"Do you know me?" Xiang Ri was taken aback. The person actually called his name, yet he could not recall where he had ever encountered them before.
At this moment, the three other men and one woman accompanying the delicate girl also stared at her in disbelief. After a brief pause, they all turned their gaze towards Xiang Ri, sending a chill down his spine.
"Are you really Xiang Kui?" the delicate girl asked again, her voice tinged with excitement.
"Yes, it's me," Xiang Ri replied. After his confirmation, he noticed that the others now looked at him with even more intense curiosity, as though they could strip him bare with their eyes.
"Then how could you have forgotten me?" The delicate girl asked shyly, her expression making Xiang Ri feel like a brute.
"Are you saying that we know each other?" Xiang Ri asked, feeling the need to clarify, lest she had mistaken him for someone else with the same name. Of course, he could not rule out the possibility that they did indeed know each other, though the Xiang Kui before her now was no longer the same as the one she remembered.
The delicate girl bit her lip, hesitating to speak, but the fiery girl beside her, after giving Xiang Ri a closer look, let out a scream as if seeing a ghost. "Oh my God, it really is Huahua!"
"Miss, you must be mistaken. Let me confirm—are you sure your eyes have never caused you trouble?" Xiang Ri said with a wry smile. Had she not called his name right away, he might have thought she was calling him by this ridiculously unrefined nickname to get back at him for their earlier encounter.
"What! If I hadn't known you were Huahua, I would have beaten you flat already!" the fiery girl shook her fist in mock threat, then clicked her tongue in disbelief. "I can't believe it, three years have passed and you've changed this much. I remember you were always so shy before, blushing every time you saw a girl. How come you're so bold now?"
"Do you really know me?" Although Xiang Ri knew this question was somewhat pointless, he felt it was better to be sure.
He was no longer the timid person who feared being exposed as an impostor when he first possessed this body. After all, this body had originally belonged to Xiang Kui—if anyone suspected he was impersonating him, they could easily verify the truth.
Most importantly, anyone who believed in the absurd notion of soul possession was probably not in their right mind, and those with common sense would never entertain such ideas.
"Of course! Why would I need to make up connections with someone like you? You're not exactly handsome!" Her tone implied that only handsome men were worth pretending to know. Realizing she had spoken out of turn, the fiery girl quickly covered up her embarrassment with a curse. "But what, did you get kicked in the head by a donkey? You don't even recognize me?"
Since she was a former classmate, Xiang Ri didn't take her words to heart. He responded politely, "Why don't you all introduce yourselves?"
"Go to hell! You ungrateful bastard! Do you remember when someone borrowed your pen and I helped you get it back? Or that time you were cornered at the school gate, who was it that saved you?" The fiery girl rattled off incident after incident from their school days.
Xiang Ri's understanding of his previous "self" deepened. He couldn't believe how cowardly he had been back then. How had he allowed such insignificant people to bully him?
However, his feelings toward the fiery girl softened slightly. If it hadn't been for her help back then, the amount of suffering he endured might have been even worse.
So, he decided to tell a little white lie, hoping to avoid the "ungrateful" label. "Actually, I had a car accident not long ago, and after I woke up, I forgot many things."
"No way! You have amnesia?" The fiery girl's eyes widened in disbelief at what seemed like a scenario straight out of a drama. "No wonder you've changed so much. And you dared speak to me in that tone? Well, if you've lost your memory, I suppose I can forgive you. But how do you still remember that you're Xiang Kui?"
"It's just part of my memory that's gone," Xiang Ri quickly amended, "I still remember the important people and things."
"Then how could you forget Xiao Xuan?" The fiery girl pointed at the delicate girl, whose gaze towards Xiang Ri was filled with complexity.
"This..." Xiang Ri awkwardly scratched his nose, sensing that the girl who had been bumped into earlier might have had a closer connection with him than he initially thought.
Sure enough, the fiery girl confirmed his suspicions with the next words. "She was your secret crush, and you two were desk mates for a year. How could you forget her?"
Xiang Ri said nothing, instead looking awkwardly at the delicate girl. Although she was only above average in appearance, her large, bright eyes gave her an intellectual beauty. No wonder the "old" Xiang Kui, who was obsessed with studying, would have admired her. Their personalities were so similar.
Just as Xiang Ri was struggling to explain, the delicate girl came to his rescue, linking arms with the fiery girl and blushing as she said, "Xiuxiu, what are you saying? I was just desk mates with Xiang Kui, there's nothing like what you're implying."
"Yes, yes!" The fiery girl ruffled the delicate girl's hair, no longer teasing her, before turning to Xiang Ri. "By the way, you probably don't remember our names, do you?"
"I'm afraid I've forgotten," Xiang Ri gave them an apologetic glance, though inwardly he thought that calling her "Xiuxiu" was an insult to the gentleness the name implied.
"Well, seeing how pitiful you are with your amnesia, I won't hold it against you." The fiery girl seemed to soften, then pointed to the tall man beside her. "This is Gao Mingming, the guy who sat behind you. After you transferred, he took your seat."
She then pointed to two other men who looked quite similar to each other. "These are Da Wen and Da Wu, brothers. You weren't very familiar with them, but they were in your class. You were a real bookworm back then, hardly talking to anyone. If no one had initiated conversations with you, I bet you would have spent your entire first year without saying a word."
"Hello, hello!" Xiang Ri quickly greeted them, making an effort to warm up to the group.
"Heh, I can't believe we'd run into a high school classmate here," Gao Mingming responded with a laugh. "Although we only went to school together for a year, we certainly haven't forgotten you, the bookworm." Da Wen and Da Wu also smiled warmly at him.
