NOVPUB
Chapter 423: Chapter 298: The Use of Mountain Bikes
The night sky after the rain was clear and tranquil.
After evening self-study, Yang Sheng found Jiang Ning and planned to go to the bicycle shed with him.
It rained the day before yesterday, and Yang Sheng had taken a taxi back, so her mountain bike had been left in the school bicycle shed and hadn’t been moved for days.
Now that the rain had stopped, she didn’t want to take a taxi again. Taxis in Yuzhou City start at 6 yuan for 2.5 kilometers, and if she were to take a taxi home, there was an additional 1.5 yuan surcharge for extra kilometers at night.
While walking towards the back door of the classroom, Ma Shicheng had just put away his phone when he looked up at the two of them and suddenly remembered something.
"Jiang Ning, Yang Sheng, you pass ’Nanhong Road’ on your way home at night, right?"
Seeing he wasn’t picking a fight, Yang Sheng replied in a normal tone, "What’s up?"
Ma Shicheng said, "Do you browse our city’s forum? Wang Longlong was on the forum a few days ago, and he heard that there was an accident on Nanhong Road. The police had to close off the road during the rainy days."
"Be careful tonight."
He wouldn’t have made the comment if he hadn’t just thought of it.
"Do you know what happened?" Yang Sheng asked; she had heard of the local forum.
To browse the forum, one needed to register an account, which she hadn’t done.
Ma Shicheng shook his head, "The forum was very vague about it. Just be careful, that’s all."
"Thanks." Yang Sheng had a straightforward personality. She’d had unpleasant experiences with Ma Shicheng before, but now that he was offering help voluntarily, she didn’t act coy like other girls.
School had just let out, and the place was crowded.
Xue Yuantong was waiting outside the bicycle shed until Jiang Ning and Yang Sheng had their bicycles ready, then she followed.
"Yang Sheng, did you replace your mudguard?" Xue Yuantong asked.
"Yeah, the previous one wasn’t good, so I took it off."
Mentioning the last mudguard annoyed Yang Sheng; she had bought one that was a bit short.
When she’d biked to school, her jacket had gotten splattered with mud, leaving her without a jacket to wear all morning.
Yang Sheng said, "This time I bought one like yours and fitted a new mudguard."
Jiang Ning glanced at the new mudguard on Yang Sheng’s bike and reminded her,
"You could actually fit a longer one."
After hearing this, she asked, puzzled, "Isn’t yours long enough? I’ve seen you riding in the rain many times."
Xue Yuantong said, "Jiang Ning’s mudguard is really awesome."
Jiang Ning said, "Right, Xue Yuantong is my mudguard."
Feeling belittled, Xue Yuantong immediately glared at him, "I’m going to bite you to death!"
Jiang Ning looked at Yang Sheng’s mountain bike and said,
"You better ride slowly tonight."
His mountain bike’s mudguard wasn’t particularly long, but it never splattered mud because when he rode, he enveloped the bike in Spiritual Power.
If someone else were to ride his mountain bike at high speeds, mud would still splatter on their backs.
"Get on the bike," Jiang Ning patted the back seat.
Xue Yuantong, having been snubbed, resisted riding Jiang Ning’s bike again; but thinking about the long way home and the dark night, she obediently got on.
She shut her mouth, planning not to say a word to Jiang Ning for the rest of the evening, intent on giving him the ’cold shoulder.’
On the way home, Jiang Ning initially didn’t ride side by side with Yang Sheng, as they were too close to the school and didn’t want to obstruct others by riding side by side.
Not until they turned onto a spacious street did he pedal a couple times to pull up alongside her.
This was the Nanhong Road that Ma Shicheng had mentioned.
"Jiang Ning, didn’t you participate in the school anniversary performance?" Yang Sheng said, "Your magic act is the most spectacular performance I’ve ever seen on stage."
Yang Sheng felt she would always remember Jiang Ning’s performance whenever school events like the evening party were mentioned in the future.
"I’d rather not. Let’s give others a chance."
It was fine to mess around in class, but if he performed at the school anniversary, let alone being discovered by school leaders or well-known alumni for being abnormal.
Just considering how prevalent smart phones are nowadays, his magic would certainly be recorded and then spread far and wide.
At this stage, Jiang Ning enjoyed his unremarkable life and didn’t want to stand out, preferring not to ruin his peaceful days.
"That’s a shame." Yang Sheng felt regretful, "Like me, I have no talent, I can only participate in the sports event."
Jiang Ning said, "Do your best; the competitors in this year’s sports event are not weak."
Yang Sheng agreed, "Yeah, there are girls in the junior and senior year who are training in sports."
Chatting along the way, although they slowed down, the intersection where they’d separate by the river dam was quickly approaching.
The street lamps stood in rows beside the road, casting a dim yellow halo, lighting the asphalt washed by the rainwater, with the distant greenery still dripping wet.
The night was very quiet; the only sounds were the conversations between Jiang Ning and Yang Sheng.
Yang Sheng’s figure was slender, yet she possessed a resilient spirit, and her face was clean-cut and spirited.
The wind generated by the cycling scattered the hair on her forehead, a few strands messily falling on her nose, lending her face an unusual dash of charm.
Whether from the wind or the fluctuations of her breathing, those few strands trembled slightly, making observers itch on her behalf, wanting to reach out and smooth them for her.
Amidst such a beautiful environment, a tremendous noise arose up ahead, resembling the desperate roar of steel beasts.
The vast noise swept across the entire street, drowning out Yang Sheng’s voice.
With a move of his Divine Sense, beneath the night sky, three motorcycles appeared speeding in the wrong direction like arrows shot from a bow.
Yang Sheng frowned; she often heard the sound of motorbikes racing through the streets at night.
Even in the wee hours, the disturbing noise would abruptly rise in the quiet streets.
With Jiang Ning’s eyesight, he could even make out that the motorcyclists were a few young people in their twenties, and at speeds exceeding 100 km/h, their helmetless faces were twisted by the oncoming wind.
Once the motorcycles passed by and the noise decreased to a certain level, Yang Sheng said,
"There’s a lot of street racing in the urban area."
