January 21, 2022

Chapter 50: Node

Yansheng wondered where her cousin’s hostility came from.

She became a bad girl in high school, and later, even the old lady said that Huan should not bring her out at family gatherings. From then on, she couldn’t see her grandmother, let alone this cousin.

Her cousin had been excellent all the way. When she died, her cousin had graduated from the university and was taken by the old lady to teach her the company’s affairs hand in hand.

Then, Yansheng realized something very important.

The core business of the Zhang family was all in the hands of the old lady, and even Huan had to please his own mother in every way. The old lady needed an heir. From her memory, there was no doubt that her cousin would be that heir.

But now, this cousin was not the heir yet.

Like her, Qi is just one of the grandchildren of the old lady. Everyone was still young and it was not yet known what the future would be.

This cousin regarded her as a competitor.

Yansheng felt so stupid.

She was a loser who even let her own father give up on her, and it never occurred to her that these things could have anything to do with her.

Even Huan’s own private properties, Yansheng knew that he planned to leave most of it to Shuocheng, and only took out a small portion to give his two daughters as dowry. Therefore, Yansheng always asked him for money later, just because she felt that she could dig a little bit from him.

She never thought that as her grandmother’s granddaughter and Huan’s daughter, she was actually qualified to compete for the position of heir apparent, just like Qi.

She was stunned for a long time before she came back to her senses.

Since her rebirth, she tried her best to study just so she wouldn’t have to live like she did in her previous life. After all, she had gotten herself killed in her previous life, and it was clearly a failure. But she hadn’t actually thought too much and too far ahead. Anyway, she was only fifteen years old now and it was still too far to say anything at this point. Also, she had not graduated from university in her previous life.

In addition, she was not a person who understood life very well.

On the way back, Huan drove the car. He glanced at Yansheng from the rearview mirror, smiled, and asked, “Why is Yanyan so quiet today? You didn’t talk much to Grandma either.”

At the old lady’s house, Yansheng did not speak much. She had been silent for a long time without knowing what she was thinking, and Huan noticed it.

Yansheng raised his head and replied casually, “I am not a child anymore who always gets in front of Grandma.”

Huan lamented, “Your grandmother used to like you the most. When you were young, all your cousins were jealous of you.”

When he said that, Yansheng remembered that when her mother was still alive, her grandmother really liked both her and her mother, compared to her aunt and cousins.

No wonder her cousin had a sense of competition for her.

I’m sure that’s the case.

Yansheng pulled the corner of her mouth.

Huan added, “Hehe is very lively today. That’s the way it should be. When at home, your younger sister should be a little livelier and more likable.”

Today, Yansheng pushed Heling to the old lady, which made her a lot closer to the old lady. Being treated gently and affectionately by the highest authority in the family, Heling was encouraged to become cheerful and lively. She was not the same as before, and she was very likable.

On one hand, his youngest daughter became likable, and on the other hand, she was pleasing to the old lady. Therefore, Huan was quite pleased too.

He was very happy and Heling also pursed her lips and smiled. However, Yingying began scolding her instead, “And you! You don’t know how to let your brother get close to your grandmother. What did you keep her with you all the time?”

Huan was stunned.

He felt like a bright hue was suddenly smudged with a dark color.

It was totally blocked.

He was furious. “This b*tch! Can you not talk?!”

He knew his own son’s behavior well. He didn’t even dare to bring Shuocheng to the old lady, lest this kid act recklessly and it would not end well. At that time, the old lady would definitely scold him.

He regarded Shuocheng as a symbol of passing down the family line, but the old lady still had Lin, an excellent eldest grandson, and she didn’t even care about the children born to women like Yingying.

Moreover, the old lady actually had always preferred girls. In the past, she liked Yansheng far more than Lin and Qi.

So, he always showed a complacent and reserved smile to his elder brother and sister-in-law. Now, his sister-in-law’s smile had an unbearable pride.

These changes were all because Yanyan’s mother was gone.

As he thought about it, his mood became bad and his face became particularly gloomy.

Since Zheng’s incident, Yingying had been cautious these days. As a result, she wanted to please Huan by tutoring Shuocheng, but Huan scolded her severely in the end. When she saw that his expression was not good, she explained aggrievedly, “I’m not… she’s just a girl…”

She spoke vaguely, but Yansheng who was sitting in the back understood it clearly.

Yingying thought that because Heling was a girl, even if it pleased the old lady, it was still useless. Also, she thought that she could only rely on Shuocheng for the rest of her life, that their family should hold him in front of the old lady, and that it was best to let the old lady directly leave the inheritance to him.

Yansheng sneered. “What’s wrong with being a girl? Aren’t you a girl as well? Isn’t my grandma also a girl? Your mother who gave birth to you, isn’t she a girl as well? How could you have come into this world if there’s no girl to give birth to you? You look down on girls that much, right? Then, why don’t you go to Thailand to have a sex change?”

