The Sickly Beauty Gives Up Struggling [Rebirth] Chapter 93

“Class dismissed.”

As soon as Xiao Muran finished speaking, the bell rang. The classroom instantly buzzed with noise, students from several classes rushing about in a chaotic scene.

Song He hesitated before asking, “Do you… does your class have lessons later?”

Li Rong lowered his gaze, speaking lightly, “No, I’m going to see a friend.”

Song He’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his back stiffened, and his eyes fixated on the blackboard as he feigned indifference. “What friend?”

“Ha.” Li Rong tugged at the corner of his lips without answering.

After waiting for a while and realizing that Li Rong had no intention of elaborating, Song He awkwardly said, “Our class still has lessons, so I’ll head out first.”

With that, he left a bag of bread he had brought for Li Rong on the desk, grabbed his backpack, and quickly exited the lecture hall.

Li Rong glanced at the croissant bread, then squinted at Song He’s retreating figure.

Who was it this time? Who sent Song He to approach him?

Was Song He chosen because no one else could be bribed, or because they didn’t expect him to extract critical information and simply wanted to monitor Li Rong’s every move?

After pondering for only a few seconds, Li Rong shifted his focus. He noticed that Xiao Muran wasn’t in a hurry to leave. It seemed as if she wanted to linger and observe him for a while longer.

This realization made Li Rong uneasy.

Someone who should have confronted him with hostility was instead showing him kindness.

It was one of the rare moments when his judgment proved wrong, and reality turned out to be better than he had anticipated.

Yet, he still didn’t know how to interact with Cen Xiao’s mother. So he subtly avoided Xiao Muran’s attention, blending into the crowd as he silently left the classroom.

Oddly enough, he didn’t discard the wrapper from the energy bar. Instead, he kept it tightly held in his hand.

Xiao Muran hesitated, watching him leave, but she didn’t stop him.

Before long, she was preoccupied with a group of students approaching her to ask questions about the lecture content.

***

Li Rong stepped out of the classroom and arranged to meet Cen Xiao in the small garden behind the teaching building.

He sat down on the dense, dry lawn, idly fiddling with a torn piece of wrapper in his hand, tossing his backpack aside.

When Cen Xiao arrived, he saw Li Rong sitting cross-legged on the lush, vibrant grass. His head was lowered, his gaze downcast, and his hands were busy rubbing at something. Sunlight streamed down on him, illuminating his hair with a warm brown sheen, while his side profile remained delicately pale.

It was class time, and the area outside the teaching building was silent and empty. Yet, Li Rong sitting there seemed to command Cen Xiao’s entire attention.

“How was it meeting my mom? Did it go okay?” Cen Xiao strolled over casually, stopping beside him.

Li Rong tilted his head up, squinting against the sunlight. “Got everything done for the Ninth District?”

Cen Xiao nodded. “All the materials have been submitted. The approval process will take about three days, and then we can go pick up the documents.”

Li Rong reached out, grabbed Cen Xiao’s arm, and tugged him down to sit on the grass beside him. Then, without hesitation, he placed one of his legs over Cen Xiao’s knee. “Alright, now explain to me what’s up with your mom’s attitude.”

He hadn’t forgotten how, in their previous lifetime, Xiao Muran had strongly opposed his relationship with Cen Xiao.

With Li Rong’s leg resting on his knee, Cen Xiao didn’t seem the least bit burdened. On the contrary, he reached out and began gently massaging the muscles in Li Rong’s calf. “You really want to know?”

Li Rong raised an eyebrow. “Of course.”

Cen Xiao sighed softly, resting his palm on Li Rong’s knee. His voice dropped to a quiet tone. “If she’s wary of me being close to you, it’s not because she’s worried about you affecting the Cen family. She’s afraid I’ll hurt you.”

Li Rong frowned slightly, clearly not understanding what Cen Xiao meant.

Looking at him, Cen Xiao asked, “Professor Li never mentioned anything about being abroad?”

Li Rong paused for a moment, thinking. “He did—university, projects, volunteering, founding the New Thinking Club… What exactly are you referring to?”

Without warning, Cen Xiao leaned in and brushed his lips lightly against Li Rong’s. His voice deepened. “This part.”

Li Rong froze, his eyes widening as he instinctively licked his lips. “That… no, he never mentioned anything like that.”

He wasn’t particularly interested in his parents’ romantic history—it wasn’t something he felt responsible for.

All he needed to know was that his parents loved each other.

Cen Xiao said calmly, “My mom and Professor Li were once together, but it was very brief.”

He spoke as if revealing a family secret buried for over a decade.

Li Rong: “…”

So, there was another layer of entanglement between him and Cen Xiao.

The thought made Li Rong chuckle softly. Shaking his head, he mused, “That’s hard to imagine.”

His mother, Gu Nong, was completely different from Xiao Muran.

Xiao Muran was gentle, sensitive, elegant in her demeanor, and warm in her temperament. Even when she cared, it was restrained and subtle, her emotions more often hidden in her eyes than expressed aloud.

Gu Nong was warm, resilient, loved challenges, and was full of energy, with an incredibly wide range of interests.

