Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

Chapter 228: Chapter 226: I Won’t Laugh at You

Lin Ruoxi felt she already had a lot of money. Her expenses didn’t even amount to the interest she earned; from her perspective, it was a sum she could never finish spending.

Xue Rui also had a lot of money, but he still wanted to make more.

She didn’t know how much Xue Rui wanted. She’d seen people say online that the more, the better, but just how much was ’more’?

But if Xue Rui wanted it, she would just have to make money for him.

Xue Rui laughed when he heard this. ’Let Lin Ruoxi go out and make money?’ he thought. ’It would be a win if she didn’t get scammed and sold off.’

The girl was always so prim and proper, following every rule to the letter. She had to have everything perfectly prepared before she started anything. But there were too many people who didn’t play by the rules; it was a case of bad money driving out good...

"What would you do with all that money?" Xue Rui asked with a smile.

Lin Ruoxi tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Support you."

"Hmm..." Xue Rui’s expression was complicated. He was wondering if she meant "support you" or "sponsor you."

Even though it was just a one-word difference, the implications were worlds apart.

Qiu Mengze covered his face with one hand. He was already used to this. Xue Rui was always teasing Lin Ruoxi, and Lin Ruoxi would play along in earnest. Every time, he was forced to watch their public displays of affection, which saved him the cost of dinner.

"Go on, the test is starting," Coach Li said, signaling for them to get out of the car.

After getting out, they headed straight for the test site. Perhaps because of something Chen Shen had arranged, the three of them were called to test one after another.

The testing grounds for Subject Two were similar to the driving school’s practice area, just a little larger. The cars were also identical to the training vehicles.

Plus, Coach Li had brought them to see the test site beforehand, so there wasn’t much pressure to pass.

However, while Xue Rui and Lin Ruoxi passed their Subject Two test on the first try, Qiu Mengze ended up having to retake it.

"Wait for me, you guys. I guarantee I’ll pass on the second try. The piece-of-junk car they assigned me had a faulty clutch," Qiu Mengze said, clearing his throat.

Xue Rui smiled. ’Was it really the car’s problem, or was it because you didn’t get enough sleep at the internet cafe last night?’

Whatever the reason, Xue Rui decided to wait, as a staff member had told them they needed to wait for the system to sync their results after the Subject Two test was over.

It wasn’t long before he and Lin Ruoxi walked out of the Subject Two testing center. Xue Rui sat in the shade of a tree, waiting for Lin Ruoxi to come back from the restroom.

Places like this were busiest on Mondays, especially in the morning. With a backlog of students and people handling paperwork, it was a total madhouse.

"Um, I... I need to go to the restroom," Lin Ruoxi said softly, walking up to Xue Rui.

Xue Rui paused for a second. ’Didn’t the girl just go?’

He had just been to the public restroom himself. The damn men’s room was full of women; when he walked in, he thought he’d gone through the wrong door.

"Couldn’t get in line?" Xue Rui asked.

"No," Lin Ruoxi mumbled, her face bright red as she anxiously shuffled her feet.

Xue Rui sighed. This was what happened when you followed the rules too closely. In crowded places, the women’s restroom was often packed. Some people broke the rules and used the men’s room, while others found a grove of trees on the side of the road.

Of course, men had a biological advantage and could be more casual about it. Seeing the restroom occupied, some would just duck behind a hedge and relieve themselves. That’s exactly what he had just done...

If you insisted on waiting in line, you’d probably end up wetting your pants.

Xue Rui suddenly smiled. ’The girl is telling me this? What does she want me to do?’

"Then I guess you’ll have to wet your pants. I promise I won’t laugh," Xue Rui joked.

The girl looked down and pouted, tears welling in her eyes. "But... I don’t want to wet my pants."

After saying that, she glanced at the green fields in the distance, then looked into Xue Rui’s eyes, as if asking a question.

"Let’s go. I’ll be your lookout," Xue Rui said, clapping his hands and standing up. ’Isn’t that what the girl meant? She’s afraid of being seen.’

’Having a guy act as a lookout... she must really trust me.’

"Okay." The girl nodded eagerly and pulled Xue Rui into a jog toward the fields near the vehicle administration office.

"Aren’t you afraid I’ll peek?" Xue Rui teased. The girl was probably desperate right now, and yet here he was, asking a question like that.

"No," Lin Ruoxi said, her pace quickening.

"You trust me to be a gentleman?" Xue Rui chuckled.

"Um, it’s okay if you do," the girl said urgently.

With that, Lin Ruoxi found a spot with thick vegetation and cautiously scanned her surroundings.

Xue Rui was stunned. ’Does the girl even realize what she just said?’

’And... is she just assuming I’m going to peek?’

’Is my reputation really that bad?’

He also stood on his tiptoes, scanned the area, and after confirming no one was around, said to Lin Ruoxi, "No enemies in sight."

"Mhm..." It was only then that Lin Ruoxi realized what an incredible thing she had just said. Her little face was now as red as a ripe tomato.

She slowly walked a little farther away, not daring to look Xue Rui in the eye.

Xue Rui swallowed hard and focused on being a proper lookout for the girl.

But, a lookout has to do a 720-degree scan, of course, so he "accidentally" glanced over out of the corner of his eye. The June weeds were too thick, though; all he could see was the top of her head.

And he wasn’t sure if it was intentional or a coincidence, but there happened to be a long irrigation ditch nearby. The sound of her... small stream... was masked by the gushing water irrigating the fields...

Before Xue Rui could fully process it, the girl slowly stood up and started walking back toward him, her head bowed and her face still red.

