After My Rebirth, I Stole Away the School Genius - Chapter 9

After completing her study plan for the day, Lu Shinian lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

If things had gone according to the original course of events, she could have just kicked Wang Jing one more time, freed herself from misery, and continued living carefreely. But what about that girl in the future?

She would die at the most beautiful age, forever frozen at seventeen, while Wang Jing would only serve five years in prison. After his release, he could still walk freely under the sun.

Why?

She had asked herself this before.

Once, she had intercepted a female subordinate being dragged into a hotel room by her boss. As she left, the pot-bellied executive had given her a lingering glance, while those around pretended not to notice. Later, people whispered behind the woman’s back, subjecting her to unwarranted scrutiny until she was forced to resign.

Sometimes, the rules of this world were just that absurd, the victims left in humiliation and despair, while the perpetrators slept soundly without a care.

Lu Shiyin had told her that this was the dark underbelly of the world.

Neither Lu Zhenhong, the prosecutor, nor Lu Shiyin could change it. She certainly couldn’t either.

After rolling over several times without success, Lu Shinian gave up and grabbed her English book to memorize vocabulary.

In the end, the light stayed on all night.

The next day, unsurprisingly, Lu Shinian overslept.

Clutching a steamed bun between her teeth, she dashed out of the house under Chai Ping’s nagging.

She valued her life, after all, she had died in a car accident in her past life so she had always been wary of vehicles. Even in a hurry to get to class, she didn’t dare speed too much on her electric scooter, though she did push it a little faster than usual.

At a crosswalk, she spotted Yu He walking hurriedly from the opposite side of the street, also racing against time.

Yu He had overslept too? That was a once-in-a-century occurrence.

“Yu He!”

Yu He stopped and turned around.

“Hop on, I’ll give you a ride.” Lu Shinian braked smoothly, stopping right beside her.

Yu He: “No need.”

The expected refusal.

Lu Shinian pulled out a spare helmet from under the seat and held it out. “The school’s still a ways off. You won’t make it on foot unless you want to be late and have your name taken by security?”

Yu He pressed her lips together, visibly conflicted.

Lu Shinian had already settled back onto the scooter, glancing at her with a light chuckle. “Yu, time’s running out. If you keep hesitating, I’ll be late with you.”

After a few seconds of hesitation, Yu He took the helmet and swung her leg over the back seat.

“Thank you.”

Her voice was soft, but Lu Shinian heard it clearly. The frantic mood from earlier lightened considerably, and even her tone turned cheerful. “All set?”

Yu He fastened the helmet, leaving only her fair, delicate face exposed. She nodded. “Mm.”

Lu Shinian tilted her head slightly and couldn’t resist adding, “So well-behaved.”

“……”

Yu He froze for a split second before lowering her head quietly, exhaling softly behind her.

“Let’s go!”

Lu Shinian twisted the throttle, and the scooter set off again. Yu He held onto the side guardrails, keeping a careful distance between herself and the rider in front.

With an extra passenger, the scooter moved much slower than usual. Lu Shinian turned the throttle a little more, and the sudden burst of speed made her heart race. She gradually squeezed the brake, easing back to a safer pace.

Yu He was jolted forward by sudden brakes, her body colliding with the other girl’s back from the momentum. The faint scent of oranges lingered around her nose before she quickly realized and moved away to create distance.

“Sorry, are you okay?” Lu Shinian adjusted the rearview mirror to glance behind her.

Yu He replied flatly, “I’m fine.”

But it must have hurt her ears and cheeks were flushed red.

Lu Shinian’s eyes curved into a smile.

After adjusting their speed, the rest of the ride became much smoother, cruising steadily along the way. As they approached a speed bump, Lu Shinian warned, “Hold on tight.”

“Okay,” Yu He answered softly, gripping the sides firmly.

The electric scooter bounced slightly as it rolled over the bump.

For some reason, Lu Shinian felt inexplicably cheerful and burst into laughter, not caring if she looked like a complete fool.

Watching her, Yu He couldn’t help but let the corners of her lips lift as well.

Their laughter dissolved into the morning breeze, rustling the plane trees lining the street. Golden sunlight bathed the entire road as the scooter carrying the two of them disappeared into the distance.

They barely made it into the school gates just before they closed.

Since they arrived late, the bike shed was already full. Lu Shinian parked the scooter and let Yu He dismount first.

Taking the helmet from her, Lu Shinian said, “I’ll find a parking spot. You go ahead to class, or you’ll be late.”

“Thanks,” Yu He said again before turning toward the school building with her backpack.

After finally securing a spot, Lu Shinian glanced toward the entrance, a row of students stood there, being scolded by the stern-faced dean.

She secretly rejoiced at having avoided being caught, then checked her watch.

Oh no, the bell was about to ring.

Halfway through her sprint, Lu Shinian caught sight of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye and backtracked a few steps. The girl who had left five minutes ago was now standing by the curb.

