Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

Lin Ruoxi dazedly repeated the oath after Gu Muxue, word by word, as if she were one of the students in the audience.

Xue Rui was amused by Lin Ruoxi.

’You’re one of the speakers. Why are you shouting along with the other one?’

After the speech, Gu Muxue walked over to Lin Ruoxi and nodded slightly. "Thank you."

"You’re welcome," Lin Ruoxi said in a low voice.

She thought the girl was so brilliant, able to stay so calm and composed under so many gazes.

Besides, Gu Muxue had drawn everyone’s attention, so she barely had to say anything after that. ’If anything, I should be the one thanking her,’ she thought.

Lin Ruoxi felt useless. She knew that the quieter she was, the more attention she would attract, but she just couldn’t make herself speak any louder.

In reality, vocal cords need to be trained. Lin Ruoxi had spoken softly for years, her voice gentle and mellow. Her vocal cords had no muscle memory for speaking loudly, so when the moment came, she couldn’t shout even when she tried.

Lin Ruoxi composed herself for a moment offstage, silently removed the small red flower from her chest, and blended into the crowd, once again standing beside Xue Rui.

Now it was time for the parent representative’s speech, but they went completely off-script, rambling on and on.

"I’ve seen some top high schools hold student forums on days like this, where the best students share their study methods. And seeing as the weather is so nice today..."

The middle-aged woman said from the stage, and many parents in the audience nodded in agreement.

"Well..." Director Wang hesitated, glancing at the principal on the stage.

The principal checked the time, picked up his thermos, and stood up to leave. "You handle it."

Director Wang also checked the time. Even if they went back to their classrooms now, it was too late to start a class. Lunch was in a little over an hour...

"Alright, you all can make your own arrangements," Director Wang told the teachers of each class.

The homeroom teachers discussed it for a moment and decided to split up their classes so the students could mingle with the entire grade.

Xue Rui saw this as a good opportunity to slip away. ’Time to get out of here,’ he thought.

"Where’s your grade’s top student? I heard she’s number one in the whole city. Shouldn’t she be part of this discussion?" a parent asked.

Xue Rui turned his head and saw that Lin Ruoxi had already been pulled into a small, encircled group of people.

Even Gu Muxue had curiously squeezed into the crowd.

She tilted her head, watching Lin Ruoxi. ’This girl’s grades are incredible. How in the world does she study?’

Although Xue Rui had told her that Lin Ruoxi wasn’t someone you could judge by normal standards, she just couldn’t contain her curiosity.

’How is Lin Ruoxi going to withstand an interrogation like this?’ Xue Rui thought. ’She’ll spill everything under all these stares.’

’It wouldn’t do anyone any good if Lin Ruoxi told the truth. I don’t know what these people are so worked up about.’

"Excuse me, do you have any special study techniques?" a parent asked humbly, hoping to glean some wisdom for their own child.

Lin Ruoxi slowly shook her head and impassively spoke two words: "I don’t."

"We’re all students at the same school here. You shouldn’t be so selfish. How could you not have any?" the middle-aged woman said with a frown.

"I... I really..." Lin Ruoxi began to stammer.

’She didn’t understand why Xue Rui’s method wasn’t working. Even a two-word answer was being challenged...’

Gu Muxue frowned. ’That parent is so rude. Are they trying to put Lin Ruoxi on the spot?’

"Is it that hard to admit that some people are just gifted?" Gu Muxue said coldly.

"You can’t just say that. If we all got into the same school, how different can we be?" a parent retorted.

Xue Rui, pretending to be just another curious onlooker, borrowed a small notebook and a pen from a studious-looking student nearby.

He forcefully squeezed into the crowd, acting like a reporter. "Classmate Lin, just tell us about your daily routine. I’ll take some notes."

"We’re all from the same school. There’s no harm in learning a thing or two from you," Xue Rui said earnestly.

The parents who came today were all extremely invested in their children’s education. They would never admit their own kids were inferior. They would only believe their children were lagging behind the top students in some other area, that they must be missing some crucial study or life technique.

These were the type of parents who were often scammed by various educational institutions. They would even believe in folk remedies and "intelligence-boosting" supplements, the kinds peddled under brand names like "BrainPower Plus" or "Genius Formula"...

’It’s a miracle these parents haven’t poisoned their kids to death,’ Xue Rui thought.

"Exactly," a parent chimed in.

"Mom, stop asking," a girl said, pulling on her mother’s arm. ’This is so embarrassing.’

’Why did my mom even come here? And of all things, she had to corner Lin Ruoxi and bombard her with questions.’

Seeing Xue Rui arrive, Lin Ruoxi instantly felt a lot calmer, and her breathing gradually returned to normal.

"What time do you get up in the morning?" Xue Rui asked.

"Six-thirty," Lin Ruoxi answered truthfully.

Someone muttered, "Isn’t six-thirty a bit late? Maybe top students get a lot of sleep?"

"Do you have a dog?" Xue Rui continued his questioning.

"I do."

Someone said, "I think I read in a magazine that having a pet can help develop a child’s intelligence."

’These people have driven themselves crazy with hothousing their kids,’ Xue Rui thought. ’They don’t have the connections to get their kids into a top high school, so they resort to all sorts of bizarre methods. Right now, everything about Lin Ruoxi is the "correct answer" to them.’

"When you do problems, do you usually use scratch paper? Do you have any special techniques for reading the questions?" The corners of Xue Rui’s mouth began to lift into a smirk.

Someone eagerly pricked up their ears. ’Finally,’ they thought, ’he’s asking the important questions.’

"I don’t use scratch paper. Once I finish reading the question, the answer just pops into my head," Lin Ruoxi said truthfully.

