Rebirth of a Girl in a Boys' School

Lin Ruofei slung her backpack over her shoulder, cheerfully bid farewell to Teacher Xia, and strode out of 'Psychological Counseling Room 5'.

If Lin Ruofei's most frequently used inner monologue today is "I searched high and low without finding it, but then it came to me effortlessly!", I believe all of you would definitely agree!

Even Lin Ruofei herself felt that her "random luck" today was incredibly good!

When Lin Ruofei came out of 'Psychological Counseling Room 5', she actually saw someone in the corridor whom she had been looking for all day. This person was Zhou Jianfei, Lin Ruofei's dream lover.

When Lin Ruofei saw Zhou Jianfei walk into the counseling room with the sign 'Psychological Counseling Room 2' hanging on the lintel, she was so happy she almost laughed out loud.

Lin Ruofei hurriedly pulled out the 'heart-shaped chocolate' she had prepared earlier from her schoolbag, secretly calculating in her mind, "I have to stay here and give the chocolate to Zhou Jianfei as soon as he comes out..."

Lin Ruofei, who was so focused on giving chocolates, completely forgot that she had a basketball game to participate in during the school anniversary celebration. She didn't even take out her phone to check the time before sitting down on the steps at the main entrance, excitedly and patiently waiting for Zhou Jianfei to come out of the counseling room.

Sitting on the steps, Lin Ruofei gently stroked the heart-shaped chocolate in her hands with loving hands, imagining the sweet scene of handing it to Zhou Jianfei later, her face full of smiles.

After an unknown amount of time, a furious roar suddenly came from above Lin Ruofei's head:

"My dear Uncle Lin, we've been waiting for you so long over at the basketball court we're almost crying. What are you up to sitting here?"

Lin Ruofei looked up and saw Zheng Dayu glaring at her with his small eyes, yelling at her.

“I’m waiting for someone…” Lin Ruofei hurriedly stood up and said, “He’ll be out soon.”

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and come to the basketball court with me!" Zheng Dayu grabbed Lin Ruofei's arm and scolded her angrily, "Don't you have any sense of team honor? Don't you have any sense of time? I clearly told you that the game starts at five o'clock, and it's already four fifty-five now. What are you still dawdling here for?"

After saying that, Zheng Dayu grabbed Lin Ruofei's arm and prepared to leave.

"The person I've been waiting for is very important to me, and it's so rare to meet him here..."

Lin Ruofei struggled to get the chocolate to him, pleading, "If I don't get the chocolate to him soon, it'll melt in my hands!"

"You can still eat melted chocolate, but if you miss the competition, you'll never have another chance!" Zheng Dayu persisted, still desperately trying to pull Lin Ruofei away as quickly as possible.

"I've been waiting for ages, let's wait a little longer..." Lin Ruofei was unwilling to give up and was desperately resisting the urge to leave immediately.

Just as the two were struggling at the gate, a tall figure suddenly walked out of the gate, quickly bypassed the two entangled individuals, and left without looking back.

Looking at the familiar figure, Lin Ruofei immediately recognized him as Zhou Jianfei, whom she had been longing for day and night.

"He's out! He's out!" Lin Ruofei hurriedly shook off Zheng Dayu's pull and ran quickly towards Zhou Jianfei, who had already left.

Lin Ruofei caught up with Zhou Jianfei, who was walking quickly, and stepped in front of him, blocking the startled Zhou Jianfei.

"Um... um... I... this is for you..." Lin Ruofei stammered as she presented the 'heart-shaped chocolate' to Zhou Jianfei with both hands.

Zhou Jianfei first glanced at Lin Ruofei, whose face was already flushed with embarrassment, and quickly recognized her as the person who had almost eaten a rat in the cafeteria last time. Then he glanced at what Lin Ruofei was holding and quickly recognized that the plastic bag covered with hearts contained chocolates.

"Sorry, I'm not interested in men!" Zhou Jianfei coldly said, then ignored Lin Ruofei and continued walking quickly past her.

"Ah! I'm not...actually I am...ah...it's nothing really!" Lin Ruofei quickly caught up with Zhou Jianfei again, holding the chocolate in both hands and anxiously whispering beside him, "Don't you love this brand of white chocolate the most? I just wanted to give it to you, please accept it..."

