Age of Legends

Chapter 325 Breaking Through Mental Defenses
Based on Zhang Chen's understanding of Shen Nuoyi, if it weren't for this opportunity, even if he asked her directly, she wouldn't have responded positively or even acknowledged the changes in her family.

In front of Shen Nuoyi, he was an equal, but their relationship was still in its infancy and had not yet weathered any storms. Even if she was afraid that it would crush the relationship, she would definitely hide it from him or pretend to be nonchalant about it.

That's too easy to "downplay".

Rumors from the outside world are just rumors. As long as the parties involved do not admit it, there is nothing that can be done.

Even those were just other people talking nonsense. Zhang Chen had no idea whether Shen Nuo's family had encountered any problems, whether it had changed because of Pei Yan, or to what extent.
In this situation, if I rashly ask her about her family situation, will she tell me or not? Will she tell me the truth?
What kind of mindset would she have when she spoke to Zhang Chen?

complain?

Zhang Chen, who naturally understood Shen Nuoyi's strength, knew that this was pure fantasy. She never complained, which was actually quite natural; without self-respect and a strong will, she couldn't have achieved such a high ranking at Yude.

Need help?

Besides adding another person and causing more trouble, what help could Zhang Chen possibly offer? Is Zhang Chen Batman Bruce Wayne, with the Batmobile carrying her through life-and-death situations at night? Even if she had such a fantasy, it would only be a naive and innocent daydream of a young girl.

On the contrary, Shen Nuoyi is actually the stronger party in their relationship.

There was nothing she could do; Zhang Chen was the student she was helping academically, and Zhang Chen was a complete academic failure compared to her.

As a student, the most important thing is studying. But since you can't compete with her academically, you don't seem to have much say, just like her usual encouragement, which carries a top-down, patient guidance.

Furthermore, Shen Nuoyi's silence might not stem from distrust, but rather from concern. She might be afraid of her vulnerability being exposed, afraid that the originally equal scales would tip because of her family's predicament.

She fears even more that her newly confirmed feelings will be burdened with pity, pressure, or other impure considerations. Therefore, she would definitely prefer to bear everything herself, giving the two of them a pure space undisturbed by external disturbances.

If Zhang Chen is indeed an ordinary high school student who has not experienced the events of her previous life, and has only changed her intertwined fate with Shen Nuoyi in this life, then what she did must be right.

Because any external predicament that cannot be changed will put pressure on and interfere with the relationship between the two people.

If it were that timid young Zhang Chen, he wouldn't be able to change anything either.

Because of his insignificance, because he is now like a moss flower, the wind and rain outside, the slightest storm, could cause him to be pulled apart and become a mess.

However, he traveled back through time. Although he could not be entirely confident that he could overcome all obstacles, he was no longer the helpless boy who could only drift with the tide in the face of storms.

The more perilous and expansive sea of ​​time he had traversed gave him, to this point, a certain spirit to fight against the tides of fate.

So that explanation doesn't make sense. Faced with the proud and arrogant Shen Nuoyi, the only option is to take an unconventional approach, lure her off course, and ultimately strike a decisive blow, forcing her to reveal the truth of the matter herself.

In any other situation, Zhang Chen would also be in a difficult position, fearing that if she made the slightest mistake, she would shrink back and isolate herself, perhaps even at the cost of pushing him away.

But today, our savior has appeared.

Pei Yan's arrival gave Zhang Chen the perfect opportunity to use this as a pretext to guide Shen Nuoyi into a mental trap, unexpectedly breaking down her defenses and winning her over.

So Zhang Chen started by saying that the rumors were already rampant, but how rampant they were, and what the truth was, was unimportant. What mattered was making her believe she knew everything, forcing her to re-evaluate her current strategy and their relationship. She had to be the one to exclude him from the "all those in the know" lineup and play along with her in a charade of peaceful times.

Or should one be lenient for confessing and severe for resisting?

In those few seconds, Shen Nuoyi's mind wasn't blank; countless thoughts flashed through her head. The rumors from the outside world… what exactly were those rumors? How much did Zhang Chen know? Where did he hear them from? Wang Shuowei was a possibility… most likely, it was that gossipmonger Wang Shuowei who found out.

She instinctively wanted to deny it, which was her usual way of dealing with things, but when she saw Zhang Chen's gaze, it truly seemed like an all-knowing certainty. This made it impossible for her to say, "Actually, it's nothing serious."

After a moment of silence, she looked up, as if she had finally convinced herself, and said, "I didn't mean to hide it from you, but for both of us, this isn't something we should be worrying about right now. So, I told you first that you don't need to comfort me. I'm very clear about my current task. Even if my family might incur debt because of my dad's business, it won't affect me in any way. On the contrary, as long as I get into my ideal university, my dad will be able to focus more on his business. And even if we do incur debt, I believe I'll be able to pay it off for my family after I graduate from university."

Zhang Chen almost praised Shen Nuoyi for her clear understanding and mature thinking. In his previous life, he had not had a deeper interaction with her, so he did not know that this was her true nature, or that she had already grown up.

But not important.

Zhang Chen nodded.

Shen Nuo glanced at the bench next to the municipal park and tilted her head slightly. "Would you like to sit there and listen to me slowly, or go eat first?"

"Eat, I'm hungry. Even if the sky falls, I'll eat first." Zhang Chen grinned.

Actually, once Shen Nuoyi took the initiative to speak, what happened next was no longer important.

Whether now or in the future, they may encounter many thorny problems. And what is the main task when encountering these problems? To wallow in self-pity, or to block the other party from information and solve them on their own? How difficult the problem is is not the primary issue to be addressed. The primary issue is that both parties can join hands to deal with these problems.

This is the crucial step Zhang Chen took to break down Shen Nuoyi's mindset.

Then the two went to eat beef noodles at Niuwangmiao, and then returned to the municipal park to sit on the chairs illuminated by the streetlights.

Whether or not you attend evening self-study is irrelevant; nobody cares at this time. Plenty of Yude High School's senior students are out strolling and shopping. Of course, many are also sitting in the self-study classroom doing practice problems, or going directly to bookstores to buy materials to continue practicing problems into the night.

During their meal and while sitting opposite each other in the park, Shen Nuoyi roughly recounted what her family knew to Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen then had a general understanding of the situation.

That was Shen's father. On the one hand, he may have been provoked by Taixun, or he may have taken the opportunity to transform his business. Therefore, he increased his loan and introduced a new production line in an attempt to open up new opportunities. However, he encountered a situation where Taixun's stable channels raised prices, diluting profits. Meanwhile, his transformation was going awry, resulting in no return on investment in sight. With these two factors combined, he was immediately trapped in a quagmire of loan debt. His cash flow was drying up, and he was about to face the risk of loan default.

After Shen Nuoyi finished explaining the situation thoroughly, Zhang Chen couldn't help but chuckle.

The two sat at a close social distance on the park bench. Zhang Chen could smell a faint fragrance of orchids wafting from the girl's hair. In the misty, diffused light of the streetlights, the girl's eyes flickered slightly, her long, slender eyes upturned, and her cool, bright face showed a hint of confusion as she looked at Zhang Chen and suddenly burst out laughing.

Then, after laughing under her gaze, Zhang Chen said, "You mean, your dad took out a large loan and started a liquid crystal display module production line, but Japanese and Korean manufacturers have monopolized the upstream panels, and it turns out that there is no profit for domestic manufacturers to make this?"

(End of this chapter)