Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

In the hospital room.

"The noodles are cold..." Lin Ruoxi’s eyes drooped. Xue Rui was so late today.

The man in the next bed had been watching for a while. He finally spoke up, "Why isn’t that kid here yet? What a crying shame. Young lady, I don’t mind that the noodles are cold. Let me have them."

"They won’t taste good cold." Lin Ruoxi thought about eating them herself. She didn’t want Xue Rui to eat cold food; if he showed up, she could just go back and make him a fresh bowl.

The man snatched the noodles. "They’ll still taste good cold."

He’d been craving a bite for a long time. Lin Ruoxi had brought him a bowl last time, too.

But how could he have the nerve to keep asking Lin Ruoxi to cook for him?

So he had politely told her not to make any for him, and as a result, the girl actually stopped bringing him food!

With Xue Rui not here today, he finally had his chance.

Just as Xue Rui walked into the hospital room, he saw the scene unfold. "Why are you stealing my food?"

"You’re here... I-I’ll go back and cook for you," Lin Ruoxi said, turning to leave the room.

"Don’t trouble yourself." Xue Rui reached out and gently pushed Lin Ruoxi back down.

"Show up late, and you get nothing," the man said grumpily. He handed Xue Rui two cups of instant noodles and a few sausage sticks. "You can make do with this."

The man felt not a shred of guilt. He figured a lucky bastard like Xue Rui would get to eat homemade noodles for the rest of his life, so missing out on this one meal was no big deal.

Xue Rui reached out and took the two cups of instant noodles. "This is fine, too."

He actually hadn’t eaten instant noodles in a long time. It was strange, really. The stuff was pretty good if you had it once in a while, but eating it for every meal would make you want to puke.

"Do you like instant noodles?" Xue Rui asked.

This stuff was a memory from his school days. Students were in their teens, burning through mental and physical energy at a rapid pace.

But the school schedule was completely unreasonable. They had dinner around five or six in the evening, but the late self-study session didn’t end until ten at night. The school didn’t provide a late-night snack, so when the students’ stomachs were growling with hunger, their only option was to buy some instant noodles.

Yi Bing and Qiu Mengze ate them almost every day. The two would even argue over who drank more of the broth. What a pair of clowns...

"I had them before, when Grandma was in the hospital," Lin Ruoxi said in a small voice.

The girl took the cup of noodles and looked it over curiously. "Do the ones in the cup taste better?"

"You’ve never had them?" Xue Rui asked.

"They’re too expensive. You can buy several of the bagged kind for the same price," Lin Ruoxi said blankly.

"You’re a little rich girl now. From now on, you can eat whatever you want. You don’t have to worry about the money," Xue Rui said.

"Mhm, I’m a little rich girl." Lin Ruoxi felt her life was already wonderful. She ate a two-yuan chocolate pie every day without feeling the slightest pinch.

Watching Lin Ruoxi carry the noodles to get hot water, Xue Rui felt a sharp pang in his heart. ’What kind of life did this girl have before? Cup noodles were a luxury?’

The man was moved. He patted the cast on his son’s leg. "You’ve gotta find a wife like her in the future, you hear me?"

The boy with the broken leg nodded. "That’s what I was thinking, but I’m afraid it’ll be hard to find one."

Who wouldn’t be smitten with such a beautiful girl? But where in the world would you find so many of them?

The man sighed. "You’ve got a point. A girl like her is practically an endangered species."

There are too few girls who are thrifty and good at managing a household these days, let alone one so gentle.

The two of them sighed, and hearing them made Xue Rui’s eyebrow twitch. He had a feeling this father and son weren’t talking about the same thing.

"Why haven’t you two been discharged yet? You could be recovering at home," Xue Rui asked.

The cast has been on for a while now. There’s no need to stay in the hospital.

The boy suddenly grabbed his father’s arm. "Dad, my leg hurts. Let’s stay a few more days."

The man’s eye twitched. How could he not see what his son was thinking?

He could stay in the hospital room and look at the pretty girl. If he went home, his mom would definitely beat him again. It was best to put it off for as long as possible.

The man called out to Xue Rui, "I was about to ask you the same thing! Why haven’t you discharged the old lady? She just has a dislocation. How long has she been here?"

Xue Rui turned and met the old lady’s eyes, receiving an expectant look from her.

Xue Rui cleared his throat. "We’re paying for everything out of pocket. It’s the hospital’s off-season right now. Can’t I make a small contribution to the national healthcare system?"

A passing nurse gave Xue Rui a thumbs-up. She hadn’t expected his motives to be so noble.

Summer was indeed the off-season for the hospital. Most of the beds were empty, and many doctors would suggest patients stay longer to pad their performance numbers.

During the winter, however, there were never enough beds, and patients without urgent conditions wouldn’t be given one at all.

The man tutted softly. "I don’t think it’s that simple."

Xue Rui sighed. He did have another reason for not discharging the old lady.

Recently, Lin Ruoxi had been bringing him meals at school in the morning, spending the day with the old lady in the hospital room with her laptop, and then going home to sleep at night.

To be precise, Lin Ruoxi had been sleeping alone this whole time.

Xue Rui wanted the girl to get used to life without her grandmother ahead of time. He didn’t plan on taking the old lady home, thinking he’d just put her in a nursing home right after the college entrance exams.

Lin Ruoxi was in the prime of her youth; she shouldn’t waste all her time taking care of an elderly person. On this point, he and the old lady were in complete agreement.

"Grandma, you need to cause less trouble from now on," Xue Rui said with a stern face.

The old lady knew she was in the wrong, so she turned her head to the side and pretended not to hear.

Lin Ruoxi made two trips and came back carrying two cups of instant noodles with their lids on.

