Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

”But I remember... when I signed up, he was from the business school.” Qin Nuan said somewhat hesitantly.

When Luo Yanwu came in, Luo Qianqian froze on the stairs with Qin Nuan holding a cup of water, both maintaining their postures without a single shake.

He walked up the stairs, lifted Luo Qianqian down, calling it a lift might be a stretch, it was more like he simply moved her down the stairs by placing his hands at the sides of her waist: ”Staring into space on the stairs, aren’t you afraid of falling?”

Luo Qianqian stuck out her tongue, her face easing a bit: ”Grandpa and grandma are not home either, did they go for a walk again?”

Because of the old man’s health, he had been forced to replace his entertainment activity of playing chess with walking the dog.

Luo Yanwu looked around, Baozi was also not at home, he nodded: ”They probably did.”

Qin Nuan smiled and continued to drink water.

Luo Qianqian went upstairs to change clothes, but saw that her phone screen was lit up. Upon unlocking her phone, there was just one message with two words: ”Go online.”

From Luo Shufan.

Luo Qianqian didn’t care about Luo Yanwu or Qin Nuan downstairs and hurriedly turned on the computer. After connecting to the internet, she saw the email her brother sent, and then a web call came through, and Luo Qianqian quickly put on her headset.

”Qianqian?” Luo Shufan’s voice.

”Yeah,” Luo Qianqian replied softly, then immediately added, ”Bro, there’s nothing important in your email. Why the rush?”

”Nothing, just wanted to hear your voice.” Luo Shufan’s light chuckle came through.

Luo Shufan’s face bore tiredness but also excitement: ”How’s your health?” Seeing Xu Tianyi looking at him eagerly from the side, Luo Shufan felt quite smug; he was the one who could talk to his sister, Xu Tianyi could just stay out of it.

”Health? ...It’s pretty good,” Luo Qianqian laughed nervously.

Thinking of the issues that were still unresolved, she didn’t want her brother to worry as well.

”That’s good. By the way, I’ll send you some money in a few days, and I’ve got some things coming up that might prevent me from replying to your emails for a while, so don’t worry.”

”What’s up?” As soon as Luo Qianqian heard this, she became anxious.

”Work...academic stuff, can’t communicate with the outside, to prevent leaks,” Luo Shufan said in a steady voice, as if to comfort Luo Qianqian.

Luo Qianqian paused for a moment, nodded, thinking he couldn’t see her anyway, then mumbled, ”Okay, by the way, bro, I have a question.” While speaking, she brought up the issues that had been happening in the dormitory, attributing them to a friend named Little A, and sought Luo Shufan’s advice.

After hearing this, Luo Shufan paused before saying, ”You’re not this Little A, right?”

”How could that be? If it were me, I’d be Little L,” said Luo Qianqian, nervously joking.

Luo Shufan seemed to understand something, he didn’t push further, pondering for a moment: ”If we go by what you just said, with no concealment, the most likely would be Little Z and Little X students. Little A has always been together with Little N, they trust each other and can vouch for each other, unless they acted together, but from your tone, it’s clear that Little A and Little N are not suspects. Little C’s sudden family trouble caused her to leave, but she’s always been on good terms with Little N. Little Y has always been unliked and was caught by Little A, so she could be wanting revenge, but there’s no need to take action when she knows she’s such a prime suspect.” Luo Shufan used initials instead of names to avoid saying them out loud; except for A, which had no relation to her, other letters were chosen based on names.

”Then why are Little Z and Little X suspects?” Luo Qianqian knew it wouldn’t be Qin Nuan and it wasn’t her, but she hadn’t ruled out any of the other four people, nor did she have any particular suspicions against anyone. Hearing Luo Shufan say this left her quite puzzled.

”They have the conditions to contact the outside world, one secretly seems to have gotten a boyfriend, but you all haven’t noticed. The other got a beauty salon card and expanded her regular activities,” Luo Shufan explained: ”And, there’s definitely someone with ulterior motives for Little A out there!”

Luo Qianqian’s face turned pale; this was exactly what she had been worried about.

”Brother, can you be sure which one it is?” Luo Qianqian’s voice carried a hint of hesitation.

”I can’t.” Luo Shufan answered without a moment’s hesitation.

Luo Qianqian didn’t know why, but she actually breathed a sigh of relief. Cong Rong was the person Luo Yanwu liked now, and it couldn’t be better if she could clear herself of suspicion.

But this was only Luo Shufan’s thought... she understood very well.

Meanwhile, Luo Shufan hadn’t been idle. His fingers tapped away at the keyboard, and it wasn’t until he received a reply that he breathed a sigh of relief, speaking slowly, ”It’s okay, Little A is blessed with noble helpers, there won’t be any problems.”

”Bro, you’re so superstitious, huh, noble helpers.” Luo Qianqian laughed out loud, ”Hopefully that’s the case.”

”Oh, did you receive the stuff?” Luo Shufan smiled and changed the topic, but his hand replaced the letters he had typed before with names on an open book beside him: N is Qin Nuan, C is Cong Rong, X is Xiu Ran, Y is Cao Yingying, Z is Zhang Yun.

He circled the names Xiu Ran and Zhang Yun with a red pen and tossed it into the air towards Xu Tianyi.

Xu Tianyi frowned, looking at the content on the book, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

”Oh, the dress? That’s not right of you, bro. After all, I’m your actual sister, and yet you don’t send me anything.” Luo Qianqian’s voice carried a tinge of grievance, ”Is it because you have younger siblings now that you don’t like me anymore?”

Luo Shufan chuckled, ”How could that be...” but then he arched an eyebrow and glared at Xu Tianyi, ”I did give you money though, buy whatever you want on your own. You’re grown up; I don’t even know your size anymore, how am I supposed to buy anything?”

After saying this, Xu Tianyi gave him a look of contempt and ignored his glare.

Didn’t know? Who was it that occasionally checked the surveillance to see if his sister was being bullied?

And who was it that occasionally lamented her being too short and needing to drink more milk?

Xu Tianyi didn’t say a word, just turned to look at the computer.

”You could also send me other things, like something tasty... Just giving me money, why do I feel like I’m being kept?” Luo Qianqian pouted, but was there any real unwillingness on her face? Clearly, she was just looking for an excuse to act spoiled.

”Pfft...” As soon as he heard these words, Luo Shufan burst out laughing, and the coffee he had just sipped sprayed all over the computer screen.

”Are you asking for a beating?” Luo Shufan was truly at a loss for words.

”I’m missing you.” Luo Qianqian’s tone was light, yet her eyes and face were full of desolation; it had been over a year since she had seen her brother.

Luo Shufan fell silent. They weren’t twins, but they shared the same mother. How could he fail to detect her forced smile?

”Is this what you’ve been learning at school?” Luo Shufan laughed, pretending to be very busy, ”Ah, I still have things to do, I’ll contact you another time.” Then he quickly hung up the call.

Looking at the disconnected call, Luo Qianqian’s tears slid down: ”Brother...”

Luo Shufan’s own eyes were red as he stared at the screen’s background, where a girl with a sunny smile appeared. He tugged at the corner of his mouth: ”Wait for me.”