Rebirth to Save Myself

Since Lu Lu's incident, everyone has continued their studies in an orderly manner. Encouraged by Ye Zhenzhen, Lu Lu also went to see the class advisor to inquire about the government-funded study abroad program.

The class advisor looked at Lu Lu, knowing that what happened in their dormitory would eventually reach her ears, so she felt quite sorry for Lu Lu. But sympathy was useless; no matter how much help others gave, it couldn't compare to Lu Lu's own efforts. So when Lu Lu came to her to ask about studying abroad, she felt it was time to lend her a hand.

“Based on your current grades, your chances of getting a government-funded scholarship for studying abroad are quite high. However, it's only your second semester of freshman year, so you'll need to maintain these grades, or even improve them further,” the class advisor patiently explained. Then, he showed Lu Lu this year's government-funded study abroad application materials, saying, “This is this year's information and the universities; you can take it back and take a look. Although there are slight changes every year, they're all largely the same. Government-funded study abroad for this major is actually quite good; you can go abroad for further studies and have better career prospects when you come back.”

"Thank you, teacher." Lu Lu accepted the materials with both hands, then chatted with the teacher for a while before leaving the office.

Lu's mother would frequently tell Lu Lu about her cousin's happy life, and then mention Lu's father's dissatisfaction. Lu's father's dissatisfaction stemmed from his feeling that this marriage originally belonged to the Lu family. If Lu Lu hadn't been so hesitant and had married him directly, the large apartment in the city and the occasional allowance would all belong to Lu Lu's younger brother, not her uncle. Thinking about this would cause Lu's father to fly into a rage at home, pointing at Lu's mother and berating her for not disciplining and raising the child properly.

“I told you from the beginning not to study so much, because too much education will make you run away. But you wouldn’t believe me, and you insisted that studying more would help you marry into a good family,” Mr. Lu grumbled.

"Wasn't this opportunity something she got because she has a higher degree than others?!" Lu's mother retorted directly.

Mr. Lu choked for a moment, then quickly composed himself and said, "In the end, she's not the one who marries him, so what's the point!"

Lu's mother rolled her eyes at Lu's father, then asked him, "You didn't take those tens of thousands?"

Mr. Lu simply waved his hand and walked towards the door, saying as he went, "I'm not talking to you, Old Wang invited me to play cards."

Mrs. Lu was very clear-headed, so she understood that she couldn't rely on Mr. Lu for the rest of her life. She could only be thankful that her son was obedient enough that he wouldn't forget his mother after he got married. As long as she secured a future for her son, his future wife would be grateful to her.

As for Lu Lu, her mother found her such a wealthy family, where she has no worries about food or clothing—isn't that enough? If she had chosen a rich man back then, she wouldn't be in this situation now. So Lu Lu's mother didn't feel she owed Lu Lu anything; on the contrary, she felt that Lu Lu's path was much wider than hers before, and she was still ungrateful.

In her junior year of college, Lu Lu hadn't received any messages from her mother bragging about her cousin for a long time, which puzzled her. Suddenly, a junior high school classmate found her on QQ and asked if she was so-and-so's cousin.

Then I told her a fact that her mother had never told her: when her cousin first got married, a lot of people did criticize her uncle, saying that he was selling his daughter, marrying his young and beautiful daughter to an old man who was about the same age as him. But her uncle was very thick-skinned and didn't care about these gossipy people at all. He even scolded them for being jealous of his family's wealth.

Later, my cousin really did pull a fast one. With the dowry from my cousin, my uncle bought a 150-square-meter apartment in the city, which, including renovations, cost at least a million yuan. When the older man found out, he didn't say anything and even gave my uncle a car, giving my uncle's family a lot of face. This changed many people's minds; they thought my uncle was just lucky, since this marriage wasn't originally his daughter's.

Unfortunately, my cousin was persuaded by my aunt to have a son to inherit the old man's business. The old man already had a son with his ex-wife, and he had clearly stated that his entire fortune would belong to his only son. He said if my cousin served him well, she could get a share of the inheritance in her old age. Initially, my cousin was content with the situation, but my aunt was not satisfied. After seeing the old man's wealth, she even pressured my cousin to use underhanded means to get pregnant and give birth to a son or daughter for him, so she would receive a larger share of the inheritance.

Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that the older man had made a promise when he divorced his ex-wife and had undergone sterilization surgery, so he was incapable of impregnating his cousin. After a year of no pregnancy following her marriage, his aunt came up with an absurd idea: to use a sperm donor.

What happened next was that my cousin, overjoyed, told the older man she was pregnant. Enraged, the older man made the whole city aware of the affair. He caught her lover, who then sold her out, blaming her for everything. The older man, of course, wouldn't tolerate being cuckolded, so he took back the car he'd given to my cousin's family and demanded the full return of the dowry he'd given.

The dowry had long been spent by Lu's uncle, and now he wanted it back—how could he possibly repay it? So the uncle started blaming Lu's mother, thinking it was because the person she introduced hadn't understood the situation, leading to this predicament. Lu Lu's maternal grandparents also joined in, criticizing Lu's mother and demanding she bear part of the repayment, or they would disown her as their daughter.

In the past, Lu's mother would probably have accepted it, but now that Lu Lu's younger brother has grown up, Lu's father jumped out and started arguing with his father-in-law. He said that this was originally Lu Lu's marriage, and the older man was attracted to Lu Lu's intelligence, but his cousin went along with it and did something shameful.

Their affair has become a hot topic, with many people eager to see what will happen next. A curious junior high classmate came to ask Lu Lu, thinking she might know more than she did, but Lu Lu knew even less than she did, so the junior high classmate regretfully ended the conversation.

Lu Lu told the other three in the dorm about it, and Ye Zhenzhen immediately said, "Serves you right!"

“Yes, that’s right!” Chen Wanying nodded in agreement.

“I think so too.” Su Xia nodded.

Then everyone stopped paying attention to it and went back to attending classes, studying, and preparing for graduate school entrance exams or internships. It was as if all of this was just a minor episode in their lives.

In the end, Lu's mother was forced to pay 100,000 yuan in compensation. Lu's father cursed and told her to go back to her parents' home, threatening to divorce her. But Lu's mother was not one to back down; she took her son with her and declared that she would have custody of him in the divorce.

That wouldn't do. The son was the foundation of the Lu family. So, Mr. Lu had no choice but to swallow his anger and pay the money. It was Mrs. Lu who reminded him: "Don't we still have a daughter? She can marry into a good family and we won't have to worry about the 100,000 yuan."

"Hmph, you'd better keep a close eye on your daughter, or she might not come back."

“You don’t need to worry about our daughter. At least she knows how to be filial to me! I told her about the 100,000 yuan, and she immediately transferred 2,000 yuan to me. Once she starts working, she’ll have endless money to her name.”

"Hmph, at least she has some conscience."

Lu Lu simply returned the two thousand yuan that her mother had given her, but she assumed it was because Lu Lu felt sorry for her spending such a large sum of money. Of course, she wouldn't connect that two thousand yuan with the two thousand yuan she had given Lu Lu!

Su Xia is preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam, so she's busy studying and doing practice questions. For her major, further study is definitely an option. However, Chen Wanying doesn't plan to continue. She says, "I have to go back and help my dad manage the company."

"As expected of a young lady, by the way, what does your family do?" Ye Zhenzhen asked curiously.

"They make sporting goods," Chen Wanying explained vaguely.

"Oh, that's pretty good too."

Because Chen Wanying didn't flaunt her wealth, everyone assumed she was just the daughter of a small to medium-sized company owner. Besides, no one bothered to ask how much money she actually had. So when Chen Wanying invited the three of them to be her bridesmaids, they were utterly astonished by her house—but that's another story.

Lu Lu has also been preparing her application materials for studying abroad. At Su Xia's suggestion, she took some time to transfer her household registration to the school so that her parents wouldn't use it to blackmail her. Ye Zhenzhen, on the other hand, has been acting strangely lately. Usually, she's the most lively person in the dorm, always quick to liven up the atmosphere.

"Zhenzhen, what's wrong with you lately?" Chen Wanying asked when they were alone in the dormitory.

"I... sigh, never mind." Ye Zhenzhen wanted to speak, but after glancing at Chen Wanying, she decided against it.

