They Dumped Me—Now They’re Reincarnated and Obsessed? - Chapter 14

Before stepping into the residential building, Xie Tingxue came to a halt.

Mei Jian reached out her hand and said gently, “Come on.”

Xie Tingxue shook her head. “You go in first. I’ll follow in a bit.”

Mei Jian replied, “It’s fine if we go in together.”

Still, Xie Tingxue shook her head. “Auntie will say something if she sees me.”

“…It’s just the two of us walking home once in a while. What could she possibly say?” Mei Jian said. “The more you avoid it, the more it looks like you’ve got something to hide.”

“I don’t!” Xie Tingxue huffed.

“Then come with me,” Mei Jian said softly. “Xiao Xue, take it as a favor—walk in with me. Give me a little courage.”

Xie Tingxue clutched her backpack straps and lowered her head. “Fine then, I’ll walk in behind you.”

Mei Jian lived on the second floor. Before knocking on the door, he took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

Xie Tingxue tugged at his sleeve and whispered, “It’s okay.”

She thought Mei Jian was nervous because he didn’t get first place in the grade.

But in truth, Mei Jian still hadn’t figured out how to face his parents.

In his previous life, after he and Xie Tingxue broke up, his parents arranged countless blind dates for him. When he rejected them all, they teamed up and tricked him into returning home, then pressured him into getting engaged to a girl they approved of. That time, Mei Jian finally snapped. He tore down the Mei family’s polished façade, flipped the table, and didn’t return home again for the next four years.

Furious, his father cut off his bank cards and sold the apartment under his name. “With your abilities, you won’t survive in Yancheng. You’ll come crawling back to us eventually.” Mei Jian sneered and faced it head-on—scraped together a down payment, took out a mortgage, and bought a house. It was his quiet rebellion against his parents’ authoritarian rule.

In the following four years, he completed his PhD, got a position at a university, buried himself in papers, publications, and tenure applications, all while juggling the pressures of life and loan payments.

Leaving his parents wasn’t frightening. His life may not have been glamorous, but at least he wasn’t constantly mentally and emotionally drained.

But everything changed when he found out that Xie Tingxue’s boyfriend was Yan Ze.

Seeing the dazzling man on screen, Yan Ze—with assets effortlessly exceeding a hundred million—shattered the pride Mei Jian had clung to for the first half of his life. His academic achievements and lofty ideals suddenly seemed fragile and insignificant.

He couldn’t hold on to love. He couldn’t sever the toxic ties of family. He bore the burden of a mortgage and a degree. He had to be slick and diplomatic to survive, but he despised the bloated, corrupt bureaucracy.

He had tasted every bitterness of adulthood, and in the end, he was still alone, empty-handed—and worse off than the shallow, undereducated love rival he despised.

Why?

Why him?!

At seventeen, he never imagined that ten years later, he still wouldn’t be the self-reliant adult he aspired to be. After all, he was just a student then—naïvely believing that the weary, haggard adults he saw could never be his future self.

Back then, he thought every day: If only life could start over.

If he had another chance, he’d find a way to get into the same class as Xie Tingxue in senior year. They’d prepare for exams together, get admission letters together, and go to Yancheng side by side.

He’d choose the right mentors and guides, gradually reducing the resistance life would throw at them.

In his last life, love had been one of the obstacles. This time, he wanted love to be a blessing.

This time, no matter the reason, he would never let her miss another exam.

He wanted her to shine—to be so outstanding that even his parents couldn’t find a single fault in her.

The door opened. Mei Jian’s mother was sitting on the couch, holding her phone, her expression stony.

“Why are you back so late?!” she immediately snapped. “Come here and explain this to me!”

Her voice rose sharply. “Only 137 in math! I don’t understand—this semester just started, and the material is all introductory. How do you end up with such a score? Tell me, is that acceptable?!”

Xie Tingxue whispered, “The teacher said the math questions went beyond the syllabus this time…”

Mei Jian’s mother snapped, “Don’t make excuses for him!”

Mei Jian dragged a stool over, sat down, asked Xie Tingxue’s mom for a pair of chopsticks, and calmly started eating.

His mother stared in disbelief, then grabbed her own chopsticks and smacked him on the head. “You’re eating?! Did you get first place?! You still have the appetite to eat?!”

Mei Jian replied coolly, “I’ll get first next time. Auntie, do we have any chili sauce?”

“You just say you’ll get it next time?! No shame at all! I asked your school for the grade report—you’re thirteen points behind the top scorer! Eight behind the second! The second-place student even got 135 in Chinese—almost full marks on both papers! And you? Look at your score!”

“It’s just a monthly test,” Mei Jian said. “Are you going to eat or not?”

Xie Tingxue’s mom quietly brought over the chili sauce and said softly, “Let the kids eat first… they must be hungry.”

Mei Jian’s mom grew even angrier. She swatted the sauce off the table. “Eat? Eat what?! You still have the nerve to eat?!”

Mei Jian picked up the sauce. The vivid red chili oil spilled out. Xie Tingxue reached for some tissues to help, but he gently pushed her aside and wiped it up himself.

Mei Jian’s mother banged her chopsticks against the table and scolded, “You don’t even know how to wipe a table properly?! How many times have I told you? You use the cheap paper the office provides—not tissue paper! And here you are using tissue paper—what, are you made of money?!”

Mei Jian’s mother had her own strict standards for running a household—for example, tissues were for wiping hands and faces, while tables should be wiped with cheap paper towels.

The atmosphere in the Mei household was suffocating. Xie Tingxue and her mother moved about cautiously, cleaning up quietly. Xie Tingxue gave Mei Jian a sympathetic glance but couldn’t do anything to help.

