Rebirth: Once Again With You

Li Caiyi vaguely recalled this boy from the library. He was often on duty there when Li Caiyi came to study or write. Why was he here?

The boy briskly walked over and brushed the paper off her shoulder. Li Caiyi stared at him in wonder. "You are… the one from the library, right?"

He nodded his head. "Teacher Shi told me you will be here. You should return to your class now."

"But… my manuscript is…."

"It's okay. I already found it."

"Huh?" Li Caiyi stared at him in disbelief.

"I found it in the hallway. When I brought it to the teacher's office, Teacher Shi told me it was yours and asked me to tell you."

A sense of relief washed over her. Li Caiyi was so tense and restless just a few seconds ago, but hearing what he said made her feel like an inflated balloon. Her stiff shoulders immediately loosened, and a weary smile appeared on her lips.

"Thank goodness."

The boy glanced at the mess in the room. "Are you the one who caused this?"

Li Caiyi was so flustered she did not realize how much of a mess she made here. She looked around and chuckled sheepishly. "I might have gotten a bit of a panic attack back there."

She thought the boy would leave, but he actually squatted down beside her and started gathering the papers and files scattered around. "I will help you clean this corner. You take the other corner."

Li Caiyi was stunned and mechanically nodded as she followed his lead. While organizing the documents, she glanced at the boy. "Uhm, are you sure you don't want to go back first? I can clean this up by myself, you know."

"It will be faster if we work together." He replied curtly, without turning his head, revealing no intention of speaking further.

Li Caiyi did not dare to ask anymore, so she silently took care of the mess in her corner.

As he said, it was taken care of pretty quickly when two people were on it.

When they stepped outside, Li Caiyi inhaled a deep breath of fresh air. After spending almost an hour inside the storage room, which was full of dusty and humid smells, it was refreshing to be outside again.

"Thank you for your help," Li Caiyi smiled at the boy. "My name is Li Caiyi. What is your name?"

The boy quietly looked at her before he answered. "Dai Zhiqiang."

This person did not speak much, but Li Caiyi could tell he was a kind person. "Dai Zhiqiang, we often meet in the library, aren't we?"

Dai Zhiqiang nodded. He was hesitating a bit before he asked, "I haven't seen you there these days. Is it because you have finished what you are doing?"

"Yes. I'm joining the writing competition, and it feels a lot more relaxing to finish it at home, so I did not go there lately."

"I see."

The conversation ended after that. Unlike Shao Jingfei, who was a chatterbox, Li Caiyi found it challenging to converse with Dai Zhiqiang. She was naturally a quiet person, so when she faced a much quieter person than she was, she was at a loss on what to say.

"Uhm, how is your throat?"

"It's fine."

"Did you eat the candy I gave you?"

"Yes, I did."

Li Caiyi: "(well, this is awkward)."

In the end, Li Caiyi also did not know how to continue the conversation, so she just stopped talking altogether. They walked side by side in silence. Later, Li Caiyi realized that Dai Zhiqiang was heading in the same direction as hers.

"Is your class also this way? I'm from class 2-B. What about you?"

"I'm from class 2-A."

"So you are from the next class. No wonder you are also heading this way."

Dai Zhiqiang gave no further comment and only spoke when they were about to part ways. "Make sure not to lose your things again."

"Huh? Oh yes, thank you very much for your help today!"

"Goodbye, then." Dai Zhiqiang gave a quick nod and walked away and went into his class, leaving Li Caiyi in a daze.

She met two different people today and almost lost her chance to win the prize money. Was she lucky or unlucky?

***

"Cheer up, Caiyi." Zhou Ya patted her shoulder sympathetically.

"Teacher Xu roasted her to the bone. Man, what bad luck to arrive late in his class!" Chen Ruolan shook her head in pity.

"Why did you come late to the class? You know Teacher Xu disliked an undisciplined student." Feng Nian played with her phone as she said that.

Li Caiyi groaned and recounted the series of events to her friends. By the time she finished, she had looked twice as tired. Meanwhile, Chen Ruolan's mouth was hanging open with a dumbfounded expression.

"You joined that writing competition? Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"Why else? You are busy hanging out with your new friends; you forgot about the old ones," Feng Nian commented snarkily.

Chen Ruolan vehemently denied her remark. "I never did that! What's wrong with having new friends?!"

"There's nothing wrong with that. Nevertheless, you clearly treat your new friends better than us. How did you explain the matching shirt you got with your new friends? I saw Li Chunhua posted a picture of you with your new friends on Weibo, and you looked like you were having fun. Aren't you usually opposed to the idea of having matching items?"

"T-that was…" Chen Ruolan could not say anything back and lowered her head. Zhou Ya, who felt the tension in the air, hurriedly intervened.

"Don't fight, you guys. We are listening to Caiyi's story, so why are you two arguing?"

"Y-yeah." Li Caiyi also had the same thought as Zhou Ya. She felt like Feng Nian and Chen Ruolan's relationship had gotten worse day by day. She had to change the subject.

"Anyway, do you guys know Shao Jingfei or Dai Zhiqiang?"

"I don't know about Dai Zhiqiang, but I know Shao Jingfei. We once got punished together. We ran a few laps around the schoolyard then," Chen Ruolan said. "He's a witty and funny guy. I heard he is pretty popular."

"Isn't Dai Zhiqiang the person who ranked first in our last placement test?" Zhou Ya said, after thinking for a bit.

"Actually, it wasn't only last time. He always scored first place in every exam. I heard he is one of the scholarship students."

"Seriously? I thought the scholarship program in our school was pretty hard to get? He must be terribly smart, then." Feng Nian gave a low whistle.

"Anyway, I'm glad you are able to submit your manuscript in time, Caiyi. I will root for you," Zhou Ya said with a kind smile.

"Yeah, me too! I know about it too late, but I can still cheer for you!"

"We are all feeling the same. Good luck, Li Caiyi."

"Thank you, everyone." Li Caiyi felt a surplus of motivation now that her friends were cheering for her. She had already done her best, and she could only hope for the best now.

They were chatting as they walked towards the school gate and stopped when a voice called one of them from behind.

"Lan Lan, wait for me!"

Li Chunhua was running towards them with her sweet smile.