Rebirth to Save Myself

Su Xia was the only student in the entire school to qualify for the national competition, which included both mathematics and physics. On the day she went to the training camp, the bus was packed with people, and even the principal came.

"Su Xia, don't put too much pressure on yourself, just participate seriously," the principal said to Su Xia, trying to put on a kind smile.

"Study hard, this is a rare opportunity. You will learn a lot. The result is not important, what matters is the knowledge you gain," the math teacher earnestly advised.

"Your teacher will be cheering you on at school!" the physics teacher said.

"When you arrive in the provincial capital, Dad will pick you up, and then your dad will take you there," Chen's mother said.

"Xiaxia, keep it up!" Chen Yuan added from the side.

"I have high hopes for you!" Chen Wenwei also said.

"Go for it, Su Xia." Even Zhou Xiaojie came to see her off, staring intently into Su Xia's eyes as he spoke.

"Su Xia, you're the best!" Lin Mohan shouted, expressing his admiration.

"Alright, alright, you can all go back now. I'm just going to training camp, not to participate in a competition." Su Xia felt a little embarrassed seeing the onlookers around her.

"Are you getting on or not? If you're not, I'm closing the door." The driver shouted from the driver's seat, and the group of people surrounded the door, making the passengers afraid to go forward.

"No need to sit, everyone please move around a bit." The principal led everyone back a few steps.

Then a few people got on the bus, and the driver closed the door and drove off. He left everyone with a fumes of exhaust, but no one wanted to leave until the bus was completely out of sight before they dispersed.

Grandma was home today when Aunt Wang, our neighbor, came back from the street and saw her. She asked, "Grandma Chen, why didn't you go to see Su Xia off today?"

"What's the point of sending anything? It's just a training session." Grandma said dismissively, indicating that it was no trouble for her to do such a small thing.

"The principal even went to see her off, saying that Su Xia was really amazing this time and was going to participate in the national competition."

"Ha, that girl didn't tell me. You must have misunderstood. She's a good student, but how could she possibly be good enough to participate in a national competition?" Grandma didn't believe that someone like Su Xia could compete in such a big competition.

Seeing this, Aunt Wang shook her head. This Grandma Chen was truly hopeless. Her granddaughter was so successful, yet she refused to believe it and didn't treat her well. She only cared about her eldest son and her youngest son's children; she was just grateful Su Xia hadn't starved to death.

Meanwhile, after a morning's journey, Su Xia finally arrived in the provincial capital. As soon as she got off the bus, she saw Chen Jianguo standing not far away waiting for her, and quickly ran over with her suitcase.

"Slow down, slow down, let's go eat first, and then I'll take you to the training school." Chen Jianguo took the suitcase from Su Xia and led her towards the car.

"Mmm Good."

Chen Jianguo took Su Xia to a restaurant and ordered a table full of delicious food. He also invited his friends who had eaten with him last time. When his friends arrived at the restaurant and saw Su Xia there, they were curious, since it wasn't summer vacation yet.

"Old Chen, what brings your daughter to the provincial capital again?"

"Hey, we qualified for the last competition, so we're here for training now. We'll go to the capital to participate in the national competition later." Chen Jianguo had a proud expression on his face, as smug as a peacock spreading its tail feathers.

"I knew you didn't call us here for anything good. Sure enough, you're showing off your daughter again."

"Of course, Old Chen's meals weren't for nothing."

"Old Chen is not fair."

"Haha, my daughter has made me proud."

Su Xia satisfied Chen Jianguo's desire to show off, and then they all had a meal together. Su Xia then prepared to go to the university for intensive training. This time it would be a closed-off training program, where everyone would live on campus together, and the professors would give them lessons, train them, and do exercises every day to fill in the gaps in their knowledge.

As soon as Su Xia arrived at the dormitory, someone was already making her bed. Upon seeing Su Xia enter, they immediately greeted her, saying, "Hello, I'm Ye Lingling."

"Hello, my name is Su Xia, Su with the grass radical and Xia as in summer."

"There are still two people who haven't arrived yet. You can choose a bed first."

"Okay." Su Xia chose a lower bunk, as she found climbing up and down the upper bunk too troublesome.

