4
Xu Zhaixing stormed off to find Zhou Mingyu, eventually locating him outside the senior year classrooms.
After so many years, the image of her first love from her memory had blurred, but it finally aligned with this delinquent-looking boy before her.
Had her taste back then been this bad?! This narcissistic weirdo, with his “I’m the hottest in the world” attitude, was completely not her ideal type!
Seeing him swagger about, about to kick a classroom door, Xu Zhaixing shouted, “Zhou Mingyu, what are you doing?!”
As soon as Zhou Mingyu saw her, his features contorted with anger. “Well, well, Xu Zhaixing. When I look for you, you hide from me. The moment I look for that dog named Cen Feng, you show up?”
Xu Zhaixing nearly lost her mind. “Who are you calling a dog?! Who?! I’ll kill you!”
Cheng You, who had just run up behind her: “……”
The morning self-study bell rang just in time. Cheng You hurriedly dragged Xu Zhaixing, who was ready to fight Zhou Mingyu to the death, back downstairs. “Class is starting! Don’t stoop to his level!”
Xu Zhaixing took two deep breaths and calmed down.
She was in her twenties now, how could she be so childish as to argue with a teenager? Truly, anything related to Cen Feng was her Achilles’ heel. Whatever, forget it. Not worth her time.
She glared at Zhou Mingyu. “High school students should focus on studying. Stop messing around all day. If you cause trouble again, I’ll tell your homeroom teacher!”
Zhou Mingyu: “???”
Back in their classroom, Xu Zhaixing continued memorizing her classical text. Cheng You used her book to shield her face, eyeing her deskmate with amazement.
What kind of person was this Cen Feng, who could make her usually non-confrontational deskmate almost get into a fight? She had to find a way to get Zhaixing to introduce them!
After that morning’s scene, Zhou Mingyu didn’t bother her again in the following days. Probably the little boy’s pride was hurt. Maybe he’d move on to chasing someone else in a while.
Having resolved the romantic entanglement from her past, Xu Zhaixing poured all her energy into organizing her information. Because in just one more day, it would be time to implement her first major plan.
That night, while Xu Zhaixing was still in her room doing an English test paper, her mother took a call and came upstairs with a sorrowful expression. “Zhaixing, your eldest uncle has passed away.”
Xu Zhaixing’s eldest uncle, her father’s older brother, had been undergoing chemotherapy for over half a year due to late-stage lung cancer and passed away that evening. Xu Zhaixing remembered attending his funeral in her past life, seeing how the illness had reduced the person in the coffin to skin and bones. The relatives had all said then that passing was a release, that he had suffered too much.
There was nothing Xu Zhaixing could do about this matter. Even though she had been mentally prepared, hearing her mother say the words still brought a wave of sadness.
Her mother sighed. “Your father is catching a flight back tonight. We need to return to our hometown first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll ask your teacher for leave later.”
Xu Zhaixing nodded.
Her mother sighed again as she turned to leave. “Your eldest uncle was very good to you when you were little, always buying you candy.”
Xu Zhaixing had intended to finish the English paper, but her mind was in turmoil. She was sad about her uncle’s passing on one hand, and on the other, she was thinking about using this event to carry out her major plan. She tried several times but couldn’t focus on the questions. In the end, she gave up, put away the paper, and took out her new-life planning notebook.
She flipped to the third page. On it was written a name: Xu Yan.
Xu Yan, the son of her eldest uncle, later became a very famous talent agent in the entertainment industry, the kind who made every artist under him popular.
Xu Zhaixing’s eldest uncle had divorced his first wife very early on. Their five-year-old son, Xu Yan, was awarded to his mother and went abroad with her. He had never been in contact with the Xu family all these years.
Xu Zhaixing only knew that the costs for her uncle’s chemotherapy over the past half year had mostly been covered by Xu Yan’s side, but he hadn’t returned to the country. In her past life, Xu Yan had returned only after her uncle passed away to attend the funeral.
However, at the funeral, he had clashed very unpleasantly with the Xu family relatives. After the divorce, her eldest uncle had remarried twice, but both ended in divorce. Besides Xu Yan, he had no other children. Now that he was gone, he left behind a piece of land and two houses in their hometown.
Back then, Xu Zhaixing was young, playful, and naive, completely unable to understand the adults’ arguments. She just followed a few younger cousins up the hills to climb trees and pick flowers and fruit, oblivious to what was happening.
Thinking about it now, it was probably over that inheritance.
After the funeral, Xu Zhaixing never saw Xu Yan again. There had been little contact before, and now there was even less. It wasn’t until after her mother’s death, when her father was paralyzed and she was carrying the heavy burden, that she received two phone calls from Xu Yan.
He didn’t say much, just asked for her bank card number to transfer money to her.
