The sunlight was warm, carrying a sweet fragrance in the air.
The girl behind him had been following him all along. Lin Shen, walking ahead, was fully aware of it. Even when he reached the entrance of his family’s villa, she remained on his trail.
Ruan Xing truly hadn’t expected Lin Shen’s home to be right next to hers. She watched him enter the villa before finally retracting her gaze and heading toward the opposite villa.
By the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor, Lin Shen sat in his wheelchair, a flicker of surprise surfacing in his eyes. But it vanished in an instant—he had always been adept at concealing his emotions.
Only after seeing the girl enter the opposite villa did Lin Shen slowly wheel himself toward his room.
So, she really did live here.
She hadn’t been intentionally following him.
After realizing this, Lin Shen froze for a moment. Why had he been watching her? She had nothing to do with him.
Ruan Xing pondered for a long time but couldn’t recall such a young man living next door in her previous life. She had no memory of him at all.
When her father returned that evening, she asked him about it. He wasn’t very familiar with the situation either, only knowing that Lin Shen didn’t often reside there.
It was October, almost autumn.
Nearly a month had passed since she returned to this world.
During this time, Ruan Xing had thrown herself into studying with near-frenzied dedication, allocating every moment to her academics. She hadn’t sought out Huo Jing even once this entire month.
Rumors about Ruan Xing circulated widely at school, many of them harsh and unpleasant.
Some said Ruan Xing had gone off the deep end, studying frantically just to win Huo Jing’s affection, attempting to change his opinion through her grades.
Others claimed her current behavior was all an act, a performance for Huo Jing’s benefit, playing hard to get.
As her classmates observed Ruan Xing’s transformation over this period, their biases gradually faded. Many students now willingly discussed problems and chatted with her.
It had been a long time since Ruan Xing appeared in front of Huo Jing.
Huo Jing also noticed the changes in the ugly freak who used to trail behind him incessantly.
In the days he didn’t see her, she had grown more refined and radiant. Sometimes, Huo Jing felt she was still the same shameless ugly freak who clung to his shadow, while at other times, it seemed as if they had never known each other.
An unprecedented sense of irritation suddenly welled up in his chest.
“Jing-ge, what’s wrong?”
“How about we go have some fun this afternoon? Chen Ye invited several popular girls from other high schools. It’s bound to be interesting.”
“Get lost.” Huo Jing turned around, the anger in his eyes dissipating into a cold, single-word retort.
Seeing Huo Jing’s noticeably off mood lately, Lu Chen had wanted to organize an outing to cheer him up, never expecting it would provoke his displeasure.
Lu Chen, feeling indignant, grumbled, “Jing-ge, that ugly freak is just playing hard to get. Why are you still thinking about her?”
The moment those words left his mouth, Huo Jing’s eyes turned bloodshot, radiating a bone-chilling coldness that was utterly terrifying.
“Get lost.”
Chen Ye, He Qingze, and Xie Yiming felt the temperature around them plummet instantly. They hurried forward to drag away Lu Chen, that reckless fool, fearing he might say something even more inappropriate.
Even with all his earlier impulsiveness, Lu Chen was now thoroughly frightened by Huo Jing’s demeanor. His legs trembled uncontrollably, and he didn’t dare utter another word, feeling a wave of belated fear as he obediently let the others lead him out.
After Xie Yiming escorted Huo Jing outside, he returned inside.
“A Jing, are you thinking about Ruan Xing?” Xie Yiming asked, a trace of surprise appearing in his eyes as he noticed Huo Jing’s unusually reddened eyes.
“Who would think about that ugly freak? Is she even worthy?” Huo Jing laughed loudly, putting on an utterly indifferent front.
Xie Yiming smiled faintly but said nothing more.
Having been friends for so many years, he could tell at a glance that Huo Jing was lying. If Huo Jing truly didn’t care, he wouldn’t have even bothered answering the question.
Ultimately, Huo Jing had already placed Ruan Xing in his heart—he just hadn’t realized it yet.
Huo Jing had always been Heaven’s Chosen, arrogant and untamed, with no one ever truly penetrating the depths of his heart.
But now it seemed that wasn’t entirely true. Who would have thought Ruan Xing would matter so much to him?
How foolish—he should have realized it sooner.
Huo Jing’s temper was notoriously bad. Everyone knew he disliked girls; they were too afraid of him to even approach. Over the years, there had never been any of the opposite sex around him, except for Ruan Xing, who had stumbled into his life uninvited.
In her senior year of high school, Ruan Xing didn’t dare slack off.
Over the past month, she had thoroughly digested all the knowledge from the past three years’ textbooks. With her photographic memory, this was hardly difficult for her.
Yet, even so, she didn’t dare relax for a single moment, especially since her math skills remained a persistent headache.
Beside her, Wu Jiali scratched her head in frustration, staring dejectedly at a geography question she had been stuck on for nearly half an hour.
After a long while, she finally turned around and couldn’t help complaining to Ruan Xing about the abnormal question.
“Ruan Ruan, I’m going crazy,” Wu Jiali said, wearing an expression of deep suffering as she glared at the problem.
Seeing her friend’s utterly defeated look, Ruan Xing couldn’t help but laugh unkindly. “What’s wrong?”
“Whoever came up with such an abnormal question is driving me insane,” Wu Jiali grumbled, feeling a surge of anger toward the question’s creator.
Ruan Xing’s gaze fell on the test paper Wu Jiali was clutching. After a moment, she said gently, “Let me see.”
Without hesitation, Wu Jiali handed her the paper.
Taking the question, Ruan Xing skimmed it briefly and immediately understood. She pulled out a blank sheet of scratch paper. “For this question, you should approach it like this…”
Within minutes, the paper was filled with dense lines of reasoning. Ruan Xing explained in great detail, and Wu Jiali grasped it after listening.
“Ruan Ruan, you’re amazing! At this rate, you might even surpass me in the next monthly exam!” Wu Jiali exclaimed, her face showing both shock and undisguised admiration as she looked at the scratch paper.
She hadn’t held out much hope initially—after all, even He Yang, the top student in their class, hadn’t solved this problem. Yet Ruan Xing had managed it.
Though she knew Ruan Xing had improved significantly, only now did she realize just how rapid that progress was. To reach this level in just one month was truly astonishing.
Wu Jiali had a feeling Ruan Xing would break into the top hundred in the next monthly exam. Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before she surpassed her altogether.
Hearing Wu Jiali’s words, Ruan Xing shook her head without responding.
The truth was, with math as such an unpredictable variable, she couldn’t be sure herself.
The news that Ruan Xing had solved that extremely difficult problem quickly spread throughout the class, and Wu Jiali’s “assistance” certainly played a role in this.
In fact, Wu Jiali had done it intentionally. She knew many classmates still thought Ruan Xing was just putting on an act and held prejudices against her. By deliberately sharing this information, she wanted to thoroughly embarrass those people and help her friend vent some righteous anger.