Rebirth to Save Myself

Chen Yuan was stunned. What? Going on a trip, a whole summer vacation at that? Her dad was paying for everything, they could go wherever they wanted, from one place to another, it was all "whatever makes you happy."

"What happened? Is our family really going to go bankrupt?" Chen Yuan asked softly, tugging at Su Xia's hand.

"Since my parents were furious after hearing this, I felt it was necessary not to tell you," Su Xia said helplessly.

"What? Why can't I know your secrets? You're excluding me, that's unfair and immoral!" Chen Yuan started throwing a tantrum, demanding to know.

"If you keep causing trouble, I'll cancel your trip." Chen Chunqi's words silenced Chen Yuan decisively.

So the two of them started packing their bags non-stop, looking up travel guides, and planning how to get there, where to go, and how many days to spend on their own! This caught Chen Wenwei completely off guard. He had originally planned to come to the provincial capital with Chen Yuan after the college entrance examination, but just as he had settled things with Chen Meili, Chen Yuan announced that she was going on a trip! The kind where the return date is uncertain!

"Yuanyuan, is there anywhere you'd like to go?" Su Xia asked, sitting in front of her computer with her phone in hand, looking at a travel guide.

"Hmm, should we come back and fill out our college applications in the meantime?" Chen Yuan calculated the time; there were still two weeks until the results came out. They'd have to go back to No. 1 High School to get the application materials then, so going out now would be a bit of a hassle.

"Hey, you're not going to some remote mountain forest where there are no computers or cell phones. When the results are available, just let your parents know online. You can ask a classmate to pick up your books." Chen Chunqi waved his hand, reassuring them to go without worry.

"Mom, is it because we've finished the college entrance exam that you've gone from being a protected species to someone who can just freeload, so you can't wait to get rid of us so you can have some alone time with Dad?" Chen Yuan still didn't understand.

Seeing this, Chen Chunqi felt there was no need to hide the matter from Chen Yuan, so he told her about Su Xia. Then he saw Chen Yuan cursing loudly: "Damn it, who do they think they are, daring to try and take advantage of us? Don't they know it's illegal? People are overjoyed to have a child who's good at studying, and they actually want you not to go to university! I wanted to rush over and beat them up. What kind of parents are they, ruining their daughter like this? What kind of Qing Dynasty feudal thinking are they still clinging to? Their daughter is still successful!"

Su Xia and Chen Chunqi watched as Chen Yuan went on a rampage, and Su Xia looked at Chen Chunqi with a questioning look: Aren't you going to stop her? She's swearing, how can a girl say such dirty things?

Chen Chunqi responded to Su Xia with his eyes: What's wrong with that? This way, I won't be afraid of being bullied.

Su Xia was speechless. Then she saw Chen Yuan walk towards her and say, "We'll set off first thing tomorrow morning. I don't believe they'd follow us all over the country for a few dollars."

"I have nothing to say." Su Xia was truly speechless; each of them reacted even more strongly than she, the person involved. But the speechlessness was only slight; the rest was overwhelming with gratitude. Having such a family member who infinitely tolerated her and stood up for her warmly healed the regrets in her heart.

Because Chen Yuan wasn't sure where she wanted to go, Su Xia organized a special forces tour that later became incredibly popular. She had just won some prize money from various competitions over the years, which she could now use.

The next morning, the two embarked on their journey south, first visiting Xiamen, where they saw Gulangyu Island, ate seafood, and checked out Xiamen University. Then they traveled to Zhangzhou, visiting Dongshan Island, a seaside destination not yet used as a filming location, which was quite different from Pingtan.

Next, they went to Guangdong Province, where there's a lot of delicious food. It's close to Hong Kong, so the food is similar there. They ate beef hot pot, rice noodle rolls, and went to the Canton Tower for a panoramic view of the city. From Guangdong, they headed to Guilin, where the scenery is renowned as the best under heaven. They took out twenty yuan for a group photo.

They traveled north to the capital of Hunan Province, a place Su Xia had longed to visit for two lifetimes. There, they saw statues of great figures and watched a beautiful and dazzling fireworks display at Orange Isle. In their guesthouse, they used a computer that often crashed, watching it slowly refresh to display their college entrance exam scores.

"I don't dare to look, Xiaxia, how about we check yours first?" Chen Yuan covered her eyes, she was really scared. Although she had been traveling between different cities, she still felt apprehensive when it came to checking her results.

