Rebirth: Start to Save the Treasure Girl

"Don't be so startled. Children shouldn't interrupt when adults are talking."

Yu Minlan's father said in a deep voice.

“I, he…” Yu Minlan pointed to herself, then to Xue Rui.

She really wanted to say that she was four years older than Xue Rui.

With a "smack!", Yu Minlan was slapped on the back of her hand by her mother, and heard a complaining voice in her ear:

"What are you pointing at? You have no manners at all."

Yu Minlan withdrew her hand as if she had been electrocuted, and gave Xue Rui an embarrassed smile.

"Hey? Don't hit the child." Xue Rui smiled gently at Yu Minlan.
"Xiao Yu, if you're free, go chat with Xi Xi for a while and help her unpack her gifts."

"Okay." Yu Minlan gave Xue Rui a grateful look, then turned to look for Lin Ruoxi.

After walking a few steps, I heard my parents' slightly ingratiating laughter behind me:

"Xiao Lan is lucky to have met you..."

Yu Minlan paused, looked back at him with a murmur, and let out a long sigh.

Yu Minlan gently rubbed the back of her right hand with her left hand. Her hand felt like it had been splashed with hot oil, burning hot, but her heart felt a chill.

My poor Lan'er! Yesterday she was carrying Miss Gu's tea tray, and today she has to serve Miss Lin. Who knows whose house she'll be going to tomorrow...

Others might think I'm just lucky, but Miss Gu's beatings were enough to make anyone's heart tremble.

The money I finally managed to save up and bring home was hotter than fried tofu in a frying pan!
Her parents weighed the purse in their hands: "Girl, too much money is bad luck! Your fate is too weak to handle this bright white trouble; you'll only shorten your lifespan..."

Looking at the still-fading red fingerprints on her hand, she suddenly remembered how good Master Xue was.

At least, Xue Rui didn't actually hit her.

……

"Sister Yu, what are you doing?"

Lin Ruoxi's gentle voice interrupted Yu Minlan's train of thought.

"She's such a drama queen, take her away quickly."

Xue Rui waved his hand impatiently. Just now, Yu Minlan was standing at the toilet door, sometimes looking up at the ceiling, sometimes looking down at her shoes and sighing, and occasionally wiping her dry eyes. Her parents were dumbfounded.

"Boss Xue, we've spoiled this kid since he was little."

"Hehe, it's alright," Xue Rui laughed.

It's good to be a little slow; at least you won't have bad intentions.

"She's lucky she met you..."

Inside the old lady's room.

Yu Minlan opened the gift box and took out a brownish-red coat to show the two of them.

"Grandma, try this on. Xue Rui bought you this mink coat." Yu Minlan looked at Lin Ruoxi with envy.

Gu Muxue was really generous to Lin Ruoxi, giving her gifts that were either custom-made or imported.

With such a virtuous wife, Xue Rui is set for life.

So jealous!

"Really?" The old lady reached out her hand tremblingly and touched it.

The material is glossy and smooth; it doesn't look cheap just by touching it.

"Xue Rui is so thoughtful." The old lady's brows furrowed a little more.

Xue Rui was willing to buy her such nice clothes!
She thought the next time she bought new clothes would be for funeral clothes...

My own daughter is too stingy. She takes money but is reluctant to spend it, and only gives the family members cheap clothes.

“I recognize this one, it’s a karaoke machine with a screen.” The old lady picked it up eagerly.

The screen of the karaoke machine was huge, and it looked very expensive, better than any she had ever seen.

Although I don't particularly enjoy listening to opera, it's a different story when I bring it to the nursing home. When others use it, I always hear praise.

Lin Ruoxi glanced at the receipt, her almond-shaped eyes widening instantly. She took the opera machine from her grandmother and examined it carefully.

3999 yuan?
It's still a non-fully laminated screen...

"Oh...it's so expensive! Sister Yu, please return it quickly." Lin Ruoxi hurriedly stuffed the karaoke machine back into the box.

Lin Ruoxi didn't express any opinion on other things, but she was very familiar with electronic products, and this machine only cost a few hundred yuan.

In Lin Ruoxi's mind, being rich and being a fool are two different things.

"Xixi, this was given to me by Xue Rui." The old lady suddenly became anxious and reached out to take back the opera machine.

“Impossible, Rui Cai won’t buy it.” Lin Ruoxi held the karaoke machine above her head.

"If it wasn't him who sent it? Then who was it?" the old lady asked, her tone puzzled.

Besides Xue Rui and Lin Ruoxi, is there anyone else who cares about her?
Lin Ruoxi paused for a moment, then murmured, "Hmm, I guess it's Mu Xue. She's prone to buying products that are overpriced and misleading."

Yu Minlan looked around nervously, thinking to herself, "Thank goodness Gu Muxue isn't here, otherwise wouldn't you be blatantly insulting me for being stupid?"
The old lady sighed deeply upon hearing this. She slowly took off her coat and reluctantly placed it on the bed. "At my age, I can't wear nice clothes for many more years."

