Rebirth to Save Myself

After half a semester of persistent efforts, Chen Yuan finally became Su Xia's friend. Overjoyed, she rushed to her cousin's house and brought back all her junior high school books, just waiting for Su Xia to come over.

Su Xia got up very early and ran along the road for about half an hour. When she got back, her grandmother had just made breakfast. Her grandmother was quite unhappy that Su Xia hadn't gone to her parents' house for the summer vacation and had even gotten up early for breakfast. At the dinner table, she implied, both openly and subtly, that since it was vacation time, she wouldn't be able to cook every day, and if Su Xia wanted to eat, she should cook for herself.

"Who gets up so early to eat on a holiday, as if they're afraid of not having food? I just finished cooking and you immediately came to the table. When I needed your help washing the vegetables, you were nowhere to be seen, but as soon as it's time to eat, you appear without me even having to call you," Grandma said to Su Xia while eating.

Su Xia silently lowered her head, quickly finished a bowl of porridge, and then took the bowl to the water tank to wash it herself.

"Look at this child, always thinking of himself. I cook for you, and you don't even wash the dishes! What have your parents been doing, raising you all these years for nothing?"

"Have you finished eating, Grandma?" Su Xia spoke up in time, trying to stop her grandmother from continuing. If she got onto the topic of her parents, it wouldn't be a short conversation. She had already made plans to review junior high textbooks with Chen Yuan today and didn't want to waste time on this.

"Why rush me? The old lady eats slowly, so just wait." Grandma said, then lowered her head and ate.

"I'll go upstairs first. Leave your bowl over there and I'll come down to wash it in a bit." Su Xia said and left the kitchen. She heard her grandmother in the kitchen saying that Su Xia only knew how to stay in her room all day long and that she had become dull-witted.

Su Xia went upstairs to quickly tidy up her stationery, then went downstairs to the kitchen and saw the bowls and chopsticks her grandmother had placed next to the water tank; she had already left. Su Xia naturally scooped water from the tank to wash the dishes, first washing them with dish soap, then rinsing them with clean water. She then refilled the half-empty water tank before leaving.

The streets were bustling in the morning. The cries of vendors at the market filled the air; some people asked about prices, others inquired about freshness, and chickens and ducks clucked incessantly. Everyone was busy making a living. Su Xia didn't walk towards the market, but instead crossed the street. She didn't see her grandmother at the market and was a little surprised that she was out on holiday, but she didn't call out to her. This small mountain village didn't have many people, so everyone knew each other's children. Therefore, there was no child abduction like in big cities. Everyone let their children run wild and play freely, as long as they came home on time for meals.

Grandma Su Xia was hoping Su Xia would go out to play all day and come back in the evening, so she wouldn't have to cook lunch for Su Xia. So she explained a few words to the person next to her and then stopped talking and continued picking out vegetables.

Su Xia walked to a row of brand-new three-story buildings and saw Chen Yuan waiting downstairs. Seeing her waving excitedly, she attracted the attention of passersby.

"Su Xia, you're here!" Chen Yuan ran over eagerly and said, "I was afraid you wouldn't know where I was, so I came down to meet you."

"Thank you!" Su Xia followed Chen Yuan into Chen Yuan's house.

Chen Yuan's family home was a three-and-a-half-story cement brick house with a basement. The spacious and bright living room led to the kitchen and dining room. The basement contained miscellaneous items. The second floor housed the rooms of Chen Yuan's parents and grandparents, while Chen Yuan's room was on the third floor. Upon entering, one was greeted by a glass window almost as wide as an entire wall. A row of wardrobes lined the wall near the entrance. A 1.8-meter-long, off-white European-style bed was covered with pink sheets. Next to it was a computer. Computers were very expensive at the time, but Chen Yuan's family not only had one but also placed it in her room; her parents weren't worried at all about Chen Yuan becoming addicted to computers.

"What are you standing there for? Come in!" Chen Yuan had already walked to the desk when she saw Su Xia still standing at the door, so she called out to her.

"Hmm." Suppressing her complex emotions, Su Xia went inside and went to the desk.

"I've already categorized everything. Shall we start with the first year of junior high today?" Chen Yuan asked.

Before Su Xia could answer, Chen's mother's voice came from downstairs: "Yuanyuan, Wenwei is here to see you."

"Why is he here?" Chen Yuan asked, puzzled. They had just met yesterday. She then said, "Let him come up."

After a while, Chen Wenwei came up with a plate of fruit. He wasn't surprised to see Su Xia in the room, and naturally walked in, placed the fruit on their desk, and said, "Auntie asked me to bring this up for you to eat."

"What are you doing here? If you need to use the computer, turn it on yourself. Su Xia and I need to study."

Chen Wenwei would occasionally come to Chen Yuan's house to borrow the computer to look up information, so Chen Yuan didn't think much of it and just pointed to the computer, indicating that he should do it himself and not disturb her and Su Xia's relationship.

"Ahem, are you planning to study the first-year junior high material on your own?" Chen Wenwei asked, looking away from them with embarrassment.

"Yes, do you have any opinions?" Chen Yuan didn't understand why Chen Wenwei suddenly asked this. Didn't he already know? Didn't he also help move the books when they went to her cousin's house before?

"I want to learn with you all. More people means more brains, and we can discuss things together more quickly if we don't understand something."

"Okay." Su Xia's "okay" immediately interrupted Chen Wenwei's attempt to find an excuse, and she directly gestured for him to sit down next to the desk.

"Xiaxia, why do you need to bring him along! We can learn secretly and then leave them far behind, wouldn't that be great?" Chen Yuan immediately spoke up.

"Chen Yuan, you have good things to do but you don't include me, and you still dare to say that." Chen Wenwei ignored her and quickly moved a stool to the desk to pick up a book to read. This was originally Su Xia's idea, and Chen Yuan was just going along with it. So Su Xia agreed, and Chen Wenwei didn't care about Chen Yuan's opinion at all.

Chen Yuan was still angry and wanted to argue with Chen Wenwei, but Su Xia had already started flipping through the book, so Chen Yuan had no choice but to sit down and read with her.

The three of them read quietly all morning. Just as Su Xia was about to go home for lunch, Chen's mother warmly called her to have lunch together.

"No need, Auntie, I'll just eat at home," Su Xia quickly refused.

"Oh, don't be so polite with Auntie. Yuanyuan used to play like crazy during summer vacation, it's rare to see her reading with you this time. Auntie has already prepared dinner. Wenwei, you should stay and eat too, I've already told your mother." Chen's mother warmly pushed Su Xia and Wenwei to sit down and served them rice.

"Mom, how can you talk to your daughter like that?" Chen Yuan immediately protested, then said to Su Xia, "Why don't you stay for dinner? My mom is a great cook."

Seeing that Chen Wenwei had already sat down and started picking at his food, Su Xia could only sit down as well. She thought to herself that she should leave earlier in the future, otherwise it would be impolite not to invite her to eat with them at their mealtimes. However, eating together too often might make people dislike her. She was going to stay at Chen Yuan's house for the entire summer vacation, and she couldn't leave a bad impression.