My Schoolmate Mistreats Me a Thousand Times [Rebirth] - Chapter 1

It’s not just those who give money who are called “sugar daddies”; those who grant you a life are the real sugar mamas!

Liu Xia hid behind a lamppost on the school roadside, furtively observing the “Sugar Mama,” Gu Lingluo, who held the power of life and death over her, not far away.

Gu Lingluo, a freshman, had long hair past her waist, fair skin, and stunning looks; her legs seemed to start at her neck. From the moment she stepped onto campus, countless labels—Goddess, Top Student, Aloof Beauty, and “The Campus Beauty Everyone Most Wants to Sleep With No. 1″—were slapped onto her. The voters, besides men, surprisingly included many girls! Had the world gone mad, or was Liu Xia not fully awake?

And then there was her, Liu Xia, a sophomore. Her skin tone was 0.5 shades darker than Gu Lingluo’s. Her looks were separated from Gu Lingluo’s by the distance between Snow White and the Ice Queen. As for leg length… Gu Lingluo was 1.73 meters, and she was 1.67 meters…

No need to elaborate; the sadness was flowing upstream like a river.

All in all, ever since Gu Lingluo arrived, the labels originally “slapped” perfectly onto Liu Xia had immediately gained a third character: Campus Beauty → Former Campus Beauty.

These past few days, gossip always drifted into her ears whenever she wandered around campus.

“What is she doing hiding behind that lamppost?”

“She must be traumatized…”

“…Just got PK’d out of being Campus Beauty by Deng Jiali, only to be PK’d again by the new junior schoolmate…”

“Alas… pitiful…”

“Tragic…”

Stop! STOP!

Liu Xia really couldn’t keep her composure.

How was she supposed to tell those gossiping schoolmates that she truly, truly, not one tiny bit cared about that lousy “Campus Beauty” vanity title?!

Please stop looking at her with such pity, as if she had suddenly fallen from grace, lost her fortune, been dumped by a scumbag, and was utterly miserable—one step away from jumping off a building. OK?!

Cough!

While her act of sneaking around and tailing the new Campus Beauty did look a tiny bit… creepy, perverted, and prone to misunderstanding…

Liu Xia subconsciously shrank further behind the lamppost, desperately trying to lower her presence, but this still couldn’t block the alternating waves of gossipy glances from all directions.

She didn’t care anymore; they could think what they liked. Liu Xia was only concerned about her Sugar Mama.

It was a September evening; the sunset wasn’t harsh, and the breeze was gentle, making for a Level 1 human comfort index. Gu Lingluo wore all black—black clothing, black trousers, and black Martens boots—her steps light, her figure graceful and lithe. The sunset glow sprinkled upon her ink-dark hair; the scene was picturesque, beautiful enough from any angle to be a premium wallpaper for an input method skin.

Yes, that’s right. The X Dog input method had many skins featuring Gu Lingluo, with download numbers soaring close to those of A-list actresses! The fact that she could pull off an all-“death-black” outfit with such celebrity-level traffic showed just how heavenly the Sugar Mama’s looks were.

Liu Xia wasn’t jealous in the slightest. In her eyes, this was not a Campus Beauty, nor a Goddess; this was a walking bombshell that could accidentally blow up her life.

She wasn’t exaggerating!

Liu Xia had been reborn, and not just once—she couldn’t even keep track of how many times. Every time she was reborn, she wouldn’t live past the age of 30, and every single time she was hit and killed by Gu Lingluo during a robbery getaway. Even hiding to the ends of the earth couldn’t save her from this fate.

The most outrageous time, she hid in the Maldives, scuba diving deep into the ocean, thinking she was finally safe. But to her complete surprise—utter surprise!—Gu Lingluo’s flight, carrying stolen money, happened to fly over that very sea area, and it crashed!

It really proves that when the King of Hell wants you dead, running to the Maldives won’t help. The airplane debris directly burst her oxygen tank, and the poor thing drowned to death in the deep sea…

Sigh! It’s a tearjerker.

She and Gu Lingluo were just ordinary schoolmates; they had never exchanged even half a sentence from start to finish. She truly couldn’t figure out why she was so unlucky as to die by her hand every single time!

