This Is Definitely Not a Redemption Formula

[To avoid getting stuck revising the early chapters over and over because of my writing, I’ve locked all the earlier chapters. Once the whole story is finished, I’ll revise them one by one and release them again. The story focuses on the growth of the leads, with the romance as a secondary thread. Neither lead is diminished. I like warm, healing everyday moments between young lovers, along with the fiery spirit of youth. I recommend reading after it’s complete. To avoid upsetting each other, please read the content warnings carefully before you begin!]

May we all have the courage to face everything.

The love story of Shi Jiuxia, a calm and clever girl with incredible vitality, and Zhu Yuqing, an innocent young man with a built-in comedy System.

At seventeen, Shi Jiuxia was afraid of nothing. If there was one thing that had ever gone wrong in her life, it was probably getting scolded plenty as a child for sneaking candy.

She had friends who were always by her side, loving parents who supported each other, a grandmother who doted on her, and a happy, harmonious family. Even her love life was set up by her parents, who had carefully picked out her childhood sweetheart.

When Zhu Yuqing reached for a dish, she spun the lazy Susan. When Zhu Yuqing got scolded, she clapped and cheered. They were the very definition of natural enemies.

For years, they had butted heads, both hiding their feelings behind stubborn words. She thought she would have to wait until high school graduation to figure out how to win him over. But then Zhu Yuqing was kidnapped, and Shi Jiuxia played the hero. His timid, clumsy confession revealed nearly ten years of secret love and inner turmoil.

Support, protection, and companionship are a man's best dowry. She got to enjoy dating her childhood sweetheart.

At school, Shi Jiuxia was even more brazen:

A student council that goes looking for trouble?

Shi Jiuxia: (smiling sweetly) The security camera “happened” to catch the fight caused by the student council. What will you do when the police come to deal with it?

A PE teacher who picks on girls?

Shi Jiuxia: (bowing her head, eyes full of tears) I got scolded until I cried, and the principal happened to see me when he came by. What will you do now?

A rich playboy who makes dirty jokes and harasses girls?

Shi Jiuxia: (huh?) He's that powerful? (Turns around to find her influential, well-connected parents.)

A rival who sneaks into the girls' dorm at night to steal competition materials?

Shi Jiuxia: (turns and looks up) Teacher, why did this person sneak into our dorm in the middle of the night?

Shi Jiuxia took it upon herself to do whatever would make these idiots miserable.

And for the girls:

A classmate with a fever in the middle of the night who is always afraid to trouble other people?

Shi Jiuxia: What are you mumbling about? (Scoops her up and takes her to the hospital.)

A girl haunted by the shadows of puberty, always wearing long sleeves and hiding by herself?

Shi Jiuxia: Everyone, come here! This is an adorable, sincere girl. Come make friends with her!

A girl trapped by a painful childhood and irresponsible parents?

Shi Jiuxia: If you never got love from them, then you don't have to give them any.

All kinds of girls accompanied Shi Jiuxia as she grew up, supporting one another through a high school life that was both happy and painful.

But everyone grows up one day. And one day, everyone dies or leaves.

In her senior year of high school, her grandmother passed away, leaving a wound in her heart that could never heal. After growing up and getting married, the love of her life, who had been by her side for a lifetime, also died when she was twenty-six.

The days kept passing, one by one, until one day her soul transmigrated back to when she was seventeen, without warning.

In her memories, her grandmother had moved back into that little house. She went through the same familiar routines she had repeated thousands upon thousands of times, planting a watermelon seedling for twenty-seven-year-old Jiuxia, something only her seventeen-year-old self could have done. She changed the TV to Jiuxia's favorite children's channel, and said with a smile through her tears, “So this is what Jiuxia looks like in her twenties.”

The girls who had laughed and played with her as teenagers squatted beside her. They still looked the way they had at seventeen or eighteen, with the familiar courage and conviction she remembered, and softly asked the twenty-seven-year-old her, “Are you scared?”

At last, her tears ran dry, and her body was no longer transparent.

The moonlight was hazy. The banyan tree in the courtyard swayed gently. Eighteen-year-old Zhu Yuqing stood before her and asked, “Why didn't he take good care of you?”

As an only child and the young master of a wealthy family, Zhu Yuqing had three people he feared most.

First was Zhang Tinghong, the teacher who could always find fault with him, lecture him on morals, and give him the ugliest haircut of his life in high school, earning him the nickname “Strawberry-Head Young Master.”

Second was Shi Jiuxia, the girl next door who had bested him at everything since they were little. She took him bird-nesting, climbing banyan trees, catching bees, and feeding dog poop to the dog. Even after all that, she still made his mother feel completely at ease.

Third was his own mother, Lin Yun Yuan, who still wore rose-colored glasses about Shi Jiuxia even after seeing her lock herself and Zhu Yuqing inside a cabinet during hide-and-seek; pour out the family's treasured wine, worth over four hundred thousand, to play house; give herself and Zhu Yuqing full-face makeovers with paint; put red ink in her mouth, then suddenly fall to the ground as red liquid ran down from the corners of her mouth and tell Zhu Yuqing she had been poisoned and was about to die. Four-year-old Zhu Yuqing was so frightened that he ran off crying to get help. When he came back, sniffling and holding his mother's hand, he found Shi Jiuxia sitting up and laughing at him with her mouth full of blood.

But he also had a secret: he had quietly fallen for Shi Jiuxia, who seemed unreliable about everything but always had a mind of her own, always shone brightly, and used her own strength to protect herself and the people around her.

She was wonderful. She would carry an injured girl who didn't even like her to the infirmary, stand up for classmates being verbally bullied, and love everything that happened in the world.

And after he confessed, she would look at him with a bright smile and say, “Comrade, this is the New China. Hold your head up when you date.”

[Content warnings: 1. Jiuxia is extremely full of herself. The world revolves around her, and as long as she wants to solve a problem, she can find a way. If she can't do it herself, she'll call in help. Anything she wants to do, she can do, and do well. She gets whatever she wants, through her own efforts and with help from her parents, friends, and partner. She also has a happy family, and her mother and father are wealthy, loving, and powerful.

2. The story focuses on personal growth, with romance as a secondary thread, so the romance develops slowly. Most of the story interweaves character growth and romance, and I'll try to keep them balanced. A lot of the romance comes later, in the third volume, and the full story involves many characters. The early plot is rather long-winded, so I don't recommend it to readers who prefer a fast pace or only want to read about the main couple's romance.

3. Do not break up the main couple or ship yourself with either lead. Do not use terms such as “girlboss protagonist,” “Jiuxia is better off alone,” “doesn't need love,” or “doesn't need a male lead” in the comments or in the story. Jiuxia can do whatever she wants and become whoever she wants. She can have it all: family, friendship, and love.

4. Do not compare any characters in this book with one another.

5. My writing is average. If you have high standards for writing, please give this one a miss.

Theme: Have the courage to accept everything.