Rebirth to Save Myself

Su Xia brought some longan, a local specialty of Putian, back to Chen Yuan. She delivered it to Chen Yuan after resting for a while after arriving home.

"Xiaxia, you're finally back!" Chen Yuan hugged Su Xia tightly and said, "You have no idea how much I missed you. If you hadn't come back, school would have started!"

"Didn't you go out to play during the summer vacation too?" Su Xia asked in confusion, since they went to the city where Chen's father lived as soon as the summer vacation started.

“I got back two days earlier than you, and I couldn’t get in touch with you. Come to my room with me, my dad brought you some nice things.” Chen Yuan took Su Xia’s hand and led her upstairs.

"Wait a minute, Aunt Chen, these are longans I brought from Putian. Please try them." Su Xia handed the bag in her hand to Chen's mother.

"Thank you for your kindness. Go upstairs with Yuanyuan." Chen's mother smiled as she accepted the longan and then let them go upstairs.

The two went upstairs, and Chen Yuan pulled out a large bag of things, then started taking them out while saying, "This is a dress my mom bought, the same one as mine! This is a pen I picked out, I have one too, just a different color! I know you like green, so I specially chose green, what do you think?"

Seeing Chen Yuan's smug face, Su Xia smiled and said, "Beautiful."

"Hehe, Dad's gift this time wasn't anything special, just a backpack." He pulled a dark green backpack out of the bag and pointed to the color, saying, "You have no idea how long I searched to find this color. The other colors are so tacky, and my dad said they were all the same. He really is a roughneck."

"Thank you," Su Xia said softly.

"Don't be so polite with me. I just hope we can still be in the same class in junior high, and still be deskmates." Chen Yuan sat on the floor, thinking about how she had gotten used to being deskmates with Su Xia for the past two years. Whenever she didn't understand something, she would ask Su Xia, and Su Xia would always explain it to her in the simplest way.

"We'll know tomorrow, it's not like we have to go to register. The class assignment list will definitely come out then, and we'll know if we're in the same class." Su Xia comforted Chen Yuan. She and Chen Yuan had grown closer over the past two years, and Chen's parents treated her like another daughter. She wanted to share everything Chen Yuan had.

Su Xia initially refused, but Chen's parents simply adopted her as their goddaughter. They didn't even allow her to refuse—this was exactly the same approach Chen Yuan had taken when she wanted to be friends with her! It seems like birds of a feather flock together. From then on, Chen Yuan openly gave Su Xia food and other things, and when Su Xia refused, she would say, "You're my sister, what's wrong with me giving my sister things?"

The next day, Su Xia invited Chen Yuan, Chen Wenwei, and Lin Mohan to go to the middle school to register.

"Have you heard? Su Xia came in first place again this time!" Lin Mohan said.

"What's so strange about that? Xiaxia has always been number one, hasn't she?" Chen Yuan was no longer surprised. Su Xia always held the top spot in every exam, whether it was a monthly exam, a midterm exam, or a final exam.

“This time it’s different. It’s not just our primary school; primary schools from other villages are also participating in the ranking,” Chen Wenwei explained.

"Xiaxia, you're really amazing, no wonder you're my sister." Chen Yuan looked incredibly proud, as if she had won first place.

"What's there to be proud of? You only ranked fifth this time, while Chen Wenwei is seventh." Lin Mohan kindly reminded the two of them that the pressure would be even greater in junior high school.

"And what about you?" Chen Yuan and Chen Wenwei asked Lin Mohan together.

"I don't need to worry about it." Lin Mohan waved his hand guiltily, then saw a group of people standing at the middle school gate. Some of them were his elementary school classmates, and some looked unfamiliar.

"First-year junior high students, first check the notice board to see which class you are in, then go to the office to register with your teacher. First-year junior high students, first check the notice board to see which class you are in, then go to the office to register with your teacher," the security guard dutifully called out at the entrance.

The four of them also headed towards the notice board. On the way, they ran into Vivian Chow and others. Chen Yuan didn't want to greet her, but Vivian Chow insisted on coming up to talk to her.

"Chen Yuan, you're in Class 1. I just checked for you." Zhou Huimin said excitedly, "I'm in Class 1 too. Let's sit together then."

"Thank you, I'd like to sit with Xiaxia." Chen Yuan thanked Zhou Huimin for the information but declined her offer.

“Su Xia is in Class Two.” Zhou Huimin looked at Su Xia coldly.

Su Xia didn't understand why she was so hostile towards her. It seemed like she had never really interacted with her in her life, and they rarely even spoke.

"Ah, no way." Chen Yuan couldn't believe that she and Su Xia weren't in the same class, so she pulled Su Xia towards the notice board.

“I’ve watched it several times, it can’t be wrong,” Vivian Chow shouted.

"No matter what you say, Chen Yuan can go and see for herself." Chen Wenwei didn't like Zhou Huimin much either. She clearly disliked Chen Yuan in private and kept saying bad things about her, but on the surface she pretended to want to be friends with her. She was really hypocritical.

Vivian Chow glanced at Chen Wenwei and Lin Mohan, then turned and went to the teacher's office to register.

"Why is this girl so aggressive? I don't understand. Let's go check the class assignments too." Lin Mohan shrugged and put his arm around Chen Wenwei's shoulder as they walked towards the notice board.

As soon as I entered, I heard Chen Yuan wailing, "It's not fair! Why can he be in the same class as you, but I can't? I'm going to go to the teacher and switch classes! I want to be in the same class as you! Ah!"

"We're just not in the same class, but we're not in the same school. We can be together after class, after school, and on weekends."

"I don't want to, I don't want to, I want to be in the same class as you, I want to be your deskmate."

"How's the shift schedule?" Chen Wenwei stepped forward and asked Chen Yuan and Su Xia.

“You and Yuanyuan are in the same class, and Lin Mohan and I are in the same class,” Su Xia said.

"Wow, I'm in the same class as the pro! Please carry me!" Lin Mohan said to Su Xia with a grin.

"Get out of here, come on, Xiaxia. Let's go find the teacher to change classes. Why can't we be in the same class?" Chen Yuan said, grabbing Su Xia's hand and heading to the teacher's office.

"Chen Yuan, stop it. Class assignments aren't something you can just change at will. If everyone acted like you, wouldn't everything be in chaos?" Chen Wenwei stopped Chen Yuan and patiently explained, hoping she could understand.

"But, but..." Chen Yuan was speechless for a moment; the news was too sudden for her to process.

“Yuanyuan, you have to think about it. There were fewer of us in elementary school, so it was normal for us to be in the same class. In junior high, there are more students, so it’s inevitable that we will be separated into different classes. You can’t stand it now and you want the teacher to change your class. What will you do in high school? There will be more than just students from our village or township. There may be more than a dozen classes. Can you guarantee that we will all be in the same class?” Su Xia patiently explained the reasoning to Chen Yuan, breaking it down step by step.

"Okay, I understand." Chen Yuan also realized that it was indeed unlikely, and if she always held such thoughts, the teacher would not cooperate with her time and time again.

"Good to know, let's go sign up."

"Uh-huh."