Rebirth Must Be Happy

Mr. Xu is quite principled; if he wasn't invited, he really wouldn't go.

He just happened to be going downstairs on his way and happened to be going the same way as them.

The three girls were surprisingly calm and didn't seem to care about the gas money. They drove one car in front, with Xu Jinhuan driving behind, and followed them to the amusement park.

He followed them in, buying tickets as well. He thought they would remain defiant for a while, but to his surprise, they walked straight towards him after buying the snacks.

"Let's go~"

Xie Wanqing handed him a bag of roasted chestnuts she had just bought, saying, "Can you hold this for me? It's inconvenient for me to peel them."

'As expected, my older sister is the gentlest...'

Xu Jinhuan hesitated for a moment before deciding whether to reduce her sister's sentence. She took the roasted chestnuts, glanced at Chen Xingzhu and Song Zhiyu, and seeing that neither of them spoke, smiled and said, "Alright."

He stood at attention and solemnly announced, like a fighting eagle, "I, Huan-ge, am back in the team!"

The three of them gave him a look as if he were crazy, then strolled off to find some attractions.

It was freezing cold, so the three of them chose an indoor amusement park with no adventure rides. After playing there for a while, Xu Jinhuan quickly realized why they wanted him to rejoin the group.

They're missing a photographer!

However, he didn't mind. He was playing along anyway, and he could play sooner or later, so there was nothing to complain about.

When Xu Jinhuan returned home at noon, he collapsed onto the sofa. Xie Wanqing and Chen Xingzhu followed him. Song Zhiyu didn't hide anything and took out the gift she had prepared: a Cherry G80-3000 red switch keyboard.

"So, I think I'd still choose better, right?"

Song Zhiyu was very smug. "Besides, I saw your browsing history. You looked up this keyboard, didn't you?"

"Have you viewed my browsing history?"

Xu Jinhuan was taken aback. "When?"

"Before the Lunar New Year? What's wrong?"

Song Zhiyu blinked in confusion, "You forgot to turn off the computer, so I just took a look... There wasn't anything confidential, was there?"

"fine."

Xie Wanqing and Chen Xingzhu were watching from the side. Xu Jinhuan coughed and said, "This kind of thing is an invasion of privacy."

He then asked, "The gifts you bought don't seem cheap. Do you have that much pocket money? Should I give you some?"

"If I don't have it, I'll ask you for it."

Song Zhiyu rolled her eyes at him, "I won't stand on ceremony with you, right, Sister Xingzhu, Sister Wanqing?"

Xie Wanqing smiled and said, "What I gave you wasn't expensive."

Chen Xingzhu smiled and said, "I also gave you shoes."

The three, no, the four, all tacitly avoided one thing: giving gifts on Valentine's Day. Not everyone needs to give gifts!

Of course, today's situation was clearly beyond their expectations. They probably didn't expect it to be such a public gift-giving event. So, while they were out having fun, they bought each other gifts.

For example, Xie Wanqing bought four identical phone cases. She originally bought three, but Xu Jinhuan insisted on getting one too.
For example, Chen Xingzhu bought four hats. Uh, the fourth one wasn't for Xu Jinhuan, but was reserved for Chen Xingruo.
Song Zhiyu also bought three notebooks, which is also a practical choice.

"I'll try it."

Xu Jinhuan sensed something was off, so he quickly slipped back to his room to test the keyboard. When he came out again, the three of them were playing with the cat, and everything seemed normal.

With less than four months until the college entrance examination, there is little relaxed atmosphere in the classrooms after the start of the new semester; everyone is studying hard and making the most of every minute.

There was no holiday for the Lantern Festival. Xu Jinhuan and his friends lit cotton lanterns at home, ate glutinous rice balls, and watched fireworks through the window for a while. That was how they celebrated the Lantern Festival.

Looking up, one sees the romance of dreams; looking down, one sees only the tedious exam papers.

In early March, the postgraduate entrance examination scores were announced, and all subjects showed a significant increase compared to last year. Xie Wanqing took the economics exam, and the national score was 340. She scored 371, which was just a few points above the score for the Beijing University of Technology and Business, which she wanted to apply to.

This was naturally a good thing, but her score wasn't very high, and she had no confidence in whether she could pass the re-examination. So she started to nervously prepare for the re-examination.

Xu Jinhuan and his classmates are about to take their first mock exam, a joint exam between various schools. It is considered quite prestigious and is taken very seriously by both the schools and the students themselves. Every day, they start doing practice tests as soon as they wake up.

Xu Jinhuan was also preparing for something else at the same time:
Happy Birthday, Chen Xingzhu!

Her birthday this year is March 17th, which is the sixth day of the second lunar month. Her postgraduate entrance exam results had just been released, and the school did not give her a holiday, only a half-day break in the afternoon. It just so happened to fall on her birthday, which can be considered a kind of luck.

"I've discussed it with Zhou Wei and the others. We'll all get together at noon, go to karaoke in the afternoon to relax, and then the two of us will go out for dinner together in the evening."

Xu Jinhuan had heard her mention that her birthday celebrations were usually rather quiet, so he started making arrangements well in advance. Two days before her birthday, he formally told Chen Xingzhu, "Let's go have dinner together first. I've booked the restaurant. After we finish singing, you can come with me."

Chen Xingzhu sat in the passenger seat, looked at him, didn't say anything, and nodded slightly, giving a soft "hmm".

After pausing for two seconds, he added, "No need for complicated procedures, keep it simple."

"rest assured."

Xu Jinhuan smiled at her, "I know your personality, it won't be anything too dramatic, it's just a get-together for a meal."

