Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

One week later, in the Class 1 classroom.

Gu Muxue was grading Xue Rui’s test papers as usual. In the back row, Qiu Mengze and Mei Lili seemed to be having a silent competition, seeing who could finish their papers faster.

"Rui, what’s up with Teacher Xue?" Gu Muxue asked curiously.

The last few days had been really strange. Xue Rui had actually used Teacher Xue’s meal card to get her food from the faculty window, and sometimes Teacher Xue would even come over to bring Xue Rui a drink.

"It’s nothing. She has a guilty conscience," Xue Rui said with a smile.

He had to admit, Xue Xiaying had really surprised him that day. She was the one who had overslept, but she’d pinned all the blame on him.

Of course, Xue Rui didn’t argue. He just played along with Xue Xiaying’s little drama.

"What kind of guilty conscience could a teacher have?" Gu Muxue thought Xue Rui was just teasing her.

"The Gaokao is only half a month away. What do you want to do after it’s over?" Gu Muxue squeezed Xue Rui’s arm.

After wearing short sleeves for a while, the scars on Xue Rui’s wrist were basically invisible. She was very grateful to Mr. Sun for that.

"Get a driver’s license?" Xue Rui muttered.

He was an adult now, and a driver’s license was a must-have.

Gu Muxue was slightly surprised. ’Is Xue Rui thinking that far ahead?’ She had thought that after being cooped up in school for two years, he would want to go out and have fun during the summer vacation.

’A driver’s license? Does that mean I’ll be able to ride in Xue Rui’s car in the future?’

’If it’s Xue Rui’s car, I want to sit in the passenger seat.’

The thought made Gu Muxue’s heart flutter with anticipation.

"Mengze, you should get one too. We can go together," Xue Rui said, turning to Qiu Mengze. He remembered that Mengze had turned eighteen at the beginning of the year.

"Okay," Qiu Mengze nodded. His old man had also told him to get a license so he could help out with the family business.

Gu Muxue frowned. "Why didn’t you ask me?"

She actually wanted to get her license too, because whenever her family went out, her mom was the one who drove.

’I could drive Xue Rui around, too.’

"Your birthday on your ID is in October. By the time you’re an adult, school will have already started," Xue Rui said, waving his hand dismissively. ’This girl has no common sense,’ he thought.

"Oh..." Gu Muxue was a little unhappy that she couldn’t apply because of her age.

Just then, Mei Lili spotted the key point. "My birthday is early enough! I’ll go get one, and I can be Muxue’s driver in the future."

"Can you even afford a car?" Qiu Mengze pointed out.

Mei Lili froze for a moment. That was indeed a problem. She thought about it and said, "I can work and save up slowly."

"Holy crap! Xue Rui, look! Now *this* is the queen of simps," Qiu Mengze couldn’t help but exclaim, pointing his pen at Mei Lili.

Xue Rui often called him a simp, but he felt that compared to Mei Lili, he was still worlds apart.

"Don’t point at me, you’re the dog," Mei Lili retorted.

Qiu Mengze cleared his throat. "Let me educate you on what a simp is."

...

The corner of Xue Rui’s eye twitched. ’You two are just as bad as each other,’ he thought.

After hearing that Gu Muxue was going to a university in Chang’an, Mei Lili had decided she would apply to schools in Chang’an too.

As for Qiu Mengze, his life path was different from what Xue Rui remembered from his previous life.

In his last life, Qiu Mengze had randomly filled out his college applications and ended up going to school in the far Northwest. When they chatted on QQ, there was even a time difference.

But this time, Qiu Mengze was also going to study in Chang’an.

As for the reason... It was because Qin Tong had gotten in through early admissions and was going to a "third-tier" college in Chang’an.

"I have to go to my grandma’s house for summer vacation. I didn’t go back for the New Year, so Grandma told me I had to visit this summer," Gu Muxue said.

But every time she went, her grandma couldn’t bear to let her leave and would make her stay in Jiangnan for a long time—at least a month.

The thought made her a little downcast. She stared blankly out the window at a plane slowly descending toward the suburbs when a plan suddenly flashed through her mind.

’I’ll secretly bring Xue Rui to Jiangnan during summer vacation, and then we can hang out together!’

"Rui, do you want to take a trip to Jiangnan? You can use my New Year’s money," Gu Muxue said in a low voice.

Xue Rui suddenly shivered. "What are you planning?"

He sensed a hint of being a kept man in her offer.

"I’ll rent a place for you. You can live near my grandma’s house. Uncle Xue would probably agree to let you go with me..." The more Gu Muxue thought about it, the more feasible the plan seemed.

Xue Rui sucked in a sharp breath. ’Does this girl even know what she’s saying?’

’Secretly hiding me away in a house that only Gu Muxue knows about? How is that any different from being a kept mistress?’

"No way. I have a lot to do this summer. We can talk about it when you get back," Xue Rui flatly refused.

He had a lot to do after the Gaokao. Not only did he have to arrange for the old lady to get into a nursing home, but he also had to get his driver’s license...

Plus, over the past six months, Lin Ruoxi had developed software according to his specifications and designed a number of hardware products. It was just that many of them weren’t designed for mass production, so he’d have to find a factory to redesign them later.

He’d have to go out of town for that, though. Hedong City didn’t have the necessary industry chain.

The point was, Gu Muxue had family. She had people who cared for her and doted on her. Even if he left her on her own, she would still be happy; it was just a matter of degree.

But what about that little girl, Lin Ruoxi? If he took off, she would have no one to accompany but the old lady every day.

He could already picture her lonely figure, with only Da Huang for company...

’Well, now there’s also Yu Minlan,’ he thought.

