My girlfriend was reborn.

Chapter 40 Late at Night, Voice Call

The clouds are faint, and the moon is dim.

Zhou Heming sat at the dining table, holding his phone. After hesitating for a moment, he typed out a string of text.

[Zhou Heming]: Can you teach me some simple piano playing techniques?

Lu Bai didn't reply immediately this time. Instead, he remained at "typing now" for a while before the message popped up.

[Lu Bai]: Can we make a voice call?
"?"

Zhou Heming was taken aback.

Then he reacted.

[Zhou Heming]: Sure enough, you can't tell if someone is lying just by typing.

[Lu Bai]: I'll take a screenshot and forward it to Cheng Shuangjiang right now, saying you're chatting with other girls in the middle of the night?

[Zhou Heming]: Sorry, I can make voice calls.

The next second, the voice call vibrated.

Zhou Heming clicked to connect.

"Hello."

He said hello.

"I didn't expect you, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, to be so good at chatting with girls."

Lu Bai's slightly mocking voice came over.

It was only then that the boy realized that this was probably the first time he had ever made a WeChat call to a girl his own age.

"No, I mean, I just want to."

"You wanted to give Cheng Shuangjiang a surprise, right? With your appearance, it's obvious at a glance."

Lu Bai saw through Zhou Heming's thoughts at a glance.

"So, you want to learn the piano and play for her?"

"Is that a fair assessment? Is it difficult?"

Do you have any musical instrument experience? Can you play the guitar or any other instrument?

"Do the triangle and castanets count?"

"How about we give up and spend some money to buy a nice doll or some pretty clothes instead?"

"I still want to be able to learn this."

Since he needed something from Zhou Heming, he adopted a very humble attitude.

"Tell me your specific plan, otherwise how will I know how much I need to teach you?"

Lu Bai's sigh was muffled by the noise of the radio waves and was barely audible.

Zhou Heming was silent for a moment, then spoke, explaining it in the simplest and most understandable way possible.

Do you think she'll be happy?

Finally, he asked for confirmation, still somewhat unsure.

“I’m not her, so I don’t know what she’s thinking, but I can at least be sure you put your heart into it. I think, given Cheng Shuangjiang’s personality, she’ll be quite happy.”

After a long pause, Lu Bai's voice finally came through, tinged with envy.

"You really do like her."

Zhou Heming didn't know how to answer.

"Speaking of which, how did you two get together?"

Lu Bai seemed to have wanted to ask this question for a long time, and now, on this quiet night without stars, she finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"This is hard to explain. You can simply understand it as her pursuing me, and then I agreed to be with her."

"If I hadn't seen you two interacting with my own eyes, I would definitely have introduced you to that highly skilled psychologist."

"You said that a second time."

"Forget it, it's not like I'm talking to you, so we don't need to worry about her opinion."

Did you just casually say something very hurtful?

"I'm hanging up now?"

"Ms. Lu, please teach me how to play the piano!"

Zhou Heming said hurriedly.

"Haha, man."

Lu Bai chuckled and then cleared his throat.

"Your request isn't difficult, but the piece itself is challenging, and since you have no prior experience, it will take some time to learn quickly. You can download an app to practice fingering and such when you have free time. I'll just give you a brief overview of the music theory. Anyway, we're not really going to teach you to play the piano; you just need to be able to complete specific pieces."

She explained things very carefully, and after stating the current goals, she began her rigorous teaching.

It wasn't until almost one o'clock that Lu Bai finished the most basic part.

"what--"

A yawn came from the voice, and just the tremor at the end of the yawn was enough to conjure up the image of Lu Bai stretching in one's mind.

That's all for today, thank you.

Zhou Heming rubbed his temples, feeling a bit sleepy.

"We'll continue tomorrow night. You can practice on your own when you have time, whether it's in the car or during class. Just play a few notes to develop muscle memory."

Lu Bai's voice became soft and sweet, as if he was about to fall asleep.

"But you still have exams, so prioritize your studies. If all else fails, I have other options." Her voice gradually became indistinct, until finally the sentences were completely unrecognizable, leaving only silence.

The call hasn't ended yet.

"Fell asleep?"

Zhou Heming subconsciously lowered his voice, scratched his head, and looked a little lost.

Hang up? We can't keep talking on the phone forever, can we?
While he was thinking, the girl on the other end of the voice call suddenly let out a subtle humming sound, followed by a yawn.

