Zhang Mei Xing 'overcame' the embarrassment of being teased by excusing herself for the restroom.
Afterward, she looked at herself in the mirror and felt a real wave of emotions engulfing her.
Zhang Mei Xing nervously reached for her cheeks, her trembling fingers feeling the temperature. Her heart was beating erratically from the realization that she had really come back to the past.
This time, it was for real.
"I was an atheist before rebirth, but now I experienced this miracle first hand, it's really hard not to feel fear and awe." Her voice was soaked in emotions, and before she knew it, she was immersed in her thoughts, recalling more what she went through in 'that place' more than the memories of her previous life.
At this point, Zhang Mei Xing had yet to realize that something in her situation did not make sense.
'Every test is different since everyone is also different. If the examinee passes, we will let them go back to the past or transmigrate to another place or into another identity.'
'But they would absolutely have no recollection of what they experienced in the test world.'
These were the words that the guide told her before. It was not that she had forgotten about it. It was still somewhere in her subconscious, but all the excitement and other complicated feelings had engulfed her and clouded her reasoning, making her neglect this detail.
Zhang Mei Xing closed her eyes briefly.
It took a long while before she collected her calm. She pocketed the hand mirror and walked out.
…
Zhang Mei Xing was not a fool to not appreciate the chance given to her. The guide in her memories had explained that not many could be given this opportunity, and her case was nothing short of a miracle.
There was no way she would ruin it by acting strangely around her family, friends, and other acquaintances. She could not speak of this matter to them too. Otherwise, wouldn't everyone mistake her for a mentally deranged individual?
With that said, Zhang Mei Xing chose the wise option, to blend in and act like a real teenager even though soul-wise, she was nearing her mid-twenties.
However…
'Uhh…'
'My pastime is usually reading, writing, or watching dramas online. But the current me has no phone…'
A problem presented itself when five days finally passed.
Zhang Mei Xing even before transmigration was quite the smart type, or else she would not graduate from a good university and be accepted into a good company with an above-average salary package.
Unfortunately, fully adapting to her new life was not easy. She knew she had to behave like a kid. She knew she had to restart from her senior high school days and actually this part was not a problem since anything thrown at her, she could easily learn, or more like recall.
So how should she pass her free time then?
The question that crossed her mind enlightened her of the reason why people with grudges or extreme desire were mostly the ones allowed to reincarnate or time-travel.
Unlike women who were thrown back to the past to get revenge against betrayers and thus began moving into action the moment they went back to life, Zhang Mei Xing was an unambitious woman. She only wanted to graduate, get a job, and avoid the earthquake that would take her life.
The matter was so damnably simple that when she compared herself to heroines of poisonous consort dramas or CEO villainesses novels, she felt ashamed. It was not that she didn't think her reason for her return was not as good, but the process was not worth mentioning, with little difficulties and excitement.
'Uh... While those people had to be on guard every day and scheme against others all the time, I only have to eat, drink, sleep, and play cute to my parents.'
'What is there to compare? The degree of boredom?'
Hollow laughter escaped from her mouth.
When thought about this way, Zhang Mei Xing could not help but feel like the guide was quite the moron for favoring her, but she felt grateful for it.
Several more days and weeks passed and while dealing with her boredom, Zhang Mei Xing lived in peace and was still happy being with her family.
Gradually, she found out that there was still no more powerful feeling that could triumph over the glee of regaining what she had lost. In fact, she realized, since her family was her motivation, why couldn't she devote her free time to improving her family's financial situation?
Instead of simply following the original trajectory, evading the epicenter of the earthquake once she turned twenty-four, she could do some minor changes.
Now, here comes the next important question.
What could give her the easy money that she wanted?
Her eyes were lighting up as she mentally did some calculations.
'Definitely stocks! And future businesses that are sure to give back lots of money!'
'If I can't even take advantage of this, my professors in college would be angered to death by me!'
In reality, she had long thought of doing stocks but only dismissed the idea upon being confronted by one stumbling block, her age. After all, even though she had no money right now, it was not hard to save up what she was getting from her parents and do some part-time jobs for a month and two. If she would also thicken her face, borrowing money from her middle-class born classmates would also help in this endeavor.
But the age of sixteen would not let her register in any brokerage. She was a minor. Her parents too would not agree on her dabbling in such an unpredictable market which seemed just an online gambling den for them. Even if there was the option to make them open an account for her, they would not do it out of fear of losing money there.
So what should she do?
'Act my age, huh?' The thought came to her after some time. A bright glimmer flickered through her eyes again. 'Why not?'
She could not do work while school was ongoing as it would mean getting some daily earful from her mom, but summer vacation was a different matter! It would be coming in just a week or two!
With this in mind, she thought that it was nice timing.
After getting the money, the only obstacle would be snatching her mom's ID without being found out!
The sixteen-year-old-looking girl felt bad a little because of this scheme, but then like any other guilty person, she began to convince herself that this was for the greater good.
There would be no one harmed anyway. The stock market was deemed dangerous and unpredictable by even the most proficient trader. But it was nothing short of a playground to any reincarnator who knew which businesses and companies would thrive soon.
Zhang Mei Xing proceeded with her plans, lying low until the end of the school year.
There were not many changes so far, apart from being more obedient and sensible at home, and her suddenly shooting up from rankings. About the latter, it was because, in the previous quarterly exams, that was before she merged with her 16-year-old self, her usual rank always played around 8-10. Yet all of a sudden, she went up to the second place. That rank was even the final result after getting her average for the entire school year.
A result that left many speechless and in awe.
"Mei… I've been your friend since kindergarten and it's only last year that we both got promoted to the pilot section. Yet I didn't know you were this formidable!" An Qi exclaimed in exhilaration while giving Zhang Mei Xing an admiring gaze.
However, the person praised felt nothing but embarrassment as it sounded like the praise was for 'bullying' her classmates. Of course, everyone who saw her flushed cheeks only thought she was very happy yet very shy about her accomplishment.
Anyway, that took place on the day the final ranking for the grade was announced.
A small celebration was thrown by her parents who were very elated due to the honor medal she got, a cheap metal thing which did not even cost 10 RMB, but served as a symbol of her academic achievement. Her mom, who rarely drank took two glasses of her father's liquor, and given her disastrous alcohol tolerance, it did not take long for her to fall asleep with a strange smile on her face.
The evil daughter sneakily left the living room for her parents' bedroom, intending to snatch something from there. As she opened the door and stepped in, she even looked back with her eyes swimming around, like a paranoid thief, to make sure no one sees her.
Just then, something she didn't expect suddenly happened.
'Hmm?' Blinking once, she seemed to have seen an hourglass manifesting in her subconscious.
When she dismissed it for a momentary hallucination and turned her head in front, the familiar layout of her parents' small room that she was expecting to see didn't unfold in her eyes.
Without her knowing why and how it happened, Zhang Mei Xing found herself in an unfamiliar place, a lavish room with expensive looking furniture and decors.
She stared blankly at the two people who suddenly appeared in front of her. A beautiful girl dressed like a socialite and an icy-looking guy in a stylish suit who was looking indifferently at the crying woman.