Genius Playground

Chapter 19 Secret
Boom!
There was a muffled sound.

Cheng Mengxue's face slammed onto the king crab shell. She began to breathe softly and drifted into a deep sleep.

"..." "..."

Jiang Ran and Qin Feng hesitated, as if they wanted to say something but then stopped.

"Is she... drunk?" Qin Feng asked cautiously.

"It's obvious."

"No wonder! I knew something was off!"

Qin Feng breathed a sigh of relief:

"I've never seen Xiaoxue so bold before! The atmosphere she created was so intense, I thought she was going to confess her feelings to you! I didn't know where to hide!"

"But this alcohol tolerance is just too much..."

He looked at Cheng Mengxue's wine glass, which was only a third full to begin with, and now it seemed to be less than half empty.

It's quite remarkable that someone could pass out after just two sips of red wine with such a low alcohol content; that's a testament to biodiversity.

"This must be the first time she's ever had a drink."

Jiang Ran shook his head:
"Anyway, I've never seen her drink alcohol in all these years."

"I didn't know she had such a low alcohol tolerance... The amount of alcohol she drank was probably less than the amount in the liqueur-filled chocolate."

"Has she ever eaten chocolate-covered liqueurs?" Qin Feng asked curiously.

"...It doesn't seem like it."

……

Jiang Ran carried Cheng Mengxue into her room and placed her on the bed.

Then he left, closed the door, and clicked the lock to make sure it was secure and couldn't be opened before returning to the observation deck.

The fireworks show had already ended.

The DJ party on the deck also ended in twos and threes.

Qin Feng was leaning on the railing of the observation deck, gazing into the distance, lost in thought.

I heard footsteps.

He turned around and looked at Jiang Ran:

"If Xiaoxue could have held on for just two more seconds, she might have confessed her feelings for you."

"No, it won't happen." Jiang Ran shook his head.

"Why not?"

Qin Feng leaned against the railing:

“You seem to have been avoiding this matter because it’s a private matter between the two of you, and I’ve never asked about it.”

"But... we're not in high school anymore, so there's nothing wrong with dating, right?"

Seeing Jiang Ran walk over and lean silently against the railing, Qin Feng sighed:
"Could it be that the childhood sweetheart curse really exists?"

"This is indeed a rather amazing pattern. In real life, the probability of childhood sweethearts ending up together is very, very low."

"Is it because you're too familiar with them? Like family, relatives, or a younger sister?"

He turned around and leaned against the railing with Jiang Ran, watching him in the sea breeze:
"It's obvious that Xiaoxue likes you a lot. Especially after that time she jumped into the river to save someone... In her eyes, you are an invincible hero."

"This incident may have had a great impact on her, which is why she was emboldened by alcohol and spoke her true thoughts earlier."

Jiang Ran remained silent.

"Hey, say something!"

Qin Feng elbowed him.

"I do not know"

Jiang Ran looked at the foam on the sea surface and said softly:
"I'm not a genius who can solve every problem... I don't know the answer to this one either."

"..."

Qin Feng looked at him quietly.

finally.

Generally speaking, it means making a firm decision:
"Jiang Ran, let me tell you a secret."

?

Jiang Ran looked up:

"Are you hiding something from me?"

"Xiaoxue told me not to say it."

Qin Feng shrugged:

"But you see, I still had to tell you, it's just a few days late." "Don't worry, it's nothing serious, I know what's important."

Jiang Ran looked at him.

Nod:
"You say it."

……

Qin Feng licked his lips, took a deep breath through his nose, and slowly exhaled:
"For you, this is something that happened on this timeline. So after the spacetime shift and the timeline jump, you have no memory of this, and we didn't tell you either."

"That day, after you grabbed Senior Xu Yan and jumped over the bridge into the river... Cheng Mengxue reacted like a sudden stress reaction, screaming and shouting, and tried to jump into the river with you like a madwoman."

"I've never seen her so out of control. To put it bluntly, she was like a mad dog... Xu Yan and I had to hold her down and restrain her, and we almost couldn't hold her back."

"She's really gone mad. The moment you jumped into the river, tears streamed down her face. To break free from us, she almost bit Xu Yan's arm until it bled. Of course, Xu Yan definitely wouldn't let you see the wound on her arm."

He habitually touched his left arm.

It seems that while that bite was directed at Xu Yan, it also hurt Qin Feng's heart.

There was a pause.

He continued:

"Xiaoxue only returned to normal after she saw you come ashore from afar; she was truly pale and bloodless."

"Later, we took you to the hospital. We were so busy and didn't have time to mention this."

“But after returning to school, Xiaoxue secretly found me and Xu Yan and begged us not to tell you about this. Oh, it's about when she lost control, cried, bit people, and even tried to jump into the river to save you.”

“I can understand how she felt. Anyone would panic in that situation. So don’t take it to heart. She didn’t mean to hide it from you. She probably just felt that she had lost her composure and was too embarrassed.”

Jiang Ran listened silently.

Recalling that time-space shift, when he woke up in the hospital, the first person he saw was Cheng Mengxue.

She had just returned with her takeout, all smiles, showing no signs of her previous madness and loss of composure.

"She didn't want us to tell you, probably because she was afraid you'd worry."

Qin Feng kept patching and maintaining Cheng Mengxue:

"But! What I want to say is that you may not understand why Xiaoxue said some bold things after drinking just now."

“But I understand that it was because your jumping into the river that she was so traumatized. It may be that this incident made her decide to face her inner feelings and prepare to express her feelings to you.”

"It's just a pity that she can't hold her liquor. If she had lasted a few more seconds, you two might have gotten together."

Ah.

Unexpected.

Faced with such a touching story, Jiang Ran chuckled softly and shook her head:
"Qin Feng, you are indeed very good at solving problems. But I'm sorry, you solved this problem wrong."

"Do you have any conscience?"

Qin Feng was very angry:
"I didn't say I demanded anything of you, but with this attitude, how can you face Xiaoxue?"

"Do you know why Xiaoxue reacted so frantically and lost control when she saw me jump into the river?" Jiang Ran asked in return.

"Isn't it because I'm worried about you?"

"Not at all."

Jiang Ran shook his head:
“She knows I’m a good swimmer. We took swimming lessons together when we were little, and I even won a city-level medal in junior high.”

After saying that, he pointed to the four-meter diving platform in the swimming pool:

"The diving platform you wouldn't dare to jump from, Xiaoxue's entry into the water was perfect, except for the big splash; I even dare to jump down lying flat on my back, which is something that ordinary swimmers would dare to do?"

"Besides, I was wearing a buoyancy life jacket at the time. With this on, even if you're thrown into the ocean, you won't drown, and even if you do, you'll float on the surface... With my excellent swimming skills and the buoyancy life jacket, do you think there's anything to worry about?"

"Even if we take a step back, you would definitely have been worried. You must have been worried about me too, but would you have been so worried that you became so exaggerated and out of control?"

……

After a well-reasoned and logical explanation, Qin Feng was stunned.

"The three of us have been inseparable for so many years, sharing everything and even things as amazing as time-space text messaging. I've never thought of hiding it from you."

"But there are still some things, things between Xiaoxue and me, that you really don't know."

Jiang Ran straightened up:

“You still tell me things that Xiaoxue told you not to, and I’m very touched.”

"So, Qin Feng."

He turned his head.

Look into the other person's eyes:

"I'll also tell you... a secret."

(End of this chapter)