Rebirth to Save Myself

Whether they liked it or not, the high school entrance exam arrived as scheduled. Families that valued it accompanied their children to the exam venue early, such as Chen Jianguo and Chen Chunqi. Families that didn't value it let their children go on their own, basically thinking that with their children's grades, they would definitely go to a vocational school anyway.

Su Xia didn't take the high school entrance exam. Instead, she accompanied Chen Yuan's parents to the exam hall to cheer her on.

"Don't be nervous. Do the questions you know how to do first, and leave the ones you don't know blank. You can go back to them later," Su Xia said to Chen Yuan.

"Pay attention to the time and maintain a good pace when doing the questions. Don't finish before you've reached the end," Chen Jianguo said to Chen Yuan.

"Relax. No matter what, we've come this far. Once you finish your exam, we can relax," Chen Chunqi said to Chen Yuan.

"Chen Yuan, keep it up!" Chen Wenwei said to Chen Yuan.

"Good luck to you too, Chen Wenwei!" No matter how much Chen Yuan usually bickered with Chen Wenwei, she still sincerely hoped that he would do well on the exam.

As the bell rang, the three-day high school entrance examination came to an end, and students poured out of the classrooms in twos and threes. They laughed, cried, and regretted, but none of it could change the fact that the exam had already begun.

Chen Yuan found her father and his family at the school gate. Her father also picked up Chen Wenwei, and the five of them went home together. Chen Wenwei's mother had already prepared a meal at home, waiting for her two children to finish their exams and come back to celebrate.

Upon arriving home, they were warmly welcomed and taken to the dining room. It was a rare occasion for the two families to have a meal together, so they were seated at two tables, one for adults and one for children. Su Xia and her family sat at the children's table, eating and chatting.

"You have no idea how hard the last math problem was. I struggled with it for ages," Chen Yuan complained.

"I'm alright, the second to last question in physics was a bit difficult for me," Chen Wenwei replied to Chen Yuan.

"The best thing after an exam is not checking the answers. This pork rib is delicious," Su Xia said while eating.

"I need to play some computer games properly, my skills are terrible!"

"Sure, Mom definitely won't say anything if you play now."

"Where are you in high school?" Chen Wenwei asked Su Xia.

"The second year of high school is almost over."

"You're amazing, you're the person I admire most."

"It's alright, there are many things I don't know. High school is much harder than middle school, you can take a look beforehand if you have time."

"I don't want to talk about studying right now."

"Haha, it's always like this after the exam."

The day after the exam, the three of them went to the amusement park in the city with Lin Mohan. Su Xia dragged Chen Yuan to ride a roller coaster, and Chen Yuan's legs were still shaking when she got off.

Su Xia said regretfully from the side, "It's a pity there's no drop tower."

"Xiaxia, you're too bold! My legs are weak." Chen Yuan supported Su Xia and refused to let go.

"Hehe, you can do it too." Su Xia smiled. She had once been a dying person; what could be more terrifying than that? Starting over, trying everything, learning everything, leaving no regrets—that's the right thing to do.

Later, Chen Yuan refused to ride the pirate ship and instead dragged the three of them to the carousel, where they rode it three times. After Chen Wenwei and Lin Mohan got off the carousel, they parted ways with the two of them to try the more exciting rides.

"Xiaxia, you can't leave me alone." Chen Yuan held Su Xia's hand tightly, not allowing her to leave with Chen Wenwei and the others.

"No, no, I'm tired too. Let's find a place to sit down and rest for a while, and have something to eat." Although Su Xia liked thrilling activities, her body couldn't keep up, so she had to call a halt.

"Xiaxia, why is your stamina still so poor? You go running every day when you have free time, and why don't you gain weight? You eat more than me." Chen Yuan looked Su Xia up and down, then looked at her own chubby hands, feeling inexplicably sad.

"I don't know, I've been exercising, but my stamina just can't keep up." Su Xia was also puzzled. She had been working hard to exercise to prevent cancer from recurring, but the results were still terrible. Catching a cold during seasonal changes was a recurring problem. Sometimes, after running for a short while, she would start panting heavily, which would scare her PE teacher so much that he would quickly tell her to rest.

"Should we go to the hospital for a checkup to see what's wrong and get treatment as soon as possible?" Chen Yuan was very worried about Su Xia, but sometimes Su Xia acted as if nothing was wrong and even dared to ride thrill rides.

"Okay, we'll see then. I'll make time to go." Su Xia nodded, realizing she really needed to take care of her health.

Chen Yuan acted immediately. After returning home, she told Chen Chunqi about it, and Chen Chunqi immediately asked Chen Jianguo to schedule a full-body checkup at the provincial hospital. Then, he took Su Xia and Chen Yuan straight to the provincial capital.

