Rebirth of a Top Student's Handbook

“Our family still has a mortgage of several million yuan. Have you forgotten? And it’s mortgaged on our own property. If we can’t pay it back, our whole family will have to beg for food. Do you think your family can help us out?”

"Isn't the store's revenue keeping up now?" Zhou's mother had seemingly forgotten how difficult it was to find someone to sign a guarantor when applying for a loan before.

"Revenue, revenue... There's never anything absolute in business?"

"At worst, we can just sell one of the shops." Zhou's mother was still a little hesitant, but Zhou's father's vehement opposition only fueled her rebellious spirit.

"Taking over the shop, do you know what that means? How many customers will we lose...?"

"Alright, alright, stop talking. All you've got is a lack of money for my family! I was so blind to have married into your Zhou family for so many years, working so hard, day and night for almost 20 years, and in the end, when my family needs a little money, you won't even give us a penny. You're a whole family of ingrates..."

As she spoke, Zhou's mother reached out to pull Zhou's father away.

"You let go!"

"Mom, Dad's driving!" Zhou Min cried out in despair.

The warmth and happiness of the past few days are gone. As soon as she returns to her hometown, Zhou's mother is like a different person. She always has that face that shows she can make a fuss for her family.

Everything has returned to the starting point, no, it's even worse than the starting point. In the past, including her previous life, Zhou Min's family didn't have much money, so even though Zhou's mother used it to subsidize her family, it didn't cause her much harm.

So Zhou's father basically didn't care, and he and Zhou's mother never argued about these things.

The only one who felt wronged was Zhou Min, watching other children have good food and nice clothes. Meanwhile, she could only watch as Zhou Min carried big bags of good food and nice clothes to give to her grandparents, cousins, and other relatives.

In this lifetime, because of the improvement in Zhou Min's family's economic conditions, her maternal grandparents also placed high hopes on Zhou's mother, hoping that she could help raise her brothers and nephews.

Because of his business expansion, Zhou's father had accumulated a lot of debt, so he was very worried that his cash flow would be cut off, which would not only bankrupt him but also leave him with a mountain of debt.

Therefore, the couple often argued about whether or not to help their relatives.

“You’re on your father’s side too, aren’t you? It’s true that having a daughter is useless. What’s the point of my life?” Zhou’s mother burst into tears after hearing Zhou Min’s reply.

The elegant demeanor she had painstakingly cultivated recently vanished instantly. Zhou Min had never known how to face her mother in this state.

As Zhou Min leaned against the car window and listened to her mother's cries, she couldn't help but laugh at herself, saying that the Zheng family's methods of manipulating their children were truly inherited from one generation.

Grandma Zheng had Zhou's mother completely under her thumb, and Zhou's mother had her completely under her thumb. Even though she was full of resentment, she felt she had nowhere to vent to when faced with her mother's tearful complaints.

"Stop yelling! I don't have a single penny left except for the working capital in the shop. You know I took out a loan when I bought the shop," Zhou's father shouted hysterically.

"Dad, let's stop talking now and go back to talk about it." Zhou Min looked at the bulging veins on her father's head and felt a sense of unfamiliarity.

Zhou Min had never seen her father's face like this before. In her mind, her father was always lazy and indifferent.

"Who told you to take such big strides? Now look what's happened, our whole family is going to starve!"

“I discussed it with you, and you agreed at the time, even letting me make the decision myself. Now that there’s a problem, it’s all someone else’s fault!” Because Zhou’s father kept investing the money he earned, the family’s living expenses mainly came from Zhou’s mother. Zhou’s mother simply stopped caring about the large sums of money that Zhou’s father spent, and as a result, trouble suddenly broke out.

"Well, I don't have much money left either. Besides the cash on hand, I only have a little over 80,000 yuan." Because their business has been expanding over the years, they don't have much idle cash.

"Do you think you can sponsor it?" Mr. Zhou continued to ask.

......

“I’ll go again tomorrow. I’ve seen through you two…” Perhaps persuaded by Mr. Zhou, or perhaps having vented her emotions, Mrs. Zhou finally calmed down.

