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

Along the way, some people who claimed to be on good terms with Chen Shulan pointed directly at Xu Su and asked who this pretty young girl was related to in their family.

At this time, the family planning policy had been relaxed a lot, and many families began to have a second child openly. This time, when their eldest daughter came to the city to study, Chen Shulan and her husband had no intention of hiding her identity.

Having a beautiful and academically successful daughter made Chen Shulan proud, and she would simply tell anyone who asked.

This is my eldest daughter, whom I raised in the countryside. She passed the high school entrance exam and got into the city's No. 1 High School. She will be a high school student there when school starts.

Xu Su listened quietly as Chen Shulan enthusiastically praised herself. Occasionally, she would see her former neighbors, whom she vaguely remembered, and smile shyly, appearing as well-behaved and pretty.

By the time the mother and daughter, laden with bags, reached the old building where the Xu family lived, they were both drenched in sweat. Chen Shulan glanced at her daughter's sweaty forehead, then turned and headed towards a small shop on the right side of the stairwell.

The man running the convenience store was an old man, whose surname Xu Su vaguely remembered was Wang.

Grandpa Wang sat in a chair, fanning himself with a palm leaf fan. When he saw Chen Shulan bring in a strange young girl, he wasn't curious. He pointed to the freezer and said, "Take whatever you want to eat."

Chen Shulan took a large bottle of Sprite from the freezer and said to Xu Su, "Have an ice pop, it's terribly hot today."

Xu Su didn't say a word to Chen Shulan along the way. Whether in her past life or this life, the mother and daughter were very estranged.

Xu Su thought to herself that at the very beginning, her mother did indeed have some maternal love for her, but unfortunately, she was blinded by profit and was even capable of selling her daughter for personal gain.

Pushing open the freezer door, Xu Su picked out a large pudding.

"Take two, and bring one up for your brother."

Xu Su paused for a moment, then obediently took two sticks.

The couple's room allocated to the Xu family was a small house of less than 50 square meters, with two bedrooms and a small living room. The remaining space was used as a kitchen and a bathroom.

Compared to many families in the building who cook directly in the hallway, Chen Shulan had her own preferences. Although the space was small, it had everything she needed, and before Xu Su came, the three of them lived there comfortably.

The couple lived in the master bedroom, and the other room was filled with some miscellaneous items. Originally, Chen Shulan planned to vacate the room after her son Xu Yang started elementary school so that he could sleep separately.

Unexpectedly, their daughter was admitted to a high school in the city. Now that she's come to live with them, even if they still have a preference for boys over girls, the couple has no intention of letting their child live at school.

Before Xu Su arrived, the couple discussed it and decided that their daughter would sleep in another room while their son would continue to share a room with them for the next two years. The room had been cleared out early and a clean straw mat had been laid out.

As soon as she entered the door, Chen Shulan handed an ice pop to her son, who was at home, and coaxed Xu Yang, who was watching Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, to call her "sister."

Xu Yang is only six years old this year. When he officially enters primary school after the start of the new semester, he will be at the age where he is spoiled and disliked. When his older sister suddenly appeared, he glanced at Xu Su with his nose in the air and continued watching TV.

Chen Shulan smiled helplessly, "Your brother is still young and playful. He'll like you once he gets to know you."

After saying that, she led Xu Su into the room prepared for her, folded the clothes she brought into the wardrobe. It was not easy to travel back and forth to the city, so Grandma Xu was very thoughtful and packed up all of Xu Su's slightly more presentable clothes, regardless of whether it was winter or summer.

Even so, there weren't many sets. After quickly tidying them up, Chen Shulan looked at her quiet daughter beside her and felt a little guilty. She said, "Mom took a day off today. I'll take you to buy some new clothes this afternoon."

Xu Su was somewhat surprised; she had forgotten whether Chen Shulan had taken her shopping for clothes when she first came to the city in her previous life.

Chen Shulan noticed her daughter's unfamiliarity with television, so she took the remote control from Xu Yang and told Xu Su to sit on the sofa and watch TV for a while. She then went to the kitchen, cut a plate of watermelon, and handed it to her.

This move caused a huge mess. Xu Yang didn't like having an older sister in the first place, fearing that she would take away his things.

She had already taken her own room before she even arrived, and when she did, she snatched her own remote control. She immediately burst into tears, pointed at Xu Su, and yelled at her to get out.

A six-year-old boy's tantrums can be quite powerful. It's unclear how he was taught, but he's adept at throwing tantrums and rolling on the ground. Compared to Xu Su, he seems more like a child without parents. When Chen Shulan saw her precious son, whom she had worked so hard to raise, throwing a tantrum, she was extremely anxious and tried to comfort him by hugging and coaxing him.

Xu Su sat on the sofa, watching this farce unfold with an unchanged expression. A completely identical scene had occurred in her previous life.

At that time, she had just arrived at her parents' home and was very cautious, worried that her parents would not like her. When she saw Xu Yang telling her to get lost, she was terrified and hurriedly returned the remote control. She spent a long time coaxing him and finally agreed to give him back the room and sleep on the sofa in the living room herself.

This action earned praise from Chen Shulan and her husband, who commended her for being a good older sister, a good teacher taught by her grandmother.

When Xu Su received praise from her parents for the first time, she was very happy. So, for the next three years of high school, she endured Xu Yang's behavior again and again, which earned her parents' occasional satisfied looks.

For the first six months, it was common for her homework to be torn up. Chen Shulan would only blame herself for not putting it away properly, but she never thought that she could only write her homework in the living room while sleeping on the sofa. Xu Yang would tear up her homework whenever he had the chance. Where could she hide her homework?

Later, when the textile factory built a new employee welfare building, the Xu family's seniority was just enough to qualify them for a new welfare apartment. Xu Su moved in during the second semester of her first year of high school, and only then did she have her own real room.

Even so, Xu Yang would still sneak into her room and ransack it when she wasn't home.

Looking back now, she was wrong from the start. Since giving in or not giving in would have resulted in the same outcome, why should she wrong herself to appease her younger brother?

This time, Xu Su didn't return the remote control on her own initiative. Instead, Chen Shulan coaxed her for a long time. Seeing that the little darling was still not calming down, she took the remote control from Xu Su's hand with an apologetic expression. "Your brother is still young, so be lenient with him. Have some watermelon first. I'll go to the kitchen to cook for you."

Xu Su nodded indifferently. She had heard these words countless times in her past life. Instead of eating watermelon, she took out her composition book from her schoolbag and began to read.

Xu Su had long since given up on the idea of ​​parental love, and she wouldn't feel sad even if Chen Shulan betrayed her again in secret.

Instead of making futile efforts to gain your parents' special attention, it's better to read more books. Knowledge gained through hard work is what truly belongs to you.

Because of the neglect he received from his parents in his previous life, coupled with the lack of rest due to living in the living room, and the difficulty in adapting to the new school environment, his grades dropped at the beginning of the semester. He was originally admitted to the top class of the city's No. 1 High School with the highest score in the county, but after one semester, he was relegated to a regular class.