After rebirth, I rejected the rich yandere lady

Xu's mother, "No, I haven't seen him all day, what's up?"

"It's nothing, I'm just bringing him some clothes at home. I see he's not there."

"Oh dear, that rascal must have run off to play with He Qiang again. I'm sorry you're troubled over him, Ming Yue."

"It's no bother, Auntie, it's the least I can do..."

Yao Mingyue's face bore a smile, but as soon as she hung up the phone, the smile on her face turned as piercing as the cold of winter!

The only thought in her mind was final.

He'd better be with He Qiang!

She took out her phone, planning to trick He Qiang.

But she found that she didn't have He Qiang's number in her phone, or rather, she didn't have any other guys' contact information at all.

Only Xu Musen's.

She had no choice but to add him from the class group chat.

At this very moment, He Qiang, taking advantage of the drizzle outside, had already donned a raincoat and headed for a fishing spot.

Just as he finally saw the float start to move, his phone vibrated at the crucial moment. The vibration traveled down the fishing rod, instantly scaring the fish away.

"Dammit! Who's bothering me now!"

He Qiang cursed as he took out his phone, but the message notification on the screen nearly made him drop his rod in shock.

"Yao Mingyue requests to add you as a friend."

He Qiang had a foreboding feeling.

But out of respect for his friendship with his buddy, he still clicked accept.

He hadn't had the chance to ask.

Before he could, a message came through from the other end of the phone.

"Is Xu Musen with you? His family needs him for something."

That tone... He Qiang, seeing the words about family, instinctively replied honestly.

"Um... no."

Yao Mingyue looked at those four words, her eyes growing even colder.

Yet, she sent another message, "I'm asking for Auntie, are you and Xu Musen planning to apply to Hu Hai University together?"

He Qiang replied honestly, hearing it was a parental inquiry, "Probably, Xu Musen did say he wanted to go to Hu Hai University..."

As expected!!

Yao Mingyue's grip on her phone was so tight she almost shattered it!

So even He Qiang knew, and only she was kept in the dark?

And if he wasn't at the shop and not with He Qiang, then there was only one conclusion left...

Yao Mingyue's gaze seemed to darken completely, and she even revealed a grim, hollow smile as she walked out of the room.

...

At that moment, He Qiang, seeing that she wasn't replying anymore, felt that something was amiss. But his brain was a bit overloaded, and he sent another message.

"Um, are you looking for Xu Musen for something?"

But then, a glaring red exclamation mark appeared.

Yes, he had been removed as a friend.

"..."

He Qiang thought for a while, then decided to call his buddy. But after trying for a long time, there was no answer.

In the end, he could only put down the phone.

Although he didn't know exactly what had happened, he had a feeling that his buddy was in for a disaster.

"Swoosh~"

A fish took the bait, and He Qiang was excited again. It was a big one!

Dammit! The greater the turmoil, the more valuable the fish!

...

Meanwhile, Xu Musen was watching a movie with An Nuannuan in the cinema.

His phone was on silent mode.

They were watching Doraemon today, which An Nuannuan enjoyed immensely, especially liking the robotic cat.

"This big, fat, blue rodent is so amazing."

An Nuannuan always had a way with descriptions.

"They call it Doraemon. It has a magical pocket that contains everything you could want. Of course, it's amazing," Xu Musen laughed as he replied, taking the opportunity to feed her a popcorn kernel.

An Nuannuan then turned to look at Xu Musen's cheek and after a while, she said, "You're amazing too. Whatever I want, you can provide for me."

Xu Musen coughed awkwardly, thankful that they were surrounded by kids.

"And no matter how amazing it is, it's still fake, but your kindness to me is real," she said earnestly, without any other emotion, pure and touching.

Xu Musen too looked into her clear eyes, gave a gentle smile, and quietly accompanied her through the movie.

If you keep being so casually flirtatious, you're bound to be conned into a relationship one of these days.

After the movie, An Nuannuan marked another check on her notebook.

"I wanted to ask earlier, what are you writing in your notebook?"

"I can't tell you yet."

An Nuannuan put away her notebook, and that day, they strolled around, had a meal, and watched a movie together...

It had gotten dark outside, and there might even be rain later in the evening.

"Xu Musen."

"Hmm?"

"You've always taken me home before. How about I take you home today?"

As An Nuannuan spoke, her fair face tinged with a bit of pink and a hint of nervousness.

Was she really oblivious to what it meant to take a boy home?

Xu Musen looked into her clear eyes and found that he couldn't seem to refuse.

"How will you get back then?"

"Aunty Xiang will pick me up."

After looking at each other for a while, Xu Musen slowly smiled and nodded, "Alright."

The two took the bus back, jostling together, sitting close, not speaking, but both hoping the bus would slow down, even just a little more...

They arrived at the entrance of the residential complex.

