362. Chen Jiang【18/122】
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But in the end, Lin Nan signed up for the competition.
The male-to-female ratio in the class was about 46 to 54, but few girls had signed up, so Chen Yao had no choice but to beg Lin Nan to participate, if only ceremonially.
Back in middle and high school, Lin Nan never participated in sports events; she was the type to help write cheerleading slogans.
But now, with a magic spell enhancing her stamina, she wasn’t worried about the sports day at all. She had off-the-charts upgrades! Even if she was weak, she could at least make it to the middle of the pack!
The sports event was in about two weeks, right after Labor Day at the beginning of May, when it shouldn’t be too hot yet.
Today, Chen Yao looked pensive, occasionally glancing at something on his phone while browsing an online shopping platform. It made Lin Nan suspicious that this guy was about to splurge on something expensive.
Probably a game?
After getting the game console, he had only bought “Splitting Up the Kitchen” and “Slay the Spire.” The games on that platform were super pricey, easily over a hundred bucks, and Chen Yao was usually pretty stingy.
That evening, the two of them made their way to the playground. With the upcoming sports day, Chen Yao wanted to jog a bit to regain his stamina.
He had been playing basketball less lately, and spending too much time cooped up with Lin Nan had caused his fitness to plummet.
“How about we go run every night from now on?” Chen Yao suggested again.
He had mentioned this last time too, but Lin Nan ended up burning with fever for days, and it was left unresolved.
“Sure, I guess. We have the sports day coming up, and I can’t be too embarrassed,” Lin Nan yawned, casually plopping down on the grass. “I’ll cheer for you!”
Chen Yao looked down at Lin Nan stretched out on the grass and sighed helplessly, “You already struggle to run a lap normally. Aren’t you worried about embarrassing yourself later?”
“Not at all!”
Lin Nan began to research what kind of magic could help her run a little faster.
Sure, she had magic to boost her endurance, but her calves and thighs had no muscle, so even with a boost, she wouldn’t be breaking any land speed records.
As she was saying this, she felt her phone vibrate. Glancing at it, she saw a message from Chen Jiang.
She was a bit dazed, unsure why this gaming nerd was reaching out to her.
“I happen to be passing by your school, want to chat?”
Lin Nan blinked, feeling it was a bit sudden.
Ever since their brief meeting when she had helped him find a job at the supermarket, they hadn’t even chatted online, so what was prompting him to reach out now?
“What’s up?” Chen Yao noticed her frozen state and asked curiously.
“It’s that Chen Jiang you mentioned this morning; he suddenly wants to hang out,” Lin Nan replied, still puzzled. “Don’t you know him too? Has he contacted you?”
“…”
Chen Yao didn’t know Chen Jiang at all! Panic rose in him; if Lin Nan met with Chen Jiang, the lipstick thing would surely get uncovered.
His face darkened as a wave of jealousy hit him. “He doesn’t have a crush on you, does he?”
“How could he like me? We’ve only met once!” Lin Nan murmured. “Now that he’s here, not seeing him would be a bit rude.”
Chen Yao, brimming with jealousy, said, “You brought him out to help job hunt; now that he’s successful, he probably remembers you and might want to pursue you.”
“He thinks I’m a guy.” Lin Nan glanced down at her feminine outfit and immediately wilted. “Forget it. If he finds out I’m actually a girl, he’d say I was lying. Come on, you know him too; why don’t you go?”
Honestly, Chen Yao figured Chen Jiang must’ve thought Lin Nan was joking when she claimed to be a guy; otherwise, he wouldn’t have gifted her lipstick.
But it was true. Though Lin Nan might not have had surgery yet last semester, she’d started developing, and her appearance and figure were just like those of a regular girl. Any normal person listening to a boyish girl insist she was a guy wouldn’t easily believe it.
“Alright! I’ll go! What does he look like?” Chen Yao let out a sigh of relief. At least if he went, he could brush off the gift and remind Chen Jiang she was taken.
“Um, he wears glasses, is skinny, and has a bit of a bear-like quality…”
Chen Yao’s jealousy evaporated instantly. He straightened his clothes, ready to confront Chen Jiang with soaring confidence. “You wait here. Does he usually hang out at the front or back entrance?”
“At the front.”
“Then I’ll head out!”
Lin Nan felt Chen Yao seemed a bit off today but couldn’t put her finger on it. Watching him dash away, she furrowed her brows in confusion.
Is he hiding something from me?
It might’ve been her sixth sense kicking in. Lin Nan instinctively thought of this.
