Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

Xue Rui was so startled he almost leaped out from under the covers, but he stopped himself.

’Was that the sound of the door opening? Did Lin Ruoxi just come in?’

’Is she talking to me?’

He mulled it over and realized something was off. It sounded more like she was talking to herself.

Curious about what Lin Ruoxi was up to, Xue Rui decided to keep feigning sleep. He stealthily created a small gap in the covers so he could hear better.

"It’s not good to sleep with your head covered," Lin Ruoxi mumbled to herself again.

Xue Rui noticed Lin Ruoxi was different from her usual self. Her pronunciation was perfectly steady, with no nervous tremor in her voice, and she wasn’t stammering at all...

And her tone was like that of an elder deliberately lowering their voice to soothe a small child.

It was placid and very gentle.

Lin Ruoxi leaned over, gently lifted his blanket, and rearranged it over him, carefully tucking the edge in under his neck.

Xue Rui was completely baffled. ’What is with this girl?’

’Why is she so good at this?’

’Could it be... that every time he’s asleep, Lin Ruoxi comes over to check on him?’

’This girl is way too thoughtful,’ Xue Rui thought.

He did have a habit of sleeping with his head under the covers, something his mom always used to scold him for when he was little.

But it was something he couldn’t control, an unconscious action that happened after he fell asleep.

And now that he was grown?

He was all alone with no one to manage him, so he could sleep with his head covered if he damn well pleased...

Lin Ruoxi placed her palm on Xue Rui’s face and stroked it gently.

She had tested this many times. Xue Rui was a very, very deep sleeper; she had to call his name several times to wake him.

In fact, whenever Xue Rui stayed at Lin Ruoxi’s house, he would turn off his alarm. He no longer worried about waking up early, since Lin Ruoxi would wake him up anyway.

Lin Ruoxi would always bring him hot water to soak his feet, promoting blood circulation and relieving his fatigue...

But this also gave Xue Rui the false impression that sleeping in Lin Ruoxi’s bed improved his quality of sleep.

Lin Ruoxi reached out and gently caressed Xue Rui’s face. Since she hadn’t done any farm work for a long time, the calluses on her fingertips had softened, and now her fingers were exceptionally soft.

Xue Rui suppressed his internal questions. ’This feels a lot like how I pet a dog,’ he thought.

He knew Lin Ruoxi had her issues, but he couldn’t make any sense of what was happening now.

Lin Ruoxi tilted her head, took a deep breath, and then gently pinched Xue Rui’s cheek.

She knew Xue Rui was a deep sleeper and this wouldn’t wake him, but she was still a little nervous...

Xue Rui kept his eyes squeezed shut, continuing to feign sleep.

’He often pinched Lin Ruoxi’s cheeks. Was she getting her revenge now while he was asleep?’

At first, he thought the girl was just holding a grudge.

But her touch was so gentle. How could this possibly be revenge...?

Seeing no reaction from Xue Rui, Lin Ruoxi grew bolder. She started pinching his face with both hands, letting out a stifled giggle from time to time.

Xue Rui cracked his eyes open a sliver. Watching Lin Ruoxi, he felt an urge to laugh too.

’This girl is too cute.’ A moment ago, when she was tucking him in, he’d thought she seemed as mature as a middle-aged mother.

’Turns out, in private, she was still just a silly little girl.’

Suddenly, Xue Rui saw Lin Ruoxi lean in close, and his heart started to hammer.

He squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation.

’Is she... going to secretly kiss me?’

Xue Rui felt a tickle of anticipation. ’If she really kisses me,’ he thought, ’I’ll stop pretending.’

However, what happened next made it impossible for Xue Rui to hold back any longer.

Lin Ruoxi brought her nose to the side of Xue Rui’s ear and sniffed gently.

Her long hair brushed across the tip of his nose, giving him the urge to sneeze.

Her warm breath puffed against his ear...

The part of the blanket tucked around his neck was also lifted slightly.

