Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

Chapter 249: So, Lets Consider It a Confession

After Lin Youxi exposed Mei Fang’s secret, he immediately got into it——

“I knew it! That love letter… it was written by you, Youxi.”

“Why would I write you a love letter? Aren’t we not allowed to date in high school?” Lin Youxi shook her head in denial. “It was Bingbing who told me.”

“But Bingbing only found out about the love letter after the evening self-study break. How could she have possibly told you about it then?”

“Really?” Lin Youxi showed a puzzled expression. “But she told me when we ran into each other in the hallway after dinner today. She said she saw a love letter on your desk and asked if I wanted to take it.”

“Take it? What does that mean…”

“Oh, speaking of that!”

Mei Fang told them that he had mistakenly thought the love letter was from Zhu Nainai, adding to a series of misunderstandings in his high school life. He explained the whole situation to Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi, which led to them both laughing at him.

“Hahaha, Ah Fang, you’re so full of yourself! You actually thought the love letter was from Zhu Nainai!”

Xia Yuan laughed at Mei Fang while playfully smacking his back. She had completely forgotten her earlier frustration about being the only one who hadn’t received a love letter. She eagerly rummaged through Mei Fang’s shoulder bag. “Did you bring it home? The love letter, I want to see it!”

“We can look at it slowly when we’re home. It’s hard to read it out here…”

The trio chatted and laughed as they returned home. After their evening snack, Liang Meijuan cleaned up the dishes and then retired to her room to rest. Meanwhile, Xia Yuan and the others stayed in the living room to study.

“By the way, Aunt Meijuan has been going to bed really early lately,” Xia Yuan remarked as she organized her papers. “Youxi, did you say something to her?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I remember that when Aunt Meijuan first arrived, she wouldn’t rest until we were all washed up and in bed. Now it feels like she gives us a lot more personal space.”

“Well, we’re all grown up now. Didn’t my mom say that before?”

“Yeah…”

Xia Yuan was somewhat skeptical of Lin Youxi’s explanation, despite her gentle smile. At this moment, Mei Fang took the love letter out of his bag and handed it to Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi to share and read.

He then watched as Xia Yuan’s expression changed from calm to blushing, then to shocked as she covered her face. She nudged Lin Youxi repeatedly, exclaiming, “This, this, this love letter is completely different from what I imagined! It’s so creepy!”

Lin Youxi, after reading the letter, remained calm. Resting her chin on her hand, she smiled and said, “I think it’s fine. It has a nice feel to it.”

Xia Yuan suddenly slapped the table, leaned close to Mei Fang, and said, “So, do you know who wrote it? What about the ‘usual spot’ mentioned in the letter? How could you have such a deep connection with another girl besides us? I’m about to get jealous!”

Aren’t you already jealous?!

“Don’t just assume whatever’s written in the letter is true… This might be a prank to mess with me. I don’t even know where the ‘usual spot’ is.”

“If Youxi hadn’t brought it up, were you planning to keep this a secret from us forever?”

Xia Yuan leaned over the desk, pressing down on Mei Fang’s shoulder as she accused him. “We promised to be the inseparable trio, yet this is how you treat me and Youxi? Hmm?”

Mei Fang, while gently pushing Xia Yuan back, explained helplessly, “I honestly didn’t intend to pay attention to that love letter, but I thought, what if Youxi wrote it? If I ignored it, Youxi might get hurt. Don’t you think?”

After hearing this, Lin Youxi seemed a bit surprised, and then she became serious, adopting the tone she used when scolding her classmates as the class monitor. “So, in your eyes, I’m that kind of creepy girl? I definitely didn’t write it.”

“You just said the letter felt really sincere; isn’t that a double standard?” Xia Yuan uncharacteristically teased Lin Youxi.

“I only said it had a nice feeling; I wouldn’t write something like that myself.”

Lin Youxi coughed a few times and then asked Mei Fang, “Do you have any suspects for who wrote this love letter? For example… Xiang Bingbing?”

“Bingbing isn’t just a suspect… now that Youxi has cleared herself, Bingbing is definitely the culprit.”

Mei Fang was quite certain, “I’ve already confirmed it personally.”

