Rebirth to Save Myself

"You stop right there! If you don't get your money back today, I'll tell your parents! You're such a traitor!" Grandma pointed at Su Xia, her tone aggressive.

"Save your breath. It's unreasonable of you to talk about this. Everyone knows what you've done over the years. If I tell them everything, will you still not care?" Su Xia looked at her grandmother.

"You, you, you, you unfilial daughter! You just wait, I'll make you pay!" Grandma finally chickened out. Over the years, she'd practically let Su Xia grow up unsupervised, and the neighbors knew a thing or two. If she went to the Chen family to cause trouble, Su Xia would definitely reveal how she'd abused her, and she'd lose all face. This village was mostly inhabited by people with the same surname; it would be so shameful to be unable to hold her head high.

Su Xia didn't want things to come to this, but hearing her grandmother act as if the Chen family's sacrifices for her over the years were a given, and even think they were being taken advantage of, made her wonder if her parents knew about it and shared the same thoughts as her grandmother.

Thinking about it carefully, she realized she had always worn the dress and even brought her MP4 with her when she went to Pucheng; she hadn't deliberately hidden it from their sight. But they didn't question where it came from, nor did they ask if the dress was a gift from her grandmother. They, like her grandmother, remained silent, thinking that if they didn't speak up, the Chen family would consider it as if they had raised their daughter for nothing—what a wonderful plan!

Not long after, Su's parents called during dinner. Grandma, with a gloating expression, called Su Xia onto the phone. She was confident that Su's parents would be tempted by such a large sum of money, and that she would then ask for half of it under the pretext of needing living expenses to take care of Su Xia.

"Hello?" Su Xia said.

"Your grandma said you have more than 60,000 yuan in cash. What's going on?" Su's mother questioned from the side. Grandma hadn't explained things clearly to Su's mother and the others, so they assumed that Su Xia's money was stolen money of dubious origin.

"That's the prize money I won in the competition," Su Xia said.

"What competition? Why don't I know about it?" Su's mother continued to ask.

"Didn't I tell you before that I went to the provincial capital for training? That was preparation for participating in a competition."

"What about the money? Your grandma said you didn't bring it home. Such a large sum of money, where did you put it?"

"It's been given to the Chen family."

Upon hearing this, Su's mother paused for a moment, clearly aware of the Chen family's existence. She then composed herself and said, "Giving them to them isn't out of the question, but we don't need to give them all. Go and retrieve a little bit later, just the forty thousand or so."

Su Xia smiled when she heard this. Sure enough, she shouldn't have had any wishful thinking. She calmly said, "I went to the capital to participate in the competition. The Chen family paid for all my round-trip transportation and accommodation."

"How much money is that? Just give them ten or twenty thousand."

"What about what happened before? My clothes, stationery, shoes, even my study materials? How should we calculate those? Tell me?"

“What are those things? Did they ask you for them? How could they do this? They gave them to us without even telling our parents, and now they want them back? What kind of logic is that?”

"Just because they don't want it, does that mean we shouldn't give it to them?"

"Of course, all of this is voluntary on their part. Don't be silly and ask us for anything."

"I'm sorry, I can't be that shameless."

“Hey, how can you talk like that? What do you mean by shameless? I think they're the shameless ones. They're just trying to curry favor with you because you're good at studying, waiting for you to win a prize so they can take it all, right? We're your guardians, so your money should belong to us. With this money, our lives can be a little better.”

“Your lives are better, not mine. You know perfectly well what kind of life I lead at home, but you have never cared about me or thought about improving it for me.”

“You have the Chen family, right? They take such good care of you, so just accept it. There’s no need for so much grievance. It’s not easy for us to raise your younger siblings outside. We left you in our hometown because we didn’t want you to suffer. Besides, I asked you before, and it was your own choice not to come to Pucheng to study.”

Su Xia's heart was truly broken. While she was anxiously trying to repay the Chen family's kindness, her own parents took it all for granted and didn't care. They even thought it was a wonderful thing that a sucker had raised their daughter and they could reap the rewards once she started earning money.

