Bringing My Rival Back to Life (Accidentally) - Chapter 13

Zhu Xiao did it on purpose.

In the fleeting moment of their eye contact, Wu Jiu suddenly realized that Zhu Xiao had thought of the same thing as him. It was the first time they met. It was also the first time he had been this close to Zhu Xiao.

That day, Zhu Xiao got separated from his friends while hiking and found Wu Jiu lying on the ground near a secluded mound. It was Wu Jiu’s first time in the human world, and he had fainted due to the unfamiliarity with sunlight, lying there peacefully.

Zhu Xiao appeared cold on the surface, but he was not as indifferent as he seemed. He walked up, squatted down, and patted Wu Jiu’s shoulder, “Are you okay?”

“Classmate?”

He called out twice more, but Wu Jiu showed no response. Could it be shock?

Zhu Xiao looked around; this place was rarely visited by people. He wondered why someone would be lying here. Saving a life was the priority, so without overthinking, Zhu Xiao called the emergency number, gave a detailed location, and then began administering first aid according to the instructions. He strictly followed the 30:2 ratio of chest compressions to rescue breaths. As he bent down for the third time to give rescue breaths to Wu Jiu, the latter suddenly opened his eyes.

At first, Zhu Xiao didn’t notice until he felt a lick on his face. Wu Jiu, who had just climbed up from the offline underworld, was still an old-fashioned person who adhered to formalities. He had never even touched a girl’s hand before, but as soon as he arrived in the human world, he encountered such an exciting scene and had his first kiss taken away.

Rather than feeling angry, Wu Jiu was initially stunned and at a loss. When he arrived in the human world and opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Zhu Xiao’s face. Even after many years, he still couldn’t find anyone more attractive than Zhu Xiao.

Wu Jiu subconsciously licked his lips. Only after regaining his senses did he push the person in front of him away. “Who are you?” Wu Jiu’s ears were flushed red as he disapprovingly said, “How can you be so frivolous in your behavior?”

Although the human world had changed dynasties, it shouldn’t be open enough to allow such casual kissing, right? Moreover, they didn’t even know each other. This person in front of him was truly frivolous.

Seeing that Wu Jiu was alive, Zhu Xiao breathed a sigh of relief, but then he heard the word “frivolous.”

He thought he had misheard and repeated, “Frivolous?”

“This… ahem, beauty,” Wu Jiu said, like a chastity arch spirit who had been violated, “please maintain some distance. In ancient times, you would have to marry me for such an act.”

Zhu Xiao: “?”

“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” Zhu Xiao retorted. He had seen Wu Jiu lying unconscious here and had kindly saved his life, only to be accused of being frivolous.

But this person was strange. Instead of extorting money, he talked about “marriage.”

Which ancient tomb had this person crawled out of? Didn’t he know that the Qing Dynasty had already fallen?

Moreover—upon closer inspection, Wu Jiu’s complexion was now normal, showing no signs of the near-death state he had been in moments ago. He was definitely a fraud.

For the first time doing a good deed, Zhu Xiao was called “frivolous.” He had a bad temper and immediately let out a cold laugh, “If you don’t want to be treated frivolously, don’t lie by the roadside pretending to be dead.”

In Wu Jiu’s incredulous gaze, Zhu Xiao lightly patted his face and said deliberately, “Also, I gave you rescue breaths three times. In ancient times, wouldn’t that mean I have to marry you three times?”

…

“Now do you see clearly?” At this moment, Zhu Xiao’s appearance gradually overlapped with his impression. Zhu Xiao’s face was once again so close to him that he could count the eyelashes on Zhu Xiao’s eyes. Wu Jiu’s heart was racing, and he felt like he was about to die suddenly again. He lowered his eyes; if he got any closer—

Zhu Xiao seemed to have achieved his goal, released the pressure on Wu Jiu’s neck, and waved his hand for him to return to his original position. “Phew,” Zhu Xiao said, “In ancient times, I would have to marry you again.”

Wu Jiu struggled to regain his composure and said to Zhu Xiao, “You’re bringing up old accounts again… I’m already dead!”

And he almost died again just now!

After a moment, Wu Jiu said quietly, “So you still won’t burn a photo for me, right?”

Wu Jiu really understood Zhu Xiao well, and his guess was spot on.

Zhu Xiao nodded and said frankly, “Of course. Why would I burn my photo for you?”

…

After waking up from the dream, Wu Jiu thought of even more things.

Later, Wu Jiu learned that the person who had kissed him that day was named Zhu Xiao, a university student nearby. Wu Jiu had Butler Bai get him a new identity in the human world and successfully infiltrated the university where Zhu Xiao studied, becoming a classmate in the same major as Zhu Xiao.

The times were changing rapidly, and there were many discrepancies between the new era and Wu Jiu’s understanding. He looked around at the passers-by in confusion and randomly grabbed a passer-by to ask how to quickly understand this new era.

“Why don’t you try learning this, buddy?” the person kindly handed Wu Jiu a book with an orange cover, its title beginning with the character “Ma,” shimmering with the light of wisdom. “Once you finish it, you’ll understand.”

After flipping through a few pages of the general discussion, Wu Jiu felt that this book was profound in content. He took it home and read it over and over again. After finishing it, he immediately set a grand ideal, and his soul was qualitatively elevated.

After a week of intense study and three days of meticulous observation on the roadside, Wu Jiu finally became a qualified modern person. However, even though his thinking had transcended the feudal dimension, he still couldn’t tolerate some behaviors of modern people. Or rather, Zhu Xiao’s behaviors.

