I Can't Fall for My Own Wife Again After Reincarnation, Right? (GL) - Chapter 31

Evening self-study sessions felt like an ominous announcement, adding insult to injury to the already grueling life of senior year.

Listening to everyone’s groans, Li Yuwen had no choice but to say helplessly, “Stop whining. Did you really think you’d get to slack off in your final year?”

The students complained, “We’re not slacking! We do homework on weekends too. The only time we get to relax is in the evenings. Now with evening self-study, even that’s gone.”

“What can we do? Name one high school where seniors don’t have evening self-study. The fact that you got an extra month of free time was already the school being lenient.”

Ignoring the continued protests, Li Yuwen announced, “The class representative will hand out the safety notice for evening self-study later. Take it home and have your parents sign it. Sessions start this Wednesday, from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM. If anyone needs to apply for boarding, come register with me tomorrow after getting the notice signed.”

Hearing the dismissal time, Xu Yingran curled her lip.

9:30 PM was even half an hour past her curfew. She had no idea what these kids were whining about.

By the time she got home after school, it’d be nearly 10 PM. After tidying up, she could go straight to bed, only to wake up the next day and do it all over again.

Honestly, it sounded exhausting.

But teachers and schools were experts at dangling carrots, telling everyone that if they endured one tough year, they’d be free after the college entrance exams.

But when was life ever truly free?

Having lived through the next decade, Xu Yingran knew better. After the gaokao came postgraduate exams, civil service exams, and countless other tests. There was no such thing as “freedom.”

Still, seeing her classmates like this, she couldn’t bring herself to shatter their illusions. Instead, she quietly wondered if she and Fu Qiao should consider boarding.

…Nah. Boarding would just mean more hassle. Besides, they both lived close to school, just a 15-20 minute walk. Even if they dragged their feet, they’d be home by 10.

The evening self-study drama had nearly made Xu Yingran forget about her earlier plan to talk to Fu Qiao at lunch. It wasn’t until Fu Qiao finished eating and calmly asked, “What did you want to talk to me about?” that she remembered.

“Huh?” Xu Yingran blinked before recalling her words after morning self-study. “Oh, right. About the broadcasting class thing, don’t give up yet. Let me think of a way.”

Yao Jin glanced at the two of them, picking at her edamame one bean at a time with her chopsticks.

Fu Qiao understood Xu Yingran’s intention but shook her head. “Don’t bother. Just… leave it. I’ve already made up my mind.”

“Fu Qiao, ”

“I’m going to return my tray. You guys keep eating.”

As Fu Qiao walked away with her tray, Yao Jin continued nibbling on edamame. “What ‘way’ could you possibly have? Planning to win the lottery?”

Xu Yingran crossed her arms, watching Fu Qiao’s retreating figure. “If I could memorize winning numbers, I wouldn’t be stuck in this damn school.”

Yao Jin chuckled, still plucking edamame one by one, so slowly it drove Xu Yingran up the wall.

“Would it kill you to use a spoon for your edamame and pork? You’ve been picking at it all lunch. So annoying.”

“The spoon scoops up green peppers. I hate green peppers.”

Xu Yingran was thoroughly disgusted.

Yao Jin didn’t care and continued to ‘click-click-click’ her way through eating the edamame beans.

After school that evening, Xu Yingran brought home the safety notice issued by the school for Xu Chunjiang and Zhao Yu to review. After reading it, the two exchanged glances and said, “School doesn’t end until 9:30? Won’t you get home around 10 then?”

Xu Yingran nodded. “Pretty much.”

Xu Chunjiang thought for a moment. “Should I pick you up every day?”

“No need,” Xu Yingran waved her hand dismissively. “Fu Qiao and I can just walk to and from school together. Haven’t we been doing it this way all these years?”

Xu Chunjiang nodded in agreement. “Alright, it’s reassuring to have you two girls walking home together.”

But Zhao Yu still wasn’t entirely at ease. After all, they were just two girls, what if they ran into trouble on the way? They wouldn’t even have time to escape.

“I’m still a little worried,” Zhao Yu said after some thought. “How about I pick you both up after school? Your dad often works night shifts, but I’m on day shifts, I’ve got plenty of time to fetch you.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Xu Yingran insisted. She remembered that in her past life, she had also had evening self-study sessions and had managed just fine on her own. “Our city is pretty safe, nothing’s going to happen. Besides, there are still people out at 9:30.”

Zhao Yu remained uneasy, so Xu Yingran urged her to sign the form quickly, she needed to bring it back to school the next day.

Before bed, the couple continued discussing the matter, until Zhao Yu finally got up and knocked on Xu Yingran’s door. “How about you and Xiao Qiao just stay at the dormitory?”

Xu Yingran, lying in bed, sighed. “Really, it’s fine. It’s almost 11, go to sleep already!”

The next morning, when Fu Qiao came to pick Xu Yingran up for school, Zhao Yu pulled her aside for a chat. She learned that Fu Qiao’s parents didn’t have any objections either, since they both worked until 3 or 4 in the morning, they weren’t particularly concerned about walking home late at night.

Xu Yingran had spent the whole evening trying to persuade them, but Fu Qiao’s few words had done the trick far more effectively.

“You really do have a way with words,” Xu Yingran remarked as they walked to school. “My mom doesn’t listen to anyone but you.”

Fu Qiao didn’t see it that way. “Auntie’s just worried about you,” she said.

