Rebirth to Save Myself

Another holiday has passed, and a new semester has begun. Su Xia continues to attend kindergarten. She's been in this world for over half a year now, and she knows it won't be easy for her to go back. So she'll live life to the fullest, treat this opportunity as a rebirth, and make up for all her past regrets.

Life went on uneventfully, but she forgot about the SARS outbreak in 2003. She didn't remember when it started, but this terrible disease broke out, and the news reported it every day, detailing how many people were infected and how everyone was stockpiling supplies. The school also organized students to bring their own water bottles to get tea every day, supposedly to boost immunity. Everyone was required to bring their own water bottle to get tea, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Su Xia remembered asking her grandma to buy her a cup, and her grandma handed her a plastic bottle, saying that this would be fine. She believed her and took the bottle to her teacher, only to find the bottle burst because the water was too hot. The teacher nearly got burned and told her not to bring such a bottle next time, leaving Su Xia so embarrassed she almost wanted to disappear into the ground.

Grandma definitely won't buy herself a cup this time; she'd rather take her own bowl than a plastic bottle.

It wasn't unreasonable to bring a bowl, so the next day Su Xia brought a ceramic bowl she usually ate from and put it in the bowl. During break, she took the bowl to the front of the teacher's office and said, "Teacher, I want some water."

"Little friend, don't you have a cup?" The teacher looked at the bowl that Su Xia handed over and was obviously stunned for a moment before asking.

"No." Su Xia shook her head, pretending not to understand, and asked, "Can't a bowl be used to hold water?"

"Sure, sure, but this water is quite hot, I'm afraid you won't be able to carry it." The teacher quickly explained, afraid that Su Xia would feel inferior because of this. She secretly sized up Su Xia, noticing that she was wearing old clothes and ill-fitting shoes, indicating that her family must be poor. Otherwise, her parents wouldn't refuse to buy her a cup.

"Then I won't drink it, thank you, teacher." Su Xia hadn't really intended to drink it anyway, because the brewed tea tasted really bad.

So she took the bowl back to the classroom and immediately put it in her schoolbag to avoid breaking it and getting scolded by her grandmother.

"Pug, nyah nyah nyah!"

"Her backpack is a lapdog, and she is a lapdog too."

"A pug that nobody wanted; neither her mom nor dad wanted her."

A group of boys surrounded Su Xia, pointing and whispering about her not having parents.

Su Xia didn't understand why these boys, or rather, the boys themselves, had such a strong opinion about her. It was just an ordinary little dog backpack, with two movable ears—quite cute! But they kept mocking her backpack, calling it a pug, and implying she was a pug too. Some of the boys' fathers were friends of her father's, and her father had even taken her to their house when he was still in their hometown. Now that her father wasn't home, they were bullying her like this.

But she wouldn't argue with them, because the more you resist and feel wronged in these situations, the more enthusiastic they become. She's no longer the weak and timid person she once was. Now that she's come into this world to start over, she won't relive the regrets of her past life.

But things in this world don't just stay quiet and not bother you. Seeing that Su Xia ignored them, several boys snatched her backpack and threw it on the ground. The sound of shattering ceramic rang out, and everyone was clearly stunned.

Su Xia sighed inwardly, not expecting to break the bowl anyway. Resigned, she picked up her schoolbag and walked up to the boy who had broken it, saying, "You broke my bowl, you have to pay for it. Either pay with money or pay for the bowl, you choose."

The little boy blushed with embarrassment, then stubbornly insisted, "Don't make false accusations, I didn't fall."

"Then let's go to your house after school and talk to your parents." After saying that, Su Xia put her schoolbag back under her desk, ignored the group of people, and picked up the building blocks on the table to start playing.

The little boy thought Su Xia definitely wouldn't dare, and that she was just saying it to scare him. But who knew that as soon as school was over, Su Xia followed him everywhere he went.

"Hey, she doesn't like you, does she?" his companion said.

"Don't talk nonsense, that's not true." The little boy immediately ran away, trying to shake off Su Xia.

Su Xia was speechless. The village was so small; how could she not know where he lived? Su Xia wasn't in a hurry. She slowly walked to the entrance of the boy's family's shop and asked, "Is anyone here?"

A middle-aged woman came out and asked Su Xia, "Little one, what do you want to buy?"

"I'm not here to buy anything, I'm here to seek compensation."

"What compensation?" The man inside heard this and came out. Seeing Su Xia, he said, "Isn't this the Su family's girl? What compensation do you want from my house?"

“Your son broke the bowl I use for drinking water, so you have to pay for it,” Su Xia said calmly.

The couple exchanged a glance, indicating they knew nothing about it. However, Su Xia didn't seem to be lying, so the woman went inside, grabbed her son, and brought him to Su Xia, saying, "I'll make this boy come out and explain himself. If he really did it, we'll admit it." She then lightly slapped the boy a few times.

"I didn't. I didn't know she put the bowl in her backpack. Everyone else did it too, Chen Hao, Chen Nan."

"Alright, shut up." Seeing this, the man realized Su Xia was telling the truth; his son had teamed up with others at school to bully her—it was truly shameful. "Girl, what kind of compensation do you want?"

"Either give me a new bowl or pay for this bowl." Su Xia wasn't asking for an exorbitant amount. She had come here today intending to teach this young boy a lesson so that others would understand and stop picking on her every day.

"Okay, I'll go inside and get you a new bowl." The woman readily took out a new, unused bowl and handed it to Su Xia.

"Thank you, then I'll go home now." Su Xia hadn't gone far when she heard the little boy's screams mixed with crying, and her mood brightened up. She skipped and hopped home, a rare occurrence for her.

"What's wrong? Did the sun rise in the west today? Why are you so happy?" Grandma asked Su Xia sarcastically, as if she couldn't stand seeing her happy.

But it's not really Grandma's fault. Ever since Su Xia came, the little girl's face hasn't shown much expression; most of the time, she shows no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness. She doesn't play with other children her age, spending all her time holed up in her room. You'd think she'd watch TV, but she doesn't. She often just sits there lost in thought, sketching or drawing. Today, it was rare to see Su Xia smile and even hop around, so Grandma asked her about it.