Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

Chapter 201: Crawling into Bed, Take Two

Do you want to sleep here tonight? Of course, you can… But, it’s quite crowded here right now. Maybe Yuan Yuan’s house…” Mei Fang suddenly realized something halfway through his sentence, “Ah, right… Yuan Yuan’s grandmother and relatives have probably all come to their house for the Lunar New Year, so it must be full of people.”

“That’s not it,” Lin Youxi shook her head. “I just want to stay at your place.”

She said the last sentence very softly, even raising her hand to make a gesture as if whispering a secret, which instantly aroused Mei Fang’s interest.

Mei Fang led Lin Youxi into the house and greeted his mom, Xiang Xiaoxia.

Although tomorrow was New Year’s Eve, Xiang Xiaoxia, who had always loved Lin Youxi like half a daughter, naturally wouldn’t refuse her request. After comforting Youxi for a while over today’s incident, Xiang Xiaoxia began to make arrangements for the evening.

“So, as usual, Xiaoya will sleep in her brother’s room with Youxi, and Mei Fang, you——”

“Sleep on the sofa, right? OK, OK.”

“Great! I get to sleep with Sister Youxi again.”

Mei Ya was extremely happy with this arrangement, “Ever since I went to Baizhou, I haven’t slept with Sister Youxi or Sister Yuan Yuan in a long time.”

Lin Youxi patted Mei Ya’s little head, smiling and chatting warmly with her, creating a harmonious atmosphere.

Since everyone was exhausted from dealing with Lin Youxi’s uncle, they went to bed after washing up around 10 o’clock.

Lin Youxi had already informed Xia Yuan before coming to Mei Fang’s house. Later, Xia Yuan sent a message to Mei Fang.

Xia Yuan: 【Are you all resting already? Today was so exhausting.】

Mei Fang: 【You should rest early too. Tomorrow will be busy.】

Xia Yuan: 【Is Youxi okay? Is she feeling very down or scared…】

Mei Fang: 【She seems to be fine for now. She’s been chatting and laughing with us at home.】

Xia Yuan: 【She’s not usually the type to chat and laugh. She’s just pretending to be in a good mood to hide her sadness. You can’t see that, can you?】

Thinking about it, Xia Yuan typed another message to Mei Fang:

【However, with a cheerful companion like Xiaoya to chat with her, she should be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight… You should rest early too.】

【Yeah, I know. So… goodnight?】

【Wait, this is for today.】

Xia Yuan sent Mei Fang a hug emoji.

Mei Fang was confused for a moment, and then he realized that Yuan Yuan was referring to the fact that her “Ah Fang’s super energy” had not been replenished today.

Every day, this girl… Mei Fang smiled and shook his head at the screen, then sent a hug emoji back.

Feeling that wasn’t enough, he sent a kiss emoji too.

【This is for the special secret training.】

Xia Yuan instantly replied with an angry emoji.

【I said we would only do that once! You’re so greedy, Ah Fang!】

【It’s just all virtual; it’s fine.】

Mei Fang then sent several kiss emojis in a row. Xia Yuan initially responded with a few angry emojis, but soon she too started sending kiss emojis back to flood the screen.

【I sent way more than you! Hmph.】

As Mei Fang and Xia Yuan were having fun exchanging emojis, his bedroom door softly clicked open.

Mm…?

Lin Youxi, dressed in cotton pajamas, emerged from Mei Fang’s room.

Is this the usual routine when Youxi stays here…?

Mei Fang instinctively hid his phone under the blanket and pretended to sleep.

However, this time Lin Youxi didn’t come to the living room to squeeze into Mei Fang’s small sofa bed; she went to the bathroom instead.

So, it’s just a bathroom trip…

Mei Fang’s assumption was a bit premature. After coming out of the bathroom, Lin Youxi quietly approached Mei Fang’s sofa bed.

Mei Fang continued to pretend to sleep, but he heard the sound of the blanket being lifted.

She’s coming to squeeze into my small bed again.

