Rebirth: My Childhood Sweetheart Came into My Arms

"Are you feeling unwell?" Lan Yuan's hand naturally rested on his shoulder. "Do you need me to take you to the infirmary?"

He Ningqiu's body stiffened slightly.

Because of his sexual orientation, he is somewhat sensitive to touch from other men. If a stranger touches him normally, he will definitely try to break free.

But at this moment, the warmth of Lan Yuan's palm unexpectedly made him feel very comfortable.

"Go to the infirmary, you look terrible," Lan Yuan suggested again, gently squeezing his shoulder.

He Ningqiu sniffed, and was about to say that it was not necessary to go to such trouble, when the image of Jiang Nanqiao cracking a small leather whip appeared in her mind.

If he goes back now, Jiang Nanqiao will definitely force him to do homework. Rather than being tormented by that little bitch, he might as well go to the infirmary to avoid trouble.

After thinking about it, He Ningqiu nodded and softly said "Okay".

……

Arriving at the door of the infirmary, Lan Yuan knocked and heard someone say "Come in," so he pushed the door open and went inside.

"It's only been less than a week since school started, and your place is already packed with customers. That's proof enough how mischievous this year's students are..."

The speaker was Gao Lingfei, the physical education teacher, who was sitting in a chair, drinking tea and chatting with Fan Xunmei.

Seeing someone arrive, Gao Lingfei put down his teacup, stood up, and said, "Alright, you go ahead with your work, I'll be leaving now."

As he passed He Ningqiu, he suddenly slowed his pace, raised one eyebrow, and said, "Oh, injured again?"

He Ningqiu: "..."

Of all the students in Class 7, He Ningqiu left the deepest impression on him.

A basketball hits you on the head; you trip and fall while running on flat ground.

If he had solid evidence, he would have suspected that the child was being bullied at school.

"Come back and get some protein bars from me, they're free, no money required."

"Thank you, teacher."

After Gao Lingfei left, Fan Xunmei had He Ningqiu lie down, took his temperature, and asked about his symptoms. She initially diagnosed him with acute gastritis caused by indigestion.

She took out two stomach pills, poured a glass of warm water, and handed them to He Ningqiu.

"Tell the teacher you're not going to class this afternoon. Rest here for a while, otherwise you won't be able to concentrate on the lessons when you get back."

He Ningqiu weakly swallowed the medicine with water and nodded.

Lan Yuan sat down next to her, looking down at his phone. After a while, he said to He Ningqiu, "I've already had a friend explain the situation to your homeroom teacher. You can rest here and relax."

He Ningqiu was deeply moved upon hearing this.

He was feeling so bad earlier that he didn't even have time to observe the boy who brought him here. Now that he's taken the medicine and his stomach feels a bit better, he has the energy to take a closer look at this kind person.

As far as the eye could see, Lan Yuan sat in a chair, holding his phone in his left hand and fanning himself with the hem of his school uniform in his right, his well-defined abs faintly visible.

He Ningqiu swallowed hard and asked, "Aren't you going back to class?"

Lan Yuan stopped what he was doing and said calmly, "This PE class is fine."

The implication was that she wanted to stay here with him.

He Ningqiu was somewhat flattered.

These past two days, he's been feeling quite stifled by He Ziyu's ostracism, and it's rather unusual for a stranger to be so kind to him.

"Are you He Ziyu's younger brother?" Suddenly, Lan Yuan put down his phone and looked up.

He Ningqiu was busy stealing glances when their eyes unexpectedly met, startling him so much that his heart skipped a beat, and he stammered, "Yes, I am..."

Lan Yuan stared at him for a few seconds, then said meaningfully, "You two are really different."

They are very different in both appearance and personality.

He Ziyu is outgoing, while He Ningqiu is introverted.

A blazing sun, a shimmering autumn lake.

Lan Yuan flipped his phone over with his fingertips, his expression thoughtful.

Yesterday, after playing basketball, we all had dinner together. A friend, emboldened by alcohol, joked that he was no longer He Ziyu's ideal woman.

At first, he didn't take it to heart. After all, he didn't like He Ziyu, and the fact that the guy wasn't pursuing him was a relief for him.

But as the conversation went on, the topic started to veer off course. A few gossipy people insisted that He Ziyu had taken a liking to Jiang Chengyu, and even seriously compared him to Jiang Chengyu.

The final conclusion was that Jiang Chengyu was better than him in everything except basketball.

Lan Yuan was so angry when he heard this that he almost died.

What's even more embarrassing is that he can't find a reason to refute it.

Putting aside subjective factors, in terms of family background alone, he is no match for Jiang Chengyu.

The Jiang family's influence in Yuecheng is second to none. Looking at the entire No. 8 Middle School, only a young master like He Ziyu, who is his equal, dares to order him around.

Let's talk about studying.

Although Jiang Chengyu failed his high school entrance exam, he was always among the top students in junior high school, so it's hard to say whether he deliberately manipulated his score.

Lan Yuan was already quite annoyed by this thought, but those people just added fuel to the fire by calling the girls he knew on the spot and asking them, "Who is more handsome, Lan Yuan or Jiang Chengyu?"

Lan Yuan thought he had some advantage in this regard, since being good at basketball was a big plus in the eyes of girls.

However, it turned out that he was overthinking it.

Of the ten girls who participated in the online poll, seven voted for Jiang Chengyu. That's not all; one of the three who voted for him shamelessly claimed it was because his buttocks were more perky and he resembled the male lead in her favorite gay porn movies.

