Yet the next moment.
"Xinxin, give me the money right now! You cannot give it to him. I have no idea what kind of spell he’s cast on you to make you steal money from home for him," Jiang Shu said, beside herself with rage.
She then turned to Jiang Yichen and shouted, "And you! Stop manipulating Xinxin into giving you money. Don’t you ever contact her again. If I find out you’ve asked her for money one more time, I’m going straight to your principal. Do you hear me?"
Xu Xinhuan stood stunned for a moment. That was her mother's voice.
She looked around. This was First High School. She looked down at the money in her hand—the cash she had stolen from home during her senior year to pay Jiang Yichen’s tuition.
What was going on? How was she here? Her mother looked exactly as she had when Xu Xinhuan was in high school, and Jiang Yichen was wearing his old school uniform. Had she been reborn?
While she was lost in thought, her mother spoke again. "Xinxin, are you trying to be the death of me? You are forbidden from seeing him ever again, do you hear me?" As she spoke, Jiang Shu slapped her arm.
Xu Xinhuan pulled herself together and replied, "All right, Mom. I understand."
As soon as she finished speaking, she handed the money to her mother.
She added, "I will never give him anything ever again."
She remembered that in her previous life, because she had stolen money from home for Jiang Yichen, her mother had come to the school, and they had had a massive argument. She had insisted on giving him the money, driving her mother to fury. It was one thing for her to spend her own pocket money on him, but stealing from home was a bridge too far. Before she met him, she had been a well-behaved and polite child—the "child of other parents" that every mother talked about.
Yet, for the sake of a man, she had done something so disgraceful and had made a scene with her mother at school. Because of that incident, her mother had given up on her.
This time, she would cut all ties with the man standing before her. She wanted nothing more to do with him.And every time she gave him money, the moment he turned around he would use it to buy gifts for Lu Shiman, or else take her out to dinner. The only time he would ever treat her nicely was when she was giving him money, so she kept finding ways to get money from home just to fawn over him. She really had been pathetic.
After she finished speaking, her mother smiled with relief and said, "Xinxin, as long as you've come to your senses, that's all that matters. Study hard, and Mom will head back now. Remember not to have anything more to do with him." With that, she glared at Jiang Yichen and left.
Hearing her say she wouldn't give him any money, he was momentarily stunned. Didn't she always grant his every request? What was going on now?
Yet he immediately thought of how, in his past life, he had been admitted to Tsinghua, and after graduation had landed a position at a listed company, living a thoroughly comfortable life. If not for her threatening him into marrying her, how could he have ever failed Manman? This time, he would choose Manman without a moment's hesitation and give her a bright future. Thus, he looked upon her current attitude with utter disdain.
He said arrogantly, "If you won't give it to me, fine then. Without you, I can still get into Tsinghua just the same. But since you won't give it to me now, I will never pay you any mind again in the future—don't go regretting this." As he spoke, he even pointed a finger at her.
Just like that, he had compromised. Seeing that his attitude was completely different from before, and that he even claimed he could get into Tsinghua just as well without her, Xu Xinhuan wondered: Could he have been reborn as well?
In her past life, because of him, she hadn't paid much attention to her studies, and her grades had fallen far behind. Now that she had been given a second chance at life, she was determined to get her grades up first. Although she had already been through high school, her grades back then hadn't been very good to begin with; moreover, Jiang Yichen had constantly kept her down and psychologically abused her, making her grades even worse.
Even though his grades were always exceptional, whenever she asked him to tutor her, he had never shown any patience, constantly telling her how stupid she was and that no matter how he taught her, she couldn't learn. Later on, he simply stopped tutoring her altogether, claiming that since she couldn't learn anyway, teaching her was just a waste of his time.She was still in her third year of high school, so there was still time to pull her grades up. The most important thing now was to catch up in math, physics, and chemistry. English was the least of her concerns; in her previous life, Jiang Yichen’s company had handled international projects, and he had constantly complained to her about them, prompting her to enroll in English classes. Therefore, she didn't need to worry about her English scores.
Jiang Yichen was the school heartthrob and also a top student. He had never been willing to tutor her before, and now, it was impossible for her to ask him anyway. It seemed that relying solely on herself to improve her grades quickly wouldn’t be enough; it was too slow. It would be best to find a top-tier private tutor.
Xu Xinhuan walked into the classroom and sat down at her desk.
Her current deskmate was Ji Ziyan. Originally, she had been desk-mates with Jiang Yichen, but because Jiang Yichen complained that she was holding him back, he had switched seats to sit next to Lu Shiman—the girl he had liked all along.
Lu Shiman was the school beauty. With the heartthrob and the beauty in the same class, everyone felt it was only natural that they would sit together; they were a picturesque, well-matched pair. In the past, Xu Xinhuan had been so infatuated with Jiang Yichen’s face that she couldn't see anything else. Now, looking at that handsome face again, while still striking, she sensed a hint of malice, as if he were constantly calculating against others.
Back then, she had felt he was perfect in every way; the filter of her infatuation had been far too thick.
She took out her textbook to study. Ji Ziyan turned to her and said, "Xinhuan, is it true that you were stealing money from home just to give it to Jiang Yichen? You are too... Sigh, I really don't know what you see in him. Isn't he just a bit handsome and good at his studies? Is he worth all this?" She shook her head as she finished.
Ji Ziyan had complicated feelings for her—a mix of affection and frustration. She was a fan of good looks herself and thought Xu Xinhuan was actually prettier than Lu Shiman. However, because Xu Xinhuan had such a poor reputation, while Lu Shiman maintained a gentle, "innocent flower" image, whenever people voted on school forums, almost everyone who knew them voted for Lu Shiman.
Ji Ziyan didn't like Lu Shiman, whom she found to be a "green tea" phony. But she also found Xu Xinhuan's blind obsession with a man—to the point of having no bottom line—deeply exasperating.
Xu Xinhuan knew that in school, aside from her deskmate Ji Ziyan, who was occasionally kind to her, everyone else looked down on her and subjected her to constant mockery.
"Yes," Xu Xinhuan replied, "but that won't happen again."
"So it *was* true," Ji Ziyan said. Then she paused, replaying Xu Xinhuan’s words. "Wait, did I hear you right? You just said 'it won't happen again.' Is that what I think it means?" She stared at her with wide eyes.
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," Xu Xinhuan said calmly. "I will never be good to him again."
"I still find it hard to believe," Ji Ziyan remarked. "Didn't you love him?"
"That was in the past," Xu Xinhuan replied with a shrug. "I don't like him now, and I won't in the future."
Ji Ziyan grabbed her arm. "You really don't like him anymore?" She stared intently into Xu Xinhuan's eyes, terrified of missing any hidden emotion.
Xu Xinhuan looked back at her very seriously. "I really don't. All I want now is to get my grades up. You have better grades than me, so I’ll have to trouble you to help me out in the future. I'm also planning to ask my mother to find me a tutor. We’re in our final year; if we don’t focus on our studies now, it’ll be too late."
"Goddess, you've finally come to your senses!" Ji Ziyan exclaimed. "I actually really like you. I've always thought you were prettier than Lu Shiman; it was only because of your obsession that I didn't want to get too close. If you stop being a sycophant, I’d be happy to be your friend." She winked.
Xu Xinhuan thought she looked quite cute.
Ji Ziyan was the eldest daughter of the Ji Family, but she was forthright and lacked the arrogance typical of many heiresses. She was also quite beautiful, with a sweet and lovely style.
Xu Xinhuan had always had a decent impression of her, and their personalities were actually quite compatible. She offered a faint smile and replied, "All right, then we're friends."