Rebirth at the Start: This Fate is Too Explosive!

Chapter 13: Another Interaction with the "Foreign Horse"

He plopped down on the sofa, stretched, and said, "Heaven and earth bear witness! Old Zhao and I were studying in the review room!"

He suddenly sat up straight, his eyes sparkling as he leaned closer to his mother and said, "When your son comes back with the top score in the imperial examination, you can expect the neighbors to come over every day asking for your educational secrets."

The rustling sound of newspapers turning could be heard from the study. Ye Linzhang took off his glasses, took a sip of tea with a "hiss," and said, "Don't brag. There's no such thing as bragging in our Ye family's ancestral teachings."

"Alright, let's eat, no more studying!" Ye Fan sprinted to the sink and then helped get the bowls and chopsticks.

"Alright! Wash your hands and come eat!" Gu Ruoning had already set the table with bowls and chopsticks. The porcelain bowls clinked together, making a crisp sound. In the rising steam, there was the unique warmth of a family.

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After finishing the last mouthful of soup, Ye Fan put down his chopsticks, casually wiped his mouth with a tissue, and said, "Mom and Dad! I'm finished eating. I'm going to take a shower now."

Ye Linzhang and Gu Ruoning were used to it. They let him do whatever he wanted these days. Gu Ruoning quietly tidied up the empty plates, her fingers brushing over the chicken leg bone that her son had gnawed clean, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously curved into a smile.

The two exchanged a glance and remained silent—this kid had suddenly become very energetic lately, even taking a shower with a burst of energy.

The moment the bathroom door clicked shut, the sound of rushing water, along with the departing singing, poured out.

Ye Fan belted out a new rock song, his high notes cracking and bouncing off the tiles, startling the leaves of the pothos on the windowsill. The sound of water rushing across the floor, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, mixed with his self-composed lyrics, creating a vibrant melody of youth in the rising steam.

He haphazardly dried his hair with a towel and walked into the room in slippers that felt like he was stepping on poop.

The constant beeping of WeChat message notifications sounded like a string of firecrackers exploding in a quiet room.

New message bubbles kept popping up in the message box, and the red dot number quickly jumped to "4". Ye Fan raised an eyebrow, opened the chat box, and glanced at it. It was a message sent by Liu Ruyan.

"Little man! What are you doing?"

The next second, a new message popped up in the dialog box, with green bubbles appearing one after another.

"I heard from Yan Ning that you guys went to the study room to review today!"

"How's your revision going?"

The last message was accompanied by a pitiful puppy emoji: "Did you miss me?!"

"Of course! Auntie is so nice, how could I not want to!"

After replying to the message, I opened the internet in my browser, ready to have a good chat with the "foreign horse".

Ye Fan lightly tapped the mouse, and the familiar interface of the dark blue social page instantly popped up.

I skillfully entered Sofia's social media account ID, followed her, and sent her my first message, following her in the same style we used to chat, so I could get to know her faster.

Sofia is a Ukrainian girl studying in the UK.

The clock in the bottom right corner of the screen is pointing to 22:30 p.m., which is around 2 p.m. in Cambridge. Sofia usually has afternoon tea around this time every day.

At this time, Sophia was about to graduate from Cambridge University and had already completed her dissertation. Therefore, she was in a period of relative leisure, spending her days watching dramas, chatting with people on social media accounts, or arguing with people on forums.

Sofia was wearing a beige knitted sweater, and steam was rising from the Ceylon black tea in her bone china cup when she heard her phone vibrate.

Sofia is a typical East Slavic beauty.

She picked up her phone and glanced at it. It was a message from an unknown account, but as Sophia looked at the content of the message, she felt a sense of familiarity.

She raised an eyebrow, sat up straight, put down her afternoon tea with her left hand, and replied with her fingers flying across the screen: "Hello, who are you? The tone of your voice feels familiar to me. Do we know each other?"

Ye Fan stared at Sophia's instant reply on the screen, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his lips. His slender fingers tapped lightly on the keyboard: "You might not believe it, but we really don't know each other. We've never met or talked before. This is the first time."

While chatting with Liu Ruyan, his conversation with Sofia flowed freely, ranging from astrological signs and personality traits to artistic tastes, from appearance and temperament to football matches. The topics ran wild and unrestrained.

Before he knew it, the moonlight outside the window had quietly begun to set in the west. When Ye Fan glanced at the time, which showed 1 a.m., he realized that the chat had been going on for two and a half hours, reaching an astonishing 100 minutes.

He rubbed his eyes and finally replied, "We had a very pleasant chat tonight, but this poor high school senior should go catch up on his sleep."

After today's in-depth conversation, the relationship between the two has progressed rapidly.

Liu Ruyan goes to bed around 11 p.m., adhering to the golden rule of "beauty sleep" as she pays attention to skincare.

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The next day.

early morning.

The piercing alarm clock once again shattered Ye Fan's sleep. He struggled to reach out from under the covers, slammed his hand down on the phone to stop it, and muttered, "This damn Huawei alarm clock, I'll replace it for you sooner or later..."

Reluctantly getting out of bed, I dragged my heavy steps out of the bedroom and walked sleepily toward the bathroom, but suddenly stopped as I passed the living room—Zhao Mingzhe was sitting on the sofa, holding half a steamed bun in his hand, a cup of soy milk on the coffee table, and an open English vocabulary book lying on the table.

"Did the sun rise in the west? Young Master Zhao, you get up this early too?" Ye Fan asked, his mouth full of toothbrush, "What's wrong with you today?"

Zhao Mingzhe listened to his sarcastic remarks without looking up, continuing to munch on his steamed bun: "I thought about it before bed last night, and you're right. We still have to give it our all, otherwise we won't even get into university and will only be able to work as laborers." He took a couple of sips of soy milk and added, "I got up at five o'clock and memorized vocabulary for more than an hour."

"I thought about it before going to bed last night and realized I really need to study hard, so I got up at five o'clock today to memorize my lessons..." Zhao Mingzhe said while munching on a steamed bun and drinking soy milk.

Ye Fan almost choked on the toothpaste foam, poked half his head out, and mumbled a thumbs up: "Awesome, Young Master Zhao! At this rate, getting into a 985 university is not a dream!" After saying that, he casually turned his wrist, pointed his middle finger to the sky, and grinned.

Zhao Mingzhe caught a glimpse of it, grabbed a sofa cushion, and threw it at the boy: "You son of a bitch! Still acting all high and mighty this early in the morning!" He pointed to the breakfast bag on the table and said, "Hurry up, the buns are still warm, or you'll be late for class!"

Ye Fan chuckled and continued washing up. The sound of running water mingled with Zhao Mingzhe's voice reciting vocabulary. The morning sunlight slanted into the living room, and a brand new day began.

After quickly finishing breakfast, I grabbed my schoolbag and headed to school.

The two rushed into the classroom as the morning reading bell rang, almost bumping into Lao Jiang, who was about to leave.

Old Jiang, holding his thermos, squinted at the two of them, hummed "Hmm—" through his nose, and then slowly strolled towards his office.

Tang Yanning peeked out from the front row, made an exaggerated face at Ye Fan, stuck her tongue out at the corner of her mouth and rolled her eyes, looking just like a fish starving for air.