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

Chapter 176: Overslept

The results and ranking of the midterm exam were released two days later. Mei Fang’s performance this time was average. Although he still ranked in the top 10 of the class, his overall ranking in the grade was only a little over 300.

Although this ranking may sound low, being in the top 400 in the whole grade at Jiangcheng NOHS guarantees admission to Jiangcheng University and Hubei University of Science and Technology, both prestigious Project 985 universities, so it wasn’t bad at all.

Xia Yuan performed well on her first midterm exam, ranking 13th in the class. Her total score was only slightly lower than Mei Fang’s, placing her in the 390s, close to the 400th rank.

This was because the total score calculation for first-year students used a method that combined scores across 9 subjects for both liberal arts and sciences, allowing Xia Yuan’s strength in liberal arts subjects to show.

As for Lin Youxi, who was a top student even in her previous life, she naturally performed at a dominant level during the county-level entrance exam. And now, in her parallel class, she easily secured the first rank in the class and placed 29th in the grade.

Based on previous years’ ranking situations, while 29th may not fully guarantee admission to the prestigious Tsinghua University, she could choose from the remaining C9 League^[1] universities, with Fudan University^[2] as a safety net.

Of course, Lin Youxi currently, or perhaps one could say from a long time ago, no longer had any particular dream of needing to get into Tsinghua University. She simply did her best in each exam, without having any harsh pursuit of high scores.

It was worth noting that under the training as a class monitor during middle school, Lin Youxi was now quite dedicated to the work of the class committee and enthusiastic about various class affairs and activities.

For example, this time she took the initiative to sign up for the girls’ 400-meter relay race and high jump in the sports festival, as well as the Jiangcheng NOHS’s unique 20×50 relay race, where each person only runs 50 meters, but there are a total of 20 participants.

Mei Fang was very surprised when he learned that Lin Youxi was participating in the sports festival.

“I didn’t expect you to participate in the sports festival… You’ve never been interested in these things from elementary to middle school, right?”

Xia Yuan explained from the side, “Well, here’s the situation… Our class has a relatively small ratio of female students, and most of them aren’t very enthusiastic about participating in the sports festival. Since Youxi couldn’t get others to join, she had no choice but to do it herself.”

After Xia Yuan finished speaking, she suddenly seemed a bit unhappy. “I also signed up for the relay race with Youxi. Why didn’t you ask me?”

“You’ve always liked participating in sports festivals since you were little. There’s nothing surprising about it. I remember you winning prizes in skipping rope and the two-legged race.”

“That was in elementary school, okay? I didn’t participate much in middle school. You don’t care about me at all.”

“We didn’t really have a proper sports festival in middle school. It was mostly a few talented athletes participating, while the others cheered them on and then wrote articles, right?”

“That’s true.”

Lin Youxi asked Mei Fang, “Did you sign up for any events?”

“I signed up for the 20×50 relay race. Besides that, I also joined the tug-of-war and group skipping rope. That’s about it.”

“Ah Fang is being lazy. You only signed up for team events.”

Mei Fang sat on a chair and took a sip of hot milk. “I’m not naturally inclined towards sports, so it’s already impressive that I’m willing to participate in the class activities.”

Xia Yuan stood behind Mei Fang’s chair and shook him back and forth. “Didn’t you say last time that you wanted to find time to exercise properly?”

“Exercising is a long-term process. It’s not like I suddenly started training just for the sports festival… Oh, Speaking of which…” Mei Fang thought for a moment and then said, “Since Guo Yun has achieved good results in her workout. Maybe I can learn some workout routines from her.”

Xia Yuan became instantly anxious, shaking Mei Fang’s back almost causing him to spill the milk on himself.

“Why look for Guo Yun? The three of us can exercise together. Morning exercise and jogging are the most comfortable in autumn and winter!”

“Are you sure you can get up on time?” Mei Fang cast a skeptical look at Xia Yuan. “When we were in middle school, I used to wait for you to go to school every winter morning.”

“I can get up, I can! Now that I’m sleeping with Youxi, I’ll just let her freeze me a bit in the morning with her hands, and I’ll wake up.”

Xia Yuan leaned on Mei Fang’s shoulder, getting closer to him. “Starting from tomorrow, let’s prepare for the sports festival with morning jogs!”

At Jiangcheng NOHS, activities were one after another. Almost every two weeks, there was an activity for the first-year students. This time, it was the sports festival following the midterm exam, and the school deliberately left a week of time to help everyone recover from the exam’s pressure.

In order to do their best to earn glory for their respective classes in the upcoming sports festival, the trio devised a morning jog routine, waking up an hour earlier than usual to jog in the mornings, and changing their evening cuddle sessions to actual night runs.

Just hugging was no longer enough stimulation, but Xia Yuan was a bit shy and didn’t dare casually touch Mei Fang. Mei Fang also couldn’t let only Youxi reap the benefits, so neither expressed dissatisfaction with changing up their “super energy replenishment” activities. Xia Yuan only mentioned that they should have it at least once a week.

With a firm determination, everyone set their alarms one hour earlier than usual.