Despite Lin Ruofei's constant buzzing around Zhou Jianfei like a busy little bee, and her soft-spoken attempts to persuade him to accept her "love chocolate," Zhou Jianfei ignored her completely, walking indifferently on his own path.

Just as Lin Ruofei, who had been relentlessly pestering him, felt helpless, Zheng Dayu suddenly appeared in front of them, snatched the chocolate from Lin Ruofei's hands as if it were a royal decree, shoved it into Zhou Jianfei's arms, and loudly proclaimed:

"He just wanted to give you some food, it's not like he'd poison you. He's been talking to you about it for so long, why is he being so rude?"

Zheng Dayu turned to Lin Ruofei and said with a disdainful expression, "And you, she clearly doesn't want it, but you insist on giving it to her. Don't you have any self-respect?"

Seeing that Zhou Jianfei had no choice but to hug the chocolate to her chest and accept it, Lin Ruofei hurriedly pulled Zheng Dayu and ran away.

"What do you know?" Lin Ruofei said to Zheng Dayu as she pulled him toward the basketball court, "If I miss him now, I'm afraid I'll miss him for the rest of my life!"

"Hmph, I didn't expect you to be so fickle in your affections!" Zheng Dayu sneered. "Weren't you drooling and excitedly shouting over Ji Weihang just a while ago? How come you've changed your target in just two days?"

"How can that bad boy Ji Weihang compare to Zhou Jianfei? Look how perfect Zhou Jianfei is, from head to toe, left to right!" Lin Ruofei pouted and said, "These two are not even in the same league!"

"Oh! You're praising him like he's the most beautiful flower in the garden. How good can a 'perennial runner-up' be?" Zheng Dayu retorted dismissively.

"What does 'perennial runner-up' mean?" Lin Ruofei couldn't help but stop and ask Zheng Dayu curiously.

"What else could it be?" Zheng Dayu pulled Lin Ruofei back and strode forward. "It's Zhou Jianfei's nickname, of course!"

"Why is Zhou Jianfei's nickname 'Eternal Second Place'?" Lin Ruofei racked her brains but still couldn't figure it out.

"Because he always ranks second in exams!" Zheng Dayu exclaimed dramatically. "It's not hard for someone to be second in the entire grade once or twice by chance... What's hard is that the person in first place changes every three years, but the person in second place is always the same person. What kind of character would be so unlucky?"

"What does ranking have to do with character?" Lin Ruofei retorted, "It's just bad luck!"

"Do you know why the 'perennial runner-up' is here for psychological counseling?" Zheng Dayu asked Lin Ruofei with a mysterious expression.

"Actually, I was thinking about this question when I was sitting on the steps waiting for Zhou Jianfei..." Lin Ruofei answered without hesitation, "I need to receive psychological counseling because of my freshman physical examination results. Zhou Jianfei is not a freshman and did not have a physical examination, so why is he also receiving psychological counseling?"

“Because he’s always second best!” Zheng Dayu explained gleefully. “The guy who fainted in front of the list last time was their third-year first-place student. That kid is still in a mental hospital and hasn’t come out yet! Starting tomorrow, the school will organize five exams in a row for Harvard University recommendation slots. I deduce that the ‘perennial runner-up’ must have signed up, which is why the school sent him to do pre-exam psychological counseling.”

"This pre-exam psychological counseling...isn't it something everyone does?" Lin Ruofei asked softly.

"Of course! Only someone like him who always does so badly on exams would be asked by the school to do tutoring. He applied for Harvard's recommended high-achieving program, but the school wouldn't let him do tutoring because his scores on exams are always fluctuating."

"Sigh, it seems Zhou Jianfei is doomed to be the 'perennial runner-up' in the Harvard recommendation exam this time!" Lin Ruofei couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Gao Qiang is going to Harvard, so this one and only recommendation spot is definitely his!"

"Hey Uncle Lin, can we put your 'perennial runner-up' aside for a bit?" Zheng Dayu said anxiously, pointing to his watch. "It's already past 5:10, and the basketball court is waiting for you to come and save the day!"

