My girlfriend was reborn.

Chapter 85 It's not that I'm love-struck, it's that I like her.
"Are you really going to do this?"

Lu Bai's voice came from the phone. She yawned, seemed to be stretching, and made a soft whimper.

late at night.

Zhou Heming had a long-awaited voice call with Lu Bai.

Since the heating in Cheng Shuangjiang's house had been repaired, she naturally lost her reason to sleep at Zhou Heming's place every night.

Another reason is that Cheng Lingjun is now paying the electricity bill for Cheng Shuangjiang's family. If Cheng Shuangjiang has been sleeping at Zhou Heming's place, the electricity bill would show that she has hardly ever turned on the heating.

Zhou Heming thought that this was probably what espionage was all about.

He recalled watching TV behind his parents' backs when he was a child, always turning it off beforehand and then fanning himself to cool it down.

So, although Zhou Heming and Cheng Shuangjiang seemed to have skipped many of the intermediate steps and entered into the cohabitation life of an old married couple ahead of time, they still returned to being good neighbors during this period.

"Hmm, what do you think?"

Zhou Heming had just finished explaining his idea: the surprise he wanted to prepare for his girlfriend at the Double Egg Gala.

"Asking me is useless; you have to ask her what she thinks."

Lu Bai made a joke, then seemed to sit up a little straighter.

"But I think if any boy actually did that, I probably would never forget that moment for the rest of my life."

She seemed to be smiling slightly, her tone a mixture of longing and regret.

"Then, well, that's settled."

Zhou Heming made up his mind completely.

"You look like a block of wood, but I never expected you to be such a hopeless romantic."

Lu Bai suddenly said with a sigh.

"It's not that I'm love-struck, it's that I like her."

Zhou Heming corrected.

"Alright, alright, don't try to force me to watch your lovey-dovey moments."

Lu Bai interrupted the spellcasting. She was silent for a moment, then continued to speak.

"However, I think it's really great to have met you all. I originally chose this place just because of my acting job and didn't plan to make any friends, but being able to get to know you and her during my last year of high school has made my high school life somewhat meaningful."

"This is truly a heavy confession."

Zhou Heming chuckled and scratched his head.

"But actually we didn't do anything much; what happened before wasn't really a big help."

"It has nothing to do with that matter."

Lu Bai paused, seemingly organizing her thoughts or hesitating. After a long while, accompanied by the crisp sound of her pulling on the bracelet, her voice, as gentle as dusk, finally came through.

"As you know, the film and television industry is actually quite chaotic, with all sorts of glamorous and disgraceful things happening one after another. Although I have family to take care of me, and most of the people I've worked with along the way have been good people, so I haven't encountered any major troubles, I have indeed seen some things that are enough to shatter the illusions of those newcomers."

"Ah."

Zhou Heming could sense that Lu Bai wasn't the type to casually tell just anyone these things. The fact that she would speak to him meant that she must have considered it for a long time before making the decision.

"Because I've seen so much, I used to think that it's hard for people to trust each other. Even couples in love will eventually drift apart and betray each other."

Lu Bai's voice was no longer as cheerful as it had been during the day; instead, it carried a faint sadness.

"But seeing you and Cheng Shuangjiang, I have this feeling, how should I put it, haha, like that popular saying online, I believe in love again. I envy you two for having a lover like each other."

She sniffed softly, wondering if the room was too cold.

"We have actually come a long way."

Zhou Heming thought of the hardships Cheng Shuangjiang experienced in another timeline, a past that was truly difficult to recall with a smile.

"Well, so you don't need to be so anxious. You don't need to guess whether she will like everything you've prepared for her. Of course she will. You need to be more confident."

"Thank you."

Zhou Heming didn't know why the topic had shifted to encouraging himself.

"Although I complain about eating dog food every day, I actually quite like it. Sometimes I even think about whether my future boyfriend will be this good to me."

Lu Bai made a joke.

The way you're saying this makes it sound like you already have someone you like and are imagining yourself in their shoes.

Zhou Heming joked along with her words.

"The person I like? Maybe it's because I'm too good at hide-and-seek, so he hasn't found me yet, hahaha."

Lu Bai gave another bright and clear smile, which seemed to let Zhou Heming see the joy in her trembling shoulders.

"Okay, I'll definitely get what you asked for, but you'll have to handle the rest yourself."

"Well, thank you."

"That's all for tonight. It's been so cold lately, I'm so sleepy, time for bed."

"Okay, good night."

"Good night."

