No one understands rebirth better than me

Chapter 153 The Unsociable Little Lemon

After the tutoring class, Guan Ren didn't walk home as fast as he usually did.

Instead, he sat in his seat and waited for a while.

Nobody knows what he's waiting for.

An Ning didn't know either.

An Ning only knew that if Guan Ren didn't leave soon, then she... she might have to go with Guan Ren.

Since it was on their way home anyway.

In the past, after school, Guan Ren would run away as fast as many other boys, chatting and laughing with his classmates from Class 7, and leave early.

By the time An Ning had slowly finished packing her things, he had already reached the school gate, so she wouldn't be walking with him at all.

But why hasn't he left today...?

An Ning was too embarrassed to peek at Guan Ren out of the corner of her eye, and her face flushed in waves. She then tried to slow down the pace of packing her things.

After dawdling for quite a while, Guan Ren still didn't leave.

The most crucial point is that not only did he refuse to leave, but An Ning, who was sitting against the wall, wanted to escape first, but he blocked her way by sitting there.

"Close...close..."

An Ning wanted to ask him to move aside, but before she could even stammer out a word, Guan Ren had already stood up and smiled at her.
"Packed up?"

"Uh?... Yeah."

"Okay, let's go together."

After Guan Ren finished speaking, he ignored Xiao Ningmeng's bewildered expression and walked out of the classroom like an old man with his hands behind his back.

……

To be honest, Guan Ren had planned long ago to gradually develop a relationship with Xiao Ningmeng.

This also takes her personality into full consideration, and doesn't want to disturb her unique gentleness and tranquility.

Otherwise, Guan Ren might have shamelessly tried to get close to her on the very first day he learned that she was An Shui Rou's eldest daughter.

After attending tutoring classes together for a few weeks, Guan Ren felt that he had "settled" enough.

That's why I thought I could take this opportunity to get a little closer to her.

However, after walking for a while outside the classroom, Guan Ren discovered that the girl he wanted to get close to seemed to have little interest in getting close to him.

"I said…"

Finally, Guan Ren couldn't help but stop, and with a somewhat amused look, he turned around abruptly, startling An Ning, who had been following behind him but had always kept a distance of two or three meters.
"An Ning, why are you so far away from me?"

"..."

An Ning blinked, looking left and then right, finally returning to Guan Ren without saying a word, her little face flushed with a shy blush.

"We're going the same way, can we walk a little closer?"

"…Um…"

An Ning gave a soft "hmm," nodded slightly, and took a couple more steps forward.

Then, upon looking up at Guan Ren's face, he took a half-step back.

Guan Ren remained silent.

I felt that if I tried to coax her a little more, I might come across as a perverted manipulator trying to kidnap a young girl.

Even though I'm still a teenager, it seems like it's perfectly natural for a teenager to abduct a girl...

"Closer."

Guan Ren waved.

An Ning then took the half step back and moved it forward again.

"..."

Guan Ren sighed, then decided to put on a stern face and stare at her.
"come over!"

"!"

Seeing that Guan Ren was actually angry about this, An Ning also paled slightly. She took a few stiff, unsteady steps before finally reaching Guan Ren. Then, she looked up at him with a slightly nervous expression.
"I...I made it..."

"..."

Guan Ren was suppressing a speechless laugh, but deliberately didn't show any reaction on his face.

He just stared straight at An Ning without saying a word.

At first, Little Lemon felt embarrassed by his stare, and her cheeks flushed.

But after one second, two seconds, five seconds, Little Lemon forgot all about being embarrassed, gripped her backpack straps tightly with both hands, and a hint of grievance crept into her already pleasant voice:
"I really came... Guan Ren, please don't be angry, and... please don't yell at me..."

"..."

Seeing the faint glistening of tears in Xiao Ningmeng's eyes, Guan Ren was both amused and exasperated. He couldn't maintain his pretense any longer and explained in a gentler tone:
"I was just kidding. What's the big deal that you're getting angry? I didn't yell at you. Let's go."