He saw Zhu Xiao’s roommate clinging to him like a koala, patting Zhu Xiao’s back while wailing about “make-up exams” and “group assignments.” … Frivolous.

He saw Zhu Xiao spending time with several men he couldn’t name every day, one of whom, surnamed Zhao, even took Zhu Xiao to a bar near the school. … Very frivolous.

He also saw someone confessing to Zhu Xiao, with the confession wall filled with Zhu Xiao’s name, and someone even dared to pass a love letter to Zhu Xiao under the dormitory building under the cover of darkness. … Extremely frivolous!

What was wrong with people these days? Instead of focusing on studying at school, how could they have the leisure to think about these romantic affairs?

The more Wu Jiu thought about it, the angrier he became, and he read his major textbook three times in a fit of anger.

At the end of the semester, Wu Jiu’s grades were all at the top, and he narrowly defeated Zhu Xiao with a high score in Marxist Theory, becoming the top student in their college.

On the day the grades came out, Wu Jiu came in front of Zhu Xiao and used a very clumsy provocation method to say sarcastically:

“Zhu Xiao, you can’t be this limited in ability, can you? You’re really far behind me.”

This tactic was very effective. Zhu Xiao had never been ranked below first place in any exam from childhood. This was the first time someone had pushed him down, and it was the same person who had inexplicably accused him of wrongdoing last time.

The provocation was childish but effective. It was from that moment that Zhu Xiao began to compete with Wu Jiu.

They kept competing fiercely for many years, and despite having a face that would make gods and people furious, they both ended up as single kings on the academic path to a Ph.D.

Looking back, Wu Jiu still thought his approach was extremely clever, leading them both onto the right path.

As he thought about it, he took out his painting again and added a stroke—last night in the dream, he discovered that there was a small mole under Zhu Xiao’s eye.

After completing it, he estimated that it was about time. Zhu Xiao should have finished class, so he sent him a message.

Wu Jiu: [Remember to visit my grave today.]

This time, he didn’t ask Zhu Xiao to bring anything—Zhu Xiao’s thin arms and legs shouldn’t carry too much. His previous requests were just a way to exercise his rights as a deceased person and to play a little trick.

However, there was one thing he hadn’t forgotten. He casually mentioned: [By the way, you can bring a photo.]

Zhu Xiao replied quickly, reminding him: [I don’t think I agreed to that yesterday.]

Wu Jiu, of course, remembered, but he pretended to have forgotten.

Now there was no way to back out. Wu Jiu humphed and said: [Not even a glance? Zhu Xiao, you’re really stingy.]

Wu Jiu even used a local human dialect: [A miser drinks cold water, and after drinking cold water, turns into a devil.]

Zhu Xiao: […]

As a more authentic pure human, Zhu Xiao adopted a simpler attack method: [Bounce back.]

Wu Jiu angrily said: [I’ll bounce back again.]

Zhu Xiao was too lazy to keep bouncing back with him and decided to use a more aggressive tactic, turning his own words against him: [Keeping photos—only a legitimate wife could do that in ancient times.]

This sounded familiar to Wu Jiu. It seemed to be something Zhu Xiao had said years ago when he was helping the teacher find scholarship recipients and needed ID photos.

Wu Jiu: […You’re bringing up old accounts again!]

Wu Jiu: [Zhu Xiao, watch out—I won’t let you go even as a ghost :)]

To express his dissatisfaction, Wu Jiu didn’t send any new messages during the taxi ride from school to the cemetery. However, Zhu Xiao, busy with the taxi, seemed not to notice his discontent, leaving Wu Jiu staring at his phone in frustration for a long time.

After a while, Zhu Xiao arrived at Wu Jiu’s grave and sent him a message.

Zhu Xiao: [Burned.]

After cooling off for those tens of minutes, Wu Jiu’s anger had long dissipated, and he was now more focused on what Zhu Xiao had said.

Wu Jiu: [What did you burn? I thought you just needed to light a stick of incense?]

Zhu Xiao didn’t specify what it was, only saying: [Remember to keep it well.]

As Wu Jiu was puzzled, a photo slowly materialized on the table.

A photo?!

Wu Jiu quickly grabbed it.

It was a photo of Zhu Xiao. This wasn’t a recent one; it was from a few years ago when they attended an academic conference, and Zhu Xiao was standing on the stage. Strictly speaking, it was a group photo. At the bottom, half of an unwilling back of the head and a pair of reluctantly clapping hands were visible—that was Wu Jiu.

The dean had hesitated but ultimately chose Zhu Xiao to speak. Wu Jiu had also been there that day, forced by the dean to clap for Zhu Xiao from below.

The anger Wu Jiu had felt earlier was nowhere to be found, and he promptly made a hindsight comment: “Ha, I knew Zhu Xiao would burn a photo for me. That’s just the kind of person he is.”

After admiring the front of the photo, Wu Jiu flipped his wrist and turned it over to the back.

This flip was unexpected, and Wu Jiu’s face instantly turned red.

“…He’ll never stop bringing up old accounts!”

On the back of the photo was a line of elegant handwriting. It was Zhu Xiao’s script. From these words, Wu Jiu could almost imagine the tone and voice Zhu Xiao would use to say it.

—How many times should I marry you now?

Bringing My Rival Back to Life (Accidentally) - Chapter 13

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Hate that cliffhanger, don’t you?

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