Chapter 63: Guard Against Fire, Theft, and Best Friends

What a coincidence!

Seeing this, Ye Feng offered a wry smile.

He had not expected that this place would not only be the venue for his meeting with the five major families, but also where his high school reunion banquet was being held.

Not wanting to appear ungracious in the face of Su Shan's warm invitation, Ye Feng figured that since he was already here, he might as well go and say hello to his former classmates.

After all, they had spent three years studying and living together as high school classmates. Five years had passed since they parted ways, and he wondered how everyone had changed.

"Hmph! Nobody invited you, yet you have the nerve to tag along."

At that moment, a heavily made-up woman beside Su Shan muttered under her breath.

"Chuxue, how can you say that?" Su Shan hurriedly stopped her close friend. "Ye Feng is our classmate too, and I'm the one who invited him."

Hearing Su Shan use that name, Ye Feng barely managed to recognize the woman as Lu Chuxue.

He remembered that back in high school, she and Su Shan were best friends, and they used to be very close.

Now, with Lu Chuxue wearing such heavy makeup, Ye Feng had almost failed to recognize her.

Before long, the trio of them arrived at a spacious private dining room.

There were already twenty or thirty people inside.

"Wow! The class belle is here!"

As soon as Su Shan appeared, it immediately drew a frenzy of adoration from the male classmates.

In a flurry, a dozen or so male students swarmed around her, offering solicitous greetings and flattery.

Ye Feng and Lu Chuxue were squeezed off to the side.

A look of displeasure crossed Lu Chuxue's face as she turned her head away. Every time she was with Su Shan, she ended up relegated to a mere supporting character.

"The class belle is getting prettier and more charming by the day!"

"Hey gorgeous Su, can I add your WeChat?"

"I heard Su Shan is still single, right? Let's see if anyone in our class catches your eye today!"

Facing everyone's flattery, Su Shan remained poised and graceful, exchanging pleasantries and greetings with the classmates one by one.

"Alright, the class belle has only just arrived, you guys can calm down for a bit. Those wanting to win her favor don't need to rush this exact moment."

At that moment, a man dressed entirely in designer labels at the main table suddenly spoke up. He waved at Su Shan and said, "Class Belle Su, come sit over here!"

His name was Dong Jian, the former class monitor and the organizer of this reunion.

"Our monitor is really somebody now! Freshly returned from studying abroad, he went straight to a management position at the Tianji Group headquarters with an annual salary of a million!"

"That Tianji Group is one of the top hundred enterprises nationwide, and a family business of the Ji family, one of the ten great noble clans. Ordinary people can't even dream of getting into such a prestigious family corporation."

"Our monitor is single too, young and wealthy. Class belle, won't you consider him?"

Some troublemakers began to chime in, ushering Su Shan toward Class Monitor Dong Jian.

"Ye Feng, Chuxue, let's go sit together!"

Su Shan did not forget to call over Ye Feng and her friend Lu Chuxue.

"Oh, classmate Lu Chuxue, you're looking sexier and sexier too."

Class Monitor Dong Jian offered a word of praise.

"Huh? And this is..."

Immediately afterward, Dong Jian looked at Ye Feng and paused momentarily.

A wave of doubt arose in his heart—was this person among the ones he invited?

Not just Dong Jian, but most of the classmates present found Ye Feng unfamiliar as well.

After all, Ye Feng had spent a full five years in prison, causing massive changes to his overall image and demeanor.

Compared to his dejected and gloomy self in high school, the current Ye Feng appeared much more radiant, sunny, and handsome.

He even caught the eye of several female classmates, who cast frequent sidelong glances his way.

"Whoa! Who is this handsome guy?"

"Do we have a guy this handsome in our class? How come I don't remember him?"

"Could he be the class belle's boyfriend?"

Su Shan generously introduced him, saying, "He's our classmate Ye Feng, don't any of you remember him?"

Ye Feng!?

Hearing this name, everyone present was instantly startled, showing looks of astonishment.

This was quickly followed by a round of low murmuring and discussion.

"He's Ye Feng? He's changed so much! I almost didn't recognize him!"

"Well, considering he spent five years in prison, of course he's different from the rest of us!"

"Who on earth invited him here? Having a meal with an ex-con is just bad luck!"

Most of the classmates felt a sense of contempt in their hearts.

"I invited him," Su Shan said, neither servile nor overbearing. "Besides, Ye Feng was wronged, so let's not bring up his past imprisonment anymore."

Seeing the class belle actively defending Ye Feng, the classmates were struck by another wave of shock and suspicion.

"Hehe, I bet you guys don't know this, do you?" Lu Chuxue chimed in with a juicy piece of gossip. "Our class belle had a secret crush on Ye Feng back in school!"

"It's just a pity that right after graduation, before she even had the chance to confess, Ye Feng got himself locked up!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the room erupted into another commotion.

Glancing back and forth between the two of them, everyone thought: Could these two actually be together now?

If so, that truly was a flower stuck in cow manure!

"Chuxue, stop talking nonsense!" Su Shan's face flushed slightly, completely caught off guard by her best friend's sudden betrayal.

Indeed, one must guard against fire, theft, and best friends!

Meanwhile, Class Monitor Dong Jian's expression shifted slightly as well.

The gaze he directed at Ye Feng grew a bit more hostile and sharp.

After all, during this class reunion, Dong Jian had intended to flaunt his success and try to win over Su Shan.

He never expected Ye Feng, of all people, to barge in halfway and disrupt his plans.

"So it's classmate Ye Feng! You've really changed a lot, I almost didn't recognize you!"

Right after, Dong Jian put on a smile once more and extended a warm invitation.

"Come, come, come, sit wherever you like!"

Though his face was wreathed in smiles, inside, Dong Jian was already plotting how to humiliate Ye Feng publicly, just to make the class belle realize who was truly worthy of her.