"Mom, is it really necessary to rush like this?" Su Xia said, both amused and exasperated. She had said she needed a medical check-up, but she hadn't said immediately.

"No, your health is too poor. You should get checked out as soon as possible."

"Ok."

Su Xia and Chen Yuan got up very early and went straight to the hospital without even having breakfast. A series of tests took up the entire morning. Blood tests and X-rays left them both starving. Fortunately, the nanny had already prepared lunch when they got back, and Su Xia even ate three bowls of rice.

"I feel like Xiaxia is eating like this, and there's absolutely no problem," Chen Yuan sighed. She had only eaten two bowls of rice, while Su Xia had eaten three bowls of rice and a bowl of soup, and was still gnawing on ribs.

“Indeed, Xiaxia has a really good appetite,” Chen Chunqi added from the side.

The report came out soon after. Chen Yuan was fine in every way, with no problems whatsoever, and was even a little overweight, so she should pay attention to her diet. Su Xia had moderate anemia, but her stomach was fine. She should be careful not to squat for too long, which was about what Chen Chunqi had predicted. However, regarding her physical weakness, the doctor only attributed it to insufficient blood supply caused by anemia, which led to her body's inability to keep up.

"It's good that you're alright. We'll take care of the anemia gradually," Chen Chunqi said to Su Xia.

"Hmm." Su Xia was also relieved that there was nothing seriously wrong with her body.

"My results are out! 410 points!" Chen Yuan rushed out of the room and said to Su Xia and Chen Chunqi in the living room.

"I knew you could do it." Su Xia nodded happily.

"Hahaha, I can go to the same school as Xiaxia now, hahaha!" Chen Yuan ran to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took out two bottles of cola, and handed one to Su Xia, saying, "Cheers, Xiaxia!"

Su Xia took the Coke, raised it and clinked it against Chen Yuan's, seeing Chen Yuan happily about to call Chen Jianguo to share the good news. Before she could call, a phone rang; it was Chen Wenwei.

"Hey, who is it?"

"I am Chen Wenwei."

"Oh, are you looking for my mom?"

"No, I'm looking for you."

"What are you looking for me for?"

"Have your results come out yet? What score did you get?"

"410."

"Okay, it's safe."

"And you? What score did you get? Is it enough for you to get into the top high school?"

"409."

"Hahahaha, Chen Wenwei, hahahaha, I won!" Chen Yuan jumped up, grabbing the receiver, startling Chen Chunqi and Su Xia who were sitting on the sofa.

"Yeah, I lost." Chen Wenwei's voice sounded muffled on the phone. Chen Yuan assumed he was just unhappy because he lost to her and didn't think much of it.

"But you're all set for this school. What about your good buddy Lin Mohan?"

“He’s in 405, and he also applied to No. 1 Middle School. Is Su Xia there? Can you let her answer the phone?”

"Oh." Chen Yuan put down the receiver and called out to Su Xia, "Xiaxia, Chen Wenwei is looking for you."

Su Xia was surprised to hear Chen Yuan's words. Why would Chen Wenwei contact her for no reason? She picked up the receiver and said "hello," and then Chen Wenwei said a few words to her. She just responded with "uh-huhs," and finally Chen Wenwei hung up the phone first.

"What did Chen Wenwei say to you?" Chen Yuan asked curiously as she walked over after seeing her put down the phone.

"No, we just chatted about everyday things," Su Xia replied calmly.

"Oh, when did Chen Wenwei ever talk to you? Aside from asking questions, I haven't seen you two chat much. That's strange." Chen Yuan couldn't guess what Chen Wenwei had said to Su Xia, and Su Xia wouldn't say either; the two of them were very tight-lipped.

"You were going to call Dad, go ahead and do it," Su Xia changed the subject.

Chen Yuan immediately put aside her doubts and called Chen Jianguo. Chen Jianguo had already made plans to have dinner with friends that evening, but upon hearing that Chen Yuan had done so well on her exam, he immediately decided to let all three of them join the dinner. Su Xia, upon hearing this, thought that this was another attempt to show off his daughter, and wondered if the uncles and elders would not come after learning of Chen Jianguo's plans.

Sure enough, when Chen Jianguo started to boast about his daughter Chen Yuan being admitted to the provincial top high school, the uncles and elders in the seats all had different expressions, but they all looked at Chen Jianguo with a bit of contempt.

Then an uncle noticed that Chen Jianguo only mentioned Chen Yuan and not Su Xia, even though he had boasted about Su Xia the previous two times. So he naturally assumed that Chen Jianguo was afraid to mention Su Xia because she had failed the exam. Since Chen Jianguo was afraid to mention her, he would mention her instead. So he said, "Old Chen, you only talk about one daughter. Why don't you mention the other one?"

