Rebirth to Save Myself

On the other side, seeing that Su Xia hadn't returned for lunch as expected, Grandma happily enjoyed a meal with her aunt's son, Chen Wen. Initially, the aunt had kept the child with her, but when he reached school age, she had to return to her hometown. The aunt felt that making money in the big city was faster, so she entrusted Chen Wen to Grandma's care. However, the uncle was a good earner, so he generously gave Grandma money for food, and Grandma naturally treated Chen Wen well, saving the best food for him.

Because Chen Wen was younger than Su Xia, Grandma naturally slept in her aunt's room with Chen Wen, allowing Su Xia to sleep alone. Grandma hid all the delicious food in her aunt's room and closed the door to prevent Su Xia from sneaking in and stealing it. In the past, Su Xia would have found a way to satisfy her cravings, but having been given a second chance, she no longer cared about such treats.

While eating the meat, Chen Wen asked his grandmother, "Grandma, the meat is so delicious, can we eat it every day?"

Grandma glanced at her grandson and smiled: "As long as Su Xia doesn't come back for dinner, we'll have meat to eat."

Upon hearing this, Chen Wen immediately said, "Then tell her not to come back. I want to eat meat."

Grandma wanted to, but it was impossible to prevent Su Xia from coming back, so she comforted Chen Wen, saying, "It's okay, Grandma can hide the meat and we can eat it secretly."

"Okay." After saying that, Chen Wen picked up the meat in his bowl and happily ate it.

That evening, Su Xia declined Chen's mother's offer to stay for dinner again and chose to go home. As soon as she arrived home, she saw Chen Wen and his grandmother already eating, and the two of them were clearly surprised to see her. Su Xia looked at the table and understood what was going on; there was a bowl of pork on it.

"Why are you back so early?" Grandma asked.

“It’s already dinnertime, and I was afraid you’d worry if I didn’t come back.” Su Xia went into the kitchen, washed her hands, served herself a bowl of rice, and sat down in a chair.

Chen Wen looked at Su Xia with a protective expression, as if afraid she would eat meat. Su Xia pretended not to see it, only picked up some water spinach, quickly finished eating, and then washed her own bowl.

Grandma felt a little guilty, so she didn't stop Su Xia to wash the dishes later. Su Xia went to the stove, got some hot water, took a quick shower, and went upstairs. She was a bit tired after reading all day.

The next day, Su Xia went for her run as usual. When she finished and went to the kitchen, her grandmother hadn't gotten up to make breakfast. Reluctantly, Su Xia washed up, drank a few sips of water, and went out. Her grandmother watched Su Xia leave with a smug smile, then went to the kitchen to wash the rice and cook, otherwise Chen Wen wouldn't be able to get up without food.

Su Xia arrived at Chen Yuan's house hungry and started reading. However, she had only eaten a bowl of porridge last night, and her hunger this morning was unbearable. As a loud shout rang out in the room, Su Xia wished she could immediately crawl into the ground.

"It's time for a snack, I'm going to find my mom." Chen Yuan ran out the door and came back up a little while later with some bread and fruit. She said, "My mom was worried we'd go hungry while studying, so she prepared this especially for us."

Su Xia was a little embarrassed and didn't reach out to take it, but Chen Yuan immediately stuffed one into her hand and took one for herself and started eating it.

"Thank you!" Su Xia carefully opened the package and began to eat it in small bites.

Seeing Su Xia start eating, Chen Yuan felt a little comforted. She had inquired about Su Xia's situation privately, and her mother had also looked into it. Apparently, Su Xia's parents weren't around, and she lived with her grandmother. Her mother saw that Su Xia had good grades and was well-behaved, so she hadn't stopped her daughter from associating with her. Furthermore, since Su Xia had come to study with her daughter this time, her mother's fondness for Su Xia had only grown stronger.

During the summer and winter vacations when Su Xia wasn't around, Chen Yuan would either go to the city with her mother or play computer games with Chen Wenwei. Chen Wenwei's family and Chen Yuan's family came from the same old house and built houses together on the same street. The two women were good friends, and as a result, Chen Yuan and Chen Wenwei became close as well. Chen Wenwei's mother even joked that when Chen Yuan grew up, she would marry into the Chen family and become their daughter-in-law.

Su Xia and the other two studied until 10:30, at which point Su Xia suggested they go back and come back in the afternoon. Chen Yuan didn't understand and asked, "Going back so early, haven't you eaten yet?"

Su Xia smiled and said, "I have to go back and help with the cooking, otherwise I can't just stay home on vacation and not do any work."

Chen Yuan was about to say something when Chen Wenwei tugged at her arm and said, "Then you should go back quickly. We'll study again this afternoon."

"Okay." Su Xia turned around and left the room, going downstairs.

"Why didn't you let me speak just now?" Chen Yuan looked back at Chen Wenwei after Su Xia came downstairs.

“Su Xia is different from you, so you can’t project your lifestyle and habits onto her,” Chen Wenwei said seriously as he sat down.

"What's the difference? We're all girls, in the same grade, and in the same place."

“Our family circumstances are different.” Chen Wenwei interrupted Chen Yuan, and continued, “She doesn’t have your good conditions, she doesn’t have parents by her side, she even, well, never mind, just know that she is different from you.”

"What's wrong with Su Xia? Explain yourself clearly." Chen Yuan walked up to Chen Wenwei and asked him, clearly Chen Wenwei was hiding something from her.

"Sigh, my dear young lady, you really are a young lady." Chen Wenwei sighed as well.

"What do you mean by that?" Chen Yuan asked, puzzled. What the heck? Weren't we talking about Su Xia? Why are we talking about her being a young lady?

"You are not allowed to show any of this in front of Su Xia, and you are not allowed to sympathize with her. You can only tell me if you promise me that."

"Okay, okay, I promise, tell me quickly."

"Su Xia has a cousin who's in her final year of junior high. Because Su Xia's grades are better than hers, she often talks badly about Su Xia. Apparently, she said Su Xia's parents didn't want her and left her with her grandmother, but they don't give her any money. So her grandmother often mistreats Su Xia. It's common for her to go hungry, and she's constantly forced to do chores. If she doesn't, her grandmother beats and scolds her." Chen Wenwei was also very helpless. When he learned about this, he found it hard to imagine what kind of environment Su Xia was living in.

"How do you know all this?" Chen Yuan asked, puzzled. This was the first time she had ever heard of such things.

"Have you forgotten that my brother is also in his final year of junior high? Su Xia's cousin has been spreading rumors that Su Xia steals money and stationery, and that Su Xia cheated on her grades. She even said that she once saw Su Xia stealing money from her grandma to buy spicy snacks, and that Su Xia is very disobedient and often argues with her grandma. So, part of the reason why Su Xia doesn't have any friends at school is because of this." Chen Wenwei had spent a long time finding out the truth; before, he thought Su Xia simply didn't like socializing.

"How could she treat Su Xia like that? We're family!" Chen Yuan said indignantly, feeling sorry for Su Xia. If this were in their family, they would spoil and pamper such a studious child.