Suddenly suspicious, she saw Chen Yao had already left the playground and hurriedly got up from the grass, stealthily trailing him from a distance, occasionally peeking up on her tiptoes.
Chen Yao walked quickly, and Lin Nan, afraid of being discovered, didn’t want to get too close. However, the dimly lit paths on campus at night meant she quickly lost track of him.
But she knew where he was headed, so she went right to the front entrance.
Sure enough, as she reached the front gates, she spotted the slender Chen Jiang with hunching shoulders, still sporting that creepy vibe, being stopped by a security guard.
The last time she met Chen Jiang, he had been full of self-doubt, but now, it seemed he exuded a bit more confidence.
Clearly, his job was going well. But what did he want with me? He couldn’t genuinely like me, right?
After all, she’d only helped him find a job and listened to his complaints about years of being a gaming hermit. They’d barely met for half a day.
He couldn’t seriously think this was a blind date, could he?
And where was Chen Yao?
Lin Nan blinked in confusion, scanning outside the gates, but spotted Chen Yao not far away, smiling as he chatted with another male student who looked well-groomed and was completely clueless, as if he had no idea what was going on.
Chen Yao… you’ve got the wrong person!
With a deep sigh, she was about to step in to fix this mess, but it seemed Chen Jiang heard Chen Yao talking to that innocent student and stepped forward.
They were chatting about something, and regardless, Chen Yao looked a bit taken aback upon seeing Chen Jiang. As for Chen Jiang, he appeared equally surprised after a few exchanges.
Who knows what they were talking about?
She wished she had a spell to eavesdrop.
Hiding behind a tree with her hands on it, Lin Nan peeked her head out to observe their expressions. But from such a distance, all she could gather was a vague sense of their conversation’s nature.
It certainly didn’t appear that they were having a pleasant chat; Chen Jiang, initially beaming, now wore a slightly darker expression, while Chen Yao maintained his forceful demeanor.
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363. GHS! GHS!
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“What’s going on? Why’s your b*tt sticking out so high?”
Suddenly, she felt a slap on her backside. Annoyed, Lin Nan turned around to glare, only to find Liu Xuefei grinning behind her.
“What are you spying on?” Liu Xuefei leaned out to look toward the school gates, catching sight of Chen Yao talking with a guy she didn’t know.
Confused, she turned back to Lin Nan. “You spying on your boyfriend?”
“No, not at all! Just worried!” Lin Nan deflected. She obviously wasn’t about to tell her it was because she thought Chen Yao was hiding something.
After all, she had no proof—just a feeling that Chen Yao had been acting strangely the past few days. It seemed like he had done something wrong he didn’t want to share, similar to how Lin Nan felt as a kid sneaking into an internet café and scurrying home, terrified of being caught.
These past few days, Chen Yao really was a bit off—they were all too familiar with the aura of someone hiding something!
She turned around again to peek at the gate, but was suddenly shocked to find that both Chen Yao and Chen Jiang had disappeared.
She blinked at Liu Xuefei. “Where did they go?”
“They left just now,” Liu Xuefei giggled, throwing an arm over Lin Nan’s shoulder like they were buddies. She leaned in closer, her curiosity bubbling over. “So, are you joining the school beauty contest? I can do your makeup and take photos—guaranteed to look stunning!”
“No, are you joining?” Lin Nan answered absentmindedly, her eyes still scanning around, searching for any trace of Chen Yao.
Liu Xuefei replied cheerfully, “Totally! Why wouldn’t I? Just make sure to vote for me!”
“Sure, I’ll make sure you get votes,” Lin Nan nodded, half-heartedly, still distracted. “But I’ve got something to do…”
“What could it possibly be? Come on, I’m treating you to bubble tea!”
“Uh…”
Before she could reject, Lin Nan was being dragged off by Liu Xuefei toward the campus bubble tea shop.
Half an hour later, after finishing their bubble tea, Liu Xuefei joyfully returned to the dorm, while Lin Nan, feeling defeated, headed back to her rental apartment.
Thanks to Liu Xuefei’s distraction, it was already 9 PM by the time Lin Nan got home.
Chen Yao still hadn’t returned, so she sat on the sofa, aimlessly scrolling through the latest news on her phone.
Not long into it, she noticed a new message pop up and was surprised to find it was from Chen Jiang.
“Did you like the lipstick?”
She was momentarily confused—wasn’t the lipstick a gift from Chen Yao? How did Chen Jiang know about it?