"Give me your exam admission ticket number." Su Xia was also nervous, but she felt that since the score was already set, whether you checked it or not, it wouldn't change.

“5738…” Chen Yuan slowly recited a string of numbers. Su Xia then entered the password, and after a series of operations, they waited for nearly two minutes before the computer displayed the results.

"580 points, I'm guaranteed a place in the top university!" Su Xia jumped up excitedly, then grabbed Chen Yuan and started shouting.

"Really?" Chen Yuan couldn't believe it, then she took a look for herself and started cheering with Su Xia.

The two cheered for a while before Su Xia took a picture of her score and logged out. Then came the slow wait; the network signal was poor, freezing intermittently, requiring her to refresh the page.

Chen Yuan was even more nervous than when she checked her own grades. The moment the results came out, she shouted, "650 points! Wow, Xiaxia, you're amazing!"

"Ring ring~" At this moment, Chen Yuan's phone rang. It was a call from Chen Jianguo and Chen Chunqi.

"Hey, Mom, you don't know how amazing Xiaxia is! She got 650 out of 750, which is even higher than she expected!" Chen Yuan immediately answered the phone and, even more excited than Su Xia herself, told her about Su Xia's score.

"Really? Xiaxia is amazing, she did great on the test!" Chen Chunqi said happily on the other end of the phone, then asked, "And you?"

“Mom, Yuanyuan scored 580, she's definitely going to get into a top university. She can even choose a good school, she's great.” Su Xia answered the question for Chen Yuan.

"Good, good, good, you two are both great." Chen Chunqi was very pleased; she was even happier than her children for doing well on the exam.

"Are you still in Changsha?" Chen Jianguo interjected.

"We're still here. We're planning to go to Yuelu Mountain tomorrow morning and just grab some rice noodles. The rice noodles in Hunan Province are so delicious, I wish I could eat them every day." Chen Yuan gets really excited when she talks about food. She can post more than a dozen pictures of food on her WeChat Moments in a day, and Chen Wenwei can't keep up with liking them.

"Okay, Dad just gave you the funds. Have fun. As for college applications, we'll see what the teachers suggest." Chen Jianguo waved his hand and transferred 20,000 yuan each to Su Xia's and Chen Yuan's Alipay accounts.

"Dad, the travel fund we were given before is still there." Su Xia heard the sound of money being deposited and saw that it was 20,000 yuan.

"This is a reward for your good performance in the college entrance examination. I'll have to throw a banquet for you later." Chen Jianguo was really proud of his two daughters and felt compelled to make a big fuss about it.

"Thank you, Dad." Chen Yuan accepted the gift without hesitation, her sweet voice softening Chen Jianguo's heart.

"Have fun! Now that we've checked all the results, we can enjoy ourselves even more."

"Uh-huh."

The next morning, the two of them went downstairs to a nearby noodle shop for breakfast. Then they headed to the museum, taking some casual photos. They planned to go up Yuelu Mountain in the afternoon and take the cable car down in the evening. In the evening, they planned to eat at a cheap and plentiful meal at a university at the foot of the mountain and also visit the university.

Next, the two went to Zhangjiajie and climbed Tianmen Mountain. They personally climbed the Heavenly Ladder step by step to see the magical natural scenery, including the natural Tianmen Cave. Then they went to Yunmeng Xianding, where the feeling of being surrounded by clouds was amazing, and the sun refracted beams of light through the clouds.

"Xiaxia, I feel like I'm in the sky!" Chen Yuan exclaimed in surprise as she touched the clouds, where distant mountains rose one after another.

"The magnificent landscapes of our motherland!" Su Xia's camera has been constantly in use since the start of her trip, and the first thing she does every day when she returns to the hotel is to charge her camera.

They brought a laptop and a hard drive, storing all the original photos on it. They planned to show them to Chen Jianguo and Chen Chunqi when they got home.

"Yuanyuan, don't move, I'm taking a picture of you."

"I've taken more photos in my entire life than I have now," Chen Yuan said, but she still posed for Su Xia to take pictures.

"Little sister, can you take a picture of us?" A couple next to them saw Su Xia taking pictures with her camera, so they took their phones and asked her to take a picture of them together.