Lu Bai hung up the phone, stared at his phone, and spaced out for a while.

"This guy is so lucky."

She saw her own face appear on the black screen of her phone, with a faint smile on her face.

She put the bracelet she had taken off and placed on the table back on, yawned, lay down on the bed, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

*
Thursday, December 29th.

Because tomorrow is the last day of school this year, and with the Christmas and New Year's Eve parties and the afternoon class parties, the school is already quite noisy today, with people carrying props and wearing performance costumes walking through the corridors.

The school's auditorium was naturally even more lively.

The student council members, composed of first- and second-year high school students, were busy by the stage during lunch breaks and evening self-study sessions, confirming the arrangements for each program.

"Yes, that's it. The curtain will be pulled up after the show ends, and then we can set up behind the curtain when the next show starts."

Xie Anshuang, the head of the Student Union's Activities Department, was giving instructions while a student union member next to him was flipping through a paper program.

"The next program is a piano solo by senior student Lu Bai."

"Oh, we'll just bring the piano up, then darken the whole room and turn on the spotlights."

Xie Anshuang directed three students to push the piano up, and then Lu Bai, wearing a duffle coat, walked up to the piano and played a short piece.

After all, it's just a rehearsal; there's no need for a real performance.

"Okay, thank you, Senior Lu Bai. Your program is ten minutes long. Thank you for your hard work."

Xie Anshuang signaled to Lu Bai that he could step down.

Lu Bai nodded and walked out of the auditorium.

"Lu Bai".

Then, a voice called out to her, causing Lu Bai to turn around.

He was a guy I didn't know very well.

Who?
"Is there a problem?"

Lu Bai did not rudely reveal his inner thoughts, but instead asked in a gentle tone.

"No, no, I just wanted to say hello. I'm Zhao Jiayu from Class 1."

The boy introduced himself.

"Oh."

Lu Bai remembered.

It's the person Zhou Heming mentioned before, the one who was supposed to confess his feelings to him publicly at the school sports meet.

"Hello."

Lu Bai responded politely, then prepared to turn around.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

"Okay, okay, Happy New Year in advance."

Zhao Jiayu said, somewhat at a loss.

Thank you, and Happy New Year to you too.

Lu Bai responded and then left.

Only after she walked away did a girl with a slightly timid look in her eyes approach Zhao Jiayu.

"Zhao Jiayu, your classmates want you to come over." "Okay, I'll go right away."

Zhao Jiayu was about to leave when he seemed to remember something and stopped.

"I just happened to see you, so I said hello, that's all."

The girl with a slightly timid look in her eyes, Chai Xixi, paused for a moment after hearing Zhao Jiayu's words before revealing a somewhat embarrassed smile.

"No, it's alright, you go ahead."

She waved.

Lu Bai naturally didn't see this scene; she had already walked out of the auditorium and headed towards the main building.

The sky was overcast and gloomy, as if about to weep. The weather forecast predicted a cold wave approaching in the next few days. If the dark clouds fell and rain came, it would probably become the first snow of the winter in Jiangcheng halfway there.

It was just too cold. Even though he was wearing a thick coat, Lu Bai walked quickly, hoping to get through the empty corridor and into the warm multimedia classroom as soon as possible.

When she reached the seventh floor, she heard a slightly awkward piano melody.

Lu Bai slowed his pace slightly, listened carefully, and smiled unconsciously.

Pushing open the door, she saw Cheng Shuangjiang playing the piano with some difficulty.

"How was your practice today? It seems like you were in pretty good shape."

Lu Bai immediately closed the classroom door.

The multimedia classroom had its heating on, but because the classroom was spacious, it wasn't very warm. Lu Bai only took off her duffle coat, revealing a gray collared sweater and plaid skirt underneath. She was still wearing a dark gray beret today, giving her an artistic and literary look.

"I can only hold on for a little while before I have to rest."

Cheng Shuangjiang stopped playing and moved her hands slightly.

Just like a person who has broken their leg needs a long time to recover, her hands, especially her right hand, were difficult to use even normally after the surgery, let alone play the piano. Therefore, such practice was many times more difficult for her than for the average person.

"Speaking of which, Ah Bai, what piece are you going to play tomorrow night?"

Cheng Shuangjiang stood up from the piano, gave up her seat for Lu Bai, and casually asked.

"Yes, 'The Maiden's Prayer'."

Lu Bai answered, glancing at Cheng Shuangjiang.

"Wow, I'm really looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of effect Ah Bai can produce."

The girl who had once performed this piece at the Jiangcheng Grand Theater simply offered words of encouragement.