Mei Fang recounted Zhu Nainai’s theory and Xiang Bingbing’s subsequent reactions. Xia Yuan nodded in agreement. “There’s no need to guess; she definitely has My Melody stationery. I saw her at the stationery shop when I bought envelopes yesterday!”

But Lin Youxi seemed to be pondering something. “But do you two think, what was Bingbing’s intention in writing this letter?”

“What else could it be but to play a prank…”

A sudden, frightening thought seemed to strike Xia Yuan. “Could it be that Bingbing actually wants to be Ah Fang’s g-girlfriend?”

As soon as Xia Yuan said this, Mei Fang and Lin Youxi both gave her a disdainful look, making the situation very awkward.

“What are you thinking? That’s impossible.”

Lin Youxi waved her hand dismissively. “I don’t think Bingbing could write such a cheesy love letter. She might be involved in this, but someone else definitely wrote the letter.”

“I think so too,” Mei Fang nodded. “I’ll come up with a plan to get Bingbing to tell me the truth tomorrow.”

The next day.

“I will never betray my friend!”

Faced with Mei Fang’s questioning, Xiang Bingbing stood her ground, full of righteousness and without a hint of fear.

So Mei Fang placed a piece of Dove chocolate in front of her.

“…..”

“Umm…..”

“Uh, well….”

After a painful internal struggle, Xiang Bingbing muttered as she tried to refute him:

“Y-you think you can bribe me with just this? What do you take the friendship between my friend and me for?”

So Mei Fang took out an entire box of Dove chocolates from his bag and pushed it onto Bingbing’s desk.

Xiang Bingbing felt her worldview shaken. “Th-this big box, all for me, Brother Ah Fang?”

Mei Fang smiled slightly and said, “As long as Bingbing behaves, Brother Ah Fang here has plenty more where that came from. I promise you’ll never run out.”

Xiang Bingbing quickly raised her hand, “The love letter was from Wan Chaoxiong! He gave me a bag of Lay’s chips and asked me to put the letter onto your desk!”

“Huh, Wan Chaoxiong?”

So Mei Fang went to find Wan Chaoxiong to ask about the love letter. Wan Chaoxiong was utterly baffled:

“Boss Mei, you know me. How could I ever do something so childish?”

Mei Fang also found it strange, “But Bingbing said it was you.”

“Come on, you believe Xiang Bingbing over your former deskmate?”

Wan Chaoxiong put his hand on his chest and raised one hand to the sky, saying, “I swear on Bawang’s b*lls, it wasn’t me.”

“Then I’ll go ask Bingbing again——”

Mei Fang was about to turn around when he suddenly realized something. He grabbed Wan Chaoxiong and said, “Wait a second—where would your Bawang even get b*lls from?”

“I’m sorry, Boss Mei! I just wanted to film a reaction video of a classmate receiving a love letter!”

“But I didn’t see you filming?”

“I’ve actually recorded quite a bit. I’m just good at timing, so you didn’t notice.”

“What exactly did you record? You didn’t happen to catch the part where I was tickling Bingbing, did you?”

If Xia Yuan or Lin Youxi saw that, Mei Fang would have a hard time explaining. “If you did, delete it right now!”

“I didn’t get that part, I swear. Let me show you.”

Mei Fang then carefully watched his actions in the video, critiquing himself as he observed, “Still, it’s surprising you could write such a cheesy love letter…”

“Huh? The love letter… I didn’t write that. I don’t have the skills to write something like that.”

Mei Fang frowned upon hearing this. “What the heck? So it wasn’t you either? Then who on earth wrote it?”

“This… I really can’t say. Please, don’t ask me anymore.”

Wan Chaoxiong looked serious. “The person who asked for my help is a very powerful woman. If I reveal her identity, I’d be in serious trouble!”

“You’re exaggerating…”

During the morning break, Zhu Nainai appeared again, very curious about the latest developments in the love letter incident:

“Senior, Senior, have you figured out who actually wrote the love letter?”

“Well… how should I put it…” Mei Fang thought for a moment and said thoughtfully, “I guess you could say I have.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“Just what it sounds like.” Mei Fang smiled and shook his head. Zhu Nainai noticed that his smile had suddenly become very gentle, and she couldn’t resist asking curiously:

“Then, will you go to that ‘usual spot’, Senior?”