Xu Musen pushed An Nuannuan, pointing to one of the buildings, "This is my home, thank you for bringing me back."

As he said this, he squatted down in front of An Nuannuan, looking into her eyes, "Nuannuan, do you have something you want to tell me?"

An Nuannuan pursed her lips, for the first time struggling to speak.

"Xu Musen, I'm afraid I won't be able to play with you anymore, my grandma wants me to go to Hu Hai for treatment, and it will take at least a month."

An Nuannuan said, lifting her head to look at Xu Musen with a somewhat sad expression.

Xu Musen let out a sigh and smiled, "I thought it was something else, you scared me. This is good news. A month later when we meet again, maybe we can walk out and play together."

"Then, will you wait for me in Hu Hai?"

The light in An Nuannuan's eyes brightened.

Xu Musen's thoughts were firm, "Hu Hai University?"

"Yes."

"It looks like you're going to change from being my last high school friend to becoming my first college friend."

Xu Musen's speech was slow, yet it made An Nuannuan's eyes dance and her chest flutter out of rhythm.

She took out a little booklet in her hand, which read:

The Best Friend Cultivation Manual!

Shopping together (✓)

Eating together (✓)

Watching movies together (✓)

Preparing a gift for one another

Seeing each other home (✓)

A hug

This was on the first page, An Nuannuan took something out of her bag and presented it to Xu Musen.

"This is..."

Xu Musen took it and found, to his astonishment, it was an Ultraman Tiga transformation stick.

He was momentarily dazed.

"Xu Musen."

An Nuannuan looked at him, gently patting her legs sitting in the wheelchair, her tone sincere.

"I think I'm like you, we seem to have suffered some setbacks, but I believe we can definitely defeat these little monsters!"

Her words were childishly amusing, yet the earnestness in her eyes left one speechless for a long time.

Xu Musen gripped the Ultraman Tiga transformation stick tightly in his hand.

At that moment, he also understood somewhat the feeling of becoming light.

At this moment, An Nuannuan was also a beam of light to him.

"Thank you, this is the best gift I've received in a long time."

Xu Musen held it tightly.

An Nuannuan also checked off 'preparing a gift' on her list.

Finally, only a hug remained.

The two looked at each other, An Nuannuan somewhat avoiding his gaze, fiddling with her fingers, Xu Musen smiling at the corner of his mouth.

"Then I'll look forward to our next meeting, and to seeing An Nuannuan who has defeated the little monsters."

Xu Musen squatted in front of her, spreading open his arms towards her.

An Nuannuan's cheeks heated up as she slowly opened her arms and hugged him briefly.

At that moment, a hazy rain began to fall from the sky, but the two of them felt particularly warm.

This embrace, unrelated to passion,

Contained only the most sincere wishes.

Aunt Xiang's car was parked outside the complex.

Watching the two embrace in the drizzling rain, she too was touched and smiled mildly.

An Nuannuan got into the car and left.

Xu Musen stood there watching the direction she left for quite a while, until he started to feel wet.

It was probably going to be a stormy night.

Xu Musen turned around, only to see another blurry figure standing under the eaves of a nearby house.

As raindrops splashed, the two approached.

Yao Mingyue...

Xu Musen looked at her; the girl wore only a thin short-sleeve shirt, already drenched from the rain she apparently had stood in for a long time, holding Xu Musen's freshly washed jacket in her hands.

"I brought you your clothes."

Yao Mingyue took the initiative to speak, even with a smile, but her eyes were hollow with blackness.

The two stood in silence for a while, the rain growing heavier, nearly obscuring each other's faces.

"Are you two, dating?"

Yao Mingyue asked calmly again, but her voice was shaking uncontrollably.

Xu Musen looked at her and at last just shook his head, "Go back and take a shower, don't catch a cold."

Yao Mingyue stared fixedly at him, with rain washing over her eyes, falling drop by drop, indistinguishable from tears or rain.

Suddenly she laughed twice, staggering, staring at Xu Musen with all the light gone from her eyes.

"Xu Musen, have you forgotten what you said before? ... Xu Musen! You jerk!"

Yao Mingyue threw the clothes in her hand fiercely at Xu Musen, staggered away, and vanished into the rainy night.

Xu Musen stood in the rain watching her return to the villa, silently standing for quite a while.

He could only resign himself to the saying, better a short pain than a long one.

Night fell.

Xu Musen in his room was lost in thought, staring at the university choices he had filled out.

"Boom..."

The summer storm roared thunderously, with lightning and thunder that were tremble-inducing.

"Ring..."

His mother called.

His mother had already mentioned in the afternoon that there was going to be a storm tonight, and she and Xu's father would stay at the shop and not come back.

"Hello?"

"Son! Where is Mingyue? I just tried to call her, and couldn't get through at all!"

Xu Musen's mother's anxious voice came through, and he too was shocked.

That girl... she wouldn't do anything foolish, right?!