"Sigh~" Xue Rui sighed. ’Is that it? Over already?’

’Why do I feel a little disappointed?’

It was strange, really. Lin Ruoxi was usually so meticulous in her planning. Hadn’t she anticipated that the public restroom would be packed?

’Hmm... or maybe it was because I didn’t have any soy milk this morning, and the girl, not wanting it to go to waste, drank both bowls herself.’

"You didn’t think there would be a line for the women’s room?" Xue Rui asked.

"No..." Lin Ruoxi slowly shook her head.

"They don’t have enough women’s restrooms," Xue Rui said.

"But that’s no reason to use the men’s room," the girl said with a pout. She had seen Xue Rui using the restroom in the grass earlier and assumed he had been forced to do so.

She didn’t know what was wrong with her, but it was as if she didn’t want anyone to see Xue Rui. She had been keeping watch for him with her eyes the whole time.

"Next time, just be aware that there will be lines in crowded places," Xue Rui said.

"Mm, I’ll remember. Restrooms in the city have lines," the girl said with a nod.

Xue Rui was baffled. "What do you mean? They don’t have lines in the village?"

"The village market only has one or two restrooms, and they never have long lines," Lin Ruoxi said timidly.

Xue Rui thought about it. Village markets were just as crowded. No lines?

After a long moment, he came to a conclusion: ’Those must be those damn semi-open pit latrines.’ They offered zero privacy, so you couldn’t play on your phone or touch up your makeup. If you took too long, someone would tell you to hurry up to your face...

"Do you want some apricots?" Lin Ruoxi asked, pointing to a nearby apricot tree.

It was a solitary apricot tree growing at the edge of the farmland. The branches near the road had been picked clean, but higher up, out of reach, hung plump, yellow apricots.

’Is this girl planning to steal apricots with me?’ Xue Rui wondered. But with her knowledge of the countryside, anything she was willing to pick probably wasn’t considered stealing. It was likely a wild tree with no owner.

Of course, he had no reason to refuse. He said, "You want some? I’ll go get them for you."

As he spoke, Xue Rui began to tighten his shoelaces. Without any tools, climbing the tree was the only option.

However, in the time it took him to bend down and tie his shoes, the girl had already scrambled up the tree. She stood securely on a fork in the branches, one small hand steadying herself on a limb, while the other pulled a fruit-laden bough toward her.

Xue Rui watched, dumbfounded. The girl was always exceptionally lively at times like these.

’Perhaps it’s because she’s in her element?’

Xue Rui cooperatively lifted the hem of his T-shirt, using it as a makeshift basket to catch the fruit the girl tossed down.

This scene was all too familiar. He and Qiu Mengze had done similar things back in the village.

He just never imagined a girl would be with him, picking fruit from a tree. And that the girl would be the one doing the climbing...

The two of them picked some fruit and then washed it in the nearby irrigation ditch. The water, freshly pumped from a well, was cool and refreshing.

Xue Rui glanced up at the blazing sun, then splashed his face with water to cool down.

The girl copied him, cupping water in her hands and rubbing it on her face. Crystal-clear droplets clung to her cheeks, and strands of hair, wet with water, stuck to her soft skin...

The girl hooked a stray strand with her slender pinky finger and gently tucked it behind her ear, looking all the more pure and charming.

’This must be the girl’s most captivating quality,’ Xue Rui thought. ’She’s always showing her true self, no matter where she is. No affectation, no pretense.’ He could even hear the soft sounds she made as she washed her face.

Lin Ruoxi handed Xue Rui an apricot, so succulent that water dripped from it.

Xue Rui took it and bit into it. Apricots this time of year were perfectly sweet and sour, neither unripe and tart nor overripe and cloying.

...

Both of their bags had been left in Coach Li’s car, and the girl’s tissues had been used earlier to wipe the apricots for Xue Rui. So, they walked back toward the vehicle administration office with water still glistening on their freshly washed faces.

Xue Rui didn’t mind. Weren’t most guys like this after washing their faces? They just let it air dry. It was actually quite cooling.

He just hadn’t expected the girl to follow his lead.

As they reached the side of the road, Xue Rui spotted a familiar back. Qiu Mengze was relieving himself behind a hedge. It seemed he’d also been scared out of the men’s room by the women inside.

Xue Rui quickly covered the girl’s eyes.

Xue Rui shouted, "What do you think you’re doing?"

Qiu Mengze jumped, startled. When he turned and saw it was Xue Rui, who was covering Lin Ruoxi’s eyes, he let out a long breath and cursed through gritted teeth:

"That group of women in the men’s room scared the hell out of me too! They actually told me to get out of the men’s room!"

Xue Rui couldn’t help but laugh. "Hahaha."

"The nerve of them!" Qiu Mengze complained nonstop.

Only after he finished venting did he notice that Xue Rui and Lin Ruoxi seemed to have emerged from the overgrown fields, their faces still beaded with water.

"You two..." Qiu Mengze swallowed hard.

’Boys this age have such overactive imaginations,’ Xue Rui thought. ’Their minds always jump to the wrong conclusions.’

He glanced at Lin Ruoxi. The girl’s head was bowed, her face flushed red.

"..." Suddenly, Xue Rui couldn’t be bothered to explain. ’Think whatever you want.’

"Want an apricot?" Lin Ruoxi asked, holding a handful of them.

"Yeah," Qiu Mengze said, wiping his hands and reaching out to take one.

Xue Rui shot him an annoyed glare. ’You just pissed in the fucking bushes. What are you wiping your hands for?’

He grabbed a few from Lin Ruoxi’s arms and tossed them over. "Catch."