Rebirth to Save Myself

When Su Xia returned home, she found Chen Yuan still waiting for her in the living room. Chen Chunqi and Chen Jianguo had both been persuaded to go to bed. Seeing Su Xia return, Chen Yuan immediately sat up and asked, "Did you have fun?"

"What's so exciting?" Su Xia didn't know that Lu Jingnian had told her about picking her up that night, so she stubbornly refused to tell the truth.

"Oh? You rushed downstairs to see him right after your shower at noon, didn't you? He texted me saying he'd pick you up tonight. You have no idea how long it took me to come up with a reason to persuade Dad to leave. Now you see only me here. I told them to go to sleep without worry, but you... sigh, you've been wrong all along." Chen Yuan looked heartbroken, pulled out a tissue, and began to sob.

"Um, thank you then." Su Xia didn't insist anymore and prepared to go back to her room after saying that.

"Xiaxia, do you want to be with Lu Jingnian? I think he's really good to you. He came all the way back from abroad and even picked you up tonight. I heard he has to go back to class the day after tomorrow, what a rush!" Chen Yuan hurriedly asked, following behind Su Xia.

"Who told you that?" Su Xia turned to look at Chen Yuan.

"Shen Zhiheng, he's been so bored lately, so he knows all the gossip first thing in the morning." Chen Yuan waved her phone's chat page, looking quite smug.

“Your information network is quite extensive, but it’s already very late. I suggest you go back to your room and sleep. Also, I’ll lock the door tonight, so don’t bother sneaking over in the middle of the night.” Su Xia finished speaking and immediately closed the door, locking it with a click right in front of Chen Yuan.

"Xiaxia, how could you do this to me? Xiaxia, open the door!" Chen Yuan was caught off guard by Su Xia and hurriedly knocked on the door, but she was afraid of waking Chen Jianguo and the others, so she was forced to control the volume.

"Go back to sleep, we'll talk tomorrow." Su Xia said this through the door and then fell silent.

Chen Yuan checked her phone; it was indeed past eleven. After confirming that Su Xia had locked the door, she decided it was time to go back to sleep. She was determined to follow up on this; Su Xia wasn't going to get away with it.

The next day, Su Xia woke up to find Chen Yuan waiting at her door. She couldn't help but sigh, "Eat first. Aren't you going to have breakfast?"

"She's already eaten. She got up extra early today, ate breakfast, and then waited outside your door," Chen Chunqi said with a smile.

"I want to eat, let me eat first, otherwise I'll be late for school." Su Xia pushed Chen Yuan away and went to the dining table to eat breakfast.

Not to be outdone, Chen Yuan followed along and watched Su Xia eat. Su Xia felt really uncomfortable under her gaze, so she took out her phone and sent her a message.

Coffee to keep you going: What do you want to ask?

Chen Yuan's eyes lit up, and she quickly replied: Progress!!!

Coffee for survival: No progress.

White Tea, Pure Joy, Nothing Else: Impossible, you guys didn't do anything all night?

Coffee to keep us going: What can it do? We just had a late-night snack at a street stall.

White tea, pure joy, nothing else matters: Didn't Lu Jingnian confess his feelings to you? Didn't you accept his advances?

Coffee to keep me going: No, didn't Shen Zhiheng tell you? I have a four-year agreement with Lu Jingnian.

White Tea, Pure Joy, Nothing Else: What? What four-year promise?! You didn't even tell me?!

Coffee to keep you going: Calm down, you've already scratched the table to pieces.

Coffee to keep me going: He and I made a promise that if I still didn't have a boyfriend when he graduated from university, we would be together.

Coffee keeps me going: So the answer to your question about whether there's been any progress is no, understand?

White tea, pure joy, nothing else matters: How romantic, can you tolerate this man for four years?

Coffee to keep you going: Is this why you and Chen Wenwei are together now? He's romantic towards you, so you impulsively agreed?

White tea brings simple pleasures and nothing else matters: Don't drag me into this, this is your problem.

White Tea, Pure Joy, Nothing Else: Tell me quickly, how could you possibly hold back?

Coffee to keep me going: I still have things to take care of, now is not the time.

White tea, pure joy, nothing else matters: What is it?

Coffee to keep you going: You'll see when the time comes; I'll need your help.

White tea, pure joy, nothing else matters: No problem, I'm available anytime!

