From Broken Family to Life Winner: A Reborn Mother's Journey

With Su Li’s actions, Wu Sheng and Tang Yuanxiao, who were across the street from each other, finally noticed one another. They both frowned at the same time and immediately quickened their pace toward Su Li.

”Su Li, I made dumplings. They’re all wrapped and ready to be boiled, so you can eat them right away. Remember to come over and have some when you get back.”

Tang Yuanxiao, being a bit closer, said this as he walked up.

As Wu Sheng drew closer, he overheard and silently cursed Tang Yuanxiao for being so cunning.

”Su Li, this is for you.” Wu Sheng was holding a potted plant. He showed it to Su Li and said, ”I know you like to grow flowers. I came across this today and snatched it up.”

”This is an Albizia tree. Its flowers open during the day and close at night. It’s really interesting, just like a mimosa plant.”

Su Li knew of the Albizia. ”Oh, an Albizia tree.”

”You know about it, right? Its name, and how special it is. That’s why I decided to give it to you.”

Wu Sheng smiled.

’An Albizia tree. Such a wonderful name, with such a wonderful meaning,’ he thought.

Now it was Tang Yuanxiao’s turn to be frustrated.

He also knew Su Li loved plants and flowers. He even had a pot of Orchids at his family’s place, which he’d only started growing because Su Li liked them!

He hadn’t even told her about it yet, let alone given it to her, and now this shameless Wu Sheng had shown up with a potted Albizia tree.

An Albizia tree! ’Just listen to that name! Does he have no shame?!’

Tang Yuanxiao’s resentment was palpable. Wu Sheng looked over at him, a wide grin on his face.

”Old Tang, we meet again. It must be fate.”

He paused. ”What filling are your dumplings? Is there any for me? I love dumplings, too.”

Tang Yuanxiao: ”...” ’This shameless bastard.’

”Lao Wu, you wait a minute. I’m still waiting for Su Li’s answer,” he replied, grinding his teeth.

Su Li almost burst out laughing when she heard that.

’Lao Wu...’ The name sounded just like the slang term for a ”dirty old man.”

’Having come from a world where dirty-minded internet slang was everywhere, she found it impossible to hear that name with a straight face.’

Seeing the sparks flying between them, Su Li felt a major headache coming on.

”I’m heading out for something right now, and I’m not sure when I’ll be back, so I’ll have to pass on the dumplings.”

Tang Yuanxiao’s eyes dimmed, while Wu Sheng’s lit up.

”Running errands, Su Li? Let me go with you. After you’re done, we can go get a bite to eat.”

Before Su Li could answer, Tang Yuanxiao cut in.

”Su Li likes dumplings, and homemade food is cleaner.”

”Didn’t you hear Su Li say she doesn’t have time...”

As Tang Yuanxiao and Wu Shengzhen were arguing heatedly, they suddenly realized Su Li wasn’t paying attention to them at all. Instead, she was looking diagonally across the street.

”What are you looking at?” Tang Yuanxiao asked, confused, and followed her gaze.

”Su Li?” Wu Sheng waved a hand in front of her face before looking over as well.

Across the street were a few young men who also looked like university students. Tang Yuanxiao instantly recognized the person in the middle of the group.

It was that university student named Yu Zhengqing, Su Li’s senior.

Just as Su Li was about to answer, Yu Zhengqing spotted her from across the road.

His eyes lit up. ”Su Li! Junior Su.”

”Hey, Senior!” Su Li immediately responded. Without turning back, she tossed a thoughtless remark over her shoulder at Tang Yuanxiao and Wu Sheng.

”My friend is over there, I’m going to say hi. You two can go eat dumplings together.”

Tang Yuanxiao and Wu Sheng: ”Who wants to eat dumplings with him!”

After shouting, they both felt that something wasn’t quite right.

They glanced at each other, then simultaneously looked across the street.

Yu Zhengqing said goodbye to his classmates and turned to smile at Su Li as she ran over.

”Junior Su, what a coincidence. For a second there, I thought I was seeing things.”

