Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

Xue Rui thought it was actually a good thing his dad had come, since it meant an extra car for him to use.

He took Lin Ruoxi with him to see the people from Le You off.

On the way, the Le You employees were in a different car from Xue Rui, and they began whispering amongst themselves.

"Don’t you think that kid is a little too shrewd? He even nickel-and-dimed us on the travel expenses," someone complained.

"Exactly. And he’s putting on such an act. Those waiters were weird, too, like professional actors or something. They didn’t treat Xue Rui like a young master at all."

"I think that kid was plotting against us from the moment we stepped out of the airport," someone said indignantly.

The group grumbled about Xue Rui behind his back.

Qingfeng listened with a faint smile. He had actually noticed something was off long ago. A quick search would have revealed that the owner of the restaurant was also named Xue.

"And that handsome leader, he was probably an actor too." The group’s suspicions all landed on Gu Qingshan.

"I think so too. Who ever heard of a city-level director that young and handsome? He looked like he was only in his thirties, and he didn’t even have a potbelly..."

Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement. They unanimously concluded that Gu Qingshan was an impostor, an actor hired by Xue Rui to intimidate them.

Just then, Qingfeng, who had been silent, spoke up. "Appointment information is public record. Don’t tell me none of you bothered to check?"

"Er..."

At his words, the car fell silent.

Someone immediately pulled out their phone and started searching.

"Holy crap, it’s true!" someone exclaimed in shock.

"I was too nervous to get a good look that day, but looking now, Director Gu is even more handsome! How can he look so good even in his official ID photo?" The woman from the legal department practically had her eyes glued to the screen.

"Hey, hey, hey! Wipe your drool."

"I’d advise *some* people not to get carried away. Is he really someone in your league?"

"Can’t I even daydream about it?"

Qingfeng, sitting in the front passenger seat, glanced into the rearview mirror.

’My ability to negotiate that twenty-percent cut with headquarters did have something to do with the Gu Family...’

After arriving at the airport, Xue Rui said goodbye to the people from Le You.

"Xue Rui, let’s keep in touch." Qingfeng shook Xue Rui’s hand. He had taken a real liking to the young man.

"Of course," Xue Rui nodded. He had also recognized that Qingfeng was a talented guy, he just... looked a bit older than his years.

Only thirty, yet he looked older than his own dad.

The woman from the legal department trotted over, clutching her phone, her gaze a little shifty.

Xue Rui noticed her body language was a bit stiff, like she was about to confess her love or something.

’Is she trying to rob the cradle?’ he thought. ’She looks like she’s twenty-eight or twenty-nine. The black stockings and high heels are nice, I guess, but she’s not my type.’

The woman stood before him, stammering, and for a moment he really couldn’t guess what she wanted.

’If she wanted my contact info, couldn’t she just get it from Qingfeng?’

’Besides, as a partner of Le You, I even gave them my ID number. What could she possibly want with her phone out?’

"Sigh, so my identity as a rich kid has been exposed. Please don’t fall in love with me just because of that. We’re not from the same world," Xue Rui said, launching a preemptive strike.

The woman was stunned. ’How can Xue Rui be so shameless?’ she thought. ’I haven’t even said a single word, and he’s acting like I’m about to confess my feelings.’

The woman scoffed, "A rich kid? You think the Capital is short on those? What makes you so special?"

"Then how come you haven’t found one for yourself?"

Xue Rui was amused. ’What does it matter how many you’ve seen? It has nothing to do with you,’ he thought.

Some women are like that. Because of their jobs, they frequently interact with people from a higher social class. They discover that these people are, in fact, just normal human beings, and because their targets are well-mannered, they’re willing to talk to them as equals. After a while, they start to get delusions of grandeur, feeling like anyone beneath a certain level isn’t worthy of their time. In reality, what do those people have to do with her? They value the company she works for, the boss she represents. They get played by a rich kid for a few days and start to think they’ve ascended to a higher plane themselves. But once the big city has no more use for someone her age, it’s time for the next batch of young girls to take her place. They spend their entire youth on office politics and constant comparison, always thinking they’re the ones choosing among the rich kids, figuring the worst-case scenario is just marrying some wealthy guy. But when they actually try to make it happen, they discover that rich guys aren’t idiots. They only want to rent, not buy. The end result is that when they’re past their prime, they go back to their small hometown and marry some nice, simple guy...

Tsk. Thinking about it, Xue Rui felt that those nice, simple guys were really damn unlucky.

"That’s not what I came to talk about," the woman said with a frown.

"Then what did you come to ask me?" Xue Rui was even more curious now.

The woman stammered, "Can you... can you give me Mr. Gu’s number..."

"Which Mr. Gu?" Xue Rui’s brow furrowed. ’Don’t tell me she means Gu Qingshan,’ he thought.

"Gu Qingshan," the woman whispered, leaning close to Xue Rui’s ear, afraid her colleagues might overhear.

Xue Rui winced. ’This woman really has some nerve. Aiming for a rich kid would have been more realistic!’

"Don’t try to break up a family. His daughter is about my age," Xue Rui said flatly.

"Huh?" The woman was instantly heartbroken. She turned and walked away, muttering to herself.

Xue Rui vaguely overheard a few phrases.

Something about how all the good men are already taken...

His kid is already that old?

"Lin Ruoxi, I’ve seen the code you wrote. The structure is very clean. Maybe we can work together sometime." A man from the tech department handed Lin Ruoxi a business card.

’A high schooler with skills like this, who even dabbles in cybersecurity... She’s a real talent.’

Lin Ruoxi accepted it with both hands, mentally trying to determine if this person counted as an acquaintance.