"Oh dear! It's so late already?" Lin Ruofei exclaimed anxiously, patting Zheng Dayu on the shoulder and saying, "I'll run ahead first, you can catch up slowly!"

After saying that, Lin Ruofei left Zheng Dayu behind and sprinted towards the basketball court at top speed...

When Lin Ruofei ran to the basketball court, she immediately saw Gao Qiang and the others anxiously waiting on the sidelines.

"Why are you so late?" Gao Qiang complained in a low voice as soon as he saw Lin Ruofei. "It's a good thing I drew a bye in the first round, otherwise who knows what the situation would be like now!"

"What do you mean bye?" Lin Ruofei asked curiously, panting heavily.

Gao Qiang gently pushed aside the other group members surrounding him, pulled Lin Ruofei to a chair by the court to rest, and then patiently explained: "Originally, there were twelve groups participating in the school anniversary season competition, but one group had fewer than ten people and was not allowed to participate in the basketball game. The basketball competition rules stipulate that the winning team advances in a two-on-two format, so there was a bye spot in the first round, which I just happened to draw!"

"You're really lucky!" Lin Ruofei's words of praise had barely finished when the whistle to end the match blew immediately.

A loudspeaker then announced: "The six teams that have advanced, please come to me immediately to draw the order for the next match."

"Huh? All five matches are over so quickly?" Lin Ruofei asked in surprise.

"The first team to get fifteen points wins, so the game will be quick! You sit and rest for now, and I'll call you to play after I've drawn the matchups." Gao Qiang said, then turned and ran towards the megaphone.

Just as Lin Ruofei bent down to tidy her shoelaces, she suddenly heard a series of chattering noises coming from above:

"Brother Lin, why are you so late?"

"Brother Lin, I heard you haven't eaten yet. Are you hungry?"

"Brother Lin, why didn't you change into your sportswear for the game? Won't wearing your school uniform affect your performance in basketball?"

"Don't you even know who our Lin brothers are? They're the No. 1 at Yucai Boys' High School! He could win a game even if he played basketball shirtless!"

Lin Ruofei didn't need to get up to look to know: the only ones who could be so noisy and annoying were the 'Tao brothers'!

"What brings the three of you here?" Lin Ruofei sat up straight and asked curiously, "Are you three brothers pretty good at basketball too?"

"Sigh! We three brothers don't even like watching basketball, let alone playing it..." The eldest brother, Tao Yushun, said in a coquettish voice, "If it weren't for Gao Qiang crying and begging us three brothers to come and make up the numbers, we three brothers would have gone to the lobby to watch idol dramas long ago!"

“I knew it…” Lin Ruofei immediately said with a smile, “How could you three brothers possibly like this kind of exercise that makes you all sweat so much?”

"Brother Lin, you really understand us three brothers," the second brother, Tao Yusheng, said with great emotion, "What we three brothers hate most is this kind of exercise that makes us smelly!"

"Brother Lin, why didn't you change into your sportswear before coming?" The third brother, Tao Yuxin, was still concerned about the worry he had just raised: "I heard that everyone in the school who is good at basketball is here to participate in the competition today. Won't your clothes affect your performance?"

"I forgot to bring my workout clothes this morning, and I was in such a rush this afternoon that I didn't have time to go back and change. Besides..." Lin Ruofei patted her chest and said confidently, "Didn't your brother say that with my skills, I could wipe them all out even without clothes on!"

Lin Ruofei was obviously exaggerating. In the ensuing match between the two highly skilled teams, Lin Ruofei's group won the game at the last moment, but only by a single point. Fortunately, Gao Qiang drew a bye in the next draw, which allowed Lin Ruofei's group to advance to the final.

"Where's Ji Weihang?" After the game started, Lin Ruofei noticed that Ji Weihang, who was quite good at basketball, wasn't among the players. As soon as the game ended, Lin Ruofei hurriedly pulled Gao Qiang aside and whispered, "Did you forget to tell him?"

"Don't even mention it!" Gao Qiang replied angrily, "I went to his class countless times today to look for him, but that kid didn't come to class at all today!"

"That's not right! I had breakfast with him this morning in the school's small black gate!" Lin Ruofei said confidently, "He should still be at school. Didn't you go to his dorm to check?"