I Am Born With A Silver Spoon
Chapter 291 Junior High School Friends

"Li Xiaoling?" Chen Hao couldn't help but smile when he saw the girl.

Li Xiaoling grew up with Chen Hao, Li Xiao, and the rest of them. Come to think about it, she was probably from the same Li clan as Li Xiao, so she was practically his sister. However, Li Xiaoling came from a family that was reasonably well off; her family owned shops in the town, selling cakes and pastry, which was why she often stayed in town and rarely went back home.

On top of that, at that time, Chen Hao and Li Xiao were both poor, so they didn't dress well. Therefore, Li Xiao rarely hung out with Chen Hao and Li Xiao. Although they were classmates in elementary school, they rarely talked with each other. As a result, she was not that close with the both of them, unlike Wu Qian.

It was during their junior high school years when they got close with each other. Coincidentally, Li Xiaoling ended up in the same class as Li Xiao and Chen Hao.

During the first and second year of junior high school, she didn't talk much to Chen Hao and Li Xiao, but in their third year, something happened.

Li Xiaoling quarelled with another girl, and the quarrel was very heated. Then, that girl asked a few hooligans from their year to cause Li Xiaoling trouble; after school, they blocked Li Xiaoling on her way back home and wanted to teach her a lesson.

When Li Xiao and Chen Hao saw this, they pulled Li Xiaoling away. Chen Hao wasn't really well-known at that time, but Li Xiao was known for fighting in school, which was why that group of people didn't dare to do anything to Li Xiaoling. So, that was how they rescued Li Xiaoling.

Since then, Li Xiaoling treated Chen Hao and Li Xiao very well and they became friends; she even secretly bought Li Xiao cigarettes and brought steamed sponge cakes for Chen Hao to eat.

For her high school years, she entered No. 3 High School, which was the school that was ranked the lowest in the entire county. Besides, during their high school days, they didn't own cell phones. As a result, they couldn't contact each other very often; all they could do was to gather during Chinese New Year for chit-chats.

"When did you get back? And why didn't you send me a QQ message?" Li Xiaoling said grudgingly.

"I've been back for a few days, but I've been wandering around in town. I was about to ask Li Xiao for your phone number," Chen Hao replied with a smile. This was the truth; these were the people who were going to spend his birthday with him.

"Hmph, at least you didn't forget me. Oh right, haven't you been reading the group chat messages for our junior high school gang? Uh, I forgot, you aren't in the group, are you? Today is our classmate Chen Chao's birthday. He realized that our class had not gathered in a long time. Therefore, he wants to use his birthday as an opportunity for everyone to gather. Also, our junior high school class teacher and the English teacher will be there. Will you accompany me?" asked Li Xiaoling.

"Mr. Wang will be there too? I thought he retired this year?" Li Xiaoling mentioned Chen Chao, but Chen Hao had nearly forgotten that name. On the other hand, Chen Hao still had fresh memories of the class teacher, Mr. Wang Changgui; he was an especially kind teacher that taught Mandarin.

At that time, Chen Hao's family was poor and he couldn't afford to pay for the textbooks. Twice, Mr. Wang forked out his own money to pay for Chen Hao. There was another time when it was raining heavily and Chen Hao didn't have an umbrella, so Mr. Wang sent him home in his car. These scenes were still fresh in his memory.

During his first two years in university, every time his parents sent him money, Chen Hao would save some money so that he could buy something, no matter if it was expensive or not, as gifts for Mr. Wang when he went back home for Chinese New Year. However, during the next two years of university, he had problems even with paying his school fees. He was financially difficult during that time, which was why he could no longer afford to do so.

"I heard that Mr. Wang got seriously ill last year. Is he alright?" Chen Hao asked.

"He recovered a long time ago. Otherwise, how would he attend Chen Chao's birthday feast?" Li Xiaoling continued, "Don't ask anymore. When you show up you will replace out. Mr. Wang spoke greatly of you and Li Xiao, so if you go, he will definitely be very happy. Speaking of which, we must meet at eight o'clock. Mr. Wang will definitely go there early because he wants to spend more time chatting with us." "Oh that's good then. However, I have no time to attend this gathering," Chen Hao said sadly.