’No wonder,’ Xue Rui thought. ’No wonder she was so natural when she wrapped her arms around my neck before. Has she been practicing on me?’

But he was reaching his limit.

’What is this maneuver? Is she ever going to let me sleep?’

"What on earth are you trying to do?" Xue Rui couldn’t help but ask.

Lin Ruoxi’s head was tilted, so Xue Rui’s voice rang out right beside her ear.

"Ah!" Lin Ruoxi cried out in panic, tumbling backward and landing on her butt on the floor, sending the wheeled computer chair flying far away.

"Are you okay?" Xue Rui scrambled up, rushing to help her with a worried look on his face.

"I—I’m fine..."

Lin Ruoxi stammered, regressing to how she was on the first day she met Xue Rui.

Xue Rui sat on the edge of the bed, having instructed Lin Ruoxi to sit in the chair and keep her distance.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to sneak into a boy’s room in the middle of the night..." Xue Rui chided, his face stern.

"What else have you done while I was asleep?"

More than anything, he was just confused.

The bed was much lower than the chair, so Lin Ruoxi was currently looking down at Xue Rui.

She didn’t like this. While Xue Rui wasn’t looking, she lowered the chair’s gas lift to its lowest setting. Now she was looking up at him, just like usual.

"I... I took your measurements..."

Xue Rui’s brow furrowed even tighter. ’What kind of outrageous things is she saying?’

"To knit you a sweater," Lin Ruoxi whispered.

"Try to finish your sentences in one go," Xue Rui said, swallowing hard.

"What else?" Xue Rui pressed.

"I secretly pinched your face..."

Lin Ruoxi hung her head low, looking just like a little kid who’d been caught misbehaving.

"Mm."

"I’ve hugged you," Lin Ruoxi said in a small voice, sneaking glances at his expression.

"Hmm?"

"I’ve sniffed you..."

Lin Ruoxi confessed her "crimes" one by one.

The more Xue Rui heard, the more horrified he became. ’How is this any different from being a pervert?’

He knew Lin Ruoxi had a pathological dependence on him, but he never thought it had reached this point.

’Then again... that’s not quite right. People with cats and dogs act the same way—pinching, petting, picking them up for a sniff...’

"Why?" Xue Rui asked. He wanted to know what was going on in her head.

The girl couldn’t lie; she would answer whatever he asked.

Lin Ruoxi’s brows furrowed slightly. She didn’t know why either; she just felt the urge to do those things...

Xue Rui could tell that Lin Ruoxi herself had no idea what she was thinking.

Lin Ruoxi was wearing a thin set of pink pajamas, printed with a large Hello Kitty design.

This was Xue Yao’s style. Seeing the pajamas, Xue Rui did his best to imagine the beautiful girl opposite him as his own sister. This way, a sense of revulsion would occasionally rise up in him, which helped suppress the fluttering in his heart...

After all, Lin Ruoxi had made such a loud noise when she fell. The old lady was probably pressed against the door, eavesdropping.

He put on his slippers, preparing to go sleep in the living room.

When Lin Ruoxi saw Xue Rui putting on slippers, she thought he was leaving and hurriedly said, "I—I want to sleep with you."

Xue Rui froze. ’Does this girl have any idea what she’s saying?’

Lin Ruoxi pulled a new set of bedding from the closet and placed it on the top bunk of the bunk bed.

"I’ll sleep on the top bunk, and you sleep on the bottom bunk. Okay?" Lin Ruoxi asked in a small voice.

’Bunk beds? Did I get the wrong idea?’ Xue Rui muttered to himself.

Lots of little kids invite their friends for sleepovers. ’Maybe this is because of the childhood Lin Ruoxi never had...’

Xue Rui figured that since Lin Ruoxi never had friends when she was young, maybe this was her way of inviting a friend to stay?

Too bad Lin Ruoxi didn’t understand that you can only invite a friend of the opposite sex over so uninhibitedly when you’re a child.