After a long pause, Lin Ruoxi looked at Xue Rui.

’What’s with her? She wasn’t like this before,’ the man wondered. ’This girl is so strange. Why did she stop talking again?’

After getting a nod from Xue Rui, Lin Ruoxi decided the man counted as an acquaintance. She hesitated for a moment before replying, "Xue Rui won’t let me get a job."

"Er..." The man’s eye twitched. ’What is this all about?’ he thought.

First one, now another... all this talk about not working a job.

"Let’s go, let’s go, we’ll miss our boarding time," Qingfeng urged.

"Coming."

...

After the group left, Xue Rui felt that Lin Ruoxi wasn’t just missing a few screws, she also had a one-track mind.

Lin Ruoxi had gotten a bit braver, but her social skills were still a problem.

He couldn’t help but feel it was partly his fault. ’Maybe learning to code leaves you with rigid thought patterns?’

"If you don’t say anything at all, people will think you’re mute. You can just say a little, like ’Mm,’ ’Oh,’ ’Thanks’..." Xue Rui patiently instructed her.

Lin Ruoxi was stunningly beautiful, with a tall, slender figure that made her taller than many men. She was the kind of aloof goddess who made men feel insecure just by looking at her and made other women not want to walk beside her.

That’s why he told Lin Ruoxi to use fewer words. The shorter the sentences, the more aloof she would seem.

Longer sentences would give her away, making her seem dorky and easy to bully.

It was better to wait until she was familiar with people before making friends with those she got along with.

’But does Lin Ruoxi even have anyone she gets along with?’

’She couldn’t find a single close friend in all of high school...’

He couldn’t help but think of a saying—geniuses are always lonely.

’Well, I guess God is fair. He gave Lin Ruoxi looks and intelligence, but left her a few screws loose.’

"Mhm, I’ll remember," Lin Ruoxi nodded.

"Let’s go. Time to get back to class." Xue Rui patted Lin Ruoxi’s head.

"Director Wang said he applied for a fifty-thousand-yuan scholarship for me," Lin Ruoxi said suddenly.

"Don’t take it. Tell him to give it to a student in need. You’re a rich lady now," Xue Rui refused flatly.

Director Wang had really gone to great lengths to keep Lin Ruoxi, practically willing to be her lackey...

"What’s a ’rich lady’?" Lin Ruoxi asked.

Xue Rui was at a loss for words, unsure how to explain the term.

Lin Ruoxi, ever curious, opened her phone and searched online.

The netizens’ answers were all over the place, but most of them pointed to one result: a rich woman, the kind who keeps a pretty boy.

"’Keeps’? Who is a ’pretty boy’?"

Lin Ruoxi looked up one question, only to get two new ones.

Xue Rui clicked his tongue but didn’t stop her.

’The internet is a good thing, but sometimes... not so much.’

’Still, it can help Lin Ruoxi learn about the world quickly. If she learns the bad along with the good, so be it.’

The two of them got in the car and headed back to school.

Hedong City’s airport was in the suburbs. The view from the window was beautiful, especially since it was afternoon. The clouds in the sky were tinged red by the sun, and an airplane was slowly landing at the airport.

Just then, Xue Rui received a text from Qingfeng.

[Have your little girlfriend comment the code.]

"They said you need to add comments to the code."

"Mhm, okay." Lin Ruoxi took her laptop out of her bag and got right to work.

At that moment, a call suddenly came in.

Lin Ruoxi had been using her phone for a long time now, but the only number saved in it was Xue Rui’s.

"Who’s calling?" Xue Rui leaned over curiously and saw it was an out-of-town number.

"I don’t know," Lin Ruoxi said, shaking her head.

She often got telemarketing calls and didn’t want to talk to them.

However, Xue Rui saw this as a perfect opportunity. Talking with a telemarketer or scammer could be good practice for Lin Ruoxi’s communication skills.

No matter what she said, the person on the other end wouldn’t care, and since it wasn’t a face-to-face conversation, the pressure on Lin Ruoxi would be much lower.

"Chat with them for a bit." Xue Rui reached out and answered the call for her.

"Hello, is this Ms. Lin? A member of your family has been hit by a car, we’re from the municipal hospital..." the person on the other end said in an urgent tone.

Lin Ruoxi’s face paled, and her breathing became ragged.

Xue Rui frowned. ’Of all things, why this kind of scam call?’

Coincidentally, Lin Ruoxi’s father had died in a car accident, so this probably triggered some bad memories for her.

Xue Rui’s voice turned cold. "Be clear. Who was hit?"

"Your husband was hit! If you want to save him, you need to hurry and transfer money to this account number..."

The person hung up abruptly after speaking and sent a text message.

’Her information was probably leaked when she was shopping online,’ Xue Rui figured.

The caller only knew her name and phone number, not her age. It was a complete shot in the dark, the kind of scam that just hoped to trick whoever they could.

Lin Ruoxi’s eyes were glazed over, still in shock from the phone call.

"What do I do?" Lin Ruoxi’s ears were ringing and her vision was swimming. Her mind went completely blank, and she hadn’t even registered what the caller had said.

"He said your husband was hit by a car, and you need to hurry and transfer money to his account to save him," Xue Rui said.

Lin Ruoxi frantically pulled out her phone and started fumbling for her banking app, her hands trembling.

Xue Rui grabbed her hand and said helplessly, "Since when do you have a husband?"

Only then did it dawn on Lin Ruoxi. "Oh, right..."

When she heard "a member of your family," her first thought was that something had happened to her grandmother.

Lin Ruoxi pouted, her spirits low. "Why are there so many scammers in the world?"