Locking away my heart and love! Going back to 2000 to be a top student again.

Xu Su was woken up by the heat. In her groggy state, she wondered if the air conditioner at home was broken.

She kicked off the blanket covering her and was stunned to hear the sounds of chickens crowing and dogs barking outside the window.

When I opened my eyes, I saw white walls that were peeling and cracked on all four sides, and a ceiling covered with a layer of plastic sheeting.

Xu Su was a little stunned. Wasn't this her maternal grandmother's house where she lived during her childhood?

The old mud-brick house had no curtains, and the sun outside was scorching, making the light so bright that it felt like being in a dream.

The door opened and a thin old lady walked in. Seeing that Xu Su was awake, she smiled kindly: "Su Su, get up quickly. We have to leave after breakfast. When we get to your parents' place, remember to study hard. You haven't been studying properly these past few days."

Xu Su's eyes instantly reddened. Was she dreaming? Otherwise, how could she see her long-deceased grandmother speaking?

"You're a grown woman now, why are you still crying?" The old man walked to the bedside, patted Xu Su's head, and said affectionately, "If you miss me, just come back to see me during the winter and summer vacations. You're going to high school now, and getting into the city's No. 1 High School is a great thing, so you're not allowed to cry."

"I'm not going to school in the city anymore." Xu Su's hands trembled with excitement when she saw her living grandmother. She hugged the old woman's hand affectionately and said, "I don't want to leave you. I'll just go to high school in the county town."

Grandma Xu patted her granddaughter's back and gently scolded, "What nonsense are you talking about? Your parents are waiting for you at home. Get up, wash up, and have breakfast. The bus to the county will be passing by in an hour, and the next one will take another two hours."

After saying that, she began to check what she had forgotten to bring for her granddaughter, completely unaware of the turmoil in Xu Su's heart at that moment.

Xu Su felt like she was in a beautiful dream. She obediently got up as if sleepwalking, unwilling to wake up from everything in front of her. It wasn't until she finished breakfast and was standing on the dirt road waiting for the bus to the county town that her grandmother stuffed two hundred yuan into her hand, and Xu Su finally came back to her senses.

Are dreams these days so real?

"Keep this money safe, preferably tucked inside your books, and don't tell your mother."

Looking at the girl she had raised single-handedly, Grandma Xu was afraid that the child would suffer any grievances. "You and your parents haven't lived together for so many years, so it's inevitable that you'll be a little estranged. If there's anything you need to spend money on that you can't tell them, just use this money."

“I know your mom. Over the years, she has felt guilty towards you. This time you did so well on the exam, and she is proud of you. When you go home, be sweet-talking, and your parents will like you.”

Hearing the exact same words as in her previous life, Xu Su burst into tears, somewhat unable to believe that she had really been reborn. She had returned to the summer vacation of her third year of junior high school, the day she went to the city from her grandmother's house.

In her past life, Chen Shulan and Xu Weiping, in order to avoid the one-child policy and have a son, sent Xu Su to live with her maternal grandmother from a young age. They rarely visited her during holidays. Before she turned sixteen, Xu Su had seen her parents only a handful of times.

Like all children, Xu Su had high expectations for her parents' love. In order to live with her parents, she studied hard for three years of junior high school and was admitted to Changshi No. 1 Middle School. She naturally returned to the city to be with her parents, but also encountered the calamity that would trap her for life.

Sixteen-year-old Xu Su would never know that some people are born with weak family ties, and not all parents love their daughters.

Xu Su, whose youthful body now houses the mind of a thirty-year-old, is aware of this fact.

Xu Su had long since given up on the idea of ​​receiving paternal or maternal love from Chen Shulan and Xu Weiping.

If she could have come back ten days earlier, or even three days earlier, she would never have gone to high school in the city. But now that everything is ready, she has no choice but to change her mind.

The rural bus arrived on time, swaying and rattling. Grandma Xu waved for it to stop and helped her granddaughter onto the bus.

Having just been reborn, Xu Su was extremely reluctant to part with her grandmother. Before getting into the car, she hugged her grandmother tightly.

As she boarded the bus that had taken her away from the place where she had grown up, Xu Su looked at the rural scenery that was getting further and further away outside the window. The overwhelming sense of reality made her tremble involuntarily.

I never imagined that I would wake up back in time fourteen years ago. I wonder what happened to me fourteen years later? Did I just die suddenly?

She remembered that Zhou Mochen had held her tightly in his arms before they fell asleep. She died just like that. Who knows how crazy that lunatic will become? Will he commit suicide for her?

Xu Su closed her eyes, trying not to think about that madman. She leaned her head back in the seat, forcing herself to think calmly.

Her first thought was of her grandmother who had been paralyzed for ten years in her previous life. Her heart tightened, and she secretly vowed never to let her grandmother have such an accident again.

Now that she has been given a second chance at life, Xu Su’s top priority is to protect her grandmother. On the eve of her college entrance exam when she was eighteen, she didn’t want her grandmother to be left alone in the village. She fell in the vegetable garden and it wasn’t until a passing villager saw her that she was not seen.

Although she survived after being taken to the hospital, she could never stand up again. Even the most expensive rehabilitation training could not give her back a grandmother who could speak and walk.

An elderly person who had been clean and tidy all their life spent the last ten years of their life being cared for and fed without any dignity, and unable to even speak a complete sentence clearly.

Furthermore, Zhou Mochen must not be allowed to see her!

Since she can't get rid of Zhou Mochen with her abilities, then the two of them should simply never meet again in this lifetime.

She wants to get into the university she likes, escape her family of origin, and live the free life she desires.

...............

Changshi, an old industrial area.

It's a half-length alley with four-story red brick old buildings on both sides. Most of the residents here are retired workers from nearby factories.

Xu Weiping and Chen Shulan were both employees of a textile factory in this area. The company provided them with a couple's apartment, where they lived for nearly ten years.

After taking leave, Chen Shulan picked up her daughter at the station and led her back home. When they encountered acquaintances, they couldn't help but stare at Xu Su with curiosity.

Unlike other girls who grew up playing in the mud in the countryside, sixteen-year-old Xu Su has blossomed into a graceful young woman, already showing signs of stunning beauty at first glance.

Today, Xu Su was wearing new clothes that her grandmother had specially bought for her at the market in the city so that she could go to school: a pure white short-sleeved shirt and her first pair of cropped jeans.

The clothes in the countryside are a bit outdated compared to those in the city, but on Xu Su, they just look clean and nice.

Chen Shulan last saw her daughter three years ago when Xu Su graduated from elementary school. Teenage girls change every year, and this time when mother and daughter met, Chen Shulan almost didn't recognize her. She couldn't understand how her daughter could be so... radiant when neither she nor her husband were particularly good-looking.