Chapter 3 - The First Step Of A Transformation (1)

Suddenly, a 'creak' was heard as a door opened.

Sheng Jiaoyang was right in the middle of wiping her hair dry in the bathroom and was startled. Leaning out of the bathroom, she saw Xu Qing entering through the front door.

"How come you're back?" Wasn't she going to work? It wasn't even 4 p.m yet, and when Xu Qing had left, it was almost 1 p.m. It takes about two hours to make a round trip.

When Xu Qing heard her daughter's voice, the stern expression quickly vanished from her face, and she forced out a smile as she answered, "The Boss let us off early today."

"Oh," Sheng Jiaoyang absentmindedly said as she continued to dry her hair.

Having a bath wasn't easy for her as after searching around in the narrow kitchen for a while, she finally managed to find an electric kettle to boil water with.

The most terrible part though, was that after she'd finished bathing, she discovered that Xu Jiaojiao didn't own any skincare products!

"Jiaojiao, didn't you eat this afternoon?" It was at this moment that Xu Qing noticed that the food arranged on the table hadn't been touched.

Sheng Jiaoyang hung the towel on the wall, and as she left the bathroom with her bangs still damp, she casually said, "No appet.i.te."

Xu Qing stared blankly at Sheng Jiaoyang, feeling that the daughter currently standing in front of her was somewhat different to the daughter she'd left behind when she went to work. Scrutinizing her daughter, she suddenly noticed the clothes on her daughter's body. "Your clothes…"

"I just modified some old clothes," Sheng Jiaoyang pointed at the discarded pieces of material on the floor beside the bedside.

"Oh, right!" Sheng Jiaoyang looked toward Xu Qing. "One of my old teachers called to tell me to come pick up my university admission notice. Since you came back early, you can accompany me to school."

"The admission notices are already out? That's great; we'll go now then!" Once she'd heard about the admission notice, Xu Qing was pleasantly surprised.

A corner of Sheng Jiaoyang's mouth slightly curled upwards.

After following Xu Qing and walking through several twisting alleyways, they finally arrived at the back gate of the school. Sheng Jiaoyang was surprised when she found out that Xu Jiaojiao's school wasn't all that far away from where she lived.

When Xu Qing stopped, Sheng Jiaoyang promptly said, "Teacher said that he was waiting for us in the office."

Sure enough, Xu Qing once again took the lead and they walked towards a building not far from the gate.

When the teacher who'd called Sheng Jiaoyang saw her, he was sitting behind an office desk waving her over with one hand, while he hung up the phone with his other hand.

"Teacher Jiao," Xu Qing took the initiative and greeted him first.

Teacher Jiao raised his head, and seeing the two of them together, he smiled. "Jiaojiao's Mother also came."

"We're sorry for troubling Teacher Jiao with waiting here."

"It's no problem at all. The first batch of admission letters have just arrived, and as their teacher, the last thing I can do for these children is to hand the notice letters to them personally."

Xu Qing nodded, gazing at the admission notice under Teacher Jiao's hands with expectation.

Teacher Jiao noticed Xu Qing's gaze. Chuckling, he handed over Xu Jiaojiao's admission notice while stating, "Jiaojiao's exam results were pretty good; she's been admitted to our province's most prominent F University."

"However, Jiaojiao," Teacher Jiao looked at Sheng Jiaoyang. "I remember that when I was asking you about your aspirations before the university entrance exams, that you said you wanted to choose either Finance or Economics as your major. I was unaware that you were more interested in majoring in Foreign Language…"

"Foreign Language? English Department?" It was at this moment that Xu Qing saw the contents of the admission notice, and she looked at Sheng Jiaoyang in surprise.

The teacher's words and Xu Qing's expression both made Sheng Jiaoyang's eyes slightly widen. Could it be that when the original owner of this body filled in her course form, she kept it a secret from everyone?

On the way back home, Xu Qing couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Jiaojiao, that day when you filled in your forms you told me that your first choice was majoring in Finance. Why were you admitted into the English Department? Are you really going to F University to major in Foreign Language?"

