Rebirth to Save Myself

But just because Chen Yuan is avoiding Su Xia doesn't mean Su Xia won't come looking for her; it's like trying to escape your home while still being able to find your way back. She decided to go find Chen Yuan after school that morning.

"Su Xia, your answer was way too brief." Lin Mohan looked hurt, as if Su Xia was the one who started it all.

"What?" Su Xia thought Lin Mohan had already gone back, but he was still here. She didn't hear what he said at all.

"Oh, how cold and heartless the world is!" Lin Mohan clutched his chest and left sadly.

The ten-minute break ended and get out of class began again. The teacher knew that Su Xia had just returned from a competition and that she usually had good grades, so she didn't call on Su Xia by name much and let her relax completely.

As soon as school was over, Chen Yuan grabbed her schoolbag and ran away, intending to escape for as long as possible, at least avoiding being caught by Su Xia. But Su Xia knew exactly what she was thinking, and she took advantage of her privilege as a good student, leaving get out of class early and waiting for Chen Yuan at the school gate.

When Chen Yuan saw Su Xia standing at the school gate, she stopped in her tracks, unsure whether to go over there or go through another gate.

"Yuanyuan." After a moment's hesitation, Su Xia noticed and called out to her directly.

"Haha, Xiaxia. Haha, you're back!" Chen Yuan said, trying to appear calm as she slowly walked over.

"I came back yesterday. Chen Wenwei came back with me. Didn't you know?" Su Xia asked Chen Yuan. She lived next door to Chen Wenwei, so how could she not know?

"Ah, I didn't go out last night. I was studying in my room the whole time, so I didn't know." Chen Yuan lied, then looked away guiltily.

"Oh, I see." Su Xia looked enlightened, then asked, "Didn't Chen Wenwei go to class today?"

"I'm here for class." Chen Wenwei suddenly appeared behind Chen Yuan, startling her.

"Yuanyuan, um?" Su Xia crossed her arms and looked at Chen Yuan with a smile.

"Waaaaah, Xiaxia, I missed you so much!" Chen Yuan simply ran straight to Su Xia, hugged her tightly, and began to cry about how much she had missed her during this time.

"Since you miss me so much, I'll sleep with you tonight." Su Xia hugged Chen Yuan, stroking her back, and said this, which startled Chen Yuan so much that she stopped crying for a moment.

"Actually, it's not necessary, it's just, it's just..." Chen Yuan stammered, not knowing what to say, but her mind couldn't process it for a moment.

Su Xia thoughtfully spoke up for her, saying, "My godmother must miss me a lot, so it's settled then."

Chen Yuan walked home with Chen Wenwei, her face long and gloomy, racking her brains for an excuse to explain why her midterm exam results had gone so badly. Because of this, her mother hadn't been very friendly to her these past few days, and if Su Xia went to her house again, she'd be even less welcome compared to Su Xia.

"Just take this as a lesson, and try harder next time," Chen Wenwei rarely said, offering comfort to Chen Yuan.

"But I'm afraid I won't do well on my final exams," Chen Yuan said, expressing her concerns.

"You get discouraged after one failure? You've succeeded so many times, you can't accept one failure?" Chen Wenwei asked rhetorically.

"No, I didn't." Chen Yuan was instantly enraged and retorted to Chen Wenwei's words.

"Then prove to me that you didn't." After saying that, Chen Wenwei gestured that he had arrived home and went inside.

Chen Yuan slowly returned home and saw that her mother had already prepared dinner and was waiting for her. She quickly washed her hands, sat down to eat, and suddenly remembered Su Xia's words, so she said to her mother, "Xia Xia said she's coming to stay overnight tonight."

"Yes, I know. The child will definitely come over as soon as she gets back. I've already bought groceries and prepared everything." Chen's mother nodded; after all these years, she still understood Su Xia's habits.

"What groceries did you buy?" Chen Yuan asked.

"Buy her favorite dishes. She worked hard at the competition this time, and she hasn't missed her midterm exams yet." As she spoke, Chen's mother glanced at Chen Yuan and continued, "I have to treat her well."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan quickly lowered her head and ate her food, not responding. If she did, her mother would start lecturing her again. She couldn't take it anymore. She knew she had done terribly on the midterm exams, but she was still upset!

After school in the evening, Su Xia and Chen Yuan went home together. As soon as they entered the door, Chen's mother greeted them, saying as she walked in, "Come in quickly, are you hungry? I've already prepared the dishes."

