Rebirth to Save Myself

In the sweltering summer, cicadas burst from the earth, chirping their songs that mark their fleeting summer. The temperature rises relentlessly, the sun beats down relentlessly, radiating distorted heat. At this moment, taking an ice-cold bottle of cola from the refrigerator and gulping down half of it seems to instantly cool you down.

Chen Yuan stood in front of the air conditioner, holding a can of cola, twisting her body wildly to maximize the coolness from the air conditioner, muttering, "What kind of weather is this? It's so hot, I'm about to get heatstroke!"

"When you come back from outside, don't stand in the wind, or you'll catch a cold," Chen Chunqi said to Chen Yuan as he brought out a bowl of mung bean soup.

"No, Mom. Why is it so hot this summer? It's unbearable." Chen Yuan blew on her front and then on her back, trying to dissipate the heat from her body in the shortest amount of time.

"You're blocking my airflow, come over and let's enjoy it together." Su Xia was also sweltering; she was drenched in sweat after just two minutes outside in this weather. Taking the bus was even more of a torture; some unshowered people emitted a strong stench of sweat that almost suffocated her.

"Have a bowl of mung bean soup to cool off. Drink less of that cola; we can't keep up with how fast you consume it," Chen Chunqi said, pointing to the cola in their hands and telling them to go eat the mung bean soup.

"Iced?" Chen Yuan asked after glancing at it.

"It's chilled, just taken out of the refrigerator, it won't be cold if you don't drink it soon."

"Yay!" The two of them ran happily to the dining table and each picked up a bowl to eat.

"Are you taking graduation photos tomorrow?" Chen Chunqi also sat down at the dining table, watching the two of them drink mung bean soup.

"Yes, we'll take them tomorrow. I'm going to take my camera to school and take some pictures myself." Chen Yuan was very happy. Taking graduation photos meant that the college entrance examination was approaching, and this difficult time was coming to an end.

"What about Xiaxia's class? Most of you left school in your second year of high school, so how are you going to take graduation photos?" Chen Chunqi asked. Their class was a bit special; most of the students were top-performing. Those from well-off families were sent abroad for further studies, and those who weren't sent abroad still managed to get into the top few in the province. But high school only happens once, and it would be a pity to miss out on graduation photos later.

“We took our graduation photos separately once when we were in our second year of high school, so they’ll be taking them tomorrow while we study.” Su Xia smiled and then added, “Of course, we won’t be confined to the classroom to study.”

"Then after we finish filming the group photos, we'll go film our own individual photos together." Chen Yuan used a spoon as a conductor's baton, waving it around haphazardly.

"Hey, just talk, why are you waving around like that?" Chen Chunqi looked at Chen Yuan with disgust, as if to say, "How can you be so unhygienic? It's a hassle to make a mess everywhere."

"Hehehe!" Chen Yuan stuck out her tongue, drank the rest of the mung bean soup, and then lay down on the sofa.

Su Xia slowly finished her bowl of mung bean soup, and then said to Chen Yuan, "I'm going to take a shower. I feel sticky and uncomfortable."

"Go on, go on, it's still early." Chen Yuan waved her hand with her eyes closed; she was a little sleepy.

Su Xia went to her room and quickly took a cold shower, only then did she feel alive again. When she came out of the bathroom, she saw a message on her phone; it was from Lu Jingnian.

All the Way to Summer: I heard you're taking graduation photos tomorrow.

All the Way to Summer: I suddenly feel a little regretful that we didn't take a separate photo together in our school uniforms.

Coffee to keep us going: What's there to regret? We can take more photos wearing them when you get back to China.

Heading Towards Summer: [Photos]

All the Way to Summer: So, I came back to reshoot the scenes. [smiley face]

Su Xia opened the photo and took a closer look. It was actually taken downstairs in her apartment building, and the photographer even included the time to help her recognize Lu Jingnian. Wasn't this blatantly indicating that he was downstairs right now? Su Xia quickly threw the towel onto the bed, opened the door, and rushed to the elevator. Just then, the elevator came down, and Su Xia went in without waiting, completely ignoring Chen Chunqi's calls from behind.

"Xiaxia, Xiaxia, where are you going? You haven't dried your hair, Xiaxia!"

Chen Yuan sat up from the sofa in a daze and asked, "What happened?"

"Xiaxia suddenly ran downstairs, and she wouldn't answer when I asked her. I don't know what she was doing." Chen Chunqi closed the door, wondering whether he should follow her.

