Rebirth: Start to Save the Treasure Girl

After dinner, Xue Rui lay blankly on the sofa, flipping through the calendar. He counted on his fingers and realized that the New Year was almost over. He would just have to visit his grandmother's house one last time, and that would basically be the end of it for him.

Gu Muxue agreed to go to Chang'an on the tenth day of the month, which was fine.

Lin Ruoxi started a company, and she should have started work on the eighth day of the new year.

Xue Rui was very glad that Lin Ruoxi chose to start her own business instead of attending school.

Otherwise, given the amount of homework at school, Lin Ruoxi could finish his homework in ten minutes along with it, and then spend the rest of her time by his side.

To be honest, Xue Rui hadn't checked his messages all afternoon.

He opened his phone and saw that Lin Ruoxi's profile picture had a "99+" icon.

Xue Rui was startled. What urgent matter could Lin Ruoxi, who was usually so quiet, have?

Xue Rui didn't have time to scroll through the top hundred or so messages, while Lin Ruoxi's messages continued to arrive.

Lin Ruoxi: [Rui, have you had dinner? What are you doing now?]

[So many people came to my house to pick up appliances today, and I received a lot of candy. I'll save it for you.]

The next photo shows Lin Ruoxi holding a large handful of colorful candies, smiling innocently at the camera.

Judging from the angle, it looks like the old lady helped take the picture.

Lin Ruoxi: [I miss you so much, I miss you so much.]

Please reply to me if you see this message, okay?

Lin Ruoxi posted another emoji: a cute little panda hugging another little panda's leg, looking all wronged.

Xue Rui's lips unconsciously curled up. He had a vivid image in his mind of the little girl clinging tightly to his leg and refusing to let go.

Lin Ruoxi is getting better and better at chatting, and she's even found a lot of emojis from somewhere.

Xue Rui typed a line on the screen: "I just finished eating."

After hesitating for a moment, Xue Rui deleted the message and looked around the living room with his phone. He needed to make sure he had enough time to reply to Lin Ruoxi, otherwise it would only make the little girl fall into a more prolonged state of anxiety.

Moreover, he also has to spend a lot of time reading the "99+" news.

……

At Lin Ruoxi's home.

The old lady was sitting in the center of the sofa, with a children's cartoon playing on the TV in front of her. Although she appeared to be watching the TV, her eyes were fixed on the mirror on the TV cabinet.

The reason was simple: Lin Ruoxi could be seen in the mirror. She was curled up in the corner of the sofa, her eyes fixed on the phone screen.

She saw Lin Ruoxi's eyes light up for a moment, but then they lost their luster again.

"Xixi, what's wrong?" the old lady asked casually.

"It's nothing." Lin Ruoxi kept her eyes glued to the screen, afraid of missing Xue Rui's message.

Because she had just seen "The other party is typing".

But for some reason, a long, long time has passed, and Xue Rui still hasn't replied to her.

In reality, only two minutes had passed, but in Lin Ruoxi's world, it felt like an eternity of ice age.

"The TV says the internet is harmful, you should use it less."

The old lady was adamant and tried to snatch Lin Ruoxi's phone away.

"Grandma!" Lin Ruoxi exclaimed in a panic, clutching her phone tightly to her chest.

"Give me."

"I do not…"

Lin Ruoxi's eyes were filled with tears, and she curled up into a ball. But her grandmother used a lot of force, and Lin Ruoxi was afraid of hurting her grandmother in the process, so she obediently handed over the phone.

"I...I'm going to sleep," Lin Ruoxi said as she walked into her room.

There's still a computer in the room, so you can still chat with Xue Rui.

Anyway, Grandma doesn't understand these things.

However, the old lady tossed her phone onto the coffee table and grasped Lin Ruoxi's wrist with her aged hand.

"Sit down and watch TV. It's all your favorite cartoons."

"Oh." Lin Ruoxi reluctantly sat down, her eyes fixed on the phone screen on the coffee table.

The old lady noticed Lin Ruoxi's gaze and turned her phone screen upside down on the table.

"I don't like watching cartoons," Lin Ruoxi muttered softly, her tone tinged with complaint.

"I..." The old lady was speechless for a moment, and Lin Ruoxi seemed to be blaming her.

She had only been back for a day or two, and Lin Ruoxi hadn't said more than a few words to her, not even mentioning what had happened at Xue Rui's house.

Although Lin Ruoxi was like this before, now she stares at various screens almost as soon as she opens her eyes, and rushes out to find her phone as soon as it rings, just like those kids on TV who are "addicted" to the internet.

"Does your leg still hurt? Grandma will put some oil on it for you," the old lady said, rubbing Lin Ruoxi's knee.

At noon, Lin Ruoxi rushed out of the kitchen and accidentally bumped her knee.

