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Ye Wenyu comforted herself in her heart. Although her current situation was as bad as it could get, at least she knew that he loved her deeply and was willing to give up everything in the world for her. For this deep love, she had to be strong. As long as she had Wen-gege's love in this world, no amount of suffering could defeat her!

She was preoccupied with her own thoughts. The scorching sun beat down on her, her skin red and sore from the summer heat. The ground seemed ready to burst into flames at any moment, and the camphor tree leaves drooped, motionless. Ye Wenyu thought that if she continued to stand there like this in the blazing sun, she would suffer from heatstroke.

Therefore, he could only follow Cai Wenchuan's instructions and wait for him in the large classroom where he was about to have his class.

She sat in the back row of the classroom, waiting and waiting. Time passed slowly, and for her, a minute felt like an eternity. But instead of Cai Wenchuan, she saw Jiang Zhiming and Lin Tingyue.

Ye Wenyu stared at them blankly, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. The two of them were standing there shoulder to shoulder, with Lin Tingyue only reaching Jiang Zhiming's shoulder height, making her look very petite and delicate. Together, they were a perfect couple, but was it really true?

Ye Wenyu blinked, wondering if it was just a dream. However, Jiang Zhiming had already seen her, waved to her immediately, and then walked quickly toward her, his face full of joy.

He jogged over to her and sat down opposite her, sweat beading on his forehead. He said with concern, "I've been looking everywhere for you. Your classmates told me you were in this classroom, so I came right away." He kept wiping his sweat as he spoke. He seemed very anxious.

Ye Wenyu stared at him blankly.

Lin Tingyue's silvery voice rang out: "Ye Wenyu, we meet again!" Her face was full of surprise.

Ye Wenyu shifted her gaze to Lin Tingyue, only then realizing that this was the second time she had met Lin Tingyue in this life. The first time they met was on the first day of her rebirth, on a plane. Lin Tingyue invited her to a family banquet at the Lin family, but because she had been reborn, she knew she would meet Lin Tingyue again and resolutely refused. She had never seen him since.

This is their second meeting, and at this moment, Lin Tingyue is already Jiang Zhiming's girlfriend.

Ye Wenyu stared at her, gazing at her blankly. Compared to their last meeting, Lin Tingyue was even more beautiful now, nourished by love. It was daytime, but she was wearing a black tulle dress, studded with blue gemstones that sparkled in the sunlight. The black tulle dress was tight at the waist, accentuating her slender waist, which seemed too delicate to be grasped in one hand. She wore a pair of black ballet shoes, and standing next to the tall and slender Jiang Zhiming, she looked even more like a delicate little princess.

Of course, Ye Wenyu thought disheartenedly that only a real princess would wear such a gorgeous but impractical dress in broad daylight just to look good. If she dared to wear such a dress to tutoring, the parents' first reaction would be to fire her.

She looked down at herself: a cheap blue T-shirt, faded to white from countless washes; and jeans she'd worn for years, too long to be long enough to fit her like capri pants. She dared not squat down often, fearing the crotch would rip. She'd always thought about getting herself a new pair of jeans when she had the money, but she never had enough, so she hadn't yet.

She looked at her hands again. Because she washed dishes and served food at the restaurant, her skin was wrinkled and her palms had developed thick, yellow calluses, somewhat like the hands of a thirty-year-old housewife. Her feet, because she often stood and ran between the various tables in the restaurant, also had thick calluses on the soles.

They're the same age, but their lives are worlds apart.

Comparing the two, it's true what they say: comparisons are odious, and good things are often discarded.

Ye Wenyu shrank back, then moved her hands, which had been on the table, under it. She composed herself, trying to let the painful feelings of injustice pass as quickly as possible.

She chose this path herself, and she doesn't regret it.

In this life, she must live independently and with dignity, find a simple yet upright love, and, like any ordinary girl in the world, get married, have children, grow old together, and live an ordinary life.

However, having lived such a hard life, she seemed quite pathetic compared to the princess-like Lin Tingyue. In this life, was her choice to avoid seeing Lin Tingfeng the right one? For the first time, she deeply questioned her chosen path of "self-reliance" in her rebirth.

How different people's fates are! Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, while she is like a weed seed falling into a crack in a rock. Now she is burdened with debt, has been stripped of her status as a poor student by the school, lost all kinds of subsidies, and has been given a major demerit and public criticism by the school. At the most difficult time of her life, even making a living has become difficult.

Ye Wenyu seemed to have left her body, staring blankly at the dazzlingly beautiful Lin Tingyue, lost in thought.

She was high above, like a goddess, but she had fallen into the dust, unable to see tomorrow. All her efforts were like a crab struggling in a pot before it was cooked, futile.

Lin Tingyue's pleasant voice rang out like music. She smiled at Ye Wenyu and said, "So you're Zhiming's friend, Wenyu. We're really destined to meet." Her bright eyes were filled with joy, and she called "Zhiming" with great affection.

Jiang Zhiming looked at Ye Wenyu, then at Lin Tingyue, his expression growing increasingly confused. So they knew each other! His first love, whom he fell in love with at first sight, and his current girlfriend, whom he was forced to be with due to reality, actually knew each other before he did. The world is indeed as small as a matchbox.

Jiang Zhiming said softly to Ye Wenyu, "Xiaoyu, I heard about what happened to you and was worried that something had happened to you, so I came to find you right away. I heard that someone reported you, right?" His face was full of worry and his eyes were filled with heartache.

A warm feeling washed over Ye Wenyu. She looked up and saw Jiang Zhiming's face was pale with anxiety, and huge beads of sweat were seeping from his forehead.

Ye Wenyu was stunned for a moment. She quickly glanced at Jiang Zhiming and realized that he had heard that she had been reported and had been stripped of her eligibility for the poverty subsidy, so he rushed over to comfort her.

He wasn't showing off with his princess-like, rich, and beautiful girlfriend.

But she doesn't need his comfort right now, especially not with his wealthy and glamorous girlfriend. So she panics, wishing the ground would immediately crack open so she could crawl into it and hide.