The story begins with Zhen Zhen being sent to a prestigious high school through her mother’s connections. At her new school with new classmates, Zhen Zhen believed this was a fresh start, unaware that it would mark the beginning of a nightmare. Her close male classmate, Zhou Yue, walked her home and they agreed to meet at her house on weekends for tutoring sessions. Her mother barged into Zhen Zhen’s room without knocking and began scolding her. Zhou Yue gave Zhen Zhen a backpack pendant, and inexplicable feelings began to grow within her. However, Zhen Zhen didn’t anticipate that this pendant would spark jealousy among the schoolgirls. Some even cornered her in an alley after school to bully her. Zhen Zhen didn’t show any weakness; she took a bottle and hit the aggressors on the head until they bled, allowing her to escape their clutches.
Because of this incident, Zhen Zhen’s mother had to pay a compensation of five thousand yuan. Upon returning home, she made Zhen Zhen kneel and began lecturing her, even questioning why they bullied others but only targeted her. Zhen Zhen was very dissatisfied, thinking, “She is my own mother, why is she treating others this way?” At that moment, Zhou Yue coincidentally came to Zhen Zhen’s home for tutoring. Seeing her kneeling on the ground, he quickly left. Zhen Zhen had lived with her grandparents until she was ten years old, after which she returned to live with her parents. However, seven years felt longer than a lifetime, and Zhen Zhen’s feelings of grievance had nowhere to vent.
The next day, Zhen Zhen bought an ice lolly and sat by the roadside eating it when she met a boy who was also skipping school. Due to her mother, Zhen Zhen harbored a lot of rebellious feelings, and the two felt an instant connection. The boy took Zhen Zhen to eat hamburgers, but their classmates saw them and fabricated a story that she was skipping classes to go on a date. Upon returning home, Zhen Zhen faced another round of scolding from her mother. At the dinner table, Zhen Zhen’s mother relentlessly berated both Zhen Zhen and her father. Zhen Zhen decided she no longer wanted to attend tutoring classes, leading to another argument with her mother. She returned to her room, listening to her mother flipping the table outside.
The following day, the female classmates not only gossiped but also ridiculed Zhen Zhen in front of her. Additionally, Zhen Zhen’s mother’s work was not going smoothly. At this time, she received a call from Teacher Chang, who claimed to have seen Zhen Zhen on a date with a boy at a fast-food restaurant. Zhen Zhen quickly denied it, stating she was just eating a hamburger and wasn’t on a date. Zhen Zhen’s mother assumed Zhou Yue was the boy in question, grabbed him by the collar, and warned him to stay away from her daughter. She then slapped Zhen Zhen again, leaving her so shaken that she fainted and fled the scene.
That night, when Zhen Zhen returned home, she discovered that her mother had sold all her novel artbooks. Filled with anger and frustration with nowhere to express her emotions, she tore down all the certificates from the walls and burned them. Zhen Zhen’s mother thought the house was on fire and hurriedly knocked on the door. Zhen Zhen told her mother that she couldn’t face going to school anymore, but her mother called her an ungrateful child, slapped her once more, and kicked her out of the house. At midnight, Zhen Zhen truly left, taking all her belongings and departing home. Later that night, her mother considered knocking on the door to apologize but ultimately decided against it. Unaware of her mother’s intentions, Zhen Zhen boarded a train alone, leaving Xuecheng behind.
Deng Ligang and his team decided to reopen their operations, and Zhen Zhen arrived alone in Licheng. She went to find Ding Yachun but was informed that Ding had gone to Shanghai to attend university.
