Chapter 3: Fight On, Young Girl

It was already past nine in the evening by the time she returned to her residence. Sheng Jiaoyang sat on the edge of the bed, watching Xu Qing busy herself with housework. Although the house was small, there was quite a lot of chores to do—that was the price of having her as a "dead weight" who had never touched a speck of dust in her life $\rightarrow\_ \rightarrow$. The lunch dishes hadn't even been cleared, and there were clothes to be changed.

In her memory, her mother had lived with her in a villa. There was a Maid Zhang, called by her grandfather, to manage their three meals a day, and a full-time housekeeper to manage the villa. She had never seen her mother do any housework.

The mother before her was very ordinary, with a somewhat weak personality, but she was great. Not every mother could raise a child alone.

"Jiaojiao, I've prepared the bathwater for you. Go take a shower!" Xu Qing's voice interrupted Sheng Jiaoyang's thoughts.

Late at night, Sheng Jiaoyang, who had been woken up by the heat, opened her eyes and was startled. A dark shadow was looming at the foot of the bed; because of her myopia, the shadow looked blurry and particularly eerie.

She hurriedly grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight. When she shone it, it turned out to be Xu Qing.

Sheng Jiaoyang clutched her chest and asked irritably, "Why aren't you sleeping yet?" What was the point of sitting at the foot of the bed in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?

Fortunately, this body didn't have heart disease.

Xu Qing was also startled by Sheng Jiaoyang's voice. She hurriedly said, "I'm going to sleep now."

Hearing the raspiness and the hint of a sob in Xu Qing's voice, Sheng Jiaoyang sat up and first turned on the room light. Sure enough, she saw Xu Qing's red, swollen eyes hidden behind her hands.

Crying like this in the middle of the night—just how big of a problem was it? Back when the person she openly liked was being intimate with a busty girl right in front of her, she hadn't even cried like this; at most, she would shed a couple of heartbroken tears in private.

"What happened? Who bullied you?"

"Nothing," Xu Qing turned her head away to secretly wipe her tears. "Go to sleep."

"Don't hide it, I saw. What exactly is wrong? I am your daughter; we should bear whatever happens together."

Xu Qing looked at Sheng Jiaoyang, wanting to speak but hesitating, yet the tears continued to flow uncontrollably.

Sheng Jiaoyang sat down beside Xu Qing, reached out to hug her, and said in a softened voice, "I'm grown up now. There is nothing you can't tell me. Some things might be insurmountable difficulties for you, but perhaps a second person might have a solution. Besides, it's just the two of us in this home; you should trust me!"

Xu Qing, who had always played the role of the backbone supporting the family, felt the comfort and tolerance from her daughter. As if she had suddenly found a pillar to lean on, she hugged Sheng Jiaoyang and broke into loud sobs.

Sheng Jiaoyang stroked Xu Qing's back again and again, letting her cry. It was better to let it all out than to keep it bottled up inside.

Once Xu Qing gradually calmed down, she said, "Alright, now you can tell me why you were crying."

"Jiaojiao, Mama is sorry to you..." At this point, Xu Qing's voice choked up again uncontrollably.

"How could that be? Anyone in this world might let me down, but you definitely won't."

Comforted by Sheng Jiaoyang's firm words, Xu Qing explained the reason for her sadness in broken sentences.

Xu Qing worked as a clerk in a mobile phone specialty store in a shopping mall. After going to work yesterday afternoon, she had been somewhat distracted because she was thinking about her daughter. Then, she was tricked by a scammer using a sleight-of-hand trick to swap three new phones for dummy models. It was only when she prepared to put the phones back on the counter that she realized they had been swapped, but the scammer had already fled.

Although they immediately reported it to the police to file a case, it was uncertain whether the scammer would be caught. The shop owner, who was already dissatisfied with Xu Qing's frequent requests for leave, dismissed her on the spot and demanded she compensate for the loss of the three phones. Unless the scammer was caught and the loss recovered, the money would not be returned to her.

Nearly ten thousand yuan had instantly wiped out her savings—money she had scrimped and saved to pay for her daughter's university tuition. Now that her daughter had been admitted to such a good school, she had lost the tuition money; how could she not weep bitterly?

"If the money is gone, it's gone. There will always be a way to earn it back, and you can take out loans for university," Sheng Jiaoyang comforted her.

Having poured out what was in her heart, Xu Qing became much calmer. On one hand, she was moved by her daughter's maturity, but on the other hand, she didn't want her daughter to bear her mistakes at such a young age. She said, "I'll go to your uncle tomorrow to borrow money. Jiaojiao, Mama will definitely make sure you go to university steadily!"

There was an uncle too?

"Will Uncle lend the money?"

After Sheng Jiaoyang asked, she saw Xu Qing hesitate. Now she knew this uncle was unreliable.

With neither a dependable husband nor a supportive natal family, it was no wonder that encountering this small trouble felt like the sky was falling.

She hadn't truly cared about ten thousand yuan before, but she hadn't expected the whole family to be worried over such a small amount now.

Sheng Jiaoyang didn't sleep much during the latter half of the night, her mind constantly thinking about how she could use her current self to escape this family's predicament.

Even if Xu Qing could borrow the money, it would only be a drop in the bucket. To escape the predicament, the most important thing was to have a good source of income.

