Reborn

A circle of people stood around Lin Qian, all friends he had grown up with.

Xu Yao, Jiang Tingjun, Pan Qibo... and Fu Yifei, who had fallen over in shock, taking a whole cluster of desks down with him.

Fu Yifei was the source of the noise Lin Qian had just mistaken for an earthquake.

Every one of his friends wore a look of horror, as though they had heard something so terrible it had struck them speechless. Fu Yifei was the most dramatic of all, sprawled on the floor with his mouth hanging open in astonishment. He looked so stupid it hurt to look at him.

But Lin Qian himself was more astonished than any of them.

Only now did he realize that he was sitting in a classroom at his old school, No. 12 High School. The friends standing before him still had their familiar faces, but every one of them was noticeably younger.

No wonder Xu Yao's face had seemed strangely unfamiliar when he first woke up. Gone were many of the fine lines that life's hardships had etched into it before their time; in their place, two ugly pimples adorned his forehead.

Around them, other classmates, drawn by the clatter of falling desks, were looking over in confusion.

Lin Qian instinctively rubbed his temples, trying to clear his head a little more.

As he moved, his friends gradually came back to their senses too.

Xu Yao was the first to lean in, shock practically stamped across his face. He could barely get the words out. "A-Qian, what—what did you just say?"

Unable to make sense of the situation, Lin Qian didn't answer. He simply stared at them, trying to determine whether they were real.

Jiang Tingjun chimed in, still visibly shaken. "I think I just hallucinated..."

Still sitting on the floor, Fu Yifei raised a hand feebly in agreement. "Me too..."

Lin Qian's gaze followed their voices, moving from one face to the next as he tried to recognize these friends who should have been so familiar, yet now seemed startlingly strange.

Having spoken, his friends exchanged looks, as though asking what, exactly, each of the others had hallucinated hearing.

Xu Yao refused to give up. "A-Qian, what was it you just said?"

"He said he and Zheng Pingqing are together." A girl's voice suddenly cut in.

Lin Qian turned. The speaker was a classmate who rarely stood out. He couldn't even recall her name offhand, only a vague memory that she liked reading some very strange books.

The girl pushed her glasses up her nose, her eyes gleaming behind the lenses with mysterious fervor. "He also said he's going to marry Zheng Pingqing."

Her words finally confirmed matters for Pan Qibo, another of his friends, who had been silent until now. He delivered his verdict: "Looks like we weren't hallucinating."

The girl's words, together with Pan Qibo's, struck like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. The other students watching all sucked in a breath.

"What? Lin Qian and Zheng Pingqing are together?"

"I don't believe it! Weren't they mortal enemies? The whole 'No. 12 High School isn't big enough for both of us' thing?"

"Wait, I heard Lin Qian bad-mouthing Zheng Pingqing just this morning. How did two class periods change him completely?"

"The Gaokao ruins lives! It's driven our star student insane!"

"Attendants! Fetch this emperor his heart pills!"

"Xu Yao was just saying they'd arranged to meet Zheng Pingqing's gang for negotiations after school. Was he feeding us fake news?" As this student spoke, they shot Xu Yao a look of suspicion and contempt.

Xu Yao widened his eyes innocently and shook his head furiously, protesting his innocence.

Other girls' shrieks could just be heard in the mix. "I object to this marriage!!!!"

"Men are all liars!"

Amid the chaos, someone finally couldn't take it anymore and raised a voice that cut through the noise. "Could you people focus on something normal? Isn't the biggest problem that they're both guys?"

...

Lin Qian: "..."

Yes, with this atmosphere, these were definitely the classmates he knew.

Only then did Lin Qian finally catch on: he had probably been reborn.

He abruptly reached out and gave Xu Yao's arm a vicious pinch. Xu Yao's agonized "Owww!" confirmed that he wasn't dreaming.

If this wasn't a dream, then it had really happened.

He really was back in his school days.

What a shame. Why couldn't it have waited until he and Zheng Pingqing had finished getting married? At least Zheng Pingqing could have had a little more happiness.

The thought left Lin Qian full of regret.

Xu Yao had no idea what was going through his head; he only knew Lin Qian was acting strangely. Rubbing his arm and grimacing, he leaned in again. "A-Qian, what's wrong with you?"

Countless thoughts flashed through Lin Qian's mind, but his expression betrayed nothing. He merely shook his head. "Nothing. I was dreaming."

At that, Xu Yao and the others finally looked a little less distressed. Jiang Tingjun was still recovering from the fright. "That's one terrifying dream. I nearly died on the spot!"

Lin Qian: "..."

Howling, Fu Yifei grabbed Jiang Tingjun's thigh and hauled himself upright. "Someone check my butt. I think I knocked my pelvis out of alignment."