If it were someone else, Zhou Heming might have thought it was a provocation or a mockery of Cheng Shuangjiang, who could no longer play at that level. But with Lu Bai, Zhou Heming knew very well that this girl simply wanted to try to approach a genius as an ordinary person; she simply wanted to confront herself.

"Don't have too high hopes, it should just be an average performance."

Lu Bai sat down at the piano and casually glanced at the sweat stains on the keys.

Under normal circumstances, Cheng Shuangjiang's performance just now wouldn't have left such obvious sweat stains. The reason for this is probably due to her injury.

"Speaking of which, how about we go out for dinner together tomorrow night?"

After finishing a set of test papers, Zhou Heming suddenly made a suggestion.

"Okay, let's invite Achen and Youyou along!"

Cheng Shuangjiang nodded immediately.

"If we invite Qiao Jinchen, he'll probably have to treat us again."

Zhou Heming smiled, but did not refuse.

"Ah Bai too."

"what?"

Lu Bai, who originally thought it was just a gathering of a few of them, did not expect that Cheng Shuangjiang would also invite him.

She only interacted with Qiao Jinchen and Xu Youyou on Cheng Shuangjiang's birthday. They didn't add each other as friends or anything; they just knew each other's names and would greet each other if they happened to meet at school.

"Will I feel awkward around you guys?"

Lu Bai habitually declined.

"It's okay, you'll get to know each other after a couple more meals~"

Cheng Shuangjiang seemed determined to bring Lu Bai along.

"Hmm, that's fine, but I need to go backstage early to get my makeup done, so I need to leave a little earlier."

Lu Bai said that her show was in the middle, so she didn't need to prepare so early, but she still needed to spend some time on makeup.

"No problem~"

Cheng Shuangjiang seemed quite looking forward to it.

"By the way, I sent you some shredded beef from my hometown, would you like to try some?"

Lu Bai took out a vacuum-packed bag of shredded beef that looked very spicy from his backpack.

"Lantern-smoked beef?"

Zhou Heming had only heard of this in food videos.

"There's a slight difference, but you can think of it that way too; it's not spicy."

Lu Bai opened the packaging, which could be sealed at any time, and handed it to the two of them.

"I can't eat anything too spicy, Ah He, try it for me."

Cheng Shuangjiang looked at the boy beside her.

"Does this mean we can't eat spicy food at times like this?"

Didn't you enjoy the spicy chicken at the cafeteria last night?
Zhou Heming reached out and took a small piece.

He remained oblivious to the fact that the people from Sichuan said it wasn't spicy.

Put it in your mouth.

"It's really delicious and very fragrant, and not too spicy."

Zhou Heming's objective evaluation.

"The idea that all Sichuan cuisine is spicy is a stereotype. Even if chili peppers are added, they are only to enhance the aroma, not to make it excessively spicy."

Lu Bai puffed out his chest smugly.

"I feel like I've eaten this somewhere before, what brand is it?"

Zhou Heming took another one and savored it carefully.

"It was made by my grandma; you can't buy it anywhere else."

Lu Bai also tried it himself.

"When I was little, I didn't like to eat, so my grandma would take some out of a glass jar and it would make my rice taste so good."

"Would you like to try some after Frost's Descent?"

Zhou Heming took one.

"Mmm, I'll try a little bit too."

She opened her mouth slightly, letting Zhou Heming put the shredded beef into her mouth. As she ate it, the girl's warm tongue brushed against Zhou Heming's finger, causing him to tremble slightly.

"It's delicious! It must be made with love to make it taste this good."

Cheng Shuangjiang seemed oblivious, only smiling and praising him.

"Maybe it's because my grandma's cooking skills are superb, haha."

Lu Bai gave a little more to the two of them before resealing it.

"I'll bring some food with me tomorrow so they can all try it."

"Mmm, I'm getting more and more excited for tomorrow."

Cheng Shuangjiang glanced at Zhou Heming with a smile.

"Yes, yes."

Zhou Heming didn't know if Cheng Shuangjiang had already slightly sensed his plan, or if it was the counting.

Ninety-seven times.

The number of times he kissed Cheng Shuangjiang.

Zhou Heming was also more or less aware that the girl wanted to make this hundredth time more meaningful, so he had been trying to restrain himself during this period.

If nothing unexpected happens, they should be able to share their 100th kiss tomorrow night after the Double Egg party.

From any perspective, Zhou Heming was extremely, extremely looking forward to tomorrow.

*
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(End of this chapter)