Chapter 2: I Was So Awesome Back Then
Lin Ruoxi, this inconspicuous girl, changed Xue Rui's life. He had seen her countless times in his dreams.
However, they were all nightmares.
Xue Rui remembered very clearly that it was the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2012, the fourteenth day of the eighth lunar month.
Xue Rui, familiar with the routine, stealthily slipped out of the dormitory to go online. Under the moonlight, his figure was agile, moving quickly along the wall without making a sound. Walking along the wall allowed him to avoid the surveillance cameras and the patrolling teachers.
However, just as he rounded the teaching building, a figure fell from the sky.
Lin Ruoxi, this slender girl who never dared to look up and speak, actually jumped from the top of Houde Building, landing face up in front of Xue Rui.
Lin Ruoxi's features were delicate, her face thin, her lips bloodless, and her large eyes were somewhat sunken into their sockets. She remained with her eyes open after landing, meeting Xue Rui's gaze.
The moonlight was like snow, the night as bright as day. Xue Rui saw it clearly: the full moon was reflected in the pool of blood, transforming into a crimson blood moon.
That was the first time Xue Rui saw the girl's face clearly, and also the last.
It was this poignant yet eerie scene that later became Xue Rui's nightmare.
So much so that for the two years after high school, he quit his habit of staying up all night playing games. Only by constantly studying dry, boring knowledge and numbing his brain could he avoid thinking about it as much as possible.
Lin Ruoxi's jump, by a strange twist of fate, allowed Xue Rui to get into a top-tier university.
Of course, it also left him with a lifelong trauma.
…
“My name is Lin Ruoxi…”
Lin Ruoxi's face was flushed, her distinct knuckles tightly gripping the wide hem of her school uniform, her body trembling slightly.
Xue Rui frowned slightly and shouted at the jeering male students, “Are you deaf at such a young age? I heard her clearly from here!”
The boys in the class instantly quieted down.
Xue Xiaying, uncharacteristically, did not criticize Xue Rui. She just gently said to Lin Ruoxi:
“Be more confident in the future. Everyone here is your classmate. They are just mischievous, not malicious.”
Lin Ruoxi nodded, burying her head even deeper.
…
Soon, the self-introduction segment ended, and the class bell rang.
“Come on, let's go to the restroom and light a forget-worry grass.” Qiu Mengze jumped up and whispered, putting his arm around Xue Rui's shoulder.
This was a “covert way” of saying, “light a cigarette.”
“Get lost, get lost, I’m annoyed.” Xue Rui unhappily pushed Qiu Mengze away.
“The more annoyed you are, the more you should light one.” Qiu Mengze suddenly felt that Xue Rui had changed.
But he couldn't pinpoint where he had changed. He reached out to touch Xue Rui's pants pocket.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The sports uniform pants were slippery. Reaching into the pocket felt like someone was touching his leg, which made Xue Rui's skin crawl. He instinctively wanted to hit Qiu Mengze.
Watching Qiu Mengze pull out cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket, Xue Rui cautiously pulled up his pants.
“Next time, I’ll buy them.” Qiu Mengze chuckled, then pulled the other few people to the restroom on his own.
Xue Rui watched speechlessly as the group walked away, arms around each other's shoulders.
His childhood friend's reason for smoking was very pure. Qiu Mengze believed that holding a cigarette in front of girls looked very cool. Simply put, it was purely for showing off.
From the back door of the classroom, Xue Rui watched the boys' restroom from afar. Qiu Mengze was pacing back and forth in front of the boys' restroom door with a cigarette, occasionally peeking his head out and looking around, then quickly retracting it when he saw an unfamiliar figure.
Qiu Mengze was afraid of being seen by teachers, yet also afraid that the female students going to the girls' restroom wouldn't see him.
However, he was completely unaware that his sneaky, furtive demeanor was no different from a lock-picking thief.
“Damn idiot.” Xue Rui cursed. It was too real. He confirmed that he had returned to his high school days.
He thought that he might have died suddenly in another world, and his parents would probably be very sad.
However, he then thought that the place he died suddenly was a club, which was not a very suitable location.
Moreover, because he had many business entertainments and often paid for various clients, his membership account typically spent hundreds of thousands each year, classifying him as a top VVIP. If he got sick, the club would visit him; if he died, they would send a luxurious flower basket.
Even if he was alive again now, it was highly likely no one would listen to his explanation. His image had completely collapsed the moment he lost consciousness.
“So socially dead, then it's better not to be rescued. Rebirth is pretty good.”
Xue Rui quickly accepted the fact of his rebirth.
However, his primary goal now was to completely eradicate Lin Ruoxi, this nightmare, from his life; otherwise, he would not be able to sleep or eat in peace.
“He who tied the bell must untie it.” Xue Rui muttered to himself, picked up a chair with one hand, walked over to Lin Ruoxi, and said, “Lin Ruoxi.”
Lin Ruoxi was startled. She cautiously raised her head, peeking through her bangs at the tall, strong male classmate in front of her.
“Lin Ruoxi, why don't you answer when I call you?” Xue Rui placed the chair down with a 'bang' opposite Lin Ruoxi and straddled it.
Xue Rui thought that this kind of girl wasn't isolated by others, but rather isolated herself, so it would probably take a lot of effort to find the reason for her suicide attempt from her.
“I… I…” Lin Ruoxi's body began to tremble.
She had known Xue Rui for a long time, but none of her impressions were good.
For example, he shattered the school's basketball backboard while playing basketball and was criticized throughout the entire school.
He used the dormitory building lights to form a heart shape to pursue the school beauty.
During morning exercises, he replaced the broadcast gymnastics with a love confession song…
In short, whether male or female, no one targeted by Xue Rui wasn't intimidated.
Now, this flamboyant and unrestrained boy had sought her out, and she couldn't understand why.
“Why is Rui Ge looking for her instead of Gu Muxue?” asked a short boy wearing black-framed glasses.
“Who is Gu Muxue?” Xue Rui remembered as soon as he said the words.
That was the girl he had pursued from junior high to high school. He had done countless crazy things for her, but in the end, he still couldn't win her over.
He hadn't expected that after so many years, her name was not as deeply etched in his memory as Lin Ruoxi's. He had even forgotten what she looked like.
It made sense, though. Lin Ruoxi often appeared in his dreams in the image of Sadako, while the name Gu Muxue had gradually faded from his memory after he went to college.
“She’s the girl I chased for many years, the most beautiful school beauty in the world.” Xue Rui answered his own question. He didn't want anyone to notice his abnormality.
“Xue Rui, why aren't you going to Class 1 to find Gu Muxue?” Qiu Mengze, believing he had coolly completed his break task, felt that the surrounding female classmates had a deeper impression of him.
“What, am I really forced to go find Gu Muxue?”
“It's only a few minutes during the break, is it necessary? Does she look like a ginseng fruit? Can smelling her increase your lifespan?”
Xue Rui finally couldn't help but ask a series of rhetorical questions, attracting many surprised glances.
Why did it seem like everyone was waiting for him to go find Gu Muxue?
Since he had been reborn, he would definitely not be a simp again. How did that saying go… Fai Yang Yang ranks behind dogs.
“I don't care about any of that.” Qiu Mengze was too lazy to bother with whatever Xue Rui was going to do. He pulled out fifty yuan and handed it to Xue Rui:
“You bought Gu Muxue a small cake and milk tea this morning. This is the money she just asked me to give to you.”
“How much did I spend?”
“Forgot, around twenty-something.”
“I think a man should be devoted and not give up halfway.” Xue Rui put the money into his pants pocket.
He suddenly felt that back then, his affection might not have been entirely genuine love; it might also have been for the kickbacks that he clung to Gu Muxue.
No wonder he remembered always treating his classmates at the small shop, as if he had endless pocket money. So, there was an income stream here.
“Ding-a-ling~”
The class bell rang, and the students, somewhat disappointed, returned to their seats.
But no one noticed that Lin Ruoxi's pale, clenched hands relaxed.
She was grateful that Qiu Mengze and the others had bought her some time, but then she remembered that Xue Rui was notoriously persistent, and he would most likely still come looking for her. She couldn't help but feel nervous again.
This was the last class of the morning. The physics teacher was a small old man in his fifties or sixties, with more stubble on his mouth than hair on his head, clearly an experienced veteran teacher.
However, as Xue Rui listened, he started to feel sleepy again. He had some impression of each symbol, but when put together, they were like a sleep-inducing spell.
“I was so awesome back then, I could even learn this stuff.”
Xue Rui praised himself heartily in his mind, then peacefully drifted off to sleep.
The scene of his sudden death was still vivid in his mind, and now that he was alive again, he couldn't be so exhausted. Xue Rui cherished his sleep time especially.