Chapter 3: New Beginning

In order to have a good day when you wake up, you have to wake up naturally before your alarm rings. By doing this, you will feel more energised and less groggy than if you were forced to wake yourself up. However this is something I could never achieve.

I'm a deep sleeper and so, only a loud alarm on my old, brick-like phone is able to wake me up.

This means that my days always start with me cursing all the 9 generations of my ancestors because it is the fault of their genes that I sleep like this...

Today however today is different. From the moment when I opened my eyes and realised that I am still in my balcony room, in the body of my 16 year-old self, I knew that today is when a new chapter in my life is created

I slowly get out of bed and look at the time.

'5:30AM?!'

'Why is it so early?' I then remembered that I usually wake up at this time in order to make breakfast for this family of four, even though I myself never eat it because time does not allow it, as I have to head out to school at 6:30AM and walk since no one ever give memoney for the bus fare.

However, that was all in my past life. This life will be different. I took out my uniform and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and freshen myself up. This is when I realised that I still have horribly long hair that definitely does not suit me and I'm suddenly overcome by a big impulse to chop at least half of it off right now.

"Calm down Han Xue Wei, you can't do anything rash.." I mumble to myself as I brush my teeth.

I realised that my plans for revenge will have to be postponed until I go to high school, so now I need to be more low-key in order to get revenge. I know these people really well so if they realise that I am trying harder to be better than them, then they will definitely find a way to intervene like they did for my college entrance examinations in my past life.

'Sob.. Sob... I'm sorry my beautiful self, this brother will have to wrong you and hide you from the outside world for another 3 months!'

One thing I will not allow though, is to be pushed around like I was in my past life, so I'm not going to clean and cook for them anymore. I will absolutely not be subjected to any more injustice! I don't want to be like their servant.

Determined, I quickly put on my school uniform and head to the kitchen where I make a simple breakfast for one person. I had to cook for this family for years so my cooking skills are pretty decent, even I was surprised when I made some scallion pancakes and porridge as the taste was truly delicious. I ate it all in a hurry so that I can less interaction with my aunt, uncle and cousins.

As I eat, I make plans in my head of what I need to start doing to make myself better.

'Firstly, this body of mine is too weak. There is only skin and bones, no muscles... I have to change this so from now on, I will start jogging from my house to school as it will take at least 30 minutes in my fastest speed. I'm as weak as a chicken now so even if I start running, I will have to stop after 10 minutes because this body will not be able to take too much exercise at one and I don't want to faint in the middle of the street. The hospital bills are too expensive! I will also do some push ups and other exercises to strengthen myself'

I nod to myself as I go back to my room and start packing my school bag.

'I will slowly increase the amount of exercise I do. I remember that I was very sport oriented when I was a child so this shouldn't be much of a problem! The next problem is how I will start revising. I have exactly 3 months to finish revising a 3 years of middle school content for every subject. This shouldn't be a problem as long as I put enough work into it, but it will still be very streanous as my middle school knowledge is basically nothing...'

' However I will not give up because if I get 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in the whole school then I will be eligible for 5,000RMB scholarship and this will help me with some of my expenses at least.'

'I also know where these bastards that I called aunt and uncle before, hid my parent's will. The money is in the bank and I will definitely take back what's mine! Although it will take a bit of time, the money is worth the trouble'.

As I go out and think what else I need to do, I hear the doors next to the kitchen open and I see that my two 'lovely' cousins coming out of their rooms.

Lu Shirong steps out of his room and heads straight to the bathroom, ignoring me like he always does, and his sister Lu Ling Mei nods at me and heads to the toilet.

To be honest, I don't hate my female cousin as much as I hate the rest of this damn family. I'm not saying that she's a Saint but she's no demon either.

Mei is a pretty down to earth girl who doesn't care about anything that does not involve her, however it is also because of her indifference and selfishness that I dislike her. She has never tried to help me when I was down, and if it was something that involves both of us, she will do anything to save herself.

