If Feng Yuankai hadn't personally intervened, Ruan Chen would probably have gone to Lao He to process her withdrawal from the competition before school ended that afternoon.
Ruan Chen raised her hand to drink tea, and suddenly felt a pang of bitterness in her heart.
She suddenly felt a little envious of Feng Shuang—although Ruan Chen felt that she was long past the age of longing for family affection, it was really hard not to be touched when she saw Feng Yuankai speaking to a younger generation in such a humble tone for the sake of his granddaughter.
She hastily finished her cup of tea, then casually crushed the disposable paper cup and tossed it into the trash can. "I'm off, or I'll be late."
Ruan Chen thought there would be some "surprise" waiting for her when she entered the class, after all, she had just made Feng Shuang suffer a loss in silence, but there was nothing.
The students in the class were all quietly studying and waiting for the teacher to come. Feng Shuang was sitting in her seat, sprawled out, with nothing on the table in front of her except for a cell phone, clearly not planning to study.
Ruan Chen's gaze met hers from afar. She returned to her seat as if nothing had happened, pulled out a blank test paper, and began to work on it.
Yu Xiaoya hasn't returned to class yet. The Yu family and Ruan Yunhan are pushing forward a new collaborative project. Ruan Yunhan is a novice, and dealing with her is much easier than dealing with those seasoned business veterans. So the Yu family pushed Ruan Yunhan out to take the lead throughout the process, as a way for her to gain experience.
If Yu Xiaoya were here, Wan Taotao's incident probably wouldn't have caused such a stir.
Ruan Chen finished her homework before school ended and did some other things on her own. As soon as the school bell rang, Ruan Chen picked up her schoolbag, which she had packed earlier, and took the key that Lao He had given her that afternoon, and headed towards the laboratory building.
Although Ruan Chen had been preparing for the competition, he had not officially registered, so he did not have permission to use the No. 1 Middle School's biochemistry lab and had been practicing at Duan Jingfu's place.
Today was the official registration day. No sooner had their competition information been approved than Lao He delivered the keys to the lab he had applied for for them.
Feng Shuang didn't rush to leave either. She leaned back in her seat, staring intently at Ruan Chen.
Ruan Chen originally wanted to leave immediately, but thinking about the helplessness and disappointment in Feng Yuankai's eyes that afternoon, and the cautious, pleading tone he used when speaking to her, she waved the keys in her hand at Feng Shuang and asked, "The lab, want to go?"
Feng Shuang did not answer.
Ruan Chen didn't care. She had already fulfilled her obligation to inform Feng Shuang, and it was her own business what she wanted to do.
Ruan Chen had no problem with the entire process, and the organizing committee's final score was based on individual performance. Even if Feng Shuang followed her to the finals, she would still not get a ranking if she did nothing.
That's why Feng Yuankai said that Ruan Chen should just focus on getting good grades and not worry about Feng Shuang.
Ruan Chen didn't take the elevator; instead, she walked up the steps, the afterglow of the setting sun shining behind her.
There weren't many students with access to the lab building, and since it was past this time of day, the stairs were deserted, looking up at them like a vast, empty maze.
Ruan Chen looked down at her shadow, which was stretched long due to the angle of the setting sun. The outline of the shadow resembled Ruan Chen, but it also resembled someone else who looked remarkably like her. She found it interesting, so she took out her phone, opened a chat interface with Fu Jianzhi, and posed for the shadow, wanting to take a picture to show him.
Before she could press the shutter button, a sudden wave of dizziness washed over her, and the shadows in front of her seemed to come alive and distort. Ruan Chen instinctively took a step back, lost her footing, and fell heavily to the ground, landing on the back of her head.
She saw Ruan Chen, who was twenty-six years old, again.
Twenty-six-year-old Ruan Chen stood where she had fallen—Ruan Chen couldn't see where she was, and she couldn't do anything but watch as twenty-six-year-old Ruan Chen fell.
She saw envy in the eyes of twenty-six-year-old Ruan Chen. She carefully reached out and held onto the shiny stainless steel handrail, wandering aimlessly around the laboratory building for quite a while. Finally, she seemed to be attracted by some commotion and quickened her pace, heading in a certain direction.
She noticed that 26-year-old Ruan Chen's hands were covered in tiny scars for some reason.
She suddenly remembered that this scene had happened before—at Fu Jian's house, when her mind was pulled into another timeline, she had followed twenty-six-year-old Ruan Chen to the basement of the Little White Building, where she entered No. 1 Middle School.
Based on my experience at the time, the next step would be for my 26-year-old self to see my 16-year-old self in the laboratory at No. 1 High School.
Ruan Chen's eyes widened suddenly—even though she couldn't see her own physical form now.
Indeed, when his mind left that timeline, he wondered why he was in the laboratory building.
So that's how it is... I was destined to participate in this competition. On an evening when the light and time completely overlapped with today, I was alone in the laboratory, while Ruan Chen from another timeline would meet me through the fragmented space-time.
But why did I meet her?
Parallel timelines should not interfere with each other. Ruan Chen can accept that she has a tragic world and lives a miserable life, but she should not know any of this, let alone that the two of them will even meet.
"Ruan Chen! Ruan Chen! Wake up!" Suddenly someone shook his shoulders hard, with a faint sob in their voice.
Then the voice asked, "Doctor, my sister had some mental health issues before. Do you think we should arrange some tests? Should I transfer her to another hospital?"
Ruan Chen felt her body suddenly sink, and her eyelids felt as heavy as if they were glued together.
She yawned, opened her eyes with difficulty, and saw Fu Jianzhi with reddened eyes.
"What's all the noise about? How did I get here?"
The school hospital at No. 1 Middle School.
Fu Jianzhi suddenly relaxed, tears falling onto Ruan Chen's face, her voice trembling with sobs, "You scared me to death, you know? You suddenly sent me a video this afternoon, I answered but no one answered, so I called your school's academic affairs office and came all the way here."
When the doctor saw that Ruan Chen had woken up, he smiled and said, "Young man, I told you your sister is fine, it's just low blood sugar, she'll be fine after a while."
The doctor then said to Ruan Chen, "Your brother is really something, he carried you all the way from the lab building to the school clinic, and started crying as soon as he saw the doctor..."
Ruan Chen got up, feeling as if she had just taken a nap.
The first thing she did was reach for the school uniform, and Fu Jianzhi immediately fawned over her, wanting to put it on Ruan Chen.
Ruan Chen waved his hand in refusal, took out the laboratory key from his pocket, and glanced at it.
The number is indeed the one at the end of the corridor.
That would mean that one afternoon in the near future, I would actually meet Ruan Chen from another world.
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