They had already agreed to have a lunch gathering after school, and school uniforms weren't required on Sundays. So, on her birthday, Chen Xingzhu made a special effort to put together her outfit for class. She wore the same red cashmere coat she wore when she returned from Beijing, but she replaced the more glamorous black outfit with a white turtleneck sweater and camel-colored ankle boots, making the overall look fresher and warmer.

She usually wears down jackets at school, so it was rare for her to wear clothes that showed off her figure. She was already tall with a slim waist and long legs, and the red trench coat made her look even more striking, even if she wasn't particularly aloof. She attracted the attention of many students as soon as she got off the bus at school in the morning.

When they arrived at the classroom, even with the college entrance examination approaching, it caused a great uproar.

This was completely unexpected for Chen Xingzhu. Her fair and delicate cheeks flushed slightly. She returned to her seat expressionlessly, pretending that nothing had happened.

Zhou Wei and the others clearly knew what was going on, but unusually, they didn't tease her. Instead, they praised her, saying, "Xingzhu, you look so beautiful in that outfit." Zhu Xinyao sighed again, "I wish I were a man..."

Hu Yingxin retorted, "If you were a man, you wouldn't even have a chance to talk to Xingzhu."

Chen Xingzhu listened to their discussion, feeling a little shy, but didn't say anything. She tried her best to calm down and review, but couldn't help guessing and looking forward to what surprise Xu Jinhuan would give her at lunch.

Although Xu Jinhuan didn't say anything, she had an instinctive feeling that he would definitely do something, and it was definitely not just about having a meal.

At noon after school, everyone went to eat together. Zhou Wei and her two friends, plus Xie Wanqing and Song Zhiyu, constituted her entire social circle.

They sang and played around in the KTV until almost five o'clock before breaking up. Everyone walked out of the KTV together, and the others went home. Xu Jinhuan drove her to the restaurant they had booked.

"I saw online that this restaurant has a great ambiance, but the food isn't that good. But we're here for the atmosphere, after all."

On the way, Xu Jinhuan prepared her, "You ate quite a lot at noon, and you also ate a lot of snacks while singing, so you shouldn't be very hungry, right?"

"fine."

Chen Xingzhu shook her head, "I'm not that picky, as long as it's not too bad."

"You can take more photos."

"Ah."

As Chen Xingzhu listened to his introduction, she secretly wondered if he had hidden a surprise in the environment.
Arriving at the garden restaurant on the top floor of the mall, even Xu Jinhuan thought the environment was quite nice. Chen Xingzhu was pleasantly surprised, feeling that it was almost like the dining atmosphere in a TV series.

This restaurant is on the expensive side, and since it wasn't a holiday, it wasn't very crowded. Luckily, it was a weekend, so there were still some people there.

"Click"

Chen Xingzhu took photos with her phone, taking pictures of the food and the environment, while carefully observing, trying to see where there might be a surprise, but nothing happened until all the dishes they ordered were served.

"Should we go now?"

Chen Xingzhu hid her slight disappointment and glanced at the time. "Evening self-study is about to start."

"It's okay, there's still time."

Xu Jinhuan, however, remained unhurried and asked with a smile, "How are you feeling?"

"It's great, the food tastes pretty good too."

Chen Xingzhu smiled. Although there were no surprises, she was already very content and happy with this peaceful time alone with her, having been engrossed in her studies every day.

The disappointment stemmed from the expectation that he would surprise me, more like a sense of loss at not having my curiosity satisfied, rather than feeling that he didn't value me.

"Are you going to pay the bill?"

Xu Jinhuan picked at the leftovers a few more times, then stood up and asked her with a smile, "So, on your birthday, you can experience what it's like to be a female version of a domineering CEO?"

"It's my birthday, I'm not paying."

Chen Xingzhu glared at him, finding him strange. He usually refused to pay when she wanted to, but insisted on making her pay on her birthday.

"Let's go then."

Xu Jinhuan stood up, naturally took her hand, and walked towards the restaurant entrance.

Chen Xingzhu's cheeks flushed slightly, but she was already used to it and didn't resist. She let him hold her hand and they left like an ordinary couple.

However, he soon realized he had underestimated Xu Jinhuan. After taking only two steps, he moved closer and put his arm around her waist.

Chen Xingzhu glared at him, but still didn't resist.

'Even though it's my birthday, it's still a celebration, so let him go a little overboard...'

She thought to herself, and when she arrived at the cashier, she looked at Xu Jinhuan and signaled to him that she wanted to pay.

"I already paid for it."

Xu Jinhuan smiled at her, released the hand that was around her waist, and then took her hand again. "I was just teasing you. Let's go."

Chen Xingzhu couldn't help but glare at him again, then smiled slightly at the cashier who was watching the two of them at the counter, and walked towards the door.

Just then, she suddenly heard a waiter behind her ask, "Has table 11 paid their bill?"

"They said they already bought it."

"Have it?"

"Let me check... I didn't buy it!"

"what?"

The waitresses behind them were clearly surprised, and then the young lady called out, "Sir, Madam, could you please help me..."

"run!"

Chen Xingzhu was wondering what was going on when she suddenly heard Xu Jinhuan shout from the side, then grab her hand and run out of the restaurant.

"..."

Chen Xingzhu was completely stunned. She wanted to stop him, but she had long since developed a habitual dependence and trust in him. Subconsciously, she followed him outside, and couldn't help but ask, "What... are you doing?"

"You're usually too conventional."

Xu Jinhuan ran while turning back to smile at her, a bright and smug smile on his face. "On your birthday, I'll show you what it's like to skip out on a bill and get chased. A birthday adventure... You didn't expect this gift, did you?" (End of Chapter)