"Let’s eat." Xue Rui casually took one of the cups.

However, the little girl swapped the two cups.

’Aren’t they both braised beef flavor? What’s there to switch?’ Xue Rui wondered.

But Lin Ruoxi was always like this, sometimes doing things for no apparent reason.

But the moment Xue Rui opened the lid, he understood everything.

His cup of noodles was stuffed with so many sausage slices they almost completely covered the noodles.

The man from the next bed had given him three sausage sticks, and nearly all of them were in here.

Xue Rui tilted his head and glanced at Lin Ruoxi’s bowl. It only had a few small pieces of sausage, which wouldn’t even add up to half a stick.

"I have some too," Lin Ruoxi said.

Lin Ruoxi felt that since Xue Rui had to go to school and also visit her grandma at the hospital, his days were much harder than hers, so he should eat more.

The little girl was always like this, saving the best things for him to eat.

Xue Rui didn’t force the sausage back on Lin Ruoxi, because the little girl liked watching him eat.

Besides, Lin Ruoxi wasn’t short on money now. If she got hungry, she would buy something for herself.

Lin Ruoxi picked up her fork, carefully lifted a mouthful, blew on it a few times, and put it in her mouth to taste. "I guess... the ones in the cup do taste a little better?"

Lin Ruoxi wasn’t sure. She thought it tasted about the same, but it also seemed different from before.

"Let’s send your grandma to a nursing home after the college entrance exams." After saying it, Xue Rui was suddenly hit by a wave of guilt. He watched Lin Ruoxi’s reaction from the corner of his eye.

Lin Ruoxi was stunned to hear this. A hint of panic appeared on her face, and her eyes gradually grew moist.

She didn’t want to refuse Xue Rui, but the thought of leaving her grandma alone in a nursing home made her afraid her grandma wouldn’t be well taken care of.

"It was Grandma’s own idea to go," Xue Rui said.

He immediately passed the buck.

Lin Ruoxi said softly, "You can’t always believe what old people say. They’re like little kids."

Xue Rui gritted his teeth. "It was me. I’m making her go."

He really wanted to light a cigarette and post a status update: *In the end, I shouldered the burden alone.*

"Okay." Lin Ruoxi nodded obediently, her tears plopping into her noodle broth.

"Grandma, say something," Xue Rui said through gritted teeth.

This blame was too heavy; he couldn’t shoulder it all.

"Xixi, who do you see going off to college with an old person in tow? Living your own life well is more important than anything," the old lady finally spoke up.

Lin Ruoxi choked back a sob but didn’t answer, simply lowering her head to continue eating her noodles.

Xue Rui’s tone softened. "You can’t watch over your grandma all the time. Look, you took your eyes off her for one second, and she fell and landed herself in the hospital."

"Some things have to be left to the professionals."

"Besides, you can go visit her at the nursing home whenever you have free time," Xue Rui said.

Of course, he was telling the truth. It was impossible for Lin Ruoxi to watch her grandmother twenty-four hours a day. An elderly woman of her age, with underlying health conditions and a history of hard labor, wasn’t likely to live for much longer anyway.

Plus, Xue Rui felt that with the old lady’s talent for getting into trouble, she could just drop dead one of these days.

When that happened, the little girl would only blame herself for not watching her closely enough. It would be better for them to start living separately sooner rather than later.

At worst, they could put the old lady in a nursing home nearby, just so Lin Ruoxi could visit often.

"Okay, I’ll listen." Lin Ruoxi nodded. She knew Xue Rui was doing this for her and her grandma’s own good, but she just couldn’t bear to part with her.

Before, she’d never thought about going to college, planning instead to find work and support her grandma after her second-year exams. But now, she lacked nothing, and she had Xue Rui by her side...

’College? I’d love to see what it’s like.’

’Grandma could live out her final years in peace, too...’

Ever since Xue Rui appeared, everything had gotten better.

Lin Ruoxi looked up, her long eyelashes adorned with glistening teardrops. Her eyes, full of tenderness, rested quietly on Xue Rui.

Xue Rui patted Lin Ruoxi’s head. ’Finally got that out in the open,’ he thought.

"I’ll have Yu Minlan look up a few nursing homes. We can go check them out together, and you can pick a good one for your grandma," Xue Rui said.

This way, it would be like Lin Ruoxi was sending her grandmother there with him, and he’d have a little less blame to carry on his own.

"Okay, I’ll choose one myself," Lin Ruoxi nodded seriously.

"Oh right, I also bought two ice creams on the way here." Xue Rui took out the ice cream he had set aside.

The weather had gotten warmer, and the ice cream had melted a little.

"It’ll have to do." Xue Rui brought it to his lips and took a sip. It was icy cold.

He had no habit of savoring his food. He downed it in a flash and was about to throw the container in the trash.

However, Lin Ruoxi took the ice cream container from him. "You’re not finished yet."

Lin Ruoxi thought Xue Rui was being wasteful, but she wouldn’t say anything to him. She would just clean it up herself.

She tapped the ice cream container against her palm, tilting her small head back as she waited for the melted ice cream clinging to the edges to slide down.

Xue Rui could only smile at the sight. The little girl was waiting with her mouth open for the ice cream to drip in.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Lin Ruoxi, but she was completely oblivious, her gaze focused intently on the slowly dripping ice cream inside the container.

In the end, the ice cream couldn’t escape the little girl’s tongue.

Lin Ruoxi licked the container again, and only after confirming it was clean did she break into a contented smile.

Xue Rui exchanged a knowing smile with the others in the room.

"What happened?" Lin Ruoxi licked her lips and looked at everyone with a dazed and adorable expression.