"It doesn't hurt," Lin Ruoxi said, shaking her head.

"You should spend less time on your phone and computer; they say on TV it's addictive," the old lady said.

“I won’t get addicted,” Lin Ruoxi explained.

The screen, which was lying face down on the table, suddenly lit up, and Lin Ruoxi's eyes lit up as well. She hurriedly got up to grab the phone, but her grandmother beat her to it and grabbed the phone in her hand.

"Still saying you're not addicted?" the old lady scolded.

"I was chatting with Xue Rui, not addicted to my phone," Lin Ruoxi said softly, her voice surprisingly confident.

Because Grandma was right, she really was addicted.

But not to the phone, but to the person on the other end of the phone.

"Grandma, give me your phone, I'll prove it to you." Lin Ruoxi's voice was very excited.

The old lady handed the phone to Lin Ruoxi, then leaned her face closer.

The dense text on the screen made her dizzy.

"Look, I'm chatting."

Lin Ruoxi looked disappointed; Xue Rui hadn't replied to her message yet.

"I can't read, how would I know if you're lying to me?" the old woman said without even looking at me.

"Hmm, look at the profile picture, these are my words."

Lin Ruoxi scrolled up for a long time, then pointed to Xue Rui's profile picture and said, "This is what Xue Rui said."

"Shouldn't chatting be a back-and-forth exchange? Why are you the only one talking?"

Although the old lady was illiterate, she could still tell that something was wrong.

"Well, I was the one who talked more, and he was too busy to pay attention to me," Lin Ruoxi subconsciously defended Xue Rui.

"Why not make a phone call? Writing is too much trouble."

The old lady then raised a new question.

"Hmm..." Lin Ruoxi pursed her lips, unsure how to answer.

Lin Ruoxi certainly wanted to make a phone call, but she was afraid of disturbing Xue Rui.

"So you're thinking about her, but she's not thinking about you, right?"

The old lady's words revealed the secret.

Lin Ruoxi's chin furrowed slightly, and her lips curved into a "W" shape, looking extremely aggrieved.

Lin Ruoxi accepted this fact.

But she knew that reality was very likely as her grandmother had said.

It wasn't that Xue Rui didn't love her, but that he had another girl with him.

With Gu Muxue diverting Xue Rui's attention, it's understandable that he didn't want to think about it; he can't be blamed. Lin Ruoxi's chest heaved as she weakly retorted:
"Grandma, don't you often nag about Grandpa and Dad's photos too..."

"They're dead. Is Xue Rui dead?"

The old lady scolded him irritably, thinking to herself, "What is this silly child saying?"

Lin Ruoxi was furious when she heard her grandmother cursing Xue Rui.

Anger was brewing in her eyes, and tears welled up in her eyes: "No...you are not allowed to say that about him."

“You…” The old lady’s eyes were glazed over. She never expected that the gentle Lin Ruoxi would argue with her.

The reason was that she cursed Xue Rui.

The old lady felt uneasy, but she was also very self-aware. Xue Rui was Lin Ruoxi's everything, and no one could slander him.

But this silly girl, she was arguing with someone else, but she made herself cry first.

The old lady felt very sorry that Lin Ruoxi hadn't inherited any of her good genes; she was afraid that Lin Ruoxi wouldn't be able to win an argument with anyone in the future.

"Fine, I won't say anything more about him, he's so spineless," the old lady muttered.

"Mmm..." Lin Ruoxi nodded, her voice choked with emotion.

Suddenly, a cell phone ring broke the silence.

Lin Ruoxi hurriedly picked up her phone and saw that it was a video call from Xue Rui. She quickly wiped away her tears and tried to make a pretty face at the screen.

Before the tears in her almond-shaped eyes had completely faded, a smile had already spread from the corners of her eyes, like apricot blossoms in early spring that had just been washed by a light rain, with dew still hanging on them, making them even more radiant.

The old lady shook her head with a wry smile. A young girl in love is always swayed by one person's emotions.

Her silly granddaughter was the same; it seemed that all her negative emotions disappeared the moment she saw Xue Rui.

"Why don't you put on some lipstick?"

The old lady opened the coffee table drawer, rummaged through it, and handed Lin Ruoxi a tube of lipstick.

"Ugh, that's such a waste of time."

Lin Ruoxi remained blank, not understanding that her grandmother was actually making fun of her.

The moment she pressed the call button, Lin Ruoxi gave the camera a sweet smile.

"Rui, I miss you so much."

Lin Ruoxi's voice softened unconsciously, making her already soft and sweet voice even more delicate.

The old lady rolled her eyes, speechless.

"XiXi, I just got back to my room. Let me check the messages you sent earlier."

Xue Rui's voice came through the phone.

