Chapter 11: Your New Schoolbag Matches Lu Yuanqiu’s?

Bai Qingxia sat quietly at her desk, diligently working on the assignments their teacher had given that morning, seemingly oblivious to the fact that only the two of them remained in the classroom.

Since he had already promised to study hard, Lu Yuanqiu couldn’t just sit by idly. He took out his math homework, unscrewed his fountain pen with a flourish, and held it like a seasoned general wielding his sword, ready to charge into battle.

Yet in the very next moment, the confident smile froze on Lu Yuanqiu’s face.

Wait a minute… what exactly is a set?

He blinked his innocent eyes, staring at the first multiple-choice question with a grave expression.

After a long pause, Lu Yuanqiu lifted his head, gazing blankly at the pale green chalkboard.

He’d forgotten… he’d forgotten everything!

It was over… completely over!

What should he do?

Zhang Wuji forgetting all his martial arts meant he’d mastered them, but if he forgot all his knowledge, it meant he’d never make it to university!

Only now did Lu Yuanqiu realize: other people who were reborn either returned to just after graduating high school or all the way back to kindergarten, but he had been sent to the most punishing period of student life—right at the start of his final year!

Did he really have to take the college entrance exam with a thirty-something’s brain full of nothing but money and women?

All of a sudden, he felt an overwhelming sense that he’d been bragging too much, and the idea of dropping out to start a business once again took root in his mind.

If he walked the same path as in his last life, Lu Yuanqiu believed he would succeed all the same. With his family’s wealth, his information advantage, and his valuable experience in internet entrepreneurship, success was all but guaranteed.

But this time, he wanted to go to university.

If he lived two lifetimes and still never attended university, wouldn’t that be a terrible loss?

No, he had to study hard this time. Anyway, there was still a whole year—surely it was enough!

Lu Yuanqiu immediately pulled out his textbook and began reading it word by word from the beginning.

When a man truly sets his mind to something, success is already within reach.

Five minutes later, Lu Yuanqiu’s steady snores wandered through the classroom.

Bai Qingxia turned to look and saw Lu Yuanqiu sleeping soundly. She had no idea what he was dreaming about, but he raised his hand to scratch his nose and then smiled in his sleep, though his snores remained as loud as ever.

He slept like a child, with drool trailing from the corner of his mouth.

Bai Qingxia watched, somewhat entranced, only snapping out of it when she saw his drool about to drip onto the desk.

She quickly pulled a tissue from her bag, folded it, and carefully placed it at the edge of Lu Yuanqiu’s mouth.

After putting the tissue in place, she didn’t immediately pull her hand back.

She had a secret no one knew.

She had known Lu Yuanqiu since middle school.

Her mind was filled with memories of this boy, though she knew he had forgotten them all—perhaps he’d never cared in the first place.

But it didn’t matter; she remembered.

Thinking of this, Bai Qingxia couldn’t resist and lightly, curiously, like a dragonfly brushing the water’s surface, touched the tip of Lu Yuanqiu’s nose with her slender fingertip.

When his snores paused, she quickly withdrew her hand, sat up straight, gripped her pen tightly, her heart beating furiously.

It was only once his snoring resumed that Bai Qingxia let out a sigh of relief.

After sitting quietly for a while, she rose gently, shouldered her backpack, and left the classroom. It was her usual lunchtime.

By the time she reached the cafeteria, the students had already finished their meals, and the place was deserted; the cleaning staff had already begun sweeping up.

Some students lived at school, others commuted, but regardless, everyone could eat in the school cafeteria as long as they had a meal card.

Bai Qingxia was a commuter, but she never went home at noon.

She quietly skirted the janitor’s mop bucket and walked to the counter.

The short-haired lunch lady greeted her warmly, “It’s you again, girl! How many times have I told you—come earlier next time! At this hour, all that’s left are the dregs and broth!”

Bai Qingxia smiled shyly. “It’s all right. I’m fine with just plain rice.”

“Don’t you know she’s top of her year?” the long-haired lunch lady nearby chimed in. “If she’s late, she must have been studying.”

Bai Qingxia lowered her head in silence.

The short-haired lady clicked her tongue and looked at Bai Qingxia with glowing eyes. “Look at you—pretty as a fairy and top of your class. If only my son were half as good! Here, let me give you a little extra rice, and I’ll pour some meat broth on top.”

After scooping the rice, the short-haired lady added, “Just fifty cents for you.”

“Thank you,” Bai Qingxia murmured.

After swiping her card, she noticed she only had five yuan and twenty cents left—fifty cents for a meal was still something of a luxury for her.

But she knew if she didn’t eat, she’d have no energy to study—she’d tried that before.

Bai Qingxia carried her plain rice to a corner seat and began eating, not letting a single grain go to waste.

Back in the classroom of Senior Year, Class 28.

Lu Yuanqiu suddenly jerked awake, his desk shuddering with the force. Rubbing his eyes, he picked up the tissue that had appeared by his mouth, glanced at it, and tossed it aside without much thought.

“Where’d she go?”

Stretching, Lu Yuanqiu realized he’d been asleep for almost half an hour.

Cursing under his breath, he hurried to the cafeteria.

At this hour, of course there was no food left.

Lu Yuanqiu was also a commuter and usually went home for lunch, but his meal card always had more money than he could ever spend.

When he arrived at the cafeteria, even the lunch ladies were busy clearing away the serving trays. He dashed over, shouting, “Wait! Don’t pack up yet! There’s still someone here!”

The short-haired lunch lady looked at him in surprise. “You were studying this late too?”

“Something like that,” Lu Yuanqiu replied thick-skinned, though in truth he’d been studying with “teachers” in his dreams.

“All that’s left is rice.”

“Just give me some rice, then,” he said, clutching his grumbling stomach. Suddenly, he remembered something. “Auntie, was there a pretty girl who came in just before me?”

“There was! That girl always studies late—by the time she comes, there’s only plain rice left.”

After getting his food, Lu Yuanqiu swiped two yuan and remarked, “That’s cheap.”

He found a seat and shoveled rice into his mouth.

Looks like Bai Qingxia only eats rice for lunch, Lu Yuanqiu mused. Of course, studying was just a convenient excuse; she was simply giving herself a reason to eat only the leftovers.

Kids this age have their pride, and Bai Qingxia was no exception—Lu Yuanqiu knew this all too well.

But what puzzled him was where she went after lunch.

By a little past one in the afternoon, students had begun trickling back into the classroom.

Bai Qingxia entered with her backpack, her gaze drifting toward the corner of the blackboard.

That was where the duty roster was usually written.

[Clean the blackboard, podium: Lu Turtle]

Clearly, someone had made a joke of Lu Yuanqiu’s name. Bai Qingxia walked over and erased the offending words, then rewrote “Yuanqiu” in chalk with a blank expression.

She tossed the chalk onto the podium without a word.

As she walked back to her seat, a voice called from the doorway: “Bai Qingxia, I just noticed your new backpack matches Lu Yuanqiu’s—it’s a couple’s set!”

Bai Qingxia turned to see Hu Caiwei standing there.