Sometimes, Li Rong thought that if she hadn’t devoted so much energy to her hobbies, her academic achievements might have surpassed Li Qingli’s.

Cen Xiao’s gaze sharpened slightly, and he said lightly, “If my grandparents weren’t such terrible people, neither of us would even exist.”

He recounted everything that had happened back then to Li Rong in detail.

The passage of time had tempered his emotions about it. He had grown past the age where his mood was dictated by the actions of his elders.

The scars of the past would never disappear, but they didn’t need to. He wasn’t stuck in those memories—he had chosen to move forward.

Li Rong found himself at a loss for words.

Li Qingli had never mentioned any of this. That love, once intentionally torn apart, may have left a trace of regret in his father’s heart but had never held him back.

They say time heals all wounds. Strong people always manage to move forward, but there are still some who are forced to remain trapped in the past.

Li Rong looked at Cen Xiao and asked, “So… how old were you when you learned about this?”

Cen Xiao tried to recall, but the years blurred together. “I was very young. I don’t remember exactly how old.”

Li Rong nodded thoughtfully, lips pressed together, studying Cen Xiao. “So when did you start paying attention to me?”

Before attending A High, Li Rong hadn’t even heard of Cen Xiao’s name. He had never been the type to make friends easily or to join in on social activities.

Cen Xiao raised a hand and gently rubbed the cartilage of Li Rong’s ear, smoothing out his wind-tousled hair. “That would be… a long time ago.”

He saw no need to hide it.

Ever since he learned that his parents’ broken relationship involved another person’s name, he couldn’t help but wonder about them. Was that person struggling just as his mother, Xiao Muran, had been? Was that person’s child living a life as tumultuous as his?

The answer was no.

As a child, Li Rong hadn’t been as aloof. He was easily amused, his bright black eyes curving into a hint of peach blossom shapes when he smiled. Even then, he had been a soft, sentimental child.

When Li Qingli or Gu Nong held him, his voice naturally softened, as if he were being coy. He’d press his chin on their shoulders, puffing out his cheeks adorably.

There wasn’t even a shadow of pain in his eyes. He looked every bit the pampered, carefree little beauty.

It was the most perfect family dynamic Cen Xiao had ever witnessed.

Li Rong raised a brow, as if piecing things together. “You knew me early on and paid attention to me for a long time. So… back in our first and second years of high school, all the confrontations, the cold shoulder at Song Yuanyuan’s birthday party, and… everything else—those weren’t simply because Hongsuo and Blue Pivot were naturally at odds. It was because I’m Li Qingli’s son.”

He finally understood why Cen Xiao’s intense love for him carried hints of obsession and forcefulness.

No wonder Cen Xiao had said Xiao Muran was worried about their relationship, fearing Cen Xiao might harm him.

One person had been stuck in the past, while the other had moved on. The disparity was, indeed, difficult to reconcile.

Li Rong pursed his lips, narrowed his eyes, and grabbed a handful of grass, tossing it at Cen Xiao. “Oh, so that’s why you…”

Why you were so harsh.

And to think, at their graduation ceremony, he had thought Cen Xiao was jealous of Song Yuanyuan because of him.

Cen Xiao let him throw grass all over him without brushing it off. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Li Rong’s waist, leaning in to lightly kiss him in an appeasing manner. With a lowered gaze, he murmured, “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Li Rong didn’t intend to dwell on past grievances. What surprised him more was that Cen Xiao could bury all his pain and struggle and choose to love him fully.

Back when he knew nothing, Cen Xiao had already overcome all his obstacles.

Li Rong pushed weakly at Cen Xiao’s chest but didn’t follow through, so he stopped trying.

Cen Xiao gently brushed his lips against Li Rong’s, soothingly stroking the back of his neck. When Li Rong finally quieted down, Cen Xiao rested his forehead against Li Rong’s. “I regret every single thing that upset you. I’m just grateful there’s still time to make it right.”

Li Rong’s eyelids fluttered as his breathing quickened. He licked his damp lips and grabbed the front of Cen Xiao’s shirt, muttering, “I’ll remember all this. From the beginning of our first year to… the future, I’ll settle the score with you, bit by bit.”

“Alright, you can take your time,” Cen Xiao said softly, leaning back slightly to let Li Rong vent however he wanted.

Unexpectedly, Li Rong knelt on the grass, using force to push Cen Xiao down before throwing himself onto him.

Pinning Cen Xiao down, he braced his arms on either side of Cen Xiao’s head and looked into his eyes. “Your mom shouldn’t have taken her anger out on you. You were just a kid back then—so what if your morals were a little off, or your behavior less than admirable? I’ll be magnanimous.”

With that, he bent his arm, resting against Cen Xiao’s chest as he bit down on his lips.

This time, Li Rong completely dominated, pinning Cen Xiao beneath him and sweeping through his territory with a bold intensity.

When he had his fill, Li Rong knelt on Cen Xiao’s lap, looking down at him with a mischievous smile glinting in his eyes. “We’ve already… slept together. I’ll take responsibility.”

Can’t wait until next week to see more? Want to show your support? Come to my Patreon where you can get up to 5 more chapters of The Sickly Beauty Gives Up Struggling [Rebirth] right away ! Or go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)