Chapter 009: Rumors, Transfer to City No. 1 Middle School

In the dream, there was an old house, looking grand and rustic. A little girl around two or three years old was running clumsily in front of the old house.

"Xiaosi, slow down..."

A woman's voice came through, very gentle and pleasant to listen to, but in the dream, only her voice could be heard, her face unseen.

She felt that the little girl was her, and the woman following behind, constantly admonishing her... who was she?

Also, why would she call her Xiaosi?

So she wasn't Song Jiawen, she was Xiaosi?

"Sister, be careful!"

Xie Lin's shout pulled her back from her trance.

Song Jiawen came to her senses and looked down to see that the carving knife had somehow ended up on her wrist, drawing out beads of crimson blood from a shallow cut.

"Don't move, I'll go get a Band-Aid."

Xie Lin ran off like the wind and returned just as quickly within two minutes.

Song Jiawen teased him, "If you ran any slower, the wound would have healed by itself."

Xie Lin didn't mind her mocking him and carefully stuck the Band-Aid on her wrist, then pointed to several other marks, saying, "These scars have healed, and many days have passed, but why are there still marks here?"

Song Jiawen looked down; those were from deliberate cuts she had made... to make herself feel pain.

It hurt, which meant she could feel!

Song Xiwen was twelve years older than her, and even though she was kind to her, whether sincerely or not, she at least provided a warm presence to converse with when she was home.

But she wasn't home often.

Most of the time, only she, Xie Jingying, and Song Laosan were in the house.

And those two usually treated her like she was invisible.

So sometimes, Song Jiawen had the illusion that she was unlike the living.

At those times, she would take a knife and cut her arm slightly to see if it hurt.

Of course, it was never a deep wound, very shallow.

But even shallow cuts, if repeated often, would eventually leave marks.

Just like how Xie Lin discovered them later on.

"Sister, you promised me you wouldn't cut your arms again."

The fifteen-year-old boy frowned as he crouched before her, looking at her wrist with deep concern.

"It was an accident this time, not intentional, really."

Song Jiawen put down the Maitreya Buddha she was carving and sighed, "It's bad luck to draw blood while carving a Buddha statue, so I guess I can't continue today."

She spoke with such seriousness, as if she were a devout old lady paying respects to Buddha.

She successfully made Xie Lin laugh.

No longer dwelling on her injury, he sternly reminded her, "Don't cut yourself anymore in the future."

"I know."

They were talking in the yard, one sitting and the other squatting, with sunlight streaming through the leaves, creating a particularly harmonious scene.

But the atmosphere inside the house wasn't as good.

Li Yun's face was red with anger, yet she had to suppress her voice to avoid being overheard by Song Jiawen outside.

"How can there be such a vicious grandmother and aunt in this world? If a match doesn't work out, they try to ruin Jiajia's reputation. It's just... shameless."

Her friend had just called to tell her that although everyone had been on Jiajia's side about yesterday's incident, today the Song Family claimed that it was Jiajia who seduced Chen Yijie from the beginning. She had privately arranged the proposal and even asked for a substantial amount of money...

There were more unsavory rumors circulating, all too offensive for the ears.

Shi Peirong sat on the sofa without a word, while Xie Yanhai's face was dark with anger. "It seems the Chens won't let this go easily. Right now, it's just spreading gossip in the village. Jiajia isn't there and won't hear it, so it doesn't matter, but I'm afraid they may resort to other methods..."

"Other methods? What other methods?" Li Yun burst out furiously. "He's just the director of a hospital, right? Does he really think he's the emperor? That he can do whatever he pleases? Such a person should be struck by lightning. How can he even be a director?"

Yunzhou itself wasn't a big city, and among its six counties, Yunfeng County was the poorest.

In poorer places, people are less aware of legal principles, and it's easier to manipulate situations, especially for a hospital director. Who living there could guarantee they would never fall ill?

Exploiting this to meddle with a high school student from the town wasn't difficult.

Shi Peirong felt this deeply.

"Your sister..."

As the old lady spoke, she shook her head again. No, she had truly lost hope in her eldest daughter.

"Yanhai, what did Principal Wang say to you yesterday?"

"He said no matter what, Jiajia has to take the college entrance exam. Also, if it really becomes impossible to stay in Jianghai Town, he can arrange for Jiajia to move to the city. During the last unified mock test, Jiajia's score exceeded Yunzhou First Middle School's first place by two points, and back then, a teacher from that school had called wanting Jiajia to transfer there."

After hearing Xie Yanhai, Shi Peirong asked, "Did Jiajia refuse?"

"Yes," Xie Yanhai nodded, "You know the girl's temperament. She's used to one place and with only the last half year left, she doesn't want to adapt to a new place. But Principal Wang always suggested she should go since the educational resources in the city are far superior to the town, and once there, she might even make further progress."

Shi Peirong expressed her understanding and said to him, "Go see Principal Wang tomorrow, have her go to Yunzhou First Middle School and take care of this matter as soon as possible. If there's any trouble... call your third aunt to solve it for you."

Li Yun hesitated and said, "Mom, should we let Jiajia know about this? What if she disagrees?"

"With the current situation, she will agree."

In the end, Li Yun still went out and called Song Jiawen inside the house. After explaining the situation to her, she indeed agreed, "I'll listen to Grandma."

Shi Peirong then began to make arrangements, "Come out at noon tomorrow and ask for leave. Let your uncle take you to the post office to get a card. From now on, your uncle will deposit your living expenses into your card. If the money is not enough, call us; don't hesitate. And the most important thing, don't be distracted by other things and focus on your studies. There are only four more months until the college entrance examination, and Grandma believes that you can definitely achieve good results."

In the end, they talked about Song Xiwen because all three family members were in Yunzhou City.

"If you don't want to go to your sister's house, then don't go; don't force yourself."

The old lady had lived a long life and could see things clearly. Although Xie Jingying and Song Laosan had cleared Song Xiwen's name yesterday, how could Song Xiwen not know about such a big incident?

If she hadn't nodded her consent, Xie Jingying and Song Laosan wouldn't have dared to do it.

The old lady felt even more disappointed with Song Xiwen than with Xie Jingying.

How could her younger sister, whom she had raised since she was little, agree to such a thing?

Was all the affection she had shown for Jiajia in the past fake?

"Don't worry, Grandma, I'm all grown up now. I understand," Song Jiawen reassured.

Indeed, Jiajia had always been reliable.

With the matter settled, a weight was lifted from everyone's heart, except for Xie Lin, who was gloomy by the side.

His middle school exams were coming up, and Jiawen's tutoring was much more engaging than his father's. His current stable grades were also largely thanks to her.

However, Xie Lin also understood that a middle school in the city would suit Jiawen better given her abilities, and he couldn't keep her here just for his own benefit.

"Sis, I'll wait for your triumphant return from the college entrance exam. Come back as the city's top scholar."

.......

The next morning, Song Jiawen arrived at school.

Jiang Yan was sitting at his desk, struggling with English. When he transferred from the liberal arts class, it wasn't only physics and chemistry that he was bad at—his grades in the three main subjects of language, math, and English were also mediocre.

During the break, Jiawen would be pulled aside to explain math and physics problems, which had become a familiar scene in their class.

But this guy was truly dedicated to his studies, the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night. It was said that he still memorized vocabulary back in the dorm, and his bunkmate claimed he even muttered foreign words in his sleep.

He was utterly obsessed.

Of course, hard work pays off, and his grades had improved from the bottom of the class to the top twenty of the grade.

Most importantly, his determination had instigated a wave of studying atmosphere in the class. Seeing someone so dedicated after transferring from arts made others feel embarrassed to play during breaks.

As a result, their class had the best grades among the five classes in the grade.

Teacher Yu now treasured Jiang Yan, free of the initial disdain she had when he transferred.

Song Jiawen walked to her seat, turned to Jiang Yan, and knocked on his desk.

Jiang Yan stopped his incessant reading and looked up at Song Jiawen.

"I'll be transferring to Yunzhou City First Middle School soon, my uncle will come this morning to handle the process."

What?

Hearing this sudden news, Jiang Yan's face showed a moment of bewilderment. If she went to the city, what would he do?

This wasn't fair, sister.

His biggest wish after being reborn was to manage a gallery once Jiawen became famous, happily selling a few paintings now and then, securing a comfortable life for years...

He cherished the thought of that pleasant life.

That's why he had tried everything to move to the seat behind her. And why was he studying so hard even after being reborn?

Of course, it was to keep up with the pace of the leader and to get into the same quality school as her.

The process of studying hard was painful but also fulfilling.

In his past life, Jiang Yan had only managed to get into a second-rate university, and later, when he was job hunting, he hit roadblocks repeatedly and truly understood the importance of a prestigious university.

Having a second chance at life now, he might not be looking for a job, but he still wanted to experience entering a top school—to make up for his regrets.

"Are you transferring to First Middle School because of Chen..."

Jiang Yan didn't finish his sentence when several people came in through the front door.

Leading them was Yang Dan, Jiawen's desk mate, followed by a few other female classmates, one of whom seemed to be persuading her, "Yang Dan, why bother getting physical with that kind of person? She just likes to spout nonsense; who would believe her?"

"Exactly, doesn't everyone know what Jiawen is like? She's just talking rubbish."

"You can't let her get away with it even if it's nonsense. If I run into her again, I'll tear her mouth apart."

Jiawen turned her head toward Yang Dan, and Jiang Yan looked perplexed.

He had gone back to the town with Jiawen after the incident the day before yesterday and didn't know about the rumors in the village for the past two days.

As for now...

He waited for Yang Dan to return to her seat, then asked, "What happened?"