Rebirth to Save Myself

In Chen Wenwei's memory, his mother was always hardworking, capable, and resilient, but she was definitely not beautiful. He wasn't just making this up; his mother's generation were mostly farmers toiling in the fields, so they wouldn't have cared about taking care of themselves or dressing up!

But his mother, dressed in a pretty floral dress, looked much fairer and quite different. Hearing his mother's question, Chen Wenwei replied, "No, she looks beautiful."

Chen Meili felt a little awkward. Just now, Chen Chunqi had dragged her to the master bedroom and insisted on changing her clothes and putting on makeup. Chen Meili refused, finding it strange, but Chen Chunqi bluntly said, "What if you don't take care of yourself and look older than your mother-in-law in the future!"

After she left, Mr. Chen was stunned, then stubbornly said, "It's nothing special!"

So Chen Meili was a little discouraged, but her son's words helped her regain her confidence. Then she said to her father, "Our son is definitely the most reliable person."

"Now that Yuanyuan is back, let's sit down and eat."

"Eat, eat."

Just as Chen Yuan had predicted, when Chen Jianguo heard that Chen Wenwei was also in the same university as Chen Yuan, he suggested that they could go to university together so that they could look after each other.

"Uncle, don't worry, I will take good care of Chen Yuan," Chen Wenwei immediately assured Chen Jianguo.

Chen Chunqi looked at Chen Yuan and Chen Wenwei with a slightly puzzled expression, but didn't say anything. He simply followed Chen Jianguo's lead and left.

"Yes, you two grew up together, so I'm at ease with you." Chen Jianguo didn't think about romance at all, because in his mind, Chen Yuan and Chen Wenwei were just like brother and sister.

Chen Jianguo noticed his father's discomfort and invited him to drink and chat, which eased some of his resentment. However, Chen's father's pride prevented him from accepting Chen Jianguo's offer to introduce him to a job.

The next day, the three of them went home. Chen Meili and her father went back to pack their things and prepare to go to the provincial capital to find work. They planned to move into their new apartment in Fangzi Street once it was ready for handover. Chen Wenwei also received his admission letter from Nankai University.

Chen Yuan received the notification at the same time, and Su Xia received it later. Chen Jianguo had already made hotel arrangements. As soon as the notification arrived, he immediately notified everyone to come and participate.

Chen Chunqi also took Chen Yuan and Su Xia to get full-body treatments, makeup, and pretty dresses, making sure they looked their best. Chen Chunqi said to them, "You're both young ladies now, you can start learning how to do makeup and dress up!"

"Mom, are you worried that we'll fall in love or be pursued by boys? What if your daughter gets kidnapped? You won't cry then, will you?" Chen Yuan asked curiously.

“When we were your age, we were already preparing for marriage!” Chen Chunqi glanced at Chen Yuan and then said, “Besides, aren’t you already dating Chen Wenwei?”

"Pfft, cough cough cough, what did you say, cough cough cough." Chen Yuan spat out a mouthful of water, then coughed violently.

Chen Chunqi pointed at Chen Yuan and said to Su Xia, "You still want to hide this from me?"

Su Xia realized that Chen Chunqi wasn't bluffing, so she didn't say anything more and just nodded to Chen Chunqi, saying, "Then I'll tell her to perform better next time."

Chen Yuan then realized what was happening and stammered to Chen Chunqi, "How...how did you know that I was with Chen Wenwei?"

“Your mother has eyes, she can see,” Chen Chunqi said dismissively.

Su Xia found it amusing. Children often think their parents don't know what they're doing, but adults are always watching. Chen Yuan was in that situation. She thought her relationship with Chen Wenwei was flawless, but Chen Chunqi had seen everything.

Feeling a little guilty after Chen Chunqi exposed her, Chen Yuan became unusually quiet when Chen Jianguo came to pick them up to go to the hotel. Chen Jianguo asked curiously, "Yuanyuan, why are you so quiet today?"

"She did something she felt guilty about," Chen Chunqi replied sarcastically for Chen Yuan.

"Oh? What's wrong with you? Tell me so your dad can hear it too," Chen Jianguo asked as he drove.