Zhou Min felt as if she had experienced a nightmare. Every time she saw her mother's hysterical state, she felt a sense of powerlessness that came from the bottom of her bones.

“From now on, we’ll go home first and then spend two days visiting relatives. It’s too tiring.” Mr. Zhou complained as he drove to town to buy some new things before heading to Grandpa and Grandma Zhou’s house.

Zhou's mother seemed to have finally returned to normal, and began to feel quite embarrassed that her family had taken away such a large amount of stuff without even a polite word.

Zhou's parents are now calm as if nothing has happened, but Zhou Min is filled with gloom.

When they arrived at Grandma Zhou's house, Zhou Min, who had no common language with her younger siblings (the oldest of whom was not yet in primary school), sat aside and listened to her elders chat.

Grandma Zhou held Zhou Mi's hand in her arms and stroked it again and again. When she was young, she didn't like taking care of children, so although she took care of Zhou Min for a long time, she complained about it quite a bit and even often quarreled with Zhou's mother because of it.

Now she realizes her child is too old to dote on anymore. And although she's currently helping out with her sons' children, no matter how she looks at it, she feels none of them are as good as Zhou Min.

Listening to her grandmother's meaningless words, Zhou Min felt that things were pretty good now. Although she didn't come back often, her grandparents were always happy to see her.

After Zhou Min's family finished dinner and drove back to the county town, it was already past ten o'clock. Everyone washed up and went to bed.

When Zhou Min woke up, she opened her bedroom door and heard her mother hysterically berating her father again in the living room. Zhou Min paused for a moment, then calmly finished washing up and went straight to the kitchen to find something to eat.

"Minmin, I didn't make breakfast today. Come out and have some." Mr. Zhou pointed to the steamed buns and soy milk on the coffee table.

"Oh." Zhou Min silently sat down and began to eat breakfast.

"Minmin, how much money do you have left?" Zhou's mother asked after a moment of silence. She knew that Zhou Min had shares in a beauty salon and a clothing store.

"No, I've used them all." Actually, when Zhou's father went to the capital to buy a house, Zhou Min had already asked him to open an account at a securities company.

Later, Zhou Min invested all the money she had in her hands, buying several stocks that she knew would appreciate in value in the future.

"You spendthrift! How did you spend all that money? Your dad and I are working so hard to pay off your mortgage, and what do you do? You go off to school to show off..."

"Oh dear, what are you saying? Minmin, hurry up and eat, then go back to your room."

"Am I not telling the truth? Wasn't it her who wanted to buy the house in the capital? Now she's making her pay it back herself?" Even though Zhou Min knew her mother wasn't sincere, she still couldn't stand her mother's harsh words.

"I'm going back to school tomorrow," Zhou Min said before leaving. Behind her, she could hear her mother's sudden, escalating sobs and her father's attempts to comfort and console her.

Zhou Min felt it was better to leave home, at least she wouldn't have to see those hurtful words. She had had enough of them.

She didn't understand why Zhou's mother, who was kind to everyone outside, would turn her sharpest words on her and Zhou's father.

Zhou Min also resisted at this time and argued with her mother, which resulted in her mother's mental breakdown and neurasthenia.

In the end, Zhou Min couldn't figure out whether her mother was really sick or was faking it to manipulate her.

It was precisely this suffocating parent-child relationship that made it difficult for Zhou Min to find happiness in family life. Even after having children, Zhou Min was unable to fully embrace the role of a mother.

Zhou Min found it hard to imagine how her father could tolerate someone like her mother. Was this what they called love? If so, she was sorry, but she would politely decline. She could never be as tolerant as her father.

Unhappy, Zhou Min immediately packed her bags, planning to go back to her home in the provincial capital first, and then return to school after bringing the rest of her luggage.

"Minmin, come back, don't be so unreasonable." When Zhou's father saw that Zhou Min was serious, he immediately stopped Zhou Min and tried to persuade her to stay a few more days, forgetting how to comfort Zhou's mother.

Seeing how angry Zhou Min was, Zhou's mother was also frightened and realized that her words had been a bit harsh, so she reluctantly shut her mouth.

Zhou Min, who vented her anger on the game after returning to her room, would never have imagined that a family war would break out at the same time.