Can't Possibly Fall for My Wife Again After Rebirth, Right? - Chapter 56

Fu Qiao’s face turned beet red at those words. She didn’t know how to argue back, so she could only stammer some incoherent nonsense before finally giving up in resignation and turning her head away.

“Whatever you want,” Fu Qiao said, compromising.

Xu Yingran was all smiles. She knew her wife was soft-hearted and wouldn’t refuse her request.

Writing homework with Fu Qiao made Xu Yingran much more efficient; she finished two days’ worth of assignments in a single afternoon. Around four or five in the evening, she reluctantly rode her “little electric donkey” back home.

She made an agreement with Fu Qiao to wait for her at the bus stop next Tuesday. Fu Qiao didn’t say anything, but she didn’t refuse either.

On Monday, Xu Yingran and Yao Jin finished eating in the cafeteria and were sitting to the side so Xu Yingran could change the dressing on Yao Jin’s facial injury.

It was unknown how hard Yao Jin’s father had slapped her, but a mark remained even after a week, requiring a fresh application of medicine every day at noon. Usually, Yao Jin looked like she didn’t care about anything, but she had a “scarring constitution” and was worried about being disfigured. Every time the medicine was applied, she would chatter incessantly like a little hen that had just learned how to crow.

“Are you done yet? Why are you so slow? Nothing’s going to go wrong with my face, right?”

“What could go wrong? I think it looks fair and tender, just fine.”

Xu Yingran used a cotton swab dipped in medicine to apply it, saying as she worked, “A-Jin, why do I think this ointment smells so good? Is it actually medicine?”

Yao Jin replied, “Of course. I went to the hospital specifically to have a doctor mix it for me. They added lots of ingredients for beauty and skin care.”

Xu Yingran noted, “I was wondering why your face is getting whiter and whiter.”

After the medicine was applied, Xu Yingran pulled a mirror out of her small bag and held it up to Yao Jin’s face. “Please look, Noble Consort. Is this humble servant’s application acceptable?”

Yao Jin examined herself and nodded. “Not bad. I reward you with the task of buying me a bottle of Mirinda.”

Xu Yingran helplessly packed up her things and obediently went to the nearby window to buy her a can of the drink. Regardless of the circumstances, Yao Jin had taken that slap on Xu Yingran’s behalf, so Xu Yingran had treated her to lunch for an entire week. Fortunately, Yao Jin was loyal; knowing Xu Yingran still had to “chase her wife,” she didn’t drain her friend’s treasury.

“Hey, those stocks you recommended to me last week went up again,” Yao Jin said as she drank through a straw while walking toward the teaching building. “I also told my dad about that food-ordering mini-program you mentioned. He already sent people to develop it. I heard it’s working pretty well.”

“Is that so,” Xu Yingran replied casually, not caring much.

Yao Jin looked at her and nudged her with her elbow. “My dad has been quite concerned about me these past two days. He asked who came up with these ideas. Should I ‘confess’ your name?”

Xu Yingran asked, “Does ‘confessing’ come with money?”

Yao Jin thought for a moment. “There’s a high probability of getting some. Are you short on cash?”

“Yeah,” Xu Yingran sighed dejectedly. “Fu Qiao transferred so far away. I’m thinking about buying a little electric scooter so I have my own vehicle. Then I can see her whenever I want.”

Listening to Xu Yingran’s “love-brain” speech, Yao Jin didn’t interrupt. Along the way, she just listened to her ramble about everything that happened with Fu Qiao over the past two days and her plan to take the bus to see her every Tuesday and Thursday.

Yao Jin let out a long sigh, shaking her head as they went upstairs.

Just as they reached their floor and were about to return to the classroom, they saw a woman with long hair wearing professional attire standing in the hallway. Detecting Xu Yingran and Yao Jin, the woman turned around and looked over.

Xu Yingran felt the person looked very familiar. Just as she was about to ask Yao Jin, she saw her friend’s relaxed expression suddenly turn cold the moment she saw this woman.

“What are you doing here?” Yao Jin asked with a frown. “Did my mom send you?”

Only then did Xu Yingran remember: this was the female assistant who had been shopping with Yao Jin’s mother and acting intimately with her.

Now, the beautiful, cool woman stood not far away, her clear eyes looking at Yao Jin. She said calmly, “Yes. President Lyu was very worried after hearing you were hit by your father, but she feared you wouldn’t want to see her, so she sent me to check on you first.”

As she spoke, the woman noticed Xu Yingran. She gave a nod. “Hello, student Xu Yingran. My name is Xie Qing; I am the assistant to Yao Jin’s mother.”

Xu Yingran hadn’t expected her to say hello. After a brief daze, she nodded. “Oh. You two talk, then. I’ll go back to the classroom first.”

Yao Jin wouldn’t let her leave. She grabbed Xu Yingran’s arm and stared coldly at Xie Qing. “Why are you leaving? If anyone is leaving, it’s her.”

Xu Yingran felt a bit awkward; she really wasn’t good at getting involved in this kind of drama.

Xie Qing gave Yao Jin a helpless look before taking something out of her handbag. “This is a small gift your mother asked me to bring. She knows you like chocolate and specifically bought some abroad. She said if you like it, she’ll send more to your house.”

Yao Jin didn’t even look at the chocolate. “Go back and tell her that I only liked chocolate before I started elementary school. Now, I’m not interested in this sugary stuff.”

Seeing she wouldn’t take it, Xie Qing had no choice but to put it back. She then pulled out a card. “This is a supplementary card from your mother. she doesn’t know what you like, so if you see something you want, you can just swipe this card.”