Thanks to the booming furniture industry in Putian over the past year, Su's father has earned a considerable amount of money. Life isn't as tight as before. However, they seem to have forgotten about their daughter back home, continuing to withhold living expenses from her grandmother, leading to her grandmother's mistreatment of her. They would feign concern during the New Year, complaining about how hard they work away from home, making Su Xia feel like she was the most fortunate one staying in their hometown, and that she was the most loved of her three children. They would also occasionally give her small favors, making Su Xia extremely grateful, paving the way for her to receive wages later.

“I’ve already given it to the Chen family, and they’ve accepted it. I won’t ask for it back. Consider it payment for all the parental responsibilities they’ve fulfilled for you over the years.” After saying this, Su Xia handed the phone back to her grandmother and turned to leave.

"You wretched girl, you're so stubborn! What's the use of being good at studying if you can't adapt?" Grandma cursed at Su Xia's retreating figure.

Su's mother heard everything clearly on the other end of the phone, and then she said to her grandmother, "Mom, we've given you money all these years, no matter how poor we were. You've gone too far. You can't be this biased. They're all your grandchildren, how can you do this?"

“How can I do anything with that little money? She asks for money every other day. Where am I, an old woman, supposed to get money?”

“She needs you to spend money on her, and you report to us every single expense that you want us to cover.”

"Why are you yelling at an old woman like me? You can't even control your own daughter, yet you're criticizing me." Grandma angrily hung up the phone. Since Su's mother couldn't get Su Xia to return the money, there was no need to continue talking to her.

When Su's mother heard the dial tone on the phone, she was furious. She started arguing with Su's father, who wasn't going to back down either. Their argument attracted the attention of the neighbors. Originally, Su Xia winning the award should have been a good thing, but Su's parents and grandmother could only see the money and not the honor.

The next day, Chen Chunqi and Su Xia went to the principal's office. Besides the principal, there were two unfamiliar faces inside. When the principal saw Chen Chunqi, he stood up and introduced them to her: "These two are teachers from the No. 1 Middle School of the city. They came specifically to help with Su Xia's college admission."

"Admission without examination?" Chen Chunqi asked doubtfully. She thought that today was just the principal praising Su Xia for winning an award.

“Here’s the thing, Su Xia’s parents.” One of the teachers from No. 1 Middle School stood up and then stated their purpose: “I am the Dean of Students at No. 1 Middle School. We hope that Su Xia can apply to No. 1 Middle School after graduating from junior high school, given her excellent academic performance. We will accept Su Xia unconditionally. If she wants to skip a grade now, we can also arrange it.”

“You should ask Su Xia what she thinks, not me.” Chen Chunqi pointed at Su Xia, then found a seat and sat down.

"Su Xia, what are your thoughts? Before you participated in the competition, we sent a teacher to contact you and express our thoughts, but you said you would talk about it after the competition."

Su Xia nodded and then said, "Yes, because at the time I wasn't sure if I could win the award, and the promise from No. 1 High School became a source of pressure for me."

"I'm sorry, we just didn't want to miss out on a talented person, but we didn't expect to cause you any trouble." The head of the teaching department apologized directly without any hesitation.

"It's okay, the competition is over." Su Xia waved her hand, indicating that it was alright.

"Do you have any other thoughts about being recommended to No. 1 High School?" the Dean of Students asked.

"I don't want to skip grades, because that would ruin my foundation," Su Xia said.

"of course can."

“I believe that soon, not only you, but other schools will also come to me. So what reasons do you have that I absolutely have to choose?” Su Xia asked the dean of students.

"Hehe, Su Xia, you're so humorous. Our No. 1 High School has gathered the best teachers in the city. I'm sure you'll gain a lot in this environment," the Dean of Students said with a smile.

"Yes, it's true that you have the best teacher resources. But are you sure that the best teachers will stay at No. 1 High School indefinitely?" Su Xia asked the dean of students.

"Here's what we'll do: as long as you come to No. 1 High School, your tuition and accommodation fees will be waived, and you'll receive a scholarship if you rank in the top five of your grade each semester." The head of teaching didn't hide anything anymore and directly stated the conditions that had already been offered.

“We don’t need to pay for accommodation. They will live at home and commute to school,” Chen Chunqi said. Chen Jianguo had bought a house opposite the No. 1 Middle School years ago so that his two children could live comfortably at home when they went to school.