"Grandma Wang, what's wrong with you?" Yu Minlan asked, puzzled.

Just a moment ago she was fighting with Lin Ruoxi for it, but now she suddenly doesn't want anything anymore.

Doesn't the old lady know about Gu Muxue?

"If you take someone's money, you'll feel insecure later." The old lady shook her head.

Yu Minlan turned her head away guiltily, feeling inexplicably poked.

"Hey, Xixi, don't take other people's things either," the old lady instructed.

If the two families were in similar circumstances, she might accept the gift.

But the gap was too big, and the old lady always felt that Gu Muxue was doing her a favor.

The old lady didn't have such a strong sense of pride; she was just afraid that her granddaughter would lose face because of her.

Since she doesn't have many years left to live, she absolutely cannot be a burden on her granddaughter anymore; this is the old lady's only wish.

"Grandma...you keep it. I'll earn money to pay her back later," Lin Ruoxi said softly.

"Have some self-respect, don't take it!" the old lady said sternly.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Xue Rui walked into the room with a grin: "What's all the noise about?"

Yu Minlan subconsciously looked behind Xue Rui, only to find no one there: "Where are my parents?"

"I told them I had something to ask you to stay, so they went back first," Xue Rui said, spreading his hands.

"What? You sold it so decisively?" Yu Minlan clutched her chest, looking utterly heartbroken.

"Alright, alright, go out and play on your phone for a while," Xue Rui said, waving his hand.

He heard the old lady's scolding and roughly guessed what the two were arguing about.

After closing the door, Xue Rui pulled the old lady to sit down and draped his coat over her shoulders: "What's wrong? Don't you like what I gave you?"

"You sent it?" the old lady asked irritably.

"Of course it's a gift from me. I had Mu Xue buy it for you," Xue Rui assured him, patting his chest.

"She listens to you?" The old lady looked surprised.

“Of course, if I tell her to go east, she wouldn’t dare go west,” Xue Rui said shamelessly.

Lin Ruoxi smiled, her eyes crinkling. She loved seeing Xue Rui's confident demeanor.

Looking at her granddaughter's innocent smile, the old lady had a general idea of ​​what was going on. She nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll accept it."

"We're going back to Huacun today to visit the wet nurse who fed Xixi when she was little. You stay home and behave yourself..."

Xue Rui explained today's arrangements to the old lady in detail.

"Go on, go on, don't worry about this old hag." The old woman's eyes were full of smiles.

She didn't know about Xue Rui's romantic history, nor did she want to. But the old lady was certain of two things:
In family matters, Xue Rui makes the decisions;

Xue Rui values ​​Lin Ruoxi very much.

With these two points, that's enough. Even if her granddaughter suffers injustice in the future, Xue Rui will always be there to support her.

However, all of this is predicated on Lin Ruoxi having the courage to express herself; children who don't cry won't be valued.

The old lady glared at Lin Ruoxi with exasperation: "Don't keep things bottled up inside, talk to Xue Rui about it."

Lin Ruoxi nodded obediently, looking at Xue Rui with eyes full of admiration: "Yes, I will be good."

Xue Rui is amazing! He can solve problems that she can't solve with just a few words.

However, Xue Rui was very puzzled at this moment. He picked up the gift that Gu Muxue had bought and looked at it again and again.

Could it be that this pile of gifts can bribe the old lady?
Although his gift-giving style was fundamentally different from Gu Muxue's, the contrast shouldn't be this stark.

What he just said was clearly: I'm entrusting Xixi to you; don't let her down in the future.

Xue Rui knew the old lady as a stubborn person, and her attitude today was definitely problematic.

He suddenly remembered a folk saying: people have a premonition when they are about to die.

He has also experienced life and death, and he strongly agrees with this.

"Grandma, should we take you to the hospital for a check-up? Why are you talking nonsense all day?" Xue Rui asked uncertainly.

The old lady slapped Xue Rui in annoyance: "You brat, I knew you were hoping I'd die!"

"I feel much better now." Xue Rui chuckled.

He suddenly felt that he was also quite pathetic, needing to be scolded a couple of times to feel comfortable.

Actually, the old lady's change of opinion towards Xue Rui was not because of the gift.

It was yesterday at the nursing home that Xue Rui hugged Lin Ruoxi—a hug with tears in his eyes and his body trembling.

After lunch, Xue Rui asked Yu Minlan to rent a small truck and go to the market to buy some New Year's goods wholesale.

It was just pastries, a hundred or so dollars worth of drinks, and a bunch of miscellaneous fruits. In total, it cost five or six thousand dollars, filling the entire truck bed.

Around 5 p.m., the two cars stopped on the roadside not far from Huacun.

Xue Rui and Lin Ruoxi sat on the roof of the car, with a vast plain in front of them and endless blue-gray mountains in the distance, the setting sun casting patches of fiery clouds.