One time when we went to visit our grandparents, Mei and I were in charge of cooking porridge and when I wasn't looking, she accidently used too much spice, when my grandfather ate it, he nearly choked and we had to go to the hospital since he couldn't stop coughing. This splendid cousin of mine decided that she didn't want to get scolded by her family and said that she only washed and cut the vegetables, and that I was the one who made everything else.

What happened next should be pretty obvious, I was chased out of their house and have been banned from visiting. Even on new year festival, I always stayed in my balcony room from that time on.

I decided that from now on, as long as she doesn't try and harm me, I will also treat her like a stranger because she is simply not worth my time.

I walked out of my room and headed to the kitchen to pack my school lunch when I heard this familiar yet not welcome voice of my male cousin.

"You... Did you oversleep?" Shirong looks at me like I'm some kind of specimen in the zoo, since I never once overslept and always made breakfast on time.

I laugh inwardly and answer him "No? I woke up like I always do at 5:30"

"Bang"

"So where the fuck is my breakfast you nerd!?" He shouts as he bangs the kitchen table.

Lu Shirong is a beast in sheep's clothing. He is the person I hate the most. He has always been comparing himself to me. When he saw my looks, he started name-calling me in order to affect my confidence, and it succeeded in my last life. He also bullied me all the time, made me do his homework, and beat me up whenever he had to vent his anger. This person, in my eyes is not human.

'Don't worry Shirong, I will play with you slowly' I chuckle to myself and then look at him indifferently as we turn around when we hear my Aunt coming out of the room.

"Mom, listen to this, this dimwit woke up like he always does, ate his breakfast and didn't prepare anything for us!" Shirong starts complaining as soon as he sees his mother. He acts like he knows she will stand up for him and then I will get beaten up.

"Mom how am I supposed to live until lunch if I don't eat any breakfast" Says Lu Ling Mei for the first time since I saw her today.

"Mom listen, it's nearly time for me to go out and I won't have time to eat anything. How am I supposed to concentrate on an exam!"

Shirong shouts and Aunt Lu looks at me with shock and surprise in her eyes.

"Don't worry Ah Rong, mommy will not let you starve" She looks at her son like he is her angel.

"Wei Wei, why haven't you made breakfast for your brother and sister?"

"Aunt, I don't think I can keep on making breakfast. You will have to do it yourself or just give them some money to buy food on their way to school"

"Wei!" She shrieks "How can you be so unreasonable, you made breakfast for yourself, used the food I bought and ate it all by yourself."

I smirk on the inside as I say "Aunt, I only used the worst ingridients that we have and you would have to throw out tomorrow. Moreover, I was the one who bought them. Yes, I used your money but remember that the government gives you a monthly allowance to spend on me. So I don't think I am being unreasonable"

"This! How can you be so ungrateful you bastard!" She goes mad and tries to slap me, however I quickly dodge as she shouts at me again.

"How dare you! How dare you dodge you bastard!"

"I gave you a home and this is how you repay me?! So ungrateful! No wonder you're a bastard that wasn't even planned! If not for you then your father wouldn't have married my sister! Like mother like son, both are ungrateful to their families, hmph."

I stay still and look her in the eyes and all she could see is my indifference to whatever she said, my palms however are already clenched into a fist and are quickly turning white from lack of blood circulation. I know that I should be used to anything they say since I've been through this many times, but when she talks about my parents, it's very hard for me to control my emotions, even as a 28 year old man. This is my weakness.

"Aunt, I'm too tired to cook for you all every day. It's time for me to go to school so I will see you at night. I may be out after school so don't wait for me." I say and wave a goodbye to them indifferently.

I walked out of the house and decided that after school, I will go to the bank and make a bank account so that the monthly income my aunt gets for me will be transfered to the bank account with my name. I can do this because although she adopted me, she is not my guardian as I'm not on their family register, and as a 16 year old orphan, I am entitled to have my own bank account and even though its only a measly 1,000RMB a month, it should help me quiet a bit.

'Hmm... I will have to spend sometime on the plan for the 5 million RMB. It will let me live a comfortable life' I muse

'Sigh... Today will be a long day...' I say to myself as I walk out of the house and ignore the screams coming out from my aunts house.