Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

「Two weeks after New Year’s Day, on the eve of winter break.」

In the Class 2 classroom.

During class, Lin Ruoxi sent Xue Rui a QQ message: Someone emailed us about the game.

Xue Rui glanced back at her, thinking, ’Fame really does bring trouble.’

’How long has it been since we hit the top of the free charts? And someone’s already contacting me?’

The game’s net profit this month was 100,000 yuan. Although he spent all his time outside of studying designing game levels, the return was still quite substantial.

Xue Rui: Just ignore it. The monthly profit from iOS alone is already 100,000. I’ll get the Android version online as soon as possible after I get back today.

It was now 2013, and more and more students around him were starting to use WeChat.

This was a transitional period. The payment methods for many games were still very traditional, requiring players to go to a physical store to buy top-up cards...

His main target audience was adults with UnionPay cards; otherwise, even making a payment would be an issue.

Some games used mobile carrier billing for in-app purchases, but Xue Rui’s operation wasn’t large enough to support that yet.

He wanted stable, long-term profits, not some garbage game that was a quick cash grab before disappearing. He wasn’t in a hurry.

The perpetual calendar app was also online. It used an annual subscription model, and its monthly income was around three to four thousand yuan. Better than nothing, he supposed.

These apps had very long lifecycles, like hens that just kept laying eggs.

As for how to make this capital grow, Xue Rui planned to use Bitcoin.

After all, quite a few people had gotten rich from Bitcoin.

Although he was a student, his current business ventures were all internet-based, so trading virtual currency was a natural fit.

Lin Ruoxi glanced at Xue Rui and replied on her phone: Okay.

Someone had just emailed her asking if the game’s source code was for sale.

In truth, no matter how much they offered, Lin Ruoxi had no intention of selling.

Because this was something she and Xue Rui had made together.

But since someone had asked, she decided to check with Xue Rui first. If he wanted to sell, she would sell.

After class was the activity period. As usual, Xue Rui went to Gu Muxue for tutoring.

"Just do this problem set today," Gu Muxue said, tearing a page out of a workbook for Xue Rui.

It was from a supplementary workbook she had bought. She had been doing this for the past few days, having Xue Rui do a few extra sets each time. That way, when winter break came, she would have an excuse to go to his house for tutoring sessions.

Gu Muxue shot Mei Lili a look.

Mei Lili understood instantly. After sneaking a glance at Xue Rui, she made her way to the Class 2 classroom.

Gu Muxue had asked the DNA testing agency several times. The technician said it was best to have a hair with the follicle attached; a naturally shed hair might not be testable.

She had gone home and found the hair from last October, which happened to have been pulled out by the root.

But she still needed a current hair sample from Lin Ruoxi for comparison. That way, she could confirm if the original hair was Lin Ruoxi’s.

To be honest, this wasn’t her plan from the start.

She couldn’t get anything out of Xue Rui, and she couldn’t get anything out of Qiu Mengze either.

’Ask Lin Ruoxi directly?’ She didn’t dare. She was afraid of getting a "yes."

However, Mei Lili had volunteered to go chat with Lin Ruoxi. Unfortunately, after many days of trying, Lin Ruoxi remained unwilling to talk.

Gu Muxue did some digging and found out it was true. Lin Ruoxi really didn’t like to talk...

Getting a DNA test was a last resort, but the matter was eating her up inside.

She was sure it was Lin Ruoxi’s hair, but Xue Rui wouldn’t admit it, and she had no conclusive proof.

The closer it got to winter break, the more torn she felt. Today, she had finally sent Mei Lili to ask Lin Ruoxi for a plucked hair...

Hedong was just a small city, and that private agency couldn’t perform the test independently.

Even if she got the hair now, the technician said that after sending it out for testing, the earliest she could expect results was after the Spring Festival.

But as long as she did it, she could at least put the matter out of her mind for a while.

’But... if it really is Lin Ruoxi’s hair, what should I do?’

’What right would I have to question Xue Rui?’

"This question is wrong. The answer is C," Gu Muxue said, pointing at the paper.

Xue Rui mumbled and nodded. He had already found the mistake before Gu Muxue even pointed it out.

He glanced at Gu Muxue and thought she seemed to be in a very good mood today.

After the tutoring session, Xue Rui watched Gu Muxue leave the school.

It got dark early in the winter, so he and Lin Ruoxi usually headed home right at dusk.

He’d noticed that Lin Ruoxi had been acting strange lately, too, often chatting with Mei Lili.

’Could it be that Mei Lili just likes pretty girls?’

’Are goddess-level beauties her type?’

"Mei Lili, what are you always looking for Lin Ruoxi for?" Xue Rui asked irritably.

"None of your business. Who are you to her, anyway?" Mei Lili stuck out her tongue and left the classroom.

「On the way home with Lin Ruoxi.」

"Why has Mei Lili been looking for you so much lately?" Xue Rui asked curiously.

"She..." Lin Ruoxi stole a glance at Xue Rui, then quickly turned her head away.

She didn’t know why Mei Lili was seeking her out either, but Mei Lili always talked about romance-related topics.

Things like which zodiac signs were compatible with which.

She’d ask if Lin Ruoxi had a crush on anyone.

She mostly didn’t answer, just listened quietly.

"She’s not exactly a good influence. It’s better to stay away from her," Xue Rui warned. Mei Lili really was a bit odd—a young girl who was incredibly superstitious.

Lin Ruoxi thought for a moment. "She traded a few strands of hair with me."

During the activity period this afternoon, Mei Lili said she wanted to exchange hair with her as a memento, so she plucked a few strands and gave them to her.

