Chapter 40: Absolutely Can't Let Jiang Xia Get It
Chapter 40: Absolutely Can't Let Jiang Xia Get It
Wen Wan’s eyes turned red as she stared at the nets on the beach and the small piles of shrimp collected by Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia.
Today, her father and stepmother had once again pressured her to drop out of school, claiming there was no money for her tuition and that she should find a job to help support the family.
She had been waiting for this typhoon, hoping to gather shrimp and sell them to earn enough for her tuition. She didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of her past life.
In her previous life, she had never finished high school because she couldn’t earn enough during the summer to pay for her tuition, forcing her to drop out.
Her stepmother believed that girls would eventually get married, and there was no point in spending too much money on their education. Instead, they should start working early to help the family, or else they would be a burden once they got married. Her stepmother never gave her money for school, so she had to earn her own tuition for high school.
Her father had no biological sons, only two daughters—herself and her younger half-sister, who was born to her stepmother. As a result, her father treated his stepson as his own, hoping he would take care of them in their old age. Most of the family’s money was spent on the stepson.
Moreover, her father believed that no matter how much education a woman received, it was better to find a good husband than to get a job.
So, in her previous life, she had dropped out of high school in her final year to work and support the family.
The money she earned from her part-time jobs went to pay for her stepbrother’s and stepsister’s education.
She had married soon after starting work.
Her marriage hadn’t been much better than Jiang Xia’s. Her husband was a gambler.
Her stepmother had arranged the marriage. Although he was a widower, he had a decent job at the supply and marketing cooperative, and his first wife had left him because they couldn’t have children.
The man had a good job and promised to help her get a position at the cooperative after they married. He also offered a substantial dowry.
Her stepmother argued that the purpose of education was to find a good job, and a position at the cooperative was a stable, well-paying job that even her stepbrother might struggle to find after graduating.
At the time, she thought her stepmother’s reasoning made sense. After all, a job at the cooperative was highly sought after.
The man genuinely seemed to like her and treated her well. He always brought her gifts and promised that she could continue her studies after they married, even if she didn’t want to work at the cooperative.
So, she married him. She even got accepted into university, but she discovered she was pregnant just before the semester started and never finished her degree.
After she became pregnant, the man’s true nature emerged. He was a compulsive gambler, spending all his salary on gambling and losing everything. He even got arrested for gambling, losing his job in the process.
After giving birth, she had to work to support him and their child. But the money she earned, he would secretly take to gamble, losing it all and then beg for forgiveness. She forgave him time and time again, especially after she became pregnant with their second child.
Eventually, the man gambled away their house, and their daughter followed in his footsteps.
The past was too painful to remember. Wen Wan stopped her thoughts. In this life, she would not repeat the same mistakes. She would not support her stepbrother and stepsister, nor would she marry that man. She would get into university and change her fate!
In this era, university graduates were highly valued!
Her stepbrother and stepsister had both graduated from university and found excellent jobs, living comfortable lives and enjoying generous retirement benefits.
Wen Wan looked at the nets and the piles of shrimp.
Since Jiang Xia was also reborn and was blocking her path to earning money for tuition and changing her destiny, she didn’t have to hold back. From now on, it would be a fair competition!
Let’s see who can change their own fate.
Initially, she had thought that if Jiang Xia was also reborn and refused to divorce Zhou Chenglei, she wouldn’t become a third party.
But now, thinking about it, Zhou Chenglei didn’t even like Jiang Xia.
And her dreams were too real, all of them were omens. Every dream she had eventually came true, so she was certain that Zhou Chenglei would one day be her husband.
Jiang Xia was now in a position to take over.
A while back, she had a dream where Zhou Chenglei saved her from being swept away by the waves. She felt that today was the beginning of their fated encounter.
Wen Wan hurriedly ran to Zhou Chenglei's side, smiling, "Big Brother Zhou, you're so early?"
Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia were working separately, each in a spot where the sea shrimp were abundant.
Zhou Chenglei only grunted in response, not even lifting his head to look at her. He kept his head down, using a rake to gather the shrimp together.
Wen Wan knew she couldn't rush things; he would save her soon enough.
Right now, it was more important to gather as many shrimp as possible to earn money, otherwise, she wouldn't have enough to pay her tuition.
The waves were quite strong today, and she hadn't expected Jiang Xia to be so clever, using a net to block the shrimp and prevent them from being swept away by the waves.
But Wen Wan was prepared. She had brought along a scraper used for harvesting grain, but each scrape brought up more mud and sand than shrimp, making the cleanup a hassle. Plus, the beach wasn't flat, making it difficult to use the scraper effectively.
She noticed that Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia were using an improved bamboo rake. With a light swipe, it could catch only the shrimp while letting the sand and mud fall through the gaps. The rake's teeth made it easy to use on the uneven ground, greatly simplifying the task.
Why hadn't she thought of using a rake?
Wen Wan had no choice but to give up on the scraper and pick the shrimp by hand.
Besides shrimp, Wen Wan had another dream last night. She saw two sea snails, which someone picked up and opened to find pearls inside.
Those two sea snails were her target for today!
She glanced at Zhou Chenglei's basket, relieved to see no sea snails. She quickly started picking shrimp while searching for the snails.
She had to act fast while it was raining, and no one else was around. Once the rain stopped, the villagers would come out.
Before long, Zhou Chenglei's father arrived.
He had noticed that Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia hadn't returned home for a while and guessed they must have found a good catch at the beach. He was also worried about their safety and came to check on them.
From a distance, Zhou Chenglei's father saw something unusual on the beach and hurried over.
Zhou Chenglei said, "Dad, can you help us shovel these piles of shrimp into the baskets?"
Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei had already gathered several piles of shrimp with their rakes.
Though each pile was small, they weighed a few pounds each.
"Sure!" Zhou Chenglei's father rushed over, grabbing a sieve to scoop up the piles of shrimp and pour them into the baskets.
He couldn't stop smiling, "It's a good thing Xia was so well-prepared!"
If they hadn't brought enough tools, they would have had to go back and forth, wasting time that could have been spent gathering more shrimp.
Yes, they were gathering shrimp. The beach was like a field full of grain, but instead of grain, it was covered in shrimp!
Well, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but there were indeed shrimp scattered everywhere.
Wen Wan's heart raced when she saw Zhou Chenglei's father arrive. This meant more people would come soon.
She had only gathered a basket so far.
And she hadn't found the two sea snails from her dream yet.
But the beach was vast. How could she possibly find them?
She looked around, her eyes scanning the area: Where are those pearl snails?
Wen Wan's gaze suddenly stopped on the arm warmer Jiang Xia was wearing.
The hand that had picked up the snail in her dream was slender, smooth, and delicate, clearly a hand that had never done hard labor, yet it was wearing an arm warmer.
Exactly like the one Jiang Xia was wearing.
Wen Wan's heart pounded.
Jiang Xia absolutely must not find those pearl snails!
Thank you for your support, everyone! I'll add another update!
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
