Back to the 1980s: Transmigrated as the Bigshot's Pampered Wife-Chapter 20: Eager to Try

Everyone felt Gu Jiaojiao was right. The Sheng family’s true daughter was as beautiful as a flower; she couldn’t have grown up living on air.

The Gu family must be quite well-off, and Sheng Xinglian didn’t want to give them up. You couldn’t blame Gu Jiaojiao for not going "home" to them.

The poor girl didn’t even know where the Gu family was. What a cruel fate.

Gu Jiaojiao had no idea the people in the residential compound were all pitying her. She pushed Su Shuochi’s wheelchair to their front door.

From a distance, she saw Mr. Su waiting for them, looking quite worried.

"Dad, you’re home from work?" Gu Jiaojiao greeted him sweetly.

"Yes. Your mother has dinner ready. Here, let me get that," Mr. Su said good-naturedly.

For dinner, the Su family had a dish of stir-fried greens, along with a large bowl of the soy-braised pig’s trotters and pork belly Gu Jiaojiao had prepared.

Su Qinchun had learned at lunchtime that Gu Jiaojiao preferred her rice firm, so for dinner, it wasn’t cooked until it was mushy.

"Wow, who made the rice? It smells wonderful!" Gu Jiaojiao exclaimed, pleased.

"Chun Ni made it," Su’s mother said, her kind face breaking into a smile that smoothed her wrinkles. "If Jiaojiao likes it, we’ll make firm rice from now on."

Her son was willing to go outside.

That meant he was starting to pull himself together. She could finally be at ease, whether he could ever stand again or not.

"Oh, right, Jiaojiao. Chun Ni found this money in your pocket when she was doing your laundry. Here you go."

As she spoke, Su’s mother took out a wad of cash wrapped in red paper, still sealed. Gu Jiaojiao suddenly remembered.

The original Gu Jiaojiao had demanded it, arguing that since it was her wedding, all the monetary gifts should go to her.

"Mom, you can have the gift money. I still have some on me. Shu Ci gave me a lot of money, and I have plenty left over even after buying the rice and meat."

’That morning, Gu Jiaojiao had sold 220 pounds of rice for fifty yuan. She had spent over twenty yuan on meat, pig’s trotters, and other things.’

She casually pulled out two ten-yuan bills and a handful of small change, asking excitedly.

"We’re going shopping again tomorrow morning. Dad, Mom, Qin Chun, is there anything you need us to buy?"

"No."

The three of them said in unison.

Mr. Su and Su’s mother truly didn’t need anything. Su Qinchun, on the other hand, had many things she wanted, but she didn’t dare say so. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

’I still have a few days off before I have to go back to school,’ Gu Jiaojiao thought. ’I need to use this time to sell more rice and noodles.’

’Only by stashing more money in my space will I feel secure. It’s not like there are phones to scroll through these days.’

’I’m a high school senior this year, and the college entrance exam is on July ninth. Even though I was a top student in my past life, it’s been a long time since I was in school.’

’A little over twenty days should be enough time to review. I still want to get into the same top-tier university I attended in my past life.’

’In my past life, I studied clinical medicine. This time, I want to major in traditional Chinese medicine. TCM has a history stretching back thousands of years.’

’It reached its peak during the Han Dynasty, but countless formulas have been lost since then. In my previous life, my maternal grandfather had longed to restore those ancient remedies.’

’But the spirit was willing while the flesh was weak. He was too old and lacked the energy. Besides, with so many ancient formulas completely lost, there was nowhere to even begin.’

Gu Jiaojiao had felt so anxious on his behalf.

But now, reborn in the 1980s and ten years younger, Gu Jiaojiao could start her study of traditional Chinese medicine from scratch.

She didn’t find TCM dull in the slightest; instead, she felt a thrill of anticipation.

Her smile was infectious. A long-absent smile even appeared on Su Shuochi’s face, making the entire Su family overjoyed.

*

Meanwhile, at the Sheng family’s home, Sheng Xinglian went straight to her room to cry as soon as she returned. Ever since she came back to the Sheng family, this was the first time Song Zijin hadn’t chased after her, declaring that *they* were the ones with the childhood engagement.