At that time, Xu Zhaixing had just severed ties with the Xu family relatives, hating their hypocrisy and cold-heartedness intensely. She rejected Xu Yan as well.
Xu Yan didn’t call again. However, two international remittances later appeared in her bank account. She noted the amounts, wrote an IOU, and vowed to repay him one day.
It was only later, when she started following Cen Feng and learned about the entertainment industry, that she realized just how remarkable this cousin was in the circle.
Grateful for his past kindness, she silently kept an eye on him. Whenever there was any gossip about artists under his management, she would help guide public opinion and manage comments.
It was the only thing she could do for her cousin back then.
Not long ago, she had even seen on marketing accounts that Xu Yan was considering branching out to start his own agency, but she hadn’t learned the outcome before she was reborn.
At this point in time, Xu Yan was the most crucial step in her plan.
Although she had a plan, she had never interacted with Xu Yan in either lifetime. Whether things would go smoothly was still unknown.
With a heart full of melancholy, Xu Zhaixing went to bed. Early the next morning, her mother woke her up. They packed their luggage and homework and flew back to their hometown.
The Xu family hometown was in a small, picturesque city in the south. Though not highly developed, it had good environment and air. When her grandparents were alive, her parents would bring her back every winter and summer vacation.
After so many years, the little city’s appearance remained largely unchanged. Cremation wasn’t widely practiced in their hometown yet, so this funeral would follow burial customs. By the time Xu Zhaixing’s family arrived, her eldest uncle’s body had already been transported back from the provincial capital hospital. The mourning hall was set up outside the two-story house he had built himself.
Most of the Xu family relatives were already there. As soon as her father arrived, many relatives gathered around to ask after him. If not for the events that would later unfold, neither father nor daughter would have known just how cold kinship could become.
The funeral arrangements were numerous and messy. With no wife or children, the main responsibility fell on the two younger brothers and two sisters. Her parents put down their luggage and went to help. Xu Zhaixing settled her luggage in the assigned room, then went to the mourning hall to kowtow and burn incense for her uncle.
According to her memory, Xu Yan should have arrived by now, but after looking around, she couldn’t find him.
She wandered about but couldn’t find Xu Yan. Instead, she ran into that good-for-nothing second cousin, Xu Chaoyang, son of Xu Zhiwen.
Xu Chaoyang was a freshman at a university in City B that his family had essentially paid his way into. Among the younger generation of the Xu family, most were still quite young. Besides Xu Yan, the eldest, Xu Zhaixing, was only a high school freshman. Xu Chaoyang was the second university student in the Xu family, following in his father’s footsteps.
In a family where most hadn’t received higher education, this was a huge deal.
At this moment, Xu Chaoyang, a cigarette dangling from his lips, leaned against a haystack, radiating superiority among the rural relatives. Several younger cousins listened to him boast about how great and prosperous City B was, their faces filled with envy.
Xu Zhaixing turned to leave, but a little cousin spotted her and called out happily, “Sister Zhaixing, you’re back too!”
She believed the sins of the father shouldn’t fall on the children. Although she detested the Xu family relatives, she held little malice towards these kids. She turned back with a smile. “Yes.”
She glanced at Xu Chaoyang, then pulled a few pieces of chocolate from her pocket, the ones her father had brought back from City B last night and beckoned to the younger cousins. “Come here, I brought you chocolate.”
The children all ran over happily.
Xu Chaoyang seemed somewhat restrained in front of Xu Zhaixing, probably because his father had warned him. He smiled ingratiatingly. “Zhaixing, Dad told me you got into a key high school? Pretty impressive. Study hard, try to get into a university in City B. I’ll look out for you then.”
Xu Zhaixing didn’t even lift her eyelids. She asked the little cousin, “Is it good?”
Xu Chaoyang felt a bit awkward and stopped talking to her, turning instead to chat with relatives around his own age.
One of them said, “Did you see your eldest uncle’s son? He’s back. They say he grew up abroad. He paid for all your uncle’s medical bills. Must be loaded.”
At the mention of Xu Yan, everyone’s tone was filled with envy.
After all, for them, growing up in small towns, living abroad was something they hardly dared to imagine.
Xu Chaoyang blew a smoke ring and sneered. “What skills does he have to earn money? It’s all from his mom who married a foreigner. Using a stepfather’s money to treat his biological father. Hah, wonder if the stepfather would still want the two of them if he knew.”
Another chimed in, “Xu Yan must be working by now, right? Wonder where he works, how the pay is.”
Xu Chaoyang disliked their admiring tone when talking about Xu Yan. He tossed his cigarette butt aside. “What decent job can you get with a media major? They wouldn’t even hire him to clean toilets at a state-owned enterprise.”
The people around laughed.
After distributing the chocolate, Xu Zhaixing clapped her hands and spoke loudly, ” Cousin Chaoyang, don’t just talk about Xu Yan. Tell us about yourself. What’s your major?”
