After rebirth, I rejected the rich yandere lady

The weekend arrived.

Xu Musen discovered he owed several dinner engagements.

An Nuannuan, Yao Mingyue, and Zhu Yulan.

Of course, the latter was mainly to thank her for her help.

Xu Musen self-assessed that he'd never tricked her, but indeed he had taken advantage of her quite a bit.

Without her help, his branch wouldn't have been set up so smoothly.

And Zhu Yulan obviously came from a not-so-simple family background, plus she was somewhat easy to manipulate (quite gullible).

Such a good networking resource shouldn't be wasted.

In the afternoon.

The wind of autumn is always plentiful, and many trees have begun to shed their leaves, rustling against the windows, which can sound quite eerie in the dead of night.

The first appointment was with Liu Rushuang.

In the evening, Xu Musen arrived at the girls' dormitory.

Yao Mingyue was also ready, wearing a camel-colored trench coat, her long hair slightly curled with a curling iron, flowing like the most delicate silk in the breeze.

She seemed to be wearing light makeup; those phoenix eyes seemed born with the effect of eyeliner, noble and elegant.
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On her feet were a pair of small leather shoes, her long, slender legs wrapped in a layer of black silk, faintly visible beneath the trench coat.

This mature look was something Xu Musen found himself unable to forget every time he saw it.

Yao Mingyue could always spot him first in a crowd.

The moment she saw Xu Musen, she couldn't help but smile.

She came over to Xu Musen, a gentle breeze blowing, the two of them standing face to face, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, always attracting a lot of attention.

"Do I look good?" Yao Mingyue liked to ask when she already knew the answer.

"The wind is strong today, aren't you afraid of catching cold?" Xu Musen's gaze briefly swept over her long black-silk-clad legs, giving a concise comment.

It was deep into autumn, and there was some mist in the air today; perhaps it would rain a bit at night.

"Of course, it's for you to feast your eyes," she said, smiling. She even playfully lifted the corner of her trench coat as if to give Xu Musen a better view of her long black silk-clad legs.

Xu Musen pretended not to have seen it.

Yao Mingyue looked behind him.

"She isn't with you today?" she asked deliberately.

"If you miss her, I can call her over to keep you company right now," Xu Musen casually replied.

Actually, An Nuannuan had been picked up by Aunt Xiang at noon.

Yao Mingyue deliberately asked, and Xu Musen deliberately answered.

Yao Mingyue stepped forward, extending her hand to loop through his arm.

"Then there's no need, after all, one clingy pest is enough for you," she said. Her familiar scent of flowers wafted over, along with a rush of warmth.

Xu Musen avoided her gesture, "Don't pull and drag, mind your image."

"But in others' eyes, we have always matched, haven't we?" Yao Mingyue said, smiling as she looked at him. Although she didn't link arms, she stayed close to his side.

"No, in others' eyes, I was just a failed 'leech' before, not worthy of you, Miss," Xu Musen shook his head and turned to walk out of the campus.

Yao Mingyue followed his pace, her beautiful eyes never blinking as she watched him, beaming, "Now I'm your little 'leech' too, so we're just mutually doting on each other now, aren't we?"

"..."

Xu Musen's eyelid twitched. What kind of nonsense was that.

He ignored her.

Yao Mingyue wasn't in a hurry, just quietly walking with him. By mid-October, the evening sun didn't provide much warmth.

The sparse sunlight stretched their shadows on the ground very long.

"Click!"

The sound of a camera.

Xu Musen turned his head to see Yao Mingyue taking a photo with her phone of their two shadows on the ground.

She seemed to like taking pictures a lot lately.

It was the same during their trip to Laojun Mountain; she took non-stop photos all the way.

"I didn't catch your face," Yao Mingyue said with a laugh, explaining as he looked her way.

"I remember you didn't use to like taking pictures so much."

"Yeah, before I always had you with me, so of course I didn't need photos to commemorate anything, but now... at least I can take some pictures. You won't slip away in the pictures, right?"

Yao Mingyue looked at him, the corners of her mouth smiling. But her words felt like a jar of vinegar had been overturned, spilling everywhere, and as the sunlight evaporated it, the air began to smell sour.

Xu Musen looked down at the overlapping shadows of the two on the ground.

The shadows were long, difficult to separate even when their steps weren't in sync.

Just like the nearly twenty years of their past.

Childhood sweethearts.

A twist of fate, yet also a curse.

Being together is best, but if not, it's inevitably unforgettable throughout life.

But now, the image of An Nuannuan was increasingly clear in Xu Musen's mind.

"Ming Yue, I know I can't persuade you, but I want to choose my own life now."

"I know, I know, but can we not talk about this today, please?"

Yao Mingyue interrupted him. She matched Xu Musen's pace, and their shoulders occasionally touched.

"Today we're going to have dinner, just like when our moms used to take us out to eat when we were kids, okay, Brother Musen?"

Xu Musen felt his heart tremble.

She really had changed a lot. Perhaps the essence of her 'yandere' nature hadn't changed; in her last life, she was like a hedgehog bristling with spikes.

Anyone who got close was bound to get hurt.

This time around, she occasionally showed her softer side below those spikes.

Xu Musen looked at her beautiful face in the evening sunset – her temples, eyelashes, eyes, nose, lips...