“These are just the basics, teacher. They don’t hold any appeal for me.” Su Xia shook her head and said, “If that’s all you have to say, then I can go back now.”

"Wait a minute, Su Xia. No. 1 High School has always been the best, and everyone wants to get in. This means you've already stepped into undergraduate studies. I can guarantee you can choose between Tsinghua University and Peking University." The dean of students quickly stopped Su Xia and said these words directly.

"Let me think about it, Mom. Let's go." Su Xia said, then led Chen Chunqi out of the principal's office.

The principal said that he couldn't control Su Xia's decision to choose No. 1 Middle School. Even her parents let her make the decision herself. The dean of students at No. 1 Middle School couldn't persuade Su Xia, and so could he.

"This child is really opinionated," the head of the teaching department remarked. If it were anyone else, they would have already been tempted by the guaranteed admission offer.

Su Xia saw Chen Chunqi off at the school gate before returning to the classroom. Just then, get out of class ended, and Lin Mohan asked Su Xia, "Su Xia, I heard you're skipping a grade to go to high school?"

"Who told you that?" Su Xia asked Lin Mohan in return.

"Hey, of course I know the sources. Is it true? You're really going to No. 1 High School?" Lin Mohan indicated that he didn't need to care where the information came from, as long as the question was answered.

“No, I will study here until I graduate from junior high school.” After Su Xia said this, Zhou Xiaojie, who was not far away, relaxed a little.

If Su Xia really chose to skip a grade and go to the first year of high school, he wouldn't be able to go to the same school as her. By the time he got into high school, she would be taking the college entrance exam soon. So he was extremely happy when Su Xia said she could steadily complete her three years of junior high school.

"Oh yeah, then I still have time to have the great Su Xia teach me!" Lin Mohan happily returned to his seat.

Because Su Xia refused to go to the Chen family to retrieve her bonus, her grandmother cut off her meals. Every time Su Xia returned, the table was empty, with no food at all. Su Xia didn't tolerate this; she had her own money and could eat instant noodles or bread. Her grandmother originally wanted to take Su Xia's money away to force her to beg for it back from the Chen family. However, while Su Xia was at school, she searched the entire room but couldn't find where Su Xia had hidden her money.

Su Xia observed her grandmother's behavior but simply let her be. She wasn't going to be an ungrateful person and go to the Chen family to ask for money. Sixty-six thousand wasn't much to the Chen family; in fact, they had spent over a hundred thousand on her. Every time Chen Yuan had something, Su Xia received the same amount—things that Chen Jianguo and Chen Chunqi had carefully selected and bought.

Sometimes a dress costs several hundred yuan, and Su Xia is growing taller, so it would only last one summer before it became too short. Chen Chunqi tirelessly bought more, unlike Su's mother who would deliberately buy dresses too big so they could last a long time. Moreover, as Su Xia grew taller, she often went hungry, so Chen Chunqi would go to the market every two or three days to buy pork ribs to make soup for her and Chen Yuan to nourish their bodies.

It's no exaggeration to say that each person would eat a bone, one at a time. There were always a few more in the pot, and Chen Chunqi would give them to her and Chen Yuan as long as they could eat them. Whenever Su Xia stayed overnight at the Chen family home, Chen Chunqi would cook a bowl of poached egg noodles for them. It was truly a case of wholehearted devotion to them. In contrast, her own grandmother would fuss over even a little bit of fatty meat, thinking Su Xia was eating too much, and would hide the meat to secretly give to Chen Wen and Chen Tao when Su Xia wasn't around.

However, she is not yet an adult, and guardianship is still in the hands of her parents. So she can't let things get too tense, otherwise she'll be in big trouble if her parents refuse to transfer her household registration.

Su Xia knew that other schools would definitely approach her during this time, and she would compare their offers and choose the one that suited her best. This way, her parents wouldn't have to pay for her high school tuition, and she would have more financial security. However, she didn't expect that schools in the provincial capital would also approach her, wanting her to attend high school there, and promising to arrange all the formalities for her. This made the allure of the city's top high school less appealing. The high school in the provincial capital also offered free tuition and accommodation, full-semester scholarships, and even guaranteed tutoring from top teachers if Su Xia wanted to continue participating in competitions.