Why did it have to be high school?
For Li Xingya, her previous life’s high school days were hardly easy.
Juggling part-time jobs and keeping up with classes… In the end, she didn’t even get a stellar score on the college entrance exam.
Now she had to relive it all, and on top of that, she had to go to school while starting her debut career… That was way too much of a grind.
‘Can’t I just focus on working in peace?’
“Um…”
Li Xingya glanced at Jiang Chiyue.
“You, I mean… uh… this…”
Li Xingya hesitated.
Without being allowed to use “sir,” she couldn’t figure out what to call Jiang Chiyue.
“Just call me Jiang Chiyue.”
“Okay… ahem, Jiang Chiyue, can I skip school?”
Li Xingya quickly swallowed the last bite of her sandwich.
As someone in debt, negotiating like this with her creditor didn’t make sense, but Li Xingya genuinely felt resistant to Jiang Chiyue’s plans.
Faced with Li Xingya’s request, Jiang Chiyue was clearly taken aback.
“Why? With your current high school dropout record, no agency will help you debut.”
“No, what I mean is… Actually, I don’t even really want to be a celebrity, hehe.”
Li Xingya gave an awkward smile.
As she spoke, she realized how ridiculous her request was.
Jiang Chiyue relaxed a little, leaning back on the sofa.
“You told me yourself before that you wanted to experience being the center of attention. Now that I’m giving you the chance, are you going to back out?”
‘Tch. You’re always like this.’
‘Blocking me on your phone like that.’
‘Pretending you don’t know me.’
‘Now saying you don’t want to be a star.’
‘…You take our relationship way too lightly.’
‘Liar. Not a single truthful word out of your mouth.’
Unconsciously, Jiang Chiyue’s mood soured.
As for Li Xingya—someone used to dealing with work—she clearly failed to notice the change.
“Jiang Chiyue… I thought about it last night. I really don’t think I’m cut out to be a star.”
“Is there any other job available?”
“Maybe I should just find one myself. I’m pretty experienced with that.”
Li Xingya babbled on.
Like an idiot, completely unaware of her situation.
“Li Xingya.”
“Yes…! Oof!”
Li Xingya barely reacted before a sharp pain hit her shoulder.
The next moment, she was pinned down on the sofa.
Jiang Chiyue was strong.
When her hand pressed against Li Xingya’s thin frame, Li Xingya’s first instinct was that something had slammed into her.
“Li Xingya, instead of finding a job, shouldn’t you first learn your place?”
Jiang Chiyue’s voice was cold.
She was clearly furious.
She leaned over Li Xingya.
Her eyes were filled with chill.
Yet within that chill, Li Xingya could still sense something… a deeply hidden affection?
‘What the hell.’
‘She’s pretty fond of “me,” isn’t she.’
‘Too bad I’m not “Li Xingya,” otherwise I might actually be moved by those eyes.’
‘For now… I just need to find a way to calm Jiang Chiyue down.’
Li Xingya’s train of thought was mature.
As a reincarnator with a masculine spirit, she thought she should act like this.
But the moment she opened her mouth, things turned out completely differently—
“I’m… I’m sorry! I was just joking! Yes, I… I was joking. Please rest assured, I’ll seriously become a star, I’ll study hard in school too… I’ll get good grades. Please, sniff, please don’t be mad!”
The mature adult was terrified.
This situation—being threatened—felt eerily similar to being cornered by debt collectors in her past life.
Li Xingya was genuinely scared.
Her body trembled uncontrollably.
She kept cursing herself internally, asking herself where her adult composure had gone.
Even though she’d just been teasing Jiang Chiyue in her mind, she still couldn’t help crying pathetically.
It was all this body’s fault for having such a leaky tear duct!
“Tch.”
‘Li Xingya started using “sir” again.’
‘So annoying.’
‘Does she really find it that amusing to pretend not to know me?’
‘Or was the online Sister Li Xingya the one she faked?’
‘Alternatively… could Li Xingya actually have amnesia? What a coincidence—right after she blocked me and I came looking for her, she happens to lose her memory?’
‘So maybe someone else reincarnated into her body?’
‘No! That’s even more impossible. This isn’t a novel; things like that don’t just happen.’
“Sniff…”
Pinned down, Li Xingya let out a soft sob.
‘You look ugly when you cry.’
‘I prefer Sister Li Xingya’s smile.’
‘You’re also Li Xingya, so why… is there nothing about you that resembles Sister Li Xingya?’
‘You’re the same person…!’
Jiang Chiyue’s expression softened slightly, and her tone gentled.
“Stop crying first.”
Li Xingya didn’t respond.
Why wasn’t Li Xingya speaking?
Jiang Chiyue thought Li Xingya was throwing a tantrum.
She wasn’t entirely wrong.
Li Xingya was indeed sulking with herself.
She was angry at this body for being so weak—just a little fright, and tears came streaming down.
“Wipe your tears first.”
Jiang Chiyue got up, grabbed a tissue from the coffee table, and handed it to Li Xingya.
“Your nerves are so thin. One little tease from me and you’re scared to tears.”
Li Xingya still didn’t respond.
She took the tissue, stubbornly turned her head away, opened her mouth, and said in a hoarse, slightly trembling voice, “I wasn’t crying.”
There was no way Li Xingya would admit she was crying.
“Fine, fine. If you say you weren’t crying, then you weren’t.”
Jiang Chiyue didn’t bother arguing.
She just went back to her room.
A moment later, she came out with a document.
Jiang Chiyue placed the document and a black pen on the table.
“Here, sign this first.”
“What’s this…?”
Li Xingya’s voice still carried a hint of a sob—unavoidable.
“An adoption agreement.”
“Huh?”
Li Xingya was stunned.
Jiang Chiyue thought she hadn’t heard clearly, so she raised her voice.
“An adoption agreement. You came from an orphanage, but the agency’s debut contract needs a guardian’s signature. I thought it over and decided to prepare an adoption agreement.”
Li Xingya was sixteen.
Jiang Chiyue was twenty.
Li Xingya looked at Jiang Chiyue, who was only four years older, then at the adoption agreement on the table.
She said in disbelief, “You mean… from now on, I have to call you ‘Mom’?”
“What’s running through that head of yours?”
Jiang Chiyue shot her a glare.
“The guardian is my mom. At most, I’ll be your older sister!”
Li Xingya breathed a sigh of relief.
‘So it’s older sister.’
‘That scared me.’
‘But still… even if it’s older sister, it sounds pretty weird.’
‘The reason an older sister forces her younger sister to go back to school is so she can become a star or something.’
‘Wait…!’
‘Then the relationship between “Li Xingya” and Jiang Chiyue now… isn’t that… incest?!’
The rich really knew how to have fun!
Right now, in Li Xingya’s eyes, Jiang Chiyue was basically the embodiment of “repression.”