Yama Reborn
Chapter 61 - 59 [Spring Blossoms]

Chapter 61: Chapter 59 [Spring Blossoms]

[Slept in~]

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Chapter Fifty-Nine [Springtime Blossoms]

Days just passed by, quite ordinarily.

Chen Nuo sat on the grass beside the sports field.

During physical education class, the boys and girls were split into groups; the girls were playing volleyball on the field. As for the boys, after they finished their run, the teacher casually tossed them two basketballs and then let them do as they pleased.

Chen Nuo couldn’t be bothered to go to the basketball court to show off again. A Psychic using his abilities to play basketball wouldn’t just dominate a high school court; he could probably give NBA players a heart attack.

It was already April, and the grass was lush and green, although the school repeatedly warned students not to trample on it...

But the grass is so green, it practically begs you to roll around on it! If you can’t run, roll, or play on the grass, then what’s the point of it?

Chen Nuo’s gaze drifted towards the girls’ group. Watching Sun Keke jumping around, he found her incredibly cute.

Well, hypnosis does have its effects.

Hypnosis was one of the skills Chen Nuo had mastered, albeit a rather lackluster one.

Actually, it wasn’t very useful... especially when it came to truly important matters. Hypnosis couldn’t completely erase memories, nor could it brainwash someone. It merely used continuous psychological suggestion to make the subject temporarily ’ignore’ a certain memory. Ideally, another, more profound memory would serve as a substitute. If this substitute was more deeply ingrained in the subject’s consciousness, it would overshadow the lesser memory.

For example, that night after Chen Nuo kissed Sun Keke...

A first kiss, of course, was an event of monumental significance in a young girl’s heart.

Only with such a powerful memory could hypnosis be used to make her disregard the other events of that night.

It was a form of psychological suggestion. And it wasn’t omnipotent. If someone were to bring up the memories of that night again, forcefully jogging her memory, the girl would still recall everything. So, this skill was rather useless.

Whether in South Korea or at EBC, Chen Nuo had never used it on Firefly or Hummingbird.

It just wasn’t feasible. For instance, using hypnosis on Firefly to make her forget he rescued her that night? It might have been possible at the time. But her father, Li Donghe, had died—such a major event, how could she forget? He Zhengzai had also died. With a person so deeply entangled with the Li Family gone... the police, the company, everyone would investigate thoroughly afterward. There were too many connections, and various social ties would inevitably be dragged in. Once she remembered, a chain reaction would occur, the hypnosis would fail, and the memories would be reawakened.

Even Chen Yanluo, no matter how formidable, couldn’t possibly hypnotize everyone in the world connected to the Li Family.

His name was Chen Nuo, not Chen Daolin, not Chen Xiaolian, not Du Wei, not Chen Xiao.

Hypnotizing Sun Keke and Zhang Linsheng was easy enough. As long as Li Qingshan didn’t show up looking for them, and no ’connected individual’ came along to trigger her memories or interact with her, he could muddle through.

THWACK!

A book landed in front of Chen Nuo.

Chen Nuo looked down and saw a pair of petite women’s athletic shoes before him—white with orange patterns, looking a bit retro.

Well, okay, these are this year’s trend. They’d only be called retro twenty years from now, I guess.

Looking up from the shoes, he saw a pair of fair, slender calves. Their muscle lines were full and symmetrical, and the calves and thighs formed a straight line. This leg shape was precisely the so-called "chopstick legs" that countless girls in future generations would covet—long, straight, and fair...

Alright, I can’t look any further up. The girl’s wearing a short skirt, and looking up from this angle... Hmm, hmm, hmm... Mustn’t look, mustn’t look, or I’m afraid it’ll be a 404.

"You’re wearing a skirt to PE class? Doesn’t the teacher say anything?" Chen Nuo sighed and averted his gaze.

"I’m not feeling well today, so the teacher allowed me to rest," Li Yingwan said with a giggle as she sat down beside Chen Nuo. She tried to lean against him, but Chen Nuo scooted back, and she leaned into empty space.

"Oppa!" The long-legged girl seemed a bit dissatisfied, complaining, "You’ve been a bit distant with me lately." She pouted adorably and widened her eyes. "Don’t tell me you actually like that Sun Fatso?"

Fat? Chen Nuo was taken aback and instinctively glanced at School Belle Sun.

How is she fat? The girl’s figure is slender and graceful... Well, okay.

Chen Nuo understood where the long-legged girl’s resentment was coming from.

With the arrival of spring, students had shed their thick winter clothes and were dressing more lightly.

And just like that, School Belle Sun’s natural assets were on full display.

The long-legged girl, however, was at a bit of a disadvantage.

Hmm... she’s flat-chested.

Actually, Chen Nuo wanted to console Firefly. According to his memories from his past life, she turned out alright in her twenties; not exactly flat-chested, perhaps she developed later on.

But now... Okay. One has the legs, the other has the bust. Seems quite fair.

"Oppa! Stop staring at her," Li Yingwan pinched Chen Nuo’s arm discontentedly. "You’ve been neglecting me more and more lately. Are you avoiding me? And I know that Sun Fatso often goes to your house for meals."

Chen Nuo smiled, ignoring the "Sun Fatso" nickname, and chuckled, "She occasionally visits Xiao Yezi on weekends."

