Chapter Three: Fight On, Girl!

It was past nine o'clock at night when they returned to their lodgings. Sheng Jiaoyang sat on the edge of the bed, watching Xu Qing busy with housework. The house was small, but there was a lot of chores to do—all because of her, this pampered little one who never lifted a finger to cook! →_→ The dishes from lunch hadn't been cleaned, and there were still clothes to change out of.

In her memory, her mother lived with her in a villa, with Zhang Ma, hired by her grandfather, taking care of their meals, and a full-time nanny managing the villa. She had never seen her mother do any housework.

The mother before her was very ordinary, somewhat weak-willed, but also great; not every mother could raise a child alone.

"Jiaojiao, I've prepared your bathwater, go take a bath!" Xu Qing's words interrupted Sheng Jiaoyang's thoughts.

Late at night, Sheng Jiaoyang woke up sweating and was startled when she opened her eyes. There was a dark shadow at the foot of the bed. Because of her nearsightedness, the shadow was blurry and particularly eerie.

She quickly grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight. Shining it, she saw it was Xu Qing.

Sheng Jiaoyang patted her chest and asked irritably, "Why aren't you asleep yet?" What's with sitting at the foot of the bed in the middle of the night?

Luckily, she doesn't have a heart condition.

Xu Qing was also startled by Sheng Jiaoyang's voice. She quickly said, "I'm going to sleep now."

Hearing the hoarseness and sobbing in Xu Qing's voice, Sheng Jiaoyang sat up and turned on the room light. Sure enough, she saw Xu Qing

's red and swollen eyes, which she was trying to hide. Crying like this in the middle of the night, what could have happened? Back when the person she secretly loved was being intimate with a busty woman in front of her, she hadn't cried like this. At most, she would secretly shed a few sad tears.

"What's wrong? Did someone bully you?"

"No," Xu Qing turned her head away and secretly wiped away her tears, "Go to sleep."

"Don't hide, I saw everything. What's wrong with you? I'm your daughter, we should share everything."

Xu Qing looked at Sheng Jiaoyang, hesitant to speak, but tears kept flowing.

Sheng Jiaoyang sat down next to Xu Qing, hugged her, and said softly, "I'm all grown up now. There's nothing you can't tell me. Some problems are unsolvable for you, but maybe someone else can. Besides, it's just the two of us in this family, you should trust me!"

Xu Qing, who had always been the pillar supporting the family, felt comforted and embraced by her daughter, as if she had suddenly found a support. She hugged Sheng Jiaoyang and burst into tears.

Sheng Jiaoyang patted Xu Qing's back again and again, letting her cry. It was better to cry it out than to keep it inside.

When Xu Qing gradually calmed down, she said, "Okay, now you can tell me why you cried."

"Jiaojiao, Mom is sorry..." Xu Qing choked up again as she said this.

"How could I? Anyone in this world might wrong me, but you would never."

Comforted by Sheng Jiaoyang's firm words, Xu Qing said haltingly the reason for her sadness.

Xu Qing works as a sales clerk in a mobile phone store in a shopping mall. Yesterday afternoon, she was distracted at work because she was thinking about her daughter. A conman tricked her by swapping three new phones with model ones. She only realized the phones had been switched when she tried to put them back on the counter, but the conman had already fled. Although she

immediately reported the incident to the police, it was uncertain whether the conman would be caught. The store owner, already dissatisfied with Xu Qing's frequent absences, fired her and demanded compensation for the three phones. He said he wouldn't return the money unless the conman was caught and the losses recovered.

Nearly ten thousand yuan was wiped out in one fell swoop—money she had saved by scrimping and saving for her daughter's university tuition. Now her daughter had been accepted into such a good university, but she had lost the tuition money. How could she not be heartbroken?

"Money is gone, but there's always a way to earn it back. Besides, you can take out a loan for university," Sheng Jiaoyang comforted her.

Having revealed her innermost thoughts, Xu Qing calmed down considerably. She was touched by her daughter's understanding, but also didn't want her young daughter to bear the burden of her mistakes. She said, "I'll go borrow money from your uncle tomorrow, Jiaojiao. Mom will make sure you go to university safely!"

An uncle?

"Will your uncle lend money?"

Sheng Jiaoyang asked, noticing Xu Qing's hesitation. Now she knew this uncle was unreliable.

Without a husband or family to rely on, it was no wonder this situation felt like the sky was falling.

She used to think ten thousand yuan was nothing, but now the whole family was worried about it.

Sheng Jiaoyang didn't sleep much that night, her mind racing with thoughts of how to escape her family's predicament.

Even if Xu Qing could borrow money, it would only be a drop in the bucket. The most important thing to get out of this predicament was to have a good source of income.

Considering all aspects, participating in that supermodel selection program seemed like the best way out.

The next day, Sheng Jiaoyang didn't go to her uncle's house with Xu Qing. She said a classmate needed to see her, asked Xu Qing for some change, and then went out.

