In his previous life, Shi Zhen knew many people and had some friends in Changxi City.

Liang Qinxuan, standing before us, is one of them.

Liang Qinxuan's life has been quite tumultuous. His ancestors were very powerful silk merchants, a wealthy family, but due to various circumstances later on... Liang Qinxuan's father suffered greatly in that era, and it's hard to imagine how heartbreaking his life was.

Although Liang's father suffered a lot, he had a better education in his youth and his vision was higher than that of ordinary people.

Liang's father was participating in labor reform on a farm when he suddenly learned that a school was recruiting teachers and there were no restrictions on background. He rushed out without even putting on his shoes, despite being covered in mud while planting rice in the field.

He was determined, persistent, and single-mindedly focused on success, and he did succeed. After working as a teacher for several years, he found an opportunity to work in a glass factory, and later bought the factory and expanded it significantly…

Today is the heyday of the Liang family's glass factory.

Every household needs glass windows when building a house, and many factories also need glass bottles and jars.

The glass factory operated day and night, and it's unknown how much money it made for the Liang family.

Liang Qinxuan now naturally has a lot of money and can spend it as he pleases.

However, it won't be long before Liang Qinxuan is kicked out of his home.

Liang Qinxuan was unwilling to say what exactly happened, and Shi Zhen was not quite sure either, but Shi Zhen knew the general situation.

Back then, because of his bad class background, although Liang's father was good-looking and educated, it wasn't until he was over thirty that someone was willing to marry him. Liang's mother, on the other hand, was a very ordinary rural woman. She loved Liang's father deeply, which is why she insisted on marrying him.

They had a son named Liang Qinxuan. Later, Liang's father became wealthy, and Liang's mother also became a boss's wife.

The rapid change in status is always hard to adapt to. The family suddenly became rich, but Liang's mother remained the same, which made her seem out of place with Liang's father, who had quickly adapted to the life of the rich.

In his early years, Liang's father couldn't find a wife, but Liang's mother was willing to marry him. He was overjoyed and treated Liang's mother very well. However, when he became rich, many young women were throwing themselves at him, and he started to dislike Liang's mother.

He didn't cheat on her at first, but he made Liang's mother learn this and that all the time, thinking that Liang's mother's family was not respectable.

Later... as expected, Liang's father had an affair.

The woman he had an affair with was none other than the woman Liang's father had longed for since he was young.

Before marrying Liang's mother, Liang's father had feelings for a female educated youth, but she did not marry him because of his class background. In the end, she married a city man.

Liang's father married Liang's mother not long after.

If society hadn't undergone a sudden and drastic change, Liang's father and the female educated youth would likely never have crossed paths again, but society changed too quickly.

Liang's father became the director of a glass factory and a millionaire. The woman who was sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, her husband? He was laid off.

Over time, somehow the two of them ended up together.

The female educated youth was about ten years younger than Liang's father. When the two met again, Liang's father was in his early fifties and the female educated youth was in her forties.

At such an advanced age, it's quite astonishing that he still managed to ignite such a passionate flame...

Faced with this situation, Liang's mother, Liang Qinxuan, and her family members would naturally make a scene, even though Liang's mother herself did not want a divorce.

However, as an ordinary person, Liang's mother couldn't win against Liang's father and was eventually kicked out of the house.

Liang Qinxuan was Liang's father's only son. Liang's father was getting old at the time, and probably felt that he could not have any more children, so he kept Liang Qinxuan by his side.

But Liang Qinxuan was not someone who was willing to listen to him.

Liang Qinxuan was raised by his mother from a young age and did not have a deep relationship with his father, who was busy with his career. After his parents divorced, he stayed with his father simply because he did not want the property left by his father to benefit others.

So, after his parents divorced and his father remarried, he argued with his father every day and didn't give his mistress a kind look either.

Liang's father died early, but he had a mother.

Liang Qinxuan's grandmother had no good feelings towards the female educated youth who used to look down on her son but now clung to him after he became successful.

On the contrary, when they were mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, although Grandma Liang and Mother Liang would occasionally quarrel over trivial matters such as whether to dress Liang Qinxuan in three or four layers of clothing, Grandma Liang secretly liked Mother Liang as her daughter-in-law.

As for Liang Qinxuan, needless to say, he is Grandma Liang's darling, her precious treasure.