"No need, no need." Lin Ruoxi hurriedly waved her hand and explained, "It's just some random ramblings I posted out of boredom, no need to waste time replying."

"This is the first time you've sent me so many messages, so of course I have to read them carefully," Xue Rui said seriously.

"Mmm." Lin Ruoxi pursed her lips, her smile deepening.

The old lady had a sour look on her face, but Lin Ruoxi had only answered a phone call, and her living room seemed to be filled with a sweet and cloying atmosphere, like stepping into a pastry shop.

With just a few words, Xue Rui could leave Lin Ruoxi completely bewildered.

On the screen, Xue Rui's eyes rolled up and down. Taking advantage of this moment, Lin Ruoxi covered the microphone and held the phone up to her grandmother's face.

"Grandma, video calls are more efficient, look."

"I saw it, I saw it."

Wrinkles crept onto her aged face, and the old lady smiled with relief.

Lin Ruoxi was showing off to her, as if refuting her previous statement: Xue Rui misses me a lot, your guesses are all wrong.

Lin Ruoxi can cry and laugh now, and occasionally she'll throw a little tantrum, bicker a bit, and act cute...

She didn't know how to describe it, but she felt that Lin Ruoxi only truly "came alive" when she was with Xue Rui.

The old lady moved slowly to Lin Ruoxi's side and quietly looked at the familiar face on the screen.

"Xue Rui, you're a bastard, but I still thank you."

The old lady thought to herself.

But the old lady would never say it.

She said irritably, "Xue Rui, why did you let her come back? All she does now is argue with me."

On the other end of the phone, Xue Rui's expression was very strange.

What kind of parents are these?

Every family keeps a close eye on their daughters, afraid they'll be snatched away by some scoundrel. If their daughter doesn't come home at night, the parents would turn the whole city upside down in a panic.

And you, on the other hand, complain that your granddaughter went home too early?

"Xixi, look! Luckily I acted early, otherwise the old lady would have sold you to someone else sooner or later," Xue Rui joked.

"I won't sell to anyone else, I'll only sell to you." Lin Ruoxi said very seriously.

"Okay, okay, how much do you want?"

Xue Rui couldn't help but chuckle; the little girl still had that dazed look on her face.

"Hmm, it's a gift for you, no money required," Lin Ruoxi said with a smile.

The old lady was speechless. She must have been bored out of her mind to come and listen to this.

I'm so angry during the Lunar New Year.

"Dream on." The old lady pinched Lin Ruoxi's leg as she spoke, "What kind of girl is like you?"

Lin Ruoxi pouted and muttered softly, "Even if you take the money, I'll secretly return it."

"Grandma, then name your price," Xue Rui said with a smile.

"You can't even bear to stop calling me 'Grandma,' how can I trust you to marry my granddaughter to you?" the old lady said coldly.

Lin Ruoxi's heart tightened. Was her grandmother pressuring Xue Rui?

On the screen, Xue Rui looked grim because his prejudice against the old lady led him to despise her from the very beginning, and he never gave Lin Ruoxi's grandmother the respect she deserved.

Over time, he got used to calling her "old lady," so the sudden change made him feel very uncomfortable.

Just as Xue Rui hesitated, Lin Ruoxi spoke up: "Grandma, we didn't give Xue Rui a change of address fee."

"You, you, you..." The old lady slapped her thigh in anger.

If you're not going to help me, fine, but why are you always thinking of giving me money instead?
Xue Rui on the other end of the phone was also amused; the little girl always managed to find extremely tricky angles.

"Xiao Rui?"

Gu Muxue's voice came from the phone. At the same time, Xue Rui's face disappeared from the screen, as if he had covered the screen with his body. His voice also became muffled and unclear, as if it came from underwater.

The old lady leaned forward slightly, watching Lin Ruoxi's changing expression. She saw disappointment and anxiety in Lin Ruoxi's eyes.

She knew very well why her granddaughter had returned: Gu Muxue had gone to Xue Rui's house, and Lin Ruoxi wanted to make room for Gu Muxue.

The faint sound of two people talking could be heard over the phone.

Xue Rui: "I'm chatting with Xixi and her grandma."

Gu Muxue: "Alright, remember to take a shower after you finish the call. You didn't shower yesterday."

Xue Rui: "Let's go together."

……

"Xixi, I have to go now, I have something to do." Xue Rui's voice became clear again.

"Mmm." Lin Ruoxi nodded obediently, her voice betraying her disappointment.

The old lady was heartbroken to see this. Was her daughter just going to be bullied like this?
Xixi, Grandma has never done anything for you, but this time Grandma doesn't want you to lose.

She snatched the phone from Lin Ruoxi's hand:
"Then let's set the bride price at 8,800 yuan. We'll pick a date and bring your parents over." (End of Chapter)