27 Ungrateful

Su Chu was wearing a pink coat with a pair of fine leather boots while Jing Yunzhao wore a normal sports jacket. Jing Yunzhao's outfit was dirt cheap compared to Su Chu's. 

"This color suits you well, Yunzhao. Your fair skin looks good in red or white," Su Chu complimented Jing Yunzhao sincerely. 

Su Chu looked like the pretty girl next door and Jing Yunzhao figured she must be quite popular in school. 

But to Su Chu, Jing Yunzhao was the kind of stunning that turned heads wherever she went. 

She had actually seen Jing Yunzhao a couple of times at various school ceremonies when she had to deliver speeches as the student representative. She was always calm and never cared about what the audience said about her. 

It was undeniable that Jing Yunzhao was beautiful, but back then she always looked dejected and messy. It was only recently that Jing Yunzhao started to look like a different person entirely and her beauty shone through even in a normal sports jacket. 

"Are you going to skip breakfast?" Jing Yunzhao asked bluntly, not bothered about her attire. 

"There are only instant noodles at home… Jinchen left early today so I didn't get to have porridge," Su Chu complained unhappily. 

Jing Yunzhao pursed her lips and let out a sigh. Since they were still early, she told Su Chu to wait for her while she prepared porridge for two. 

"Did you have to cook at home often, Yunzhao? Your porridge tastes so much nicer than Jinchen's!" Su Chu asked curiously when she noticed how skilled Jing Yunzhao was at cooking. 

Her cousin, Gan Jinchen, was only slightly better than her at cooking. He was definitely no match for Jing Yunzhao considering how scrumptious Jing Yunzhao's porridge was. 

"I can make it for you whenever you feel like having porridge," Jing Yunzhao smiled and said. 

Jing Yunzhao never talked unless she had to in her past life, but things seemed a lot better in this life. 

It was only Su Chu who was chatty the whole morning. Jing Yunzhao initially tried to keep the conversation going but started to reply less and listen more when she realized that their thinking differed quite a bit. The both of them walked to school together after breakfast. Outside the apartment, the sunshine was nice and warm as if celebrating Jing Yunzhao's new life. 

"Look, it's Jing Yunzhao," one of the students whispered to the others the moment Jing Yunzhao stepped into the school. 

"Qiao Hongye was crying in the classroom yesterday after she came back from the teachers' office. She didn't want to tell me what happened but after I kept on asking her, she told me the truth. Turns out Jing Yunzhao was adopted by the Qiao Family and does not share the same mother as Qiao Hongye. Remember when Qiao Hongye's father came to make a fuss yesterday? They all went to the police station and in the end, Jing Yunzhao insisted on moving out of the Qiao Family's house. She is drawing the line with the Qiao Family," said one girl softly. 

Though the girl's tone was lowered, all the students standing around could hear her. 

Jing Yunzhao glanced at the girl and recalled her face from her past life. 

The school that Jing Yunzhao attended was the best school in the whole of Huaning County. There were over twenty classes in total for her grade, and she and Qiao Hongye were in Class 1 and Class 2 respectively. 

Their classrooms were next to each other, and the fact that they were siblings always made them the subject of comparison. Jing Yunzhao remembered that in her previous life, it was this girl – Lu Jia, who always followed Qiao Hongye and made comments about her as if her existence was a huge grievance to Qiao Hongye. She would always stand up for Qiao Hongye and say really hurtful things to her. 

In this life, Lu Jia was acting exactly like she did in Jing Yunzhao's previous life. She felt smug when she saw Jing Yunzhao notice her and started to speak even louder. "Some people just think that they can do as they please since they do well in school and try to draw the line and be independent. They might not be biological parents, but they still raised their child. I can't believe someone can be so ungrateful and ditch them so easily!"