After the Divorce, I Unlocked a Perfect Life

"This private room is amazing!"

Zhang Qianfang exclaimed after the group of seven arrived in the private room.

"Zhou Fan, did you strike it rich recently? To think you’d book a place like this for dinner."

"It’s a coincidence, actually. My dad is treating some friends to dinner here today. When he heard I was organizing a class reunion, he helped me reserve a room too."

"It’s been so many years since we were in school, and I’ve never known what the food at Huayan Building tastes like. I finally get to try it today."

The group took their seats and began to order.

Seeing the prices, they were all relatively restrained. No one ordered anything too expensive.

"Holy shit! Isn’t that Lin Jiang?!"

Song Yajie, who was smoking by the window, cried out in surprise. He captured everyone’s attention, and they all stopped ordering and went to the window.

"It really is him!"

Wang Jia’s expression changed. "Did one of you tell him I was eating here?!"

Zhou Fan also looked at the others, wanting to know who had leaked the news.

"How could we? You already made it clear in the group chat. Who would tell him something like that?" Liu Yihan said.

"Besides, we don’t have any contact with him. Why would we tell him?"

"Then why did he show up?" Zhou Fan muttered.

"Don’t make such a big deal out of it. Maybe he’s just passing by."

"That’s possible."

They all stood at the window, none of them moving away.

They watched as Lin Jiang stood at the entrance of the Huayan Building, paused, looked up, and then walked over.

"No way, did he really follow us here?!" Cao Yufei said.

"When did Lin Jiang become like this? Jiajia already rejected him so clearly, yet he’s this persistent. It’s a bit shameless," Song Yajie said.

"It’s over. So much for my image of him as a dreamboat," Zhang Qianfang said.

"Even though Lin Jiang isn’t doing so well now, his looks and his physique seem even better than before," Liu Yihan said.

"None of that is useful. You can’t spend good looks like money," Zhou Fan said resentfully.

"I can’t believe this. How did he find out we were eating here? He’s way too good at digging up information," Wang Jia complained.

"Alright, let’s stop talking about him. I bet he only knows we’re eating here, not which private room we’re in. When he can’t find us, he’ll leave on his own. In any case, let’s just make sure no one leaks that we’re in this room."

"Okay."

"Come on, let’s get back to ordering. Don’t let him ruin the mood for our reunion."

The group looked through the menus and continued ordering.

"I actually don’t think we need to hide from Lin Jiang like this," Cao Yufei said.

"So what if we run into him? It’s a perfect chance to show him the gap between him and Zhou Fan. With his circumstances, it’s impossible for him to pursue Jiajia."

"Cao Yufei has a point. What’s there to be afraid of? Let’s just be open about it and make him face reality. Then he won’t have any ideas about Jiajia in the future."

Zhou Fan looked at Wang Jia, wanting to know what she thought.

"That’s true, but no matter what, it’s not like he’s done anything unforgivable. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I don’t want to make things ugly. Let’s maintain a basic level of decency," Wang Jia said.

"Jiajia is the same as always, beautiful and kind-hearted," Song Wenjie chimed in obsequiously.

"Then let’s just ignore him. Let nature take its course."

Zhou Fan’s suggestion was met with agreement from the others.

In reality, whether it was Zhou Fan, Song Yajie, or Cao Yufei, they were all a bit resentful of handsome guys.

Back in school, Lin Jiang had captured the attention of all the girls.

Any girl they tried to pursue ended up liking Lin Jiang instead.

Now that they had graduated from university and, with their families’ help, had made something of themselves, they all wanted to show off in front of Lin Jiang now that they had the chance.

’They wanted to use their current status to tell Lin Jiang, ’I’m doing better than you, I have more money than you. You’re just a pretty face and useless in every other way.’

"Alright, alright, whatever. Let’s just eat. I’m starving," Wang Jia said.

"Right, right. There’s no need to let Lin Jiang affect our mood. It’s not like our paths will cross again in the future anyway," Song Yajie said.

"Did Old Wang fall into the toilet? He’s still not back yet," Cao Yufei said.

