Rebirth to Save Myself

The four of them visited all the tourist attractions in the capital before boarding their plane back. With only a few days left before the start of the new semester, Chen Yuan looked out at the blue sky and white clouds and sighed, "Happy times always seem so short."

"You had a lot of fun this time, didn't you? It felt like you spent the whole summer in the capital," Su Xia said to Chen Yuan, looking at the book in her hand.

"Yes, it's all thanks to you, otherwise why would Mom and Dad have brought me here!"

"Chen Yuan, are you asking for trouble?" Chen Chunqi, sitting on a chair by the aisle, heard her words clearly.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me, this servant knows her mistake," Chen Yuan said quickly.

Ever since Chen Chunqi wore the Empress's clothes at the Forbidden City, Chen Yuan and Chen Jianguo would occasionally tease Chen Chunqi about the Empress.

"Look at her!" Chen Chunqi nudged Chen Jianguo next to her, looking like she wanted him to teach Chen Yuan a lesson.

"Alright, Yuanyuan. Even without Xiaxia's competition this time, I was planning to bring you to the capital for the next few years. It's just that Xiaxia's competition brought this trip forward. Otherwise, why would I have taken you to the capital for so long?"

"I know, I know, just kidding." Chen Yuan stuck out her tongue and quickly pulled Su Xia into a conversation.

Su Xia wanted to read for a while longer, but Chen Yuan wouldn't allow it, saying that reading on a plane wouldn't cause any turbulence. She snatched Su Xia's book and started discussing with her what the sequel to her novel would be like.

The four returned to the provincial capital and stayed at a riverside house for two more days before heading back. As soon as they got back, the neighbors swarmed around Chen Chunqi, flattering her and saying how lucky she was to have married such a good husband, and even offering to take her to the capital. They also said she was truly blessed and asked if the capital was fun.

Chen Chunqi took out some of the Beijing specialties that Chen Jianguo had prepared and distributed them to everyone before she could leave and go home. Then she instructed Chen Yuan, "Go and take Aunt Chen's share to her."

"Oh," Chen Yuan replied, then found the item and went to the side.

As soon as Su Xia got out of the car, she told Chen Chunqi and went home. Her grandmother had no idea that she was coming back today, so she only noticed Su Xia when she appeared at the door and asked, "Why are you back?"

"The training is over, of course I'm back." Su Xia said, then took her luggage upstairs.

Seeing that Su Xia barely paid her any attention, Grandma didn't bother arguing with Su Xia about respecting elders; Su Xia wouldn't listen anyway. Su Xia went to her room, put away her clothes and schoolbag, and then took out the clothes that needed washing separately to take to the kitchen later. Chen Chunqi had originally asked Su Xia to bring a box of pastries back for the family to try, but Su Xia refused. She didn't want to cause trouble; if she brought the pastries home, Grandma would definitely question where she got the money. Besides, she had only told Grandma she was going to the provincial capital for training; how was she going to explain this box of Beijing pastries? So she simply cut it off to avoid unnecessary trouble.

At the end of August, Su Xia and Chen Yuan went to register. The teacher was happy to see Su Xia, praised her, and said that the school would announce her results the next morning.

Su Xia understood from her teacher's words that she must have achieved good results. If she hadn't, there was no need to announce it in front of the whole school; it would only embarrass others.

"Xiaxia, the teacher said you did well on the test this time!" Chen Yuan said happily.

"Yeah, that's great. It seems like my choice of high school is pretty much settled, which means I'll have time to study the high school textbooks." Su Xia was also happy, knowing that her plans wouldn't deviate too much from the intended path.

"No. 1 Middle School, Xiaxia, you're going to No. 1 Middle School?" Chen Yuan was very surprised. When the teachers from No. 1 Middle School came to find Su Xia before, Su Xia did not make it public. Only a small number of teachers knew.

"Yes, someone from No. 1 High School came to me before and said that if I did well in the competition, I could be directly admitted to university. But there was no competition at that time, so I didn't know what kind of score I would get, and I didn't tell anyone." Su Xia nodded and then explained the reason.

"Tianna, that's amazing, Xiaxia. I don't know how to describe you, you're absolutely incredible." Chen Yuan looked quite shocked, but she was mostly happy for Su Xia.

"So, Yuanyuan, if you want to go to the same high school as me, you'll have to work hard to get into No. 1 High School." Su Xia looked at Chen Yuan seriously.

