Chapter 4: ShellieMay from Thirteen Years Ago

Jiang Mingzhi pushed open the door to her room with anticipation. The space was large and dreamily decorated—white sheer curtains, light purple bedding, and a few Disney plushies placed on the bed.

There were Duffy and Shellie May—Star Darlings hadn’t been released yet, so for now, Duffy was Jiang Mingzhi’s favorite.

Everything had been well prepared. Jiang Mingzhi lay down on the soft bed and fell into a peaceful sleep.

Half-asleep, she heard a knock at the door.

She remembered that the day after she got drunk, Pei Jinyang had someone deliver the signed divorce agreement. After signing her name, she had gone right back to drinking, trying to numb herself with alcohol.

Every corner of the house carried traces of Pei Jinyang’s presence. She couldn’t stand being home—it felt suffocating. So she went out to get some air.

And, unsurprisingly, something unexpected happened.

She got into a car accident.

So was she in the hospital now? Confused by the knocking, she struggled to open her eyes.

But what she saw wasn’t the sterile white of a hospital. She saw the Shellie May plush sitting by her pillow and froze.

This was the house in Jing City. When did she come back here? Ever since her relationship with Pei Jinyang was exposed, she hadn’t returned to the Mingyue estate.

She didn’t feel any pain that should’ve come from a car accident either. The knocking at the door continued.

Still full of doubt, Jiang Mingzhi got out of bed to answer it.

She caught sight of the fuzzy slippers on her feet and was even more puzzled. These were the first slippers she had when she moved to Mingyue, long since lost. When did they become this new again?

Her fair, delicate hand reached for the doorknob.

That wasn’t her hand—at least, not the hand she had at twenty-nine.

The door opened, and Qiu Tang was standing there, beaming.

Ever since her mother found out about her and Pei Jinyang, she hadn’t smiled at her in a long time.

“Zhi Zhi, come downstairs for breakfast. Mommy will take you to the mall today.”

Jiang Mingzhi was stunned. She didn’t even dare open her mouth to greet her.

Because Qiu Tang had said she would rather pretend she never had a daughter.

Everything felt like it had rewound.

Was this a dream?

If she could start over, she would stay far away from Pei Jinyang.

She would only ever be his stepsister.

Jiang Mingzhi could feel her sense of smell, touch, and hearing—all real.

It didn’t seem like a dream.

She stared at the girl in the mirror wearing new clothes.

A youthful, pretty face. Her hair was all pulled up into a high ponytail. This was her at sixteen.

The mall lights were bright, reflecting off her fair, rosy skin.

The sales assistant kept praising her to Qiu Tang, “Your daughter’s so charming! She’s going to be a real beauty.”

Qiu Tang was delighted and whispered to Jiang Mingzhi, “Looks like your dad didn’t treat you too badly.”

Jiang Mingzhi replied, “My dad treated me very well.”

Her father had made a decent amount of money and was considered a well-off and respected man in his southern town.

She had lived quite comfortably over there.

She didn’t expect that her mother’s life was not only comfortable—it was downright luxurious.

Qiu Tang hugged her and smiled. “Alright, alright, I know your dad spoiled you rotten.”

At the mention of her father, Jiang Mingzhi felt a little down.

To cheer her up, Qiu Tang started talking about her upcoming school arrangements.

“No.1 High, the highest rate of elite university admissions in the country. Your Uncle Pei’s son is a grade above you. If you run into any trouble, you can ask him for help.”

Jiang Mingzhi looked at her. “How do you know he’ll help me? What if he hates me?”

“……”

And as it turned out, Jiang Mingzhi wasn’t wrong.

She and Pei Jinyang started off as enemies.

If she remembered correctly, Pei Jinyang didn’t return to the Mingyue estate until the morning of his thirteenth birthday.

Judging from the date on the phone, she still had a week before she would see him.

Jiang Mingzhi wished Pei Jinyang would never come back.

Qiu Tang wanted to use the holiday as an opportunity to take Jiang Mingzhi to social gatherings and help her make appearances.

