Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

The next morning, a ray of sunlight shone on Xue Rui’s face.

Xue Rui yawned. He vaguely remembered having a fever last night.

In his fragmented memories, it seemed Lin Ruoxi had been taking care of him.

’I wonder if it was real...’

He pushed himself up and saw a glass of water on the table, along with a packet of children’s ibuprofen granules that had been cut open...

Xue Rui was sure it was real.

Seeing the sun outside the window, Xue Rui’s heart sank.

’The sun is that high? It must be at least eight or nine in the morning. Did I miss class?’

’And Lin Ruoxi didn’t wake me?’

"Lin Ruoxi?" Xue Rui looked up and saw her sitting in front of the computer.

"Oh, I’ll go heat up the food," Lin Ruoxi mumbled.

"Did we both skip class?" Xue Rui asked.

"When I was delivering meals to our classmates this morning, I asked for a leave of absence for you, too. Director Wang said it was fine," Lin Ruoxi said in a low voice.

Xue Rui felt a bit helpless. Lin Ruoxi had actually gone to deliver breakfast to their classmates by herself, carrying such a heavy load so early in the morning on such slippery roads...

"We’re not short on money now. Don’t bother delivering meals for them next semester," Xue Rui said.

He felt that the purpose of delivering meals had already been achieved. There was no need to continue doing something so tiresome and draining.

Lin Ruoxi’s ability to communicate with others had clearly improved a lot...

Although he always felt Lin Ruoxi was a bit dense, Xue Rui figured he had already done his best.

"Okay."

Lin Ruoxi replied and got up to get food for Xue Rui.

Xue Rui discovered that Lin Ruoxi was incredibly thoughtful. Knowing he didn’t want to get out of bed, she had brought over a small table and served the food right by his bedside.

Afraid he would be bored, she even brought him his iPad and laptop.

"Thank you," Xue Rui said.

He was genuinely touched.

"We agreed... no ’thank yous’..." Lin Ruoxi said quietly.

Just last night, Xue Rui had said they shouldn’t say "thank you" to each other, but now he was saying it again.

GULP. Xue Rui swallowed the congee in his mouth.

He felt that Lin Ruoxi was just naturally dense.

’Whether you say thank you or not depends on the situation, as well as the mood and atmosphere.’

’You can’t just *never* say thank you, right?’

"You’re right," Xue Rui said.

He didn’t want to explain something so complicated to Lin Ruoxi.

Lin Ruoxi could perfectly understand knowledge from books, but when it came to interpersonal relationships, the genius’s brain wasn’t quite so sharp.

But since Lin Ruoxi had gotten him excused from school, he might as well enjoy the day off.

The break would start at noon today anyway, so there was no point in going to school for just half a day.

He didn’t even have to do his homework... Since he hadn’t gone to school at all, he could use the excuse of not knowing what the assignments were.

He could finally relax this break.

Out of habit, Xue Rui browsed the Apple App Store and was surprised to find that Happy Elimination had already climbed onto the free charts.

"Traffic is high during the holiday, so our game made the charts," Xue Rui said with a smile.

"Should we make some more levels?" Lin Ruoxi asked.

She had recently received a lot of user feedback saying there were too few levels and that they cleared them too quickly.

"Yes, let’s make more this weekend," Xue Rui said.

This game had no end; the more levels, the better. The thousands of levels to come could generate a lot of revenue.

He designed most of the levels himself. They couldn’t be too easy, but they couldn’t be too hard, either.

The levels Lin Ruoxi designed were too difficult, and many users complained they couldn’t pass them.

However, Xue Rui would occasionally insert a level designed by Lin Ruoxi to encourage in-app purchases.

He placed the laptop on his legs and continued designing the game.

After a while, his phone buzzed with a text message.

He opened his phone to check the time and noticed over a dozen missed calls, all from Gu Muxue.

There were also several apologetic text messages.

"Xiaorui, I was just being playful yesterday."

