Can't Possibly Fall for My Wife Again After Rebirth, Right? - Chapter 67

In Class 7 of the Senior Year, the teacher had filled the entire blackboard with key points. Below, the students were quietly taking notes, all focused intently on the lecture—except for one person.

Fu Qiao was lost in her own thoughts, staring blankly at the test paper in front of her. It wasn’t until the teacher called her name twice that she finally snapped back to reality.

“Answer why we chose ‘B’ for this question,” the teacher said, leaning against the podium and looking her way.

Fu Qiao stood up dazed, not even knowing which question they were on. He Qiao glanced at her and pointed to a spot on her own paper. Fu Qiao caught on, thought quickly for a moment, and then offered an explanation.

The teacher nodded after hearing her answer. “Sit down.”

Fu Qiao let out a quiet sigh of relief. She sat down and didn’t dare let her mind wander again.

Not long after that question, the bell rang. After the teacher left, He Qiao glanced at Fu Qiao and asked, “What happened in class just now? That’s the first time I’ve seen you space out.”

Fu Qiao gave an awkward “Mm.” In truth, she had been thinking about what happened in bed with Xu Yingran on Friday night. Since it was her first time experiencing such things, the memory kept popping up every few hours over the last two days.

“…I was just thinking about something and didn’t notice the teacher calling me.” Fu Qiao looked at He Qiao and smiled. “Thanks for helping me just now.”

He Qiao smiled back. “Actually, teachers know everything. That’s probably why he picked you to answer.”

Fu Qiao nodded dejectedly.

“But what exactly were you thinking about?” He Qiao asked curiously. “Can I help?”

He Qiao definitely couldn’t help with that one.

However, Fu Qiao was someone who cared about appearances and didn’t want to make things awkward for He Qiao. She did, however, have a minor, harmless question she wanted to ask someone.

“A friend of mine has a birthday next Saturday,” Fu Qiao said. “But I don’t know what to get her. Do you have any good suggestions?”

“A birthday?” He Qiao thought for a moment, her eyes lowered. “Is it that Xu Yingran?”

“Huh?” Fu Qiao froze, then shook her head. “No, it’s another classmate from my old school. Xu Yingran knows her too; Xu Yingran was actually the one who told me about the birthday.”

“I see,” He Qiao said softly. “You have quite a lot of friends.”

Unlike her, who only had Fu Qiao.

Fu Qiao laughed. “Not that many, just a few I’m close with. Who knows if we’ll stay in touch once we’re in university.”

He Qiao fell silent for a long time before looking up through her glasses. She asked in a low voice, “Will it be the same for us?”

“Hmm?” Fu Qiao thought about it. “If we get into the same university, we probably won’t lose touch.”

“The same university…”

“But my grades aren’t as good as yours, so I might not make it into the same school. But we’re still friends; we can always hang out later.”

He Qiao didn’t say anything, lost in her own thoughts. She looked up at Fu Qiao and said, “You’re right.”

“So, any good ideas?” Fu Qiao propped her head on her hand. “That friend’s family is quite wealthy, and I can’t afford anything expensive. Maybe a backpack or some stationery?”

“Give her a set of ‘Five-Three’ (5-Year Gaokao, 3-Year Mock Exam series),” He Qiao suggested. “Or the Huanggang Mock Exams or a compilation of past real questions. Those are very good.”

Seeing He Qiao’s serious expression, Fu Qiao gave a dry laugh. “That… actually sounds okay.”

Just past 10:50 PM, Xu Yingran’s call came in right on time. Fu Qiao seriously suspected she had set an alarm. Once the call connected, Fu Qiao burrowed into her blankets.

“Fu Qiao!” Xu Yingran’s familiar, cheerful voice came through the phone. “Is your old house being rented out?”

That morning, Xu Yingran had headed out as usual. Passing the bulletin board at the entrance of her residential complex, she saw a rental advertisement for the Fu family’s old apartment. Since they moved, the place had been emptied of everything except some broken, heavy items.

When she saw the ad, Xu Yingran wanted to call immediately, but she feared she wouldn’t reach Fu Qiao—the provincial key school didn’t allow students to have phones during the day. So, she had waited restlessly until their nightly call.

“Is it?” Fu Qiao didn’t know about it. She spent every day studying and knew nothing of household affairs.

“You didn’t know?” Xu Yingran said. “Well, renting it out is good. It’ll bring in some extra income for your family.”

“Mm,” Fu Qiao replied, wiggling her toes in her bed, which was toasted warm by the electric blanket. Even though she had been hanging up on Xu Yingran the past few days, she actually missed her quite a bit.

They hadn’t seen each other for several days. Back when they were stuck together every day, she hadn’t noticed, but now that they were apart, she found herself missing their old days.

Xu Yingran continued, “The wonton shop at the old street corner has a new flavor. I’ll ask my dad to buy some tomorrow so we can try it.”

“What flavor?”

“I think it’s hot and sour. Maybe they added some pickled vegetables?”

“I’ve never had that. I usually like their fresh shrimp wontons.”

