Can't Possibly Fall for My Wife Again After Rebirth, Right? - Chapter 84

“Something happened.”

Yao Jin watched Xu Yingran, who was still busy solving problems, and leaned in close. “I heard a student jumped off a building over at the provincial key high school.”

“What?” Xu Yingran looked up immediately, staring at Yao Jin as she asked nervously, “Was it a third-year?”

Yao Jin nodded with a solemn expression. “At this time of year, which grade besides the third-years would still be having classes?”

Xu Yingran pressed further, “How do you know?”

“I brought my phone.” Yao Jin fished her phone out of her pocket, flashed it in front of Xu Yingran, and quickly tucked it away. She whispered, “A former classmate pushed the news to me. I clicked the link; it happened just this morning.”

“Do you know which class?” Xu Yingran asked with a frown.

“I think it was Class 6.”

Xu Yingran let out a sigh of relief. “Fu Qiao is in Class 7, so she should be fine.”

“You can’t really say that; Class 7 and Class 6 are right next door.” Yao Jin was still a bit worried and suggested to Xu Yingran, “Why don’t you use my phone to call and check?”

“Check what?” Xu Yingran replied. “Fu Qiao never brings her phone to school. Even if I call her now, she won’t be able to answer.”

“True.” Yao Jin turned back and propped her head up on her hand, lamenting, “The provincial key school isn’t an easy place to survive. Usually, the ones jumping are the top students.”

Xu Yingran looked at her but didn’t say anything. Her heart was racing, and she felt a strange, nagging premonition that something was wrong.

By noon, the news began to ferment. No one knew exactly how everyone found out about the jumper at the provincial key school, but during lunch, everyone huddled together, chirping away in discussion.

Xu Yingran and Yao Jin caught snippets of the conversation. They couldn’t confirm who exactly it was, but two points were certain: first, it wasn’t someone from Fu Qiao’s class, and second, the person who jumped was a female student with short hair.

“Is she dead?”

“Who knows? Some say yes, some say no. But jumping from the third floor… she should be okay, right?”

“Hard to say. Some people fall over and hit the back of their head and they’re gone. The third floor is still quite high.”

“Anyway, I heard she was taken to the hospital. It sounds grim.”

When the lunch break ended, Li Yuwen (Teacher Li) entered the classroom with a dark face and said to everyone, “Regarding the situation at the provincial key high school, our students should not participate in the discussion. Do not believe or spread rumors; just focus on doing your own work. The school has dedicated psychological counselors. If anyone feels their mental state isn’t right, come find me. Is that clear?”

Li Yuwen’s words only served to confirm the news for everyone. Even the usually composed Xu Yingran couldn’t help but furrow her brows tightly.

At first, some people said it was just a rumor, but now that Teacher Li was telling everyone to come to her if their mindset was wrong, it meant a tragic accident had almost certainly occurred.

All day, Xu Yingran’s heart hammered in her chest. During the break, she borrowed Yao Jin’s phone to call Fu Qiao, but as expected, there was no answer.

When evening self-study ended and she returned home, Xu Yingran saw that her parents hadn’t gone to sleep yet. They were sitting on the sofa, engaged in a low-voiced, somber conversation. When Xu Yingran entered, they both looked up at her simultaneously.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Yingran felt her parents were acting very strange. Her heart sank, and she quickly asked, “Did something happen to Fu Qiao?”

Zhao Yu said hurriedly, “Ranran, don’t panic. Listen to your father and me explain slowly.”

After Xu Yingran sat down, Zhao Yu said to her, “Something happened at Fu Qiao’s school. A third-year student jumped off a building because of a poor exam result. I heard they are in emergency surgery right now.”

Xu Yingran frowned. “But what does that have to do with Fu Qiao?”

Zhao Yu told her, “This afternoon, your Aunt Hu Mei called me. She said the student who jumped was Fu Qiao’s former desk mate.”

Xu Yingran was stunned.

The one who jumped was He Qiao?

But Xu Yingran remembered that her grades were excellent. Later, because Fu Qiao’s grades slipped, she had transferred to the neighboring class. When she saw her last time, she seemed fine. How did things suddenly turn out like this?

Seeing her in a daze, Zhao Yu continued, “It was a terrible coincidence. Xiao Qiao was on the first floor at the time, and that classmate fell right before her eyes. It terrified her. She developed a high fever this afternoon and is currently hospitalized.”

Hearing this, Xu Yingran couldn’t sit still anymore. She sprang up and said to Zhao Yu, “Mom, don’t stop me. I’m going to see Fu Qiao!”

“I know, I know. Your father and I need to go see her too. We were just waiting for you to get back so we could go together.” Zhao Yu said to Xu Yingran, “Don’t bother changing. Your dad is going to flag a taxi at the street corner. The three of us will go together.”

Xu Yingran moved fast. Like a bolt of lightning, she dashed out the door and shouted to Zhao Yu, “I’ll go flag the cab!”

It wasn’t easy to find a taxi in the middle of the night, but Xu Yingran’s luck held out. After only a short wait, an empty cab appeared. The three of them climbed in and headed straight for the hospital.

In the ward, Xu Yingran saw Fu Qiao, who was still on an IV drip. Her face was as white as paper, and she looked sickly and listless.

Hu Mei and Fu Jun were both there. When they saw Xu Yingran’s family, they invited them in.

There were other people in the ward. Fearing they might disturb the other patients, the four adults went outside to talk.

“Fu Qiao?”