"Hmm, I'll see in a bit." Chen Yuan lay back down, feeling sleepy and wanting to go to bed.

Su Xia had never felt an elevator was so slow. The time it took to go down from the twenties seemed to stretch on forever. She looked at herself again, noticing she was wearing pajamas, her hair still dripping wet, and her slippers. Su Xia smiled, then shook her head helplessly, wondering what was wrong with her.

I saw a picture and impulsively ran downstairs, feeling so uneasy. I wanted to see him, yet I was afraid to see him. This feeling was so unfamiliar; I didn't know how to explain it.

As soon as the elevator reached the ground floor, Su Xia rushed out and found Lu Jingnian standing outside the access control glass door, looking out. She straightened her clothes slightly, slowly opened the door, and called out, "Old Lu."

Lu Jingnian was wondering why Su Xia wasn't replying to him. Had his surprise turned into a shock, and that's why she was ignoring him? Then he heard a sound behind him. Looking over, he saw her wearing a dark green nightgown, her hair dripping wet. A glance at her shoes revealed she had rushed downstairs without even changing.

He smiled at Su Xia, stepped forward, and said, "Why are you running so fast? I'm not going to suddenly disappear."

"Why are you back?" Su Xia asked, looking up at him.

"Didn't I say I was coming back to take graduation photos with you? Aren't you welcoming me?" Lu Jingnian looked at the girl in front of him and was somewhat certain that she wasn't completely indifferent to him.

"No, it's just a bit sudden," Su Xia said apologetically.

“You have class this afternoon, it’s almost time. Go upstairs and dry your hair, get ready. What time does evening self-study end? Can I pick you up?” Lu Jingnian asked.

“Okay.” Su Xia immediately agreed, then realized she had agreed too quickly, and added, “Dad comes to pick us up every night.”

"Then, let me pick you up today, okay?" Lu Jingnian's gentle voice slowly rang out, his eyes never leaving Su Xia's figure.

Su Xia could see her own face reflected in his eyes, and she blushed slightly, whispering, "Okay."

"Let's go up, or we'll be too late. It's too hot down there, don't get all sweaty again." Lu Jingnian couldn't help but rub Su Xia's wet head, smiling broadly.

"Okay." Su Xia also realized what was going on, so she didn't refuse and went back upstairs with Lu Jingnian's suggestion.

When Chen Chunqi saw her return, her face still flushed, he asked, "Did you go downstairs to dry your hair?"

"Ah, um." Su Xia was too embarrassed to say that she had run downstairs so quickly because of Lu Jingnian. She responded and went back to her room to change her clothes.

On the way to school in the afternoon, Su Xia said to Chen Yuan, "Yuanyuan, you and Dad go home first tonight."

"Why? Dad and I are worried about you going back alone! Besides, it won't take long to wait for one class." Chen Yuan asked, puzzled. Su Xia's experimental class had an extra evening self-study session compared to other classes. At first, Chen Yuan and Chen Jianguo had assumed they would wait for her to go back together. Why were they suddenly being asked to go back first today?

"Um, well, it's me." Su Xia didn't know how to explain the current situation.

Chen Yuan glanced down at her phone, then looked at Su Xia with a smile and said, "You'll be going home by yourself tonight, right? No problem."

Chen Yuan's phone screen was frozen on her chat with Lu Jingnian, with only one sentence: I'll take Su Xia home tonight.

Of course, we have to support it! Putting aside why Lu Jingnian suddenly came back, just thinking about it, it's likely that Su Xia's sudden departure at noon today was also related to Lu Jingnian. Chen Yuan was wondering why Su Xia didn't seem to have any good feelings towards Lu Jingnian at all; turns out that's what was going on. Chen Yuan felt that rather than letting someone else benefit, it was better to let Lu Jingnian benefit, after all, she had secretly assessed him, so he couldn't be too bad.

So, the task of explaining to Chen Jianguo why Su Xia didn't go back with them was left to Chen Yuan. Su Xia only started packing her things slowly after the fourth period of evening self-study ended. She didn't know what she was doing, but she still slowed down. Until someone knocked on the classroom door, Su Xia looked up and saw Lu Jingnian.

"Are you done?" Lu Jingnian asked with a smile.

"Lu Jingnian, why are you back in China?" The students who hadn't left the classroom were also drawn by the voice and looked over in surprise.