“Yeah, me too.” Xu Yingran added, “Do you remember that old man who sells roasted sweet potatoes every winter?”

Fu Qiao nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”

“He opened a shop.”

“What?”

“Surprising, right? Even a sweet potato vendor can open a shop. I saw it this morning; it seems his son opened it. Besides roasted sweet potatoes, they sell tangshui (sweet soup/desserts). You know what that is, right?”

“The sweet kind?”

“Apparently, both sweet and savory versions are called tangshui.”

“Why would savory stuff be called ‘sweet water’?”

“Who knows.”

They chatted about random things for a long time. As 11:00 PM approached, Xu Yingran asked, “Have you thought about what to get Yao Jin for her birthday?”

This hit the mark. Fu Qiao threw the question back: “Have you thought of anything?”

Xu Yingran laughed. “I asked her today. She said she has everything and told us not to worry about it. She said we can even go empty-handed.”

Fu Qiao disagreed. “Yao Jin has helped us so much. How could we not bring anything for her birthday?”

“I thought so too,” Xu Yingran said. “Since she doesn’t lack anything material, how about we make something handmade? What do you think?”

“Handmade?” Fu Qiao was puzzled. “We’re so busy with school every day, when do we have time for crafts?”

The last time Fu Qiao did anything “handmade” was in elementary school, when she followed a traditional craft teacher to embroider an ugly little pouch that she had long since lost.

Xu Yingran chuckled at her reaction. “I’ve got it. We can make handmade cookies for her. Yao Jin loves sweets more than anything.”

“Handmade cookies?” That sounded quite good.

“Yeah.” Xu Yingran told her the plan. “You finish Professor Chen’s class around 5:00 PM on Saturday, right? I’ll book a spot at a DIY dessert shop. We can spend an hour making cookies and get to Yao Jin’s house by 6:00 PM. It’ll be perfect.”

Fu Qiao did the math. It actually worked.

“How much will it cost?” Fu Qiao asked cautiously, already mentally counting her meager savings.

“Not much.” Seeing her agree, Xu Yingran said, “I told my mom, and she’s willing to pay for it. I’ll just pick you up from Professor Chen’s place, and we’ll go make the cookies together.”

Fu Qiao thought about it and nodded. “Okay. Come to Professor Chen’s place on Saturday then. We’ll go together.”

Xu Yingran was overjoyed. She knew Fu Qiao would agree!

“Great,” Xu Yingran laughed. “I’ll pick you up then.”

Saturday arrived quickly.

Fu Qiao decided that since they were going to Yao Jin’s birthday party in the evening anyway, she would cancel their usual Saturday lunch to save time. Xu Yingran wailed about it over the phone for ages, but Fu Qiao remained firm.

During class, Fu Qiao kept checking the time. After Professor Chen finished explaining the key points, he looked at the young girl and asked with a smile, “What is it? Do you have plans tonight?”

Caught “fishing” (slacking off), Fu Qiao’s face immediately turned red. She hid her hands behind her back and explained, “A classmate is having a birthday party tonight and I haven’t prepared the gift yet. I didn’t mean to space out, Professor Chen.”

Professor Chen wasn’t that strict. He saw that Fu Qiao was a hardworking student who was improving rapidly under his guidance. He believed that as long as nothing went wrong on the day of the exam, her arts admission was a sure thing.

“You’ve worked hard lately without any rest.” Professor Chen checked the time. It was only 4:30 PM; according to the schedule, they were supposed to go until past 5:00.

“How about this,” Professor Chen stood up. “I can see your mind isn’t on the lesson anymore. We’ll stop here for today. Tomorrow, we’ll take 30 minutes less for lunch to make up for today. What do you think?”

Fu Qiao’s eyes lit up. “Really? Thank you, Professor Chen! I’ll definitely eat fast tomorrow!”

Professor Chen smiled. “Go on, child. Pack your things and go to your friend’s birthday. Don’t be late.”

Fu Qiao nodded happily, said her goodbyes, and ran out with her things. As she walked down the path of the Media Academy toward the gate, she called Xu Yingran.

This Media Academy wasn’t top-tier, but Professor Chen had a studio here for research. He borrowed their classrooms on weekends, but once Fu Qiao finished her exams, he would return to his own university—which was the same academy Fu Qiao intended to apply for.

Fu Qiao felt like everything was moving in a better direction.

“Hello?” Fu Qiao said when the call connected. “Professor Chen let me out early. Where are you?”

Xu Yingran’s voice came through: “I’m right at the gate. Come on out.”

Fu Qiao looked at her phone suspiciously. “How are you here so early? We agreed on 5:00.”

Xu Yingran said cheerfully, “I didn’t have much to do, and I finished my study plan early, so I came to get you.”

Just then, Xu Yingran spotted a familiar figure emerging from the tree-lined path. She waved her hand and spoke into the phone: “I see you.”

Fu Qiao looked up. She saw Xu Yingran wearing a white jacket and jeans, leaning against an electric scooter, waving at her against the backdrop of the setting sun.