Chapter 476 331: Who Asked You?

The first day of school arrived in the blink of an eye. Lin Ruoxi drove Xue Rui back to campus.

When they reached the campus gate, Xue Rui took Lin Ruoxi's phone and sent his location to Gu Muxue. She had promised him she would return for the start of the semester.

Before long, Gu Muxue sent a reply.

"I'm on campus. Let him know."

"Rui, will you tell me when you plan to see Gu Muxue from now on? Please?" Lin Ruoxi asked timidly.

Xue Rui pinched her cheek. "Are you really starting to think you're my big sister? You've been ordering me around lately."

Xue Rui couldn't help but laugh. 'Did Lin Ruoxi just ask him to check in with her?'

As Lin Ruoxi checked the rearview mirror to back up, she said without thinking, "Well, I am older than you."

Xue Rui let out a soft "Hm?" "Are you about to say you've cooked more meals than I've ever eaten?"

'To be fair, she probably wasn't wrong.'

Lin Ruoxi quickly grabbed Xue Rui's hand. "I'm sorry. P-please don't be mad."

'She always listened to whatever Xue Rui said, but she just wanted him to agree to this one thing…'

"You're older than Muxue, too. If you've got the guts, go make Muxue call you 'Big Sis'," Xue Rui said jokingly, reaching out to tilt her chin up.

Lin Ruoxi pouted. "I... I couldn't do that."

'She got so nervous every time she had to face Gu Muxue. It felt like she was the one who was the obedient little sister…'

When Xue Rui heard Lin Ruoxi say she couldn't do it, he opened his mouth to speak but then hesitated.

"You? Not capable? You're the one who wants to get into visual recognition and AI," Xue Rui said, giving Lin Ruoxi a meaningful look.

Lin Ruoxi wasn't just a fast learner; her ideas were also wild and unrestrained.

When Lin Ruoxi said she wanted to develop algorithms, she and Xue Rui had talked for a long time…

Lin Ruoxi's ideas basically aligned with some of the major AI models of a later era.

Lin Ruoxi paused, stunned. 'Was Xue Rui complimenting her?'

She felt she had to praise Xue Rui in return. "You're the one who's truly amazing, Rui. You think things through much more thoroughly than I do."

She had thought her ideas were too difficult for anyone to understand, but Xue Rui had told her they were great. He'd said she was just getting into the field a little too early, and that the computing power available with current hardware would struggle to support her concepts.

He'd also pointed out that facial recognition required massive amounts of data and suggested she focus on building the model first, putting the algorithms on the back burner for a while.

The two sat in the car, chatting idly. They had arrived back on campus in the evening, and soon they would have to head to their classroom for a class meeting.

As Xue Rui scrolled through the chat history between Lin Ruoxi and Gu Muxue, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

'Gu Muxue wanted him to see a psychologist... and Lin Ruoxi had already scheduled it for tomorrow afternoon, since they don't have class?'

'He remembered when he'd apologized and explained things to Gu Muxue, telling her he had post-traumatic stress disorder. This must be why…'

'Was she worried about him?'

'Or... did she want to see if he was lying?'

Xue Rui couldn't be sure, but either way, he considered it good news. After all, he really had lived through Lin Ruoxi's suicide.

His concern for Lin Ruoxi that day had been a purely subconscious reaction, and he was confident he could say as much, even to a psychologist.

Xue Rui pointed at the chat history. "It's one thing for her to make me go, but she's making you see a psychologist, too?"

"Mhm, she said I have issues, too," Lin Ruoxi said with a nod.

Xue Rui nodded to himself. 'Lin Ruoxi really does have some issues. She tries way too hard to please people, especially me. In my presence, her obedience and dependence are so absolute they're almost undignified.'

'Her concern for him was also over the top. He was an adult, a college student who'd started his own business at eighteen!'

'But around Lin Ruoxi, it was like he was a helpless baby. She was always subconsciously trying to feed him or dress him…'

'This is definitely an illness!'

'He'd never seen any couple with a dynamic like theirs.'

"She really trusts you," Xue Rui remarked.

'Lin Ruoxi has become the go-between for him and Gu Muxue. Among the three of them, almost nothing was off-limits. Things were going much better than he'd expected.'

'At least… Lin Ruoxi and Gu Muxue were starting to interact. As long as Gu Muxue didn't grow to hate Lin Ruoxi, his dream of holding one in each hand still had a chance of coming true…'

Lin Ruoxi reached out to rub Xue Rui's back. "It's all my fault. I scared you in your dream..."

'Xue Rui had told her as much the very first time he sought her out, asking why she had killed herself in his dream.'

'So... it wasn't just an excuse?'

'In her mind, Xue Rui had always been honest with her. Back in kindergarten, he had even won an "Honest Baby Award" and gotten praise from the teacher.'

In reality, because Lin Ruoxi had never attended kindergarten, she had no idea that pretty much every kid gets a certificate and that the teachers just come up with all sorts of praise to write on them…

The award Xue Rui received was mostly fluff.

"Xixi, don't take the blame for something that never even happened. You're alive and well, aren't you?"

Xue Rui patted her head. 'Lin Ruoxi was either apologizing or on the verge of apologizing.'

"Mhm, I definitely won't die before you," Lin Ruoxi said, nodding firmly.

Xue Rui had to suppress a laugh. 'Does she even think before she speaks? She just served that one up on a silver platter.'

He clutched his heart, feigning agony. "Xixi, I can't believe you want me to die first."

Lin Ruoxi panicked. She had said the wrong thing, and she had no idea how to placate him.

She rushed to explain, "N-no... I, I meant I want to live a little longer than you so that I can take care of you."

"So at the end of the day, I still die first, right?" Xue Rui said, shaking his head repeatedly. Teasing her was just too much fun.

Lin Ruoxi was stunned. She quickly changed her tune, "I was wrong. How about I die first, then?"

Xue Rui's brows knitted together. "Oh, so now you want to abandon me."

Lin Ruoxi's expression went blank. 'No matter what I say, it's wrong.'

'They say you should never go to bed angry. She didn't want even the slightest rift to form between her and Xue Rui, but right now, she truly had no idea what to do…'