Chen Chunqi watched as the two of them were engrossed in their phones, and the breakfast on the table was almost gone. He couldn't help but tap the table to remind them, "If we don't leave now, we'll miss the bus."

"Oh my god, it's so late! I was so engrossed in it, Xiaxia, let's go." Chen Yuan quickly grabbed her backpack, then helped Su Xia take the milk, and gestured for her to take the bread to eat on the way.

"Let's go." Su Xia didn't hesitate to sling her backpack over her shoulder, grab a slice of toast, and the two of them hurriedly went out.

Drive carefully!

"Ok!"

We'll be taking graduation photos in the afternoon, but that won't stop us from having a short quiz in the morning. The teachers will just combine all the questions from each subject into one test paper, so everyone can just do that in the morning.

"Seriously, teacher? Why aren't you relaxing today?!"

"I prepared this especially so you wouldn't relax. Hurry up and do it."

"Cruel, too cruel."

Even with everyone complaining, they could only obediently continue doing practice tests; this was the daily routine of senior year. Desks were crammed with test papers—every year's college entrance exam papers, famous questions from various provinces, and questions the teachers thought would definitely be on the test—all printed out and distributed to everyone to do again and again. Pages of scratch paper, pen refills worn dry—all were proof of their senior year.

Su Xia and Chen Yuan ate lunch in the cafeteria and didn't go home. They agreed to do light makeup that the teachers wouldn't notice after lunch, and style their hair to take pretty photos. Youth only comes once, so the teachers aren't particularly strict; as long as you don't wear heavy makeup or outlandish clothes, they'll turn a blind eye.

Su Xia, along with Chen Yuan, Ye Lingling, and several other girls from their class, went to the mall to find a makeup shop. Someone suggested going to the basement because it was cheaper there. However, when they got there, they ran into girls from other classes. The shopkeeper told them there were many people waiting in line and that she was too busy to handle them all, so she told them to look elsewhere.

"Let's go to the cosmetics store on the first floor and get our makeup done there," Su Xia suggested.

"Won't it be very expensive? I only have a little pocket money left," a girl in the line said worriedly.

“We have a lot of people, so we can ask them for a discount. Do you have any other classmates coming? You can invite them too; it’s easier to negotiate with more people.” Su Xia understood that not every family supported spending time on graduation photos. Some parents even thought taking photos was unnecessary because of the cost of printing them.

"Let me ask."

Then the girls started texting on their phones, and soon four or five more girls joined them. Su Xia took them to the cosmetics store and explained their purpose to the sales assistant.

How many of you are there?

There are fifteen in total.

"Sure, I'll call all my colleagues to help you with your makeup."

"Thank you!"

Actually, doing Su Xia's makeup doesn't take too long, because the makeup can't be too obvious. A simple primer is enough to make her skin look noticeably fairer. Next, cover up some blemishes and apply a subtle lipstick, and you're all done.

"Sister, what's your name? I'll ask my mom to buy cosmetics from you next time." Su Xia asked the first saleswoman who answered her. She didn't treat them poorly just because they were students, nor did she mess with their faces just because they were students. People like that deserve praise.

"Thank you, little sister. My name is Chen Qi."

"Okay, I remember."

A dozen or so girls arrived at the mall entrance after getting their makeup done, and coincidentally ran into their classmates on the basement level. Chen Yuan looked at their obviously smudged makeup and couldn't help but sigh, then whispered to Su Xia, "It's a good thing we didn't go, their makeup was so ugly."

"Yes, everyone has their own choices, and we can't interfere too much."

The two groups returned to the school gate one after the other, only to find the discipline committee members standing there watching every girl entering. If they noticed anything amiss with a girl's face, they made her remove all her makeup with makeup remover before allowing her to enter. This frightened both groups; after all, they had paid money, and to have their photos taken gone was a huge loss!

"What should we do, Xiaxia? If we get caught, all that money will be wasted." Chen Yuan nervously grabbed Su Xia's hand.

Su Xia looked around at the girls who were getting their makeup done at the same store as her, and then said to them, "I just asked them to do a more natural look for us. If you ask other sales assistants to add a little something to your makeup and they notice, then you'd better watch out."

