Rebirth to Save Myself

Su Xia glanced at Lu Jingnian and then asked him, "If you knew that you would get a terminal illness and die in a few years, how would you deal with it?"

Lu Jingnian initially found this a bit nonsensical, but then thought that everyone probably has some wild imaginations. So after thinking about it seriously for a while, he replied, "Then I'll take advantage of these few years to have a good time, to have a great time, and to leave no regrets."

"Won't you miss your parents and friends?" Su Xia asked curiously, because Lu Jingnian seemed to be a child who grew up in a very happy family.

“Yes, but there will always be regrets. Just like those who are dying, do they necessarily have no regrets? It’s impossible. When we were young, we regretted not eating that flavor of candy; when we were in school, we regretted not writing the correct answer to that problem we knew how to do; when we started working, we regretted not finding a job we liked; when we get married, have children, and grow old, we will all have regrets.” Lu Jingnian looked at Su Xia and said very seriously.

"Can you let go of these regrets?" Su Xia couldn't let go of those regrets. She felt that sometimes these regrets occupied a very large place in her heart, and could even determine her actions.

"No, but we should move forward. Staying in those regrets will only create more regrets." Lu Jingnian shook his head. Regret is an emotion that everyone experiences. Even the happiest people have regrets; everyone does.

"Your remarks are not what one would expect at your age. Anyone who didn't know better would think you'd already lived a lifetime." Su Xia was surprised. Logically speaking, what could a kid this age, especially a boy, possibly know?

"If I could really live my life again, wouldn't that be a bonus? I could eat that candy again, do that problem again, and try my best to have fewer regrets." Lu Jingnian smiled. Was it strange that he had these thoughts?

"Hahaha, it's nighttime now, so I can daydream." Su Xia laughed, trying to ease the slightly awkward atmosphere.

"To be honest, when I first heard about your background, I felt more pity than anything else, which is due to my personal life circumstances. Later, I went back and thought carefully about what you said to me." Lu Jingnian felt that the solution to the problem at the time was not very good, so he wanted to express his true feelings to Su Xia again.

"Why bring this up all of a sudden? It's all in the past." Su Xia was also a little embarrassed. Actually, she had been a bit angry at the time. She felt indignant at Lu Jingnian's pitying look at her, so she angrily confronted him.

“A person’s first reaction is the most genuine, but you can’t take it as the only thing that’s ever happened. I think you’re amazing, incredibly amazing. If it were me, I wouldn’t have done any better than you,” Lu Jingnian said, touching his nose sheepishly.

"Yeah, it's okay. I was just angry at the time, so I said a little without thinking." Su Xia couldn't keep up the pretense any longer and continued to speak in accordance with Lu Jingnian's words.

“I feel like you have something on your mind, but you’re not willing to tell anyone. Can I listen?” Lu Jingnian asked.

"What nonsense are you talking about? What's on my mind? If anything, it's the chemistry competition. I'm not good at chemistry to begin with, and now I have to compete with Shen Zhiheng. It's giving me a headache."

"You don't need to compare yourself to Shen Zhiheng. He never had any trouble studying since he was little. He played with everyone, but he always came in first place while everyone else came in last. He got a good beating from his parents when he got home."

"Is this the legendary genius?"

"I wouldn't call myself a genius, I'm just someone who learns very efficiently. So you don't need to compare yourself to Shen Zhiheng, just be yourself."

"Hmm, having a friend like Shen Zhiheng, do you sometimes feel..."

"Yes, I thought he was so amazing. Later, he taught me study methods, and my grades improved."

"Shen Zhiheng is quite nice, but my first impression of him today wasn't very good."

"Oh, that's just him being nervous. The more nervous he is, the more like a rascal he becomes. He'll be normal once he gets to know people. Once in junior high, he was going to confess to a girl he liked, and he acted like a thug, which scared her to tears, hahaha."

"Hahaha, Shen Zhiheng has such a dark history?"

"Yes, the most important thing is that the girl went home and told her parents, and then the parents came to the school to ask the teacher who the hoodlum was. When the girl pointed him out, the teacher was stunned. He was the number one student in the whole school."

"The teacher probably won't believe it. How could the top student in the whole school be a troublemaker?"

"Yes, Shen Zhiheng admitted it himself and was punished by having to write a self-criticism."

"He's quite responsible; he doesn't renege on what he's done."