“Yes, of course, I’ll go.”

Wan Chaoxiong had always been someone who feared nothing and cared little about anything. As an otaku immersed in the world of anime, the only thing he was truly passionate about was the work he poured into C Site.

Although a certain someone’s identity wasn’t openly revealed, Xia Yuan’s debut on C Site, combined with the name “Lin Youxi”, had already given away many clues.

Wan Chaoxiong has probably figured it out as well——

When the afternoon dismissal time came, Mei Fang didn’t wait for Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi at the hallway entrance as usual. Instead, he headed directly towards the playground, crossing the stone steps of the bamboo grove path. He listened to the subtle rustling of wind through the bamboo leaves and sat by the pavilion, waiting patiently.

After some time, he finally saw the instigators of this whole incident——

“Whoa! Ah Fang, you really figured it out!”

Xia Yuan, arm-in-arm with Lin Youxi, bounced over to Mei Fang, giggling, “Hehe, Ah Fang, we totally fooled you!”

“You guys really put on a convincing act last night!”

Mei Fang said this while pinching Xia Yuan’s cheeks, “You and Youxi wrote that love letter together, yet you managed to pull off such an exaggerated reaction? You really had me fooled.”

Xia Yuan wasn’t mad after Mei Fang pinched her face. “The love letter was written by Youxi. She told me to wait until later for you to show it to me, saying she wanted to surprise me. This surprise is way too over the top!”

“It was mainly because I was afraid Yuan Yuan would give it away too soon. That’s why I had Wan Chaoxiong help instead of Bingbing. Chaoxiong wouldn’t easily reveal my identity, but Bingbing would give me up for a little food.”

“So… when did you two decide to prank me? Yuan Yuan, weren’t we supposed to be writing an anonymous love letter to prank Youxi?”

Xia Yuan stuck out her tongue sheepishly, “Sorry, Ah Fang. I thought about it afterward and figured Youxi would easily guess who wrote the anonymous love letter. So, I decided to do the opposite and prank you instead, catching you off guard.”

“You little traitor!”

Mei Fang pulled Xia Yuan into his arms, giving her a good lesson. At this point, Lin Youxi sat down beside them and tugged on Mei Fang’s arm.

“Why do you only pick on Yuan Yuan? You should bully me too!”

Lin Youxi’s words sounded almost like she was teasing, and both Mei Fang and Xia Yuan, who was still in his arms, felt a little flustered.

“Uh… well…”

Mei Fang hesitantly tried pinching Lin Youxi’s cheeks. Lin Yousi didn’t complain about the pain; she just continued to look at Mei Fang gently, which made it hard for him to go through with it.

“Anyway… the punishment is over, so let’s put an end to this whole farce.”

“No way! You still owe us a love letter, Ah Fang. You haven’t written one for Youxi and me yet.”

“But you haven’t written one for me either.”

“Didn’t we give you one?”

“That one counts as Youxi’s. But Yuan Yuan, you still haven’t given me yours.”

“I…”

Xia Yuan covered her face and muttered, “I really don’t know how to write a love letter. I tried writing something yesterday afternoon, but it felt so cheesy and embarrassing.”

“Could it be more embarrassing than the one I wrote?”

“Uh… yeah… I didn’t expect it to be——”

Lin Youxi spoke softly, “Actually, after Yuan Yuan told me about the love letter, I started thinking about something. The three of us have become more popular, especially Yuan Yuan, and with that comes the inevitability of being pursued by others.”

Lin Youxi continued, “And no matter how close we are, the reality is that all three of us are still single.”

“Now that you mention it… that’s true,” Xia Yuan nodded, then thought for a moment. “But our bond is so strong that anyone who tries to come between us would really have to think twice, right?”

“That’s true…” Lin Youxi said as she looked at Mei Fang’s expression. “So, Ah Fang, what do you think? Do you believe it’s possible for the three of us to maintain our current relationship throughout high school?”

“Are you asking because…” Mei Fang was unsure of the intent behind Lin Youxi’s question. He sensed a bit of unease, “Youxi, are you tired of the way things are now?”

