Age of Legends

Chapter 204 doesn't show it.
Actually, there wasn't anything too inappropriate about what she said when she parted ways with Zhuang Yanyue that day. After she finished speaking, Zhang Chen changed the subject, and Zhuang Yanyue, being so clever, naturally let it go.

Zhang Chen could see Zhuang Yanyue's Toyota SUV waiting by the roadside from afar. As they parted, Zhuang Yanyue looked down at the leaves and said softly, "Zhang Chen, I don't know why, sometimes I feel you are very close, and sometimes I feel you are very far away. You are like a hermit."

Zhang Chen was slightly surprised and turned to look at her. "What do you mean?" Experiencing high school life as a reborn person is actually a contradictory feeling. On one hand, she really wants to try her best to integrate, but the two souls always make this effort seem somewhat detached.

Unexpectedly, Zhuang Yanyue saw it very clearly from the side, which startled Zhang Chen.

"It's hard to say, I don't know. I always feel that you have that quality, like you don't belong here. High school is too young for you; you're just taking refuge here. Maybe you'll have an amazing performance in college."

"Thank you for your kind words. I'm sure I'll get into a good university." Zhang Chen smiled.

"Don't be too nice..." Zhuang Yanyue muttered.

"What?" Zhang Chen didn't hear clearly.

"It's nothing!" She looked up and smiled sweetly. "I mean, if we went back to last semester, and I had approached you at night instead of right before evening self-study... would you have said yes?"

Zhang Chen looked at her, and her eyes were fixed on him. Zhang Chen thought for a moment and said, "Let me ask you a question. Is your current enthusiasm for me because I rejected your curiosity...? If I had agreed that day, maybe you wouldn't have faced any challenges, and perhaps things would have ended there."

Zhuang Yanyue tilted her head, thought about it seriously for a moment, and then said, "When I wrote you love letters, I was serious about liking you. Now, my feelings for you aren't because I'm resentful after you rejected me. I admit I'm someone who likes challenges. What you said might be true. If you had agreed and we had been together, maybe one day I would have gotten bored and left you. But, who can say for sure... Life is about trying many things. Without trying, no one can predict the future."

Zhuang Yanyue spoke sincerely, and when she looked at him at the end, it seemed she had many things she wanted to say but couldn't. It was as if she was saying, "Would you like to give it a try?"

It looks a bit like a fox.

Zhang Chen thought to himself that this seemed to suit Zhuang Yanyue better; she loved adventure, loved to play around in this world, and had a cheerful and carefree personality. In her previous life, he was just a passerby to her; she lingered briefly before chasing after the sunset.

This life seems the same, yet somewhat different.

……

When Zhang Chen got home, he received a text message on his phone.

It's Shen Nuoyi.

"Are you home?"

"Just got back."

"Can we have lunch together tomorrow afternoon?"

"why?"

There's something I want to tell you.

Zhang Chen thought it was because of that encouraging letter that Shen Nuoyi wanted to thank him.

That's typical of her; she doesn't like owing favors and is quite stubborn. Now I have a few choices: one is to continue doing things my own way, refusing with the excuse, "If you want to treat me to a meal, then there's no need," letting her continue owing favors.

Or he could accept her favor, keep the appointment, and then talk things out, easing tensions between them. It's clear that Shen Nuoyi's recent unusual behavior is influenced by him. If he wants to keep Shen Nuoyi feeling guilty, the first option is undoubtedly the best.

Given her personality, she's always owed him money, yet she can't bring herself to do it, so she's always feeling like she has a bone stuck in her throat.

If you don't study hard, even Li Runjia, who's ranked first in the grade, might feel a chill down his spine.

Moreover, her sense of guilt towards herself would only deepen, and she might even feel remorse when she looked at herself in the future. Yes, at this moment, it was as if a little devil had been born inside Zhang Chen, and he desperately wanted to do this: pull the proud Shen Nuoyi down from her icy aloofness.

But Zhang Chen felt it was all too formulaic. What's that saying again? Since ancient times, true feelings can't be retained, only formulas win people's hearts.

But if he had to resort to tricks to keep people engaged every time he did it again, wouldn't his rebirth just be building a false stage? In the end, when the music fades and the audience disperses, how many will be able to take the stage again? It seems that this text message is connected to Shen Nuoyi on the other side of his hand. He can clearly feel that she is waiting for the message he sent on his phone, and his decisions affect her every move.

With a sigh, Zhang Chen thought to himself, "Fine, I guess," and replied, "Where should we eat?"

After waiting for a long time, Shen Nuoyi, her lips tightly pursed, was staring blankly at the test paper in front of her at the table. There was no evening self-study session for the sports meet, and today, after putting down her schoolbag and sitting at her desk, she was still replaying the scenes from today in her mind.

She spread out the test paper, ready to do practice questions, but in the end, she still picked up her phone, gripped it tightly, took a deep breath, and sent her first text message: "Are you home yet?"

Then, as if she were holding a hot potato, she tossed her phone aside and immediately grabbed a pen to do her homework.

When her lonely phone on the table vibrated, she waited three seconds, picked it up, saw Zhang Chen's reply, and quickly typed on the keyboard to send the message.

Waiting for Zhang Chen's response felt like time was passing incredibly slowly. She buried herself in her work again, but couldn't concentrate at all.

Her mind was racing; she didn't know what to do if Zhang Chen refused to have dinner with her...

I guess I'll just have to bury myself in coding problems again!

Now, seeing Zhang Chen's response, she suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and her reply became much lighter: "What do you want to eat?"

"The noodle shop near the school gate looks good, let's eat there?" This was the question Zhang Chen threw out, a question that could cost them their lives. The Neijiang noodle shop is right across the street from the entrance of Yude School, right in the street, right in front of the entrance, and in an open space.

Tomorrow is the last day of the sports meet, and students will still be dismissed directly in the afternoon, which will be the busiest time at Yude School.

Now Zhang Chen wants her to eat noodles with him right at the entrance.

Putting aside the fact that Shen Nuoyi is concerned about her image, you generally don't see her eating while walking, and she certainly wouldn't slurp noodles in open spaces where people are passing by.

If the two of them show up at the noodle shop tomorrow afternoon and sit at the same table to eat noodles together, I guarantee that many people in Yude will be restless the next day.

It won't cause a sensation, and the rumors won't be that exaggerated, but there will definitely be many busybodies who will pry, make jokes, and gossip.

This is also why they used to eat together after school in the afternoons, with Zheng Xue, Shen Nuoyi, and some other girls, and Zhang Chen and Wang Shuowei eating together.

Perhaps there are also girls with established male social circles who often eat together. There are also couples who don't shy away from each other, or two people in the ambiguous stage of a relationship who are always together. But Shen Nuoyi is certainly conspicuous. That's just her persona. There are no boys she can get close to at school, and in the three years of high school, she has never been seen going out alone with a boy or even having a meal.

This became a fixed pattern. If one day she were to sit alone at a table with a boy, and they were seen together like any other couples or lovers, this fixed pattern that had been in place throughout high school would be broken. That would definitely be a sign that something was amiss.

Of course, if she has any hesitation, or sends a message saying, "Should we switch to another one?"

Zhang Chen wouldn't insist. He believed she had considered the things he had considered, so he would give her a way out and not put her in a difficult position.

But after a while.

Shen Nuoyi replied to the text message.

"it is good."

Did you grit your teeth?

Zhang Chen couldn't tell.

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(End of this chapter)