Xu Su was woken by the heat. Drowsily, she thought, 'Is the air conditioner at home broken?'
She kicked off the thin blanket, her ears picking up the sounds of chickens crowing and dogs barking outside. She felt a bit dazed.
When she opened her eyes, she saw four peeling, cracked white walls and a ceiling covered with a layer of plastic sheeting.
Xu Su was stunned. 'Isn't this my grandma's house, where I lived as a child?'
The old mud-brick and tile house had no curtains. The sun outside was scorching, and the light streaming in was blinding, making her feel as if she were in a dream.
The door opened, and a small, thin old woman walked in. Seeing that Xu Su was awake, she smiled kindly. "Susu, hurry and get up. We have to leave after breakfast. When you get to your parents' place, remember to review your schoolwork. You haven't been studying much these past few days."
Xu Su's eyes instantly turned red. 'Am I dreaming? Otherwise, how could I be seeing my long-dead grandmother talking?'
"You're a big girl now, still crying?" The old woman walked to the bedside and patted Xu Su's head affectionately. "If you miss me, just come back and visit during your winter and summer breaks. You're about to start high school. Getting into City No.1 High School is a huge cause for celebration. No more crying."
"I'm not going to the city for school anymore." Seeing her grandmother alive, Xu Su's hands trembled with emotion. She clung to the old woman's hand. "I don't want to leave you. I'll just go to high school here in the county."
Grandma Xu patted her granddaughter's back and chided her gently, "What nonsense are you talking about? Your parents are waiting for you at home. Hurry up, get washed, and eat breakfast. The bus to the county seat will be passing by in an hour. The next one won't be for another two hours."
With that, she began to check the things she had packed for her granddaughter, making sure nothing was forgotten, completely unaware of the storm raging in Xu Su's heart.
Xu Su felt like this was all a beautiful dream. She obediently got out of bed as if sleepwalking, not wanting to wake from this reality. It wasn't until after breakfast, as she stood on the dirt road waiting for the bus to the county seat and her grandmother pressed two hundred yuan into her hand, that Xu Su finally came to her senses.
'Are dreams this realistic now?'
"Keep this money safe. It's best to tuck it inside a book. Don't tell your mom about it."
Looking at the girl she had raised with her own two hands, Grandma Xu worried the child would be wronged. "You haven't lived with your parents for so many years, so it's natural you'll feel a bit distant. If you need money for something and don't feel comfortable asking them, use this."
"I know your mother. All these years, she's felt guilty about you. Now that you've done so well on your exams, she can hold her head high. When you get home, be a little sweeter, and your parents will like you."
Hearing the exact same words as in her previous life, tears streamed from Xu Su's eyes. She could hardly believe she had really been reborn. She had returned to the summer vacation after her third year of middle school—the day she left her grandmother's house for the city.
In her past life, to have a son in violation of the family planning policy, Chen Shulan and Xu Weiping had left Xu Su to be raised by her grandmother since she was a child. They rarely even visited for holidays. Before the age of sixteen, Xu Su could count the number of times she had seen her parents on one hand.
Like any child, Xu Su held great expectations for her parents' love. In order to live with them, she studied hard for three years of middle school and got into Chang City No.1 High School. This allowed her to logically move back to the city to be with her parents, where she also met the calamity that would trap her for a lifetime.
The sixteen-year-old Xu Su didn't know that some people are naturally distant from their kin, and not all parents dote on their daughters.
But the Xu Su who now inhabited this young body, with the mind of a thirty-year-old, knew this fact.
Xu Su had long given up hope of receiving parental love from Chen Shulan and Xu Weiping.
If she had returned ten days earlier, or even just three, she would have refused to go to high school in the city no matter what. But now, everything was already arranged, and she couldn't back out at the last minute.
The rural bus arrived on time, swaying as it pulled up. Grandma Xu waved it to a stop and saw her granddaughter aboard.
Having just been reborn only to be separated from her grandmother again, Xu Su was incredibly reluctant to leave. Before getting on the bus, she hugged Grandma Xu tightly.
Sitting once again on the bus that was taking her away from the place where she grew up, Xu Su watched the rural scenery recede outside the window. The overwhelming sense of reality made her tremble involuntarily.
'I can't believe something like waking up fourteen years in the past actually happened to me. I wonder what happened to my self from fourteen years in the future. Did I just drop dead?'
'I remember Zhou Mochen was holding me tightly in his arms before I fell asleep. If I just died like that, who knows how that psycho will flip out? He wouldn't kill himself, would he?'
Xu Su closed her eyes, trying not to think about that madman. She leaned her head against the seat and forced herself to think calmly.
The first thing she thought of was her grandmother, who had been paralyzed for ten years in her past life. Her heart clenched, and she silently vowed that she would never let that kind of accident happen to her grandmother again.
Since she had a new life, Xu Su's top priority was to protect her grandmother. She wouldn't let her grandmother stay alone in the village on the eve of her college entrance exam at eighteen, where she would fall in the vegetable patch and not be discovered by a passing villager until half a day later.
Although her life was saved after she was taken to the hospital, she could never stand again. Even the most expensive rehabilitation couldn't give her back a grandmother who could walk and talk.
The old woman, who had been neat and capable her whole life, spent her last ten years alive being spoon-fed and having her bedpan changed, living without any dignity. She couldn't even speak a complete sentence clearly.
And another thing: she absolutely could not let Zhou Mochen see her!
Since she couldn't get rid of Zhou Mochen with her own abilities, she would simply make sure they never met in this life.
She would get into the university she wanted, escape her toxic family, and live the free life she desired.
.........
「Chang City, Old Industrial Zone.」
A moderately long alley was flanked on both sides by four-story-high old red-brick buildings. Most of the residents here were veteran employees from the nearby factories.
Xu Weiping and Chen Shulan were both employees at a textile factory in this district. Their work unit had assigned them a couple's apartment, where they had lived for nearly ten years.
Chen Shulan had taken the day off to pick up her daughter from the station. As she led her home, any acquaintances they met couldn't help but stare at Xu Su with curiosity.
Unlike other little girls from the countryside who grew up playing in the mud, sixteen-year-old Xu Su had blossomed into a graceful young woman. At first glance, she already showed signs of being a stunning beauty.
Today, Xu Su was wearing new clothes that her grandmother had specially bought for her at the market for her move to the city for school: a pure white short-sleeved shirt and her first-ever pair of capri jeans.
Compared to city clothes, the style was a bit rustic, but on Xu Su, it just looked clean and pretty.
The last time Chen Shulan had seen her daughter was three years ago, when Xu Su graduated from elementary school. Teenage girls change so much from year to year that Chen Shulan almost didn't recognize her at their reunion. She couldn't for the life of her figure out how she and her husband, both of whom were rather plain-looking, could have produced a daughter so... radiant.