"It's okay, just tell me what's wrong, I can help you figure something out." Chen Wanying stepped forward, grabbed Ye Zhenzhen's hand, and looked at her firmly.

"I, I, I'm heartbroken!" Ye Zhenzhen said with difficulty, then slumped back into her chair.

"Oh, but haven't you always been single?" Chen Wanying asked, a little confused. Ye Zhenzhen always said in the dorm that no one was pursuing her.

"I... I like my high school deskmate. I've had a crush on him for six whole years. I was planning to confess to him, but who knew he would announce it on his WeChat Moments a few days ago." Ye Zhenzhen was a little sad. She had prepared everything, and everyone around her knew that she liked him.

"Then why didn't you confess your feelings in high school?" Chen Wanying asked curiously. Did you not confess your feelings for six whole years?

"Because he said he wanted to focus on getting into university and that he wouldn't date until he got there," Ye Zhenzhen said with a bitter face.

"After college, were you sure he liked you?" Chen Wanying found it strange; why was this guy acting like this?

"I'm not sure. But everyone says we're a good match, that we're a couple." Ye Zhenzhen was a little confused; he didn't seem to have ever said he liked her.

"That's what other people said, it doesn't mean it was him who said it." Chen Wanying roughly understood that Ye Zhenzhen must have misunderstood.

“But everyone around me knows I like him. Since my freshman year, I would go to his school to see him. He even took me to visit that city and bought me local specialties before I left. When I went back home for the New Year, he would take care of me at the class reunion. Everyone teased him about when we would officially be together!” Ye Zhenzhen gave examples in an attempt to refute Chen Wanying’s statement.

"Then let me ask you, if your classmates or friends come here to visit you, would you take them shopping and buy them some local specialties?" Chen Wanying was a little helpless. These are the things that ordinary friends would do, right?

"Yes." Although Ye Zhenzhen didn't want to admit it, Chen Wanying was indeed right.

"Also, how did he take care of you at the class reunion?" Chen Wanying felt there must be a misunderstanding and she had to find out.

"He helps me get the condiments, picks up my clothes when they fall off, and even dusts them off. Also, he picks food for me because I can't reach it. When others want to turn the round table, he reminds them that I haven't picked up my food yet." Ye Zhenzhen's voice trailed off, her confidence noticeably diminished.

“Zhenzhen, any well-mannered person would have done the same. This doesn’t prove that he likes you or is interested in you.” Chen Wanying looked earnestly into Ye Zhenzhen’s eyes and said each word carefully.

"Then why didn't he say anything to object when everyone was urging us to be together?" Ye Zhenzhen felt she could still make one last effort.

"So if you were in this situation, would you rather embarrass everyone in public, or keep your distance from him in private?" Chen Wanying asked another poignant question.

"Does he really not like me? Then why did he contact me, saying he wanted to bring his girlfriend to visit me and asked me to host them?" Ye Zhenzhen held up her phone and showed Chen Wanying their chat interface.

"What? This guy is going too far!" Chen Wanying glanced through the contents and then asked Ye Zhenzhen, "They came to have you host them and even made you book a hotel. I think this is probably the woman trying to provoke you."

"What should I do? I can't just chicken out and refuse." Ye Zhenzhen was a little flustered, but her pride wouldn't allow her to back down. She added, "His girlfriend is our high school classmate, and we went to the same university."

“Zhenzhen, this guy isn’t worth your affection.” Chen Wanying held up Ye Zhenzhen’s phone, showing her the evidence point by point, saying, “It’s obvious here that they’ve been together since high school, and they even agreed to go to the same university. You said he didn’t want to date in high school, but that was just an excuse, a lie. And here, on the day of the class reunion you mentioned, they went and then went to a hotel together. I don’t need to explain what happened to you, do I?”

"What? So many details! Why didn't I know that back then?!" Ye Zhenzhen looked at the gleaming evidence in front of her and couldn't believe it.

"Often people only want to see what they want to see and ignore some details. But the most important thing now is that although you like this guy, he hasn't told you openly that he has a girlfriend, nor has he rejected your advances. Now he's even bringing his girlfriend to show off in front of you. That's unforgivable!"