Lin Qian: "..."

Seriously? He had woken up to find himself reborn and hadn't made much of a fuss. All these guys had heard was that he and Zheng Pingqing were dating. Did they have to react like this?

He couldn't help feeling an intense contempt for them.

Xu Yao looked at him worriedly. "A-Qian, have you been under too much pressure lately? How else would you have such a horrible nightmare?"

"A nightmare of epic proportions! I'd rather dream I didn't get into college than dream Lin Qian and Zheng Pingqing were toge—pah! I didn't say anything." Fu Yifei made his utter disdain for Zheng Pingqing very clear.

The onlookers all gave Lin Qian sympathetic looks. Those who knew him better made sure to offer an encouraging one too. "Hang in there, Lin Qian! Don't let Zheng Pingqing get you down!"

The girls breathed a sigh of relief. "Lin Qian's still single. We still have a chance!"

Lin Qian: "..."

Pretending to be groggy from sleep, Lin Qian asked Xu Yao, "Oh, right. What time is it?"

All he could tell was that he seemed to be back in high school. He still wasn't sure exactly when. His most urgent task was to establish what situation he was facing.

Xu Yao smacked his forehead. "I almost forgot! The pledge rally's about to start. We came over to cheer you on."

Jiang Tingjun nodded at once. "A-Qian, you've memorized your speech, right?"

Still rubbing his backside, Fu Yifei gave Jiang Tingjun a shove. "What kind of stupid question is that? A-Qian's a human tape recorder. What's one little speech to him?"

Pan Qibo looked at Lin Qian with concern. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just relax."

...

Talking over one another, they pulled Lin Qian out of the classroom and headed for the auditorium. "Come on, come on! It's about to start. A-Qian's the star of the show. We can't be late."

Propelled forward by the group, Lin Qian finally worked out exactly when he was.

The start of his senior year. The day of the pledge rally.

The pivotal moment that had changed the course of his life, Zheng Pingqing's, and those of so many people around them.

Remembering how he had joked with Zheng Pingqing on the plane about what he would do if time turned back and he returned to this moment, Lin Qian could have kicked himself.

Had he known wishes could come true, he should have wished to get rich overnight!

But he soon rallied and took stock of his situation.

Shortly, he would speak as the student representative before all the students and teachers in his year, then lead everyone in taking a pledge for the Gaokao. In his previous life, Zheng Pingqing had brought a group from an underperforming class to make trouble for him at the rally, throwing the whole event into chaos. It had become the single biggest laughingstock in the history of No. 12 High School, without question.

During the summer break just before that, Xu Yao had clashed with Dong Mingen, a core member of Zheng Pingqing's circle. The two groups had agreed to meet in an abandoned school building after the rally to negotiate. But because of what happened at the rally, they hadn't even gotten as far as talking. They had gone straight to fighting.

It had been one hell of a brawl. Several students had ended up with physical injuries of varying severity and spent months laid up at home, missing the most important stretch of revision in their senior year.

Worse still, the vice principal, the dean of students, and other school administrators had gotten wind of it and caught them red-handed. Lin Qian and Zheng Pingqing had both received major disciplinary demerits.

The school had been particularly furious with Lin Qian. As the student representative, he had first made a complete mess of the pledge rally, then led a brawl. They had come down hard on him, ordering him to study at home for three months.

As a result, that year's Gaokao had ended in crushing defeat for almost all of them: Lin Qian, Zheng Pingqing, and the friends around them who had taken part in the fight.

Lin Qian had suffered especially badly. His grades should have secured him an exam-exempt university admission place at a prestigious university in the capital, but the major demerit had cost him that place. His Gaokao results had been far from ideal, too.

For many years afterward, the gaps in their academic credentials had held the whole group back, leaving all their careers short of what they had hoped for.

As he walked, Lin Qian thought that right about now, Zheng Pingqing was probably plotting with Dong Mingen and the others about how to humiliate him at the pledge rally.

Given this second chance, he wouldn't hold it against Zheng Pingqing this time. If he had to make a fool of himself in public, so be it. Whatever happened, he couldn't let things spiral out of control the way they had in his previous life.

Perhaps changing the course of their lives would mean that Zheng Pingqing would never fall in love with him as he had before. But if it brought Zheng Pingqing greater happiness, Lin Qian would accept that too.

After all, even if time had turned back, there was no wiping the slate clean and starting over with his feelings for Zheng Pingqing.

He was in love. So be it.

Even as Lin Qian gave himself a mental thumbs-up, he couldn't help shedding a bitter little tear.

In his previous life, he had finally managed to find love. Just when the happiest days of his life were within reach, he had closed his eyes and opened them again, only to find himself single as a dog once more.

Life really was unpredictable!