"Huh? You're busy? Tsk, don't worry. This time, Chen Chao will be paying for the feast. Even if we were to pay separately, you can still rely on me." It was as if Li Xiaoling could see through Chen Hao's thoughts.

But of course, this wasn't about money; it was because Chen Hao wanted to celebrate his own birthday. Li Xiaoling probably would not have minded if he rejected her invitation, but the problem was that since she had already informed him about the party, he would feel bad not attending the party knowing that Mr. Wang would be there also.

"Yes, I really don't have time today. I originally wanted to invite you to celebrate my birthday with me," Chen Hao said. "What about this? What if I go and show my face, say a few words to Mr. Wang, then come back?"

"Huh? You want to celebrate your birthday? This is awkward... Alright, why don't we do it this way? We go together, say hi to Mr. Wang and the rest, chat for a little, and then we'll both come back and celebrate your birthday. What about Li Xiao? Have you informed him?" Li Xiaoling was quite loyal to her friend.

"I have informed him, but he'll only be here near noontime. He just started a business and has not had the time to recruit workers yet, so he's very busy," Chen Hao answered.

"Okay then," Li Xiaoling said. Then, she sighed and continued in an envious tone, "Li Xiao has become quite the person nowadays. Last time, my dad looked down on his family, but just yesterday, my father brought presents to their house for them.".

Chen Hao didn't answer and only nodded his head.

With their appointments scheduled, they noticed that it would be eight o'clock soon.

Chen Hao and Li Xiaoling then rushed to the restaurant in town. Chen Hao lived in an area in the middle of the town. Therefore, it was only a short distance to the town's main street, so the both of them walked there.

By the time they arrived, there were quite a number of their ex-junior high school friends in front of the restaurant who were gathered around in groups and chatting away; when old classmates gathered like this, they would surely have felt an indescribable sense of familiarity with each other as they talked about how they were doing of late, or to reminisce about the past.

"Hey guys, look! Xiaoling is here!" Some of their classmates pointed at Chen Hao and Li Xiaoling.

"Huh, that's Chen Hao? Damn, even Chen Hao is here today?"

"Hahaha, yes. I thought Chen Hao disappeared. I didn't think that we'd see him at this gathering."

Someone else sighed and chimed in, "I heard that Chen Hao had a hard time in university. He couldn't even pay for his school fees. Someone told me that once, he went to Jin Ling to eat with his friends and bumped into Chen Hao, who was doing the dishes in the back of the kitchen. He couldn't even bring himself to say 'Hi'!"

"Hehe, since he had no money, he'd have to do any job."

When everybody saw Chen Hao, they started giggling and chatting with each other. Among them was a girl who looked exceptionally graceful, who was chatting with a few other girls. She heard someone talking about Chen Hao, so she gave a slight shudder and turned to look at Chen Hao with a slight blush on her face.

"Hehe, Wang Xue, didn't you use to date Chen Hao? I remember that you used to date him!" a girl said as she covered her mouth.

"Nonsense. Since when did we date each other?" Wang Xue blushed even harder.

The girl answered back, "You two were definitely together. I remember that you two used to write letters to each other. Also, you and Chen Hao were pretty close with each other."

"I didn't!" Wang Xue said softly.

"Admit it. Don't you remember the reason behind that incident where Li Xiao stabbed someone was because... Erhem. Okay I'll stop talking!" It was as if the girl realized that she brought up something bad, so she felt embarrassed and hurriedly shut up.

Wang Xue didn't say anything else.

"Oh yeah, Wang Xue. You and that guy Chen Hao, are you two still dating?" asked a girl.

"We haven't been with each other since a long time ago..." Wang Xue blushed.

Then, along with the other girls, Wang Xue raised her head to look at Chen Hao, whom she had not seen in six years.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