Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

Xue Rui’s breathing hitched. He hadn’t bought that book.

Beside Lin Ruoxi’s hand lay a copy of Analog Circuit.

"What on earth are you trying to learn?" Xue Rui finally couldn’t hold back any longer.

Loving to learn was a good thing, but Xue Rui found this ridiculous. ’Lin Ruoxi’s fields of study are a little too broad!’

"Whatever you need me to learn. I... I want to help you," Lin Ruoxi said quietly.

The books Xue Rui had bought were too wide-ranging, so Lin Ruoxi didn’t know which specific skills he needed.

And since Xue Rui never brought it up, Lin Ruoxi, with her personality, wouldn’t take the initiative to ask, either...

So, Lin Ruoxi decided to learn it all.

"Help me?" Xue Rui looked confused.

"That day... you said you couldn’t learn it, so I thought if I learned it, I could help you," Lin Ruoxi explained.

Xue Rui recalled the first day he got the computer, when he had ambitiously bought a pile of programming books...

’So, Lin Ruoxi was learning all these skills for me?’

He had never really been a fan of her personality; it was only her looks he’d liked.

But... in that instant, something tugged fiercely at Xue Rui’s heartstrings.

At that moment, he felt a mix of helplessness and a pang of heartache.

’This silly girl, she bottles everything up inside.’

’She could have just asked me directly, but she had to go and put herself through all this.’

"Tell me, what else are you hiding from me?" Xue Rui demanded, his face grim.

He knew about Lin Ruoxi’s past, and after spending so much time with her lately, Xue Rui had thought he understood her quite well.

But now he felt his understanding was far too shallow.

Lin Ruoxi was like a vast treasure trove; you never knew what you might unearth.

Faced with Xue Rui’s questioning, Lin Ruoxi trembled, and her eyes began to redden.

"Hm?" Xue Rui sensed something was off.

’Lin Ruoxi wasn’t usually this fragile. Could just raising my voice a little really scare her to tears?’

Lately, Lin Ruoxi had indeed been acting strangely. It seemed she was hiding something from him, often stealing glances at him with a very odd expression.

"Spit it out," Xue Rui said, moving his chair over until he was very close to Lin Ruoxi.

He was trying to channel the intimidating presence of a teacher, just like Xue Xiaying had done when she’d interrogated him, hoping to pry out some secrets.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down Lin Ruoxi’s face, dampening the book in her hands.

"I... I have a terminal illness," Lin Ruoxi choked out.

Xue Rui felt as if he had been struck by lightning. ’A terminal illness?’

’The Mid-Autumn Festival is only about ten days away. Is Lin Ruoxi’s death fated?’

’But Lin Ruoxi just had a check-up two weeks ago. How could she have a terminal illness?’

"The doctor... the doctor said I only have a few years left," Lin Ruoxi said, her voice growing more choked with emotion.

She walked to her bed, pulled a hidden file folder from under the mattress, and handed it to Xue Rui.

When Xue Rui saw the folder, his palms began to sweat.

’Did they miss it during her last check-up?’

With a sense of dread, he opened the folder. Inside were Lin Ruoxi’s bank passbook and an insurance policy.

Lin Ruoxi had bought an insurance policy for herself, and the listed beneficiary was Xue Rui.

Xue Rui let out a sigh of relief. At least it wasn’t a hospital report.

The way Lin Ruoxi was acting, it was as if she were settling her final affairs.

"Did you go to the hospital for a check-up? What did the doctor say it was?" Xue Rui asked.

"I asked online. The Baidu doctor said..."

Lin Ruoxi couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. Her secret was out.

"A Baidu doctor?" Xue Rui frowned.

’Lin Ruoxi saw a doctor on Baidu?’

As the saying goes, if you look up your symptoms on Baidu, you’ll be diagnosed with cancer at the very least.

’Was this for fucking real?’

Xue Rui laughed, exasperated. He cupped Lin Ruoxi’s face with both hands and started squishing her cheeks.