"I'm hungry, Mom," Su Xia replied sweetly, then went to wash her hands and sat down at the dining table.

"Look at you, you've lost weight. The competition must have been tough. Old Chen even told me you helped him get a few shops sorted out, that's great." Chen's mother placed a bowl of rice in front of Su Xia, smiling at her.

"No, Dad already picked them all out. I just went along to join in the fun, and it was even more of a hassle for Dad to take me around." Su Xia chatted with Chen's mother while eating.

"You're just being overly polite. If you hadn't told Old Chen, he wouldn't have thought of this." Chen's mother and father had spoken on the phone, so they naturally knew Su Xia's role in the situation. They didn't take Su Xia's politeness seriously.

"Hehe, this dish is really delicious."

"If you like it, eat more. I'll make more if you're not full."

"Uh-huh."

Chen Yuan watched the two chatting happily, unable to join in the conversation. She could only bury her head in her food, afraid that their attention would turn to her and cause trouble.

After dinner, Chen Yuan and Su Xia went upstairs together. Chen Yuan was feeling uneasy the whole way, but as soon as Su Xia entered the room, she took a notebook out of her bag and handed it to Chen Yuan.

"What is this? An account book?" Chen Yuan took the book with trepidation, fearing that it contained records of all the evil deeds she had committed against Su Xia.

"Didn't I promise you I'd give you the sequel to the novel after the competition?" Su Xia asked calmly.

Chen Yuan was stunned for a moment, then reacted and hugged Su Xia, wailing, "Xia Xia, you are so good to me. I didn't do well on the exam, and you still gave me a follow-up, waaaaah."

Su Xia pushed Chen Yuan away and said, "You know you didn't do well on the test, right? Which subject did you lose points in this time?"

"Mathematics and physics," Chen Yuan confessed honestly.

"Didn't you help me study physics after class for a while? How come you still failed the test? Old Gao is going to yell at you to death."

"I... I just think the competition questions are too difficult. So I don't like physics anymore, and I feel like I can't understand math and I can't do the problems," Chen Yuan explained anxiously.

"Well, if you don't know something, come ask me or ask your teacher. You can't just leave it there because it's too difficult or you don't know how to do it, otherwise your grades will have room to drop."

"Okay, I understand. I have realized my mistake and will correct it."

Chen Yuan happily read the sequel to Su Xia's novel, then said to Su Xia, who was sitting in front of the computer, "Xiaxia, you're amazing! I suddenly feel like the female protagonists in the novels I read before were so stupid, so mentally challenged."

Su Xia was uploading her novel to a literature website to update it when she heard Chen Yuan's words. She looked at her and asked, "Why do you think they're idiots and morons?"

Chen Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Because they only have eyes for the male lead, nothing else. They don't study seriously, they just think about going against the male lead every day. And, she clearly likes the male lead, but she pretends not to. She doesn't like him, but she accepts his kindness towards her. She's like the kind of person you described in your novel, called a 'green tea,' who wants to have her cake and eat it too."

Su Xia nodded, then said in agreement, "If we don't write it this way, no one will read it. Like you, didn't you like the male and female leads misunderstanding each other, and then after various plot developments, you find out that the truth was actually the second female lead's doing?"

"But, thinking about it carefully, the second female lead is so beautiful and outstanding, yet she can't compare to the ordinary female lead. I think the male lead is used to eating delicacies, so he finds plain porridge and pickled vegetables novel for the first time."

Su Xia smiled and then asked Chen Yuan, "If it were you, would you choose the female lead or the second female lead?"

"It's definitely the second female lead. I grew up with her, and she likes me. Our families are similar, and she's beautiful. Only a foolish male lead would choose the female lead. He's just fantasizing about becoming a princess one day." Chen Yuan jumped out of bed, her face full of indignation.

"But you clearly told me before that the second female lead is very bad, that the male lead doesn't like her but still tries to get close to her and does bad things to the female lead." Su Xia looked at Chen Yuan with a puzzled expression on her face.

"That was before, I know now." Having experienced the baptism of strong female lead stories, Chen Yuan is no longer interested in those naive and sweet female leads; what kind of idiotic plots are those?

"Hmm, my leading lady Chen Yuan, if you don't study hard, you'll only be able to be a green tea b*tch and rely on men."

"No way! I want to be my own master. Relying on men is so weak."

"Just a friendly reminder, it's already 9:30, and you still haven't taken a shower."

When did you finish showering?

"Just when you said you'd only need to watch a little bit more."

