Chapter 164 - 162: Making a Close Relationship Even Closer

Chapter 164: Chapter 162: Making a Close Relationship Even Closer

"You’re Jiang Wende from Class 2 of the Experimental Primary School?"

Hearing the surprise mixed with confusion in the man’s tone, Jiang Wende was clearly taken aback.

It was true he had studied in Class 2 at the Experimental Primary School, but how did this person know?

"You are...?"

"It’s me, Lin Gaoyuan! We sat in the same row back in the day. The skinny little kid!" Lin Gaoyuan laughed, gesturing with his hands. "Remember now?"

Distant memories gradually surfaced from the depths of his mind. He did recall a skinny little fellow, but he couldn’t connect him at all with the slightly chubby, robust man standing before him.

"Vaguely, vaguely... that one..." Jiang Wende closed his eyes for a moment. "The Lin Gaoyuan who was always getting scolded by the teacher?"

’No wonder his name sounded so familiar when Yanwan mentioned her dad was named Lin Gaoyuan. So they were elementary school classmates!’

"HAHAHA, as if anyone in our class *didn’t* get chewed out by the teacher back then," Lin Gaoyuan remarked wistfully. "When we were in school, our families were either farming or herding cattle. Who had time to study?"

Jiang Wende nodded in complete agreement. If the wheat was ready for harvest at home, they even had to ask the teacher for leave to go home and help their parents.

"Come in, come in. No need to change your shoes."

He quickly ushered his old classmate inside. Witnessing this scene, Jiang Xia and Lin Yanwan simply exchanged a faint smile and handed over the herbal tea they had already prepared.

This scene had also played out during their engagement in their previous lives, only now the timeline had been moved forward by several years.

"I don’t think I saw you again after we graduated from elementary school. Where’d you go all those years?" Jiang Wende asked.

"Where else could I go? I dropped out. My family was poor back then, and we couldn’t afford school. I had to follow my fourth uncle and become a carpenter. I traveled all over the country. While I didn’t make much money, I saw a lot of the world," Lin Gaoyuan said with a smile after taking a sip of herbal tea.

Jiang Wende nodded. In those days, just having enough to eat was considered a blessing. They wouldn’t have dared to hope for a better life.

"I wasn’t much better off. After graduating from middle school, I learned to drive. I started with the village tractor, and then as the country’s economy improved, I moved on to a truck, and now it’s this taxi."

The two men sat on the sofa, alternating between sips of tea and conversation, reminiscing about the hard times of the past. With the added connection of being elementary school classmates, they hit it off immediately.

Ji Wanqiu sat quietly to one side, unable to get a word in. She got up and went into the kitchen to see if the other mother needed any help.

"Seriously, I really didn’t expect it to be you at first. You’ve just changed so much; you look nothing like you did as a kid."

Jiang Wende ducked into the study and rummaged around, emerging with an old, noticeably yellowed black-and-white photograph. A few dozen children were standing in front of a one-story building with a blue-tiled roof, their faces beaming with smiles.

"This is you, right? If you hadn’t said anything, I really wouldn’t have recognized you," Jiang Wende said with a laugh, pointing to a scrawny little kid.

"Isn’t it? Forget you—even I probably wouldn’t recognize myself from my childhood photos."

Lin Gaoyuan was filled with emotion. "Back then, we didn’t have enough to eat. I was malnourished for a long time, so I was dark, short, and skinny. Later, when life got better, my body filled out, and I gradually started to change."

"You, on the other hand, haven’t changed much at all. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have recognized you at a glance."

"HAHAHA..."

Jiang Wende joined in the laughter, his mood exceptionally good. ’Come to think of it, this is kind of like running into an old friend in a faraway land, isn’t it?’

"We’re having drinks later! I’ll go get the Wuliangye I’ve been saving for years. Tonight, we’ll drink to our heart’s content, and we’re not going home until we’re drunk!" Jiang Wende declared with great bravado. He rarely drank, which just showed how happy he was today.

"Let’s drink!"

Lin Gaoyuan agreed without a second thought. He often had to entertain clients, so drinking had almost become a part of his life. Not to mention, he was already in high spirits today, and running into an old classmate was a delightful surprise.

"I’ve got a lot of Shixian Taibai back home. I’ll bring some over for you another day. It’s also good stuff, aged for over a decade."

Jiang Wende just smiled, not refusing. This was how relationships were built; this kind of give-and-take would naturally deepen their friendship. Besides, seeing the way their kids were heading, it was highly likely their two families would become in-laws.

"Old Lin, I really never would have guessed. The fact that you’re Yanwan’s father is both a shock and a pleasant surprise," he remarked.

Lin Gaoyuan chuckled. "Makes you feel like it’s a small world, doesn’t it?"

"Not exactly. I just think this whole ’fate’ thing is truly incredible. I never thought we’d meet again like this." Jiang Wende offered him a cigarette, feeling deeply moved.

"Isn’t it? We were classmates, our son and daughter are classmates, and now they’ve even gotten into the same university. It’d be unbelievable to say our families aren’t fated to be connected." Lin Gaoyuan lit it with a lighter, took a deep drag, and leisurely blew smoke rings.

In a society that runs on personal connections, people feel a special kinship whenever they can find even the slightest link.

Not to mention, Xia Shanshan was also Xiao Man’s homeroom teacher, and their two children were madly in love. It was just one close tie on top of another.

If he had known they had this connection, Jiang Xia wouldn’t have had to take those two punches.

"By the way, Old Jiang, there’s something I have to tell you." Lin Gaoyuan sat up straight, his tone suddenly turning serious.

"A few days ago, I was a bit impulsive, and I hit Jiang Xia a couple of..."

Before he could even finish his sentence, Jiang Wende cut him off without hesitation. "Good! He deserved it! I’ve been wanting to smack that kid for a long time myself."

Lin Gaoyuan froze for a second, then asked, stunned, "You’re not even going to ask why? Your son gets beaten up, and you’re not angry?"

"He must have deserved it. He’s always misbehaving. This will teach him a lesson."

Jiang Wende chuckled. "I asked him about it that day. At first, he claimed he just fell. It wasn’t until his mom stepped in that he finally stammered out the whole story. In my opinion, dating is one thing, but you still need to have some basic decency. Otherwise, what’s the difference between him and some punk on the street?"

"So, I should be the one apologizing to you. I’ve failed to raise him right. If anything like this happens again, don’t even think twice—just grab a slipper and give him a good smack!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Old Jiang, you can’t say that."

Lin Gaoyuan took the blame. "It was mainly my fault that day. I was too impulsive. I got hot-headed and just acted without thinking. I didn’t even try to understand the situation before I started swinging. Even Yanwan couldn’t stop me."

He sighed as he spoke.

"That kid’s not bad, though. He didn’t make a sound when I hit him, and he was still respectful to me. Anyone else who’d been wronged like that would have probably started a fight with me."