Whitewood County No. 1 High School.
The dismissal bell rang, and students swarmed out of the school in a rush.
Hank Chu slung his single-strap backpack over his shoulder and strode toward the school gate with long, confident steps.
Lately, his mood had been great. Thanks to the shantytown redevelopment, his family had received a resettlement apartment—finally living in a real building, a huge upgrade from their old one-story house.
As he left the school gates, Hank ran into Amelia Jiao, who was wearing a cotton long dress. Amelia and Ivy Deng walked out arm in arm, drawing plenty of attention as they passed.
Noticing Hank looking her way, Amelia Jiao frowned slightly and quickly averted her gaze.
Last time, that Evan Lin Hank brought along at the resort really put Max Ma, Brandon Yang, and the others in their place.
Even though Evan Lin was pretty impressive, Amelia still looked at Hank with a dismissive attitude.
Hank, for his part, felt much more at ease about it now.
He had barely taken a few steps outside the gate when he spotted Evan Lin standing under a tree. Hank’s eyes lit up: “Evan!”
Hank Chu shouted out Evan's name.
Instantly, a bunch of people turned to look at Evan Lin over there.
Lately, the whole school’s been buzzing about this Evan Lin guy.
Not only did he take first place in the Provincial Math Olympiad, but rumor has it he also crushed the county magistrate’s son Max Ma, plus Brandon Yang and Jason Jiang.
His legendary resort exploits are still everyone’s favorite gossip. In a tiny place like Whitewood County, even the smallest drama can set the whole town talking—let alone some nobody like Evan Lin suddenly stepping up and outshining big shots like Max Ma.
“Yeah.”
Evan Lin saw Hank Chu hurrying over and just smiled.
Standing nearby, Amelia Jiao and Ivy Deng also looked Evan’s way. Amelia was mostly curious, but Ivy’s feelings were way more complicated.
Even now, Ivy Deng remembered how ordinary Evan Lin used to be. But these days, Evan was someone she just couldn’t figure out anymore.
Back then, Ivy always thought Evan’s family was broke. Now, that idea’s been totally flipped.
These past few days, Ivy Deng kept hearing her mom, Flora Huang, complain nonstop. From her mom’s mouth, she learned Joy Zheng now pulls in thirty thousand a month—and just moved straight into a Mooncrest Manor villa!
Compared to that, Ivy’s once-proud family background suddenly felt embarrassingly shabby.
“What are you doing here? Dude, I heard you disappeared for ages—where’d you run off to live it up?” Hank Chu laughed, throwing an arm around Evan Lin.
“Had some stuff to take care of. Where’s Ken Feng? Didn’t come out with you?”
Evan didn’t even glance at Ivy Deng or Amelia Jiao. He just looked curiously behind Hank Chu—sure enough, no sign of Ken Feng.
“He probably hasn’t come out yet. Honestly, that guy’s hopeless.” Hank shook his head. “Lately he’s been back in touch with Mandy Yu, glued to his phone chatting with her on QQ. I’ve tried talking sense into him, but it’s useless.”
Last time, Mandy Yu brought Raymond Rong to the junior high reunion, and Big Tank’s guys dumped Raymond’s car at the scrapyard. Evan figured Ken would finally get over Mandy, but nope—the whole fiasco just brought them closer.
Still, Ken’s got to deal with his own mess. Evan wasn’t about to butt in too much.
After waiting at the school gate a while, Evan and Hank finally spotted Ken Feng wandering out, still glued to his phone and grinning like an idiot.
“Yo! Evan Lin, when did you get back?”
Ken Feng’s face lit up when he saw Evan Lin and ran over, grinning from ear to ear.
“Just got back, won’t be here long—probably leaving in a day or two. Let’s hang out tonight.”
The three of them grabbed some skewers at a roadside barbecue stall. From Ken’s excited chatter, Evan learned his dad’s development project was going super smoothly—if all goes well, Ken’s dad will clear a few million yuan and finally make it into the millionaire club. Hank Chu was practically green with envy.
Evan casually asked Ken about Mandy Yu. According to Ken, Mandy and Raymond Rong are totally done, and ever since that mess, Mandy’s attitude toward Ken has done a complete 180.
Ken couldn’t stop talking about Mandy, face full of excitement. Hank wanted to say something, maybe warn Ken not to fall too deep and get hurt again, but Evan quietly stopped him.
In the end, Ken said he and Mandy promised to get into the same school, and if he’s got the time, he’ll go to Jinnan to visit her.
After finishing up, Hank and Ken walked Evan halfway around Whitewood County. The new plaza project was already underway, and everything was moving in a good direction.
Once Hank and Ken headed home, Evan made his way back to Mooncrest Manor.
Joy Zheng got home around nine, looking tired from her tutoring class but clearly in a good mood. With Evan leaving soon, she’d be alone in the villa, so running the class gave her something to do after work instead of just sitting around bored.
After Joy came home, Evan dissolved a Nourishing Spirit Pill into warm water and had her drink it. With this pill, Joy’s health would be sturdier and she’d be less likely to get sick.
Later that night, Joy packed clean clothes and a small rolling suitcase for Evan. Early the next morning, she took him to the bus station.
“First, go back to Minghai and greet your teachers. Did you hear me? They’ve treated you well, so you need to be polite.”
“And if anything happens, call Mom. If you’re short on money, tell me. Take care of yourself out there—your health comes first!”
Joy kept fussing over Evan until she saw him board the bus and watched it leave. Only then did she finally sigh, face full of worry and deep in thought.
What Evan didn’t know was that the moment he left Medicine King Valley, word that Evan Nine-Mysteries Lin had crushed Medicine King Valley was already spreading all over Seacrest Prefecture!