How old was she now? This behavior was, quite simply, inviting the wolf into her house.

Faced with Lin Ruoxi’s innocent request, Xue Rui gritted his teeth and refused. "I’ll sleep in the living room."

He knew his own limits. With Lin Ruoxi having no sense of boundaries, what if he couldn’t control himself?

The old lady was most likely still watching from outside the door.

After taking a few steps, Xue Rui suddenly remembered something and went back to grab his phone from under the pillow.

His Nokia didn’t have a password, and it would be bad if she saw his text messages or anything.

Not that Lin Ruoxi would ever go through his things, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

A fire of frustration was simmering inside him, making his movements agitated. While searching for his phone, he flipped up the bedding on Lin Ruoxi’s side.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted two packages that looked like they were for disposable gloves.

’Wait, no,’ Xue Rui thought. His eyes weren’t mistaken. Those were Durex condoms.

He pulled one out to look. The feel of the slightly elastic ring...

He confirmed they were Durex, without a doubt. And they were the fucking ultra-thin ones, at that.

He had just been making excuses for her, telling himself her invitation to sleep together was just to make up for a lost childhood. But now, there was no explaining this away.

This was an invitation from an adult.

Why was this kind of thing hidden under her bedding?

Lin Ruoxi’s face turned bright red, and she buried it in the soft bedding.

After she got home that day, she’d looked up some videos and saw people filling them with water... blowing them up like balloons...

Lin Ruoxi had been very skeptical. Were Durex condoms really as durable as they seemed in the videos?

With an attitude of "practice makes perfect," she had inexplicably grabbed a box one day while checking out at a store...

"Spit it out. Where’s the other one?" Xue Rui demanded.

He’d only found two, but the smallest pack of Durex came with three.

"I opened one. It was all sticky... and really durable..." Lin Ruoxi said, her voice muffled as she covered her mouth with the blanket, not daring to meet his gaze.

’Okay, that makes sense now,’ Xue Rui thought. ’She was just playing with it like a water balloon, out of childish curiosity.’

Lin Ruoxi had put him through such an ordeal. Xue Rui felt a pressure building in his chest with no way to release it.

He raised his hand to throw the condoms in the trash.

But then, Lin Ruoxi spoke up. "Don’t... don’t throw them away. Save them for later..."

She’d seen the convenience store receipt. The small box cost over twenty yuan, meaning each one was seven or eight yuan... 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Lin Ruoxi’s heart ached at the thought of Xue Rui throwing away more than ten yuan.

Xue Rui almost choked. ’What does she mean, save them for later?’

That was way too blunt!

Did Lin Ruoxi even have a clue what she was saying?

This was what was most agonizing for him. Lin Ruoxi would always, completely unintentionally, say something that completely knocked him off his feet.

He tossed the two condoms onto the blanket Lin Ruoxi was hugging. "You!"

He didn’t know what to say, or what he even could say.

Finally, Xue Rui reached out and pinched Lin Ruoxi’s cheek hard, not letting go until he’d squeezed a single tear from her eye.

"I’m going to sleep in the living room."

Xue Rui left without a backward glance.

When he opened the door, he saw the old lady just turning to walk back to her room, only a few steps away.

"Can’t sleep at two in the morning? Taking a stroll through the living room?" Xue Rui asked, his face grim.

He knew it. The old lady had definitely been eavesdropping.

This wasn’t the first time, or the second.

"You already know the answer, so why ask?" the old lady said with a wide grin.

Xue Rui lay on the sofa, but he couldn’t fall asleep no matter how he tried. He sat up, turned on the TV, and listlessly watched a rerun of the Spring Festival Gala.

Lin Ruoxi came out, hugging a blanket. "Are you cold?"

Xue Rui peeled an orange and shoved a segment into his mouth.

’Cold?’

He was too hot to sleep.

He’d never been hit on by a woman like this; few were ever that bold.

But today, Lin Ruoxi had completely flustered him. And the worst part was, the girl was still so damn innocent...