Sensing Lin Youxi’s gaze seemingly fixed on him, Mei Fang smacked his lips a few times and tried to turn on his side to keep pretending to sleep, but Lin Youxi directly reached out and embraced him from behind.

This girl… Isn’t she afraid of waking me up?!

Mei Fang felt a bit helpless. He thought of waiting until Lin Youxi fell asleep before carrying her back, but she wasn’t content with the status quo. Instead, she hugged him tightly and whispered softly in his ear:

“Ah Fang, stop pretending to sleep…” Lin Youxi said softly. “Can you talk to me, please?”

…

Mei Fang felt a tingling sensation in his ear again and again. He hesitated for a moment and didn’t have time to turn his head when he suddenly heard a vibrating sound from under the blanket.

This vibration meant one of the only two special contacts he had—Yuan Yuan—was sending a message.

D*mmit, my phone…

Mei Fang reached under the blanket to find his phone but ended up touching Lin Youxi’s smooth leg instead.

Woah!

He had no choice but to abandon his pretense of sleeping and turned to get his phone, only to find it already in Lin Youxi’s hand.

Lin Youxi held the phone with the screen facing Mei Fang, as if to show she wasn’t peeking at his messages, reassuring him not to worry.

“Here you go.”

She handed the phone back to him. He took it, feeling guilty, and quickly stuffed it under his pillow.

“It’s probably a message from Yuan Yuan. Aren’t you going to check it?”

“Uh…um…” Feeling guilty, Mei Fang was a little embarrassed. “I’ll reply later.”

“You can reply now. I won’t look at your conversation. But…”

Lin Youxi placed her hand on Mei Fang’s chest.

“Tonight, I’m not letting you carry me back.”

“Uh…”

Mei Fang turned on his phone and saw Xia Yuan’s message.

Xia Yuan: 【Are you asleep, Ah Fang? I can’t fall asleep…】

Mei Fang: 【What’s wrong?】

Xia Yuan: 【I’m still thinking about Youxi’s uncle.】

【Even though he’s a very unreasonable person, isn’t sending him straight to jail a bit too much?】

【And, he won’t be locked up for more than a few years, so when he gets out, he might even come back to get revenge on us…】

Mei Fang: 【We haven’t experienced what Youxi’s family went through, so it’s hard for us to judge her uncle. But we all trust Youxi’s character, so we should just support her.】

【As for your concern about retaliation, people are sent to prison for rehabilitation, right? Surely they should be properly reformed before being released, shouldn’t they?】

【And if everyone is worried about retaliation, wouldn’t that mean bad people would never face punishment?】

【So, I think Youxi did the right thing.】

Xia Yuan: 【I’m glad I talked to you, Ah Fang… You’re right!】

【Without being in Youxi’s shoes, I can’t really forgive him on her behalf.】

【I clearly experienced similar unfair treatment from my homeroom teacher before. At that time, you all supported me without hesitation, telling me not to forgive Teacher Huang. But now I’m still dwelling on this… Suddenly, I feel like I’m really such a bad person.】

Mei Fang: 【It’s not about being bad or not! Yuan Yuan, you’ve only encountered a few bad people so far, so it’s normal to have simple thoughts.】

Xia Yuan: 【I’ve met quite a few bad people, you know? Especially that big bad guy named Ah Fang! Hmph.】

Mei Fang: 【Me? How have I wronged you?】

Xia Yuan: 【You still dare to ask?!】

【You stole both Youxi’s and my hearts!】

Xia Yuan sent her last message to Mei Fang with a heart emoji, clearly feeling shy about expressing herself to him directly. Seeing Xia Yuan’s bashful message, Mei Fang couldn’t help but smile. He started to write a reply to Xia Yuan quickly, while Lin Youxi watched him curiously:

“What are you and Yuan Yuan talking about? You seem so happy chatting…”

“Just talking about what happened today…”

Mei Fang recounted their conversation, omitting the lovey-dovey parts, to Lin Youxi, who nodded and smiled.