Xu Chaoyang was taken aback and answered reflexively, “I study finance.”
Xu Zhaixing looked utterly shocked, her voice rising a few pitches. “What? Finance? Really? I thought you were majoring in gossip.”
She gazed at him with what seemed like admiration. “I was thinking you were so good at it, exactly like those aunties who make cloth shoes at the community park!”
Only then did Xu Chaoyang realize the girl was mocking him. “You—”
Xu Zhaixing interrupted him with an innocent, bright smile. “So, you’re self-taught. How impressive.”
Xu Chaoyang was so angry his seven orifices seemed to smoke. Humiliated in front of the relatives, he forgot his father’s warnings and stepped forward, ready to teach this sharp-tongued brat a lesson.
Just then, the little cousin behind him who was eating chocolate suddenly pointed behind him and screamed, “Fire!!!”
Everyone’s attention had been on the two arguing, so no one noticed the haystack behind. Now, turning around, they saw flames.
This haystack was made of dried corn stalks from the town’s harvest, tinder-dry and highly flammable. In the blink of an eye, the fire grew, thick smoke billowing instantly.
The group panicked. Xu Chaoyang, the eldest among them, ran the fastest, darting behind the house. Remembering the cigarette butt he’d casually thrown, Xu Zhaixing was furious.
This area was in the backyard; the adults were all busy in the front. She grabbed two panicking little cousins behind her. “Quick, go find your parents! Tell them Cousin Chaoyang threw a cigarette butt and set the haystack on fire!”
As she spoke, she scanned the surroundings and spotted a muddy, coiled hose by the courtyard wall, probably used for irrigating the fields. She ran towards it.
Luckily, there was a washing trough in the backyard. Xu Zhaixing connected the hose to the tap. Just as she turned it on and was about to grab the other end, someone behind her bent down, picked up the hose, and ran towards the fire.
With nothing else flammable around, the haystack burned fast but was also extinguished quickly. By the time the adults, hearing about the fire, rushed over frantically with basins and buckets of water, the fire was already out.
Everyone was momentarily stunned.
Her parents reacted first, throwing their basins aside and hurrying over to hug Xu Zhaixing. “Were you burned? Huh? Anywhere? You silly child, why didn’t you run?! And Xu Yan, you too! Are you both alright?”
Xu Yan smiled and shook his head.
Xu Zhaixing wiped the water off her hands and said angrily, loud enough for everyone to hear, “If everyone ran, who would put out the fire? What if it spread to the house! Second Cousin ran faster than a rabbit. If it weren’t for Eldest Cousin, who knows what would have happened!”
The two little cousins she’d sent to get help had already spread the news through their tears: ” Cousin Chaoyang threw a cigarette butt and set the haystack on fire!” Everyone knew now.
The relatives looked around, murmuring among themselves.
Xu Zhiwen dragged Xu Chaoyang out from behind the house and slapped him hard on the head. “You! Can’t learn anything good, just learn to smoke! And you set a haystack on fire! I’ll beat you to death!”
Adults tended to follow “turn big issues into small ones, small ones into none.” Everyone advised, “Forget it, forget it. No one got hurt, that’s what matters.”
They also praised Xu Zhaixing, “The third brother’s daughter is raised so well! So calm and steady in an emergency. She’ll be amazing when she grows up!”
Xu Zhaixing gave a shy smile.
Since nothing serious happened and the funeral arrangements were still busy in the front, the adults warned their respective children and went back to work while Xu Chaoyang slunk away.
Xu Yan coiled up the hose to put it away. Just as he was about to leave, Xu Zhaixing, having dismissed the younger cousins, caught up to him and called out, “Brother Xu Yan.”
Xu Yan turned around. The corners of his slightly narrow eyes lifted, seeming to smile, yet there was a sense of distance.
Xu Zhaixing gave him a sweet, well-behaved smile. “Brother Xu Yan, I’m Xu Zhaixing. You haven’t met me, right? I wasn’t born yet when you went abroad.”
Xu Yan seemed thoughtful. “No, I haven’t.”
Xu Zhaixing blinked her big eyes. “I heard you studied media in university. I want to study that too in the future. Can you tell me about it?”
Xu Yan looked at her for a moment, then suddenly smiled meaningfully. “Just say what you want to say. I’m not Xu Chaoyang.”
I’m not Xu Chaoyang, so don’t act in front of me.
Someone who later became a top agent in the industry must have a sharp eye. Xu Zhaixing knew her amateur-Oscar-level acting had been seen through. Hearing him say this, she actually felt relieved.
Who wanted to act anyway? She was just trying to fit the high school student persona.
She shrugged and smiled openly. “Cousin, I heard you just finished your master’s. It’s not easy to find a good job in the country right now. Have you thought about starting your own business?”
**