Second Chance

"Qin Ju, how could you do something so disgraceful? If word of this gets out, I'll lose my position as a teacher! Do you have any idea how badly this will affect the school? If I had known, I would never have brought you to participate in the math competition!" Li Mei's voice was sharp as she continued, "And how do you expect me to explain this to Shen Yi's parents?"

"You're practically an adult, but you still don't know how to behave. Seducing others—how shameless!"

Li Mei's words were cutting as she continued to berate the two students standing in front of her, pressed against the wall. Though she spoke to both of them, her gaze was fixed squarely on Qin Ju.

Shen Yi's family was wealthy, so Li Mei didn't dare to scold him directly, nor did she dare to make him the target of her anger.

After the incident, all the blame had been placed on Qin Ju.

The dim light from the guesthouse bulbs flickered in the wind, casting mottled shadows on everyone's faces, as though they were characters in an old movie.

As Li Mei continued her tirade, her lips moving up and down with the same familiar lines from Qin Ju's past life, Qin Ju couldn't help but feel as if she had just woken from a long dream. In her previous life, she had been on her way to divorce Shen Yi when she was suddenly involved in a car accident. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself back at the age of eighteen.

This was the turning point of her life.

Qin Ju had traveled to the provincial capital with her teachers and classmates to participate in a math competition. After the exam, she inexplicably fell asleep, only to wake up and find Shen Yi lying next to her. That was when her teacher, Li Mei, burst in with a group of classmates.

This incident forced Qin Ju to drop out of school, and she became the subject of mockery in her village. Her parents, humiliated by the scandal, moved away to work and fell ill soon after. Her younger sister, Qin Shi, was too afraid to go to school and stayed home, eventually leaving the village to find work. Tragically, she was later abducted and sold.

But the misfortune didn't end there. Shen Yi, who suffered from irritability and paranoia, saw his condition worsen due to the misunderstanding. Shen Yi's family eventually demanded that Qin Ju marry him, leaving her with no choice but to comply.

This marked the beginning of a miserable life. Shen Yi, already temperamental, believed Qin Ju had plotted against him, and the two of them spent years locked in a toxic marriage, tormenting each other.

After experiencing death, Qin Ju realized that her misfortunes had stemmed from the fact that she was living in a historical novel, and it was all caused by the time-traveling girl, Lin Nian!

Returning to the present, Qin Ju glanced at the tall, silent boy beside her—this was the eighteen-year-old Shen Yi. Even at that age, he was already 1.80 meters tall, but thin, with sickly pale skin. His bangs hung low, obscuring his eyes, which were like deep, dark pools, adding to his already gloomy appearance.

In his youth, Shen Yi's temper was even worse, and his personality more perverse. If things didn't go his way, he had a tendency to want to destroy everything in sight.

But why was Shen Yi so silent now? Li Mei had been scolding them for quite some time, yet he hadn't said a word. This didn't fit his usual hot-tempered personality.

Thinking about the bleak marriage she had endured in her previous life, Qin Ju felt a pang of sadness. If only she had been reborn just one day earlier.

Then she wouldn't be embroiled in such a scandal with Shen Yi again.

But... that didn't mean she would allow Li Mei to humiliate her as she had in her previous life!

"Qin Ju! Are you even listening to me? It's already this late, and you still dare to zone out?!" Li Mei snapped, her dislike for Qin Ju evident.

Qin Ju lifted her dark eyes and responded calmly, "Do you have any evidence to prove that I did anything wrong? You're a teacher, yet you keep calling me shameless and a seductress. Just based on that, I could go to the police and sue you for defamation!"

Li Mei was momentarily stunned.

But then she remembered her position. She was a teacher—why should she be afraid of her student?

Li Mei sneered, "Sue me for what? You did something shameful, and now you don't want people talking about it? I see right through you. You're just hoping to latch onto Shen Yi because his family is rich, so you can skip the college entrance exams and avoid finding a real job. I've seen plenty of shameless girls like you!"

"Nothing happened between Shen Yi and me. Someone framed us. When you came in, neither of us had taken off our clothes."

"Only because you hadn't had the time to take them off yet."

Qin Ju's eyes darkened. Was this really something a teacher should say?

At that moment, Shen Yi, who had remained silent the entire time, finally spoke in a cold, detached voice.

"Are you done? Get out of here."

Li Mei almost choked on her water.

Li Mei's face flushed red, then paled in quick succession. After a long, tense silence, she finally managed to speak. "Alright, all of you, go back to your rooms and rest. We have to catch the bus back to school early tomorrow morning. We'll discuss everything after we return."

With that, Li Mei turned and hurried off, anxious that Shen Yi might lose his temper and lash out if she stayed a moment longer.

Qin Ju frowned, recalling how, in her previous life, Li Mei had dragged her uncle and aunt to the principal's office to criticize her, ultimately leading to her expulsion from school—while Shen Yi emerged unscathed.

Qin Ju's eyes darkened, and she clenched her fists. If she was given a second chance at life, she would never allow herself to endure the same misery again. She would reclaim everything Lin Nian had stolen from her!