Frankness

"Of course, I remember."

Jiang Ran poured wine into his glass.

How could he possibly forget.

It had only been a few days since high school started, and everyone wasn't very familiar with each other. Jiang Ran and Qin Feng hadn't even spoken.

But during a physical education class, a junior high classmate who had bullied Qin Feng before came back to stir up trouble, shouting from afar, "Kid with no dad."

Jiang Ran couldn't stand it and stepped forward to argue. As they argued, it turned into a fight.

Afterward, they were, of course, inevitably criticized by the teacher and had to write self-criticisms.

But it was precisely because of this incident that Qin Feng met Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue, and the three gradually became close friends.

Sometimes, fate is just like that.

Beautiful encounters happen unexpectedly, and sudden partings come without warning.

"That was a small thing."

Jiang Ran looked at his wine glass.

"You don't need to keep bringing it up."

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

"To the two of you, it might really have been a small thing."

The beer gurgled down, foam rising, layering the memories with unspoken thoughts.

"You and Xue were warm and kind since you were young. You must have helped many people and done many good deeds."

"But for me, from my perspective... after being bullied for so many years, only you two stood up for me. For so many years, only you two protected me and defended my dignity."

"You're exaggerating," Jiang Ran quipped.

"Not at all."

Qin Feng shook his head.

"Before I met you, more people bullied me, and they did worse things."

"To avoid causing trouble for my mom, I always swallowed my grievances. In the end, I was always the one apologizing."

"Because I was afraid the teacher would call my parents. Their parents lived in the city and could get here quickly by car. But my mom was in our hometown, working multiple jobs, and wouldn't even sleep to earn money to support the family... How could I dare let her come to school?"

"Of course, my mom doted on me. If she knew I was being bullied, she would have dropped everything to come to school and back me up."

"But..."

He smiled helplessly, shaking his head, his eyes filled with a sense of powerlessness when facing the past.

Yeah.

Now, he could earn millions with a single text message.

With a positron cannon in hand, his future was infinitely bright.

It wasn't that everything he wished for came true, but 99% of his desires could be fulfilled.

But...

Facing his mother, who had carried the family alone in the past... what use were his current and future glories?

"But if she came to school to back me up, what then?"

Qin Feng continued.

"Afterward, she would still have to deal with a series of messes, endless tasks, and might even lose the job she'd finally found."

"Not to mention that my hometown is far from the city. My mom definitely wouldn't want to take a chartered car; she'd probably take a long, bumpy bus ride back and forth, which would be so exhausting."

"So, many times, many times before, just like in high school, I would humbly apologize to them, try to smooth things over, and prevent the teacher from calling my parents."

Jiang Ran listened silently, not saying a word.

Actually, Qin Feng had said these things many times over the years.

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

The tragic lives of the mother and son began with the death of the family's pillar.

The mother worked hard for her son, and the son felt sorry for his mother. She didn't want him to suffer, and he didn't want her to be burdened... An unsolvable cycle was thus formed.

In fact, before meeting them in high school, Qin Feng's academic performance wasn't outstanding.

With his genius intellect, he could naturally score full marks and be first place with ease.

But... also for the sake of "not causing trouble," "not being conspicuous," and "not adding extra pressure to his mother," Qin Feng deliberately controlled his scores on every exam, precisely keeping his ranking in the middle of the class.

This was something the young Jiang Ran couldn't understand at the time.

If he could get first place and the teacher would treat him like a prized prodigy, why would he hold back his scores?

But later, Jiang Ran gradually understood.

Children from unhappy homes are cautious about everything.

After his father passed away, all his experiences warned Qin Feng... it's better to avoid trouble than to seek it.

"So, to get back to your question."

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

He picked up his full beer glass and looked at him:

"Why would I ever hate you?"

Qin Feng's eyes were clear:

"Never."

"From the moment you two stood up for me, from the moment you two helped me pick up my dignity... I knew I could count on you both."

[You two are friends I'd protect with my life.]

Clink.

The glasses collided.

After clinking glasses, Jiang Ran and Qin Feng downed a large gulp of beer.

A chilling sensation down their throats.

An unspoken bitterness in their hearts.

Jiang Ran felt that being human was truly difficult.

If he didn't bring up Qin Feng's father, his heart was filled with guilt, feeling like he'd wronged Qin Feng.

But if he brought it up, he felt like a terrible person for not even wanting to save his good friend's father.

Emotions and reason were always in fierce conflict, neither yielding nor coexisting.

But.

After all.

It was good to finally speak his mind and heart.

After a few drinks, the good brothers had an honest talk, and the matter was thoroughly put to rest.

"Wang Hao is really slow..."

Empty bottles piled up on the floor. Wang Hao's WeChat messages were always "Coming soon," "Almost there," "Traffic jam," or "The bus is too heavy."

"Looks like Wang Hao's financial situation isn't great lately."

Jiang Ran urged him on WeChat while also complaining:

"Thinking about it, haven't we been a bit too extravagant lately?"

Each of them had hundreds of thousands in their pockets.

They didn't buy cars, houses, or luxury goods during their college lives... This money truly didn't get spent easily, giving the illusion that it was endless.

Other classmates took the subway or bus, but they had formed a habit of taking taxis whenever they went out.

"This little bit of luxury isn't a big deal."

Qin Feng was dismissive.

"Who are we... if not gods?"

He was clearly referencing a meme.

A callback to the lines from when they were acting.

"You're really milking this."

As the scriptwriter, Jiang Ran felt a pang of awkwardness.

"You used this joke on the cruise ship last time, and you're still using it now... How much do you really like the script I wrote?"

"I told you long ago, I really like it."

Qin Feng said with interest.

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

"Especially now that we can control spacetime messages, it really feels like we're manipulating history and destiny."

Heh.

Jiang Ran let out a dry chuckle.

"I doubt anyone else would praise me like that. I vaguely remember that the setting book I wrote back then invited a lot of ridicule from classmates. They all said I was daydreaming and had lost my mind."

"I really wish you could have been my middle school classmate... If you had encouraged me back then, maybe I would have pursued web novel writing and become a platinum author by now."

"I wish I could have too."

Qin Feng leaned back in his chair, resting against the backrest.

"To be honest, during my free time recently, I've read the script you wrote for the Film Club several times."

"You really have nothing better to do."

"Don't say that. After all, it was the first movie I acted in. I didn't just read the script multiple times; I also watched the final cut Xu Yan gave us several times."

"Oh, that. I haven't watched it yet."

Jiang Ran remembered.

Back on the sports field, Xu Yan had indeed given them a USB drive, saying it contained the edited final cut of the movie and asked them to watch it and give some feedback.

But with how busy he had been lately, he hadn't had the time.

"So, how was it? Was it filmed well?"

Jiang Ran took a sip of his beer.

"I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Or maybe I did, but since I don't have memories from after the worldline change, I wouldn't remember even if I had."

"It was quite good."

Qin Feng agreed.

"We acted well, and the shots were good too. I don't think winning an award at the University Film Festival would be a problem."

"However... when I was watching it, I always had one question."

"You originally named this story Genius Playground and said it was a game involving eleven geniuses."

"But in the movie script, there wasn't any direct depiction of the game itself."

"I've always been curious, how did this game proceed? And what was its ultimate goal?"

He looked up at Jiang Ran.

"So, could you tell me..."

"[What kind of game is Genius Playground?]"