Secret

Thump!

A dull thud.

Cheng Mengxue's face slammed into the Emperor Crab shell. A light snore escaped her nostrils as she fell into a deep sleep.

"..." "..."

Jiang Ran and Qin Feng hesitated, wanting to speak but not knowing what to say.

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

"Obviously."

"No wonder! I felt something was off just now!"

Qin Feng breathed a sigh of relief:

"I've never seen Little Xue so bold! The atmosphere she created, I thought she was going to confess to you! It made me wonder where I should hide!"

"But her alcohol tolerance is too..."

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

For red wine, with its low alcohol content, to make someone black out after just two sips was truly a marvel of biodiversity.

"This must be her first time drinking."

Jiang Ran shook his head:

"In all these years, I've never seen her drink alcohol."

"I didn't know her tolerance was so low... The amount of alcohol she drank probably has less alcohol than what's in a Liqueur Chocolate."

"Has she ever eaten Liqueur Chocolate?" Qin Feng asked curiously.

"...Seems like not."

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

Then he left, closed the door, and double-checked that it was locked securely, unable to be opened. Only then did he return to the observation deck.

The fireworks show had long since ended.

The DJ party on the deck was also starting to disperse.

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

He turned around and looked at Jiang Ran:

"If Little Xue could have held on for two more seconds, she might have said she liked you."

"She wouldn't have," Jiang Ran shook his head.

"Why wouldn't she?"

Qin Feng leaned against the railing:

"You seem to have been avoiding this. Because it's a private matter between you two, I've never asked. "

"But... it's not high school anymore. Is it okay to be in a relationship?"

Seeing Jiang Ran walk over and lean on the railing in silence, Qin Feng sighed:

"Could it be that the childhood sweetheart curse really exists?"

"It is indeed a rather strange phenomenon. In real life, the probability of childhood sweethearts ending up together is very, very low."

"Is it because you're too familiar? Like family, relatives, or a sisterly feeling?"

He turned around again and leaned on the railing with Jiang Ran, looking at him in the sea breeze:

"It's obvious, Little Xue likes you a lot. Especially this time when she jumped into the river to save someone... In her eyes, you're an invincible hero."

"Perhaps this incident had a huge impact on her, so emboldened by alcohol just now, she spoke her true feelings."

Jiang Ran remained silent.

"Hey, say something."

Qin Feng nudged him with his elbow.

"I don't know."

Jiang Ran looked at the sea foam 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 watched him quietly.

Finally.

As if making a decision:

"Jiang Ran, let me tell you a [secret]."

?

Jiang Ran looked up:

"You're still hiding something from me?"

"Little Xue told me not to say anything."

Qin Feng shrugged:

"But look, aren't I telling you now? It's just a few days late."

"Don't worry, it's not a big deal. I know what's important."

Jiang Ran looked at him.

He nodded:

"Go ahead."

Qin Feng licked his lips, took a deep breath through his nose, and slowly exhaled:

"For you, this is something that happened on this worldline. So after the spacetime fluctuated and the worldline jumped, you completely lost this memory, and we didn't tell you."

"That day, after you grabbed Senior Xu Yan and jumped off the bridge into the river yourself... Cheng Mengxue had a sudden stress reaction. She started yelling, and crazily wanted to jump into the river after you."

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

"She really went mad. The moment you jumped, tears streamed down her face. To break free from us, she almost bit Senior 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 seemed that although that bite landed on Xu Yan, it also pained Qin Feng's heart.

He paused.

He continued:

"Only when she saw you reach the shore from afar did Little Xue return to normal. Her face was really pale, completely bloodless."

"Later, we took you to the hospital. We were in a panic the whole way and didn't have time to bring this up."

"But after returning to school, Little Xue secretly found me and Xu Yan, begging us not to tell you about this. Oh, this is about how she lost control, cried, bit someone, and wanted to jump into the river to save you."

"I can understand her feelings. In that situation, who wouldn't panic? So don't take it to heart. She didn't intend to hide it from you. She must have felt she lost too much control and was too embarrassed."

(He) listened silently.

Recalling that after the temporal anomaly, (he) woke up in the hospital and the first person (he) saw was Cheng Mengxue.

At that time, (she) had just returned with takeout, smiling brightly, showing no sign of the madness and loss of composure (she) had experienced.

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

Qin Feng kept patching things up, defending Cheng Mengxue:

"But! What I want to say is, in your eyes, you might not understand why Little Xue said those bold things just now when she was drunk."

"But I understand. It's precisely because you jumped into the river that it was too big a shock for her. It's also possible that this incident made her decide to face her inner feelings and prepare to confess her love to you."

"It's just a pity that her alcohol tolerance is really too low. If she could have held on for a few more seconds, this matter between you two might have worked out."

Heh.

Unexpected.

Facing such a touching story, Jiang Ran actually let out a light laugh and shook his head:

"Qin Feng, you are indeed very good at solving problems. But I'm very sorry, you've solved this problem incorrectly."

"Do you have a conscience?"

Qin Feng was very angry:

"I'm not saying you have to do anything specific, but is this attitude of yours worthy of Little Xue?"

"Then do you know why Little Xue was so frantic and lost her composure when she saw me jump into the river?" Jiang Ran retorted.

"Wasn't it because she was worried about you?"

"Not entirely."

Jiang Ran shook his head:

"She knows I'm a very good swimmer. We took swimming lessons together when we were kids, and I even won a city-level medal in junior high."

Having said that, (he) pointed to the four-meter diving platform in the swimming pool:

"The platform you're afraid to jump from, Little Xue entered the water perfectly except for a slightly bigger splash; I even dared to do a backflip and dive in lying flat. Is this something an average swimmer would dare to do?"

"Moreover, I was wearing a life jacket. With this thing on, you wouldn't drown even if you were thrown into the ocean, and you'd definitely float to the surface if you died... With my excellent swimming skills, plus the life jacket, do you think there was a need to worry?"

"Even if we take a step back, there would definitely be worry, you were certainly worried about me at the time, but would you have been worried to such an exaggerated extent?"

After a well-reasoned outpouring, Qin Feng was also stunned.

"The three of us have been together for so many years, we've said everything, talked about everything. I never even thought of hiding something as BUG-like as the Spacetime Bulletin from you."

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

Jiang Ran straightened his body:

"You're still going to tell me things Little Xue asked you not to, I'm very touched."

"So, Qin Feng."

He turned his head.

Looking into the other's eyes:

"I'll tell you too... a [secret]."