Grandma Liang sided with Liang Qinxuan and helped him scold Liang's father.

This went on for several years... Grandma Liang passed away, and Liang Qinxuan was kicked out of the house.

When Shi Zhen met Liang Qinxuan, Liang Qinxuan had already been kicked out of his home for some time, and his mother had also passed away from illness. All he wanted to do was to get revenge on his father.

However, before he could report back, Liang's father's company suffered continuous losses due to the increase in competitors, and then Liang's father suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away.

Upon hearing this news, Liang Qinxuan was momentarily devastated.

It was around that time that Shi Zhen, who also felt that life was meaningless, became friends with the other party.

Before that, although they knew each other, they couldn't actually reach an agreement because of their completely different childhood environments.

Shi Zhen had heard Liang Qinxuan say that he liked to have fun and flaunt his wealth when he was young, and he never expected that it was true.

At this time, Liang Qinxuan hadn't even started eating vegetarian food; all the dishes he ordered were meat.

What left Shi Zhen speechless was that Liang Qinxuan, with a face full of acne, invited Shi Ting to have dinner with him.

You should know that in his previous life, Liang Qinxuan hated Shi Ting very much and always disliked her, often saying that Shi Ting was all show and no substance.

Shi Zhen remembered that Liang Qinxuan was a year younger than him, and should be seventeen now.

However, he was dressed rather maturely today. If it weren't for the acne covering his forehead, people would believe he was in his twenties.

Shi Zhen was lost in thought and didn't say anything.

Seeing this, Guan Baiyu grabbed Shi Zhen's clothes and glanced warily at Liang Qinxuan.

As for Shi Ting, she was startled and hid behind Shi Zhen.

Shi Ting was indeed craving other people's food.

Liang Qinxuan bought four dishes: sweet and sour fish, beer duck, curry chicken, and braised pork with preserved mustard greens.

Shi Zhenxuan's poached chicken costs only one yuan a plate, while the cheapest of these dishes costs one and a half yuan, after all, the preparation is troublesome.

They all looked incredibly delicious, and Shi Ting had never even seen the curry chicken before.

Despite her craving, Shi Ting was still a little scared when a strange man offered her food, and she didn't dare to talk to him.

Shi Zhen wanted to say a few words to Liang Qinxuan, but this was not a good occasion.

They had never met before, and if he suddenly pulled Liang Qinxuan aside to talk, Liang Qinxuan would most likely be on guard.

Thinking this, Shi Zhen said to Guan Baiyu and Shi Ting, "Xiaoyu, Tingting, let's go."

"Oh," Shi Ting replied, and followed Shi Zhen away in a few quick steps.

Liang Qinxuan didn't know Shi Zhen and the other two at all. He had invited Shi Ting to eat with him earlier because he felt sorry for the thin, small girl who looked so greedy.

Now that the little girl won't eat, he'll eat a lot by himself.

Liang Qinxuan has just finished his first year of high school and had nothing to do during the summer vacation, so he secretly wore his father's gold necklace to play.

Meeting Shi Zhen and his group while eating was just a minor incident for him.

Shi Zhen did make a point of recalling Liang Qinxuan's various actions.

But few people are willing to share their tragic past. Liang Qinxuan was very secretive about why his father kicked him out of the house and never talked about it. So he didn't know anything about it and couldn't help Liang Qinxuan.

Shi Zhen then took Guan Baiyu and Shi Ting to wander around in other places.

Shi Ting and Guan Baiyu bought backpacks from the beginning, which was a great choice. They could carry most of the things Shi Zhen bought for them, making things much easier.

During this time, Shi Zhen did not forget to find a community hospital to buy motion sickness medicine.

There aren't pharmacies everywhere anymore, but there are plenty of community hospitals, and every village in the countryside has a barefoot doctor, just like in the city.

After taking motion sickness medicine, Guan Baiyu didn't feel nauseous on the way back, but she was still feeling drowsy. Shi Ting, on the other hand, was particularly lively. She sat behind Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu, leaning against the back of Shi Zhen's chair and talking to him. She even mentioned Liang Qinxuan: "Brother, that guy with the gold necklace at noon, he looked really rich!"

Shi Zhen hummed in agreement.

Shi Ting added, "Mom used to see other people with silver bracelets and really wanted one... I want one too."

“You can earn money to buy it for Mom,” Shi Zhen said.

