Chapter 3
The next morning, Xiang Wan was in a daze from the moment she opened her eyes. She lay in bed, looking at the light and shadows coming through the thin curtains, feeling somewhat disoriented and unsure of what year it was.
She pinched her still slightly chubby cheeks to confirm that she had indeed been reborn back to her childhood.
She learned from Wang Yidong yesterday that she is still in sixth grade and that winter vacation will start in a couple of days.
Because it was originally her own body, Xiang Wan adapted quickly and accepted the fact that she had been reborn as a child in a very short time.
But the thought of going to Xinbei Town today made her feel anxious. This feeling of being out of control was terrible, especially since she was being forced to follow the script by others.
Who is the author behind the novel that turned their lives into a story?
Xiang Wan desperately wanted to escape the storyline. Her father had once told her that the best life was one where she could see the end from the beginning. While 12-year-old Xiang Wan might have enjoyed adventure, 26-year-old Xiang Wan preferred a more stable life.
She was well-prepared for today's 'adventure', after all, the Xiang family's children never fight unprepared battles.
Xiang Wan went downstairs wearing only a bathrobe. The villa had underfloor heating and a warm air system, so even though it was winter outside, she didn't need to wear a coat at home.
As soon as she came downstairs, she saw Wang Yidong already standing by the dining table. Several maids were also a little surprised to see her, seemingly wondering why their young mistress had gotten up so early today.
Wang Yidong gave a few instructions to the maids beside him and then headed towards Xiangwan.
At the other end of the living room, Xiang Wan was still playing with the cat on the sofa. She had picked up the cat from the bushes near her school and named it Ju Tuan.
Juju was her first pet, and she hasn't kept any pets since it died.
In my previous life, there was a felt doll made from Jujutsu's fur displayed in the villa. Although it was very realistic, seeing my former pet in person still gave me a different feeling.
Xiang Wan hugged Ju Tuan in her arms and rubbed her cheek against it: "Ju Tuan, it's been a long time."
Suddenly feeling a warmth on her back, Xiang Wan realized something and pulled the thin blanket around herself. Looking at the maid behind her, she looked somewhat helpless: "I'm really not cold."
Since Xiang Wan's heart surgery was successful, Xiang's parents have shifted their focus back to the group, spending their days either expanding business in Southeast Asia or traveling to Europe for management and inspections.
Even though she was the only daughter of the Xiang family, she rarely saw them.
Therefore, after she entered junior high school, Wang Yidong, who was supposed to be a maid, took on the role of a mother more often.
He follows Xiang Wan closely every day, taking care of her. Occasionally, he has the stereotype that 'Xiang Wan must be very cold,' like today.
However, she was used to it. Even though she wasn't cold, she still wrapped the thin blanket that Wang Yidong had given her around herself.
"Is the bus to Xinbei Town ready?"
Wang Yidong pulled the thin blanket tighter around her again: "We've already changed to a different car as Miss said, and the tires have been checked and there are no problems."
Xiang Wan leaned back in the recliner, stroking the cat's fur in the direction it was growing: "Did you bring the spare tire too?"
"Yes, I've already emphasized that to driver Lao Zhang."
Xiang Wan nodded, lowered her eyes, and said nothing more.
After breakfast, the two got into the car, which only contained the driver, Lao Zhang, Wang Yidong, and Xiang Wan.
Dr. Xia was originally supposed to go, but something came up at her home, and Xia Yueshen had something to do in her previous life and couldn't come, so Xiang Wan didn't bring her.
Driver Lao Zhang originally worked for Xiang's father, but after Xiang Wan started school, it was impossible for Xiang's father's secretary to always pick her up after school, so Lao Zhang became her driver.
The road to Xinbei Town is long, but driver Lao Zhang drove very steadily, so Xiang Guan didn't feel much of a bump.
She looked at the rapidly changing scenery outside the car window, but seemed somewhat anxious. In her previous life, their car broke down on the way to Xinbei Town, and they were forced to stop in a place full of farmland.
They walked for a long time before the people of nearby Lijia Village found them and took them in for the night.
It was because of that incident that Xiang Wan took Zhou Chengze from that remote mountain valley and brought him back to the Xiang family to be her study companion.
She was still immersed in the memories of meeting Zhou Chengze in her previous life when she felt the car suddenly stop at the side of the road.
Xiang Wan thought the car had really broken down, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her expression tense: "What's wrong?"
The driver, Old Zhang, turned to look at her, appearing somewhat embarrassed: "Miss, I think I have an upset stomach. I'll get off first... to take care of something..."
