Chapter 1226: Chapter 823: Summer’s Long Night (Part 2)

"Really?" Wang Yuhe was still confused, only reacting now. "Oh, I see. Thanks."

Jiang Nian: "..."

With a bang, brilliant fireworks blossomed in the night sky, reflecting off the bonfire from the burning tower.

The magnificent, romantic scene forcibly captivated both girls.

Jiang Nian turned his head and looked at Chen Yunyun. What a pity, moments like this are perfect for kissing.

Except there was also Wang Yuhe.

Huge third wheel!!

As for kissing Wang Yuhe, that hadn’t crossed Jiang Nian’s mind yet; he was afraid she’d bite his lips.

No, wait, why would he be kissing her in the first place?

Weird.

Right then, Chen Yunyun also felt something. She turned to look at Jiang Nian, and the two of them just happened to meet each other’s eyes.

Hm?

The next second, the girl’s face flushed slightly. She turned her head away, then secretly stole another glance at him from the corner of her eye.

Wait, she read that too?

Jiang Nian was also dumbfounded. Never mind people losing to fate—he’d actually lost to Wang Yuhe at this.

How is this even a thing?

Luckily, he didn’t feel embarrassed. "Ahem, looks pretty nice, huh? These fireworks were a good deal."

"Oh." Chen Yunyun nodded.

"You’re nice to look at too."

Chen Yunyun: "... Were you just trying to...?"

"Uh." Jiang Nian hesitated, not sure what she meant. "Yeah, kinda, but I couldn’t find the right moment."

The "right moment," meaning good timing.

"Mm."

...

Night fell, and he came out after taking a shower.

Jiang Nian had taken a shower and was lying on the bed in his room, ready to sleep, his freshly washed clothes hanging outside.

He’d brought clean underwear—actually from last time, when he’d gone on a trip with Xu Qianqian and the others, stuffed in a bag.

By some fluke, they’d been left in the car.

He had no idea how they were doing now. They’d said he should swing by halfway, but he didn’t know if that was for real.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

Jiang Nian picked it up and saw it was Chen Yunyun calling. He didn’t think too much and answered directly.

"Hello?"

"Are you asleep?"

Jiang Nian glanced around. His clothes were all hanging outside, so he probably couldn’t go out. He replied,

"Yeah."

There was a clear moment of hesitation on the other end, then a response, followed by silence. "You’re not leaving tomorrow, right?"

"Mm, probably not." Jiang Nian did a quick calculation. "Tomorrow or in a couple days, either works."

"Anyway, we’ll see."

His answer was ambiguous, not to be coy, but because he genuinely wasn’t sure—there were just too many variables.

Still, another two days was about the limit.

That’s the downside of living at home: if he didn’t go back for three days, Old Jiang would just assume he was out messing around.

Even though... he’d be wrongly accused.

The next day.

Jiang Nian got up early, changed into his now-dry clothes, and took a walk outside before breakfast.

In the class group chat, only a few people had talked yesterday.

It was getting quieter and quieter.

He scrolled through the messages; Sister Zhao was already asking him when he’d be free to come out and start doing business.

Basically, selling clothes.

She’d pretty much figured out the trade by now, even had a few hit items and made some money.

Sometimes, it was pure luck.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and replied with a date. Dragging it out any longer would just be a waste of time.

He was confident in whatever he did and wasn’t worried about lacking luck.

Meanwhile, Chen Yunyun and the other girl had also woken up. After washing up and brushing their teeth, they called Jiang Nian to have breakfast together.

At the table, they reached a consensus.

"Let’s go boating!"

"Sure."

Around nine, when it wasn’t too hot yet, the three of them set off for the small lake below the farmhouse.

They rented a kayak, put on life jackets, and started rowing.

This wasn’t like those motorized boats; rowing it took some technique, or you’d just spin in circles on the water.

Jiang Nian couldn’t be bothered and let Wang Yuhe mess with it. Chen Yunyun, on the other hand, was scared half to death, her face a few shades paler.

It was hard to keep the boat steady, but when it was Jiang Nian’s turn to take over, Wang Yuhe still pulled out a line to do some Fishing.

On the other end, she’d only tied a small stick.

"You’re going to fish?"

"Yeah!" Wang Yuhe was all excited, already tossing the hook into the water, little ripples spreading out.

Jiang Nian said, "You won’t catch anything like that. And if you do hook a big fish, it’s going to drag you in."