“I’m really grateful to you and Yuan Yuan for coming to help me right away today. It’s because of both of you that everything could be resolved so smoothly,” Lin Youxi expressed her gratitude. “I’m so lucky to have you both in my life.”

Lin Youxi’s voice carried a hint of emotion, almost as if she was on the verge of tears.

Her vulnerable demeanor reminded Mei Fang of the solitary and aloof academic genius Lin Youxi from his previous life.

How did she spend each day back then?

She was always someone who was capable, strong, and resilient.

But in her previous life, without anyone to understand or accompany her, how lonely must she have been?

This thought compelled Mei Fang to turn and embrace her.

Lin Youxi was a bit surprised by Mei Fang’s spontaneous hug.

“Aren’t you still chatting with Yuan Yuan?”

“We’ve already said goodnight.”

Holding Lin Youxi close, their fingers intertwined, then Mei Fang said, “After everything that happened today, I should hug you more.”

“Alright…”

Lin Youxi nestled into Mei Fang’s embrace, shedding her tough exterior from earlier, now like a gentle, shy girl, soaking up his warmth.

As they enjoyed this sweet moment, Mei Fang’s bedroom door suddenly creaked open again.

Startled, Mei Fang quickly covered Lin Youxi with the blanket.

It was his little sister, Mei Ya, who had woken up to use the bathroom.

…

After finishing in the bathroom, Mei Ya scratched her head in the hallway and then started walking toward the couch where Mei Fang was lying.

Lin Youxi carefully moved under Mei Fang.

“Brother.. brother…wake up quickly.”

Mei Ya nudged Mei Fang, who was pretending to sleep.

“Wh-what is it…?”

“Where’s Sister Youxi? I was supposed to sleep with her tonight, right?”

“She…she…”

Mei Fang stammered, unsure how to respond, but seeing Mei Ya swaying sleepily, he guessed she wasn’t fully awake.

“What do you mean ‘where’s Sister Youxi’? You must be dreaming!”

“Huh? Am I dreaming? But I remember… Sister Youxi was supposed to sleep with me tonight.”

“If you don’t believe you’re dreaming, then pinch me and see.”

“Okay…”

Mei Ya, without holding back, pinched Mei Fang’s cheek hard, making him wince in pain. However, after a moment of brief agony, he pretended as if nothing had happened, calmly saying Mei Ya:

“See, it doesn’t hurt at all, right?”

“Hmm… I guess I really am dreaming.”

“Go back to bed, go——”

Mei Fang’s words were cut off as his face suddenly turned red, and his body shuddered.

“Brother… are you okay?”

“You’re just dreaming. Go back to your…your bed and sleep.”

“Okay…”

Mei Ya, still half-asleep, found her brother’s strange behavior puzzling but was quickly convinced to return to the room.

As Mei Fang watched Mei Ya close the door, Lin Youxi almost simultaneously peeked her head out from under the blanket, whispering something to Mei Fang that made him blush.

“O-Of course… But you can’t keep teasing me like that, or I won’t let you into my blanket tonight,” Mei Fang warned.

“Alright.”

Lin Youxi smiled and nodded, “But your blanket is a bit cold. Can I hug you tighter?”

“Where are you cold? I’ll warm you up.”

“My feet.”

Mei Fang reached out and held Lin Youxi’s feet, massaging them for a while.

“Better now?”

“My hands are cold too.”

“That… here, you can warm them yourself.”

Mei Fang held one of Lin Youxi’s hands, interlocking their fingers, while letting her warm the other.

“Warm now?”

“Still cold in some places.”

“Hmm?”

Before Mei Fang could react, Lin Youxi gave him a quick peck on the lips.

“…”

Even though he had kissed Xia Yuan before, Lin Youxi’s sudden kiss left Mei Fang stunned.

Seeing her beloved’s dumbfounded expression, Lin Youxi found it amusing. Feeling that one kiss wasn’t enough, she gave him several more light kisses, eventually leading to a deep kiss.

And then——

Armed with her extensive knowledge of French kissing obtained from novels, Lin Youxi opened a whole new world for Mei Fang, significantly improving his kissing skills.