She blinked in confusion. “Hey, didn’t you leave already?”

Was she… waiting for her?

Yu He’s slightly lowered eyes flickered briefly, her expression still cool.

Silent again. Lu Shinian worried she might one day suffocate herself from holding everything in.

The school bell rang, shattering the quiet.

Lu Shinian quickly switched her bag to the other hand and grabbed Yu He’s wrist, dashing toward the building at full speed.

Morning reading was English class. Their simultaneous late arrival drew curious glances from most of the class, but the teacher simply waved them in without much fuss.

As soon as she sat down, Yu Jingjing asked, “You came with Yu He?”

“Yeah, ran into her on the way,” Lu Shinian replied, pulling out her books with a hint of pride. “I gave her a ride.”

Yu Jingjing raised an eyebrow. “Yu He actually got on your scooter?”

Lu Shinian nodded. “I’m shameless like that.”

“Let me hitch a ride next time.”

“Sure, if there’s a chance.”

Xu Man suddenly turned around. “Homework.”

Lu Shinian handed over her notebook with an “Oh.”

During break, the Chinese class representative returned last night’s graded essays, and the classroom buzzed as students compared scores.

Lu Shinian glanced at hers, 45. Not bad.

After Friday comes the bliss of a holiday weekend. During the last class, most students’ minds had already wandered far from the classroom. When the bell finally rang, the physics class representative stood up to announce there was one more test paper left to distribute, asking everyone to wait a little longer.

A collective groan rose from the class as papers flew everywhere.

Lu Shinian packed away the handed-out test papers with a sigh. With so many assignments, she was bound to have a pile she couldn’t solve. She figured she’d have to wake up early on Monday to “borrow” some answers.

Glancing ahead, she noticed Yu He and Fang Xing were still there, discussing problems together. Then it struck her, why bother waking up early when she could just ask for help online?

Lu Shinian walked over. “Yu He, can I add you on WeChat?”

Yu He looked up, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“I have a lot of questions about the coursework and could really use your help,” Lu Shinian said, blinking innocently. “Let’s exchange WeChat.”

With that look, that tone, and that humble attitude, she was sure Yu He wouldn’t refuse.

Yu He: “I don’t have WeChat.”

“…”

Lu Shinian’s eyelid twitched. Was this a new way of rejecting someone?

Fang Xing’s gaze darted between them, amused. “You can add me instead. You can ask me too.”

Lu Shinian shot him a grateful look, thanks for the save, buddy.

“Sure. I didn’t bring my phone to school, so I’ll just jot down your number.”

Fang Xing recited a string of digits while Lu Shinian scribbled them onto her palm with a pen from the desk. After double-checking, she nodded. “Got it.”

“I’ll add you later.”

She placed the pen back on the desk. “Thanks.”

Yu He’s eyes flickered to the numbers on Lu Shinian’s palm before lowering again, expression indifferent. “No problem.”

“See you Monday!” Lu Shinian waved cheerfully and left the classroom.

“Bye.”

As soon as Fang Xing turned back to their discussion, he saw Yu He snatch up the pen, face blank.

“I have a phone number too.”

Fang Xing was baffled. Seriously, are you upset she didn’t ask for yours?

Yu He: “I also have a QQ account.”

Fang Xing blinked. “Your dinosaur phone can actually run QQ? Damn, that’s impressive!”

After school, Lu Shinian dug out a phone from under her bed.

She had performed well in her high school entrance exams, so Chai Ping rewarded her with a smartphone before that, she’d only ever used a basic flip phone. During school days, Chai Ping forbade her from taking the smartphone, forcing her to stick with the old one. She only got it back on weekends, but Chai Ping didn’t allow her to set a password, meaning her mother could snoop through it anytime. Privacy? Nonexistent.

The phone in her hands now was one she’d secretly bought from Lu Shiyin using her New Year’s money. Chai Ping had no idea it existed. She’d even given nicknames to all three phones, the flip phone was “Elementary,” the one from Chai Ping was “Dumbass,” and this one was “007.”

She usually used 007 to message Li Jingming, secretly read novels, binge dramas, or search for homework answers basically, nothing good.

The first thing she did after turning it on was open WeChat and add Fang Xing. She noticed Li Jingming had sent her a bunch of messages, but she didn’t bother reading them. Instead, she blocked and deleted him in one swift motion.

Then she switched apps to log into her QQ account, where her username was still quite “trendy.”

^Falling for You Was Pure Accident^

Lu Shinian cringed so hard her scalp tingled and immediately changed it to “A Deer,” also swapping her profile picture to an image of a deer.

After that, she added Yu Jingjing and other classmates she’d interacted with from the class group chat. As she scrolled further, she spotted an account under Yu He’s name and sent a friend request.

Ten minutes later, her phone screen lit up.

[The other party has rejected your friend request.]

Lu Shinian: “…..”

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