Chen Jianguo's eyes lit up when he heard this, and then he said to the uncle, "Hey, Lao Shen, I didn't want to bring this up, but since you asked, I have to answer you. My daughter was admitted to the provincial No. 1 High School back in the first year of junior high school."

As a result, Old Shen was immediately met with glares from those around him, as if to say, "Why did you bring this up? You've never seen Chen Jianguo's boasting before, and you're just offering him a stage." Old Shen regretted it, but who knew Su Xia was so capable? It's unrealistic that Chen Jianguo, this show-off, could keep it a secret for so long.

At the end of the dinner, the uncles and aunts all went home to lecture their own children. "Why aren't you as good as him? It makes me lose face and can't even show off!" they'd complain. The children were also resentful. Whenever their fathers ate with that Uncle Chen, he'd inevitably give them the cold shoulder for a while. At those times, they had to be extremely careful, or they'd be bombarded with criticism. But it was so difficult! How come Uncle Chen's two daughters were so formidable?

Seeing this scene, Chen Yuan understood what Su Xia had meant by the funny scene before they came. The constipated faces of these uncles and elders were indeed a bit comical. But they were all elders. Chen Yuan looked at Su Xia and found that she had already started eating, completely ignoring the adults' conversation at the table.

"You eat too, what are you standing there for?" Su Xia looked up at Chen Yuan, indicating that she should eat and not worry about Chen Jianguo and the others.

"But they didn't eat any," Chen Yuan whispered as she leaned closer.

"You two children go ahead and eat, don't wait for us." At this moment, an uncle spoke up, speaking kindly to Su Xia and Chen Yuan.

"Yes, this is my little sister's first time here, she's a bit nervous. I'll take care of her, Uncle Lin." Su Xia smiled and looked at Uncle Lin.

"What? I'm the older sister, okay?" Chen Yuan was unhappy to hear this. She was clearly a year older than Su Xia, and she only went to school with them because Su Xia didn't attend the middle class.

"Yes, yes, you're the older sister. Sister, hurry up and eat." Su Xia said to Chen Yuan as if coaxing a child.

This made all the uncles and elders at the table laugh, turning Chen Yuan's face bright red. She glared at Su Xia, both angry and annoyed. Su Xia then placed a braised prawn on her plate and offered it to her.

After the meal, all the uncles and elders gave out red envelopes, one for Chen Yuan and one for Su Xia. Chen Chunqi was initially reluctant to accept them, saying, "It's just that the child got into high school, there's no need to accept them."

“Sister-in-law, you’re wrong about that. These two kids are so outstanding, how can just anyone get into the top provincial high school?”

“That’s right, sister-in-law. We even wanted to adopt Su Xia as our goddaughter, but Old Chen wasn’t happy about it.”

"Yes, yes, he loves to criticize us, and he won't let Su Xia recognize more godfathers."

“That’s my daughter, why would I need you to be my godfathers?” Chen Jianguo retorted immediately, clearly unhappy.

"Keep it; it's a small token of my appreciation for the child."

Helpless, Chen Chunqi could only gesture for Chen Yuan and Su Xia to accept the red envelopes. He figured they'd have dealings with each other later anyway, so he could just give them the envelopes back to their children. This would be a good deed, and wouldn't make things difficult for Chen Jianguo on their end.

When the four of them got home, Chen Yuan couldn't wait to open the red envelopes. Good heavens, she counted them and found there was over a thousand yuan in total. Chen Jianguo's friends usually gave red envelopes starting at three hundred yuan. When Chen Jianguo saw so much money, he just told them to keep it safe and use it to buy whatever they wanted later.

Their family never confiscates the red envelopes or New Year's money given to the children. They keep them safe when the children are young and return them when they grow up. They don't interfere with how the children use their money, so Chen Yuan has a large sum of money saved up since she was a child. At first, she spent it lavishly, but later she learned how to use the money wisely.

Su Xia shared the same thought as Chen Chunqi. These uncles and elders were basically always seen whenever Chen Jianguo went out to eat, indicating that they were Chen Jianguo's close friends or business partners. They would inevitably have some social interactions with each other, so there was no need to refuse this small amount of money and make others feel that you didn't consider them as family.

The three of them spent some more time in the provincial capital before returning to their hometown to pack their things and prepare to move the whole family to the provincial capital. Chen Chunqi had only stayed in the hometown because Chen Yuan was studying at home, but now that Chen Yuan could study at the provincial No. 1 High School, there was no need for her to stay in the hometown anymore.

Grandma was happy to know that Su Xia was going to study in the provincial capital, because that meant she wouldn't have to take care of Su Xia anymore. As for where Su Xia went on weekends or holidays, what business was it of hers? She hadn't given Su Xia any living expenses anyway.