Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

After completing the headcount, everyone boarded the bus to depart.

When Mei Fang got on the bus, all the boys sitting down turned to him and laughed. “Mr. Handsome Mei, your gloves are quite fashionable!”

Mei Fang ignored them and calmly sat down next to his deskmate, Xiang Bingbing, amid their teasing laughter.

Xiang Bingbing eagerly helped Mei Fang take off his guitar, holding it in her arms and weighing it.

“Wow, it’s much lighter than I thought…”

Mei Fang frowned slightly, “Didn’t you already play with this guitar before? During the New Year’s Eve Gala and the Autumn Arts Festival.”

“That was last year, I’ve already forgotten.”

Xiang Bingbing happily held Mei Fang’s guitar. “Can I take it out and play with it for a bit?”

“You mean to play it? There’s not much room here.”

Mei Fang put his backpack on the luggage rack and then watched Xiang Bingbing unzip the guitar bag and gently take out the guitar, caressing its body and pressing her cheek against the neck of the guitar.

Mei Fang, sitting beside her, felt a bit strange watching her snuggle with his guitar and couldn’t help but tease, “What’s so special about a guitar that you need to hug it? It looks like there’s a story behind this.”

Xiang Bingbing smiled, “Didn’t I tell you? Shennongjia is a relatively poor place, and teachers from Jiangcheng often come to teach. When I was in elementary school, a music teacher came to our class with a guitar just like yours.”

“Every class, he taught us songs, and during breaks, he played guitar for us. We would all sit in a circle with the guitar teacher in the middle, playing. That teacher was very kind to me. He always praised my singing voice and encouraged me to study hard and become a big star in the city someday!”

“But it seems you didn’t continue down the music path…”

“Yeah, learning music costs a lot of money. My family had many younger siblings to support, and I ended up falling in love with basketball. My basketball skills were among the best in Shennongjia, and I got into Jiangcheng NOHS because of extra points from being a sports specialty student.”

Xiang Bingbing thought for a moment, “Hmm… I guess there were also some extra points for being an ethnic minority.”

“You’re an ethnic minority?”

Xiang Bingbing made a puzzled “cat” face, “Didn’t I ever tell you? I’m from the Cat Tribe.”^[1]

“Ah? Your area is so close to Enshi City, I thought you were from the Tujia ethnic group.”^[2]

“There are a lot of Tujia people there, but there are also quite a few Miao people, haha. Actually, I don’t like telling people about this because it feels like I’m taking advantage of backdoor privileges. Plus, I already struggle to keep up with everyone else, so I have to work extra hard just to not fall behind…”

Usually, Mei Fang treated her like a cute little friend and didn’t chat much with her. Only after chatting on the bus did he realize that she was genuinely very interested in music.

“If you love music so much, it’s not too late to start learning now. Yuan Yuan is forming a band, and I think you’d be perfect as a drummer.”

“Really?” Xiang Bingbing got a bit excited hearing this, but then she became dispirited again. Stroking Mei Fang’s guitar affectionately, she said, “But I still want to play guitar. Playing guitar is cooler and lets you stand in the spotlight. Drumming feels more like being in the background. If I’m going to be in the background, I’d rather dominate on the basketball court.”

“Uh, well, that’s true.” Mei Fang agreed, thinking it was a bit disrespectful to drummers, but it was true that the spotlight often went to the lead singers who often play guitar or bass in bands. The idea of a drummer who is also the lead singer is a bit interesting.

Young Xiang Bingbing had dreams of being in the spotlight.

Because everyone had gotten up early to meet at the school, they all fell asleep after about 20 minutes of chatter on the bus. Mei Fang checked his phone but hadn’t received any messages from Xia Yuan or Lin Youxi, so he also closed his eyes for a nap. He was woken up shortly by his guitar falling on him—Xiang Bingbing had fallen asleep and let go of it. She was leaning towards him, mouth open, drooling on his shoulder.

Mei Fang silently put his guitar away. Before Xiang Bingbing could slump onto him completely, he gently pushed her to the other side to sleep.

Around 8:30 AM, the bus arrived at the parking lot near the entrance of Mulan Heaven Lake. After nearly three hours on the bus, everyone looked exhausted.

Mei Fang bumped into Lin Youxi coming out of the restroom.

“How was the ride? Did you get carsick and throw up?” he asked.

Lin Youxi shook her head. “Yuan Yuan brought me some motion sickness medicine this time, so I was fine.”

“Oh, I see. She’s really thoughtful…” Mei Fang started to say, but then Lin Youxi suddenly made a gesture that looked like she was about to hug him, startling him…

She was actually just reaching for the rabbit gloves in Mei Fang’s pocket.

Even so, the close gesture caught the attention of several passing students.

“I’ll return Yuan Yuan’s gloves to her.”

“Oh, sure, you can give them to her.”

Lin Youxi put on the gloves and brought them close to her nose, sniffing them. “By the way… you didn’t do anything weird with these gloves, did you?”

“What are you talking about?! We’re on the bus.”

“So, you’d do it if you weren’t on the bus?”

Mei Fang gave Lin Youxi a helpless look, and she suddenly stuck out her tongue and smiled at him.

She rarely acted cute, and this adorable gesture with a hint of teasing completely charmed Mei Fang.

Just as Mei Fang finished his playful interaction with Lin Youxi, he looked up and saw Liu Xiaoyu behind them, catching his eye. She seemed embarrassed and looked around awkwardly. Then, Xia Yuan came out of the restroom, patting Liu Xiaoyu on the shoulder, and noticed Mei Fang.

Seeing her beloved childhood sweetheart appear suddenly, Xia Yuan instinctively wanted to rush up and hug him but was stopped by Lin Youxi tugging at her sleeve.

“Ah Fang, you’re here too!” Xia Yuan, hugging Lin Youxi, awkwardly waved at Mei Fang, and then Lin Youxi held Xia Yuan’s hand. “Ah Fang returned the gloves; I have them now.”

“Oh, I see.”

Xia Yuan put the gloves back on and asked, “Did you rest well on the bus?”

“Yes, I did.”

Mei Fang smiled at Xia Yuan. “The gloves you gave me were very warm.”

“Hehe, that’s good. Let’s head to the meeting point first. Don’t complain about being tired when we climb the mountain.”

“I won’t.”

After saying goodbye to Mei Fang, Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi headed back to where Class 5 was with Liu Xiaoyu, who gave Mei Fang a complex look but didn’t say anything before following the other two.

…

This meaningful look made Mei Fang uncomfortable. It seemed like every time he ran into Liu Xiaoyu, it was during an awkward moment.

Did she see my interaction with Youxi just now? If that’s the case, I’m afraid I’ll be seen as a two-timing scumbag by her too!

But Mei Fang had something to say—he felt wronged.

This kind of interaction hardly counts as two-timing!

There’s no secret training or anything beyond that.

This is typical behavior between childhood sweethearts. Liu Xiaoyu doesn’t have a childhood sweetheart, so she probably doesn’t understand these things.

Since she didn’t say anything, I don’t need to act guilty or embarrassed. That would make her think I’m hiding something and ruin my good image.

Mhm! I need to show Liu Xiaoyu that my interactions with Yuan Yuan and Youxi are open and honest, not sneaky. Otherwise, it might affect her attitude towards working with me…

With that in mind, Mei Fang decided to show off his skills in the upcoming team-building activity organized by the two classes.

Translator's Notes:

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