"Oh…"

It’s fine if you don’t.

An Ning knew that Guan Ren was a good classmate. For example, when he fought with Sun Liang from her class last time, An Ning believed that there was a reason for it, and that was indeed the case.

But being a good classmate doesn't necessarily mean having a good temper.

For example, if Guan Ren had a soft temper, he wouldn't have hit Sun Liang.

So An Ning was actually quite worried that Guan Ren was angry earlier. It's good that he wasn't.

Even so, An Ning no longer dared to hide far behind, so she stood side by side with Guan Ren, and then only slightly behind him.

Guan Ren is just too tall, and his strides are too big. It takes me three steps to keep up with him after he takes two.

So when Little Lemon walked beside Guan Ren, she had to quicken her pace every now and then.

This made Guan Ren sometimes feel like he was walking a small, short-legged dog.

Ok…

That's a rather impolite way to describe it...

Sorry, An Ning.

Guan Ren silently apologized in his heart, then casually asked as he walked:
"Don't you usually like to walk home with your classmates after school?"

"what?"

An Ning didn't quite understand why Guan Ren asked that question. She looked up at him, her lips parted slightly, and her soft, sweet voice sounded like cotton candy:
"I don't dislike it."

"Really? Hmm..."

Guan Ren nodded:
"I just noticed that you always walk home alone after school."

When Guan Ren said this, he looked straight ahead.

Directly ahead, there were two or three girls from Class 6 walking side by side. They were An Ning's classmates, and they always walked together after tutoring classes.

Guan Ren still remembers one of the girls.

Because during the tutoring class, this girl, An Ning, seemed to have borrowed homework from An Ning several times.

But even though it was the same route home from school, she never walked with An Ning.

Admittedly, this is understandable and normal among classmates who don't interact much.

However, given An Ning's quiet nature, Guan Ren was curious about what kind of image An Ning had in class and among her classmates, so he asked her that question.

An Ning also offered a brief explanation:
"I walk alone because no one asked me to walk with them."

Apart from Guan Ren today.

"And I don't think... there's any need to go with them."

"I see, that makes sense."

It was a very ordinary answer, and Guan Ren nodded without saying anything.

However, after a while, An Ning couldn't help but ask in return:
"Guan Ren, am I... a bit out of place?"

"Unsociable?"

Guan Ren thought for a moment:
"Aside from walking home alone after school, do you not have any friends in class?"

"I don't think so."

"?"

Guan Ren was taken aback. There really wasn't one?

"What about Feng Xin? Didn't you seem to have a pretty good relationship with her?"

Feng Xin was Zhang Chi's girlfriend whom he hooked up with after that monthly exam. Guan Ren had previously tried to find out Xiao Ningmeng's name through her.

However, An Ning shook her head upon hearing this:

"Feng Xin is a very nice person. She is very enthusiastic towards all her classmates, just like everyone else."

"Uh... so you really don't have many friends at school?"

"…Um."

An Ning pondered for a moment, then hesitated and said:

"I feel like everyone's busy with their own things and probably won't notice me much, it's nothing."

"..."

After she said that, Guan Ren roughly understood.

An Ning is actually the kind of person who is friendly to everyone, but doesn't have any deep relationships with anyone.

Almost every class has students like this.

For An Ning, this actually aligns quite well with her personality.

"Well, in that sense, you really are a loner."

Guan Ren concluded.

An Ning pursed her lips but didn't say anything.

"But even so."

Then, Guan Ren changed the subject and slowly said:
"One day, Anning, you'll find someone just as unsociable as you, and you'll be unsociable together! Isn't that a kind of fitting in too?"

"..."

An Ning stared blankly at Guan Ren's gentle, bright smile for a moment, then quickly followed him and walked with him home.

It wasn't until they parted ways downstairs at his house and walked towards Meteor Road that An Ning lowered her head and blushed silently for a long time.

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(My gallbladder is hurting again, and it's getting late, sorry.)
(End of this chapter)