But Jiang Mingzhi refused. “Mom, can I take a look at the next grade’s materials ahead of time? Or maybe hire a private tutor? I want to skip a grade when school starts.”

She really didn’t want to waste time going through the motions at this key high school.

She was a quick learner. She had ranked first at her previous school, and after coming to the capital, she had been exposed to a more refined educational system. Her grades remained excellent. Back then, to gain more leverage against her family, she had chosen to study business.

This time, she wanted to study something else.

Qiu Tang was startled by her daughter’s words.

She’d heard of skipping grades, but not at this point in the school year.

“You’re sure about this?”

Qiu Tang felt a mix of surprise and uncertainty.

If it was true, she would be so proud.

In their social circle, aside from flaunting handbags and jewelry, it was all about showing off their children.

Whose son was pursuing a master’s degree abroad, whose daughter got into Zhou Yiban’s class. (That class was only for students who ranked highest in internal exams.)

Basically, the rich had their own set of educational rules from an early age—receiving the best education, attending the best middle schools, moving on to the best high schools, and naturally entering the best universities. Many would even run into their elementary school classmates again in college.

At first, Qiu Tang had been worried that Jiang Mingzhi wouldn’t be able to keep up after transferring from Nancheng to the capital, and had already arranged tutoring classes for her to start right after the New Year holiday.

And now she says she wants to skip a grade?

“You’ve already learned the upcoming material?”

“Mhm.” Jiang Mingzhi thought to herself: she’d already studied this in university. She just wasn’t sure how much she still remembered.

Qiu Tang happily went off to arrange tutoring for her.

At dinner, Uncle Pei said, “The textbooks are easy to get—Jinyang has them. You can go grab them from his room later.”

Jiang Mingzhi looked toward Ms. Qiu. She wanted to decline but didn’t have a solid excuse.

“He’s not home. Isn’t it bad to touch his things without permission? Uncle Pei, maybe—”

Uncle Pei replied, “I’ll let him know. Don’t worry, it’s just a few textbooks.”

Qiu Tang agreed on her daughter’s behalf, “Yes, I’ll go with you in a bit.”

“……”

Jiang Mingzhi stood outside Pei Jinyang’s room, confirming for the third time that Uncle Pei had already spoken to him and received his consent.

Uncle Pei even showed her the chat message, chuckling, “Jinyang said it’s fine. Why are you so scared of him?”

Jiang Mingzhi mumbled in protest, “I’m not scared of him.”

She just didn’t want to get involved with him anymore.

And besides, what he actually said was “do whatever you want.”

Pei Jinyang’s room had a black mamba vibe. The bed sheets were dark gray. She remembered kissing him on that very bed…

Keeping her eyes straight ahead, Jiang Mingzhi walked directly to the desk and found the books she needed.

Math, Chinese, physics, chemistry—all STEM subjects.

She held the textbooks up to Uncle Pei. “I took these. Could you take a picture to show him?”

Pei Zhaohua laughed, “You’re really meticulous. If the interns at my company were half as careful as you, they’d make a lot fewer mistakes.”

Jiang Mingzhi nodded. “Being meticulous helps avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.”

In the early days, Pei Jinyang was just an arrogant, sharp-tongued young master. She had no desire to give him a reason to pick a fight.

The next day, Jiang Mingzhi had the family driver take her to Xinhua Bookstore to pick up some study materials.

She tried to dig deeper into her memory for anything useful from high school, but it was hazy. What she remembered was mostly tied to Pei Jinyang—the way they had gone from constantly clashing to secretly liking each other.

She realized, sadly, that after falling for Pei Jinyang, her whole life began to revolve around him—choosing a major that would make money, working to earn enough so they could fight back against their families together.

Shaking off those messy thoughts, she scanned the shelves full of reference books.

How did one choose the best study guides again?

As her eyes roamed across the brightly colored prep books and workbooks, through a gap between the shelves, she caught sight of a tall, well-proportioned figure in profile.

The young man’s jawline was sharp, his nose high and straight. He was looking down at a book, casually flipping through a few pages before closing it and preparing to walk away.