“I know,” Xu Yingran smiled at her. “But really, it’s fine. It’s not like we’re the only ones doing evening self-study, there are plenty of others.”

“Mhm.”

The two chatted as they made their way to school. After morning self-study, the homeroom teacher collected the signed safety notices and registered the students who had opted for boarding. Out of a class of over forty, about a dozen had chosen to stay in the dormitory.

Seizing the moment, Xu Yingran poked Yao Jin and asked, “You’re not staying at the dorm?”

“Why would I?” Yao Jin countered. “I have a dedicated driver to take me to and from school. Besides, I already talked to my dad about it yesterday, he’s planning to buy me an apartment near the school. If I really can’t adjust, I’ll just move in there. It’s just across the street.”

Xu Yingran pursed her lips. Damn capitalists.

Today was another regular day of classes, but tomorrow, evening self-study would begin. Strangely enough, Xu Yingran found herself looking forward to it.

Unlike the students who went home as usual, those who chose to board had to stay until 10 p.m. for self-study. The announcement elicited groans from many, but after venting, they all resigned themselves to it. After all, this was their final year, if they pushed through, they’d be done soon.

The fourth class in the morning was physical education.

Normally, the PE teachers were the delicate type who fell ill easily, and their classes would be taken over by other teachers. But today, for the first time ever, they actually had an outdoor class.

The entire senior year had only one PE teacher, and there wasn’t much of a teaching agenda, mainly just to keep the kids from sitting in the classroom for too long. Once in a while, they had to take advantage of the good weather to stretch their legs.

During PE, the male teacher, wearing shorts that showed off his toned muscles and holding a basketball, announced to the class, “Girls, free time. Boys, come with me to play basketball.”

The boys had mixed reactions, some excited, some reluctant, but they were all eventually herded onto the court by the teacher’s teasing scolding.

As for the girls, there wasn’t much to do. “Free time” basically meant finding a spot to sunbathe or chat. The PE class representative brought out some equipment from the storage room and asked the girls, “What do you all want to play?”

“What’s available?”

“Table tennis, badminton, volleyball, jump rope, that’s it. I didn’t bring anything else.”

The girls gathered around to look at the equipment. After all, with how long their weekly class hours already were, some didn’t want to just sit around sunbathing and chatting during the rare PE class.

Yao Jin grabbed two badminton rackets and walked over to Xu Yingran. “Wanna play badminton?”

Xu Yingran frowned. “I don’t know how.”

“I’ll teach you.”

“But there are three of us, how would that work?”

“Oh.” Yao Jin looked at the two rackets in her hand, thought for a moment, then handed the other one to Fu Qiao. Turning to Xu Yingran, she said, “Fu Qiao and I will play. You can just fetch the shuttlecocks for us.”

At that, Xu Yingran snatched the racket and chased Yao Jin all over the field.

Fu Qiao watched as the two of them ran farther and farther away, shaking her head helplessly.

Are they really this childish?

Are they actually 18?

“Eh, Senior?”

Just as Fu Qiao was lamenting Xu Yingran and Yao Jin’s immaturity, a familiar voice called out from behind her. She turned and saw Zhou Wan standing there, holding some sports equipment, looking pleasantly surprised.

“Senior, you have PE too?” Zhou Wan smiled. “We also have PE right now. What a coincidence!”

Fu Qiao returned the smile. “Yeah, what a coincidence.”

Ever since she had turned down Zhou Wan’s invitation yesterday, Fu Qiao had felt a little awkward around her. But Zhou Wan didn’t seem to mind at all. Hugging the equipment in her arms, she asked, “Senior, do you have anything planned?”

Fu Qiao glanced back at the two still running around the field waving badminton rackets and figured that even if they did have plans, it probably wouldn’t be a three-person activity. After a moment’s thought, she shook her head at Zhou Wan. “No.”

Zhou Wan brightened at that. “Perfect! We’re short one person for four-player volleyball. Wanna join us, Senior?”

“Volleyball?” Fu Qiao hesitated. “You’re missing one player, would I fit in?”

“Of course you would! We’d just be happy to have someone join us.” Zhou Wan shifted the equipment to one arm and took Fu Qiao’s hand with the other. “Come with me, Senior. I’ll introduce you to my classmates.”

Meanwhile, Xu Yingran, completely out of breath, bent over with her hands on her knees and pointed the racket at Yao Jin. “You, how the hell, are you so fast? Are you, a damn rabbit, or something?”

Yao Jin was also exhausted and didn’t care whether the ground was clean or not, plopping down directly with her hands resting on her knees as she said to Xu Yingran, “I don’t know if I’m born in the Year of the Rabbit, but you’re definitely born in the Year of the Dog, chasing after people so relentlessly!”

Xu Yingran also sat down, panting heavily, and retorted, “You’re the one born in the Year of the Dog, your whole family is!”

After catching her breath, Yao Jin pointed to the side and exclaimed, “Hey, hey hey hey, Xu Yingran, look over there!”

“Look at what? I’m exhausted, why should I look?”

“Look, why is Fu Qiao walking off with Zhou Wan?”

“Huh?”

Hearing this, Xu Yingran turned her head and indeed saw Zhou Wan holding Fu Qiao’s hand, chatting and laughing as they headed toward the volleyball court. Suddenly, she didn’t feel tired anymore. She scrambled to her feet, tossed her badminton racket onto the ground, and sprinted after them.