Rebirth Begins with Rejecting my Childhood Friend - Chapter 413

Xu Xiuwen quickly figured it out.

He smiled again, “I’m fine, I have a broader perspective.”

The atmosphere fell silent once more.

Su Yanyan, who hadn’t spoken earlier, finally chimed in.

“DaDa (Big Brother), no one dared to go in today except for you to save Sister Minyao. You’re really brave and amazing.”

Xu Xiuwen chuckled, “Yanyan, thank you for the compliment.”

“By the way, where is Shen Minyao now? How is she?”

“Sister Minyao is fine. She just caught a slight cold and went out to get some food.”

Xu Xiuwen nodded, “That’s good to know.”

“DaDa, don’t worry about others right now. Take care of your own health.”

“Alright, Yanyan, I’ll listen to you.” Xu Xiuwen nodded with a smile.

After Su Yanyan finished speaking, the room fell silent again.

Neither Xu Xiuwen nor Tang Weiwei said anything.

Su Yanyan soon realized it.

She hurriedly said, “DaDa, Sister Weiwei, I’m going to use the restroom.”

There was clearly a restroom in the room.

Yet Su Yanyan mentioned going out.

It was evident that using the restroom wasn’t the actual purpose; leaving was.

Both of them understood why she said this but chose not to acknowledge it.

Tang Weiwei replied with a soft, “Yanyan, go ahead.”

So Su Yanyan left the room.

Only Xu Xiuwen and Tang Weiwei remained in the room.

Seeing Tang Weiwei’s red-rimmed eyes made Xu Xiuwen’s heart soften.

“Why are you crying? Is it because of me? I must be terribly guilty.”

Tang Weiwei immediately shook her head, “It’s not your fault. You’ve done well. It’s… it’s just that I’m useless, and that’s why I’m crying.”

Xu Xiuwen smiled at her response.

He forgot about his injured arm and tried to reach for Tang Weiwei’s hand.

But he winced in pain and immediately took a sharp breath.

Tang Weiwei quickly said, “Don’t move around!”

Her voice was soft, but her tone was somewhat serious, tinged with a hint of reproach.

Xu Xiuwen awkwardly laughed, “I forgot. Sorry, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad. If you need anything, just tell me, and I’ll help you.”

Xu Xiuwen smiled and said, “I want to hold your hand.”

Tang Weiwei’s cheeks flushed slightly, but she didn’t refuse Xu Xiuwen. After a few moments of hesitation, she slowly extended her hand.

Xu Xiuwen opened his palm, and Tang Weiwei placed her hand into his.

Holding Tang Weiwei’s hand, Xu Xiuwen felt the softness of her palm.

It must be sweat, he thought.

The fact that Tang Weiwei’s palm was sweaty showed how worried she must have been earlier, even though she hadn’t said anything.

Perhaps she was afraid of making him feel guilty.

Even though Tang Weiwei didn’t say it, Xu Xiuwen could still feel it.

He sighed inwardly, yet his affection for Tang Weiwei grew even deeper.

Suddenly, Tang Weiwei spoke up, “Xu Xiuwen, I’m sorry!”

Xu Xiuwen was taken aback, “Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?”

Tang Weiwei shook her head, “When you were unconscious, I thought about it. I shouldn’t have agreed to you going into the fire to find Sister Minyao. It was my mistake. If anything had happened to you, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

“Silly girl, it was me who wanted to go save someone. How could you be blamed? Even if you had stopped me, I would have gone anyway.”

“But…”

“There’s no ‘but.’ Regardless of the situation, I would have gone up to save people.”

Tang Weiwei nodded, then quietly asked, “Xu Xiuwen, why do you care so much about Sister Minyao?”

Although Tang Weiwei’s tone was soft and not accusatory, Xu Xiuwen still detected a hint of curiosity.

“Silly girl, because she’s my friend, just like Yanyan and Yue’er. If it were them, I’d still go up to save them.”

Tang Weiwei immediately believed him and didn’t question further.

Other girls might have asked, “What about me?”

But Tang Weiwei didn’t ask that.

After waiting and not receiving a response, Xu Xiuwen took the initiative to say, “Weiwei, if it were you up there, even if it cost me my life, I’d still go up to save you.”

Tang Weiwei nodded, softly saying, “I know. I believe you.”

Seeing Tang Weiwei being so understanding and gentle made Xu Xiuwen feel quite gratified and satisfied.

Such a girl is truly a treasure.

The room fell silent again.

Soon, Xu Xiuwen heard Shen Minyao’s voice outside the room.

