Rebirth: Once Again With You

Li Caiyi felt light-headed by the time she arrived at her classroom. Last night, not even Dai Shenqiang replied to her message when she asked whether or not his brother had arrived home. It worsened her worry, and by the time the morning came, she had black circles under her eyes.

"Caiyi, good morning. Huh? What happened to your face?"

Li Caiyi turned her head weakly to find Feng Nian's fresh face looking at her in puzzlement.

"Good morning, Nian. I might not have slept enough last night," Li Caiyi replied while rubbing her eyes.

"Did you spend all night writing again? That's not a good habit, you know."

"Well, I did write until late last night, but that's not why I felt tired right now."

"Hm? Is there something else on your mind? People usually can't sleep if they have too many things to think about." Feng Nian pulled a chair towards her so she could sit and talk with Li Caiyi face to face. "Ya Ya and stupid Lan aren't here yet, but you can tell me your worries now if you want."

Li Caiyi smiled faintly at Feng Nian's consideration. "It's not a big deal. I was just worried because one of my friends didn't contact me until late."

"Can you just contact your friend when the morning comes? What's so difficult?"

"Actually…."

Li Caiyi told Feng Nian everything, starting from her conversation with Dai Zhiqiang and how even after she waited for him the following day, he didn't send her any message. When she finally finished talking, Feng Nian made a low whistling sound.

"You seem to care so much about this friend of yours. This is off-topic, but don't tell me your friend is a guy?"

"Well, yes…"

Feng Nian rubbed her chin while making a knowing smile before continuing, "Hoho, I see now."

Her stare unsettled Li Caiyi, so she shrunk a bit in her place. "W-what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Springtime of youth. How nice. So that season finally came to our little Caiyi as well."

"Hey, we are in the middle of a serious topic here!" Li Caiyi quickly retorted.

Feng Nian shrugged her shoulders. "In my opinion, you are worried too much. He probably just forgot to message you because he was too tired."

Li Caiyi also thought of that possibility, but considering Dai Zhiqiang's meticulous personality, it was hard to believe he could make that mistake. Moreover, it was strange that she couldn't get a hold of Dai Shenqiang as well. Something must have happened to him.

"Maybe you are right, but I can't help but worry about him," Li Caiyi said. She recalled his bruised body the other day and couldn't help but think of the worst scenario.

"Hmm, you care so much for him. Did the lucky guy know about that?"

"You still say that. We are just friends. He helped me a lot before, and I know his situation a bit, so it bothered me a little."

Feng Nian made an understanding look. "I see. Then why don't you check on him after this? If something happened to him, the fastest way is to check directly."

"Yeah, you're right. That's also my plan."

"Don't make such a face. Your friend will be fine having a friend like you worried about him." Feng Nian patted Li Caiyi's back, which calmed her a bit.

"Thank you, Nian."

However, even if she said that Li Caiyi thought she should check on him a bit before class started, so she went out to check on the neighbor's classroom.

Li Caiyi took a peek inside, but Dai Zhiqiang was nowhere to be seen. She sighed in disappointment when a familiar face appeared from the corner of her eyes.

"Xiaoyi? Why are you in my class? Do you have some business with me?"

Li Caiyi was too focused on finding Dai Zhiqiang; she didn't notice Li Chunhua was approaching.

"Xiaohua, have you seen Zhiqiang? Has he come to the class yet?"

Li Chunhua couldn't conceal her disappointment, and her mouth pursed in a pout. "You didn't come here looking for me? Why are you looking for Dai Zhiqiang so early in the morning?"

Li Caiyi scratched her cheeks, feeling that it probably wasn't a good idea to tell her sister the whole story, or who knows how she would react.

"I just have some business with him. If he hasn't come here yet, then it's fine."

The conversation was cut short with that reply. After their talk last night, Li Caiyi felt somewhat awkward talking for too long with Li Chunhua. Since her purpose had been fulfilled, she decided to quickly retreat.

"Then I will go back to my classroom first. See you later, Xiaohua."

"....I'll tell you when he comes."

Li Caiyi almost couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Huh?"

"I said I will tell you if he comes to the class later. Why are you so surprised? It's not a big deal at all," Li Chunhua said with a deep frown on her face, clearly looking unwilling, but forced herself to live with it.

"Are you really Xiaohua I know? You seem different from yesterday."

"Hmph! It's okay if you don't want to. It's not like I'm forcing you to agree with it."

"No! I didn't mean it in a bad way. I'm just surprised that you will be so cooperative. You usually hate it if I hang out with other people."

Li Chunhua was silent for a long time before replying with a smug grin on her face. "You misunderstand something. Previously, I was just worried someone would bully you, but now that I see you are doing well, there's no reason for me to stick to you anymore. Even without you, I can do perfectly well by myself, so don't flatter yourself!"

After that, she snorted left while stomping her feet, leaving an astonished Li Caiyi behind.

"What was that all about?" She muttered in wonder, feeling that the current Li Chunhua was becoming more and more unpredictable as days passed by. She behaved mildly last night, so what was with that sudden temper change?

However, this change leaned more to a positive side, so Li Caiyi wasn't against it. She hoped her sister could broaden her world now that they would go their own way.

Meanwhile, her main concern was still unresolved. But since there was nothing she could do about it, Li Caiyi went back to her classroom gloomily.