"Fortunately, it seems that I've finally had my 'awakening' after being hit by a car. If I ever meet someone as wooden as I used to be, I'll take them for a walk down the street." The fiery girl said this nonchalantly, leaving the others in a cold sweat. A walk down the street? Probably pulling the person to the road and then waiting for them to get hit by a car, right?
"What are you staring at me for? I'm just joking. How could I actually do something like that? By the way, Huahua, where are you studying now?" The fiery girl changed the topic without missing a beat.
"Gaoda."
"Oh, nice! A prestigious school! I knew you'd amount to something," the fiery girl said, slapping him heavily on the shoulder without a care for the frailness of his body, which, compared to hers, wasn't much to brag about.
Luckily, although Xiang Ri's outward appearance remained unimpressive, the changes inside this body were profound. He easily shrugged off her slap. "Can I ask why you call me... uh, Huahua?" Xiang Ri had developed a deep aversion to this ridiculous nickname, akin to something a pet might have, and took this opportunity to bring it up.
"Haha, oh, right... I almost forgot you had amnesia. Let me explain it to you again," the fiery girl said carelessly. "Isn't your name Xiang Kui? If you add the character 'Ri' in the middle, it becomes Xiang Rikui, like 'sunflower', which is a flower, right? Since you're a flower... I just started calling you Huahua."
Xiang Ri could only marvel at her extraordinary ability to make such a leap in logic. Connecting a name and a flower with absolutely no correlation was quite the feat. But this trend couldn't continue. Although the name might appeal to women, Xiang Ri cared more about his dignity. "Could you stop calling me Huahua? I do have a real name, after all."
The fiery girl immediately frowned, not at all pleased. "How can I not call you that? You promised me! I asked you several times, and you didn't object, so isn't that the same as agreeing?"
"Does that even count as agreement?" Xiang Ri was keenly aware of how spineless his former self had been. Back then, even if he wanted to voice his dissatisfaction, he didn't have the courage to speak up. And even if he did, it was unlikely anyone would have listened.
"How can it not count? Are you trying to go back on your word? Hmph, not only are you ungrateful, but you're also a flip-flopper..." Just as the fiery girl was about to continue her tirade, Xiang Ri quickly interrupted her, unwilling to be burdened with more insults. "Fine, you can call me whatever you like, but whether I respond is my business."
Seeing that she was about to speak again, Xiang Ri, worried about being further slandered, turned and swiftly made his way out. "I've got something to do. I'll catch up with you later."
"Wait, you're leaving just like that? We should catch up while we can!" The fiery girl grabbed the hem of his shirt.
"I'm with my girlfriend right now. We're out shopping. We'll talk next time." With no other option, Xiang Ri resorted to this final excuse.
"What? You already have a girlfriend? What about our Xiao Xuanxuan? She..." Seeing the delicate girl glare at her, the fiery girl immediately changed her tune, "Wow, you already have a girlfriend? Is she here? Call her out so we can meet her!"
"She was just ahead of me, but after you interrupted, I can't see her anymore." Xiang Ri wasn't foolish enough to bring Chu Chu into this mess. Who knew what trouble might arise?
"Alright then, go catch up with your girlfriend. Don't keep her waiting—girls really don't like waiting." The fiery girl released her hold on him, but then suddenly added, "Oh, by the way, there's a high school reunion on October 7th. You should come too. Even though we only spent a year together, we're still classmates. A lot of people will be there, it'll be lively. Maybe it'll even jog your memory."
"I'll think about it." Xiang Ri made his exit in a flash.
"Hey, why are you running so fast? How will I contact you..." Unfortunately, Xiang Ri was already far out of earshot, and with the noise of the mall around them, there was little chance the fiery girl's words reached him. "Damn it..."
"Xiuxiu, do you really want to invite him?" The delicate girl asked, watching Xiang Ri's figure fade into the distance.
"Of course, we're all classmates, so we should catch up and have some fun."
"But Ma Tianhao will be there too."
"The guy with the last name Ma?" The fiery girl furrowed her brows. "I almost forgot about that jerk. He used to bully Huahua, right? I heard he's not in school anymore, but he's doing quite well now. Hmph, if he dares to do anything to Huahua at the reunion, he won't leave in one piece!"
"What's with you? Showing up so late?" Chu Chu had already finished a lap around the accessory store, her arms laden with plastic bags. When she saw Xiang Ri enter, she immediately handed him the burden.
After a few days, Xiang Ri had gotten used to being the pack mule. "I ran into some high school classmates on the way here, and we chatted."
"High school classmates? Oh my god! Why didn't you call me? I could have gone to say hi." Chu Chu pouted, clearly unhappy that Xiang Ri had met up with classmates without inviting her.
"No need, there's a reunion on the 7th of next month..." Xiang Ri paused involuntarily. He didn't want to attend any reunion, but Chu Chu was already excited, her eyes lighting up. "I'll go too! You promised me, you're taking me along!"
It was too late to back out now. Xiang Ri could only nod in agreement, planning to figure out a way to back out later. "Have you finished shopping? Should we head back? It's getting dark, and I'm starving."
"You're only thinking about food? You're turning into a pig." Chu Chu teased.
"How can I not? Our Chu Chu's cooking smells so delicious." Xiang Ri quickly praised her.
"Alright, I'll take that as a compliment. Wait a bit, I'll be done soon." After another hour of shopping, Miss Chu finally decided to head home. This taught Xiang Ri an important lesson: when a woman says "just a bit more," it could easily extend to an hour or more.