"You silly girl, you can’t believe everything you read online! It’s all fake."

Xue Rui had been scared out of his wits, and now he was taking it out on Lin Ruoxi’s cheeks.

"Mmph..."

Lin Ruoxi didn’t resist, her face contorting into various shapes as Xue Rui squished it, making it impossible for her to speak clearly.

Still not feeling satisfied, Xue Rui gave Lin Ruoxi a light flick on the forehead.

"Oww... that hurts..." Lin Ruoxi said, clutching her forehead.

She couldn’t quite describe how she felt. ’Relieved? Like I’ve been given a new lease on life?’

’But why would a doctor lie to me?’

But she was more inclined to believe Xue Rui.

"Why?" Lin Ruoxi asked, wiping away her tears.

Xue Rui said irritably, "To make money, what else? You search for something, and it’s all just ads designed to scare patients into buying medicine."

It was a crude tactic, but it worked on the principle of ’if you can fool one, that’s one more victim’.

And Lin Ruoxi was precisely the type of person who assumed everyone was good and would never suspect anyone of anything.

Seeing Lin Ruoxi still looking dazed, Xue Rui said,

"You can’t believe everything other people say. Every word could be a lie, spoken with an ulterior motive."

Lin Ruoxi looked up, her dazed and confused eyes meeting Xue Rui’s for a moment.

Xue Rui thought for a moment, then added, "But you can believe everything I say."

Without hesitation, Lin Ruoxi nodded decisively.

"Then... what about Grandma’s words?" Lin Ruoxi asked.

’Grandma wouldn’t lie to me either,’ she thought.

"The old lady... you can’t believe it when she says bad things about me," Xue Rui instructed with a serious expression.

"Mmm... okay."

Lin Ruoxi nodded thoughtfully.

Then, the thought that she didn’t have a terminal illness made her break into a happy smile.

But when she saw the insurance policy, Lin Ruoxi bit her lip, feeling like she’d wasted her money.

Xue Rui guessed what she was thinking and casually tore the insurance policy to shreds.

Lin Ruoxi frantically reached out to stop him, but it was too late.

"A door-to-door salesman sold you this, didn’t they?" Xue Rui asked.

He didn’t think Lin Ruoxi would be the type to proactively buy insurance just because she thought she had a terminal illness.

It was most likely a door-to-door pitch.

And Lin Ruoxi, believing she was terminally ill, bought a policy for herself.

"Mhm..." Lin Ruoxi nodded, admitting it.

"Buying insurance after you’ve been diagnosed is considered fraud. They wouldn’t have paid out anyway," Xue Rui said with a smile.

"But the insurance salesman said it was okay..." Lin Ruoxi trailed off, realizing she’d been tricked by the salesman.

She subconsciously grabbed her copy of Analog Circuit and hid her face behind it, leaving only her beautiful eyes visible.

Lin Ruoxi looked at Xue Rui and asked in a small voice, "Am... am I really stupid...?"

Xue Rui’s eye twitched. If it had been any other girl, he would have said without hesitation: ’You’re dumb as a box of rocks.’

But looking at the copy of Analog Circuit, Xue Rui couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

"You’re not stupid," Xue Rui said with a smile, ruffling Lin Ruoxi’s hair.

He added silently in his heart, ’It’s this dirty world that’s not worthy of you.’

"So what are your symptoms? I’ll take you to the hospital tomorrow morning for a check-up," Xue Rui said with a smile.

Today’s whole ordeal had given him a real scare, and it turned out to be all because Lin Ruoxi had trusted Baidu.

Still, the fact that Lin Ruoxi had looked up symptoms online meant she must have been feeling unwell, so a trip to the hospital was for the best.

’It’s probably nothing serious, though, especially since she just had a physical,’ he thought.

Lin Ruoxi thought for a moment. "Um... I have trouble catching my breath, and I have nightmares a lot."

Xue Rui contacted his uncle, who told him to just head directly to the internal medicine department the next morning.

