Can't Possibly Fall for My Wife Again After Rebirth, Right? - Chapter 58

Taking advantage of the dismissal time for the first and second-year students, Xu Yingran pulled Yao Jin along to a milk tea shop at the school gate to treat Zhou Wan to a cup of warm milk tea.

Business at the school gate was always particularly good. This milk tea shop had just opened this month and was incredibly popular; Xu Yingran had to place her order in advance to pick it up right at dismissal. Since there weren’t many seats in the shop, the three of them sat at the furthest table inside.

Zhou Wan sipped her warm, sweet milk tea, looked at Xu Yingran curiously, and asked in a low voice, “Senior, is there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

Over a month had passed since Zhou Wan asked Fu Qiao to deliver that love letter. Now, Zhou Wan’s emotions were stable when seeing Xu Yingran. Although she still felt a bit of a blush and a racing heart, once she remembered that the other had rejected her, she truly had no more intentions.

Xu Yingran looked at Zhou Wan, thought for a moment, and said, “Actually, I invited you out because I wanted to ask about Fu Qiao.”

“Didn’t Senior Fu Qiao transfer?” Zhou Wan asked curiously. “And besides, aren’t you and her closer? What is there that you need to ask me?”

“Last time, I unintentionally heard you two discussing signing up for classes, and I was quite curious, so I wanted to come and ask.”

“Just that?” Zhou Wan hugged her large cup of milk tea warily. “If you’re treating me to such expensive milk tea just for this question, I’m not spitting it back out if you’re unsatisfied with my answer.”

Xu Yingran laughed helplessly. “How could I make you spit it out? I was treating you to this regardless.”

Yao Jin acted like a “milk tea-drinking tool,” happily sipping her tea while closing her ears to the world’s affairs.

“Well then.” Zhou Wan felt relieved after hearing that and said to Xu Yingran, “Actually, it’s nothing much. Senior Fu Qiao missed out on the intensive training camp, so I suggested she sign up for one-on-one tutoring. The effect is no worse than the camp, but it just requires a lot more money.”

Xu Yingran listened with a sense of confusion. What intensive camp? What one-on-one tutoring? Most importantly, how much money would it take?

Zhou Wan explained the details of the intensive training and one-on-one sessions to Xu Yingran. Finally, when it came to the price, Zhou Wan said helplessly, “One-on-one is quite expensive. You can’t even get a good teacher just with money. Even a very ordinary one costs over a thousand yuan per lesson. It adds up to no small sum.”

Xu Yingran’s brow furrowed slightly. She had known before that art exams cost money, but she hadn’t expected it to be this much. Just attending training classes wasn’t enough; there was also the intensive camp. Fu Qiao hadn’t made it to the camp, so if she wanted to improve, she had to hire a specialized teacher. At one or two thousand yuan per lesson, six months of study would cost tens of thousands.

Xu Yingran’s expression turned somber as she pondered.

After Zhou Wan left, Xu Yingran’s face still didn’t look good. Yao Jin finished the last sip of her Mango Sago Pomelo tea and asked, “How much money is it going to be this time?”

Xu Yingran glanced at her and said helplessly, “This time, it’s not just a problem of money.”

Good teachers surely have their schedules filled. Didn’t Zhou Wan say it? Even with money, you might not be able to hire one. So right now, it seemed that the lack of money wasn’t the biggest issue.

Yao Jin shook her empty cup, sucking through the straw to get the last bits of toppings that wouldn’t come up. “Then what do you plan to do?”

Xu Yingran shook her head; she didn’t know either.

Yao Jin put down the empty cup and said to her, “Actually, you’ve already done more than enough. You like Fu Qiao, but you’re not her parents; the money for these classes shouldn’t be coming out of your pocket anyway.”

Xu Yingran naturally understood this logic, but she couldn’t just do nothing. In her previous life, Fu Qiao had sacrificed so much for her—she didn’t go to the high school she could have attended, didn’t major in what she wanted, and was even with her just to help her. Her entire life had been thrown into chaos because of Xu Yingran. Now that she finally wanted to become better, Xu Yingran truly couldn’t just stand by.

“I’ll try to find another way,” Xu Yingran said with a frown. “I can’t just leave her be.”

Yao Jin leaned back against her chair, remained silent for a long time, and finally said, “Then I’ll help you out too.”

“Hmm?” Xu Yingran perked up and leaned in to ask, “How do you plan to help me?”

“Well…” Yao Jin pointed at her empty cup. “I’ll tell you after another cup.”

Xu Yingran placed an order immediately. Right now, forget another cup—she’d buy ten more without a problem!

When Xu Yingran hopped off the bus, she saw that the area in front of the provincial key high school was already empty. There was no familiar figure at the bus stop, so Xu Yingran grew a bit worried. Logically, Fu Qiao’s class should have ended at 10:00 PM; it had been ten minutes, so why hadn’t she come out?

Xu Yingran paced back and forth at the gate until she finally saw a familiar figure walking over from the campus.

Fu Qiao had been here for several weeks and had received her new school uniform this Monday. Unlike the blue uniform of her old school, the uniform here was brown. They didn’t print the school name on the back, but provided an extra badge. The security guards didn’t care if you wore the badge or not; simply wearing the uniform was proof enough of your identity.

Another person was walking out with Fu Qiao. Xu Yingran narrowed her eyes to look and found it was a girl with short black hair and glasses.