The two chatted for a while longer before Lu Jingnian urged Su Xia to go back to sleep. Su Xia said she wasn't sleepy yet and could chat a little longer, but Lu Jingnian said directly, "Girls should go to bed early and get up early. Even if you can't sleep, go to bed."

"Yes, sir, Lao Lu." Su Xia pretended to be serious and bowed to Lu Jingnian.

"Why are you copying Shen Zhiheng like this? Don't call me Old Lu." Lu Jingnian was both amused and exasperated. This kid only spent one day with Shen Zhiheng and he's already learned bad habits, calling me Old Lu.

"Then what should I call you, Nian Nian?" Su Xia teased Lu Jingnian.

Lu Jingnian blushed instantly. Fortunately, it was nighttime and there were no streetlights, so Su Xia couldn't see clearly. Lu Jingnian said, "You should still call me Lao Lu."

"Pfft, I'm going back to sleep now, Lao Lu." Su Xia waved and then opened her bedroom door and went inside.

After watching Su Xia go inside, Lu Jingnian turned and went back to his room. He slept soundly through the night, until 5:30 when Su Xia's alarm clock rang.

"Xiaxia, turn off the alarm clock." Chen Yuan was a bit grumpy when she was woken up by the alarm clock. She tried to push Su Xia next to her to turn off the alarm clock, but she pushed empty air. She got up and saw Su Xia just coming out of the bathroom.

"Get up, the sun will be rising soon." Su Xia turned off the alarm clock and called Chen Yuan to get up.

"How did you manage to get up before the alarm went off?" Chen Yuan looked like she hadn't woken up yet, and thought Su Xia was really amazing.

"I'm not used to sleeping in unfamiliar beds, so I didn't sleep well," Su Xia replied. Actually, that was only part of the reason. Another part was that she was too nervous, so she went out to chat with Lu Jingnian in the middle of the night and didn't sleep much afterward. Seeing that it was about time, she got up to wash up.

If you ask her why she's so nervous, she doesn't know either; it's an old problem. Whenever something happens, her heart races and clenches. It's been like this for years, and it hasn't gotten much better. The doctor says it's a psychological issue and she just needs to relax.

"Okay, I'll go wash up." Chen Yuan slowly got up, and by the time she finished washing up and went out, the other four were already ready.

"Let's go."

"set off!"

The group asked the landlady for a stunning spot nearby to watch the sunrise and headed there early in the morning. They watched as the sun, which had set below the horizon the day before, slowly rose again, the sea gradually brightening and the sky slowly fading from darkness. When the sky was fully bright and the sun was revealed in its entirety, they looked at each other and exchanged knowing smiles.

"Let's go have breakfast, Lao Lu?" Su Xia suddenly called out to Lu Jingnian playfully, startling everyone.

“Go ahead,” Lu Jingnian replied to Su Xia, ignoring everyone’s questioning looks.

On the way, Shen Zhiheng kept asking Lu Jingnian what was going on, why Su Xia suddenly called him Lao Lu, why, what happened? Did she do something behind his back? It's immoral, unfair, unacceptable!

Meanwhile, Chen Yuan asked Su Xia the same question. Su Xia replied, "I feel that now that we're friends, calling me by my full name would be too formal, so I'll just call you Lao Lu!"

"Then why doesn't he call you Xiaxia anymore! Did you two do something behind our backs yesterday? Why are you two suddenly so close overnight?"

"No, you're overthinking it." Su Xia avoided the topic and changed the subject, asking her where she wanted to go today.

Today everyone continued their sightseeing, heading south downhill, taking a stroll around General Mountain and Elephant Trunk Bay before heading back. They still have classes tomorrow, and Chen Wenwei and Lin Mohan also have to return to Nanshi.

Chen Chunqi packed a huge pile of things and asked Chen Wenwei to deliver them to Chen Meili. Lin Mohan also arrived empty-handed. The two of them received a lot of things and only stopped when they said they couldn't carry them anymore.

“We’ll develop the photos and send you a copy,” Chen Yuan said to Chen Wenwei.

"Okay, we've sent all the photos from our phones to the group chat." Chen Wenwei nodded, indicating that he understood.

"Bye-bye, see you during the Chinese New Year."

"Bye-Bye."

After their beach trip, the group created a QQ group and shared all the photos on their phones. Those who needed them could save them, others could upload them to their social media accounts. This post received a lot of likes, especially from Shen Zhiheng, the social butterfly, who had many comments asking who the girl next to Lu Jingnian was.

Henghengheng: Lao Lu, your suitor is asking about Su Xiale, should I reply?

All the Way to Summer: ? What?