"Waaah, I'll try my best." Chen Yuan felt a lot of pressure. No. 1 High School, that's really hard to get into! Last year, only a dozen or so students from their school got into No. 1 High School. With such a high admission rate, the pressure of getting in is immense.

"It's okay, if I get a guaranteed admission, I can supervise your studies." Su Xia comforted Chen Yuan, but in Chen Yuan's eyes, Su Xia was whipping her with a small leather whip, saying, "You can't do this, you can't do this."

Sure enough, during the morning exercise break the next day, the principal happily announced Su Xia's results: "I have some good news to share with everyone. Su Xia participated in the national mathematics and physics competitions during the summer vacation and achieved excellent results, ranking tenth in the national mathematics competition and eighth in the national physics competition. She received a prize of 50,000 yuan, with a provincial award of 10,000 yuan and a city award of 5,000 yuan."

After he finished speaking, a group of students began to applaud. Then the principal continued, "Such excellent results bring great honor to our school, and on behalf of our school, I would like to award Su Xia one thousand yuan."

"Wow, how much does this add up to?" Lin Mohan couldn't help but exclaim in the queue, asking the person next to him.

"A total of 66,000 yuan, 666!" The onlookers were also shocked. This competition can make money, and so much money at once. Is this the benefit of being good at studying?

"Su Xia, you're amazing!" Lin Mohan secretly moved to Su Xia's side and said to her.

"Thank you, I was quite surprised too." Su Xia generously accepted everyone's congratulations and envy. This was something she had earned through her own efforts, and it was only right and proper.

After the meeting, the principal told Su Xia to come and collect her bonus after school. Chen Yuan and the others immediately crowded around her, looking at Su Xia with envy and shock.

"That's amazing! I can only say that's amazing, Su Xia!" Lin Mohan said.

"Congratulations, that's really impressive," Zhou Xiaojie said calmly, but in his heart he felt that he was a bit far behind Su Xia and needed to work hard to catch up with her.

"As expected of you, you fought your way through the competition to achieve a ranking. Were the questions difficult?" Chen Wenwei asked.

"Ahhhhh, Xiaxia, you're so amazing! I can't wait to go home and tell my parents!" Chen Yuan hugged Su Xia tightly, jumping up and down.

Seeing this, it would be a lie to say that Vivian Chow and the others weren't envious. Su Xia was truly outstanding, completely unaffected by that incident. In contrast, the others, ostracized after the affair was exposed, lost interest in their studies and started to slack off. Their grades are now at the bottom of the class, and it seems they're only choosing to coast through school because they're too young to work.

It's entirely conceivable that once this story spreads, Su Xia will become that "other people's child," a role model and a goal. People will hope their own children can be like Su Xia, or even more outstanding than her.

After school, Su Xia went to the principal and received a thick wad of cash. The principal instructed Su Xia to go home immediately and give it to her parents to avoid losing it. Su Xia went straight to the Chen family home and handed the money to Chen Chunqi.

"Xiaxia, this is the prize money you won in the competition. You can keep it yourself," Chen Chunqi said happily.

"Mom, if I take this money back, it will be gone." Su Xia shook her head, insisting on handing the money over to her.

“Okay, Mom will keep it for you. Just tell me when you need money.” Over the years, Chen Chunqi had come to understand Su Xia’s situation in that family. She had considered bringing Su Xia back to the Chen family, but Su Xia refused. Su Xia said she could transfer her household registration when she went to university, making it easier to sever ties then. She didn’t want Chen Chunqi to be misunderstood as someone trying to steal her child. Su Xia, such a good person, wouldn’t allow anyone to treat her like that.

"No need, Mom. You can take it and use it. You've spent a lot of money on me over the years, this is my way of showing my respect," Su Xia said. After thinking for a moment, she added, "Could you come to the school tomorrow morning? The principal needs a parent to be present, but my grandma..."

"Okay, I understand. I'll go tomorrow morning, don't worry."

"Thank you, Mom. I'm going home now." Su Xia said, preparing to go home. She knew she couldn't hide the fact that she had won the prize money, but she had given the money to Chen Chunqi. Her grandmother would definitely question her if she didn't take the money home, and she needed to think of a plan, otherwise, it would be another bloodbath.

Sure enough, as soon as Su Xia got home, she saw that her grandmother had prepared lunch and was waiting for her. Upon seeing her return, her grandmother immediately put on a smile and said, "You're back! I bought pork."

Su Xia glanced at the table and saw a small bowl of pork, mostly fatty with only a tiny bit of lean meat. It was also obvious that the meat had been mostly scraped away. Looking at Chen Wen beside her, she saw grease stains still on his lips. Su Xia pretended not to notice and went to wash her hands to prepare for her meal.