The person they called Old Wang, whose name was Wang Peng, was not in the private room at the moment.

"That’s just how he is. He always has to go take care of business before a meal," Zhou Fan said with a laugh.

"Let’s not worry about him. Let’s have a drink first."

Just then, they heard voices outside the door.

"Lin Jiang, what are you doing here...?"

The speaker was none other than Wang Peng. On his way back from the restroom, he had run into Lin Jiang, who had just come up to the second floor.

He didn’t know what had just happened in the room, but he was aware of the situation between Lin Jiang and Wang Jia.

"I’m here to eat, obviously."

Lin Jiang muttered to himself, ’What’s with these past few days? Why do I keep running into old classmates?’

At that moment, a waiter went in to deliver some dishes. Through the crack in the door, Lin Jiang saw Liu Yihan and Cao Yufei sitting near the entrance.

’So they’re having a class reunion here.’

The people inside had originally decided to just let it go and had no intention of coming out to greet him.

But since the door had been pushed open and they’d made eye contact, they couldn’t pretend they hadn’t seen him.

"Lin Jiang, you’re here."

Several of them came out, but Wang Jia was the only one who remained seated inside.

Lin Jiang had heard a little about these particular classmates. Apparently, they were doing quite well for themselves and had distanced themselves from other, more "ordinary" classmates. They had all grown closer after graduation.

"What a coincidence, running into you all here."

Zhou Fan was the first to speak. "I heard you opened a noodle shop. Is it still open?"

"Of course it is."

"How’s business?"

"It’s good."

"Heh..."

An awkward atmosphere spread through the air. Zhang Qianfang and Liu Yihan kept staring at Lin Jiang.

Seeing him up close after so many years, they realized he had indeed become much more handsome.

Most importantly, he had gained a masculine air. Just standing there, he exuded the aura of a mature man.

"Um..."

Zhang Qianfang couldn’t help but speak up. "Since we ran into each other, why don’t you join us for dinner? We’re all classmates and haven’t seen each other in a long time. It’s a good chance to catch up."

"AHEM, AHEM, AHEM..."

Wang Jia, still sitting in the private room, suddenly coughed a few times. Her meaning was obvious: she didn’t want Lin Jiang to come in.

Now Zhang Qianfang didn’t know what to say. After all, Zhou Fan was treating them today, and he and Wang Jia had a bit of a thing going on. He definitely didn’t want to eat with Lin Jiang either, so she had to be sensible.

"Lin Jiang, don’t overthink it. There was a reason we didn’t invite you," Zhou Fan said.

"Even though we’re all classmates, this isn’t just a simple reunion. We have business and work matters to discuss, and you wouldn’t be able to contribute, so we didn’t invite you."

"Fine. You guys carry on."

Although it was a bit of a downer, it didn’t ruin Lin Jiang’s mood. After all, the waitstaff here was quite nice.

Inside the room, Wang Jia breathed a sigh of relief. Even though he’d found them, he at least had some backbone and didn’t try to force his way in.

Even though they were all classmates, their relationships varied in closeness.

Among this group, his relationship with Zhang Qianfang was the only one that could barely be considered decent.

’It’s not just that I wasn’t invited; I wouldn’t have come even if I had been.’

’We’re not even that close. There was really no reason to come.’

"Wait!"

Zhou Fan called out to Lin Jiang from behind.

"Is there something else?"

"I heard you went looking for Jiajia yesterday?"

"Who? Wang Jia?"

"Yeah."

"Who told you I went looking for her?"

"You know whether you did or not, don’t you?" Zhou Fan said.

"We’re all classmates, and we all know your situation. After graduation, the gap between us has widened. Jiajia is a university teacher now; she’s in a different league from you. Just stop bothering her..."

"Hold on," Lin Jiang said.

"What do you mean by that? I’m bothering her?"

"Don’t deny it. I know exactly what you’re thinking," Zhou Fan said. "You see that Jiajia is doing well for herself, so you want to chase after her. Isn’t it obvious?"

"Are you a fucking idiot? She’s a librarian. The pathetic amount of money she makes isn’t even enough to fill my gas tank. Why the hell would I chase after her?"