Rebirth to Save Myself

Lin Mohan saw Chen's mother and stammered, "Ah, Auntie, hello."

"The young man is quite good-looking." Chen's mother looked Lin Mohan up and down and then praised him.

"Hehe, thank you for the compliment, Auntie." Lin Mohan scratched his head shyly, acting coy.

"Go back now. I won't go back on my promise. Feel free to contact me anytime." Su Xia said directly, stopping them from continuing their conversation.

"Okay, that's what I've been waiting for." Lin Mohan picked up his schoolbag, said goodbye to everyone, and went home.

"Xiaxia, what did you promise him?" Chen Yuan asked curiously.

"Let's talk as we walk, it's getting late." Su Xia quickly packed her schoolbag, then went with them to Chen Yuan's classroom to get it before heading home together.

On the way, Su Xia explained that it was because she had promised to tutor Lin Mohan, and that was all. Chen's mother, with a gossipy look, remarked, "That Lin Mohan is quite something."

“He’s my brother, he’s been to my house before,” Chen Wenwei said from the side.

“Nothing else, he just wants to learn and asked me to help teach him.” Su Xia didn’t understand why they thought such a simple relationship was so complicated.

"I understand, I understand everything." Chen's mother had an "I know everything" look on her face, and then pulled Su Xia home to eat together. Su Xia didn't want to go, but thinking that it was so late and her grandmother probably wouldn't leave her any food, and she would be hungry if she went home, she went to Chen Yuan's house for dinner before going home.

The next day, when Su Xia arrived at the classroom, she noticed that everyone was looking at her guiltily, probably because she wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding the day before. Yu Qing and Zhang Xiurong, in particular, remained seated, afraid to move.

During recess, the head of student affairs directly announced the reprimands of the four students. Zhou Huimin and Lin Li received a major demerit, while Yu Qing and Zhang Xiurong received a minor demerit. They were also ordered to clean the school grounds until the end of the semester. Students in other grades were unaware of what had happened, but the two first-year classes understood the reason. After the class was dismissed, word spread, and almost the entire school knew about the four students' actions—but that's another story.

Lin Li was beaten so badly by his father that he couldn't get out of bed and had to take leave from work to recuperate at home. However, Lin Li was the only son in the family, and his grandparents protected him, so his father didn't use much force. Moreover, his father felt that studying was useless and that it would be better for him to go out and learn a trade as soon as possible so that he wouldn't have to worry about not being able to earn money.

After Vivian Chow returned home, her parents had a long talk with her. They said that since she was a girl, she could just get a little education and get married eventually. Now she was causing trouble at school, and they almost made her drop out, but they stopped her because of the nine-year compulsory education system.

Zhou's father bluntly stated, "If you don't get into high school, go out and work to earn money to support your younger brother."

Zhang Xiurong was the second child in her family. Her parents had two daughters, but due to the one-child policy, this was not allowed. Since her older sister had also gotten married and had children, her parents had relatively low expectations for Zhang Xiurong. In this incident, Zhang Xiurong was merely an accomplice, not the mastermind like Zhou Huimin, so she was only reprimanded and forbidden from associating with Zhou Huimin in the future.

Yu Qing's family situation is similar to Su Xia's. Her mother is also trying desperately to have a son, but so far, they have no children. They don't put much effort into their child's education, or perhaps it's because she's a girl. Even with Yu Qing's recent behavior, they only gave her a beating and stopped giving her her allowance, and that was it.

In her previous life, Su Xia became friends with Yu Qing, Zhang Xiurong, and Zhou Huimin. However, Su Xia overheard Zhou Huimin speaking ill of her behind her back and refused to admit it, even joining the other two in refusing to associate with her. Su Xia didn't understand what went wrong. She tried to take the initiative to improve their relationship, but she couldn't win their genuine affection.

Surprisingly, the source of the bad things Zhou Huimin said about her was the same: they all thought she was a bad person for stealing money. But when Mingming was in fifth grade, Zhou Huimin excitedly told them one day that they could go to the snack shops on the street and steal snacks from the shopkeepers when they weren't looking.

They agreed and carried out the act several times together, only stopping when the son of a shopkeeper discovered their scheme. Then, two years later, Zhou Huimin, along with Yu Qing and Zhang Xiurong, cut off all contact with Su Xia, citing Su Xia's alleged theft. Looking back now, it's utterly ridiculous. They were the ones who did it, yet now they stand on their moral high ground to condemn Su Xia.

Su Xia and Yu Qing were the first two people Su Xia and Yu Qing met; they had been good friends since kindergarten. They were also close because they were both the eldest child in their families, and their mothers both wanted sons. Yu Qing's family was much better off than Su Xia's; at least she had always lived with her parents and hadn't been mistreated.

However, Yu Qing's mother didn't like Su Xia very much, and Su Xia couldn't understand why. She only knew that sometimes when Su Xia went to play with Yu Qing, her mother would always say sarcastically that Su Xia was quite robust. At that time, Su Xia was a year younger than Yu Qing but taller and stronger. Compared to Yu Qing, Su Xia looked more like the one who was a year older.

Later, Yu Qing's mother even started calling 10-year-old Su Xia "big woman." Whenever Su Xia came to see Yu Qing, she would call her that, and the neighboring aunties would join in. Although Su Xia didn't know why, she understood that "big woman" wasn't a good term. But Su Xia had always been humble and didn't dare to question or resist, so she could only silently endure their foul language.

Vivian Chow was initially Yu Qing's friend, but later became acquainted with Su Xia. Zhang Xiurong was no exception; both were Yu Qing's friends, but Su Xia remained closest to Yu Qing. They were so close that for a time, they would plan their hairstyles for the next day, acting like best friends.

Later, during the first semester of junior high, Su Xia's grades plummeted, so her mother decided to bring her to Putian to attend high school. There were more high schools in Putian, increasing Su Xia's chances of getting in. That's why Su Xia separated from Yu Qing and the others. But the story didn't end there. One day, when Su Xia asked a friend in Putian to help her log into QQ, Zhang Xiurong contacted her for a chat.

She first inquired whether it was really Su Xia, then proceeded to educate her friends in Putian about Su Xia's glorious deeds back home, hoping to make things difficult for Su Xia in Putian as well. However, Zhang Xiurong underestimated Su Xia's friends in Putian. They immediately asked Su Xia what was going on with this person, questioning whether she was even a true friend, given how she was constantly speaking ill of her.

Su Xia had already understood a lot by then, so she asked her friend to delete Zhang Xiurong's QQ account. There was no need to continue associating with that kind of person; it was a waste of emotions.