On the video call screen, the young girl's delicate face was tinged with a faint blush. This was her first time ever video-calling with a guy.
Lin Xuan stared blankly at Ling Yinluo, mentally cursing himself for being such an idiot in the past.
How had he failed to notice such an absolute beauty sitting right next to him for three years? And to think he had spent all that time chasing after Yu Jiaxin—he seriously doubted whether his brain had been working right back then!
In truth, many people feel that first-love memories are precious, but when they meet their former first love again years later, they realize that person was never as wonderful as they had imagined.
It was just that the memory carried the feeling of a first love, and because he had liked her back then, he had gradually built her up in his mind as the best girl in the world.
Only when you truly let go do you realize there are plenty of girls better than her—you just hadn't noticed them.
"Lin Xuan, what are you looking at!"
A shy expression appeared on the girl's face. Why did this Lin Xuan keep staring right at her?
"That goes without saying—looking at a beauty, of course!"
Lin Xuan teased.
"Stop it! You've got quite a silver tongue!"
Despite saying that, a wave of secret delight washed over Ling Yinluo. Who doesn't like being complimented?
"Right! Let me show you my new room!"
Ling Yinluo picked up her phone and panned it around her room.
The room wasn't very large, but it was exceptionally neat. Clothes hung orderly in the wardrobe, and two stuffed dolls were scattered across a bed of modest size.
A few cosmetics sat on the vanity. Girls all loved to dress up, and it seemed Ling Yinluo was no exception, though he had never seen her dolled up during the school term.
"Not bad at all, Yinluo. Your room is way neater than mine."
Lin Xuan then showed Ling Yinluo his own room. Aside from a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe, there was literally nothing else.
The wardrobe and desk were antique pieces from way back when, probably older than Lin Xuan himself, and the entire room exuded a shabby, rundown vibe.
It formed a sharp contrast with Ling Yinluo's new home.
Ling Yinluo had heard before that Lin Xuan's family situation wasn't very good, but seeing it now confirmed her suspicions, filling her with a quiet sense of pity.
"By the way, did you and Yu Jiaxin make up?"
"We were never together in the first place, alright? Where'd you even get the idea we made up..."
"Oh, is that so..."
Hearing that Lin Xuan and Yu Jiaxin hadn't made up, for some reason, a trace of secret delight welled up in the girl's heart. Could it be that deep down, she had actually hoped Lin Xuan wouldn't win Yu Jiaxin over?
"We're all classmates, and we see each other every day. How awkward would it be to ruin the relationship?"
"It's fine. There are only a few months left of high school anyway. Just bear with it and it'll pass—I probably won't even see her anymore after this."
Lin Xuan sank into his memories. In his past life, he vividly remembered that Yu Jiaxin achieved stellar scores on the college entrance examination and was eventually recruited by a prestigious foreign university, vanishing from his world forever.
"By the way, Yinluo, which school are you planning to apply to?"
"I'm not sure yet, probably Qinghua University!"
Qinghua University was the top-ranked prestigious university in the country. With Ling Yinluo's grades, getting in would be a breeze. Furthermore, according to Lin Xuan's memories, in her past life Ling Yinluo had topped the college entrance exams as the provincial scholar, ranking number one in Donghai City.
"With your scores, getting in will be more than enough. Scoring top scholar won't be a problem at all."
"Really?"
Ling Yinluo blinked her large eyes. She didn't care about the title of top scholar so much as the fact that finishing as the top scholar came with a massive scholarship and school subsidies!
Her own family circumstances weren't particularly great either; if she could really place as the top scholar, it would save her family a bundle on university tuition.
"Of course. If I say you can place, you can place. Trust me!"
Lin Xuan replied with absolute confidence. No one knew better than him, someone who had lived through it all.
"By the way, Lin Xuan, which university are you planning to test for?"
"Me? I don't even know yet. With my grades, I'll count my blessings if I can manage to get into an ordinary tier-two university."
Ling Yinluo almost forgot that Lin Xuan's grades were near the very bottom of their grade level. She awkwardly scratched her head—she really shouldn't have brought that up!
Doesn't that mean she wouldn't get to see Lin Xuan after graduating from high school?
"Then you need to start working hard right now! I can tutor you at school!"
The words slipped right out of the girl's mouth.
She seemed even more anxious about it than Lin Xuan.
"Deal!"
Lin Xuan agreed instantly. With this great beauty tutoring him, even if his grades didn't shoot up, he wouldn't be losing out—and building a closer bond out of it was a bonus.
"Is that a promise, then?! I'm going to supervise you at school, and if you dare slack off, I won't let you off easily!"
Supervise him? Having a top-scholar beauty look after his studies actually sounded pretty nice.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely work hard!"
No one's resolve was more steadfast than Lin Xuan's right now.
In his past life, his youth had been practically wasted on Yu Jiaxin. With such a painful lesson under his belt, how could he possibly slack off?
Whether for his family, for himself, or for his friends, he was going to fight with everything he had this time!
"Xiaoluo, it's so late and you're still not asleep? I thought I heard you talking to someone on the phone?"
Zhong Li's voice rang out, giving Ling Yinluo a fright.
"Mom, I was just reviewing with some study videos, you heard wrong!"
"Alright, see you tomorrow, Lin Xuan, I'm hanging up first! Bye-bye!"
"Yeah, bye-bye!"
Ling Yinluo hurriedly hung up the phone and let out a long breath of relief.
Why did she feel as though she had a secret underground relationship that was just about to be exposed?
Lin Xuan, having hung up the video call, noticed a missed video prompt—it must have come in while he was already on the video call with Ling Yinluo, which was why it hadn't gone through.
The moment he saw the contact name of the person who placed the video call, his mood soured and his brows knitted together.
Why was it her again? Yu Jiaxin!
Would she ever quit? Hadn't she heard a single word of what he said earlier today? Why was she still harassing him online?
Lying in bed, Yu Jiaxin couldn't fall asleep at all. Even though Lin Xuan had made it clear during the day that he wanted nothing more to do with her, she still desperately wanted to reach out to him!
Every night in the past, Lin Xuan would message her a goodnight. Now that he hadn't sent her a goodnight for several days running, she felt completely out of sorts.
Opening Lin Xuan's QQ profile, she deliberated for ages, drafted a greeting message, and then deleted it after hesitating for just as long.
After repeating this a few times, Yu Jiaxin decided she might as well just place a video call to him.
A girl calling a guy via video in the middle of the night—that ought to show enough sincerity, right? What if he just forgave her?
Yu Jiaxin had even spruced herself up with some light makeup so she would look all the more stunning and touching.
Once ready, Yu Jiaxin nervously tapped on the video call button. As the dialing tones beeped out their connection signals, her heart began to hammer frantically in her chest.
She waited for Lin Xuan's face to appear on her screen. But to her dismay, what she got instead was a disappointment.
The interface actually displayed that the recipient was currently on another call!
What was going on here? Was Lin Xuan on a video call with someone else? Yu Jiaxin panicked.
Her mind rapidly raced through the list of people Lin Xuan might possibly interact with, but that was impossible—Lin Xuan had long since deleted everyone else's contact info.
Could it be with Zhao Tianxiang?
Finally, Yu Jiaxin thought of a way: she would check the class group roster to see whose status showed they were currently engaged in a video call!