Free Web NovelChapter 190: Chapter 188: Is This the Same Person?
June 6th. Sunny.
The day before the Gaokao, teachers from every school would take their students to the exam sites to check out the rooms. Hedong Second Middle School was no exception.
Xue Xiaying drove the two of them to the science exam site.
"Have some water, Teacher." Lin Ruoxi handed over a cup.
"I’m not thirsty right now." Xue Xiaying forced a smile.
She had already been drinking chrysanthemum tea all day, and now Lin Ruoxi was handing her another cup.
"Then have this, Teacher," Lin Ruoxi said, handing over a bottle of children’s calcium tablets.
Xue Rui sat in the passenger seat, unable to understand why Xue Xiaying was getting this special treatment from the little lass.
"Why did you buy these?" Xue Rui asked.
The little lass whispered, "I heard Teacher grinding her teeth and snoring at night. It might be a calcium deficiency, or maybe she has too much internal heat."
"I heard it too." Xue Rui nodded. He had also heard Xue Xiaying grinding her teeth last night.
But he didn’t think she was calcium-deficient, since the food at home was quite good.
’Could it be she was angered by the snores I was faking on purpose?’
’But whatever. It’s just chrysanthemum tea and children’s calcium tablets. No harm in having some.’
Seeing the two of them acting in perfect concert, Xue Xiaying felt a surge of anger. She had ground her teeth last night because Xue Rui had pissed her off.
And the snoring? ’Wasn’t that Xue Rui snoring?’
"Lin Ruoxi, I don’t snore in my sleep, and... I don’t grind my teeth either," Xue Xiaying said, trying to defend herself.
Even though these two wouldn’t tell anyone, she was still a bit annoyed at being inexplicably slapped with such labels.
Lin Ruoxi was taken aback. "But Xue Rui doesn’t do that either?"
After Xue Rui fell asleep, she would always go check if his blanket was properly covering him. She would even lie down for a while on the top bunk above him, and she’d never heard him grind his teeth or snore.
The little lass was convinced the noise must have come from Xue Xiaying.
Xue Xiaying pinched the bridge of her nose. The old house must have poor soundproofing, so Lin Ruoxi, out in the living room, had heard the sounds from inside the bedroom.
’There are only two people in the room. If Xue Rui doesn’t admit to it, doesn’t that just leave me?’
But she didn’t feel like arguing anymore. Whatever Lin Ruoxi said, went. In any case, Lin Ruoxi would only believe Xue Rui, so any further rebuttal would be useless.
"Okay, thank you." Xue Xiaying took both the cup and the calcium tablets.
"We’re here. Time to check out the exam rooms," Xue Rui said.
The exam site was at a key high school in the city. The roads on both sides were already lined with parked cars, and there was even police tape prepared near the entrance.
The city took the Gaokao very seriously. Some non-essential roads would even be closed off.
To put it bluntly, checking out the exam site was just a way to get familiar with the environment ahead of time, preventing students from being unable to find their classrooms the next day.
In reality, it didn’t matter whether Xue Rui went through this process or not. He was mainly here to recapture the feeling of his Gaokao from back then. ’What if it jogs my memory about something?’
And just in the last few days, he had remembered the Gaokao essay topic...
Of course, that was the only thing he remembered.
"Have you come up with an answer for the essay topic I gave you?" Xue Rui asked in a low voice.
"Mhm, I’ve memorized a lot of relevant material," Lin Ruoxi said with a nod.
She was completely unaware that, as the designated top scorer of the Gaokao, she had no reason to be listening to an ordinary student like Xue Rui...
The Gaokao essay in ’14 was about crossing a single-plank bridge, and the key theme was win-win cooperation.
Xue Rui had revealed it to Lin Ruoxi in advance.
Of course, he had also mixed in some current hot topics; otherwise, it would be pretty strange to guess the exact question on the first try.
But even if the little lass discovered the Gaokao topic was exactly what he’d said, she wouldn’t say anything to anyone. She wouldn’t suspect him of having the ability to predict the future, either; she would only admire him deeply.
Besides, correctly predicting the topic wasn’t that big of a deal. Every year, some teachers managed to guess the Gaokao essay correctly.
As for Gu Muxue... he hadn’t given it to her.
Because Gu Muxue didn’t need those few extra points on the essay, but Lin Ruoxi did.
The little lass’s essays were dry. To be precise, they were just a pile of flowery words. She relied on her vast knowledge to get a high score, but she was still a little short of a perfect one. The goal now was to elevate the theme of her essay and try to shoot for a perfect score.
With a perfect essay, she should be able to round out her score and get a 750.
...
At this time, many students were milling around the exam site. Some schools had arrived early and had already finished their walkthrough, now chatting nearby.
After getting out of the car, Xue Xiaying began organizing the students from her class to go inside.
"Xiaorui!" Gu Muxue had been waiting at the entrance of the exam site for a while.
She and Xue Rui weren’t in the same exam room, but they weren’t far from each other.
Besides, her homeroom teacher had something to do today, so Teacher Xue Xiaying was in charge of taking her class to see the exam rooms as well.
Xue Rui smiled and walked over. ’This girl sure is early,’ he thought.
But who were those people with her? ’They look a little familiar.’
"Xue Rui." A girl smiled and waved.
Xue Rui’s expression flickered. ’Who the hell is this?’ he thought.
"Long time no see." He smiled and nodded, not letting them see that anything was amiss.
They looked vaguely familiar, which meant he’d met them before, but they definitely weren’t from Hedong Second Middle School. The degree of familiarity was different; these students were clearly impressions left from a long time ago.
