Age of Legends

Chapter 262 Evil Man
Shen Nuoyi and Zheng Xue first bought CDs at a record store. Zheng Xue likes the Norwegian female duo M2W, who debuted in 98 after signing with Atlantic Records. Recently, she has been listening to their song "The Day You Went Away" with great enthusiasm.

Shen Nuoyi, on the other hand, likes to listen to Westlife's songs. It is said that Han Zhouxuan used to like them, so Shen Nuoyi also started to like them.

Now, Zheng Xue was secretly delighted. Shen Nuoyi was no longer like before, constantly mentioning Han Zhouxuan during holidays. This time, even when Han Zhouxuan was in China, they weren't glued to their phones every day to keep in touch.

Han Zhouxuan couldn't come to Shen Nuoyi's birthday party. She really couldn't come because she had to go back to school in England.

This has been the routine every year, except that she would make a routine trip to Rongcheng a few days before leaving the country. This time, she met with Shen Nuoyi for lunch on a weekend afternoon and gave her a gift: a vintage Omega watch she bought in Switzerland. She said she received it from a shop owner she got along with, and it cost two thousand euros, which was astonishing.

This is Han Zhouxuan. When she travels in Europe, she visits antique and vintage shops, buying items with a sense of history and design, just like browsing antique shops in Beijing. Her taste is indeed unique. In the eyes of an ordinary girl like Zheng Xue, Han Zhouxuan is definitely someone on a higher level. So sometimes, seeing how close Shen Nuoyi and Han Zhouxuan are, she feels ashamed and understandably unable to participate in their relationship.

But that was only for that one afternoon. Han Zhouxuan's schedule was packed with gatherings with other friends in Rongcheng. Zheng Xue felt that she seemed to be deliberately being cold to Shen Nuoyi. But Shen Nuoyi didn't seem too hurt, and there was a certain distance between them. Zheng Xue keenly noticed these things, and sometimes she was even relieved and secretly pleased, because this actually brought her and Shen Nuoyi closer. That's how best friends are; if you get too close to someone else, you'll still get jealous.

However, Zheng Xue, who had been with Shen Nuoyi since childhood, clearly felt that Shen Nuoyi had changed.

And these are all changes that occurred after she got together with Zhang Chen.

"Heh... Zhang Chen is not only incredibly lucky, but he also has a huge influence!" Zheng Xue thought to herself.

"How much is this record?" Shen Nuoyi asked the shop assistant from the side. Zheng Xue saw Shen Nuoyi take off the listening headphones and pick up the record cover. It was a somewhat dark scene. A child was kneeling by the river facing the swans flying by. The name "Nightwish" was written in a Roman-style font. Next to it was the album title "Wishmaster".

"200," the shop assistant replied after glancing at it.

Zheng Xue was startled. She knew that these officially imported European and American CDs were quite expensive. They usually sold for 45-70 yuan in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but if they were genuine European and American, they would start at 120 yuan. For students like her, it would take a long time to save up the money. She usually only bought cassette tapes, which cost no more than 30 yuan. She would just listen to CDs at the audio-visual store.

Although she knew Shen Nuoyi was wealthy, she knew he was only on a certain level; he wasn't a rich kid like Han Zhouxuan. While Shen Nuoyi's father owned a company, it wasn't large, and she herself was just financially secure, with a monthly allowance of only 500 yuan. Zheng Xue knew this. Spending 200 yuan on CDs was something Shen Nuoyi had never done before. After all, of the two of them, Zheng Xue was the one who liked music more and was willing to spend money. Shen Nuoyi had never been extravagant in this regard.

So she picked up the trial headphones and listened to the song, "She is my sin." The song sounded energetic, but the band's style was heavy metal and dark gothic, which wasn't Shen Nuoyi's style.

Seeing Shen Nuo take out his money to buy it and have the shop assistant wrap it up, Zheng Xue was surprised again. "I said it was right to give you a CD as a gift... but... I, I didn't bring that much money with me!"

Shen Nuoyi smiled and said, "No, I took a look and decided to choose a cassette tape as a gift for me. CDs are too expensive."

"Then why did you choose this?" Zheng Xue asked, puzzled.

"I...I just want to buy it," Shen Nuo said.

