"Xiao Jiao, do you really think I can become a fashion designer?"

Jiang Xiaoyue went home and tossed and turned over this for a long time, but she just couldn’t wrap her head around it. She hadn’t really believed it at first, but she found herself captivated by the future Qin Jiao had described.

What one thinks by day, one dreams of by night.

Lately, she’d been having two kinds of dreams. In one, she continued to just muddle through life. Of course, she failed her college entrance exams, then followed some people to work in a factory. She was exhausted every single day and didn’t even make much money. Later, after finally managing to save up enough, she ended up getting scammed by a man, and her life became utterly miserable.

The other dream, however, was simply wonderful.

She studied hard and passed the college entrance exams, getting into a university in the provincial capital. While it wasn’t a top-tier school, its fashion design program was excellent. She applied herself, designed a lot of beautiful clothes while she was still a student, and after graduating, she partnered with a classmate to start a company. She made a fortune and married a handsome man...

Every time she had that dream, she would wake up from the sheer bliss of it!

She would grin foolishly for a moment after waking up. But once she was fully awake, she would remember that getting into a university in the provincial capital was next to impossible for her right now. That’s why she had come to find Qin Jiao.

Qin Jiao said in a level voice, "Hard work pays off. If you try, you might not succeed. But if you don’t try, you’ll never even have a chance."

She looked at Jiang Xiaoyue. "There’s still one year left. Give it your all. If you pass the exams, it’ll be the fruit of your labor. If you don’t, then that’s just how fate has it. You won’t have lost anything, will you?"

Jiang Xiaoyue gritted her teeth and finally said with conviction, "Alright. I’ll give it my all and try!"

Qin Jiao smiled gently as she watched her walk away, full of newfound determination.

’If you want to change your fate, whatever others do are just external factors. The real steering wheel has always been in your own hands.’

’In her past life, Qin Jiao hadn’t realized this. After Lin Nian made a few moves and changed the course of several events, she was completely capsized by the waves of fate.’

’Toward the end, she was basically just swept along by the current.’

Qin Jiao took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, they were clear and calm.

’This life, she wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.’

During the lunch break, someone suddenly came looking for Qin Jiao. They said Sun Guotao wanted her to go to the vice principal’s office.

Sun Guotao’s teaching methods were unconventional, but he had won over all the students. The learning atmosphere in the class was now leagues better than when Li Mei had been their homeroom teacher. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The students Li Mei used to favor had initially tried to bribe Sun Guotao. To their surprise, he announced that if anyone tried to bribe him, he would single that student out and ensure they never got any good opportunities.

None of the students dared to test him. They immediately gave up and went back to studying properly.

Qin Jiao assumed Sun Guotao had called her to his office to discuss her studies, but when she walked in, she found someone else was there as well.

The woman looked to be in her late thirties. Her skin was well-cared-for, and anyone who didn’t know her would assume she was a very elegant and gentle person.

Qin Jiao, however, knew it was all a facade.

’This woman was her mother-in-law from her past life. She had a bad temper, was incredibly gullible, and jumped to conclusions at the drop of a hat. Sometimes, she was like a firecracker with a short fuse—ready to explode at the slightest provocation.’

’She wasn’t a bad person, just not a very bright one.’

’She was often used as a pawn.’

’Like right now, for instance...’