Chapter 32: Never Once Scolded Her for Poor Grades

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Xiang Yu made her voice sound nothing but relaxed and cheerful. She knew how sensitive and fragile her sister’s heart was.

She had been the same in her previous life. She had lived with such strength and worked so hard, yet beneath it all she had been unbearably fragile and sensitive.

A child who receives no love from her parents, who is treated as a blood bank for them to drain, may carry wounds that never fully heal.

“Sis, Mom and Dad have called off the engagement with the Liu family.

“If you can’t adjust to life in the provincial capital, you can go back to the county town, but stay away from the western district. Liu Gang operates around there.

“If you do run into him, don’t be afraid. Go to the police station, or find someone who can scare him off.

“As long as you aren’t afraid, the one who should be afraid is the person with a guilty conscience.”

Xiang Di covered her mouth and sobbed.

After a long while, she choked out, “How could that be? How could Mom and Dad have broken off the engagement so easily?”

Deep down, she knew what kind of people her parents were and what they were thinking. Yet she could never stop herself from hoping.

Xiang Yu’s voice was clear and sweet. “Because once you left, they had no other choice. Besides, I signed a performance-based agreement with them.”

She left out the clause that required her to marry Liu Gang if she failed the entrance examination, but explained everything else in detail.

Xiang Di was stunned. “Five hundred thousand? How could we possibly earn that much in five years?”

Even if both of them worked, it would not be enough.

She held down two jobs, yet at most she could save a little over thirty thousand a year.

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She also had to give their parents one thousand every month.

Xiang Yu’s voice was firm. “Sis, I have a way to make money. As soon as I finish my exams, I’ll come find you. For now, find a job that provides room and board and start working there.

“Be sure to stay safe. Nothing matters more than you.”

In the end, Xiang Di was persuaded by her younger sister. She said she would return to the county town and contact her once she had settled in.

From then on, the sisters spoke every Wednesday and Sunday evening.

Neither of them told the other about her little secret. Xiang Di was afraid that if her sister learned she had not left the county town, she would become angry and worried.

Xiang Yu, meanwhile, did not want Xiang Di to know that she had taken their parents to the police station. She feared that her sister would be unable to bear it, break down, and rush back again. That would undo everything.

After taking care of everything, Xiang Yu went to the school dormitory. The door had not yet been opened, so she went to the classroom instead.

Fortunately, the classroom door was unlocked.

Otherwise, she would have had nowhere to go.

Exhausted, she lay facedown on her desk.

Her heart was swollen with bitterness and pain, but she still did not cry.

She had cried enough in her previous life. Her cancer had probably been brought on by excessive depression and anxiety.

If there had been any other way, she would not have wanted to take her parents to court.

Not even though she harbored hatred and resentment toward them.

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Because in the end, they were still her parents. They had given birth to her and raised her, however carelessly. At the very least, they had not abandoned her or drowned her.

Heaven, earth, sovereign, parents, and teachers—the traditional bonds of human morality still ran deep in her conscience.

Half-asleep, Xiang Yu rested on the desk for a while before getting up to memorize English vocabulary.

Sigh. What she really needed was a portable cassette player. English was a stranger she had yet to befriend.

She could not even read the passages fluently, let alone memorize them.

Perhaps she should memorize classical Chinese instead.

After being reborn, she did not know why, but Chinese came to her with remarkable ease, and she found that she genuinely loved studying it.

Xiang Yu became so absorbed in her studies that she forgot everything else. She had made breakfast herself that morning, and since no one was there to keep an eye on her, she had eaten more than usual, so she did not go out for lunch either.

Somewhere in her subconscious, she also wanted to save a little money. She had only one hundred and seventy-six yuan left—the living expenses for four weekends and a month’s allowance.

In a while, she still had to buy two reference books.

In the past, she had never liked studying. She would not buy reference books or practice collections, and even when the teachers arranged group orders, she refused to subscribe. Since she hated studying anyway, asking for money when she got home would only earn her a scolding.

And even after being scolded, it was difficult to get the money.

Li Meilan had never truly wanted her to continue studying after middle school. She cursed her over everything, but she had never once scolded her for poor grades.

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