After researching online, Sheng Jiaoyang went straight to the registration point.

Compared to online registration, on-site registration was more direct. Staff measured her measurements (bust, waist, hips, hips) during registration, and those who met the standards proceeded to the interview stage. Only those who passed the interview could participate in the competition. Online registration was more cumbersome. After filling out the registration information, she had to wait for the system to filter her criteria, then have a video interview. After passing the interview, she had to schedule an on-site measurement, and only those whose measurements matched her registration information could participate in the competition.

The registration point was in the new city area, while Sheng Jiaoyang lived in the old city area. Fortunately, there was a subway station near the registration point. Sheng Jiaoyang, who had never taken a bus before, had only taken one yesterday when she returned from the Central Hospital with Xu Qing. Because she had observed things carefully yesterday, she wasn't confused about taking the bus alone for the first time today.

Sheng Jiaoyang first took the bus to the nearest subway station, and then transferred to the subway to go to the registration point.

It was only a little past nine in the morning, and there were already some people queuing up to fill out registration forms, perhaps because today was the last day for the preliminary selection.

All those registering were tall, beautiful young women, most of whom had dressed up quite nicely, with carefully chosen hairstyles and outfits. Two girls had clearly come together, chatting in thick Northeastern accents.

"Oh my god, I'm so excited! Yangbao, do you think I can get in?" As they moved forward in the queue, the taller, more delicate-looking girl grabbed the girl she called Yangbao and asked nervously.

"You definitely can, relax." Yangbao gave a thumbs-up with one hand.

Sheng Jiaoyang looked at the two girls, who were like sisters, and a slight smile played on her lips. She also had a best friend, the beautiful girl who had cried and laughed with her, and had done many crazy things with her.

Thinking about how different their current statuses were, she somewhat regretted her decision to return to China. She was still enjoying her life as a pampered young lady, shopping with pretty girls, flirting with guys... even heartbreak wasn't a big deal. Why couldn't she have come up with the idea of ​​going back to fight those idiots in the Sheng family?

Well, back then, she thought that if she was unhappy, she needed to find something to vent her frustrations on, and that's when she thought of the mother and daughter in the Sheng family who ruined her reputation. Things were different now. She wasn't the little girl who was helpless against her stepmother's schemes and could only go abroad with her grandfather anymore, so how could she let them live comfortably again?

Revenge for every grudge, every grievance for every wrong.

The start of her revenge went quite smoothly. Before she even made a move, her good sister's crush confessed to her. When she was confessed to, she was stunned, probably because she didn't expect her prey to clean up her act and come to her. The embarrassment and pain on Sheng Shiyun's face at that moment gave her a great sense of satisfaction.

Sheng Shiyun probably never imagined that the person she had been smearing and who had successfully made everyone despise her could so effortlessly steal away her childhood sweetheart.

Of course, Sheng Shiyun was unwilling to accept this. Taking advantage of her birthday, she invited her crush out and secretly took misleading photos to send to her. Xu Jiaojiao

, who had just finished her exams and was bored, drove over to "catch her in the act," intending to expose Sheng Shiyun's little tricks face-to-face.

Later…

she became Xu Jiaojiao.

Over the years, she had taken great care of her health, which was why she could live like a normal person. Who would have thought that such a shock would cause her to collapse? Few people knew that she had a heart condition. Her mother had hidden it from everyone around her since she was born, and for some reason, even her parents had kept it a secret.

Her mother passed away after her eighth birthday. About two or three months later, she learned about the mother and daughter her father had been keeping outside the home. Devastated, she confronted them, but a single push caused the woman to miscarry her two-month-old fetus. Her father then took the mother and daughter home. In less than two years, many things happened in her family, and she became known as a vicious woman. Her grandfather then took her abroad.

Later, as she gained more experience, she gradually realized many suspicious points. Now, if she had to go through those things again, she would never fall into a woman's trap again, lest one wrong step lead to another.

"See the form on the screen? Fill out this form; all required fields must be filled. Now, please give me your ID card for verification. Only after verification can you go to the testing area over there." A hand reached out and pointed to the computer on the desk, angled towards the applicants.

It was her turn. Sheng Jiaoyang snapped out of her daze, took out her ID card, handed it over, glanced at the form, and began filling it out with the mouse.

As soon as she entered her name, the staff member pointed out, "Wait a minute, your ID card says Xu Jiaojiao, but you wrote Sheng Jiaoyang. Isn't that you?"

Sheng Jiaoyang paused, then replied calmly, "I just changed my name and haven't gotten used to it yet." She took the ID card, entered her ID number, place of origin, and other personal information, and then handed it back to the staff member.

After verifying the information, the staff member scanned the ID card and entered the photo into the form. As they returned the ID card, they glanced suspiciously at the portrait on it and muttered, "Is that really you?"

Sheng Jiaoyang's lips twitched. To be honest, it really wasn't her.