Without overthinking, she quickly pieced together a scenario where Chen Jiang must have suggested the lipstick as a gift since Chen Yao couldn’t decide what to buy.
After all, they both knew each other—given their last names, who knew, Chen Yao might even be a distant cousin of Chen Jiang.
“I liked it,” Lin Nan replied with a smile. “Thanks!”
“Glad to hear that.”
They were completely on different wavelengths. Chen Jiang thought Lin Nan had already seen his earlier message, not realizing that Chen Yao had deleted it.
After chatting a bit more, Lin Nan grew curious about what Chen Yao had told Chen Jiang.
“He said you have a girlfriend. You really are a guy?”
Girlfriend?
Lin Nan paused, realizing that Chen Yao must have been shielding her with a cover story. She chuckled as she replied, “What does it matter if I’m a guy or a girl? So, how’s your job going?”
“Not bad! I’m a game planner now, bringing in over four thousand a month.”
Lin Nan didn’t know much about that career and wasn’t inclined to ask, but Chen Jiang launched into an enthusiastic explanation of game planning.
Even though he had fully entered society, he went on and on about what he was good at, overwhelming Lin Nan with information she barely understood. Thankfully, just then, Chen Yao returned carrying a roast duck.
He placed the duck on the coffee table and explained, “I was chatting with Chen Jiang while walking, and we ended up at the market. Saw the roast duck and couldn’t resist grabbing half a duck for you.”
However, he quickly noticed Lin Nan was stealing glances at her phone. A jolt of panic went through him as he hurried over to check, seeing it was none other than Chen Jiang again.
Chen Yao’s expression darkened as he feigned nonchalance, “What’s he been saying? I told him for sure that you’re a guy and you even have a girlfriend now. Why’s he still bugging you?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend! You’re slandering me.” Lin Nan had thought about wanting a girlfriend but had always been shy and plain-looking. Now that she had become more attractive, she was facing the impending change into a full woman.
“He’s just talking to me about work stuff—game planning and whatnot…” Lin Nan passed her phone to him. “I don’t quite get it; can you help me talk to him?”
“Sure! I’m a genius; I can understand anything!” Chen Yao snatched the phone, disregarding the latest messages, and scrolled up, his heart sinking deeper.
Fortunately, Chen Jiang hadn’t directly mentioned that he was the one who gifted the lipstick.
If only he hadn’t let a moment of jealousy and vanity make him confess to it back then!
Chen Yao’s face darkened, akin to a bottle of cola. Having told one lie, he now had to concoct bigger and more elaborate ones to avoid getting caught by Lin Nan. Thankfully, his girlfriend’s head was filled with dreams of money and food, making her easier to fool.
He took a cautious glance at Lin Nan, who was already munching on the roast duck, and couldn’t resist commenting, “How does it taste? Save me some!”
“Not bad, just a bit greasy, half a duck is just right.” Lin Nan picked up a piece and, beaming, offered it towards Chen Yao’s mouth. “Open wide, ah~”
“Ah…” Chen Yao gaped foolishly.
But before he could get a taste, Lin Nan decisively stuffed the piece into her own mouth, chewing with a triumphant spark in her eyes, reveling in her successful prank.
“If you keep this up, I’ll have to stage a food heist!”
“Come at me!” Lin Nan provocatively shoved a few more pieces into her mouth, her cheeks bulging like a pufferfish, and she asked with a mouthful, “So how did your chat with Chen Jiang go? What did he say…”
Before she finished, she noticed Chen Yao suddenly lunging at her, hands pinning her shoulders, effectively pushing her down onto the sofa.
Her mind went blank for a second, but as she recalled the “stage a food heist” comment, her cheeks instantly flushed, and her heart raced.
“Wait, I’ve still got more!”
She quickly chewed her food, swallowing the roast duck in a hurry.
“No stealing from someone else’s mouth; it’s gross…”
Before she could finish her thought, Chen Yao’s face dove down, pressing his lips against hers, his hands becoming rather adventurous.
Lin Nan stared wide-eyed at his brows hovering just a breath away from hers and suddenly realized he was just trying to take advantage of her.
His hot hands burned like fire on dry grass, and her body began to heat up. Her eyes half-closed, her gaze becoming hazy.
Then she quickly cast a calmness spell and raised her knee right into his most sensitive area!
“Holy cr*p!”
Though it wasn’t hard, Chen Yao still jumped up in shock.
“You’re cursing at me!”
“Uh?”
You think I’m going to let you get away with that?
