Rebirth to Save Myself

Before they knew it, the three of them had spent the summer vacation playing around, and Chen Chunqi returned from Chen Jianguo's place. He first thanked Su Xia for helping to take care of Chen Yuan, and then took out a gift from Su Xia from his luggage and handed it to her.

"This is a small token of my appreciation; you must accept it. Consider it a thank you gift for taking care of Yuanyuan for the past month or so, okay?"

"Auntie, I can't accept this." Su Xia shook her head and pushed the gift back.

“There’s nothing wrong with accepting it, Xiaxia, just accept it. Mom, where’s my gift?” Chen Yuan said as she rummaged through her mother’s bag.

"Get out of here, you're not the only one who needs to come." Chen's mother pushed Chen Yuan, then said to Su Xia, "Auntie was thinking of having you come over to keep Yuanyuan company, so she wouldn't be too scared to stay alone. I didn't expect you to cook for Yuanyuan, and then Wenwei came along too. Auntie is really sorry, this is not what we agreed on."

"Auntie, I've been eating and drinking at your house for so long without taking any money from you, right? So I can't accept this gift. Chen Wenwei's mother also brought groceries when he came over for dinner." Su Xia shook her head. She had been staying here for the entire summer, and the food there was far better than what she ate at home. Although she had tried to control herself, she could still see that she had gained a little weight.

"Why are you being so distant with your auntie, child?" Chen's mother held Su Xia's hand, looking her over. The child had finally gained some weight. Before, she was as thin as a bamboo pole, as if she would fall over in the wind. Her grandmother was heartless; this child was at the age where she needed to grow, but she didn't give her any food. She ate only vegetables and radishes every day, how could she grow tall?

"Just accept it. I've eaten so much of your delicious food these past two months, I haven't gained weight for nothing." Chen Yuan took the gift from her mother and handed it to Su Xia, then said, "If you don't accept it, it means you don't consider me a friend."

Su Xia reluctantly accepted the gifts, then said goodbye to the two and went home. When she arrived home, her grandmother was in the kitchen. Seeing her return, she looked surprised and asked, "Why are you back?"

"School starts in a couple of days, where can I go if I don't come back?" Su Xia said calmly.

"You still know this is your home? We asked you to go and keep her child company, not to become her child. You went and never came back. Now that her mother is back, you're slinking home like a coward?" Grandma started off with a sarcastic remark.

"You were the one who agreed to it first, so why are you bringing me up now?" Su Xia retorted, not to be outdone.

"You little brat, you've grown wings after just one trip out, haven't you? Daring to talk back to your elders!" Grandma said, grabbing a weapon to hit Su Xia.

Just then, Grandma Wang's voice came through: "Old Chen's family, your second son is calling."

"Oh, you're here," Grandma responded, looking at Su Xia and saying, "You come too."

Su Xia silently followed behind and went to Grandma Wang's kitchen to answer the phone.

Good news came from the other end of the phone: Su's mother was pregnant with a boy. Grandma said "good" three times, and her anger towards Su Xia subsided considerably. She then instructed Su's father to take good care of the baby and gave some instructions before letting Su Xia take the call.

"Hello," Su Xia simply said.

"Ah Xia, it's Mom." Su's mother's voice came from the other end.

"I know, is there something you need?"

"How were you doing at your classmate's house?"

"is acceptable."

"It's alright, Grandma didn't mean it, don't take it to heart. Mom will come home after giving birth to your little brother, and she'll bring Yue with her."

"Oh." Su Xia didn't take her grandmother's actions to heart at all; she didn't want to waste her feelings on this in her life anyway.

"Um, if there's anything you want, just tell Mom, and I'll bring it back with me."

"No."

"Then take good care of yourself, Mom will hang up now."

"Mmm." Su Xia handed the phone to her grandmother after saying "Mmm," then turned and left.

"This child doesn't talk to her parents much. When her younger brother comes along, she won't want you anymore." He then gave his mother a few more instructions on the phone before hanging up.

After leaving Grandma Wang's place, Su Xia carried her clothes and the gifts Chen's mother had given her upstairs to her room. Chen's mother's gifts included a dress, a pencil case, and some stationery and notebooks. They weren't very expensive; Chen's mother was very thoughtful, worried that Su Xia might not accept anything too valuable, or that an elder might take them. She knew Su Xia loved studying and had excellent grades, so she bought her pens, notebooks, and other study supplies.

"Sigh, Su Yaoche is coming out!" Su Xia sighed. It was inevitable. She could control her own affairs, but she couldn't interfere in other people's.

Two days later, a new semester began, and Su Xia was now in fifth grade. She was still in the same class as Chen Yuan and Chen Wenwei, a situation Chen Yuan was very happy about, and she even became Su Xia's deskmate. Su Xia couldn't refuse, and the teacher didn't object either, considering they were getting older and it wasn't ideal for boys and girls to sit together. So, the teacher arranged for them to sit together by gender. Chen Yuan, being a good student and a favorite of the teacher, wanted to sit with Su Xia, and the teacher naturally didn't object.

Chen Wenwei pulled his buddies to sit behind them, and the four of them occupied the last two rows of seats. The teachers naturally arranged the seats for the others according to their height.

"Xiaxia, I'm finally sitting next to you!" Chen Yuan happily hugged Su Xia's arm and rested her head on Su Xia's shoulder.

"Hmm, you're still the class monitor this semester?" Su Xia admired the teacher, who kept insisting that Chen Yuan be the class monitor and was too lazy to choose a new one.

"We'll let Chen Wenwei be the vice class monitor," Chen Yuan said, glancing at Chen Wenwei sitting behind her.

"Why don't you want to be class monitor anymore? Are you tired of it?"

"I'm tired of it, and being class monitor means a lot of work, which leaves me with no time to study. Plus, I'm a girl, and a lot of the boys in the class don't like me and they always disagree with me."

"Yeah, the vice class monitor is pretty good."

"You're not asking for any position again this time?"

"No."

"why?"

"trouble."

"I'm so envious of you. I should have told the teacher I didn't want to be a class monitor. Every week it's checking hygiene and appearance, and I have to catch who didn't do eye exercises. It's exhausting." Chen Yuan finished speaking and slumped onto her desk, looking completely worn out.

"It's okay, these are all your experiences, you can put them in your resume."

What is a resume?

"A resume is..."

"How can you be so stupid? You don't even know what a resume is." Chen Wenwei walked from the back desk to Chen Yuan's side and continued, "A resume is what you need to write when you go out to work. It has your basic information, what awards you have won, and what positions you have held."

"You talk too much. Go back to your seat." Chen Yuan was annoyed that Chen Wenwei had interrupted Su Xia, and immediately ordered him.

"I'm the class monitor now, and you're the vice class monitor. How dare you talk to the class monitor like that?" Chen Wenwei said smugly.

"You, you believe I'll go to the teacher right now and you'll become the vice class monitor?" Chen Yuan immediately jumped up and down.

Su Xia pulled Chen Yuan to sit down and then advised her, "If you go and talk to the teacher now, you'll be going along with his wishes."

"What do you mean?" Chen Yuan asked Su Xia, puzzled.

"Because he doesn't want to be class monitor either, he's deliberately trying to provoke you."

"Fine, Chen Wenwei, you dare to set a trap for me."

Seeing that things were not going well, Chen Wenwei immediately turned and ran away, while Chen Yuan, holding a book, was determined to catch him and give him a good beating.