Henghengheng: [Screenshot]

All the Way to Summer: Did you add the entire affiliated high school? There are so many people, why bother replying? Just ignore them.

Henghengheng: [Okay!]

Lu Jingnian went to Shen Zhiheng's social media to check his posts. The number of likes was enough to fill five or six rows, and there were two or three pages of comments. This social butterfly was truly something else; most of the comments were about how good their photography skills were. Shen Zhiheng had posted a group photo, and Lu Jingnian happened to be standing next to Su Xia. He remembered that there were too many people, so he had to get closer to get the whole picture. This group of people were asking Shen Zhiheng who Su Xia was, and if she was his girlfriend—it was ridiculous.

Scrolling down, I saw that Su Xia had also commented: "You picked my ugliest one..."

Henghengheng replied to Coffee Lifeline: How could that be? Xiaxia is so beautiful.

Coffee Lifeline replied to Henghengheng: Only believe half of what you say.

Henghengheng replied to Coffee for Life: I'm so sad, Xiaxia doesn't believe me, QAQ

All the way to summer replied to Henghengheng: You're disgusting, you know?

Henghengheng replied to Yiluxiangxia: Shut up, believe it or not I'll expose everything about you.

Su Xia found the two of them amusing; they were always threatening each other, saying things like, "Believe it or not, I'll bring up your embarrassing past!" This must be the kind of trouble that comes with growing up together, just like Chen Yuan and Chen Wenwei, knowing all of each other's embarrassing moments. However, Chen Yuan has been spending a lot of time on her phone lately, smiling foolishly, like she's in love.

"Hehe, hee hee." Here he is, giggling again.

"Yuanyuan, what are you laughing at?" Su Xia asked curiously.

"Oh, no, I just saw a joke." Chen Yuan quickly turned off her phone screen and replied to Su Xia.

"Oh, I see." Su Xia pretended not to see her hurried movements, then pretended to get up to pour water, and quietly walked behind her. At this time, privacy screens on mobile phones had not yet appeared, so Su Xia easily saw that Chen Yuan's phone screen was a QQ chat page.

At this moment, Chen Wen sent another message, which Su Xia read aloud: "Little Yuanyuan, I miss you so much, time is so long!"

"Ah, when did you get behind me?" Chen Yuan was startled and jumped three feet high like a cat with its fur standing on end. She clearly saw Su Xia go to the kitchen to get water!

"What's going on? Tell me honestly." Su Xia turned around, sat back on the sofa, put down her water glass, and looked at Chen Yuan.

"We were just having a normal chat, what's there to explain?" Chen Yuan stubbornly insisted, nervously trying to explain, thinking that Su Xia had misunderstood.

"Oh? Then let me see your chat history, dare you?" Su Xia stretched out her hand, waiting for Chen Yuan to hand her the phone.

Chen Yuan dared not do that; if she did, everything would be exposed! After thinking for a moment, Chen Yuan said, "No, this is my privacy."

Su Xia raised an eyebrow. Chen Yuan had gotten smarter, using privacy to trap her. But she already had some suspicions and had collected some clues, though she thought Chen Yuan would blurt it out easily. Sure enough, the child had grown up; she wasn't as easily fooled as before! Su Xia casually glanced at her phone and said, "I have a photo someone sent me; I saw some very unexpected scenes."

Chen Yuan felt a little guilty after hearing this, but Su Xia wasn't showing her any photos. What if she had taken some pictures? That would be terrible. It was also possible that Su Xia was bluffing her, but it was hard to tell.

Seeing that Chen Yuan wasn't falling for it, Su Xia realized that as children grow up, it's time to outsmart them!

"What photos?" Chen Yuan couldn't wait any longer and asked.

"A photo of a couple kissing!" Su Xia raised an eyebrow, looking at Chen Yuan.

"I, I, it's not me." Chen Yuan started to panic, assuming it was her without seeing the photo, and hurriedly denied it.

"Speak up, while Mom and Dad aren't home," Su Xia said directly, seeing that she had taken the bait.

"Show me the photos first, so I can confirm," Chen Yuan said, setting a condition that she couldn't just blindly agree to.

"There are no photos, I was just kidding you. But I guessed what happened between you and Chen Wenwei." Su Xia showed her her phone directly; the screen didn't have a single photo.

"I knew it! We were so careful, how could we have any photos?" Chen Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and was no longer so nervous, unaware that she had completely fallen into Su Xia's trap.

"Oh? So when did you two get together?"