"..."
Upon hearing that it wasn't a car breakdown, Xiang Wan instantly breathed a sigh of relief, relaxed completely, and responded nonchalantly.
After the driver got out of the car, Wang Yidong looked at the young lady, who had been visibly restless the whole way, and asked with some concern, "Young lady, what's wrong? You've been worried about the car since yesterday. Is something the matter?"
Xiang Wan lazily opened her eyes, looked at Wang Yidong's face which was much younger than in her previous life, and after a long while she looked away: "I'm worried I won't be able to go skiing."
Skiing my ass! In their previous life, they didn't even reach the ski resort. They broke down halfway and stayed in Lijia Village for one night before returning to Beiyi the next day.
But she couldn't tell anyone about her rebirth, fearing that things might change again, even if the other party was the maid who had taken care of her for many years.
When Wang Yidong heard her explanation, she believed it almost without question, after all, in her eyes, the other party was just a twelve-year-old child.
She looked at Xiang Wan, who seemed very 'expectant,' and her eyes couldn't help but crinkle into a smile.
Seeing Wang Yidong smirking, Xiang Wan could only sigh inwardly despite her tense demeanor, but she had to put on an expectant look on her face.
The driver returned quickly. He looked at the two people waiting in the car with a somewhat apologetic expression: "Miss, I'm back."
As the car continued forward, the scenery outside the window got closer and closer to the countryside, and Xiang Wan's heart pounded with excitement.
The car braked suddenly again, and she was thrown forward by inertia, hitting the back of the passenger seat in front of her.
Old Zhang's driving skills are very steady, and he has rarely made such a mistake over the years. When he braked suddenly, Xiang Wan knew that the plot had reached a certain point.
Looking out the car window at the desolate scenery of farmland, she knew that this was near Lijia Village, and that she could not escape the plot in this life!
Knowing she couldn't escape, Xiang Wan calmed down.
She looked at the driver, Lao Zhang, in the driver's seat and calmly gave the instruction: "Uncle Zhang, get out of the car and check if it has broken down."
Actually, I don't need to look at her to be sure, because in her previous life it had broken down, and it was a tire problem.
The driver, who was initially somewhat flustered, immediately got out of the car to check after hearing the order, even though the person giving the instructions was just a twelve-year-old girl.
He opened the hood and checked it again, ruling out tire issues as the problem.
Wang Yidong lowered her car window to make it easier for the two to communicate. The driver, Lao Zhang, looked directly at the young lady, bypassing her: "It's a tire problem."
Just as I imagined.
Xiang Wan said calmly, "Let's change the spare tire. Shall we get out of the car?"
"Luckily, the young lady was quick-witted and reminded me to put the spare tire away yesterday..." Driver Lao Zhang said with a smile as he opened the trunk, but fell silent instantly when he saw that the trunk only contained food.
"I clearly remember putting the spare tire in there yesterday... Could I have put it in the trunk of another car?" He muttered, scratching his head.
Hearing his mutterings, Xiang Wan in the car closed her eyes and pursed her lips.
This was a small gesture that the young lady only made when she was clearly displeased. Wang Yidong also became a little irritated. She got out of the car and scolded Lao Zhang a couple of times, then looked around with him to make sure it wasn't there.
The two tried to call for a tow truck on their cell phones, but there was no signal in the middle of nowhere.
Xiang Wan opened her eyes in the car, rolled down her window, and looked at the two bewildered people: "Let's get out of the car and go to a nearby village to see if we can find a place to stay for the night."
The reason for saying "borrowing lodging" is that Lijia Village is extremely poor, and it is impossible for anyone to come here for tourism, so there are naturally no hotels or inns.
As Xiang Wan was about to get out of the car, Wang Yidong closed the door from the outside.
She looked at Wang Yidong with some confusion, but he glanced around warily and said, "Miss, I'll go with Lao Zhang to check and make sure it's safe before we come back to pick you up."
As she spoke, she handed the car keys from Old Zhang through the car window to Xiang Wan, still reminding her, "Miss, don't open the car door for anyone who comes, unless it's just the two of us."
"..." Even though she knew that Li Family Village was not in danger and that the other party was just making an unnecessary effort, Xiang Wan was still somewhat moved. She smiled slightly and did not disappoint her good intentions, "Okay."
After Wang Yidong and driver Lao Zhang left, Xiang Wan sat in the car and took out a satellite phone from her small bag.