"Huh?" Wang Yuhe was actually afraid of water, just braver about it. "Then... I won’t fish anymore."

Jiang Nian said nothing. He’d watched a movie once: a guy and two girls out on a boat, both girls fell in.

In the end, the guy only saved one. Then it turned into this angsty scars-and-wounds kind of movie, all kinds of messy ’do you love me or not’ stuff.

All he could think was: if you’re bad at it, don’t play.

"It’s fine, this isn’t some wild lake." Jiang Nian pointed to the other side. "There are lifeguards over there too."

"Besides, even if both of you fall in, I can grab one of you with each hand and pull you back."

"One in each hand?" Wang Yuhe was stunned. "What if the kayak flips and we each fall on a different side?"

"Can you not say stuff like that? It’s bad luck." Chen Yunyun’s little face went stark white. "I already want to go back to shore."

Jiang Nian reassured her, "It won’t flip. I’ll save you."

"I don’t need you to save me!" Wang Yuhe refused to accept that. After thinking about it, she said, "I can dog paddle. I’ll swim back myself."

Chen Yunyun: "....."

These two, seriously.

....

After boating, they had lunch. The three of them stayed in the room playing around, then took a nap together.

Around four in the afternoon, when it wasn’t so hot outside—

"Let’s go out."

"Where to?"

"Walk around nearby. I remember there’s an archery range." Jiang Nian led the two girls toward the back of the farmhouse.

They only discovered when they got there that the archery range had been abandoned.

The owner had considered that many guests were families with kids who liked to run around, so he simply shut the project down.

Otherwise, one year of operation, fifty years of paying out.

The three of them were a bit disappointed, but they still wandered around nearby. In the evening, they set up a barbecue grill, warming themselves by the fire as well.

Strictly speaking, they should’ve been eating hotpot.

But that didn’t really have much of a vibe to it. Barbecuing outdoors was better, plus they could build a bonfire for fun.

That was the charm of a farmhouse stay.

Night fell.

After playing with the grill for a while, Jiang Nian quickly lost interest and then tricked Wang Yuhe.

"How’s your grilling skills?"

In reality, Wang Yuhe had never grilled before—she’d only watched stall owners do it—but she still volunteered herself.

"Of course they’re great."

"I don’t believe you."

"Hmph!!" Wang Yuhe took over his spot and was immediately taken hostage by the grill.

She turned the skewers over gingerly, the heat going high and low in turns.

Jiang Nian happily relaxed, turning to chat with Chen Yunyun, sipping on iced drinks as they talked in bits and pieces.

Bliss.

"You’re leaving tomorrow?"

"Ah... there’s nothing much left to do." Jiang Nian said, "We’ve done all the stuff once. It’s about time to head back."

Chen Yunyun: "Oh."

There was actually one "project" they hadn’t done yet, but for various reasons, whether they could do it or not wasn’t up to him.

After nine in the evening.

Jiang Nian was sitting on the swing set playing on his phone. He couldn’t sleep yet and didn’t feel like showering and going to bed so early.

Summer nights were long and a bit hard to get through.

He flipped through the calendar, which was covered in markings. The 25th was circled in red—the day the exam results would come out.

He’d be going back tomorrow and wouldn’t be staying in Zhen Nan much longer.

Mm.....

Suddenly, a new message popped up on his phone.

"Asleep?"

Jiang Nian glanced at it and replied to Chen Yunyun, "I’m out on the swing set, [image]."

Chen Yunyun: "I’m coming over."

"Hm?"

A little while later, Chen Yunyun really did come out. Wearing a slightly oversized shirt, she stood next to him.

"You’re going back tomorrow?"

"Uh... yeah." Jiang Nian looked at her, unsure what she was thinking. "What’s up?"

"Nothing, just feeling a bit nervous." Chen Yunyun held onto the swing and didn’t ask him to move.

Their distance was very close, but it felt completely natural.

He could only say: they were used to it.

"About the results?"

"Mm."

"You’ll be fine. You did pretty well." Jiang Nian put his phone away and casually offered a few words of comfort.

"Maybe."

The swing was a bit low, probably designed with kids’ height in mind, so Jiang Nian had to tuck his legs up.

Standing beside him, Chen Yunyun was actually a bit taller than him like this. After a few seconds of silence, her hands tightened around the chains of the swing.

Then she turned and wrapped her arms around Jiang Nian.

Slowly, she lowered her head.

The faint, sweet fragrance on her body slowly seeped into the long summer night.