The "Mom" that Shi Ting mentioned is Zhao Meiyun.

She no longer remembers her biological mother, but Shi Zhen always remembers the woman who was very weak.

"I don't know how much it will cost," Shi Ting sighed.

"If you work hard, you can always earn money." Shi Zhen laughed; the silver bracelet wasn't expensive.

Shi Ting nodded seriously when she heard Shi Zhen say that.

Guan Baiyu then perked up and asked, "Brother, you've been looking at that person for a long time. Do you know him?"

Shi Zhen knew Guan Baiyu was observant, so he wasn't surprised to hear him ask that question. However, he denied it: "I don't know him. I... I wasn't actually looking at him, I was looking at the gold necklace around his neck."

Shi Zhen made up a random excuse, but Guan Baiyu believed it: "Brother, you want it too?"

"I want it." Shi Zhen laughed. He didn't really care about gold necklaces now, but he had bought one for himself when he was rich in his previous life.

He thought that such a thick gold necklace would make him look wealthy.

By the way, not only did he have one, he also bought one for his family and Guan Baiyu, and everyone liked it very much.

Guan Baiyu also quite liked the gold chain; after all, it was all money, and who wouldn't like that!

Most importantly, his brother likes it!

It's a pity he doesn't have money now. If he did, he would definitely buy one for his brother.

The girl in the floral shirt during the day was short, and the thick gold chain she wore didn't look imposing at all; in fact, it looked rather ugly. If her brother wore it, he would definitely look much more imposing.

Guan Baiyu wanted to buy a gold necklace, but he didn't have the money, which made him a little annoyed.

The thought that she not only had no money now, but also had to spend Shi Zhen's money made her even more depressed.

Back in Anshan Town, Shi Zhen took Shi Ting home and then took Guan Baiyu to Guan Baiyu's house.

When he left in the morning, he left food for Shi Xinghuo and told him to eat and stay at home. But when they got home, they didn't see Shi Xinghuo.

Shi Zhen assumed Shi Xinghuo had gone out for a stroll and started cooking without thinking much of it. However, halfway through cooking, he saw Shi Xinghuo return looking dazed.

Shi Zhen asked instinctively, "Xinghuo, where did you go?"

Shi Xinghuo glanced at Shi Zhen and said, "I'm going to the shop, I..."

Shi Zhen looked at Shi Xinghuo, whose face was full of confusion, and was about to ask a few questions when he heard Shi Xinghuo say, "I saw a fairy!"

Shi Zhen was a little confused.

He asked a few more questions and learned that Shi Xinghuo had seen a particularly beautiful woman and called her a fairy.

Shi Xinghuo was a bit dull and didn't pay much attention to the women around him. He didn't know how beautiful the woman he regarded as a fairy was.

Shi Zhen was a little curious, but only for a moment before letting it go; he had no interest in women anyway.

Moreover, Shi Xinghuo never mentioned the fairy again after that.

The day after Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu returned from Changxi City, the river receded. On the same day, Changxi City delivered a thousand sweaters directly to Shi Zhen.

Shi Zhen got busy again.

However, even now, it's not as busy as it was when he was running three stalls. For Shi Zhen, it's quite easy.

Shi Zhen's business got back on track, and so did Shi Xinghuo's; he went back to work.

Most of the time, he helped the waterworks dig pipes, but sometimes he did other things, such as following the meter readers to various places to read water meters.

In Anshan Town, both the town and the villages have running water, and someone needs to read the water meters and collect the water fees.

Compared to reading electricity meters, reading water meters is a much harder job, and it's also dirty and tiring, because water meters are often placed underground and are always submerged in sewage.

Some water meters are covered with cement slabs, or someone needs to dig out the silt.

When waterworks staff read water meters, they sometimes don't want to dig them out themselves, or they can't manage it, so they find someone to accompany them and help them clean out the water meters.

Shi Xinghuo was strong and obedient, and was called out from time to time.

Time flies by so quickly, and before long, it was time for school to start.

About ten days before school started, Shi Zhen went to the junior high school in town to ask the principal to process the procedures for his younger sister to attend school temporarily. After that, he didn't interfere much. When Shi Ting went to register later, her father could take her with him. He didn't need to come along.

He has already paid for Shi Ting's tuition fee; her father can cover the rest, such as tuition, book fees, and school uniform fees.

