which had still had some color in it, turned deathly pale. She was as if she had been struck by lightning and began to tremble uncontrollably.

"It really is you!" Zhang Yan laughed, pointing at Zhang Qian and saying to Zhao Gang, "Brother Zhao, let me tell you, this girl is the one I cornered in the bathroom in junior high!"

Zhao Gang was also stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter:

"Holy crap, I'd completely forgotten! The one whose family was dirt poor and who stole other people's sanitary napkins?"

"Yes, yes, yes! It's her!" Zhang Yan laughed heartily, her eyes filled with malice.

"Didn't I get him expelled from school? How did he end up like this? Oh, that hair is dyed like a parrot's, are you a prostitute?"

Zhang Qian bit her lip so hard that her nails dug into her flesh.

Those memories she had deliberately forgotten surged back like a tide.

That winter in my second year of junior high, the icy toilet floor, the torn school uniform, the basins of bone-chilling cold water, and the boisterous laughter of those around me...

That was her lifelong nightmare.

"Bai Li, you have great taste!" Zhao Gang laughed until tears almost streamed down his face, pointing at Zhang Qian.

"You used to look down on Xia Qing when she was pursuing you, and now you've found this piece of trash? Are you starving? Hahaha!"

"This kind of trash is only fit to lick my Brother Zhao's feet, right?" Zhang Yan chimed in from the side, looking smug. "They really pick up any kind of garbage they can find."

Zhang Qian trembled violently, tears welling up in her eyes, but she dared not cry out.

She wanted to run away, to find a crack in the ground to disappear into.

Just then, a warm, large hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Zhang Qian was taken aback and looked up at Bai Li.

He released Zhang Qian and walked step by step to the Audi.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to hit me?" Zhao Gang felt a little uneasy as he looked at Bai Li approaching.

But emboldened by being inside the car, he stubbornly shouted, "Let me tell you, I am now..."

"Snapped!"

A sharp sound interrupted him.

Bai Li swung his arm and slapped Zhao Gang across the face.

The slap was extremely powerful; half of Zhao Gang's face swelled up instantly, and his glasses were knocked off and hit the windshield.

"Ah!" the female saleswoman next to me screamed, "Are you crazy! I'm calling the police!"

"Snapped!"

Bai Li slapped the female saleswoman across the face again.

The saleswoman's screams stopped abruptly, blood instantly seeped from the corner of her mouth, and the foundation she had just touched up was ruined by the slap.

"Your breath stinks, did you just eat shit?"

Bai Li looked down at the two people in the car, his eyes as cold as ice:

"You two are bullying my people right in front of me. You think this car's sheet metal is thick enough that I can't break it open, huh?"

People watching the car gathered around, pointing and whispering.

Zhao Gang covered his face, feeling both pained and ashamed.

He wanted to get out of the car and fight Bai Li, but looking at Bai Li's tall stature of 1.87 meters and then at his own body, which had been weakened by alcohol and women, he chickened out.

"Fine! Bai Li! You're awesome!" Zhao Gang shakily rolled up the car window, leaving only a crack: "You just wait! If you dare hit me, this isn't over!"

"The class reunion is in seven days, and Xia Qing is going too! We'll have a good chat then!"

"If you're a man, you'd come that day! I want to see how a down-on-his-luck guy like you can compare to me!"

After saying that, he stepped on the gas, and the Audi A4 sped off like a startled rabbit without even turning on the turn signal.

Bai Li watched the taillights of the departing car and sneered.

He turned and walked back to Zhang Qian's side.

Zhang Qian was still standing there trembling, her tears washing away two lines from her newly bought foundation.

"Big brother... I'm sorry..." Zhang Qian lowered her head, her voice choked with sobs, "I've caused you trouble... I shouldn't have come with you..."

"Hold back your tears."

Bai Li reached out and straightened her messy bangs.

"A class reunion, right?"

Bai Li looked at the Audi 4S store, then at the huge Porsche logo behind him, and a playful smile appeared on his lips.

Xia Qing's engagement banquet is in four days.

There are only seven days left until the class reunion.

The timing is so tight, it's like God is offering his face to slap him.

"Zhang Qian." Bai Li placed his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes.

"Huh?" Zhang Qian looked at him with teary eyes.

"Come with me to the class reunion in seven days."

"Ah? I can't, big brother..." Zhang Qian panicked, shaking her head frantically, "They all know about my past, I'll only embarrass you if I go..."

"Anyone who dares to laugh at you, I'll slap them." Bai Li's tone was calm, yet it exuded an undeniable domineering aura.

"You are my woman, and I can't control what you did before. But from now on, if anyone dares to lay a finger on you, I'll make them regret ever being born."

After saying that, he grabbed Zhang Qian's wrist and strode towards the door of the Porsche showroom.

"Let's go buy a car."

"When that day comes, I'll make you ride in one of the best cars in the whole county and slap their faces until they're bruised and battered."