"You should just forget about it. You'll be heartbroken if you hear it." Chen Chunqi waved her hand. Knowing Chen Jianguo's doting fatherly nature, he'd be furious to hear that Chen Yuan was dating, and with Chen Wenwei no less. Plus, she'd just recently asked Chen Wenwei to take care of Chen Yuan. He was driving right now; for everyone's safety, it was best not to tell them yet.

Chen Jianguo didn't press the matter; it was normal for girls to have a few secrets from each other occasionally. It was quite admirable that his daughters, now grown up, were still willing to talk to their mother about their lives. So Chen Jianguo smiled, remained silent, and continued driving.

Chen Jianguo invited all his business partners he could, as well as some relatives and friends from the provincial capital. His friends, who were already used to Chen Jianguo showing off his daughter, gathered helplessly at one table, discussing amongst themselves:

"Is Jianguo planning to show off his daughter this time? What's wrong with that?"

“The college entrance exams are over now, and both of his daughters are taking them this year.”

"Oh, so today is a graduation celebration banquet!"

"Of course! Both of them got into top universities!"

"985, what's that?"

"Don't you understand? There are so many universities in the country, some good and some bad. They're divided into 985, 211, first-tier, and second-tier universities. The 985 universities are all key national universities!"

"Wow, Old Chen's two daughters are really amazing!"

"Yes, my son is taking the college entrance exam next year. With those grades, he'll have a hard time even getting into a junior college."

"No, no, his two daughters are both outstanding. One of them participated in the national competition in junior high school and was directly admitted to the top high school in the province."

"Haven't you heard? Old Chen only has one biological daughter, and the other is an adopted daughter."

"Ah, is there anything else?"

"That was years ago. Now, Old Chen refers to his daughter as his biological daughter and doesn't have any goddaughters anymore."

"So his adopted daughter was adopted from an orphanage?"

"No, she's from the same village as him. She wasn't loved by her parents, so Old Chen took pity on her and let her come to his house for a meal. Later, they held a ceremony to formally recognize her as his adopted daughter."

"Ah, so Jianguo isn't raising someone else's daughter? What if she goes back to her in-laws' house? Wouldn't Jianguo have wasted his time?"

"That's why I say he's stupid. The other person's parents are both alive and well, and he's eager to raise their daughter. If it were a son, it would be fine, but what can a daughter do after she gets married? He'd have to pay for her dowry."

“You can’t say that. Jianguo must know the girl’s personality, otherwise why would he raise someone else’s daughter for free?”

The people at the table, along with those at the next table, were all discussing Su Xia. They all said that Su Xia would definitely go back to her own home in the future, and then Chen Jianguo would lose both his money and his wife. The family that had just arrived overheard these words, and Chen Jianguo wanted to rush up and argue with them, but Su Xia stopped him and said to him, "Dad, you can shut them up today, but you can't shut them up tomorrow."

“Exactly, with so many mouths, how can we possibly shut them all up?” Chen Chunqi added.

"They have no idea what kind of person Xiaxia is, yet they're making things up." Chen Jianguo was indignant. They all called him stupid and said Su Xia was scheming. Some of them knew the truth, but they just listened to a couple of ears and started spreading rumors.

"Yes, Dad, they don't know, but don't you know me? Why bother arguing with them? It's pointless to get angry." Su Xia helped Chen Jianguo calm down, telling him not to let some people's words upset him.

“Old Chen, don’t be angry. They’re just jealous that your two daughters did so well in the exams, so they’re trying to find fault with you to make themselves feel better,” Lu Zhongqing said to Chen Jianguo as he walked over.

"But Lao Lu, they can talk about me like that, but they can't talk about my daughter!" Chen Jianguo felt it didn't matter to him being talked about badly. Anyway, in business, many people would curse each other in private, but in public they would still flatter each other.

"It's alright, you're the star of the day, hurry up and show off your daughters."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jianguo didn't mention going to argue with those people. Instead, he led Chen Chunqi, Chen Yuan, and Su Xia onto the stage, then got a microphone from a staff member and said:

"Thank you all so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend my daughters' college admission celebration today. I'm known for showing off my daughters, as all my friends know. But I show them off because they're so outstanding and make me so proud. My eldest daughter has been admitted to Nankai University, and my youngest daughter has been admitted to Hunan University!"