Lin Ruoxi unfolded the tissue paper wrapped around the hair, revealing a few strands lying inside.

Xue Rui’s brow furrowed. ’What is Mei Lili up to?’

’That girl is so superstitious. Hair?’

’Could Mei Lili be planning to use Lin Ruoxi’s hair for some bizarre ritual?’

Xue Rui took the hair from Lin Ruoxi’s hand and threw it away. "Don’t talk to her as much from now on."

"Okay," Lin Ruoxi nodded obediently.

She didn’t want to talk to Mei Lili either, but the girl was constantly pestering her.

Xue Rui felt that when he had time, he should get a protective talisman for Lin Ruoxi that had been blessed by a master.

With things like this, it was better to be safe than sorry.

He didn’t know what kind of trouble Mei Lili was planning, so it was best to take precautions, just to hedge against it.

As the two of them reached the entrance to the residential complex, the uncle selling fish called out to Lin Ruoxi, "Hey, young lady, that leopard coral grouper you wanted is here."

Lin Ruoxi trotted over. "How much is it, Uncle?"

"Eleven hundred, but you can just give me a thousand."

Lin Ruoxi took ten crisp new bills from her wallet.

The uncle wiped his hands on his clothes and carefully took the money, afraid his fishy hands would touch Lin Ruoxi.

As for the bills, he didn’t even bother to count them or check if they were counterfeit.

"Young lady, what do your parents do?" the uncle couldn’t help but ask.

Lin Ruoxi was a regular customer, and the types of seafood she ordered were surprisingly expensive. He always had to source them from outside suppliers.

From this one customer alone, he could make one or two thousand yuan a month...

Moreover, Lin Ruoxi almost never haggled, which made him feel a little embarrassed.

He couldn’t understand how someone who ate rare delicacies every day could live in this kind of neighborhood.

"It’s money we earned ourselves," Xue Rui said with a smile.

"You earned it yourselves? Aren’t you students?" the uncle asked, astonished.

"Who says students can’t earn money?" Xue Rui said, picking up the wrapped fish and starting to walk away.

Most of these ingredients were for him to eat.

It wasn’t that he was a picky eater; he wanted to change Lin Ruoxi’s lifestyle habits.

Lin Ruoxi was too frugal. The future Lin Ruoxi would definitely not be short on money, and he couldn’t have her earn a fortune but not have the bearing to match.

Or worse, have her waste time or even damage her health just to save a little money.

So, he wanted Lin Ruoxi to experience the world of high-end consumption ahead of time. Their food expenses for the last month alone had reached ten thousand yuan.

But he discovered that Lin Ruoxi didn’t feel the sting at all when buying fish for him, readily pulling out one or two thousand yuan.

Yet when a banana went bad, the little girl looked full of regret and even cut off the unspoiled part to eat...

"See? You spend a thousand on a single fish. What’s the point of eating a tiny bit of a bad banana? You could save on bananas your whole life and still not be able to afford this fish," Xue Rui said coldly.

"Oh..." Lin Ruoxi lowered her head. She knew she was about to get scolded again.

She didn’t know why, but she never felt bad when buying things for Xue Rui;

but when it came to spending money on herself, she would hesitate and overthink it...

The two returned to Lin Ruoxi’s home.

The first thing Lin Ruoxi did was go to the kitchen to cook.

Xue Rui, however, discovered that the indoor unit of the air conditioner in Lin Ruoxi’s room had been dismantled.

His first reaction was that they’d been robbed, and he hurried out to check.

But her grandmother had been home the whole time. How could they have been robbed?

The air conditioner was just taken apart; nothing was missing.

"What happened to the air conditioner?" Xue Rui asked.

Wearing an apron, Lin Ruoxi ran out from the kitchen. "I took it apart. It’ll be fixed in a minute."

"..." Xue Rui didn’t know what to say.

The air conditioner had broken before the central heating was turned on. He’d been planning to replace it with a new one when the weather got warmer. After all, the appliances here were many years old, so it was normal for something to go wrong.

Returning to Lin Ruoxi’s room, he saw a small table set up in the corner. The air conditioner’s mainboard was on it, surrounded by a pile of components and chips he couldn’t make sense of.

Xue Rui had a background in computer science, so he recognized some of the components: a Fluke multimeter, a soldering station;

and some chips in unknown packages, the kind he seemed to have seen with classmates who were studying microcontrollers...

「During dinner.」

"This is what you bought online? You didn’t buy anything else?" Xue Rui asked.

He had thought Lin Ruoxi would be like other girls her age, buying pretty clothes or makeup.

He never expected her to buy a pile of stuff used by tech guys.

"Mhm, they really sell everything online," Lin Ruoxi nodded. Xue Rui was right.

She had seen all sorts of things online that weren’t available in the city. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

After dinner, Xue Rui watched Lin Ruoxi wield a soldering iron in the corner, at a complete loss for words.

"What is all this stuff," Xue Rui sighed.

Lin Ruoxi was fixing the air conditioner herself just to save a little money.

Lin Ruoxi replied, "This is a through-hole resistor."

"That’s not what I was asking," Xue Rui said, exasperated.

"Shouldn’t you go outside for a bit? The soldering fumes aren’t good to inhale."

Lin Ruoxi said in a low voice. She’d be done soldering soon. This little bit of smoke wouldn’t affect her health, but she didn’t want Xue Rui to breathe it in.

"This is a man’s job," Xue Rui tutted.

Lin Ruoxi thought for a moment, then made room for Xue Rui. "Oh, well... you do it?"