Why does she look so familiar?

Watching Fu Qiao talking and laughing with her as they walked out the gate, Xu Yingran jumped directly in front of them.

“Fu Qiao.”

Hearing someone call her name, Fu Qiao looked up and saw the person standing at the school gate. Only then did she remember that today was the day Xu Yingran took the bus to see her. Fu Qiao had been busy all day and had forgotten; she didn’t know how long this person had been waiting outside.

“You’re here?” Fu Qiao walked quickly to Xu Yingran and explained, “We had a mock test during evening self-study today. I forgot you were coming. You haven’t been waiting long, have you?”

It hadn’t been long, but hearing Fu Qiao say that, Xu Yingran felt somewhat aggrieved in her heart. “I see you just don’t have me in your heart,” Xu Yingran grumbled.

Fu Qiao’s ears turned red, and she stammered, not knowing how to reply. Seeing He Qiao approaching, she hurriedly introduced them: “Xu Yingran, let me introduce you. This is my classmate, He Qiao. You two should have seen each other before.”

Xu Yingran looked at the short-haired girl and asked, puzzled, “Have we?”

He Qiao kept her head down without speaking; facing a stranger made her feel a bit uneasy.

“We have,” Fu Qiao reminded her. “That time we were at the bus stop, she looked at us. The time you asked me why I didn’t say hello.”

Xu Yingran seemed to recall it; there indeed was such an occasion. At the time, she had even asked Fu Qiao if it was illegal for people at the provincial key school to say hello. So it was her…

He Qiao also looked up at Xu Yingran. She gazed at this tall girl, gave a nod, and whispered a small “Hello,” which served as her greeting.

Hearing this, Xu Yingran’s eyes curved into a smile. “Hello, classmate.”

Facing Xu Yingran’s cheerful smile, He Qiao also curled the corners of her mouth, returning a somewhat awkward smile.

Seeing them greet each other, Fu Qiao said happily, “Let’s go to the bus stop. Don’t just stand here; it’s quite cold.”

The three of them crossed the road together to the opposite bus stop. He Qiao looked at the school uniform Xu Yingran was wearing. The blue and white uniform was very clean, and since Zhao Yu washed it for her frequently, although some color had faded, it still looked fresh and tidy. Just like her.

“You two… were classmates before, right?” He Qiao asked after observing Xu Yingran for a while.

Fu Qiao nodded and said, “Yes, we were classmates.”

Xu Yingran glanced at Fu Qiao and added, “We’re childhood friends. We’ve been together since kindergarten.”

He Qiao didn’t understand why Xu Yingran suddenly said that. Fu Qiao gave the person behind her a reproachful glare and whispered, “Why say that? It’s redundant.”

“How is it redundant? We’ve known each other since we were little and were even neighbors.”

“We aren’t now.”

“If you hadn’t transferred and moved, we still would be. Uncle and Auntie already treat me like their own daughter—haven’t you noticed?”

“You’re talking nonsense.”

He Qiao watched the two bickering like this. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but the bus she needed to take arrived.

“The bus is here,” Fu Qiao said to He Qiao. “Hurry home. See you tomorrow.”

He Qiao nodded. After boarding the bus, she realized Xu Yingran hadn’t followed, so she asked curiously, “Isn’t she getting on?”

“No,” Xu Yingran said to He Qiao. “I’ll just catch the last bus back. You go ahead.”

The bus doors closed in front of He Qiao. She could only nod helplessly and walk toward the back of the bus. When she found a seat and sat down, she wanted to look back at the two of them. She saw Fu Qiao with her back to her talking to Xu Yingran, and their hands were held together.

He Qiao froze for a moment, seemingly understanding something.

Once the bus had driven far away, Xu Yingran held Fu Qiao’s cold hand and grumbled, “Your little desk-mate is quite close to you. Last time I saw her, she didn’t even say hello.”

Fu Qiao’s hand felt very warm being rubbed by Xu Yingran, so she said with a smile, “We weren’t familiar then. It’s normal for her not to talk to me.”

“Oh,” Xu Yingran said unhappily. “So you’re familiar now?”

Fu Qiao looked at her and arched her eyebrows without speaking.

The late autumn night was still very cold. Xu Yingran glanced at the convenience store behind the bus stop and said to Fu Qiao, “Let’s go buy something and sit inside the convenience store for a bit. Look, your hands are ice cold.”

Fu Qiao stopped her, though. “If we sit in there, won’t we have to buy something? Why spend that money?”

Xu Yingran frowned. She couldn’t bear to see Fu Qiao suffering in the cold, yet it seemed she currently had no way to provide Fu Qiao with a better environment. Xu Yingran’s small treasury was almost empty. She couldn’t help but start blaming herself for where all her previous allowance and New Year money had gone—why couldn’t she find it when she wanted to use it?

If she had money, the two of them wouldn’t have to rub each other’s hands for warmth at a bus stop in the freezing wind.

“Let’s go behind the bus stop sign,” Xu Yingran said, holding Fu Qiao’s hand. “It’s sheltered from the wind over there.”

Fu Qiao didn’t mind. She hid behind the bus stop sign with Xu Yingran; it was indeed somewhat warmer. Xu Yingran grabbed Fu Qiao’s hand and blew warm breath on it, then rubbed it until it was hot before tucking her hand into her own pocket along with hers.

“Now it’s warm,” Xu Yingran said to her with a smile.