”Senior Yu, what are you doing here?” Su Li asked, pleasantly surprised.

She hadn’t seen Yu Zhengqing since Miao Zhi’s celebratory dinner.

”I just got back from the TV station. What about you? What are you doing here? And are those two people you know?” Yu Zhengqing glanced at Tang Yuanxiao and Wu Sheng diagonally across the street.

”Yeah, I know them,” Su Li nodded. ”I live right here, in Unit 1, on the sixth floor.”

”Oh, you live here,” Yu Zhengqing nodded. ”That’s nice. It’s really close to the university.”

”Yeah. Senior, is your internship going well?” Su Li asked with concern.

”It’s going okay. Besides classes, I’m basically at the TV station all the time. I just started the internship, so I’m still learning a lot.” Yu Zhengqing patted his chest.

”Once I’ve got the hang of everything, when you start your internship, I can teach you all you need to know. I can also introduce you to people at the radio station, the newspaper, the TV station... I’ll have them all look out for you.”

Su Li nodded vigorously. ”Mhm, okay!”

Yu Zhengqing and Su Li were chatting animatedly, and Su Li didn’t look back even once.

From a distance, across the road, Tang Yuanxiao and Wu Sheng could also tell something was off.

Ever since Su Li saw Yu Zhengqing, she only had eyes for him!

”What’s going on...” Wu Sheng muttered.

Glancing at Tang Yuanxiao, whose expression was just as grim, Wu Sheng set the potted plant down by the entrance to the residential complex and walked closer to get a better look.

He didn’t cross the street, but stayed on his side, moving from his diagonal position to be directly opposite them.

He could now faintly hear Su Li and Yu Zhengqing’s conversation.

”...wrote a lot of news copy. You can learn so much during an internship. Look, these are all the drafts I wrote today...” Yu Zhengqing showed Su Li the papers in his hand.

”That’s so many...” Su Li exclaimed in amazement as she started to flip through them.

As she was looking through them, she accidentally dropped a sheet. It fluttered away, blown into the road.

Su Li quickly ran to pick it up.

”Don’t worry about it, it’s fine if you don’t get it. It’s nothing important...” Yu Zhengqing advised, following behind her.

”Got it,” Su Li said with a smile, picking it up. She dusted it off and handed it to Yu Zhengqing.

As Yu Zhengqing took it, he felt an unignorable gaze from across the street and looked over.

”Su Li, is he waiting for you?”

Su Li glanced back and could only nod. ”Yeah.”

”Alright, you should go on over then. We can catch up another time,” Yu Zhengqing said.

”Okay,” Su Li nodded.

”I’m heading across the street too, I’ll go with you,” Yu Zhengqing said, pointing. ”My home is in that direction.”

”Mhm.” Even if he hadn’t said it, Su Li already knew, so she just nodded.

A car was making a turn at the nearby intersection, so the two of them stood on the curb, waiting to cross.

Everything was fine; they were just waiting for the car to pass. But unexpectedly, after completing the turn, the car, which had been driving normally, suddenly accelerated and charged straight toward them.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. In an instant, it was right in front of them.

The turn of events was too sudden for anyone to react.

The screeching of tires filled the air as the car, instead of slowing, sped up.

Su Li’s and Yu Zhengqing’s pupils dilated in shock.

Across the street, Tang Yuanxiao and Wu Sheng were horrified, both roaring her name at the same time, ”Su Li!”

They sprinted toward Su Li as they shouted, but there was no way they could make it in time.

Even Wu Sheng, who was closest and directly opposite her, couldn’t reach her, let alone Tang Yuanxiao, who was even farther away.

In that split second, Su Li turned her head and saw the car about to hit. Without a second thought, she reached out and shoved Yu Zhengqing aside with all her might. ”Go!”

An expression of terror and disbelief frozen on his face, Yu Zhengqing was pushed away. ”No!”

It all happened in a fraction of a second.

After pushing Yu Zhengqing away, it was too late for Su Li to get clear herself. The next second, the car was bearing down on her.

”Su Li!”

”Su Li!”

”No!”

Three horrified roars rang out at once.