Su Xia's words caused a couple of people in the crowd to panic. Since they hadn't gotten too close to Su Xia, they felt it would be a waste not to spend more money. So they asked the sales assistant to do some tricks for them, such as applying double eyelid tape, false eyelashes, and a more vibrant lipstick color. The sales assistant outwardly complied with their requests, but privately told Chen Qi about it, and Chen Qi then informed Su Xia.

"Let's go, class is about to start." Su Xia pulled Chen Yuan along confidently to the school gate. The discipline committee member glanced at them and then turned to look at others.

Seeing that Su Xia had passed through smoothly, the remaining people felt much relieved and followed her in. Unexpectedly, the discipline committee member stopped the two of them and said, "You two, go over there and remove your makeup."

These two were the girls who had been harassed earlier. They were unwilling to accept it but didn't want to remove it, so they pleaded, "We didn't do anything too obvious, can you let us off this time?"

"No, if everyone acted like you, then the school wouldn't be a school anymore." The discipline committee member was impartial and rejected their request outright.

"They were already made up, so why didn't you stop them?" The two girls pointed at the girls the discipline committee member had let pass, which infuriated the other girls.

You guys secretly changed your makeup, so you deserve to be stopped. But you dragged them into it, as if you don't want others to be happy when you're not doing well yourself. It's disgusting.

The discipline committee member looked at the people the two girls were pointing to and then said, "They haven't put on makeup yet, so don't delay, hurry up and remove it. Otherwise, if you're late, I'll register it too."

"Why should I? Are you blind? Can't you tell they're wearing makeup?!"

“We went to the makeup shop together, why can they go in but we can’t?”

The two girls were making a racket, driving the discipline monitor crazy. She yelled, "If you keep making noise, we'll deduct points from the class's score!"

Class points are related to class honor and the homeroom teacher's evaluation, so every class takes them very seriously. If these two girls lost points for wearing makeup, the homeroom teacher would probably contact their parents. Weighing the pros and cons, they both kept quiet. Meanwhile, the group of people putting on makeup on the basement floor were unsurprisingly stopped and made to remove their makeup.

"Xiaxia, you're amazing. If we had insisted on getting our makeup done at the first place, we would have been stopped at the school gate by now," Chen Yuan said to Su Xia.

"Yes, yes, it's all thanks to you."

"Suddenly I felt that spending more money wasn't a bad thing. Seeing them being stopped made me realize that you get what you pay for."

"Yes, I initially thought it was expensive."

"Now when I see them being stopped, I feel so relieved."

A group of girls marveled at their wise decision as they walked toward the teaching building, the bright sunlight shining on their faces, radiating youthful energy!

Lu Jingnian returned to his alma mater in his school uniform. The discipline committee member didn't stop him; he went straight to his classroom and looked at his classmates. Some were sleeping on their desks, some were buried in their homework, and a few girls were chatting and gossiping about what interesting things had happened that day.

He looked at Su Xia and noticed that her face had paled slightly, her lips looked glossy as if she had applied lipstick, and her shoulder-length short hair was styled into two braids, each secured at the back of her head with a hair tie. She was looking at the questions on the table, her brows furrowed, as if she had encountered some difficult problems.

Lu Jingnian walked towards him and asked, "Do you need any help?"

Su Xia looked up and saw Lu Jingnian standing by her desk, watching her. She smiled at him and replied, "Yes."

So Lu Jingnian sat down next to Su Xia and earnestly and attentively explained the problem that had stumped her. A breeze blew past her ear, ruffling Su Xia's hair and brushing against Lu Jingnian's arm, a light, ticklish sensation. He smelled that pleasant green tea scent emanating from her again—a perfume he had searched high and low for but couldn't find. Perhaps he should ask her for it.

What perfume are you wearing?

"Huh?" Lu Jingnian suddenly spoke, interrupting Su Xia's thought process. She was stunned for a moment before replying, "I didn't wear perfume, it's the smell of shower gel."

"Oh, it smells nice. What's the scent? I'll buy a bottle for my mom to try."

"Cucumber green tea".

"These two can be combined? That's amazing and interesting." Lu Jingnian nodded.

A commotion arose in the hallway outside; it seemed they were getting ready to take graduation photos. The students in the classroom began to stir, some even going out to follow the crowd downstairs. Su Xia took her camera out of her desk, looked at Lu Jingnian with a smile, and said, "The camera's here. Want to take some pictures?"