Once Lin Ruoxi knew she was fine, she went back to sitting on her chair and reading, the pace at which she flipped the pages now much faster.

Xue Rui listened to the SWISH-SWISH of the pages turning, glancing back at her every so often.

’Flipping a page every few seconds... is that really normal?’

’Then again, who was he to doubt Lin Ruoxi, the girl who could intentionally hold back to score second place?’

Da Huang snuck into the room, hopped onto Lin Ruoxi’s lap, and nestled its head in front of the book, staring at it intently.

"Da Huang, can you even read that?" Xue Rui said with a laugh.

Hearing its name, Da Huang shot Xue Rui a disdainful look.

Xue Rui popped the rest of the walnuts from his bowl into his mouth. Feeling his slightly sticky fingers, he called out, "Come here."

Lin Ruoxi closed her book and instinctively started to get up.

But Xue Rui shook his head and pointed at Da Huang.

At home, Da Huang only ever listened to Lin Ruoxi, completely ignoring Xue Rui.

Xue Rui was not at all pleased with this attitude.

Lin Ruoxi paused for a second, then gave Da Huang a gentle nudge with her foot. "Go on."

Da Huang reluctantly padded over to Xue Rui’s side.

"Good."

Xue Rui reached out and wiped his sticky fingers on Da Huang’s head.

...

「The next morning」

Xue Rui asked his homeroom teacher for a leave of absence and accompanied Lin Ruoxi to the hospital.

His grandmother’s prescription had also run out, so he figured he could get it refilled at the same time.

「At the hospital entrance」

"Here..." Lin Ruoxi stuffed a thick wad of hundred-yuan bills into Xue Rui’s hand.

Xue Rui shot Lin Ruoxi a glare. "Don’t flash your money around in public."

There were all sorts of people at the hospital entrance; it was easy to become a target.

But since the money was already out, he simply took it from her.

The two of them arrived at the internal medicine department.

A middle-aged female doctor was on duty.

"Doctor, Director Ren sent us," Xue Rui said as he closed the door.

"What’s the matter with the young lady?" the doctor asked with a smile.

Ren Deqiu had given her a heads-up that morning that a friend’s child would be stopping by.

"She says she has chest tightness, shortness of breath, and frequent nightmares," Xue Rui repeated.

"Sit down."

The doctor listened to Lin Ruoxi’s chest with a stethoscope for a moment, then began to palpate her torso.

The doctor gave Lin Ruoxi a surprised look, then glanced at Xue Rui.

"What is it?" Xue Rui asked, a little nervous.

’This is an associate chief physician. With an expression like that, could Lin Ruoxi really have a serious problem?’

"Did her parents not come with her?" the doctor asked.

"You can just tell me directly," Xue Rui said, his face tense.

"Could you step outside for a moment?" the doctor gestured for Xue Rui to leave.

"Oh."

Xue Rui might be a bit of a rascal, but he was never one to mess around when it came to serious matters. He cooperated with the doctor’s request.

After Xue Rui left, the doctor reached behind Lin Ruoxi and undid something. Lin Ruoxi instantly arched her back, her face flushing red all the way to her ears.

’This doctor is so strange,’ she thought. ’Why is she unhooking my bra?’

"Now, take a deep breath. Does that feel better?" the doctor asked.

Lin Ruoxi took a few deep breaths and realized it did feel different.

"Alright, young man, you can come back in."

Xue Rui thought, ’It’s only been a minute. What could she possibly have checked in that time?’

"Doctor, what’s the verdict?" Xue Rui asked nervously.

"Her bra is too small. It’s time to buy the girl a new one."

"The chest tightness and shortness of breath are because it’s uncomfortably tight. The rest is mainly psychological," the doctor stated plainly.

Lin Ruoxi turned away, not daring to meet Xue Rui’s gaze. She felt so embarrassed that this was the cause of all her problems.

"That’s it?" Xue Rui was astonished.

Then, his expression quickly changed to one of gratification. "The little girl’s growing up."