Rebirth after the college entrance examination

Chapter 157 Love That's Cheap

The streetlights cast an orange-yellow glow on the small patch of space beside the car. Le Ning looked at the layer of snow on the windshield and asked Xia An to open the window a little.

"hot."

A layer of sweat appeared on her forehead; she was exhausted from going up and down.

Chewing gum and lollipops are always kept in the car. Xia An took the latter, unwrapped it, put it in her mouth, and comfortably exhaled, "Post-coital cigarette, that's great."

Le Ning actually understood. She was embarrassed at first, then laughed and said, "Is this what you call 'afterwards'?"

Xia An peeled one open for her as well, handed it to her, and told her to suck on it.

"Halfway," he said, pinching her cheek and asking, "Does your head hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt. I didn't drink much, and they didn't force me to drink."

With a soft "hmm," Xia An adjusted the windshield wipers, clearing away the loose snow.

The road where we parked was outside the east wall of the campus. It was a deserted road, and ahead was a cliff. A small path meandered to the beach. It was pitch black ahead, and the faint sound of waves came in through the cracks in the window. The cold air was mixed with a fishy smell.

The two remained silent, leisurely enjoying the quiet moment.

Leaning against him, Le Ning linked arms with his, their other hands clasped together, gently caressing each other.

In the original world, Xia An suffered a very...unseemly aftereffect due to an explosion accident and Zuo You's departure—she developed a serious urge to hug people.

After they officially got together, he spoke very little, but whenever the two of them were alone, Xia An would always hold Le Ning in his arms, without saying a word, just gently stroking her.

He was already thirty years old at that time.

On one occasion, Le Ning bluntly exposed his lie: "I'd rather become a real rag doll."

Xia An felt guilty; he had indeed treated Le Ning as a tool for many years. A real, living person, with flesh and blood, a heart and a mind—who would willingly want to be someone else's substitute?
However, despite saying that, Le Ning felt sorry for him, so she would often tie up Zuo You's hair in a bun, occasionally buy some of Zuo You's old clothes and dress up like her, and spray the same perfume as Zuo You.

I can choose not to be a lemon, but instead, when you're unhappy, I can pretend to be the kind of person you like, and act like a grapefruit.

Until I break down and rot from within, I slink away across the ocean, burying myself in a corner you can't see or find, slowly letting you forget me, slowly letting me return to myself.

"I remember you used to smoke a lot, why did you suddenly quit?"

As soon as Le Ning opened her mouth, the car was filled with the sweet scent of strawberries.

Xia An looked down at her and smiled, "You always tell me not to smoke, and I'm listening to you."

Le Ning blinked, then abruptly asked, "Does this car also belong to Tang Wan?"

Xia An smiled and nodded: "..."

Le Ning sniffed, but surprisingly she wasn't angry. Instead, she asked him, "Why do you want to adjust the seat back?"

Xia An didn't understand why she asked that. She pressed a button on the car door, and the seat moved back a little.

Le Ning reached out her arm and moved his seat to the back, then straddled him with her long legs, exuding a fragrant breeze.

"This is…"

Le Ning wasn't heavy, and her little bottom was soft. Xia An thought that she had been aroused by the protein she had just tasted, but she really didn't want to waste her first time here, feeling wronged and covered in blood.

Le Ning wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear, "I'm not as strong as you think."

I'm not as strong as you think. If I didn't like someone that much, who would want to be the other woman? You always have to make a choice. Don't make me wait too long.

Perhaps I couldn't hold on any longer before you made your decision.

Xia An understood the deeper meaning of those words. He wrapped his arms around her soft, slender waist from inside her down jacket and took a deep breath against her chest. Le Ning sat up straight, cupped his face in her hands, let down half of her disheveled hair, and kissed him awkwardly yet affectionately.

The lips felt cool, soft, and sweet.

After a while, Xia An stopped asking her to kiss him and hugged her without saying a word.

Le Ning said, "Hold me tighter, hug me more firmly."

Even when it hurt from being pulled so tight, she said to apply more pressure.

Xia An held her tightly, so tightly that his arms began to tremble, but Le Ning smiled happily.

"I brought you water during the first-year high school soccer game, but you refused and even called me cheap."

There were so many people around that day, and I felt so sad. It started raining heavily in the second half, and you fought desperately for the ball in the mud. I watched you from the tunnel, and I got soaked.

Your class won, and you walked right past me without even glancing at me.

I got a fever after I got home that day and cried all night. My mom asked me, and I said you don't like me. She said she wanted to transfer me to another school, and I said my life was over.

That day I knew my life was over.

My mother said I was useless. She said that people have many things to do and bear in this life, such as parents, family, work, and children. People who are preoccupied with romantic relationships, regardless of gender, are useless.

Xia An, I've fallen in love. I've been like this since I was very young. If you don't want me, I can't guarantee I won't fall in love with someone else. What if I encounter another love like this, and that person treats me badly too?

Xia Ansheng shivered; he deeply agreed with Le Ning's words.

"No, if you run away one day, I'll catch you and bring you back, just like now, I'll tie you up in the house so tightly and forcefully, and I won't let you go anywhere."

"You're abusing me?"

"Yes. Tie him up there, beat him seven times a day, kick him a hundred times. Even if he's just a vase, if he breaks, he's mine. I won't let anyone else touch him."

Le Ning lowered her head and bit his shoulder tightly, with all her might, until her body began to tremble. Xia An was in excruciating pain but didn't utter a sound.

……

On the way back to school, there wasn't a single car on the road. Xia An stepped on the gas and took Le Ning for a drift ride on the snow-covered main road.

The car sped sideways across the middle of the road, and Le Ning shouted excitedly, saying how thrilling it was while crowing and laughing.

At 10:15, Le Ning entered the dormitory building. Xia An drove the car back to the building of her rented house, but ultimately decided to go back to the dormitory. She fell twice on the way and finally entered the building just in time for the dormitory to close.

A man was crying at the corner of the fifth-floor staircase.

Xia An was startled. She turned around and saw a boy wearing slippers and shorts holding a wine bottle, crying while looking at the snow. It was Wu Xun.

"..."

As Xia An carefully walked along the corner of the wall, a tingling sensation ran down the back of her head.

What a tragedy! If humans could only truly be happy if they were castrated like cats and dogs, without worrying about food and drink, it's truly torturous.

He actually really wanted to give Wu Xun a piece of his mind, to tell him that the greatest love is letting go, and that his current obsession and pain were nothing more than his worry that she would end up with someone else and be hugged, kissed, and touched by that other person.

The dormitory was very warm. The university has an independent heating system, with its own boiler room. Qi Buyang and Lu Yao were in the same pose, lying sprawled on the bed snoring, without even a blanket.

Lu Fei was soaking his feet while lifting dumbbells, his biceps bulging as he saw Xia An enter the room. He grinned sheepishly and said, "I thought you weren't coming back."

(End of this chapter)