“I happen to like the top bunk, so let’s sleep together, and then leave one bunk for them.” Ye Lingling was very happy. She had never slept in the top bunk before, so she was naturally happy that no one would compete with her for it.

A moment later, the dormitory door was pushed open, and two people stood outside, smiling and greeting Su Xia and Ye Lingling: "Hello, I am Xia Qiaoqiao, and this is my younger sister Xia Qiqi."

"Oh my god, are you twins? You look exactly alike, it's amazing!" Ye Lingling circled around them in surprise. The two sisters really were identical from head to toe.

"Yes, many people don't recognize us." Xia Qiqi entered the dormitory lively, and they were very satisfied when they learned that there was a bunk bed connected together.

So the four of them tidied up their beds and then went to find out where the school cafeteria, the convenience store, and the classrooms were located.

"My God, you're participating in two competitions!" Xia Qiqi, a lively person, was shocked when she learned that Su Xia was going to participate in two national competitions.

"You're amazing, Su Xia." Ye Lingling was also surprised. She thought it was already quite good that she could participate in the math competition, but she didn't expect Su Xia to be able to participate in two.

"I was lucky, but I was just thinking of participating in one and that was it. But my physics teacher signed me up directly." Su Xia was a little embarrassed, realizing that she was actually just benefiting from a bit of good fortune in her past life.

“I’m already overwhelmed with just reviewing physics, and you also have math to study. That’s really amazing,” Xia Qiaoqiao said.

"I'm just here to make up the numbers, I don't even know how the national competition will go. So many outstanding people are gathered here, I'm just here to participate, just to participate," Su Xia quickly said.

“Yes, we’re just focused on participating. Having this experience is already much better than others. I don’t even expect to win a prize.” Xia Qiqi nodded in agreement.

"I'm not going to talk about it anymore. The training camp starts tomorrow. It's going to be hellish. I need to eat and sleep well as soon as possible."

After that, the four of them went to the cafeteria for dinner. Back in the dorm, all three were incredibly excited, as it was their first time living in a dormitory. They chatted about everything and refused to sleep. Su Xia wanted to sleep, but they kept checking her on Q&A, so she had to force herself to stay awake and answer their questions.

The next day, unsurprisingly, all four of them looked like they hadn't slept well, but training camps aren't like classes where you can ask for leave, so they had no choice but to drag themselves to the classroom.

As soon as Su Xia sat down, the teacher came in and called roll. She called out about ten names, including Su Xia's, and then said, "Those whose names are called, please gather at the door."

Su Xia didn't know what was going on, but she still grabbed her bag and went out. The teacher counted the number of students and it matched the roll call she had just taken, then explained, "You are all participating in the double competition, so your classes are different from those of students participating in the single competition. Come with me."

Su Xia then realized that because the two competitions were scheduled so close together, if they attended classes with those who were only competing in one competition, they would only be able to catch up on one course. Therefore, the teacher had separated them to give them individual classes covering both competitions.

After class at noon, Su Xia ran into Ye Lingling and two others in the cafeteria. The three were also curious about why Su Xia hadn't come back after leaving the cafeteria. It turned out that she had been having a private meal with a dozen or so classmates.

"You don't know, all I did in class today was practice problems, practice problems, I almost threw up," Ye Lingling complained while eating.

"That's not all, they also assigned homework, saying it's due during afternoon class," Xia Qiqi chimed in.

"Don't even think about sleeping at noon, Su Xia. How's things going on your end?" Xia Qiaoqiao asked Su Xia.

"I'm pretty much the same as you guys, doing practice problems. The teacher said we'll alternate between physics and math each day. I hope my brain doesn't get all messed up by then, or it'll be a complete mess!"

"You guys are pushing the limits too much. The national competition is much harder than the provincial competition."

"Yeah yeah."

The four of them returned to their dormitory and gathered at their desks to work on the homework assigned by their teacher. The three of them were in the physics competition group, so they were assigned to the same dormitory. Su Xia, on the other hand, was in the double competition group. Since there weren't enough girls in the double competition group to fill a dormitory, the dormitory supervisor also assigned her to the physics group.

The teacher considered the students in the double-competition group to be more capable, as potential top performers, and therefore placed greater emphasis on them than on the single-competition group. Even with similar homework assignments, Su Xia's was significantly more difficult than theirs. The three students glanced at Su Xia's questions and admitted that while they could understand the individual words, they couldn't grasp the meaning when put together.