"..."

For a moment, the crowd was at a loss for words. The girl looked so guileless; she didn’t seem like she was lying.

Before they could recover, Xue Rui continued, "Do you usually play on the computer? How many hours a day?"

Lin Ruoxi thought for a moment. She had been using the computer for a very long time recently, spending every day in the office typing code. "About eight or nine hours a day."

"That’s got to be a lie! I heard from experts that playing on the computer will ruin a child," the woman said, her face a mask of shock. ’Could my parenting methods be wrong?’

Xue Rui grinned. ’Aren’t you all curious? Don’t you love hearing this stuff?’

’Then listen up...’

The girl couldn’t take it anymore. She grabbed the woman’s arm and started pulling her out of the crowd. "Mom, Teacher Lin plays on the computer in the teachers’ office every day. She’s not lying to you."

"She’s a teacher? Not a student?"

"I’ll explain on the way..."

...

Just then, Director Wang poked his shiny, reflective head out and waved to Lin Ruoxi with a smile. "Lin Ruoxi, come over here for a second. See which of these photos came out nice."

Lin Ruoxi stood frozen, her gaze turning to Xue Rui.

Xue Rui gave a resigned wave, and only then did Lin Ruoxi start walking toward Director Wang.

’What is with today?’ he thought. ’Of all the rotten luck, those two had to get paired up...’

"She’s really so smart," Gu Muxue remarked with a sigh of admiration.

She was finally realizing that this dazed-looking girl had a ridiculously high IQ.

Back on the stage, it had only taken her a few dozen seconds to memorize a script of several hundred words, verbatim.

Xue Rui swallowed hard. ’Good thing Gu Muxue’s attention was diverted just now,’ he thought.

However, just as he was thinking that, Gu Muxue said, "You hired Lin Ruoxi as an employee because you saw this in her, didn’t you?"

She had actually bought some programming books herself, but they were incredibly difficult. The scope of the material was so vast; she couldn’t even imagine how Lin Ruoxi had learned all that stuff in high school.

Xue Rui’s expression was calm. "Yeah."

Suddenly, he saw Gu Muxue’s brow furrow. ’Was she not satisfied with that answer?’ he wondered. ’She shouldn’t be...’ 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

As Xue Rui watched in confusion, Gu Muxue reached out and picked another strand of hair off his shoulder.

Xue Rui wondered to himself, ’Whose hair is that?’

Gu Muxue held it up toward the sun. It had a faint brown sheen. It was her hair.

’In fact, she often found hairs on Xue Rui. Sometimes they were hers, and sometimes they were Lin Ruoxi’s.’

’She could understand it, really. When she tutored Xue Rui, they had to share the same book, sitting shoulder to shoulder. It was perfectly normal for a hair to get on him.’

’It must be the same with software development, right? Two people needing to look at the same screen...’

Thinking of this, Gu Muxue was overcome with an indescribable feeling.

’Annoyance? No, that’s not it...’

’Anger? Not quite, but sometimes she really, really wanted to bite Xue Rui.’

She suddenly remembered something Lin Ruoxi had told her: Xue Rui didn’t like it when Lin Ruoxi got too close to him.

For some reason, the thought made her feel much better. She asked with a beaming smile, "Whose hair is this?"

Xue Rui breathed a sigh of relief. ’What an obvious question,’ he thought. ’Isn’t the answer written all over your face?’

"Looks like puppy fur to me," Xue Rui said, then turned and bolted. Today had been far too nerve-wracking.

"You jerk! Don’t you run! You’re the puppy!" Gu Muxue ground her teeth. Xue Rui was never serious.

From a distance, Lin Ruoxi watched Gu Muxue chase after Xue Rui. ’Maybe this girl isn’t so scary after all...’ she thought.

’But why does she like hitting Xue Rui so much?’

Xue Rui had told her it was because he provoked people first, and that she was allowed to hit him too.

The thought of Xue Rui getting hit made her heart ache.

"What’s wrong? Not happy with this one?" Director Wang asked, holding up the camera.

Lin Ruoxi replied instinctively, "Yeah."

Director Wang felt something was off. Lin Ruoxi had just said this picture was fine, so why was she saying it wasn’t now? She even looked a little unhappy.

In reality, Lin Ruoxi hadn’t even looked at the camera’s screen...

...

「That evening, at Lin Ruoxi’s home.」

From the moment he walked in the door, Lin Ruoxi’s eyes were scanning Xue Rui from head to toe.

When Xue Rui came back from tutoring with Gu Muxue, he would sometimes have little red marks on him, and even bite marks...

The truth was, Xue Rui brought it on himself. Many girls like to pinch and bite the people they’re fond of, but Lin Ruoxi didn’t understand this. She just didn’t want to see Xue Rui get hurt.

Xue Rui was a bit bewildered. During the day, Gu Muxue had been searching him for stray hairs. Now, Lin Ruoxi looked like she wanted to strip off his clothes for an inspection. ’Is she looking for hair too?’

She had made him take off his jacket the moment he came in, and now he was down to a short-sleeved shirt, but Lin Ruoxi was still trying to peer inside his clothes.

Lin Ruoxi suddenly remembered something and brought a fried dough twist over to Xue Rui. "The other day, you said your throat hurt so you didn’t eat one. You have to make up for it today."

"What are you looking for on me?"

Xue Rui felt extremely uncomfortable. ’What has this girl latched onto now?’

"I’m checking if anyone’s been bullying you," Lin Ruoxi said earnestly.

The old woman suddenly laughed. "Someone bullying him? It’s a good day if he’s not the one bullying others."