“It’s not that extreme. I’ve just been thinking…” Lin Youxi placed her hand on Mei Fang’s hand, “If the love letter I wrote you was actually sincere and not just a prank, how would you respond?”

Mei Fang was about to reply, but Lin Youxi quickly covered his mouth with her hand. “You can’t use the excuse that high school students aren’t allowed to date this time. Yuan Yuan and I have both been curious about how you truly feel.”

Xia Yuan, on the other hand, was so shocked by Lin Youxi’s words that she was left almost speechless.

“Youxi! Didn’t we agree that——”

“I’m sorry, Yuan Yuan… I know what I’m doing is despicable… But Ah Fang won’t make a choice, maybe never will. Even if I can roughly guess his thoughts now, I still want him to clearly say it, to say it with his own mouth, to tell us directly.”

If… you can’t even meet this basic expectation, then all these years of our feelings have been for nothing…

Mei Fang never imagined that a simple love letter would directly lead to this final judgment scene.

Although he had anticipated a scene like this happening today, at this very moment he was completely unprepared. He hadn’t prepared any clever words or tactics, and trying to keep everyone happy while avoiding making a choice was no longer possible.

Lin Youxi held Mei Fang’s hand with one of hers and slowly removed the other from his mouth, then stared at him with a blank expression. Xia Yuan, meanwhile, looked even more nervous than Mei Fang, her hands constantly fidgeting, her eyes darting around anxiously.

“Alright… Ah Fang, it’s time for you to tell us what you really think,” Lin Youxi continued. “If this love letter was actually my confession to you, would you accept it?”

Choosing to accept Lin Youxi’s confession would mean giving up on Xia Yuan.

But rejecting Lin Youxi’s confession would be the same as choosing Xia Yuan.

Of course, Mei Fang had always been pursuing the third path.

This “third path” was an unspoken agreement between him and them

But it remained unspoken.

Although there were hints, no one had ever openly addressed it, because everyone knew it was a path that would never be blessed.

But as Lin Youxi had said, Mei Fang would never make a choice.

He had been through a lot with Lin Yousi and also with Xia Yuan.

But he had been through even more with both of them together.

Even though Mei Fang had an incredibly close relationship with his two childhood sweethearts, this moment was a real test for him.

It was not only a test of Mei Fang’s courage but also of Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi’s trust.

Because he couldn’t be completely sure that after saying those words, they would still stay by his side.

And as countless memories of the three of them together flashed through Mei Fang’s mind,

Gradually, he began to lift his head.

Under Lin Youxi’s expressionless gaze, and Xia Yuan’s anxious eyes, the glow of the setting sun fell on the boy’s face. He cleared his throat and then slowly began to speak:

“Before I accept this love letter… there’s one thing I need to confirm.”

“This love letter… strictly speaking, it doesn’t solely count as a confession from you alone, does it, Youxi?”

“After all, it was a plan that you and Yuan Yuan came up with together, and even the envelope and stationery belong to Yuan Yuan.”

As Mei Fang spoke, he tightened his grip on Lin Youxi’s hand and also took Xia Yuan’s anxious hand, holding it firmly.

“So… if I can see this love letter as a confession from both of you to me, I would be more than happy to accept it.”

“I would be very happy to.”

“Because I don’t want to be separated from either of you.”

“As long as I can do it, even if I can’t right now…”

“I am willing to put in all the effort I have, everything I have now, to win the chance to be with both of you.”

“Because I like you both.”

“From when we were very young, I’ve liked you both so much.”

“The kind of liking that makes me want to be together forever.”

After Mei Fang voiced his obvious and ambitious desire, Xia Yuan could no longer hold back her excitement and threw herself into Mei Fang’s arms.

“I… I feel the same way… I really like you Ah Fang… and I really like Youxi too! So, let’s not be apart… let’s stay together forever… just like we promised at your ancestral home before…”

After hearing Mei Fang’s confession, the corners of Lin Youxi’s mouth curved slightly upward.

Of course, she didn’t react as excitedly as Xia Yuan, but instead, she shyly lowered her head, gently rubbing her nose.

Seeing this, Mei Fang, while holding her hand, gently pulled her into the other side of his embrace. Only then did she relax and open her arms, tightly hugging both Xia Yuan and Mei Fang.