chapter 5
I found my seat by following my memories.
This was a self-study period.
All the classmates around me were quietly studying.
I casually opened an exercise book and stared blankly at the neat, childish handwriting on the page.
Living this life again, I absolutely cannot walk the same old path as before.
My mind gradually cleared, and my mood slowly calmed down.
Since Shen Qingqie has been reborn, he probably doesn’t want anything to do with me either. In this life, we’ll just mind our own business.
If he wants to court disaster, let him. I need to stay far away from him, lest I get splattered when he finally meets his end.
How disgusting.
Just as I was thinking this, Shen Qingqie’s cold voice suddenly rang out.
“Bai Ran, give me your English notes.”
I looked up. “What?”
He glanced at me sideways, his demeanor distant, as if he hadn’t noticed that my behavior was different from the last life.
Of course, his heart and mind were full of Xu Anran. He’d long forgotten everything I’d ever done for him.
Xu Anran turned around when she heard this, apologizing, “Sorry, I just asked Qingqie to lend me his notes, but he said your English is better, so he came to borrow yours.”
Her eyes curved in a smile, making it easy for people to like her.
Too bad, that trick doesn’t work on me.
“No, I still need them.”
It wasn’t that I needed them-I just didn’t want to lend them.
Xu Anran’s smile froze.
Her deskmate Qin Ye couldn’t stand it and turned around to snap at me:
“Bai Ran, as class president, it’s your duty to help your classmates.
“Why does lending your notes seem like such a big deal?
“Hurry up and hand them over. Anran is asking you because she respects you, so stop hiding them.”
His voice was a bit loud, and the classmates nearby all looked over.
Xu Anran looked disappointed, but her gaze at me held a hint of contempt.
Wei Qing, sitting nearby, rolled her eyes, swallowed the spicy snack in her mouth, and fired back.
“Stop with the moral coercion. Ranran worked hard to organize those notes-why should she give them to you Ungrateful Wolf.
“What, your bad grades make you entitled?”
Seeing the two about to start arguing, Shen Qingqie hurriedly interrupted, “Enough!”
Then he turned to me, his voice softening, his tone calm and sincere: “Bai Ran, Anran’s weakness is English. Only if her English improves can she apply to schools in City A…”
I looked at him steadily, feeling a bit bitter.
He didn’t finish the rest of his sentence.
But I knew.
In his previous life, Shen Qingqie went to university in City A. He hoped he and Xu Anran could study in the same city.
In just a few minutes, he’d already planned their future.
But he had never treated me so seriously.
In the first month of our marriage, he went to teach in a city far away, only coming home every few months, and never once called me on his own initiative.
Turns out it wasn’t that he couldn’t-it was that he didn’t love me.
I lowered my eyes, feeling my ten years had been wasted, while Shen Qingqie thought I was hesitating.
“Didn’t you always want me to come to your house for dinner?”
He seemed to suddenly remember something, his beautiful peach blossom eyes full of understanding.
“If you help Anran improve her English grades, I’ll come to your house for dinner once a month.”
His tone was lofty, as if granting me a favor.
How is it that, even in this new life, he still can’t speak like a normal person?
I finally couldn’t hold back and looked up to meet his gaze.
“Am I some kind of pathetic person?
“Why do I have to suffer all the hardships?”
Shen Qingqie’s expression went blank for a moment. Just as he was about to say something, the homeroom teacher suddenly pushed open the classroom door and walked in.