"Is your fever gone?"

"I’ll come to your house to see you after school."

Xue Rui couldn’t sit still any longer. It was already eleven o’clock. Gu Muxue said she was coming to his house after school to see him?

"Lin Ruoxi, something came up at home. I have to go," Xue Rui said, forcing himself to get up. His back felt sore and achy.

’If Gu Muxue finds out I’m not at home, she’ll get suspicious...’

He grabbed his jacket and left.

Lin Ruoxi stood upstairs in a daze. ’Xue Rui is so strange,’ she thought. ’One moment he’s talking about making the game, and the next he has to go home.’

「At school, during the break between classes.」

"Mengze, do you think Xue Rui and Lin Ruoxi are together?" Yi Bing asked curiously.

He had noticed that whenever Xue Rui wasn’t in the classroom, Lin Ruoxi wasn’t there either. It was a bit too much of a coincidence.

Qiu Mengze thought for a moment. "No way. It’s just a coincidence."

Gu Muxue happened to be standing at the back door of their classroom and overheard their conversation.

"What’s going on between Xiaorui and Lin Ruoxi?" Gu Muxue asked.

"Nothing’s going on," Qiu Mengze said, lying through his teeth while cursing Xue Rui out in his head.

He instinctively covered for his childhood friend. He didn’t know if he was doing the right thing, only that if Gu Muxue found out, Xue Rui would be finished.

He had asked Xue Rui why he was two-timing.

Xue Rui’s answer was that it was too hard to choose.

He thought that made some sense. If it were him, he wouldn’t know how to choose either...

But still, what Xue Rui had said was so infuriating it made his teeth ache with jealousy.

"I see," Gu Muxue said with a nod.

She had also heard that it was Director Wang who had requested leave for Xue Rui this morning, not Lin Ruoxi.

But then why would that chubby boy ask such a question?

Yi Bing said thoughtlessly, "I thought they were living together. But thinking about it now, that can’t be right. Sister Xi even brought me breakfast this morning."

He had asked Lin Ruoxi that morning, but she hadn’t said anything.

The truth was, Lin Ruoxi couldn’t lie. When faced with a question she didn’t know how to answer, she would choose not to answer at all.

Normally, not speaking up was seen as a tacit agreement.

But Lin Ruoxi rarely spoke to begin with, so everyone just assumed she was in a bad mood...

Gu Muxue’s brow furrowed, and she shot Yi Bing a glare before leaving.

’What is he talking about?’ she thought. ’Why would Xue Rui be living at a girl’s house?’

Suddenly, she received a text message from Xue Rui: "Feeling much better now, just resting at home."

Gu Muxue couldn’t help but smile, tucking her phone into her coat.

She was greatly relieved that Xue Rui was okay.

By this time, Xue Rui had already taken a taxi home.

"Xiaorui, did you skip school?" Ren Qunfang asked with a frown. This wasn’t the time school let out.

"Our break started yesterday. Didn’t you know I was home last night?"

Xue Rui retorted, answering a question with a question.

Now it was Ren Qunfang’s turn to get lost in thought. She had been out playing mahjong last night and hadn’t really paid attention to whether Xue Rui had come home or not.

Besides, today was New Year’s Day, so it wasn’t strange for the school break to have started yesterday.

What she didn’t know was that due to the heavy snow, their high school had postponed the start of the holiday by one day.

"Do you have a cold?" Ren Qunfang asked with concern, noticing how stuffy Xue Rui sounded.

"Mom, my head hurts," Xue Rui said, sniffling.

"Your head hurts and you’re still out in the wind? Get back inside and lie down!" Ren Qunfang said with a stern face.

"Okay." Xue Rui nodded, went back to his room, took off his jacket, and lay in bed wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

The heating in their house was so strong he couldn’t stand it without wearing a T-shirt.

A little while later, Ren Qunfang came up with a bowl of ginger soup.

