Chapter 1: The Woman Who Came Ashore

"Hahaha! How could there be such a big fool as Shen Yan?"

"Indeed, he actually married a woman who came ashore."

"For someone like him, it's good enough that he could even get a wife."

Inside a ward at Wencheng Hospital.

Amidst a cacophony of noise, Shen Yan struggled to open his eyes, attempting to escape the endless darkness. However, once his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized he was facing a glaring lamp.

The light was intense and bright, shooting straight into his pupils like a bolt of lightning, causing a wave of dizziness and discomfort.

"Shen Yan, you're awake?"

Just as he had adjusted, a crisp, familiar voice suddenly reached his ears.

Turning his head, Shen Yan discovered a pure young girl with a small ponytail standing there quietly. At the prime age of sixteen, she possessed a "first love" face that haunted one's dreams: almond-shaped eyes, a nose that wasn't high but was delicate, and a round face with a hint of squareness—the type whose profile was absolutely stunning.

She wore a light pink shirt with a stand-up collar, and her lower half was dressed quite casually in loose black shorts, her straight, well-proportioned long legs exposed to the air.

Huh! This girl seemed somewhat familiar.

Shen Yan's brow furrowed slightly, and then his body gave a violent jolt. He asked in disbelief, "Are you Yu Youwei? How are you so young?"

Yu Youwei first pressed the back of her hand against his forehead, then against her own, and after comparing, found he had no fever. She couldn't help but pout and say, "Hey! Are you okay? If I'm not Yu Youwei, then who am I?"

"Besides, I'm only eighteen. What else would I be if not young?"

Eighteen?

Shen Yan's mind was like a bowl of mush as his gaze swept over the surrounding environment.

This was a room of about thirty square meters, furnished with six small beds. He was lying on one, and the others were occupied by men and women wearing hospital gowns.

Looking out the window, the sun had not yet fully set, and a trace of orange-red afterglow still lingered on the horizon. Sunlight spilled through the clouds, gilding the earth in a faint layer of gold.

First, he could be certain that he had never met these people before in his life.

So... is this a hospital?

What is going on?

Shen Yan's brain whirred at high speed, struggling to recall what had happened previously.

Suddenly, a surge of inexplicable information surfaced in his mind. Shen Yan's eyes widened abruptly, his face full of disbelief.

His first reaction was that he was dreaming, so he pinched his thigh hard with his fingers.

Oh, my dear mother! It really hurt!

So... he had really been reborn? And reborn to June 30, 2009, the final day for submitting college entrance exam preferences?

Due to family reasons, Shen Yan had been insecure and introverted since childhood, unskilled at interacting with others, and often maintained a "strangers keep away" demeanor when facing the public.

Yet Yu Youwei was one of the few friends Shen Yan cherished, and the most special one at that.

The two grew up together and were even in the same class in high school, appearing together every day, inseparable. Without realizing it, Shen Yan discovered that his friendship for Yu Youwei had shifted.

Today was the final day for submitting college entrance exam preferences. After the two submitted their choices—both for Hangzhou University, majoring in Law—

Looking at the smile overflowing on Yu Youwei's pure face, acting on a whim, as if he were drunk on fake liquor, Shen Yan mustered the courage to pour out the feelings buried deep in his heart for years, only to be politely rejected.

"I'm sorry, Shen Yan. I don't have any thoughts of dating in the next few years, and I've always treated you as a brother."

Following the normal progression, Shen Yan hadn't been angry at Yu Youwei; he just felt it was awkward to continue interacting like that. While there was still time, he went straight home to change his preferences, applying to a university in Shanghai.

After that, the two drifted further and further apart.

During college, he came into contact with all sorts of people with vastly different personalities. Having experienced more, Shen Yan gradually became more cheerful. Although he was a bit clumsy with words, there were still quite a few girls who coveted his good looks and boldly expressed their feelings.

It was just a pity that a certain figure always lingered in Shen Yan's mind. Throughout his four years of college, he hadn't dated even once.

After graduation, Shen Yan struggled alone in the workplace for two years, bumping into walls along the way: the boss's harassment, colleagues' backstabbing, various performance evaluations...

Shen Yan always felt out of place in this social environment full of worldly wisdom.

In life, the more honest one is, the harder life often becomes.

It was too tiring! And too cutthroat!

Seeing this situation, his uncle Shen Liangping let Shen Yan learn the craft of dim sum from him. Later, Shen Yan achieved success and opened a noodle shop to be his own boss. It was a bit tiring, but for every bit of effort, there was a reward; he could make a net profit of about thirty thousand a month.

Not the best, but more than enough to get by.

At thirty, with a stable career, Shen Nainai started nagging again, telling Shen Yan to hurry up and find a wife so she could hold a great-grandchild before she closed her eyes.

At this time, Yu Youwei was still alone, never having had the intention to settle down, and for this, she even went as far as to sever ties with her parents.

Unable to bear disappointing his grandmother, and unable to marry his "white moonlight," he figured marrying anyone was the same. After a few blind dates, Shen Yan met a girl, and within a month, the two walked down the aisle.

On the day of the wedding, Shen Yan went out to pick up the bride early in the morning, surrounded by relatives and friends. The process was orderly: handing out red envelopes, entering the room, finding the wedding shoes, and so on.

However, just as they finished the ceremony and the newlyweds were toasting the guests, an accident happened unexpectedly.

A neighbor sent a message saying they had once seen the bride at a certain club in Dongguan—no need for 998, no need for 666, 399 was enough to take her out for the night.

In an instant, Shen Yan was furious beyond words. He had lived honestly for thirty years; not marrying his former "white moonlight" was one thing, but to find someone at random to settle for and actually encounter a woman who had "come ashore" was another.

Using the last shred of his reason, Shen Yan took the bride to a room to question her.

Paper, after all, cannot wrap up fire.

The bride knew this wedding could not continue, so she frankly admitted everything and expressed that she would live a steady life from now on, begging Shen Yan not to dwell on those unbearable past events.

Immediately after, the wedding was announced as cancelled, and the scene was in an uproar.

Later, somehow, the news of the bride's status as a woman who had "come ashore" eventually spread. Neighbors gossiped incessantly, pointing fingers at the Shen Family. Shen Nainai fell ill because of this and passed away not long after.

Having lost the grandmother he had depended on since childhood, Shen Yan was devastated. After the funeral was over, he couldn't sleep day or night, so he simply decided to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a hospital ward and saw the eighteen-year-old Yu Youwei.

This didn't seem so bad; at the very least, his grandmother was still alive, he didn't have to face the neighbors' idle gossip, and he had gained over a dozen years of youth for nothing.

The only pity was that he hadn't been reborn one day earlier; otherwise, he could have buried his feelings for Yu Youwei in his heart, and interacting with her wouldn't have been so awkward.

Huh! That's not right; there was no experience of being hospitalized in his previous life.

Shen Yan was a bit confused.

Could this be the butterfly effect brought about by my rebirth?

Thinking back carefully, it seems that after I finished filling out my college applications and was rejected after a confession, I went to the restroom at the Yu Family home; not paying attention, I was bitten in a vital spot by an unknown flying creature, and the needle-like pain, like an electric current, instantly swept through my entire body, after which I lost consciousness.

Thinking of this, Shen Yan hurriedly lifted the quilt, his trousers worn neatly.

He glanced at Yu Youwei again, and his face turned red to the roots of his ears in a "whoosh."

At that time, there were only him and Yu Youwei at the Yu Family home, which wouldn't that mean...

There is no moment in life more awkward than this; Shen Yan wished he could immediately find a crack in the ground to crawl into.