"Fine, if you don’t want to, then forget it. Just make sure you review the mistakes on these test papers." Gu Muxue’s cheeks were puffed out in a huff as she grabbed her backpack and left.

But she wasn’t truly angry, just thought it was a real shame.

After walking out of the classroom, she looked up at the vast, blue sky, and her steps couldn’t help but become a little lighter.

"Time flies so fast," Gu Muxue took a deep breath, feeling that the flowers and plants at the end of May were especially fragrant.

’In just a few more months, I’ll be in college.’

... 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Qiu Mengze leaned over to Xue Rui curiously. "What were you two just talking about?"

They had been talking too quietly for him to hear, but he could sense the gist of it. It seemed like Gu Muxue had asked Xue Rui for something, but he had turned her down.

Xue Rui sighed. "She said she wanted to keep me, and I sternly refused."

"Yeah, right," Qiu Mengze sneered. He didn’t believe a word of it.

Suddenly, Xue Rui received a QQ message: "I brought food. Why aren’t you here yet?"

Lin Ruoxi was staring blankly out the hospital window. Xue Rui was a little later than usual today, and the noodles she had made for him were about to get soggy, so she sent him a message on QQ to ask.

Qiu Mengze saw Xue Rui smile at his screen and leaned in to take a look.

Xue Rui didn’t hide it, openly showing the screen to Qiu Mengze.

"My eyes! Don’t show me," Qiu Mengze reeled from the critical hit.

How could he not know? It was a message from Lin Ruoxi. Every morning, Lin Ruoxi brought breakfast for Xue Rui—a homemade meal, completely different from the store-bought breakfasts their classmates had.

"Another one who wants to keep me," Xue Rui remarked with a sigh.

For a moment, Qiu Mengze didn’t know how to refute that. What did the term "keep" even mean in this context?

Gu Muxue used to find all sorts of ways to give Xue Rui spending money, and now Lin Ruoxi was making him meals...

"Gotta go," Xue Rui said with a wave. He was going to the office to find Xue Xiaying and get a ride from her.

"Get lost," Qiu Mengze said irritably.

...

In the Audi, Xue Rui sat in the passenger seat, gazing out the window with a mournful expression.

"I’ve been wronged," Xue Rui sighed.

Xue Xiaying was at her wit’s end. She had been trying to placate Xue Rui for a week, but every time they were together, he acted like he had suffered a terrible injustice.

That day, on a whim, she had decided she couldn’t let the image she had maintained for three years collapse. So she’d simply thrown the blame on Xue Rui. After all, he was already in so much trouble that a little more wouldn’t hurt.

Besides, Xue Rui was her own nephew. She figured she could just sweet-talk him later.

She just never expected that from that day on, Xue Rui would just shake his head and sigh whenever he saw her, and he couldn’t be coaxed out of his mood no matter what.

"Auntie, I can’t believe even you, who looks so upright and honest, would stoop to slander..."

Xue Xiaying could tell the boy was definitely faking it, just to make her run errands for him.

But with only half a month left until the Gaokao, she had to keep him happy. If Xue Rui didn’t do well on the exam, she would blame herself for the rest of her life.

However, Xue Xiaying was also happy to run these errands, because Xue Rui had been coming to the hospital these past few days to accompany Lin Ruoxi’s grandmother.

The car slowly pulled up to a supermarket near the hospital.

"Rui, what do you want to eat? Auntie will buy it for you," Xue Xiaying said with a smile.

She felt that Xue Rui was just like when he was a child, pestering her for this and that. The thought that he would be going to college soon, and she wouldn’t have many more chances to buy things for him, crossed her mind.

"Ice cream, I guess. And remember to buy a few," Xue Rui said with a smile.

The weather was getting hotter. It was the perfect season for ice cream.

He didn’t get out of the car to pick them out himself, because that little girl, Lin Ruoxi, wasn’t a picky eater. She’d eat whatever he bought.

Xue Xiaying walked up to the freezer and casually grabbed a few tubs of ice cream that looked familiar.

When the cashier scanned them at checkout, her eyes widened...

Three tubs of ice cream actually cost over a hundred yuan.

"There are cheaper ones over there," the cashier said, pointing to the regular freezer section.

Xue Xiaying froze for a second, then took out her money and paid. "These are fine."

Back in the car, Xue Xiaying frowned as she looked at the few tubs of ice cream.

"Häagen-Dazs? Feeling generous, are we?" Xue Rui laughed.

Xue Rui glanced at Xue Xiaying’s expression. ’She probably didn’t expect this ice cream to be so expensive,’ he thought.

"Did you get hit by an ’ice cream assassin’? Did the store not have prices listed?" Xue Rui asked curiously.

Xue Rui figured Xue Xiaying was too thin-skinned to return the expensive ice cream after she’d already taken it.

Xue Xiaying didn’t understand what "ice cream assassin" meant. She sighed deeply. "This is what we usually eat at home. I just didn’t realize it was so expensive."

She had been freeloading at her brother’s house for years, and almost everything she ate and used belonged to the household. She rarely bought things for herself outside.

Because Xue Yao loved ice cream, the refrigerator was always packed with all kinds of it. Xue Xiaying had gotten used to eating one a day, and sometimes even several tubs when the weather was hot...

Xue Rui understood at once. Xue Xiaying was probably used to a life of comfort and had suddenly realized that her own salary wasn’t even enough to cover her own food and drink expenses.

Xue Rui smiled. "Auntie, if this doesn’t work out, maybe you should quit teaching. It’s tiring and doesn’t pay well."

"No way. My dream is to teach and nurture students. After I move out... I’ll just have to be more frugal." Xue Xiaying gritted her teeth and put the ice cream back in the plastic bag.

"Don’t be frugal. Eat up." Xue Rui opened a tub for Xue Xiaying.