She felt his forehead and, finding he didn’t have a fever, said softly, "Drink this. It’ll help with the cold."

"Thanks, Mom," Xue Rui said with a smile.

Whenever he had a cold or a fever, his mom would make him ginger soup.

Shredded ginger, green onions, and a bit of vinegar. It tasted spicy and sour, but Xue Rui drank it all in one go, even chewing and swallowing the ginger slices floating on top.

He didn’t know how many years it had been since he’d last tasted this, and his heart felt warm now.

"Get some rest. I’ll bring dinner up for you later."

Ren Qunfang patted Xue Rui’s head. ’He’s gotten so big in the blink of an eye,’ she thought.

After his mom left the room, Xue Rui snuck into Xue Yao’s room.

As expected, the homebody was still playing games, her eyes glued to the monitor, headphones on.

When Xue Rui entered, Xue Yao only glanced at him sideways before turning her attention back to the game.

Xue Rui walked over and pulled off Xue Yao’s headphones. "I slept at home last night."

Xue Yao was taken aback. "Oh. What does that have to do with me?"

"I slept at home last night."

"Alright, I get it."

"I slept at home last night."

"Are you annoying or what?"

Xue Yao snatched her headphones back and immersed herself in the game world once more.

Xue Rui nodded, went back to his room, and crawled into bed. He had prepped both people in his house. Even if Gu Muxue came and asked, they would only give a definitive yes.

Around noon, Ren Qunfang brought a meal to Xue Rui’s room.

Xue Rui listlessly took a few bites, his eyes fixed on the street below.

Soon, a familiar Audi pulled up downstairs.

Xue Rui quickly dove back under the covers and lay perfectly still on the bed.

Before long, his door was pushed open by Gu Muxue, who was carrying a large bag of snacks and fruits.

"Xiaorui, I brought you some food," Gu Muxue said, looking a little unnatural.

She really wanted to apologize to Xue Rui, but she also felt that he would take a mile if she gave him an inch and use the opportunity to make demands.

Xue Rui smiled. ’This girl is such a tsundere,’ he thought. The snacks in her hands were the real apology letter; she would never say it out loud.

But he was satisfied with Gu Muxue’s attitude. He said leisurely, "It’s fine. I just have a fever of seventy or eighty degrees."

Hearing Xue Rui’s robust voice, Gu Muxue frowned. "Then how come you aren’t cooked?"

Since coming in, she had been thinking about what Yi Bing had said. She had casually asked Xue Rui’s mother and gotten the answer that he had slept at home last night.

What was even stranger was that before she could even ask Xue Yao, his sister had blurted out: "My brother slept at home last night."

But none of that mattered now. She had just asked to put her own mind at ease.

"Look at your room, it’s a pigsty. You don’t even know how to clean up," Gu Muxue scolded, starting to pick up the clothes thrown on his bed for him.

"I’ll do you a favor and clean up for you today."

She didn’t know what to do with Xue Rui in his room; she only knew that he had gotten a cold and a fever because of her.

So she wanted to do something for him.

She picked up a piece of clothing and tried to recall how the maid at her house folded laundry.

After trying for a long time, the piece of clothing was twisted and misshapen. It just didn’t look right.

Xue Rui watched Gu Muxue with a smile. ’This girl,’ he thought, ’she never apologizes with words, only with actions.’

Judging by her technique, she had probably never done housework in her life.

He wasn’t planning on teaching her. He wanted to see what kind of shape Gu Muxue could fold the clothes into.

But then, he suddenly saw the tag on the inside of the school uniform. On it was written the name "Lin Ruoxi."

The smile on Xue Rui’s face froze instantly.

The uniforms were issued in their first year of high school. Lin Ruoxi’s uniform jacket was the same size as his, a 175.

The uniform design always left a lot of extra room, so even though Xue Rui had grown, he hadn’t felt it was too small.

This meant that when he left, he had put on Lin Ruoxi’s school uniform...

He hadn’t noticed the entire time.