"Su Xia, you have to keep it up! If I don't get a ranking, I can brag about how my roommates did." Ye Lingling encouraged Su Xia before continuing to work on her problems.

Su Xia smiled. These three girls were quite cute, and although they said they weren't good enough, standing out from the entire province meant they were top performers. Like Su Xia, so many people from her school participated, and only she qualified—it was almost like the fierce competition of the college entrance exam.

After two months of intensive training, the teacher announced the specific competition dates. Physics and math were about a week apart, with math going first. So Su Xia and her group immediately focused on preparing for math, planning to then cram for physics after that. Sometimes Su Xia found it amazing how she could manage so many subjects simultaneously in middle and high school without her mind getting confused; her brain was truly incredible.

Since both competitions were held in the capital, the organizers generously booked an entire hotel for the participants to rest. When Chen Jianguo learned where they were staying, he also chose a hotel nearby, planning to take Chen Yuan and the others there to cheer on Su Xia!

"Su Xia, you're leaving before us. We'll come over after you finish your exams!" Xia Qiqi sighed. The four of them had grown closer over the past two months and had all agreed to keep in touch after returning to their respective schools.

"You'll be there soon too, so let's set off around the same time," Su Xia reassured them.

"It's different. We physics students can only go in after you finish your math exams and clear out the hotel. That means we'll have to wait until you're done, and you'll be in seclusion cultivating by then." Ye Lingling was worried; this meant she wouldn't see Su Xia much. They would be going back with their teachers after their exams, while Su Xia said she would stay in the capital for a while longer.

"With this national competition experience, you'll have extra points in your middle school and college entrance exams. Do you have any universities you want to attend?" Su Xia asked them, to see if their goals aligned with hers.

"I'm quite homesick, and I've thought about not participating and going back home countless times these past two months. I'll definitely apply to a university in the province, so I can go home during holidays," Ye Lingling said. She's originally from the provincial capital, and although it's a closed-off program, her parents often feed her, and the other three have also had extra tutoring sessions with her many times.

“I want to go to the capital or Shanghai. I want to see big cities,” Xia Qiaoqiao said. She and her sister were similar to Su Xia, coming from small mountain villages and longing for the beauty of big cities, especially after witnessing the prosperity and splendor of the provincial capital this time.

"I love singing, and I want to be a star someday," Xia Qiqi said with longing. Then she added, "I'll give you all free autographs, which will be very valuable."

"Then let's look forward to the big star's autograph!" The three echoed Xia Qiqi's words, their faces full of anticipation.

"No problem, no problem." Xia Qiqi accepted the admiring gazes from everyone and felt like the center of the world.

Before leaving, Chen Yuan came to Su Xia's school to find her and asked her when she was leaving so that they could confirm their departure time and travel together.

"It should be this weekend. We'll go there and get used to it for a few days. Otherwise, the differences between the North and South are huge, and if someone has trouble adjusting, we'll have time to adjust," Su Xia said, then realized she had never actually been to the North.

"Yes, yes, be careful in everything. Your absence from the final exams has excited those people so much. They feel like they've finally become number one without you, the perennial runner-up."

"How did your exam go?"

"I only improved a little bit, and my score is about the same as Lin Mohan's."

"Well, it's good that there's progress."

"Hehe, I did better on this test than I did on the midterm, and Mom finally stopped giving me attitude."

"Godmother's feelings are written all over her face. When are you planning to leave?"

"He should be about the same as you, and I can give you special treatment later."

"Yes, we'll visit some tourist attractions then, like the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City."

"Dad said he'll wait for you to come along. Anyway, you still have a month of summer vacation after the competition, so we can travel all over the capital."

"Okay, let's play together then."

Later, when Chen Jianguo heard that Su Xia and her group were going to take the train to the capital, he immediately went to the teacher in charge and offered to take Su Xia with him, saying they would meet up in the capital. The teacher was initially reluctant, but since Chen Jianguo said he was worried about his daughter getting carsick from the long train journey and was paying for the plane himself, what could the teacher say? He could only admire Chen Jianguo's wealth afterward.