As soon as Chen Jianguo finished speaking, the people below began to applaud, then cheered, and said to Chen Jianguo, "Awesome!"

"Eat and drink well, everyone! Have a great time today!"

Later, Chen Jianguo, along with Chen Yuan and Su Xia, went around toasting everyone. Chen Jianguo introduced some business partners and his friends. The uniform line was: "These are my two daughters."

Everyone belatedly realized that Chen Jianguo probably knew what they had said in private, so he used this tactful way to express his attitude, hoping that they would stop saying those jealous words that hurt the child's feelings.

"Old Chen, your two daughters are outstanding!"

"Yes, unlike my brat, who's so bad at studying, it's driving me crazy!"

"May I ask your daughter how she studies? Please share your methods with us."

"Dear uncles and aunts, we don't really have any special study methods. We just listen attentively in class and ask the teacher questions after class if we don't understand something. And then we just keep doing practice problems and test papers!" Su Xia briefly explained her study methods.

“Yes, most of the bookshelves in my dad’s study are filled with our test papers.” Chen Yuan nodded in agreement. Studying requires diligence in addition to talent.

Looking back on their senior year of high school, they fought tirelessly until late at night, doing countless practice problems, even those they had already solved before. But they would find another way to memorize, getting up early to memorize vocabulary and texts, filling the bucket at home with empty pen refills! Countless draft papers and test papers filled Chen Jianguo's study.

"Yes, my study has all become theirs!"

Congratulations! You've finally made it through!

"Yes, my daughter is still the most obedient and well-behaved."

After the banquet, the family began their journey home. Su Xia asked Chen Yuan, "How did Lingling do on her exam?"

"Not bad. Her family originally wanted her to apply to universities within the province, but she applied directly to universities in the north and was admitted to Jilin University."

"She's amazing. She said she liked staying at home, but she went so far away."

“Yes, she said her family was too annoying, especially her two older brothers, so she wanted to get rid of them.”

"Haha, her two older brothers are such doting brothers. They follow Lingling everywhere she goes, and they wish they could take her to and from school."

"That's right, because Lingling usually stays at home and doesn't come out. What about that summer?"

"She was accepted into the Central Academy of Drama as she wished, and said she wants to act in the future."

"Then let's look forward to her becoming a big star!"

"Yes, the twin sisters who trained with me and Lingling back then, they both went to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. They contacted me on QQ a few days ago."

"I remember it. It was the first time I had ever seen those twins."

"Yes, all of us in this group got into good universities. We'll be scattered all over the country, and who knows when we'll be able to get together again!"

Xiaxia, do you still remember Lin Mohan?

"I remember him, the one who's good friends with Chen Wenwei, how did he do on the exam?"

"He went to Xiamen University, which you had wanted to apply to before."

"That's good too. I remember back in junior high, he asked me to explain problems to him every day."

"Yes, time flies. Before we knew it, we had already graduated from high school."

Chen Jianguo and Chen Chunqi were worried that the school wouldn't have all the necessary supplies, and also concerned that the school might overcharge them, so they decided to send some of their belongings to the school by express delivery. They then bought plane tickets and sent the two of them to the school, fearing that the long train journey would be too much for them.

"Ah, I was thinking of going to the supermarket to buy snacks to eat on the way." Chen Yuan was a little disappointed. She had originally planned to eat and play with Chen Wenwei for more than five hours on the bullet train.

"I can buy some snacks and bring them to the dorm to share with my roommates. It'll help us get to know each other better," Chen Chunqi said dismissively, thinking that bringing snacks wouldn't be difficult at all.

“Yeah, it’s the first time for everyone to be away from home, so it’s good to get to know your roommates. But if you don’t like their way of doing things, don’t force yourself to cater to them, okay?” Su Xia was still a little worried that Chen Yuan would be ostracized.

They had never lived in a dormitory before and had never experienced the undercurrents of a girls' dormitory. She worried that Chen Yuan, being naive and rich, would be used as a wallet or a tool by others.

"I understand. I've been with you for so long, and I've learned a lot about how you handle things. Besides, even though I have a lot of money, I'm not stupid. I can see clearly who is sincere to me and who is not."

"That's good. Just don't be a fool with too much money and no sense of reason."

"Xiaxia, I'm not stupid."