"I'm here to pick you up." Lu Jingnian said, walking straight to Su Xia, helping her with her schoolbag, and asking, "Can we go now?"

Su Xia nodded, and followed Lu Jingnian out despite the stares of the other students. In the hallway, Su Xia asked Lu Jingnian, "Why did you come to the classroom?"

"I came here because I couldn't wait to see you. But when I saw you dawdling around, I became even more convinced that coming here was the right choice." Lu Jingnian turned to look at Su Xia, making her feel a little embarrassed.

Su Xia explained, "I was already quite busy tidying up."

"I didn't mean to blame you. Didn't I say I just really wanted to see you?" Lu Jingnian stopped and waited for Su Xia to catch up before walking alongside her.

The two walked to the school gate, where a street lined with food stalls bustled about, filled with students and other people grabbing a late-night snack. It's common knowledge that the food near schools is both cheap and delicious; otherwise, there wouldn't be a place for you. Lu Jingnian asked Su Xia, "What do you usually eat for late-night snacks? Any recommendations?"

Su Xia said she knew them all well and told Lu Jingnian to just follow her. Then she took Lu Jingnian for a walk around the various food stalls, saying as they walked, "I've tried them all myself and figured out how to do this. You can't go wrong with any of them, so don't worry."

Lu Jingnian was also very happy to see the energetic Su Xia. He wished that time could slow down a little more and last a little longer.

"Hey, Lao Lu, what are you thinking about? I called you a few times and you didn't answer." Su Xia waved her hand in front of Lu Jingnian, seeing that he stood there motionless and didn't follow her forward.

"What's wrong?" Lu Jingnian asked, looking down at Su Xia.

"I asked you how to get back, but the buses have all stopped running." Su Xia pointed to the bus stop sign.

Lu Jingnian glanced at his watch and said, "Let's take the subway. We can still catch the last train."

Then the two of them finished what they could eat, and packed the rest into their bags. Lu Jingnian glanced at Su Xia and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Mm." Su Xia nodded.

"Run." Lu Jingnian grabbed Su Xia's hand, held it tightly, and then started running.

"Run!" Su Xia was pulled along and the two of them jogged all the way to the subway station to catch the last train.

"The subway would have stopped running any later, you're really lucky." The subway staff smiled, perhaps because they were students, they were particularly kind to Su Xia and Lu Jingnian. They even tested the water in their bags with a device.

"Thank you!" After expressing their gratitude, the two quickly ran to the waiting platform, and the subway arrived at the station shortly afterward.

"Please let passengers disembark before boarding. Please be mindful of the gap between the platform and the carriages, and do not lean against the carriage doors..." As the announcement came on, Su Xia and Lu Jingnian boarded the train and found an empty seat.

"That's great. If we hadn't run, we probably wouldn't have made it." Su Xia was a little out of breath. After running so fast and so urgently, she needed to catch her breath for a moment.

"Yes, everything is at the perfect time." Lu Jingnian's words seemed to be about catching the subway, but they also seemed to be about something else.

The two smiled at each other, then looked at the sparsely populated subway car. There were white-collar workers returning home late, leaning against the railing with their briefcases; young people playing games with headphones on, occasionally uttering a line from a traditional Chinese opera; and young couples in their twenties, whispering to each other. As for Su Xia and Lu Jingnian, it seemed that they didn't need to do anything or say anything; just looking at each other was enough.

After getting off the subway, the two walked slowly, chatting, for a while before reaching their apartment complex. Su Xia asked Lu Jingnian about his life studying abroad, while Lu Jingnian asked Su Xia if her senior year of high school was very tiring. They chatted back and forth, seemingly having endless topics to discuss.

"I happened to come back during their school's holiday. The studies abroad are okay, but sometimes I get a headache from the assignments that are all in English. I wish I could open a translation app and scan them. When I don't have classes, I do part-time jobs. I work at McDonald's as a temporary worker, frying fries, marinating fried chicken, making hamburgers, and cleaning. I'm like a brick, I'm moved wherever I'm needed."

"Senior year of high school is very tiring and tough. Every day there are endless test papers to do and problems to explain. There are round after round of review to consolidate knowledge points. Sometimes I feel very capable, thinking that my brain can hold the knowledge of so many subjects. Other times, I will break down from doing so many problems. At these times, I will relax by having a cup of coffee, looking at the scenery, or seeing what interesting things and pictures you share with me."