To solve the mystery, Liu Xia once specifically asked people to check their Eight Characters (birth dates/times used for fortune-telling). Ten out of ten and a half fortune-tellers said their Eight Characters clashed—the half being a bystander.

Eight Characters clash? Heh!

Would clashing Eight Characters really cause her to be unable to avoid the fate of dying by Gu Lingluo’s hand across half the globe, by sea, land, and air?

Liu Xia thought it was more likely that she had killed Gu Lingluo’s whole family and dug up their ancestral graves in a past life. Otherwise, why such deep-seated hatred and resentment? Killing her once wasn’t enough; she had to be killed again and again through a cycle of rebirth.

She was initially quite happy about being reborn, but after too many times, trapped in a bizarre cycle of reincarnation, she couldn’t be happy anymore. No one could be happy repeating a hopeless life.

Every time she was reborn, her memory would be reset, and she only remembered how she died—everything else was forgotten. Forgetting everything else was one thing, but crucially, she forgot all the knowledge she’d learned in college, including the exam questions for every semester’s finals! This might seem minor, but it was enough to make a bad student tear their hair out.

Ugh, the worry was like a spring river flowing east. Every time she had to pull her hair out studying for exams, she wished she could just die on the spot!

If only to stop this painful cycle of exams, she couldn’t afford to sit around and wait for death any longer.

“Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” Following Gu Lingluo was the first step in her new life.

First impressions are incredibly important. She had been searching for the perfect opportunity to approach Gu Lingluo naturally and brilliantly. Yes, it had to be natural, it had to be brilliant, and it had to make Gu Lingluo unforgettable! She didn’t want a superficial or nodding acquaintance; she wanted to become Gu Lingluo’s most, most, most intimate “good girl-friend” (or jī yǒu), creating a truly moving, diamond-encrusted, “Sisterly Love”!

However, after following her for three consecutive days, Liu Xia still hadn’t found the right moment to make an entrance.

Why wouldn’t a guy just harass Gu Lingluo, giving her a chance for a “beauty saves the beauty” moment? Was it because of the harmonious society, and creepy men had collectively lost their nerve? Or… should she try to hire an actor to play a role?

Just as she was weighing the feasibility of this plan, Gu Lingluo suddenly stopped, turned, and walked toward the back of Teaching Block Three. Liu Xia quickly darted out from behind the lamppost and chased after her.

Gu Lingluo rounded the corner and disappeared. Liu Xia didn’t dare to be rash. Cautiously, she pressed her back against the wall, inching her head out to peep around the bend.

Gu Lingluo looked back, startling her, and she quickly shrank back. Stalking is truly not a job for a human being; she sympathized with those paparazzi for a second.

After waiting another half minute, feeling it was safe enough, Liu Xia quietly peeked her eye out again.

Eh? Where is she?

Behind Teaching Block Three was an artificial lake—the area was open, with an unobstructed view. She only saw green willows, shimmering blue water, and students scattered around the lake; there was no sign of her Sugar Mama.

Strange. How could she have disappeared?

It was almost as if… she had vanished into thin air.

…

In the center of the Imperial Capital, by a small fountain in the courtyard of a luxury villa, a figure quietly appeared and walked into the building.

Gu Fujin had just finished making dinner. He looked up and asked, “Did you find the source of the fluctuation?”

Gu Lingluo dropped her backpack and poured a glass of water first, gulping down half of it. Under the warm yellow light, her lips, wet and thin, gleamed.

She set the crystal glass down with a clink and said indifferently, “No.”

“If not, then why have you been coming back so late these past two days?”

“I’m being tracked by a little mouse; it’s inconvenient to teleport.”

Gu Fujin chuckled. “Is there anything that can stump you? Just like before, beat them up, and they’ll behave.”

“It’s a girl; it’s inconvenient to strike.”

“What if it’s a girl? If you don’t want to hit her, just scare her a bit, can’t you?”

Because of her looks, Gu Lingluo had been harassed plenty—by both men and women. Gu Lingluo had always treated them equally and never held back, but only toward this “little mouse” had she never entertained such a thought.

It wasn’t because she had suddenly turned benevolent, but because…

“She’s too stupid. The entire campus knows she’s tracking me, yet she foolishly continues.”