“Heh, is that what she said?” Yao Jin said with a cold face. “Tell her to go out and ask: which mother doesn’t know what her own daughter likes? She has the nerve to say that?”

Xie Qing frowned. “Yao Jin, your mother actually cares about you a lot.”

“This is how she cares?” Yao Jin didn’t want to look at Xie Qing for even a second. Her voice turned harsh. “If she really cared about me, she wouldn’t make so many unreasonable demands. She’d hurry up and finalize the divorce with my dad and never appear before me again.”

Xu Yingran felt Yao Jin’s words were a bit harsh and couldn’t help but steal a couple of glances at her.

Xie Qing was truly at her wit’s end. she could only say, “Yao Jin, don’t talk about your mother like that. She is actually a very good person. She is currently…”

“What does her being a good person have to do with me?” Yao Jin said unpleasantly. “Didn’t she just sponsor your tuition for a few years and bring you out of the mountains? Is that why you’re so devoted to her? To seduce a married woman? And now you’re talking to me in the tone of a stepmother—are you even worthy?”

Xie Qing’s face turned white instantly. she hurriedly explained, “Yao Jin, your mother and I are not in the kind of relationship you think.”

Yao Jin replied, “I don’t care what kind of relationship you two have. I only believe what I see with my own eyes.”

With that, she didn’t want to deal with the woman anymore. She pulled on Xu Yingran’s arm and said, “Let’s go into the classroom. Speaking even one more word to this kind of person makes me sick.”

Before Xu Yingran could even say anything, she was pushed into the classroom by Yao Jin.

Xie Qing stood in the hallway, her elegant eyebrows tightly knit. Seeing that Yao Jin truly didn’t want to speak to her, she helplessly walked aside to make a phone call. After that, no one knew what was said, but she talked with Li Yuwen for a while before finally turning to leave just as class was about to start.

Watching the beautiful, cool lady leave, Xu Yingran couldn’t help but look at Yao Jin. Yao Jin said this woman was someone her mother had sponsored out of the mountains, who then drove a wedge between her parents’ failing marriage to become her mother’s lover. But no matter how Xu Yingran looked at it, that “Big Sister Beauty” didn’t seem like that kind of person.

However, Yao Jin seemed so firmly convinced that Xu Yingran didn’t feel it was right to say much more.

On Tuesday after evening self-study, Xu Yingran took the express bus to the gate of Fu Qiao’s school. As soon as she got off, she saw Fu Qiao waiting for her behind the station platform. Her eyes instantly curved into a smile.

Fu Qiao gave her an awkward glance. “What are you looking at? Haven’t seen me before?”

“I used to see you every day, but now it’s been several days since I saw you.” Xu Yingran missed her intensely; she leaned over and hugged her, making Fu Qiao’s face turn bright red.

“What are you doing? Stop pulling at me.” Fu Qiao unhappily pushed her away, her face flushing. “Aren’t you afraid someone will see?”

Xu Yingran laughed heartlessly. “What am I afraid of? I don’t know anyone here.”

“Well, I’m afraid, okay?” Fu Qiao told her with reddened ears. “Let’s go to the platform across the street so you can just leave when your bus comes.”

“Mhm.” Xu Yingran smiled and took Fu Qiao’s hand, holding it tightly so she couldn’t pull away.

At a convenience store at the intersection, Xu Yingran bought two sandwiches, and she and Fu Qiao sat together at the bus stop to eat. Quite a few other people in provincial key school uniforms were also at the stop; they looked like they had also just finished self-study and were preparing to take the bus home.

Fu Qiao bit into her buy-one-get-one-free sandwich and commented, “The edges are a bit hard. They must have been sitting there for a long time.”

Xu Yingran took a bite as well and agreed, “Yeah, even after heating, the crust is still hard. No wonder it’s buy-one-get-one.”

Even as they criticized it, they didn’t waste a bit and ate the whole thing.

Once full, Xu Yingran looked at Fu Qiao. “How are you doing in class? Is it going okay?”

Fu Qiao ate slowly, still gnawing on the sandwich. “It’s okay. the teachers’ level is much better than at our school. It’s just that the midterm exams are coming up soon, so the pressure is a bit high.”

Hearing this, Xu Yingran felt a pang of sympathy. She leaned in and said, “Then don’t study so fiercely. Your grades are already great; you can get into a university easily.”

Fu Qiao disagreed. After swallowing her last bite of bread, she said mumbly, “No. You can’t just take the Gaokao casually. I still have to work harder.”

Seeing sauce smeared near Fu Qiao’s mouth, Xu Yingran pulled a tissue from her backpack and wiped her mouth for her. Being served by Xu Yingran felt quite comfortable; Fu Qiao looked like a satisfied little kitten, almost ready to wag a tail.

Once she finished wiping Fu Qiao’s mouth, Xu Yingran told her, “If you ask me, you just have too high requirements for yourself. Look at how carefree I am; whether I get into university or not isn’t a huge deal.”

Fu Qiao glanced at her, almost rolling her eyes. She thought to herself: You think everyone is like you?

But before Fu Qiao could scold her, she noticed a girl with short black hair and glasses sitting on the bench at the bus stop. The girl glanced at Fu Qiao but didn’t say hello; she just sat there holding a book and reading.

Xu Yingran followed Fu Qiao’s gaze and found she was looking at another girl. Instantly unhappy, she tugged on Fu Qiao’s clothes and leaned in. “What are you looking at? Is she better looking than me?”

“Aiya!” Blushing, Fu Qiao gave her a light slap before leaning in and whispering, “That’s my desk-mate.”

Xu Yingran froze, then leaned in and whispered back, “Is it against the law for people at your provincial key school to say hello to each other?”