Considering all aspects, participating in that supermodel selection program was currently the best way out.

The next day, Sheng Jiaoyang did not go to the uncle's house with Xu Qing. She said a classmate needed her for something, asked Xu Qing for some pocket money, and headed out.

After looking up some information online, Sheng Jiaoyang went straight to the registration point.

Compared to online registration, on-site registration was more direct. During registration, staff would measure three sizes, height, and weight. Those who met the standards would enter the interview stage, and only those who passed the interview could participate in the competition. Online registration was more cumbersome; after filling out the registration information, one had to wait for the system to filter criteria, then undergo a video interview, and after passing the interview, one had to schedule a time for on-site measurements. Only if the measurement results matched the registration information could one participate in the competition.

The registration point was in the New District, while Sheng Jiaoyang lived in the Old District. Fortunately, there was a subway station near the registration point. Having never taken a bus before, Sheng Jiaoyang had only ridden one yesterday when she followed Xu Qing back from the Central Hospital. Because she had observed very carefully out of curiosity yesterday, she wasn't lost even though it was her first time riding the bus alone today.

Sheng Jiaoyang first took a bus to the nearest subway entrance, then transferred to the subway to go to the registration point.

It was only a little past nine in the morning, but there were already people lining up at the registration point to fill out forms, perhaps because today was the last day of the preliminary registration.

Those coming to register were all youthful, beautiful, tall girls, most of whom had dressed up, with quite meticulous hairstyles and outfits. Two girls were clearly together, chatting with thick Northeastern accents.

"Oh my god, I'm so excited! Yangbao, do you think I can make it?" As the line moved forward, the taller and more delicate-looking girl grabbed the girl she called Yangbao and asked nervously.

"You definitely can, just relax." Yangbao pulled one hand away to make a fighting gesture.

Sheng Jiaoyang watched the two girls who were like sisters, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly. She also had a best friend, that beauty who had once cried and laughed with her, and had even accompanied her in many crazy things.

Thinking about how their identities were now worlds apart, she felt a bit of regret about her decision to return to the country. If she hadn't returned, she would still be enjoying her life as a young lady, shopping with her beauty, flirting with guys... even if she had a heartbreak, it wouldn't matter. Why had she been so irrational back then, insisting on returning to clash with those idiots from the Sheng family?

Well, back then, she thought that if she wasn't happy, she had to find something fun to do, and then she thought of that mother and daughter from the Sheng family who had ruined her reputation. Things were different now; she was no longer that little girl who was rendered helpless by her stepmother's tactics and could only go abroad with her grandfather. So, how could she let them live such comfortable lives again?

Revenge for revenge, resentment for resentment.

The beginning of her revenge had been quite smooth. Before she even made a move, the crush of her "dear little sister" had confessed to her. At the time of the confession, she had been stunned, likely because she hadn't expected the prey to proactively wash itself and deliver itself to her door. The embarrassment and pain on Sheng Shiyun's face back then had been quite satisfying.

Perhaps Sheng Shiyun herself never imagined that the person she had been constantly smearing—and the person she had successfully made everyone loathe—could actually steal her childhood sweetheart without even breaking a sweat.

Sheng Shiyun was naturally unwilling to accept it. Taking advantage of her birthday, she invited her crush out and secretly took misleading photos to send to her.

She happened to have just finished her exams and, being bored, drove there to "catch them in the act," intending to expose Sheng Shiyun's little tricks to her face.

Later...

She became Xu Jiaojiao.

Over the years, she had been very attentive to maintaining her body, which was why she could live like a normal person. Who would have thought that such a shock would cause her to collapse? Not many people knew about her heart disease; her mother had hidden it from those around them since her birth. For some reason, even her father and mother had kept it a secret from her.

After her eighth birthday, her mother passed away. About two or three months later, she learned about the mother and daughter her father was keeping on the side. After being heavily impacted, she went to make a scene, and unexpectedly, a single push caused the woman to miscarry a child that was only two months old. Then, her father brought that mother and daughter home. In less than two years, many things happened in the house, and she became the "vicious woman" that everyone cursed. Subsequently, her grandfather took her abroad to live.

Later, as her experience grew, she slowly realized many suspicious points. If she were to experience those things again now, she would absolutely never fall into a woman's trap, leading to one mistake after another.

"Do you see the form on the screen? Fill out this form; the required fields must be completed. Now, please give me your ID card for verification. Only after verification can you go to the testing area next door for testing." A hand reached out from the front, pointing to the computer on the desk angled toward the registrant.

It was her turn. Sheng Jiaoyang snapped back to reality, pulled out her ID card, and handed it over. She gave the form a cursory glance and began filling it out with the mouse.

Just as she entered her name, the staff member reminded her, "That's not right. The name on this ID card is Xu Jiaojiao, why did you write Sheng Jiaoyang? Are you not the person?"

Sheng Jiaoyang froze for a moment, then said without changing her expression, "I just changed my name and haven't gotten used to it yet." She then entered the ID number, place of origin, and other personal information as required by the ID card, and handed the card to the staff member.

After verifying the information, the staff member scanned the ID card into the form. When returning the ID card, they gave the portrait on the card a suspicious glance and muttered, "Is it really the same person?"

The corner of Sheng Jiaoyang's mouth twitched. To be honest, she really wasn't the same person.