“You mean she’s so stupid you can’t even be bothered with her?” Gu Fujin let out a slight laugh. “Then you’ll just let her keep following you?”

“I just have to dodge her.”

Gu Fujin smiled, shook his head, and said no more. He turned back into the kitchen. “Wash your hands and come eat.”

…

Liu Xia was utterly distressed. Her Sugar Mama seemed to have discovered her stalking and had become elusive recently. Forget finding a chance to get to know her properly; now she couldn’t even pin the person down. Was she really going to be forced to hire an actor to pose as a robber or a hooligan, so she could dramatically intervene?

But the core problem was, where would she find such an actor?

She wasn’t without male friends, but they were all guys who’d choose a pretty face over friendship. She couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t sell her out immediately when faced with a beauty like Gu Lingluo. Losing the bait and the fish is something she absolutely couldn’t do!

Moreover, it was a society governed by law. If the plan failed and the police got involved, she’d be unable to explain herself even with a hundred mouths. But if she didn’t dramatically intervene, her relationship with the Sugar Mama would be difficult to develop quickly.

The Sugar Mama was a freshman, and she was a sophomore; they had no interaction normally. They both lived off-campus, so sneaking into a dorm to forcefully establish a sisterly bond wouldn’t work either. Sigh! The worry was so thick it nearly turned her hair white overnight.

Jerk Friend No. 1, Hao Yan, glanced at the teacher and nudged Liu Xia’s arm. “What’s wrong? Why all the sighing?”

Jerk Friend No. 2, Gai Gai, also leaned on the desk to look at her curiously. “Didn’t eat breakfast? Are you hungry?”

Liu Xia shot Gai Gai a look of contempt (literally, a “fish belly white”). “Hao Yan is the foodie, not me.”

Hao Yan: “Then what’s with you? Did you break up with someone?”

Liu Xia returned Hao Yan’s look of contempt. “Do you think everyone is like Gai Gai, falling in and out of love every day?”

Gai Gai reached out and flicked her on the head. “What is wrong with you today? Do you have a hole in your brain or did you eat gunpowder? Why are you speaking so provocatively?”

Hao Yan twisted her hair and lifted the corner of her eye. “When has her brain ever been flat? The moon’s surface doesn’t have as many holes as hers, okay?”

Successfully receiving Liu Xia’s third eye-roll, Hao Yan finally rested her chin in her hand and slowly said, “Alright, spill it. What exactly is going on? Tell us so your sisters can help you come up with an idea.”

Liu Xia hesitated. “If I tell you, don’t you dare call me crazy, delusional, or like I’m suffering from a ‘Middle School Syndrome’ (a Chinese slang term for being childish/dramatic).”

The two said in unison, “We promise not to!”

Only then did Liu Xia begin: “Actually… the thing is…”

Blah, blah, blah. After wasting half a class and an entire break period, she finally finished recounting the entire story of her rebirth and the reasons behind it. The two jerk friends stared at her intently.

Hao Yan smiled, pointing her finger at Liu Xia. “You really are…”

Liu Xia immediately grabbed her finger. “I said no calling me crazy, delusional, or like I’m suffering from ‘Middle School Syndrome’!”

Hao Yan: “Emmm… ‘Mentally retarded trash’ (Mā dé zhì zhàng) okay?”

Gai Gai held back a laugh: “I second that.”

These two annoying jerks! Liu Xia, sitting between them, was perfectly positioned to strike, giving each of them a hard pinch on the thigh!

They quickly covered their mouths, barely suppressing their cries of agony that would have alerted the hardworking professor.

After giving them both another death glare, Liu Xia said, “Say one more word, and I’ll pinch your legs until they’re bruised.”

Gai Gai rubbed her leg, looking wronged.

Hao Yan also rubbed her leg, but smiled before speaking. This was the prelude to bad ideas bubbling up.

Liu Xia cautiously pulled away toward Gai Gai. “What are you smiling about?”

“I thought of a great idea.”

“What?”

“Isn’t it time to apply for elective courses next Monday? I’ll help you find out what Gu Lingluo chooses. Then… you just choose the same one as her, won’t you?”

Liu Xia’s eyes lit up.

That’s right! Why didn’t I think of that?!