Actually, it hasn’t been that often.

The night of their first kiss, after escorting Sun Keke home, Chen Nuo had used a beer and that first kiss to deliver a significant shock to the girl’s psyche, allowing the hypnosis to take effect.

But there was one side effect.

Old Sun, however, was rather dissatisfied with Chen Nuo for letting his daughter drink alcohol.

Plus... after the first kiss, Sun Keke’s affection for Chen Nuo was completely undisguised.

This set off major alarm bells in Old Sun’s mind!

Lately, his control over Sun Keke had become even stricter. Besides weekends, he had actually implemented a weekday curfew for his daughter: she had to come straight home after school and was not allowed out.

Old Sun was determined to keep his daughter in check...

In reality, he understood that such restrictions were only a stopgap measure; the two youngsters still spent their days together at school. But Old Sun was just seeking peace of mind.

At least... not allowing them to meet at night after school is somewhat safer. Young people don’t know their limits. What if passion gets the better of them and they do something reckless? Old Sun definitely didn’t want to become a grandfather the moment his daughter graduated. So, he always had to put some pressure on the situation. At least he had to drag things out until his daughter graduated and went to college. By then, if the two young people wanted to date, Old Sun didn’t plan to interfere much. Besides, although that kid Chen Nuo wasn’t keen on studying, overall, Old Sun didn’t dislike him.

In this era, the commercialization of education had just begun, and college degrees were not yet common, so Old Sun didn’t want to be too critical of Chen Nuo’s academic prospects.

The kid was still reasonably ambitious and diligent with his part-time jobs. His only slight concern was that Chen Nuo kept hanging out with that Brother Lei, which made Old Sun a bit uneasy. Even though Brother Lei had borrowed two hundred thousand from him, Old Sun knew clearly that Brother Lei was involved in shady dealings. Having lived an upright life himself, naturally, he didn’t want his daughter’s future boyfriend—ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!—to be too close to a hoodlum. After all, it’s always better to take the honest path.

By the way.

Old Sun was quite pleased with himself recently.

He had been reinstated to his former position as Director of Instruction at the school. Furthermore, he had received his certificate as an Advanced Worker in the district’s education system, and, if all went as expected, his professional title would also be upgraded soon.

He had also signed the contract with the education company.

The investors showed an eager desire to recruit him, and their attitude was extremely cordial.

Old Sun was a decent fellow; if it had been someone else, they might have dragged things out to negotiate better terms. But Old Sun’s mind wasn’t on that; he signed the contract readily and happily.

The long-legged girl pestered Chen Nuo for a while. Seeing his persistently indifferent expression, she finally sighed.

She puffed out her cheeks, composed herself for a moment, and then suddenly asked, "Oppa, are you free tomorrow night?"

"No."

"Hey!" Li Yingwan exclaimed, her eyes wide. Then she lowered her voice and pleaded softly, "Oppa, don’t be like that. I really have something important."

"What important thing could you possibly have," Chen Nuo sighed.

"My mom is coming to Jinling tonight to see me. Tomorrow night, she wants to take you out to dinner. She hasn’t had the chance to properly express her gratitude for what you did last time. Mom said you’re our family’s great benefactor, and she definitely wants to thank you in person."

Chen Nuo wasn’t too concerned about being thanked or not.

Still, meeting Li Yingwan’s mother... It would be best if I could persuade her in person to take her daughter back to South Korea.

After some thought, Chen Nuo nodded. "Alright, let’s meet then."

Li Yingwan cheered, hugged Chen Nuo’s arm and shook it, then jumped up, pumping her fist. "Oppa, I will definitely learn Mandarin and memorize the tongue-twisters quickly! Just you wait!"

Chen Nuo watched the girl bounce away and sighed.

"Hey, stop sighing." Luo Qing walked over and sat down beside Chen Nuo. "You’re really asking for it, you know? Two amazing girls like you, and you’re acting all troubled. Anyone else would be over the moon, okay?"

Chen Nuo glanced at Luo Qing and whispered, "Got any cigarettes?"

"...Bro, we’re in PE class," Luo Qing rolled his eyes.

"Then how about we hit the nearby internet cafe at noon to play StarCraft?"

"Uh... skip class this afternoon?"

"Yeah, you’re not going to college anyway. Didn’t your dad say he wants you to work with him in the factory after graduation?"

Luo Qing thought for a moment and nodded eagerly.

By the second semester of their second year of high school, teachers generally had a good read on the students in their class.

For students like Chen Nuo and Luo Qing, who weren’t planning on going to college, as long as they could graduate without issues, the teachers wouldn’t bother them too much.

Just don’t cause trouble.

"Oh, right, that tongue-twister thing with Li Yingwan, that was your idea, wasn’t it? She even came to me asking for help learning them."

"Yeah, that’s right."

"If she learns them, will you really go out with her? What about Sun Keke then?"

Chen Nuo smirked. "After the tongue-twisters, there’s still reciting a long list of dishes..."

"...You’re seriously not human!"

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[Um, this Chapter is a transition, not much substance, so don’t complain about filler. Transitional Chapters are bound to happen occasionally.

Also, BANG BANG BANG.]

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