Then I heard Grandma say, "Why didn't you tell me you were going to compete during the summer vacation? I would have at least given you some living expenses."

"No need, they've covered everything, so you don't have to pay anything yourself," Su Xia explained casually.

"That's a little money; you can buy some bread to fill your stomach if you get hungry at night," Grandma continued.

This reminded Su Xia of her previous life, when she was around the same age, going through puberty and getting hungry very quickly. Her grandmother hadn't cooked much rice, so she cooked noodles herself. Her grandmother then called her mother to complain that Su Xia ate too much, leaving not a single noodle, which was bought for Chen Wen's breakfast. It turned out that Su Xia had eaten it all within two days.

She also mentioned that Chen Wen's parents paid for the noodles so that Chen Wen could eat better, but Su Xia, without her grandmother's permission, secretly cooked all the noodles. After hearing this, Su's mother scolded Su Xia, saying she was a starving ghost reincarnated, eating so much. However, Su's mother didn't realize that Su Xia was growing at that time, and without proper nutrition, how could she develop properly?

In the end, Grandma still bought noodles, but she put them all in Chen Wen's room and locked the door when she left to prevent Su Xia from taking them to eat. Su Xia was so hungry that she could only drink cold water to fill her stomach. She drank too much at night and then felt the urge to urinate, so Su Xia began to endure it, hoping that as long as she could get through it and fall asleep, she wouldn't be hungry anymore.

Sometimes Su Xia didn't understand why, even though her grandmother bought the food, she always gave it all to Chen Wen. Sometimes she would also give some to Chen Tao, and even when Chen Xin came back, she would take some out. But she was the only one who didn't get any. Her grandmother even told Chen Wen privately not to be fooled by Su Xia into opening the door, because if Su Xia took all the food, he would have nothing to eat.

It wasn't until Su Xia went to live with her parents in Putian that she was able to eat her fill without worry. After starting work, Su Xia gradually understood that her grandmother disliked her, so she always thought the worst of her, saying she was bad, disobedient, and had a terrible temper. In short, her grandmother never said a good word about Su Xia whenever her mother called.

Back to the present, Su Xia was eating lunch, but she hadn't touched the plate of pork. Seeing this, her grandmother put a piece in her bowl and then tentatively asked, "I heard you won a prize in a competition, a prize of over 60,000?"

"Yes, there are that many." Su Xia nodded and continued eating, but she didn't touch the piece of meat in her bowl.

"What about the money? Give it to Grandma to keep. You're just a child, don't take so much money, or you'll get robbed." Grandma smiled kindly.

"I know, so I just asked Chen Yuan's mother to save it for me," Su Xia answered honestly.

"What? That's our family's money! Why did you give it to outsiders? Go get it back, right now! I'll go with you!" Grandma stood up angrily and was about to drag Su Xia out the door.

“When I was in fifth grade, I needed a pair of white sneakers for a school activity, but you didn’t buy them for me. Chen Yuan’s mom bought them for me. When I was in sixth grade, my teacher needed to buy study materials, and you said it wasn’t necessary and wouldn’t give me the money. Chen Yuan’s mom paid for them for me. The dress I’m wearing now, and all the clothes in my wardrobe, were bought for me by Chen Yuan’s mom, plus my sandals, white sneakers, and so on. My schoolbag, my stationery, and even my winter gloves were all bought for me by her mom.” Su Xia gave examples one by one. With each one she mentioned, her grandmother’s face turned paler. By the time she finished, her grandmother was already sitting in a chair.

"That's her choice, it's none of my business," Grandma said, forcing herself to remain calm.

“Yes, but all of this was originally something you and my parents should have done. She did it all for you, and you didn’t thank her or give her any money. So, I’m treating this bonus as if it were the money she paid me. Is there anything wrong with that?” Su Xia calmly asked her grandmother, seeing what else she could say.

"Are you stupid? She gave it to you, she didn't ask you to pay her. You'd be a fool to give her money. She's rich but stupid, why do you care so much? That's 60,000 yuan, not 6 yuan. What right do you have to decide who gets that money? I've taken care of you for so many years, I've done my part, I deserve credit for my hard work. Why can't I take that money? No way, go and get it back for me."

"Heh, you're shameless, but I'm not you, I can't do that. The money's already paid, there's no reason to ask for it back." Su Xia sneered, put down the bowl, and prepared to leave.