She wasn’t the sweet-talking, comforting type of girl. Mei Jian had sighed about this before. In moments like these, if Xie Tingxue had been someone good at reading people and smoothing things over, she could’ve easily helped lighten the mood and eased the tension between him and his mother. But Xie Tingxue was blunt and not good at picking up on cues.

Putting down his chopsticks, Mei Jian asked, “When did the English teacher say our study group is meeting?”

Xie Tingxue blinked blankly. “Tomorrow…”

Mei Jian sighed inwardly.

Xie Tingxue realized her mistake, but she wasn’t good at lying—her voice wavered. “Um… I think we’re also supposed to meet today…”

Mei Jian quickly covered for her. “Right, I remember now—it’s 7:30.”

Before his mother could speak, he turned and added, “Mom, we signed up for the city English competition—the National English Contest for Secondary Students. We’ll compete in Haishi first, and the top scorers go on to the nationals.”

His mother turned to Xie Tingxue. “You tell me—what kind of competition is this? Don’t let it be some irrelevant nonsense wasting time. Mei Jian, you’re already in your second year! How many more years do you have left to study? You’re so eager to join every little thing, but where’s that eagerness when it comes to your actual studies?!”

Xie Tingxue said softly, “Auntie, the English teacher said winning this could help boost our college entrance exam scores.”

His mother paused for a moment. “Is it like the National Physics Olympiad? If you win a gold medal, you can get bonus points or early admission?”

Xie Tingxue forced a nod. “I think so.”

His mother’s expression softened slightly. “How many people from your school are participating?”

Mei Jian quickly replied, “Five per school.”

Just then, Xie Tingxue’s mother stepped in at the right time. “Let the kids eat first. It’s getting late.”

His mother asked, “Where’s the study group meeting?”

Mei Jian casually made something up. “At a classmate’s place—near Binjiang.”

“…Be polite when you visit. And be back before nine.”

“Okay.”

What was the point of making so many plans? In front of his own mother, he still had no power to resist.

Mei Jian lowered his eyes and ate in silence. After not seeing his parents for years, he thought he might feel something—maybe some emotion, some stirring in his heart.

But reality was harsh.

His mother hadn’t changed at all—still strict, domineering, with a pathological need for control. Any tiny deviation from her expectations led to complete rejection.

What a frustrating start.

Mei Jian let out a long sigh, which only prompted another wave of scolding from his mother.

“What are you sighing for?! You’re just a teenager—what could you possibly have to sigh about? If anyone should be sighing, it’s me!”

He couldn’t change the present. All he could do now was get through the rest of high school as quickly and focused as possible, get away from this home, and begin a new life in Yancheng.

He glanced at Xie Tingxue. In some ways, the two of them lived the same kind of life—stifling, exhausting, and bleak.

But what did a teenager’s struggle even count for? Even if his soul had lived through adulthood, his body in this world was still seventeen. In the eyes of his parents, he was a child who needed to be constantly watched and controlled—a child they refused to let grow independent or rebellious.

Bound by rules. Smothered by expectations.

After dinner, Mei Jian and Xie Tingxue left the house.

His mother’s gaze followed them all the way to the door. As soon as it closed, her anxiety kicked in.

She immediately told Xie Tingxue’s mother to open the door and ask, “Who are the other five students?”

Mei Jian knew exactly what his mother was worried about. “Three boys, two girls—all second-year students. The teacher selected us based on our English scores.”

When Xie Tingxue’s mother returned with the answer, his mother still wasn’t satisfied. She dug out her address book, found the English teacher’s number, and prepared to call and ask about the group.

In reality, the study group was scheduled to meet on Saturday morning at a McDonald’s in Binjiang. As they left the house, Mei Jian wandered aimlessly through the streets.

Under the glow of bright streetlights, he finally exhaled and smiled. “Let’s go get my bike.”

Xie Tingxue nodded.

In a gentle tone, Mei Jian said, “If home is always like that… it’s really suffocating, isn’t it?”

Xie Tingxue tried to comfort him. “Auntie just expects too much from you…”

“You don’t like that kind of atmosphere, do you?”

Xie Tingxue waved her hand and managed a strained smile. “It’s still better than my home.”

Mei Jian’s eyes dimmed, and he gave a powerless smile.

“Looks like we’re both pretty unlucky.”

“Yeah,” Xie Tingxue laughed. “But once we get into college, things will definitely get better!”

They passed a small congee shop. Mei Jian paused. “Did you eat enough earlier?”

“You didn’t, did you? It’s fine—we still have an hour and a half. If you’re hungry, let’s eat.”

Mei Jian ordered a few simple stir-fried dishes and two bowls of congee.

As they waited in the modest little shop, Mei Jian suddenly smiled. “It’s been a long time since we had a meal together.”

Xie Tingxue responded with a puzzled “Hmm?” and asked, “You mean like eating out?”

Mei Jian reminisced, “There was a little place in Yancheng, near Yanda. For about three years… every evening after class, I’d go there and order two meals, waiting for someone to come back from work. After eating, we’d walk along the riverbank… looking back, those were the most peaceful years of my life.”

Xie Tingxue asked in surprise, “You went to high school in the capital?”

Mei Jian chuckled, his eyes sparkling.

Xie Tingxue didn’t dare ask more. She had a feeling that look on his face was one step away from breaking. The glint in his eyes—those weren’t just memories. That was clearly the shimmer of tears.

Just then, a group of flamboyantly dressed young men and women burst into the congee shop, laughing and talking loudly.

“I’m starving—let’s grab a bite before we head out,” one guy called. “Li Yuyang, what do you want to eat?”

Xie Tingxue’s back went rigid.