Living Only For Myself: Make Those Who Hate Me Regret It-Chapter 22: "I Live on Xia Sheng Road Too, What a Coincidence.

Chapter 22: Chapter 22: "I Live on Xia Sheng Road Too, What a Coincidence.

She didn’t have the money to buy study materials in bulk, and she was also beginning to understand why she had left the advanced class in her past life.

She woke up at 5:30 every morning and didn’t get home until after ten at night, only to sleep on the sofa. She was tormented by her parents’ neglect, their favoritism toward her brother, and the difficulty of adjusting to a new environment. With all of that weighing on her, she had lost all motivation to study.

While other students were improving, she was stagnating, or even regressing. It was only natural that she was surpassed.

Having learned from her painful experience, Xu Su threw herself into her studies with a vengeance. She had memories from her past life, after all. And though she was no longer in the advanced class, she was a genuine student who had graduated from First High School and taken the college entrance exams. She had a solid foundation.

Perhaps her studious attitude caught her teacher’s eye. During the last period on Saturday morning at the end of the first week of school, her homeroom teacher, Teacher Wu, appointed Xu Su as the math class representative. The honor left her feeling overwhelmed for a long time.

’This doesn’t match my memories of my past life!’

In her past life, she’d never been a class officer in the advanced class. As far as Xu Su could remember, Teacher Wu’s math representative had been Xi Zirong!

This was a good start. A change from her past life. It greatly lifted Xu Su’s spirits. Her eyes shone as she stared intently at the blackboard, listening to Teacher Wu’s lecture, terrified of missing a single key point.

She remained in this state until school let out.

The first-year students had the afternoon off, so Xu Su had to hurry to the Xu family’s old house for dinner. It was her grandfather’s sixtieth birthday.

As she was walking down the stairs, Xi Zirong was right beside her. He was also a day student who went home for lunch instead of eating at the cafeteria. Thus, after they left the academic building, they found themselves on the same path again.

Xu Su thought about how she’d just taken the class representative position that had belonged to Teacher Wu’s star pupil in her past life. She felt like an impostor who had stolen his title, which made her feel awkward the entire walk.

One walked in front of the other as they left the school and headed to the bus stop. It wasn’t until they boarded the same bus that they looked up at each other in surprise. Clearly, each had been silently watching the other, and they were astonished to discover they had been taking the same route all along.

It was rush hour, so the bus was crowded. The moment Xu Su and Xi Zirong boarded, they were pushed into a corner. Xi Zirong was tall with long legs. He braced his arm against the bus wall, managing to carve out a small space to keep her from getting squished.

After a moment’s thought, Xi Zirong decided to break the silence. "Xu, which stop are you getting off at?"

Xu Su looked up. The bus had air conditioning, but it was no match for the crowd. Her forehead was beaded with sweat. "Xia Sheng Road. I’m going to my grandfather’s house for dinner."

Chen Shulan had told her two days earlier that as soon as school let out on the weekend, she should take bus 539 to Xia Sheng Road. Xu Weiping would be at the stop to pick her up.

At her words, a drop of sweat fell from the tip of the young man’s nose. He looked down with a smile and said, "I live on Xia Sheng Road, too. What a coincidence."

"..." ’So much for being a bookworm.’

’What’s with that radiant smile?’

Xia Sheng Road wasn’t far from First High School, so they arrived quickly.

They got off the bus one after the other.

The moment Xu Su stepped off the bus, she saw Xu Weiping waiting for her at the stop. She walked over to him. Xi Zirong gave a polite greeting before heading home.

Xu Weiping glanced at Xi Zirong’s retreating back. The boy was wearing the same school uniform as his daughter. "Is that a classmate of yours?"

"He’s our class president," Xu Su said.

"Oh." Xu Weiping nodded without asking any more questions. "Let’s go. I’ll take you to meet your grandparents and the others."

The father and daughter turned off the main street and into an old alley. After winding through a few more turns, they finally arrived at the Xu family’s ancestral home. The whole family was already there.

Everyone was there except for Xu Su, the eldest granddaughter, who was late because she had to attend high school classes on a weekend. Mr. Xu’s three sons and one daughter, along with their children, had all arrived.

The Xu family’s ancestral home was a standalone courtyard house built with gray bricks and tiles. It was over thirty years old, constructed back when Xu Su’s grandfather was a young man.

In his youth, Mr. Xu had been a barber with considerable skill. Even officials from the nearby government offices sought him out for haircuts. He got to know quite a few minor cadres and, back in the day, was a well-known figure on this street.

He supported his entire family with his craft and even built this large house. But as he grew older and times changed, his particular barbering skills fell out of fashion. Newer trends took over, and he could no longer earn much money.

After emptying the family savings to find wives for their two able-bodied sons, their eldest son, who had been born mute, remained a bachelor. This was a constant source of heartache for the old couple. They feared that after they died, no one would be there to care for him, so they constantly drilled it into the brothers, Xu Weiping and Xu Weiguo, that they must take good care of their eldest brother.

The moment they stepped inside, Xu Weiping began introducing Xu Su to everyone.

Although she was the first child of the Xu family’s third generation, she had been raised by her maternal grandmother in the countryside since she was young and didn’t know a single one of her paternal relatives. As far as she could remember, this was the first time she had ever met them.

Xu Su greeted them all one by one in order of seniority, from oldest to youngest. In no time, she had collected five red envelopes.

Her grandfather and grandmother each gave her one. Her mute eldest uncle, a kind smile on his weathered, dark face, also handed her a red envelope. Then, her youngest uncle gave her one, and her aunt’s husband gave her another.

This was a traditional greeting gift for meeting a younger relative for the first time, a custom here in Chang City. Any family with a sense of propriety would prepare a red envelope when meeting a relative’s child for the first time.

Mr. and Grandma Xu smiled with great satisfaction upon seeing their granddaughter, who had grown into a young lady.

Grandma Xu grabbed Xu Su’s hand and said with a smile, "You’ve grown into such a beauty, just as pretty as your aunt was at your age. Keep your mind on your studies. Your parents are willing to pay for your high school education, so you must study hard and not let their efforts go to waste."

Xu Ruyue, who was just carrying two dishes out from the kitchen, heard this and looked uncomfortable. "Mom, why are you bringing this up all of a sudden? Susu is a good student. Of course her mind is on her studies."

"Hmph." Mr. Xu shot his daughter a glare, then turned to his second son. "It’s useless for a girl to study so much. It’s just a waste of money. When Susu comes of age, you find her a job at the textile factory. After she’s worked for a couple of years, pick a good family for her to marry into."

"Go ask around the neighborhood! How many families are willing to even let their daughters go to high school? With a high school diploma, she’ll be wanted for any job."

Xu Weiping nodded. "I know. My plan was always to just let her finish high school. If girls study too much, they get wild ideas and become difficult to manage."

Aside from her eldest uncle, Xu Jian Country, who was hard of hearing and couldn’t understand the conversation—and was still making "ah-ing" sounds and gesturing at Xu Su—no one else raised a single objection. They all clearly agreed with every word.

A girl go to college? For a family like theirs, supporting a college student was a huge financial strain. The boy would obviously be the priority. If Xu Weiping didn’t have a son, it might have been a different story. But since he had Xu Yang, there was naturally no question of Xu Su attending college.