Xu Yingran leaned over the hospital bed, looking at the half-finished IV bottle and the two other bags waiting to be hung. Her heart ached. “How did you suddenly get so sick? Are your hands cold? Let me warm them for you.”

When Xu Yingran picked up the hand connected to the IV, it felt like she was touching a block of ice. Although there was a hot water bottle beneath Fu Qiao’s hand, Xu Yingran still couldn’t help but scowl in concern.

“I’m fine,” Fu Qiao said to Xu Yingran with a pale face. “Why did you all come so late? Did my parents tell you?”

Xu Yingran nodded and sat beside her, whispering, “I know everything. He Qiao… how is she now?”

Fu Qiao was silent for a long time before shaking her head. “I don’t know. I was so scared at the time that I don’t remember anything. I heard she went into the ICU. I don’t know her current status.”

She felt like she was living in a dream today; everything seemed so surreal. Before Xu Yingran arrived, her mind had been a total blank.

Now, as Xu Yingran sat beside her holding her hand, Fu Qiao felt her consciousness slowly return.

“What happened with He Qiao? Everything seemed normal when I saw her last time. Why would she suddenly…”

“I’m not entirely sure either.” Fu Qiao leaned her head slightly on Xu Yingran’s shoulder and said, “I heard Qiaoqiao’s mother was called to school, and then something happened after she arrived.”

Xu Yingran remembered the gossip from this morning and asked, “Was it because her grades were poor this time?”

“I think so.” Fu Qiao closed her eyes, looking very frail. “Her rank dropped drastically. I think… that was the cause.”

By the end, Fu Qiao’s voice was raspy. Even now, she couldn’t accept that a person who had been so full of life had suddenly become like this.

They had eaten together just a short while ago. If Fu Qiao hadn’t been so busy with her own revision and had spared some time to care for He Qiao, perhaps she wouldn’t have done such a foolish thing.

Looking at Fu Qiao’s pained expression, Xu Yingran’s heart twisted in sympathy.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Xu Yingran’s mind.

“Fu Qiao, don’t be too sad. Accidents always come so unexpectedly.” Xu Yingran gently held Fu Qiao’s IV-bound hand, her eyes lowered as she asked, “Speaking of which, do you remember that car accident that happened in our alley before?”

Fu Qiao opened her eyes and looked at her. “Which one?”

“The one where a car suddenly swerved into the pedestrian crossing and somehow fell into the river, and the driver drowned.”

“I remember.”

Xu Yingran asked her, “If—and I mean if—that car accident hadn’t been so ‘lucky.’ If the driver had crashed and killed over a dozen people, including…”

At this point, Xu Yingran paused to catch her breath and asked in a hoarse voice, “If my parents had been among those who died in that accident, leaving me all alone… and then, while you were helping Zhou Wan deliver that love letter, I mistakenly thought you liked me and agreed to be with you… would you have stayed with me?”

Perhaps fearing she would lose her nerve if she stopped, Xu Yingran poured out all these “what-ifs” in one breath. Fu Qiao was stunned.

She looked at Xu Yingran and asked in confusion, “Why are you making such a strange hypothesis out of nowhere? Uncle and Auntie are perfectly fine; they’ll be unhappy if you say things like that.”

“Never mind if they’re unhappy or not, just tell me first.” Xu Yingran’s heart was pounding. She stared into Fu Qiao’s eyes with her dark pupils and asked, word by word, “Would you have agreed to be with me?”

Fu Qiao gazed at Xu Yingran and blinked slightly.

Perhaps because the atmosphere was somewhat tranquil, Fu Qiao leaned her head against Xu Yingran, drawing warmth from her body. She said softly, “I would have agreed.”

Xu Yingran felt as if her brain had been struck by a physical blow. She wanted to squeeze Fu Qiao’s hand but didn’t dare use force. She could only ask with a slight tremor, “Why?”

Fu Qiao thought for a moment before saying, “Because… I’d be afraid you’d do something foolish like He Qiao.”

Fu Qiao had never experienced the feeling of not having parents. She didn’t know how painful it would be, but she truly felt for Xu Yingran. She thought that if the other girl were really left all alone in the world, she would choose to stay by her side.

“Thank you.”

Xu Yingran turned and embraced Fu Qiao, burying her face in the crook of her neck and whispering, “Thank you for saving me.”

Fu Qiao felt her neck becoming wet and her eyes widened in surprise. “You’re crying? Why are you crying? It was just a hypothesis; why are you actually crying?”

Xu Yingran held Fu Qiao’s waist and sobbed like a wounded puppy. Her crying left Fu Qiao utterly bewildered.

The commotion in the ward brought the four adults from outside. They watched Xu Yingran crying so heartbrokenly and felt perplexed. They stood there staring at each other in a daze, unsure of how to comfort her.

Fortunately, Xu Yingran didn’t keep up this embarrassing display for long. Her parents assumed she was mourning for He Qiao and sighed, shaking their heads. Only Fu Qiao remained confused.

She knew Xu Yingran was a kind person, but crying like this for He Qiao didn’t seem right.

Fu Qiao looked at Xu Yingran, and for the first time in her life, she felt as if her childhood friend was hiding something from her.

However, because of Xu Yingran’s emotional outburst, Fu Qiao’s own mood felt less suffocating. Xu Yingran refused to leave the ward, and Zhao Yu and the others had no choice but to give in. They requested a day off from school for Xu Yingran so she could stay and accompany Fu Qiao.