He guessed they were probably his junior high classmates, gathered together because they were all at the same exam site.
In their memories, only a few years had passed since they’d last seen each other.
But for the current Xue Rui, it had been many, many years. The memories were already a blur.
Gu Muxue noticed from Xue Rui’s expression that something was off. He probably couldn’t remember these classmates’ names. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
She sighed inwardly.
’How can Xue Rui’s memory be this bad?’ she thought. ’He doesn’t even remember his junior high classmates?’
One of these students had even been in the same class as Xue Rui in junior high.
"Jie Xinru, I never thought you’d be so pretty after your acne cleared up. I almost didn’t recognize you," Gu Muxue said with a smile.
The female classmate waved her hand. "Muxue, you’re the truly pretty one. I’ve heard the name of Hedong Second Middle’s school beauty even at other schools."
"Not at all. You look much more mature than me."
"Liu Yuan, is the curriculum at your key high school intense? I remember you used to be in the same class as Xue Rui."
"It’s alright. Feels the same everywhere..."
"It’s not the same. This time, the exam site is your own school," Gu Muxue said with a smile.
"Wen Jie, I think the two of us are in the same exam room."
...
Gu Muxue chatted generously with the classmates, saying a few words to this one, then a few words to another.
Because she kept switching conversation partners, the names of these people were constantly on the girl’s lips.
No one thought anything was strange. They just felt that after not seeing her for a few years, Gu Muxue had become much more talkative.
Moreover, being able to chat with such a stunning beauty, the two male classmates even noticed some gazes from the people around them.
The small bit of vanity in their hearts was satisfied, and their moods brightened considerably.
Xue Rui chuckled. ’This girl must have realized I’ve forgotten their names...’ he thought.
The girl was afraid he’d be embarrassed, so she was now deliberately saying their names for him to hear.
He didn’t think it was necessary. As long as he was a little thick-skinned and took the initiative to close the distance, they wouldn’t notice in the short term, and he could have learned their names from others anyway.
Still, what Gu Muxue did really saved him a lot of trouble.
Gu Muxue glanced at Xue Rui. ’He should have remembered them by now, right?’
The Gaokao was tomorrow. She didn’t want Xue Rui to waste his energy on social matters.
From a distance, Lin Ruoxi saw Xue Rui chatting with a few unfamiliar classmates. She guessed they must be from junior high, because she had also seen some of her own junior high classmates.
However, it seemed no one remembered her, which made her feel much more at ease, because she had no idea what she would even talk about with her old classmates.
The little lass’s appearance back then was too different from her current self. Before, she would walk with her head down, her hair covering her face.
But now? Dressed in the clothes Xue Rui gave her, she confidently showed her face in the sunlight.
Because her living conditions had improved, her temperament, looks, and figure were all different from before...
In just a few short years, Lin Ruoxi had undergone an earth-shattering transformation. Not a single person recognized her as their former junior high classmate.
At this moment, Lin Ruoxi didn’t know where to go, so she just obediently followed behind Xue Xiaying.
Some students stared at Lin Ruoxi in a daze. They just thought that girl was so tall and so beautiful.
"Which school is she from? She’s gorgeous," a student exclaimed.
"She’s from our school, Second Middle. That’s Lin Ruoxi," a boy next to him answered.
"I used to have a junior high classmate also named Lin Ruoxi. She wore her hair down all day and looked really gloomy," the male student said.
When he heard the name, he subconsciously recalled a little girl with long bangs who walked with her head down every day.
However, the beauty before him now was tall and stylish, with such a powerful aura. She looked completely like a cold and aloof goddess. He found it hard to reconcile the two images.
The boy from Second Middle frowned. It brought a lot to his mind.
Lin Ruoxi had looked like that in her first year of high school, too. If this guy hadn’t mentioned it, he would have almost forgotten.
"I think... we’re talking about the same person..."
"HOLY SHIT, no way!"
The boy’s face was full of shock. They were talking about the same person?
His curiosity was intensely piqued. He offered a cigarette to the student from Second Middle. "Have one, bro. Tell me about it."
"No thanks, our teacher from Second Middle is still here." The student immediately got nervous. ’How can this guy be so bold, holding a cigarette out on the street,’ he thought.
"What’s there to be afraid of? We’ve already graduated."
The boy nudged him with the hand holding the cigarette, his eyes even carrying a hint of mockery, as if to say: ’You scared?’
"This..." The student from Second Middle gritted his teeth and reached out to take it.
Before he could even light it, he saw Xue Xiaying walking over and instinctively hid the cigarette behind his back.
However, Xue Xiaying didn’t pay him any mind at all.
Many third-year high school students were already adults by this point. Coupled with the fact that they were graduating, the teachers couldn’t be bothered to manage them.
Besides, the Gaokao was tomorrow. Scold a student now? What if it affected their mentality for the exam?
Lin Ruoxi recognized the faces of all the third-year students at Second Middle. She felt that since she had received a 1,500 yuan salary from the school this month, she shouldn’t forget her duty as a student monitor.
She stopped in her tracks and, just like she always did at school, stared fixedly at the boy’s hand, her face devoid of any emotion.
"Sister Xi, I really wasn’t smoking." The boy, unnerved by Lin Ruoxi’s stare, tossed the cigarette into the nearby shrubbery.
The boy from the other school was shocked. He also instinctively hid his cigarette behind his back and gave Lin Ruoxi an awkward smile.
He knew Lin Ruoxi had no authority over him, but seeing the guy next to him get so nervous made his own skin crawl.
’Is this really the same Lin Ruoxi I knew?’