“Yanyan, why are you standing by the door instead of inside?”

“Sister Minyao, don’t be so loud!” Su Yanyan immediately replied, sounding nervous.

“What’s wrong? Has Xu Xiuwen woken up?” Shen Minyao asked casually while pushing open the door.

“Yes, DaDa is awake!” Su Yanyan responded as Shen Minyao saw the situation in the room.

As Su Yanyan and Shen Minyao returned, Tang Weiwei quickly withdrew her hand from Xu Xiuwen’s.

Seeing Xu Xiuwen awake, Shen Minyao’s face immediately showed a look of surprise.

“Xu Xiuwen, you’re awake!”

She rushed to the bedside.

“Yeah, I just woke up.”

“How do you feel? Are you uncomfortable?” Shen Minyao’s expression was extremely anxious.

Xu Xiuwen smiled, “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

“That’s good… that’s good…” Shen Minyao repeated the words.

As she spoke, she suddenly started crying.

“Sister Minyao!” both Tang Weiwei and Su Yanyan called out.

Shen Minyao wiped her tears and quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be crying. I… I’m just so happy…”

Tang Weiwei and Su Yanyan understood Shen Minyao’s feelings at this moment.

Tang Weiwei gently took Shen Minyao’s hand.

Su Yanyan also comforted her softly, “Sister Minyao, don’t worry. DaDa is awake, and the doctor said he’s fine.”

Xu Xiuwen felt touched.

“Shen Minyao, thank you for caring so much about me. I’m really okay.”

“That’s something I should be saying to you. Xu Xiuwen, I’m really grateful to you. If it weren’t for you, I might have already died in the dorm.”

“Alright, DaDa and Sister Minyao, let’s stop thanking each other. The important thing is that it’s all over now.”

“Yanyan is right. Let’s not thank each other anymore,” Xu Xiuwen echoed Su Yanyan’s words.

Shen Minyao wiped her tears and nodded.

Seeing the box of food Shen Minyao was carrying, Xu Xiuwen said, “You must be hungry. Go ahead and eat.”

The girls prepared to eat.

Xu Xiuwen asked, “What time is it now? How long was I unconscious?”

Su Yanyan immediately replied, “DaDa, it’s almost one o’clock. You were unconscious for over three hours.”

“Alright, I understand. You all eat.”

Tang Weiwei opened a box of food, then walked over to Xu Xiuwen and asked, “Xu Xiuwen, are you hungry? I’ll feed you.”

Xu Xiuwen shook his head, “I’m not hungry. You eat.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat anything?”

“Mm.”

“Okay then.”

So, the three girls squatted by the chairs and started eating the boxed meals they had just bought.

Halfway through their meal, Tang Weiwei’s phone suddenly rang.

“Whose call is it?”

Tang Weiwei took out her phone and glanced at it before replying, “It’s from the counselor.”

“Then you should answer it.”

“Mm.”

After answering the call, Tang Weiwei first said, “Xu Xiuwen has woken up. He’s fine now and is receiving an IV drip.”

Then came a series of “mm-hmms.”

After hanging up, Tang Weiwei said, “The counselor said that school leaders will come to the hospital to visit you this afternoon.”

“School leaders are coming to see me?”

“Yeah. The counselor said that although your actions of rushing into the fire aren’t to be encouraged, your bravery is worth learning from. The school leaders are pleased with your performance and will come to visit you this afternoon. They also seem to want to award you.”

Xu Xiuwen sighed, “The school just likes to make a fuss. Instead of doing this, they should focus on my final exams and give me high grades in every subject.”

His words immediately made the three girls chuckle.

Shen Minyao quickly said, “Xu Xiuwen, you can borrow my notes. If you study them diligently for a week, you’ll definitely do well on the exams.”

Hearing this, Xu Xiuwen instinctively turned to look at her.

While Shen Minyao’s tone was normal, there was something ambiguous in her eyes.

This made Xu Xiuwen’s heart tighten.

He could rush into a fire to save Shen Minyao, but he was afraid of provoking her.

If at the beginning of freshman year, when he first met Shen Minyao, he could focus solely on her, now he had strayed too far down the path of a bad guy to turn back.

He was destined not to be with Shen Minyao.

So he absolutely could not afford to provoke her.

Xu Xiuwen immediately avoided her gaze and said softly, “Thank you, but I have Weiwei. Weiwei will help me review, right?”

Tang Weiwei immediately replied with a “mm,” looking exceptionally obedient and endearing.