When Mr. Sheng arrived home, he relayed what Gu Jiaojiao had said to his wife, adding his own thoughts on the matter.

Mrs. Sheng had mulled over this as well, but it had never occurred to her that her daughter’s outstanding qualities were a result of the Gu family’s upbringing.

She had always assumed Sheng Xinglian’s excellence came from inheriting her own superior genes, while Gu Jiaojiao had been worn down by the Gu family into someone petty and unrefined.

After hearing what her husband said, Mrs. Sheng’s resentment toward Gu Jiaojiao lessened slightly.

But they had already published a notice in the papers severing their ties. She had no desire to compensate Gu Jiaojiao any further. It was best for everyone to just go their separate ways.

Sheng Xinglian, fuming that Song Zijin hadn’t chased after her, had returned to her room and cried for a long time.

She only emerged at dinnertime after Mrs. Sheng had called for her several times. Seeing the displeasure on her mother’s face, Sheng Xinglian started crying again.

"Mom, I really shouldn’t have come back," she sobbed. "Jiaojiao won’t even acknowledge me as her sister anymore."

"We’ve already disowned her. What sister? Just focus on being yourself."

Second Sheng, Sheng Shiwen, snapped irritably. He had also heard what Gu Jiaojiao had said.

He had been on his way home from work and saw a large crowd gathered in the middle of the road.

He had intended to walk around them, but when he heard Gu Jiaojiao’s voice, he found himself inexplicably drawn closer.

After hearing Gu Jiaojiao’s words, Sheng Shiwen felt she wasn’t wrong. If Xingxing had just told Gu Jiaojiao where the Gu family lived, Gu Jiaojiao would have left the Sheng family right then and there. She might have remained their beloved Jiaojiao, and they wouldn’t have ended up despising the sight of each other.

It was only after hearing her speak that Sheng Shiwen realized Gu Jiaojiao hadn’t appreciated their guilt-tripping either.

’All that talk about gratitude and being an ungrateful brat... Being switched at birth with Xingxing wasn’t her fault.’

Unfortunately, he’d realized it too late. The damage was done. As a result, he found he had less patience for his biological sister.

"Second Brother, don’t you love me anymore? How could you say that to me?" Sheng Xinglian’s eyes, already puffy from crying, grew even redder.

Sheng Shiwen felt a surge of irritation, while Third Sheng rolled his eyes so far back in his head he looked blind.

"Shiwen, is that any way to talk to your sister?" Mr. Sheng chided. "Xingxing is the apple of the Sheng family’s eye. You all need to love and protect your sister."

Mr. Sheng smacked his second son on the arm, his eyes conveying a clear message to Sheng Shiwen: ’What’s done is done, how can you blame your sister? Are you a man or not?’

Sheng Shiwen understood his father’s look. "Xingxing, of course Second Brother loves you. I was just trying to say that Gu Jiaojiao has nothing to do with us anymore."

Sheng Xinglian had lived to the age of thirty-eight in her previous life. ’I can see right through that fool’s half-hearted act.’

’I want to fix the atmosphere in this family, too. If blaming me makes Dad and my brothers feel better, then I’m willing to take this unwarranted blame. Let me be the one to suffer alone!’

Wallowing in self-pity, Sheng Xinglian began to whimper softly, which made Mr. Sheng ache with frustration from head to toe.

In the past, seeing his daughter cry like this would have made him blame the Gu family for ruining her, and in turn, he would have treated Gu Jiaojiao even more coldly.

’Now that I think about it,’ he mused, ’it’s that the Gu family spoiled their daughter rotten, so much so that she can’t handle the slightest grievance.’

What Mr. Sheng never could have dreamed was that his daughter’s flaws weren’t a result of being spoiled by the Gu family at all.

Rather, they were the result of more than a decade of boundless, compensatory spoiling from him and his eldest son in her previous life, which had turned Sheng Xinglian into someone who acted as if the whole world owed her.

Aside from Gu Jiaojiao, no one knew that Sheng Xinglian had been reborn.

Gu Jiaojiao woke early the next morning, ready to build her new life in the 1980s.

When she woke up, Su Shuochi woke up as well. ’I seriously suspect he’s been awake for a while,’ she thought, ’but I have no proof.’