Her father runs a fried food stall here. Although he's only been doing it for a little over a month, he should have saved up quite a bit of money. He shouldn't be unable to afford even three or four hundred yuan for his daughter's school fees.

Shi Zhen didn't intend to interfere in everything with Shi Ting's side, but with Guan Baiyu's side...

Shi Zhen took Guan Baiyu with him to register at the school.

Changxi No. 1 High School is the best high school in Changxi City, but it is currently still in the old campus, which is... a bit small.

Entering through the main gate, there is a comprehensive building on the right, an experimental building on the left, and a teaching building directly opposite. Behind the teaching building is a playground, and further back are two dormitory buildings, one on the left and one on the right. There is also a canteen downstairs in the dormitory buildings.

The playground is divided into two sections. One side is a cinder track where running a lap is definitely less than 400 meters, and the other side is a cement basketball court. Between the two, there is a row of cement ping-pong tables.

With one week left before the official start of the school year, today is the day for freshmen to register and pay their tuition.

Shi Zhen had to collect sweaters in the morning, so when he and Guan Baiyu set off from Anshan Town, it was already 11 a.m. By the time they arrived at No. 1 Middle School, it was already 1 p.m., and there were only a few people left to register.

Several teachers were waiting for the students with some forms. As soon as Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu arrived, they started looking up Guan Baiyu's information and then said, "Guan Baiyu's middle school entrance exam score is very high! He's also a guaranteed admission student. You can go to the experimental class. Do you want to go to the experimental class?"

"An experimental class?" Shi Zhen asked, somewhat curious.

The teacher added, "The management of the experimental class is stricter, and the progress is faster... All the recommended students go directly into the experimental class."

Without the teacher needing to say more, Shi Zhen knew that the experimental class was definitely a good place to go.

Later generations always talk about the need for fairness in education, but during this period, even junior high schools could be divided into fast and slow classes, not to mention senior high schools.

This experimental class... probably gathers all the top students.

Shi Zhen looked at Guan Baiyu, waiting for Guan Baiyu to make a decision.

Without hesitation, Guan Baiyu said, "I want to be in the experimental class."

The teacher wasn't surprised at all.

Many students who do not meet the requirements for entering the experimental class are eager to get in, so it's impossible for Guan Baiyu not to want to.

The tuition, accommodation fees, and other miscellaneous expenses for high school add up to a little over a thousand yuan per semester. In addition, you can buy bedding and mats at school if needed, but of course you can choose not to.

Shi Zhen glanced at the prices of the bedding and mats sold by the school and bought a set without hesitation.

Guan Baiyu usually has a quilt to cover himself with. His grandmother left him some, but the covers of those quilts were worn out many years ago and were still very old.

If Guan Baiyu used those things at school, he would probably be ridiculed.

Buying the bedding provided by the school will prevent you from making a mistake.

Guan Baiyu felt it was unnecessary, but Shi Zhen wanted to buy it, and he couldn't stop him.

The teacher then gave some other instructions, such as bringing a thermos with your name on it and buying meal and water tickets at school.

But there's no rush, we can deal with these things when school starts.

After taking care of everything, Guan Baiyu and Shi Zhen left the No. 1 Middle School together.

As he left, Shi Zhen looked back and felt a pang of sadness.

He has been reborn for half a year now, and during this time, he has spent almost all of his time with Guan Baiyu.

But next... they have to part ways.

Even so, he was happy.

His and Guan Baiyu's lives have changed a lot, and they will definitely not go down the same old path again. Guan Baiyu will definitely not die.

Shi Zhen was very relaxed, but Guan Baiyu's feelings were complicated.

He had always thought he wouldn't be able to attend high school, but unexpectedly, he was able to attend high school without having to worry about tuition fees, and his high school teachers valued him highly.

All of this felt so beautiful, like a dream.

After registering, Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu went home together.

On the way, they encountered someone selling pumpkin seeds, and Shi Zhen bought a bag, intending to give it to Shi Dalin and the others.

This snack is very healthy, and it's okay to eat more of it.

However, when Shi Zhen arrived at the Shi family home, he found no one there.

Finally, it was Teacher Fei from next door who came out of the house and told Shi Zhen the reason: "Shi Zhen, your mother fell and it seems to be a bit serious. Your sister took her to the hospital."