"Okay." Su Xia took a few pictures, but they weren't very good. However, the couple was quite satisfied, so they took their phones and left. As they went down the stairs, the girl accidentally stumbled, but the boy quickly steadied her, and they smiled at each other.

Su Xia thought the moment was beautiful, so she raised her camera and took a picture. Then she wanted to ask them for their contact information, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Xiaxia, what are you looking for?" Chen Yuan asked curiously as Su Xia looked around.

"I took some really nice photos of that couple earlier, and I wanted to give them to them," Su Xia showed Chen Yuan the photos on her camera.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Chen Yuan was also surprised. In the photo, the two people were looking at each other, and behind them, the fog had dissipated a little, revealing a bit of the original appearance of the mountains.

"Forget it, if we run into them on the way down the mountain, we'll give them to them."

Unfortunately, they still didn't encounter the couple when they reached the foot of the mountain. Su Xia could only upload their photos to her hard drive, hoping to meet them again someday.

Then they set off for Chongqing, witnessing a true 8D city. Here, looking at maps is completely useless for outsiders; the best way is to ask the locals. They can take you through unexpected places. They went to Hongyadong, admiring the same beautiful scenery as in Miyazaki Hayao's "Spirited Away," with dazzling lights—perfect for taking stunning photos.

"It looks so beautiful, but this hot pot is really spicy." Chen Yuan said, taking another sip of water.

"This is what the restaurant called 'mildly spicy'." Su Xia looked at the pot filled with chili peppers; the vegetables were immediately enveloped in them as soon as they were put in. They completely disappeared. When she scooped them up with a spoon, a bunch of Sichuan peppercorns and peppercorns came up with the spoon.

"It's delicious, but it's really spicy." Chen Yuan ate while her nose was running, and more than half of the pack of tissues disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"The taste is really good." As she spoke, she called the waiter to bring two bottles of water.

The two had originally planned to go to Ezhou, but applying for university admissions required a trip to the school, which wouldn't be necessary for Chen Jianguo and Chen Chunqi; Su Xia and Chen Yuan would have to go in person. So, the two flew directly back from Chongqing, where Chen Jianguo and Chen Chunqi picked them up at the airport. Upon meeting them, Chen Jianguo asked, "How was your trip?"

"It was fantastic! Although tiring, it was worth it. We took a lot of photos, and we'll look at them together when we get home." Chen Yuan felt that her month-long trip had broadened her horizons and allowed her to experience the customs and cultures of different regions.

“That’s great! We’ll see where the fun places are and go with your dad,” Chen Chunqi said, sitting in the front row.

“That depends on Dad having time. Dad is so busy these days!” Chen Yuan didn’t know how big her family business was, but she could see that Chen Jianguo was getting busier and busier.

"I'll be busy for another four years before I retire, and then I'll take your mom to travel around," Chen Jianguo said as he drove.

"Why four years?" Chen Yuan was a little confused. Did the family business not work out after four years?

"Because you can come work for the company after you graduate from university in four years," Chen Jianguo said matter-of-factly.

"I don't want to." Chen Yuan refused decisively, then looked at Su Xia and said, "Let Xia Xia do it. She can earn money. She's smarter than me."

“I firmly refuse. I think Yuanyuan has a great future as a boss,” Su Xia retorted immediately.

"You have."

"You have."

"Only you have it."

"Only you have it."

The two children were playfully bickering in the back row, while Chen Jianguo and Chen Chunqi looked at each other and smiled in the front row. This kind of life was truly fulfilling. Their two daughters were by their side, and they were so hardworking and ambitious, achieving excellent grades.

Because the next day was the weekend, they went straight to school to see their teacher without even putting down their luggage. The teacher was very happy to see Su Xia and said, "You did well on the test; you came in third in our class."

"Thank you, teacher."

"What universities or majors are you interested in applying to?"

"I want to study photography because I love taking pictures."

"Well, it's a bit of a waste for you to study photography with your grades. You can learn photography in your spare time. You could try applying for a popular major right now, such as network information technology or biochemistry."

"Yes, teacher, I have my own plans."

"That's fine. It's good if you have your own plans. The teacher is just offering some suggestions. This is your college application reference book. Take it back and study it carefully. With your grades, you can get into a first-tier university, or even a 985 or 211 university. You can also consider aiming for it."

"Yes, teacher, I want to apply to Xiamen University or Hunan University."

"That's not bad either!"