Everyone at the dinner table nearly burst out laughing, eagerly asking the girl whether the other person was playing a 1 or a 0. Before the girl could answer, Lan Yuan hung up the call.

In an attempt to regain his lost dignity, Lan Yuan made a bold claim that he could get He Ziyu to start pursuing him again within a month.

When Lan Yuan got home that night, he tossed and turned in bed.

After several hours of careful consideration, he decided to use reverse psychology, approaching other people to make He Ziyu feel a sense of crisis.

Anyway, he firmly believed that He Ziyu couldn't possibly lose interest in him so quickly. As long as he showed affection for other people, that guy would definitely start to get anxious and revert to his sycophantic nature.

This morning, Lan Yuan asked Liu Wen to inquire about the little boy who had been following He Ziyu around for the past two days.

Upon learning that he was He Ziyu's younger brother, Lan Yuan immediately set his sights on him.

He knew that with He Ziyu's pampered personality, he would definitely not like this younger brother who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. If he approached someone that He Ziyu disliked, the effect would definitely be twice as good.

"What's your name?" As I was thinking, He Ningqiu's voice rang in my ears.

"My name is Lan Yuan, and I'm in Class 2 of the first year of high school."

He Ningqiu was taken aback upon hearing this.

Lan Yuan, isn't that the person He Ziyu mentioned at noon who has a bad character and is very annoying?

But now it seems this guy is pretty good...

Noticing the confusion in He Ningqiu's eyes, Lan Yuan asked him in return, "Do you know me?"

He Ningqiu quickly shook her head, "I don't know him."

"Now that you know each other," Lan Yuan said, opening his WeChat. "If you don't mind, let's be friends."

……

That afternoon.

An administrator nicknamed "Chocolate Crispy Duck" posted a photo in the No. 8 Middle School's BL (Boys' Love) group.

In the photo, Jiang Chengyu and He Ziyu are walking on the playground wearing school uniforms covered in running powder, which contrasts sharply with the plain school uniforms of the students around them.

[Chocolate Crispy Duck: Look, matching outfits! (¯﹃¯)]

The group chat went wild shortly after the photos were posted.

[Did you ship today? Who is this? They look vaguely familiar.]

[Can't Stop the Sweetness: Jiang Chengyu on the left, He Ziyu on the right, the real-life domineering chairman's adorable little wife hhh...]

[The truth is: What?! He Ziyu clearly belongs to Lan Yuan!]

[Can't Stop Sugaring: Your house collapsed the day you went back to school, and you're still clinging to it?]

[Little Dolphin: That's right! Didn't DuckDuck say that He Ziyu and Lan Yuan have become enemies? Come and ship the Eryu CP with us!]

[The truth is: What's the deal with "Eryu" again?]

[Chocolate Crispy Duck: Eryu is He Ziyu's new WeChat name. Unsurprisingly, this name is definitely a veiled reference to "Yu" and "Yu"!]

The truth is true: ...

Jiang Nanqiao was chatting enthusiastically in the group, and her hands were also busy.

While the political teacher was lecturing enthusiastically, she secretly copied the photo onto scrap paper and, inspired by the moment, had the two of them hold hands.

After finishing a painting, Jiang Nanqiao raised her head with satisfaction, only to be met with the deadpan gaze of her political science teacher.

"What should we draw?"

"Uh, no, it's nothing..."

"show me."

The political science teacher, expressionless, snatched the paper from Jiang Nanqiao's hand on the ground, looked at it for a moment, and said indifferently, "You, come with me after class."

……

During the break, He Ziyu went to the office to pick up his test paper.

As soon as I entered the door, I heard Lu Chengzhang scolding Jiang Nanqiao.

"Look at you, having a crush is one thing, but having a crush on two people at once? And they're both in the same class! How can you concentrate on your studies when you're staring at them like that every day?"

"Teacher, I didn't..." Jiang Nanqiao's voice was barely audible.

After class, the political science teacher took her drawing to the office, but the homeroom teacher had something come up, so the responsibility of educating her fell to Lu Chengzhang.

"You didn't draw them? You drew both of them?" Lu Chengzhang pointed at her drawing. "Jiang, this won't do. It's okay to have a crush, but you can't be greedy, you know?"

"..."

Faced with Lu Chengzhang's scolding, Jiang Nanqiao kept her head down the whole time, not daring to say too much.

Actually, she's more afraid of being misunderstood as having a puppy love relationship than of being discovered having a homoerotic relationship, which would indirectly harm the treasures stored on her phone.avi.

Fortunately, Mr. Lu is a very straight man and automatically ignored the fact that the two people in the drawing were holding hands.

"Teacher, I've come to get the test paper." He Ziyu's appearance promptly interrupted Lu Chengzhang's rambling.

Lu Chengzhang cleared his throat, took a stack of papers from the drawer, and handed them to He Ziyu.

Then, he returned the painting to Jiang Nanqiao, saying, "Considering this is your first offense, we won't pursue it this time. Remember to focus on your studies from now on, okay?"

Jiang Nanqiao nodded, "Understood, teacher."

……

He Ziyu and Jiang Nanqiao left the office together.

On his way back to class, he asked Jiang Nanqiao, "Qiaoqiao, can I have the painting you're holding?"

Jiang Nanqiao was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, almost unable to believe her ears. "Are you... sure?"

He Ziyu: "Of course."

"But..." Jiang Nanqiao hesitated, her face showing embarrassment.

"But I drew you and the class monitor..."

"Holding hands."