"Maybe," Sheng Jiaoyang's face was covered in indifference. "Majoring in English is also a good choice."

"But English is your weakest subject!"

Uh…

Sheng Jiaoyang blinked. Right...she'd almost forgotten that she was now in Xu Jiaojiao's shoes.

"Jiaojiao, you see...how about next year, instead of going to university, you repeat a year? Otherwise, studying at university will be very hard for you," Xu Qing tried to casually say.

"No!" After saying that, Sheng Jiaoyang immediately realised that her tone was too sharp. Clearing her throat, she lowered her voice and said, "Nevermind any of that, I've discovered that English is really good. Whether it's going abroad or joining a foreign company, we must first learn English, right? Since I was successfully admitted into F University, with my decent learning abilities, I'll be able to spend more time studying English in the future."

To tell the truth, in the beginning, Sheng Jiaoyang had been quite worried that Xu Jiaojiao had chosen to apply to the Chinese Department! It must be known, that when Sheng Jiaoyang was ten years old, she'd gone to live with her Grandfather in Europe. Later on, she'd studied Financial Management as a major in order to be a worthy heir to her Grandfather. So, if she'd been admitted as a Chinese Language major, she definitely would've considered changing her major.

"Jiaojiao, in the future, you'll have to work hard," Xu Qing said with reluctance.

"Mhh," Sheng Jiaoyang was busy flicking her long bangs to the side as they were somewhat jabbing her eyes when she abruptly stopped walking.

"Did you bring any money? I want to go get a haircut."

Noticing that the bangs on Sheng Jiaoyang's forehead were getting slightly long, Xu Qing said, "When we return I'll help you fix your bangs."

"I want to change my hairstyle too though. This hairstyle is so unsophisticated that even when I see it, I lack the strength to ridicule it."

Xu Qing's expression stiffened. Ever since her daughter was a child, Xu Jiaojiao's hair had always been cut by her…

"Alright, then let's go to a salon," Xu Qing touched her pocket, but when she thought of money worry swept across her face.

Because of her myopia, Sheng Jiaoyang had to pay more attention to where she was placing her feet and didn't notice Xu Qing's current expression. All she could think of was what sort of hairstyle would suit her best.

After pa.s.sing the post office that Sheng Jioayang had visited earlier, they stopped at a salon that was less than twenty square feet in size and was directly across from the bus station.

"Welcome!" Upon entering the door, they were immediately welcomed by a male salon a.s.sistant who was tall, thin, and flamboyant in appearance.

"My daughter wants to change her hairstyle," Xu Qing stated.

"Sure, this way please…"

Sheng Jiaoyang's picky eyes quickly sized up the salon. It was her first time going to this kind of small salon, and by just going off the store's decorations and the salon a.s.sistant's strange hairstyle, she already held no hope in the hairdressers of this store.

Seeing that the flamboyant a.s.sistant was going to lead her to the sinks, Sheng Jiaoyang hurriedly said, "I've already washed my hair; just helping me to cut it will do."

"Okay, then sit here first," The flamboyant a.s.sistant pulled out a salon chair for her to sit on.

After which, a seemingly relaxed young man with a crew cut walked over. Standing behind Sheng Jiaoyang's chair, he sized her up in the mirror in front of her while saying, "What kind of hairstyle do you want to change to?"

"Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?" Sheng Jiaoyang asked instead.

The man with the crew cut was puzzled, but the customer was king after all. Hence, he turned and asked someone to bring over a pen and paper, then handed them to Sheng Jiaoyang.

The salon was only small, so if there was even just a little movement, everyone would know. Whether it was a client or the flamboyant a.s.sistant; they all watched what was happening as they were filled with curiosity.

Sheng Jiaoyang ignored everyone's staring and set the piece of white paper down on the table in front of her before starting to draw. Under the swirling pattern of the pen which smoothly glided across the paper, a portrait of a girl with attractively short layered hair vividly appeared.