Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

'But he was trying to put pressure on his roommates right now. How could he let his persona be exposed?'

"Excuse me, could you lift your feet?" Xue Rui said, casually mopping the floor right under their feet.

The others were suddenly on pins and needles. In the entire spacious dorm, there was suddenly nowhere for them to even stand!

'Just stand by the door and watch? That would be even more awkward than pitching in!'

Xue Rui's muttering was like a pointed reminder. Did they really have the nerve to just stand by and watch?

Cai Huazhou was the first to crack. He couldn't stand the silent, psychological torment, so he spoke up. "I'll go borrow a mop from the room next door."

"I'll go find a rag, then," Qian Huabiao added.

"Uh... I'll go get a big trash can."

...

Lin Ruoxi blinked and said to Xue Rui, "Hmm, these guys are all so hardworking."

Xue Rui stifled a laugh. 'This bunch, hardworking?'

'If you hadn't pulled this stunt, they'd probably be too lazy to even lift a finger. Who knows how long that trash would have sat there otherwise.'

There were five guys in Dorm 622, and with Lin Ruoxi, a total of six people threw themselves into cleaning the room. Not a single person slacked off. Under such a thorough cleaning, the dorm looked brand new in just one hour!

The door and window frames were wiped spotless. Lin Ruoxi brought up some WD-40 from downstairs to remove the stubborn stickers on the cabinets. Qian Huabiao scraped up the hardened, blackened chewing gum stuck to the floor. The windowpanes were even more transparent than when they'd left the factory...

Xue Rui reckoned that Dorm 622 had never been this clean, not since the day the school was built.

While waiting for the floor to dry, they moved some stools into the hallway. The dorm had exactly six, so Lin Ruoxi also sat quietly to the side, planning to make Xue Rui's bed once they could go back inside.

Xue Rui passed cigarettes around to the guys and casually lit them, earning looks of appreciation that spoke of a mutual understanding.

Their impression of Xue Rui was now excellent. He was hardworking, generous, and a fellow smoker—a perfect fit for Dorm 622.

"Whew... That sense of accomplishment after a big clean... I haven't felt that since high school graduation," Zhao Chaojie remarked, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"A few of us got here early, so we already know each other. Let's do proper intros now. I'm Zhao Chaojie, from Gui Province..."

Xue Rui smiled and nodded. This version of Zhao Chaojie was chubby, with some acne dotting his face, and he spoke with a noticeable accent.

"Zhang Xuelun, from Yu Province."

Zhang Xuelun had thick hair and eyebrows, with the beginnings of a beard along his jaw. He inverted his cigarette, tapped it against the stool, and then slowly lit it, eyes narrowed. The sheer practiced ease of the motion made Xue Rui's eyebrow twitch.

'Tapping it upside down? That's to pack the tobacco tighter. I wasn't even this addicted in my past life. How can this kid be so hooked at just eighteen?'

Xue Rui couldn't help but marvel, 'The academic pressure in Yu Province must be no joke...'

"Qian Huabiao, from Capital City."

He took a deep drag from his cigarette as soon as he finished, making his head spin a little more.

He felt like this self-introduction was a form of self-humiliation. One thought kept echoing in his mind: 'Fuck, why did I have to try and act so cool yesterday?!'

The tall and lanky Cai Huazhou spoke up. "Cai Huazhou, from the Northwest. By the way, Xue Rui, how come you aren't smoking?"

At the mention of smoking, Lin Ruoxi shot up and stared fixedly at Xue Rui.

The others understood at once. 'Ah, so it's not convenient with family around, is it?'

However, Xue Rui just spoke calmly, "I only carry cigarettes to be sociable. I don't actually smoke."

Zhang Xuelun muttered under his breath, "So he doesn't smoke himself. No wonder he carries such premium cigarettes."

Xue Rui then took the opportunity to suggest, "How about we don't smoke in the dorm room from now on? We can go out on the balcony."

He didn't immediately demand that they quit smoking, but instead offered a reasonable compromise.

There was a reason for the empty bed in their dorm, after all. A previous roommate had been scared off by these chain-smokers right after moving in...

As he finished, he shot a beaming glance at Qian Huabiao. Qian Huabiao felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He was sure Xue Rui was threatening him, but he had no proof!

He quickly spoke up, "I agree."

Out of the five guys in the dorm, two had now agreed. The other three were hesitant.

"We worked so hard to get the dorm this clean. The smell of smoke will just make the place feel grimy again. It's the broken windows theory, you know? One cigarette butt will just lead to more trash."

"That makes sense. I agree, too..." Cai Huazhou said, his eyes flicking over to Lin Ruoxi. Then he suddenly remembered the popsicles he'd bought earlier.

"Crap! The popsicles must have melted by now."

He tiptoed back inside, grabbed the bag from a desk, and found its contents were now a semi-solid, semi-liquid slush.

"So... are we still eating these?" Cai Huazhou asked, unsure.

Everyone hesitated. No one wanted to be the one who looked like a little kid licking the melted remains out of a plastic wrapper on their first day together.

They all had their pride to think about. Even though the popsicles were salvageable, nobody made a move.

Cai Huazhou figured no one wanted them and raised his hand to toss the bag into the trash.

Xue Rui sighed internally. 'These guys really know how to put on an act.' He knew this bunch all too well. They were the kind of guys who would crawl under a desk in the middle of the night to scrounge for cigarette butts, yet now they were too proud to eat a melted popsicle?

He figured it was time for him to break the ice. He reached out, took the plastic bag, pulled out a popsicle, and tore it open.

"They're still good," he said. "No need to waste them."

Watching Xue Rui carefully tilt the wrapper to pour the slushy contents into his mouth, the others exchanged a look. There wasn't a hint of mockery in anyone's eyes...

After a round of wry smiles, they all got up and grabbed a popsicle from the bag for themselves.

Before Xue Rui's arrival, they had only known where each other was from. They might have played cards together, but they all kept their distance and had even bickered over differences in their personal habits.

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