Ding-ding-ding, Ding-ding-ding——

Mei Fang was awakened by the nightmare-like sound of the alarm clock. It was only 5:15 when he looked at the clock. He initially wanted to press the alarm and go back to sleep, but then he remembered yesterday’s morning jogging plan.

He suddenly had the impulse to strangle his past self from yesterday.

But he couldn’t let Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi see him make a fool of himself…

He quickly changed his clothes and finished washing up, but there was no movement coming from Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi’s room.

Could it be that the two of them forgot to set their alarm clock last night?

Mei Fang lightly knocked on the door, and he heard Lin Youxi’s voice from inside.

“Come in.”

“…”

Although they had been living together for almost half a year, Mei Fang hadn’t really spent much time in the girls’ master bedroom. As soon as he entered, his eyes fell on Xia Yuan’s favorite full-length mirror, reflecting Mei Fang in his tight-fitting sportswear.

He had a well-proportioned figure, not too fat or too thin, and the sportswear made him look very upright.

Then he saw Lin Youxi still sitting on the bed, putting on her jacket, while Xia Yuan was still sound asleep, completely oblivious to the world.

“So, this is what you call morning jog? You’re not getting up at all…”

Lin Youxi didn’t seem to think much of it. She was still sitting on the bed while tying her hair into a ponytail. “Our Yuan Yuan is so soft and warm. It’s really difficult to get out of her embrace…”

“…”

Mei Fang found it difficult to decipher Lin Youxi’s words just now.

Could it be that she’s expecting me to say something like: 【Really? I don’t believe it. Let me try】?

That would be weird. I’m still technically just a kid, not some kind of pervert.

Mei Fang pointed at Xia Yuan, who was sound asleep next to her. “What about Yuan Yuan? Wake her up and freeze her with your cold hands.”

“I tried that already. I even put my hand inside, but she still didn’t react. How about you give it a try?”

That statement seems to have too many hidden connotations, doesn’t it?

Mei Fang walked over and sat by Xia Yuan’s bed. Her breathing was clearly audible while she slept. Occasionally, she would smack her lips a few times, and sometimes she would suddenly chuckle, resembling a little baby.

“Yuan Yuan, get up quickly. Don’t sleep… What about our morning exercise?”

Mei Fang lightly tapped Xia Yuan’s cheek, but she just smacked her lips and then pushed Mei Fang’s hand away.

“Ah Fang, you’re so annoying… Go away, don’t touch me around there…”

Lin Youxi had a hair tie in her mouth as she was tying up her hair, staring at Mei Fang. Mei Fang immediately raised both hands to show innocence. “I wasn’t touching inappropriately, Yuan Yuan was just dreaming.”

“Even though you see each other every day, she still mutters about you in her sleep. I’m really jealous of how much Yuan Yuan depends on you,” Lin Youxi said this without looking at Yuan Yuan, observing Mei Fang’s expression instead.

You don’t really sound jealous at all…

Mei Fang lightly tapped Xia Yuan’s cheeks back and forth but still couldn’t wake her up.

“How did you wake her up before when she overslept?”

“It’s simple in winter, just pull off the blanket.”

Lin Youxi finished tying her hair and was about to get out from under the blanket when Mei Fang quickly turned his head away.

“Um, I’ll go ahead then…”

He was about to leave when he suddenly heard Xia Yuan’s cry from behind:

“Don’t…don’t go! I’m begging you… Ah Fang… don’t leave me, please!”

Xia Yuan’s dream emotions changed from excitement to sadness in just a second. Mei Fang couldn’t bear to hear this, so he stood up and said loudly:

“I haven’t left!”

“Mmm!”

The commotion from Xia Yuan’s side calmed down a bit.

Taking advantage of this moment, Lin Youxi put on her pajamas, put her arm over Mei Fang’s shoulder, and pushed him towards the door.

“She tends to talk in her sleep, but she probably doesn’t realize it. You go out first.”

“But she hasn’t woken up yet. Can you wake her up quickly?”

“Don’t worry, I have another method.”

Lin Youxi rushed Mei Fang out and closed the door. Then she quietly walked to Xia Yuan’s side, sat down, and gently lifted her hair, whispering something in her ear.

Immediately, Xia Yuan jumped up from the bed as if she had been shocked.

“Ah Fang… I think I just heard Ah Fang’s voice.”

“It’s an illusion, or maybe you’re going crazy thinking about him.”

“It seemed like that just now… Umm… ugh…”

Xia Yuan stared blankly at Lin Youxi, who didn’t wait for her to fully wake up but went straight to change into her sportswear. She was almost done.

“What time is it?”

“Around 5:30.”

“It’s still early——”

“Did you forget about our morning jog today?”

“Ah! I’ll be laughed at by Ah Fang.”

Xia Yuan quickly changed her clothes with lightning speed, following Lin Youxi. She complained while changing in front of the full-length mirror.

“Youxi, can you please stop using such weird words to wake me up in the future… I’m easily confused, and sometimes I really believe it——”

“But the effect is quite good, isn’t it?”

“Who wants to see that kind of effect? I’m too embarrassed to say it out loud!”

Translator's Notes: