Han Ying remembered that when she was little, Zhao Meihua’s family actually didn’t interact with them very much—only occasionally during holidays. After her parents passed away, however, Zhao Meihua called several times saying she wanted to come take care of her. To show her sincerity, she even sold their own house. Back then, Han Ying was young and naïve, and had been extremely touched.
She was still in high school and didn’t think too much about it. After all, once Zhao Meihua’s family moved in, they truly took very good care of her. The meals were always well-prepared, they asked after her constantly, and they didn’t even let her wash her own clothes. Although Han Ying paid a good amount of money from what her parents left her as food expenses, she really never had to touch any housework—Zhao Meihua did everything.
Zhao Meihua also packed away everything related to Han Ying’s parents, including photos, and replaced them with their own family’s things. She said it was to prevent Han Ying from being reminded of her deceased parents and becoming sadder.
During that period, it was indeed her aunt’s family’s companionship that helped her walk out of the shadow of losing her parents so quickly.
It wasn’t until after the college entrance exam that Han Ying first felt the slightest suspicion toward Zhao Meihua’s family.
After the exam, her aunt kept encouraging her to apply to a big city. Ideally the capital—they said it was a major metropolis and would provide far more opportunities after graduation.
But Han Ying had already promised her parents that she would apply to a university within the province, so that she could conveniently return home when she wasn’t in class. Even though her parents were gone, she still wanted to honor that promise. In the end, she applied to a provincial university.
When she received her admission letter from Pengcheng University’s Arts Department—only a little over twenty kilometers from home—Zhao Meihua’s expression changed instantly. She scolded Han Ying relentlessly, saying she was shortsighted for refusing to go to a big city and choosing a “small place” instead.
But Pengcheng was not a small place at all. The economy was developed, skyscrapers filled the skyline. Otherwise, how could their 130-square-meter apartment in Yujing Residential Area be worth more than four million yuan?
And Pengcheng University was not some bad school either. It was a public first-tier university. Among the more than one hundred students across the three dance training classes they attended, only Han Ying had been accepted into Pengcheng University’s Arts Department—many were envious of her!
So when she heard Zhao Meihua criticizing her, Han Ying had been completely stunned.
It was only then that she began to question the true reason Zhao Meihua’s family sold their own house and moved into her home. Was it really to take care of her? Or was it to take over her house?
After all, her aunt’s original home was an old apartment building that frequently experienced water and power outages!
But the next day, Zhao Meihua reverted to being the same kind, loving aunt as before. In fact, she acted even better than before, as if the person who scolded her nonstop the day before had been Han Ying’s imagination.
That summer, Zhao Meihua kept reminding her to pack properly so she wouldn’t forget anything on the day of registration. When sending her to university, she even taught her how to get along with her future roommates. She told her to go out with classmates on weekends or holidays to broaden her horizons.
At the time, Han Ying felt truly grateful. Other children had parents accompanying them to college, and although she had lost hers, she still had her aunt.
But all that warmth was destroyed when the apocalypse arrived.
After the world ended, Han Ying finally learned the truth from her cousin Wang Shiqi and her cousin Wang Mingliang.
It turned out all the kindness from her aunt’s family was because they wanted to seize her house.
Packing away her parents’ belongings was to replace everything with their own and make the home feel like it belonged exclusively to them. Urging her to apply to a university farther away was to prevent her from coming home too often and “disrupting” their lives. Helping her pack was simply because they couldn’t wait for her to leave. Telling her to go out more during holidays was to keep her away from the house.
Only then did Han Ying realize that Zhao Meihua’s family had treated her like a complete fool.
And indeed—she had been a fool in her previous life.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have spent a large amount of money to send them supplies after receiving Zhao Meihua’s phone call before the apocalypse. And when their apartment in Yujing Residential Area was flooded, she still opened the door for them when they came to the university town to seek refuge.
From then on, under her aunt’s family’s constant exploitation, she began her nightmare of an apocalypse.
Having seen their ugly faces in her past life, now that she had been reborn, Han Ying would make sure the Zhao Meihua family suffered miserable ends in this lifetime.
For the past two or three days, Han Ying had been busy dealing with her spatial ability, preparing what she needed to stockpile, and recording all the things she encountered in the previous apocalypse. So she hadn’t had time to deal with Zhao Meihua’s family or her house.
Since Zhao Meihua called today to tell her to come home for dinner, she would use this opportunity to settle everything.
Driving out of the neighborhood, Han Ying went straight to a real estate agency that was still open and walked inside.
Ye Xiaohai was a second-year university student. He had originally planned to go hiking and camping this weekend with his classmates. Everything had been arranged, but two of them suddenly said they needed to accompany their girlfriends, so the plan fell apart. No one was in the mood anymore.
After returning home, he didn’t want to stay idle, so he came to help at his family’s agency. It was already dinnertime. Normally, the agency would have closed by now, but his parents wanted him to gain experience and told him to reopen the shop after dinner. They said any commission he made that night would count as extra pocket money.
“Hello, are you looking to rent or buy?” With almost no customers at night, Ye Xiaohai was bored. He was just about to take out his phone to start a round of King of Glory when he saw a figure walk in. Without looking up, still slouched over the desk, he spoke automatically.
“I want to sell a house.”
Han Ying stated her purpose directly.
“Selling a house? Is it a self-built—cough… cough…” Ye Xiaohai raised his head toward the voice. The moment he saw the visitor, he almost choked on his own saliva. “H-Han Ying?”
“You know me?” Han Ying frowned. She was sure she had never met this person in either life.
“I’m from the Polytechnic University next door. I’m Ye Xiaohai. I’ve seen you before. I know you’re from Pengcheng University’s Arts Department.”
College students had plenty of free time. And for men, the most common topic in the dorm was women—department belles, faculty belles, campus belles.
Han Ying from the Arts Department and Zhao Lingwei from the Literature Department were both popular figures in Pengcheng University.
For no reason other than that they were both stunningly beautiful.
There were even school-forum posts voting for the campus belle. In the end, Zhao Lingwei won by several dozen votes and became the campus belle, while Han Ying became the belle of the Arts Department.
Although Han Ying lost by a small margin, Ye Xiaohai and his entire dorm agreed she was actually prettier. It was just that Zhao Lingwei dressed up well, knew how to socialize, and knew how to campaign for votes.