"You bought it and wrapped it up. It's a 200-yuan CD, and it's not even your style. It's your birthday today, aren't you supposed to be receiving gifts? Who are you going to give it to?" Zheng Xue looked like she had caught some juicy gossip.

Shen Nuoyi felt a little guilty under her gaze, and finally said, "Zhang Chen sang that song, saying it's some kind of battle song for playing games... I just happened to see it today, so I'll buy it for him."

Zheng Xue froze, then slapped her forehead. Oh right, she'd been so stupid. Shen Nuoyi was with Zhang Chen now; why had she even thought she'd bought the CD and packaged it for some guy? Ultimately, she just couldn't accept reality… The song "She Is My Sin" by the Finnish band Nightwish was used as the theme song for the pirated version of Counter-Strike (CS) 1.6. The official CS didn't have music, but back then, internet cafes everywhere used this song to set up their pirated interfaces, instantly igniting players' fighting spirit, making them feel incredibly excited and eager to buy gear and go on a killing spree. Zhang Chen had been brainwashed back then, and still occasionally hummed it. Shen Nuoyi heard it and asked about the song, so she made a point of memorizing it.

Zheng Xue then turned her head sharply to look at Shen Nuoyi, who was calmly accepting the packaged small square CD case from the shop assistant.
This is the woman that countless boys at Yude High School yearn for but can't have...

She thought again about all these changes she had undergone.

If cherishing someone is like growing a flower, then who knows how this phoenix flower, Shen Nuoyi, will ultimately bloom...

Zheng Xue suddenly clutched her chest, "I'm suddenly a little envious of Zhang Chen!"

……

……

"Actually, I have high hopes for you." The second son of the Qin family lit a cigarette and said to Zhang Chen by the car.

"Second Uncle, what do you mean?" Zhang Chen asked.

"Don't call me Second Uncle. We're not even in the same generation," Qin Yu said. "I've seen you before, haven't I? Your parents both worked at the Nanguang Factory?"

Zhang Chen knew about Qin Yu and Qin Tangxi's family situation. Shen Nuoyi had also mentioned it. The Qin family's patriarch used to be a leader in the military region before retiring. The eldest son of the Qin family was very ambitious, but the second son, Qin Yu, had been somewhat of a playboy since childhood. He thought that because his family was in power, he was part of a different circle and had many frivolous friends, which made him unpopular with the patriarch.

As she grew up, she often used her grandfather as a shield in her social interactions. Although she had toned down her personality somewhat over the years, that habit remained. In his opinion, he didn't know what had gotten into Shen Nuoyi. With such a brilliant person like Pei Yan right in front of her, she chose a stone instead. "Blinded by greed" didn't even begin to describe it; it was downright tragic. If her relationship with Pei Yan truly ended during high school, this sister-in-law's niece would be considered unlucky.

Most importantly, Pei Yan got to know the Qin family and Shen Nuo's family through them. They were just ordinary acquaintances before, but because of Shen Nuo, Pei Yan's parents started to treat the Qin family differently. Suddenly, a lot of business came their way. It can be said that Qin Yu's company's orders are all supported by Taixun. He doesn't want any mishaps that could cause him to lose a large share of his current business.

Zhang Chen nodded to Qin Yu.

"Your school was in an uproar over Pei Yan's incident last time. Do you think we elders didn't hear about it?" Qin Yu started by putting on a show of force, with a somewhat condescending attitude. "Your family is very unhappy about this, especially Shen Nuoyi's parents. They're particularly angry about it, especially about you. Because everyone likes Pei Yan. You understand, I'm only telling you this because I think you didn't do anything wrong."

From the very beginning, it created a situation where your position in another family was on the verge of collapse. It has to be said that if Zhang Chen were really just an ordinary boy who simply liked Shen Nuoyi, Qin Yu's words alone could have caused a huge psychological burden and shadow on an ordinary young man.

Qin Yu was well aware that not everyone is strong-willed. Even if you are thick-skinned enough, you will still have a weakness. When you care about someone, you will also care about the opinions of their blood relatives, and these are the weaknesses that can hurt you.

On the other hand, Qin Yu left a loose end, which put enough psychological pressure on the young man in front of him, while his own gentle approach made the young man feel that he had found the only person he could rely on to speak on his behalf, perhaps even his only confidant, his only straw.

And at this point, it is often the beginning that the other party is completely at your mercy.

(End of this chapter)