Same old routine.
Wen Ying wasn’t too fussed.
She’d got used to it last time around.
Chen Ru only trusted her own judgment—dead set on it. Until the exam results were out, no matter what Wen Ying said, Chen Ru wouldn’t buy it.
Wen Ying wasn’t about to waste her breath. She shut her eyes and pretended to doze.
The city was small; they were home from the hospital in no time.
Her family lived in the staff quarters of Wen Dongrong’s work unit, built in 1999. Though they’d bought other properties later, they never moved. Even by 2019, Wen Ying heard her parents were still there.
A 20-year-old complex—what was there to cling to? The facilities couldn’t touch a new estate’s. Wen Ying reckoned it wasn’t nostalgia—her parents thought living there screamed status!
Wen Dongrong wasn’t home, but the place was buzzing.
The living room was packed with Wen relatives.
Seeing Wen Ying back, they crowded round to fuss over her—even her cousin Wen Kai was there.
It was Saturday—fair enough for the adults to be off work, but Wen Kai, a uni entrance candidate, shouldn’t be about!
“Kai-ge, no classes today?”
Wen Kai adjusted his glasses. “This morning, school held a pre-exam pep rally. They gave us the afternoon off to unwind, but I’ve got self-study tonight. You feeling better? I wanted to visit you in hospital, but you know our headteacher—won’t sign off on leave like that!”
He was telling the truth.
A small city couldn’t compete with big ones on teaching resources—it leaned hard on discipline. Wen Kai and Wen Ying went to the same school, him in senior high, her in junior.
She knew how strict it was—especially for Wen Kai, with exams looming. “Sick cousin” wouldn’t cut it for a day off.
“I get it, Kai-ge—you care about me. I appreciate the thought.”
Wen Kai grinned at that.
Their parents’ generation might’ve been in a quiet tussle, but it didn’t touch Wen Ying and Wen Kai. She remembered getting on well with her cousin since they were kids—until he went off to uni and her own grim high school years left little time to keep in touch. That drift was still in the future, though; for now, they were tight.
Wen Kai genuinely cared. He ducked away from the adults into her room, intent on some encouraging words.
Every time he saw her room, Wen Kai’s head hurt.
It didn’t look like a girl’s space—no teenage vibe at all. No garish celeb posters or film banners on the walls, plain bed sheets, plain wardrobe. The old desk was stacked with textbooks and study guides—no girly mags. The only novels on her shelf were the Four Great Classics, plus *How the Steel Was Tempered*!
Uncle and Auntie ruled Wen Ying with an iron fist.
Wen Kai knew she loved novels— scrimping pocket money to buy or rent them—but she never dared bring them home. Auntie would shred them. So Wen Ying stashed them with mates, and Wen Kai, at the same school, became her mobile library.
He thought her room lacked soul. Wen Ying felt the same.
Stepping into her teenage bedroom, that suffocating feeling hit her square in the face.
From the decor to her hobbies, Chen Ru controlled it all—even her daily outfits, down to which shoes matched. Surviving years in this without cracking? Her mental toughness was unreal!
“Kai-ge, got something to say? Sit anywhere.”
Dwelling on it might’ve sent her bolting out the door—chatting with Wen Kai was a distraction.
Wen Kai gathered his thoughts. “Ever thought about staying at our school for high school? I know this exam didn’t go great, and Uncle’s looking to pull strings for a top Rongcheng school. Sure, good schools teach well, but they’re not always the right fit. You’d have to adjust to a whole new place—I’d worry about you!”
Good doesn’t always mean suitable.
Big fish in a small pond or small fry in a big one—always a debate.
Wen Kai knew her well. Last life, she’d gone to Rongcheng, struggled to keep up, and slogged through.
Given a second shot by fate, Wen Ying had been mulling over Chen Li and Deng Shangwei these past days—not her own future.
Wen Kai’s words jabbed at the question she’d dodged.
What should she do?
Follow last life’s path—same high school, same uni, ditch her parents’ civil service push, strike out to Magic City, climb from assistant to lawyer, meet and date He Zhen, grind a few years to buy a flat there? It wasn’t a bad life. But staring at the dog-eared Four Great Classics on her desk, she wondered if she had other options.
He Zhen was probably canoodling with some uni senior in the UK—why hang herself on that tree?
If she didn’t become a lawyer, would she still cross paths and fall for He Zhen? If so, maybe it was destiny.
“Wen Ying?”
Wen Kai snapped her out of her daze. “Think about what I said. Whatever you decide, I’ve got your back. If you stay for high school, I’ll help talk Uncle and Auntie round!”
“Kai-ge, you’re ace—thanks. Wherever I end up, I’m dead grateful for this.”
She meant it.
With Wen Dongrong and Chen Ru’s control-freak streak, Wen Kai stepping up took real sibling guts!
She cherished his loyalty. With his exams near, she didn’t want him clashing with Wen Dongrong. “Kai-ge, focus on your entrance exam first. My stuff can wait—results won’t drop till July. Once you’re done, we’ll figure it out together.”
Wen Kai nodded, chuckling—it made sense.
They hung out in her room a bit before the adults called them for grub.
At the table, the spotlight wasn’t on freshly discharged Wen Ying but on Wen Kai, the exam star.
Grandma Wen piled meat on her eldest grandson’s plate, insisting he’d wasted away studying.
Wen Dongrong asked which uni he aimed for. Wen Kai said it depended on his scores. “I want to try for the capital, Uncle—what d’you reckon?”
Wen Dongrong beamed. “Lads need to see the world—great idea, ambitious! If your sister Ying matches your grades one day, I’d back her going too—big cities like the capital or Magic City.”
Wen Ying, mid-bite, froze.
That wasn’t what Wen Dongrong said when she picked her uni last time—he’d insisted she stay in-province. Under pressure, she’d chosen a Rongcheng school, an hour or two from home—perfect for their close-range meddling. If he wasn’t lying now, what changed his tune later?
