Genius Playground

Chapter 31 Frankness
"of course I remember."

Jiang Ran filled the glass with wine.

How could I possibly forget?

It had only been a few days since high school started, and everyone was still getting to know each other. Jiang Ran and Qin Feng hadn't even spoken to each other.

But during a PE class, Qin Feng's former middle school classmate, who had bullied him before, started acting up again, shouting "You kid without a father" from afar.

Jiang Ran was furious and went to argue with them, which escalated into a fight.

Of course, I was inevitably criticized by the teacher and made to write a self-criticism afterwards.

But it was through this opportunity that Qin Feng met Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue, and they gradually became a close trio.

Sometimes, that's just how fate is.

A beautiful encounter can happen unexpectedly, and a sudden parting can happen without warning.

"Those are all very minor matters."

Jiang Ran looked at the wine glass:

"You don't need to bring it up again and again."

Qin Feng also picked up the wine bottle and poured wine into his glass:

“It might really be a very small thing for the two of you.”

The beer gurgles down, foam rises, burying a layer of unspoken memories:
"You and Xiaoxue have been kind and warm-hearted since childhood. You must have helped many people and done many good deeds."

"But from my perspective... after all these years of being bullied, only you stood up for me. After all these years, only you protected me and upheld my dignity."

"You're exaggerating," Jiang Ran retorted.

"It's not an exaggeration at all."

Qin Feng shook his head:
"Before I met you, there were many more people who bullied me and did much worse things."

"To avoid causing trouble for my mother, I always swallowed my grievances and was always the one who had to apologize in the end."

“Because I’m afraid the teacher will call my parents. Their parents all live in the city and can get there quickly by car. But my mother lives in our hometown, working many jobs and barely getting any sleep to earn money to support the family… How could I dare let her come to school?”

"Of course, my mom spoils me a lot. If she knew I was being bullied, she would drop everything and come to school to stand up for me."

"but……"

He smiled helplessly, shook his head, his eyes filled with a sense of powerlessness in the face of the past.

Yes.

Now, he can earn millions with just one text message;
With the positron cannon in hand, the future is infinitely bright;
While not all wishes will come true, 99% of your desires can be fulfilled.

but.

What use are present and future glories when facing a mother who single-handedly shouldered the burden of the family in the past?
"But what happened after she came to the school to support me?"

Qin Feng continued:

“After she goes back, she will still be facing a series of messes, a lot of things to do, and may even lose the job she finally found.”

"Not to mention that my hometown is far from the city. My mom would definitely not be willing to take a chartered car. She would definitely take a long bus ride back and forth, which would be such a hassle."

"So, many times, many times before, I apologized to them humbly, just like I did in high school, to make a big deal out of a small deal and avoid the teacher calling my parents."

……

Jiang Ran listened silently without saying a word.

In fact, Qin Feng has said these words many times over the years.

This is also why Jiang Ran has felt so guilty these past few days.

Their tragic life began with the death of the family's breadwinner.

The mother works hard for her son, the son feels sorry for his mother, she doesn't want him to suffer, he doesn't want her to be tired... and so an unsolvable cycle is formed.

Actually, before he met them in high school, Qin Feng's academic performance was not very good.

With a mind as brilliant as his, he could easily get a perfect score and be number one.

However... also for the reasons of "not causing trouble," "not drawing attention," and "not putting unnecessary pressure on his mother," Qin Feng artificially controlled his scores in every exam, precisely keeping his ranking in the middle of the class.

This was something that Jiang Ran, when he was young, couldn't understand at all.

If Mingming gets first place, the teacher will treat him like a precious gem, so why control his grades?
But later, Jiang Ran gradually understood.

Children from unhappy families are cautious in everything they do.

After his father's death, all his experiences served as a warning to Qin Feng... it's better to avoid trouble.

"So, back to your question."

Qin Feng's voice interrupted Jiang Ran's thoughts.

The other person picked up a full glass of beer and looked at him:
How could I possibly hate you?

Qin Feng's eyes were clear:

"Never."

"From the moment you two stood in front of me and protected me, from the moment you two helped me regain my dignity... I knew you were the ones for me."

"You two are friends I would protect with my life."

……

Click.

Glasses clink together.

After clinking glasses with Qin Feng, Jiang Ran downed a large gulp of beer. The cool sensation ran through his throat.

The unspoken bitterness resides within my heart.

Jiang Ran felt that being a person was really difficult.

If I don't mention Qin Feng's father, I feel guilty and think I've let Qin Feng down.

Bringing this up makes me feel like I'm a terrible person, unwilling to even save my best friend's father.

Emotion and reason always clash fiercely, neither yielding to the other, yet neither coexisting.

but.

After all.

It's good to speak your mind and share your thoughts.

After a few drinks, the good brothers had a frank talk, and the matter was completely over.

"Wang Hao is so slow..."

As the number of empty bottles on the ground gradually increased, Wang Hao's WeChat messages were always "almost there," "coming soon," "a bit of traffic," and "the bus is too bulky."

"It seems that Wang Hao's financial situation is indeed not optimistic at this time."

Jiang Ran urged him on WeChat while complaining:
"Thinking about it this way, haven't we been living too extravagantly lately?"

They each had hundreds of thousands in their pockets.

During university life, if you don't buy a car, a house, or luxury goods... you really can't spend all your money, giving you the illusion that you can never spend it all.

While other students take the subway and buses to get around, they've developed a habit of taking taxis whenever they go out.

"This little bit of luxury is nothing."

Qin Feng disagreed:

"Because...we are gods."

He was clearly making a joke.

Playing along to lines from the play we did that day.

"You're going to keep going on and on."

As the screenwriter, Jiang Ran felt a wave of embarrassment:
"You used this joke on the cruise last time, and you're using it again now... Just how much do you like the script I wrote?"

"I already told you, I really like it."

Qin Feng was quite interested:

"Because I feel that the settings you wrote are actually quite realistic."

"Especially now that we have control over time and space text messages, we do have a feeling of controlling history and influencing destiny."

Ha ha.

Jiang Ran chuckled twice:

"I'm afraid only you would praise me like this. I vaguely remember that the design book I wrote back then was ridiculed by my classmates. They all said that I was daydreaming and had gone mad."

"I really wish you could have been my junior high school classmate... If you had encouraged me back then, I might have gone down the path of online novel writing and would now be a platinum-level author."

"I want, too."

Qin Feng leaned back in his chair:
"To be honest, during my free time recently, I've read the script you wrote for the film club several times."

"You are so free."

"Don't say that. After all, it was my first movie. I read the script several times, and I also watched the finished film that Xu Yan gave us several times."

"Oh, that one? I haven't seen it yet."

Jiang Ran remembered.

Back on the playground, Xu Yan did give them a USB drive, saying it contained edited movie clips, and asked them to take a look and give their feedback.

But I've been so busy lately, I haven't had time to watch it.

"How was it? Did you like the filming?"

Jiang Ran took a sip of beer:

"I haven't had a chance to see it yet. Or maybe I have, but because I don't have the memory of the timeline changes, I wouldn't remember it even if I had seen it."

"It's quite pretty."

Qin Feng agrees:

"We acted well, and the camera work was also good. I feel like we should have no problem winning an award at the College Student Film Festival."

"However... I always have one question when I watch it."

“You named this story ‘Genius Playground’ and said it was a game involving 11 geniuses.”

"But the movie script doesn't give any positive description of the game itself."

"I've always been curious about how this game works and what its ultimate goal is."

He looked up at Jiang Ran:

"So, could you tell me about it..."

"【What kind of game is the Genius Playground?】"

(End of this chapter)