Yingying didn’t dare to provoke Yansheng now, so she swallowed her anger and said, “I just said that…”

But Yansheng just ignored her, grabbed Heling in her embrace, slowly and gently stroking the little girl’s hair. Heling leaned in her arms, and the grievances that she had after being scolded by her mother dissipated.

Yansheng laughed in her heart.

Yingying thought that people all over the world would worship and hang onto a man just like her.

Not to mention other people, even Huan didn’t prefer his son over his daughters as much as she did.

And what about Yangsheng’s grandmother?

She herself was a strong woman. She used to like Yansheng better than her male cousin, Lin, and later took Qi with her to guide her personally.

Yingying really thought that Shuocheng could be more pleasing to the old lady than Heling, which was really a fantasy.

The weekend passed and it was now the official start of a new school year. Yansheng tied her long hair into a high ponytail, wore a new school uniform, and stepped into No.1 High School.

She was in Class 2 and all her classmates in the class had familiar faces. In her previous life, they all lowered their heads and would not look up once they were in the classroom, and she did not know their names.

These were all ‘good kids’, and she, who was from a rich second-generation family and was sent to this school at the expense of money, was naturally in Class 8 known as the ‘young master class’ in her previous life.

When Yansheng stepped into the classroom on the first day of school, she felt many gazes shooting towards her.

Her eyes swept over and the boys, who were peeking at her, did not dare to look at her. They either lowered their heads quickly or looked away. Yansheng’s mouth twitched. Whether it was a boy or a girl, in her eyes, they were all little brats who just graduated from middle school.

But most of them were smart and hard-working students. Yansheng looked down on them in terms of age. But in terms of learning, she really had to weigh it as she might not be as strong as these little brats.

The homeroom teacher came to the classroom, glanced around, and saw Yansheng almost at a glance.

On the day she returned to school for the division of the classes, she also saw Yansheng at a glance. This girl had a cold and aloof temperament, with a bit of alienation that did not match her age, but she was very beautiful.

This kind of cold and aloof temperament, for high school students, could basically be summarized as cool.

The homeroom teacher was sure that in the next three years, there might be long lines of boys chasing this girl. She just hoped that this beautiful girl would not be disturbed by these external factors. The students who could enter this class were not just the best, but they were all excellent. The homeroom teacher hoped that none of them would fall behind.

The homeroom teacher pushed her glasses and thought to herself that she would have to emphasize a few more times that puppy love was not allowed.

School life could be described as simple in Yansheng’s opinion.

After the first class, the students began to try to talk to their classmates around them, exchanged names, and got acquainted with each other.

Yansheng also greeted everyone around her.

No matter what these classmates thought of her, her thoughts were very simple—she was an adult and had no intention of making friends with little girls or falling in love with little boys.

In the next three years, she had to study hard and make up for the regrets from her previous life.

‘May you take the right path in your next life.’

That regretful but gentle voice rang in her ears.

The right path is to study hard, right? Yansheng thought.

After the second class, she went to the bathroom. When she came back, she met an acquaintance in the hallway—an acquaintance from the young master class, of course—Xu Lichen and Wang Qian.

The two of them got acquainted on the first day of school just like in her previous life.

As she thought about it, the students in Class 8 were all from families with a bit of wealth. At this time, everyone was not familiar with each other yet, so one would look at people by their faces. Lichen and Qian had the best looks among the boys and girls, so they were naturally attracted to each other.

But if we talked about the top-notch, Yansheng’s appearance was really the top of their class.

This was the reason why Lichen and Qian got closer to her after entering high school. People must have something in common to get closer to each other, either they were all rich or they were all good-looking.

In short, these two could be said to be Yansheng’s closest friends in high school.

But in this life, Yansheng didn’t want to be friends with them anymore. She looked at these two who were chatting enthusiastically but happened to be in her way, so she said lightly, “Excuse me.”

Lichen turned his head when he heard a girl’s voice and was stunned.

The girl had a neat ponytail, her forehead was plump and smooth, her pupils were dark as ink, and her eyes were light and distant, with a kind of coolness that others could not imitate.

She’s cool and beautiful!

She’s even prettier than this Wang Qian in our class!

Lichen didn’t move, but Qian did and made way. Yansheng stepped in between them and walked towards her classroom.

Qian still wanted to continue the conversation she had with Lichen but found that his eyes were staring at the girl’s back just now.

She suddenly felt jealous, so she stretched out her hand and shook it in front of him. “Hey! Hey! Did you lose your soul? Haven’t seen such a beautiful girl before?!”

Lichen returned to his senses and only smiled at her without saying anything.

But Qian knew that this best-looking boy in their class had his soul taken away by the girl just now.

And Yansheng, who was walking slowly toward her classroom, suddenly had a realization.

So that’s how it is.

No wonder I was reborn at this particular time node.

She was given a summer vacation to study and recharge so that she could get out of the young master class.

From here on, she didn’t have to be friends with Lichen and Qian anymore, and she didn’t have to follow them to learn how to smoke, drink, and skip school.

From here on, she could study hard and take a different path from her previous life.

Some casual time nodes in life, only when you walked over and looked back, you would find that they were actually so important and crucial.