"Sorry, I'm too sleepy, I'm going to sleep."

".Good night."

Before Zhou Heming could finish speaking, a beep sounded, and Lu Bai hung up the call.

He glanced at WeChat; the call duration was one hour and forty-seven minutes.

"Next time, I need to keep it under an hour."

Since tomorrow is the last day of the holiday and he can still get up at 7:30, Zhou Heming decided to stay up a little longer. He took out his practice test book, pressed the button on his pen, and continued doing the questions.

In the pauses between thoughts, the fingers of my left hand unconsciously tap the table, creating a kind of classic melody.

*
"Didn't you sleep well?"

On the bus, Cheng Shuangjiang, who was sitting by the window and looking down at her English vocabulary book, glanced at the boy next to her.

"Fortunately."

Zhou Heming yawned and continued looking at the quiz app on his phone, focusing on answering the questions.

To be honest, he slept quite well, sleeping soundly until dawn.

I just went to bed a little late.

Normally, Zhou Heming would lie down at midnight and fall asleep before 12:30.

But this past week, he had to study piano with Lu Bai every night, which took an hour longer than usual. He often didn't go to sleep until after 1 a.m., and he would use his nap time to study at noon. As a result, he was a little sleepy today.

"Today is the monthly exam, are you nervous?"

The top-ranked girl in her grade asked calmly.

"Don't be nervous. It's the first subject, Chinese. People usually start to get nervous after the exam is over."

Zhou Heming smiled self-deprecatingly.

Have you finished the questions?

Cheng Shuangjiang glanced at Zhou Heming's phone screen again.

"There are two more."

The boy turned his gaze and made his choice in two quick movements.

His left hand unconsciously tapped lightly on his knee, a subtle movement that almost no one would notice.

Looking at the results, I got all ten questions right, something I never would have dared to imagine in the past.

"You're really amazing!"

Light, cheerful praises arrived like a delightful "Fantasy-Impromptu".

"It's because Teacher Cheng taught so well."

Zhou Heming rubbed his nose and put down his phone.

The "Teacher Cheng" he was referring to was naturally Cheng Shuangjiang.

In addition to tutoring in the science subjects, Cheng Shuangjiang imparted all her knowledge to Zhou Heming, including math problem-solving strategies, English grammar and tenses, and essay templates. She practically shared all her life's learning with him.

The techniques mastered by the test-takers in the small town are indeed very useful. Zhou Heming's scores on the mock exams he's been doing these past few nights have improved significantly, consistently ranging from 580 to 590 points.

Of course, in the end, it all depends on how well they perform on the day.

If one's mentality collapses, it's not impossible to fail the exam.

"Hehe, since Ah He has made such great progress, I'll reward you."

Cheng Shuangjiang smiled gently.

"What reward will you give me?"

Zhou Heming was curious.

"As a reward, you can rest in my arms for a while before we arrive at our destination."

Cheng Shuangjiang shattered the theory of delayed gratification.

"You know, you have a habit of saying 'it's okay' which usually means 'it's not good'."

"...Isn't this a bit too ostentatious?"

There were other students from Jiangcheng Middle School on the bus. Although the two of them had long been common knowledge at the school and everyone was used to it, they still didn't flaunt their affection in public as openly as they do in front of others.

"Now's the time! Don't miss out!"

The girl looked at him with a smile.

".Thanks."

Zhou Heming gently leaned his head over, and Cheng Shuangjiang sat up straight at the same time, allowing his head to rest on his shoulder, forming an angle with the seat back, which was more comfortable and would not cause neck stiffness.

He closed his eyes, and soon, his right hand, which was covered by his schoolbag, felt something warm, soft, and slightly rubbing into his palm. Almost without thinking, he closed his hand and intertwined his fingers with it, feeling that intoxicating touch.

A sense of security enveloped Zhou Heming, and he soon fell into a deep sleep on the slightly noisy morning bus, his breathing becoming slow and rhythmic.

As the bus rounded a bend, the golden, distant morning light fell precisely on the boy's profile. Occasionally, the pages of the book in the girl's arms were blown by the wind, the edges of the pages brushing against the hair on his forehead.

The sun was shining brightly, and the wind was gentle, like the moon meeting the clouds, like flowers meeting the breeze, like a poem that belonged only to her.

*
Thank you everyone for your monthly tickets and recommendation votes!
(End of this chapter)