Seeing Xu Xiuwen’s response and his evasive eyes, Shen Minyao understood what was happening.

A trace of disappointment flashed in her eyes.

“Alright. If there’s anything I can help with, you must let me know.”

“Okay, thank you.” Xu Xiuwen responded politely but somewhat distantly.

After finishing lunch, the girls tidied up the boxes.

Su Yanyan took them out to the trash can.

Tang Weiwei and Shen Minyao stayed behind in the hospital room to keep Xu Xiuwen company while he received the IV drip.

Xu Xiuwen felt quite uncomfortable.

If he wanted to say something privately to Tang Weiwei, Shen Minyao was always watching them.

He felt restricted in what he could do.

And what made Xu Xiuwen even more anxious was Shen Minyao’s gaze.

However, Xu Xiuwen didn’t know that what would make him even more uneasy was still to come…

Around two or three in the afternoon, the door of the room was suddenly knocked from the outside.

Tang Weiwei quickly went to open the door.

When the door opened, Tang Weiwei first saw a group of middle-aged men.

She recognized that the man at the front was the principal of Jiangling College, followed by several school leaders, and at the back was Counselor Guan Congshan, who had also come along.

Tang Weiwei reacted quickly and said, “Hello, Principal.”

The principal glanced at Tang Weiwei, recognized her, and smiled, “You must be Tang Weiwei, right?”

Tang Weiwei felt somewhat flattered and quickly nodded in acknowledgment.

The principal, smiling, said, “Your high school homeroom teacher was a good teacher, and you were a good student. I’ve been keeping an eye on your performance. You didn’t disappoint me last semester.”

Tang Weiwei felt a bit dizzy but guessed it had to do with her admission to the school, especially since the principal mentioned her high school teacher.

“Thank you for your concern, Principal.”

The principal nodded and asked, “Xu Xiuwen is in this room, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good, I’ll go in and see him.”

Tang Weiwei quickly stepped aside to let him through.

The principal led the way into the room, followed by the other leaders. When Counselor Guan Congshan passed by, Tang Weiwei politely said, “Hello, Counselor Guan.”

Guan Congshan smiled and nodded but didn’t say much.

Tang Weiwei closed the door and returned to the room.

The principal and the leaders asked about Xu Xiuwen’s condition in detail. When they learned that he was not seriously injured, everyone visibly relaxed.

Counselor Guan, who had been relatively quiet since entering the room, suddenly spoke up.

“Xu Xiuwen, while you did save people, your actions are not something to be encouraged. Have you considered what would have happened if you hadn’t saved anyone and had ended up in trouble yourself? How would I explain that to your parents?”

Although Counselor Guan’s words sounded like criticism, his tone was not very severe.

The girls were anxious to defend Xu Xiuwen upon hearing this.

However, Xu Xiuwen understood the counselor’s intention and decisively took responsibility. “Sorry, Counselor Guan. I was too reckless and caused you worry.”

At this moment, the principal spoke up.

“Although Xu Xiuwen’s disregard for instructions was wrong, his bravery in rushing into a fire to rescue classmates is commendable. Teacher Guan, let’s not be too harsh on him. After all, he’s just a kid, and a bit of impulsiveness is understandable.”

The other leaders echoed the sentiment, agreeing that while Xu Xiuwen was a bit impulsive, his courage was worthy of praise and did not need to be criticized.

Counselor Guan’s attitude softened accordingly.

The principal then gave some standard formalities and reminded Xu Xiuwen to rest well and take care of himself.

With the formalities concluded, the visit came to an end.

The principal finally said: “Don’t disturb Xu Xiuwen’s rest.”

Then the leaders all left together.

Counselor Guan was the last to leave. Before exiting, he glanced back at Xu Xiuwen with a smile and said, “You did well this time. You’ve really made me proud.”

Xu Xiuwen smiled faintly, “Thank you, Counselor Guan. Safe travels.”

Guan Congshan nodded and quickly followed the others out.

Once the school leaders had left, Su Yanyan sighed in relief. “I was scared. I thought the principal was coming to reprimand us.”

Xu Xiuwen laughed, “Yanyan, you’re so cute. I saved someone; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call me a hero. There’s no way they’d come to reprimand me.”

Feeling flattered by Xu Xiuwen’s praise, Su Yanyan blushed a little.

She smiled and said, “DaDa, you’re a hero in my eyes.”

With the leaders gone, the room fell silent again.

Without smartphones at that time, Xu Xiuwen lay in bed with nothing to do and felt quite bored. Thankfully, having beautiful company to chat with made it somewhat bearable.