The satellite phone was for emergencies, but she didn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary. To her, Zhou Chengze was not a threat, at most just a nuisance, so there was no need for her to make such a fuss.
She waited for a long time but the two did not return. Since she was certain that there was no threat from Lijia Village, Xiang Wan waited for a while, then felt a little bored and opened the car door to get out.
She stood in the field beside the path, looking at the boundless wasteland, and saw only a flock of crows flying past her.
In her previous life, she had always been puzzled by one question: how could a prosperous place like Beiyi have such a remote and desolate place where there was no signal?
Only now did she realize that the Li Family Village was tailor-made for the male protagonist, Zhou Chengze. The male protagonist, who grew up in poverty, had all the buffs stacked up.
There was a small stream next to the barren land. Xiang Wan walked to the stream and squatted down. She was staring blankly at her reflection in the water when she felt something rapidly approaching her.
She looked up and saw that what was approaching her was actually a goose.
The woman and the goose stared at each other, neither making a move. Even when the goose emerged from the water and strode toward her with its two wicked little legs, Xiang Wan remained motionless.
Although she keeps cats at home and can ride horses, she is inexplicably a little afraid of geese.
Xiang Wan had almost forgotten about it, but seeing this goose brought back all her memories!
In her previous life in Lijia Village, it was this same goose that chased and bit her, and the bites hurt quite a bit, to the point that she developed a phobia of geese afterward.
Especially the geese from Lijia Village, she always felt that if she were caught, she would end up like Zhou Chengze, with tattered pants wrapped around her legs for the rest of her life.
But fate had other plans. The goose seemed to sense her fear and suddenly spread its wings and charged at her while screeching loudly.
It called out, and she called out too; the scene was chaotic.
"Gah—gaah—gaah-gaah-gaah—gaah"
"Aa ...
"Gah—gaah—gaah—gaah—gaah"
"Aa ...
As soon as it approached, Xiang Wan ran quickly behind it. The goose was closer to the car, so she could only run towards the mountain behind her.
She was terrified of being caught up, so she didn't dare to look back and kept running forward. But because of her nervousness, she tripped over a rotten fruit that had fallen to the ground and fell onto a large pile of excrement.
Before Xiang Wan could even react to her OCD, she hurriedly turned around, only to find that the goose had vanished, and she was running around alone, seemingly lost in thought...
She hurriedly got up from the ground, glanced at the pile of feces beside her. She couldn't recognize what animal had done it, but it was a huge pile.
Xiang Wan nervously looked around to make sure no one had seen her embarrassing moment before she relaxed and looked around to see where she was. She found that all around her were identical cypress trees, and she couldn't even see the stream anymore.
"..."
What the hell has she gotten herself into?!
Xiang Wan was sulking with herself when she smelled something foul. Looking down, she discovered that her right shoe and sock were covered in cow dung.
'That damned stinky goose, it was that goose in my past life!'
She would never forget those wicked little eyes; she would still occasionally have nightmares about that stinky goose.
Xiang Wan had been taught by her grandfather to be well-mannered and not to shout since she was a child, but now she really couldn't hold back and shouted several times when no one was in the woods.
"Aa ...
It seems like she wanted to vent all the frustration she had accumulated over the past few days.
First, she was caught off guard and discovered that her fiancé and sister-in-law were cheating on her. Then she died of a heart attack. After that, she was reborn as a little kid and had to start all over again.
Xiang Wan felt extremely irritable. After feeling irritable and frustrated, she felt wronged and sad, and her nose tingled with tears.
Although she had a smooth life from a young age, she put in just as much effort and sweat as others. She got up at six o'clock and stayed up until eleven o'clock, learning everything from music, chess, calligraphy, painting, horseback riding, judo, to foreign languages.
In junior high school, students have to thoroughly study all the high school curriculum, as well as Western philosophy and various management disciplines.
Her schedule was so packed; she took over the Xiang Group, but in the end, she was bound to Zhou Chengze, that ambitious phoenix, for life.
Xiang Wan felt wronged just thinking about it. She initially chose Zhou Chengze because she wanted to save herself some trouble in marriage, but she was forced offline because of that guy.
Looking at the feces on her right shoe and sock, she felt as if she were seeing someone's face. She was filled with dread and anger. Ignoring the fact that it was still below zero outside, she threw her snow boots and socks aside.
As Xiang Wan grew up, she rarely cried anymore. On a rare occasion when no one was around in the woods, she sat on the ground, hugged herself, and cried her heart out.
She broke down in tears, while somewhere in the woods, a child silently watched her cry...
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