"Okay, I'll go right now."

Watching Chen Yuan's retreating figure as she left the room, Su Xia thought that it was good if her writing novel could change Chen Yuan's mind. Chen Yuan used to often fantasize about being Cinderella, or a wealthy man's abandoned child, dreaming of one day returning to a life of luxury and not being defeated by her current circumstances. But TV dramas are TV dramas, and novels are novels; in reality, there aren't that many coincidences or unexpected events.

When she realized she couldn't change her life through imagination, it was too late to try. She had no particular hobbies, no special talents, attended an ordinary high school and a regular junior college, and drifted aimlessly through the last years of her school life. When she entered the workforce, she discovered she had so many shortcomings and so many ordinary aspects.

Earning roughly the same salary and living roughly the same life, only to discover by the time you realize you have terminal cancer, and then it's too late to think about all the things you haven't accomplished and all the places you haven't been!

Soon after, the results of the math and physics competitions were released. To her teacher's delight, Su Xia qualified for the national competition. She would be traveling to the capital to participate in the competition at the end of the semester—a remarkable achievement. Even the city's top high school sent someone to her school, indicating that if she could achieve a ranking in the national competition, she could be guaranteed admission to their high school.

"This is a great opportunity, Su Xia, you should seize it," the physics teacher said.

"Math comes before physics, so you should review math first," the math teacher said from the side.

"Why bother reviewing math? Physics will be reviewed in a few days anyway." The physics teacher directly rejected the math teacher's suggestion.

"Stop arguing, everyone. The province has notified us to gather for closed training." The principal appeared in the office, interrupting the math and physics teachers' argument, and then said to Su Xia, "The province attaches great importance to the students who have qualified for the national competition and has decided to gather you all together for training by professors."

"That's good, we can learn more." The math and physics teachers agreed, saying that the educational resources in the province are definitely better, and the chances of getting a good ranking will be greater.

"When do we leave?" Su Xia asked.

"Go back and pack your things next week, and talk to your family."

"Ok."

When Su Xia returned home, she told her grandmother about her upcoming training trip to the provincial capital. Her grandmother's first reaction was to ask Su Xia, "Does it cost money?"

"No need, the teacher said the school will cover everything."

"That's good. Don't go to any training programs that cost money. What's the point of training? What's the point of a girl studying so much?" Grandma muttered, as if Su Xia going to training programs that cost money was like taking her life.

"Okay, I'll go pack and we'll leave this weekend."

"Go ahead, go ahead. Tell your parents when you have time, so they don't blame me for taking their daughter away." Grandma waved her hand. Anyway, the training didn't require her to pay or do anything. Su Xia's departure would even save on food expenses, so why not?

"understood."

Su Xia rummaged through the wardrobe and found that most of the clothes were bought for her by Chen's parents. Su's parents only had a few dark-colored clothes, such as black and gray, because they said that white clothes get dirty too easily and are not durable.

Just then, Chen Yuan arrived at Su Xia's house with a suitcase and called out from downstairs, "Xia Xia!"

Su Xia came out of the room and saw her, looking at her in surprise and saying, "Why are you here?"

"I've come to bring you your suitcase!" Chen Yuan happily showed off her small suitcase and said, "Wait here, I'm coming up now."

A moment later, Chen Yuan arrived at Su Xia's door, handed her a suitcase, and said, "As soon as I heard you were going to training camp, I quickly brought my suitcase over."

"Thank you, Yuanyuan." Su Xia was very happy. This comparison made it clear who was better and who was worse. Su Xia herself wasn't sad, because she knew what kind of person her grandmother was, so she didn't feel much for her.

"Hey, when is your training camp over? Are you coming back for summer vacation, or are you going to Putian to visit your parents?" Chen Yuan bombarded her with questions while continuing to fold clothes for Su Xia.

"After the training camp, we'll all go to the capital together. Since the competition is during the summer vacation, I won't be going to Putian to see my parents. What about you? Are you going to the provincial capital during the summer vacation?" Su Xia asked.

“Go ahead, we’ll go to the capital to cheer you on,” Chen Yuan said proudly.

"Where are you going? Wouldn't it be better to have some fun instead?" Su Xia said gently.

“We’ll definitely go then. After your competition, we’ll have a good time exploring the capital before we come back.” Chen Yuan didn’t care what Su Xia said. She couldn’t go to the provincial competition because she was in class, but the national competition was during summer vacation, so there was no reason for her not to go.