Xue Rui gave half of the scarf to Lin Ruoxi, and the two of them watched the sunset face to face, able to hear each other's every breath clearly.

"Xi Xi, Mu Xue hasn't spoken to me all day. She seems really angry. Do you have any clues?" Xue Rui suddenly asked.

From morning to afternoon, no matter what he posted, the little girl was always in a huff, saying she was going to come back and settle accounts with him.

Before Lin Ruoxi could answer, Xue Rui muttered to himself, "Forget it, it's pointless to ask you."

He couldn't even guess what Gu Muxue was thinking, let alone Lin Ruoxi.

Lin Ruoxi shrank her neck guiltily, vaguely feeling that this matter seemed to have something to do with her.

"Boss Xue, when should we enter the village?"

Yu Minlan's voice came from inside the car beneath me.

"Wait," Xue Rui said irritably.

How can we enter the village before it gets dark?

There's no need to make a big fuss about returning the gift; it's best to do it discreetly to avoid causing trouble.

"Xixi, you've been breastfed by thirteen different families, which means you've had at least a dozen children your age?" Xue Rui asked.

"Yes, that's right. When I was little, those uncles and aunts often gave me clothes to wear," Lin Ruoxi said softly.

"Then a new question arises: how come you don't have any friends?" Xue Rui looked at Lin Ruoxi in disbelief.

She was willing to breastfeed the poor child and even gave Lin Ruoxi her own child's old clothes.

With such helpful parents, children's values ​​are unlikely to be bad.

He had seen Lin Ruoxi's account books before. Lin Ruoxi often did farm work for the villagers and probably had a lot of interaction with people her age...

Why doesn't this little girl have any friends?
too weird.

"me……"

Lin Ruoxi lowered her head, tears falling onto her scarf in a steady stream.

Xue Rui put his arm around the little girl's shoulder and gently comforted her, "Xi Xi, don't cry, it must be their problem."

Lin Ruoxi wiped away her tears and kissed Xue Rui on the cheek: "No, it's because I'm not likable."

She was always ostracized when she was a child, and even children who didn't ostracize her would stay far away from her.

Looking back now, the way those children looked at me was as if they were looking at a monster.

However, Lin Ruoxi didn't care about outside opinions; as long as Xue Rui loved her, that was enough.

"How could that be? Xixi is the cutest," Xue Rui said with a smile.

Although Xue Rui said that, he didn't really think that way.

It's common for children in cities to not have friends, but it's rare for children in rural, close-knit communities to be without friends.

Xue Rui suspected that the little girl herself also had problems.

But it was just a suspicion, because Lin Ruoxi, whom he knew, was so cute, how could no one like her?

It was already the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and young people who were studying or working away from home had all returned to the village. Xue Rui decided to take the opportunity to inquire about the situation.

As night fell, lights came on in every household in the village. Xue Rui took a deep breath: "Let's go."

More than ten minutes later, Xue Rui and Lin Ruoxi stood in front of a house.

"Aunt Qin, I've come to see you." Lin Ruoxi led Xue Rui into the courtyard with practiced ease.

A short while later, a woman came out of the room.

"Xixi, you're here, why did you bring so much stuff?" Aunt Qin said with a dark face, but her eyes revealed undisguised joy.

"Auntie, how can you say that? Xixi has been taken care of by you before, so it's only right that she comes to see you during the New Year." Xue Rui put on a big smile.

Like a teacher who has nurtured countless students, those who give may not necessarily expect a return, but when the reward truly arrives, no one can suppress the emotion in their heart.

"What is this?" Aunt Qin was taken aback.

"My...my boyfriend." Lin Ruoxi lowered her head shyly, her eyes filled with happiness.

"Come in quickly, it's cold outside."

Aunt Qin led the two into the house and sat them down.

After chatting for a short while, Xue Rui steered the conversation toward the children.

"Aunt Qin, you're Xixi's wet nurse, so how old is your child this year?"

"Wait a minute." Aunt Qin's face darkened as she opened the bedroom door and called out impatiently:

"Take off those crappy headphones of yours and come out here to see who's here!"

A boy's complaining voice came from inside the room: "Mom, can you wait until I finish this game?"

"Hey, hey, hey? Don't unplug the power, I'm coming out right now!"

Xue Rui's lips twitched; those words sounded all too familiar.

A short while later, a boy wearing slippers walked into the living room looking annoyed. The moment he saw Lin Ruoxi, his eyes widened slightly, he took a step back, and said emotionlessly, "You're back?"

Lin Ruoxi quickly stood up. "Yes, I'm back."

"Oh, um... I'll go back and play games first." The boy turned around without hesitation.

Xue Rui stared intently at the boy, the look of doubt between his brows growing stronger.

With Lin Ruoxi's looks, any man would want to take a second look, so why is this guy hiding?
Xue Rui stood up, put his arm around the boy's shoulder, and walked into the room:

"Hey kid, let me see what game you're playing." (End of Chapter)