Chapter 1

"Li Luo! You've gone too far! Apologize to the monitor right now!"

"Exactly! Chanxi was just trying to help you cram for the final exam—why won't you accept it, and why did you push her?"

"Li Luo… maybe you shouldn't go play basketball? After all, you have your high school entrance exam tomorrow."

In a daze, Li Luo heard the noisy voices around him, his mind spinning with dizziness.

Then he suddenly opened his eyes, gradually making out the scene before him.

On a bumpy sidewalk of red and green bricks, crooked utility poles stood upright; the narrow street teemed with pedestrians, yet only the space around him felt slightly empty.

A plain-looking boy with a pale, clean face stood before him, his cheeks flushed with anger, clearly furious.

Behind the boy were two girls.

One was a chubby girl with freckles, helping up the girl who had fallen, frowning at him with clear disdain.

Beside them stood a tall, muscular, dark-skinned guy who looked surprisingly honest.

Li Luo blinked, recognizing them.

The angry but seemingly refined, clean-faced boy was Shao Heqi, his middle school vice-monitor.

The tall, honest-looking guy beside him was Zhao Rongjun, his childhood best friend.

As for the two girls behind, the chubby freckled one was Jin Yuting.

The delicate girl being helped up was his childhood friend—Ying Chanxi.

In Li Luo's memory, this was the day he and Ying Chanxi officially broke apart.

From then on, though they remained neighbors, they never spoke another word to each other.

Until, when he was in his thirties and at his lowest, most desperate point, he received a transfer of ten thousand yuan from Ying Chanxi.

It relieved his immediate crisis.

Even so, they could never return to the close bond they'd shared as children.

Unless…

"What did you just say?" Li Luo turned to Zhao Rongjun, his eyes blazing with terrifying intensity.

"Huh?" Zhao Rongjun blinked, unnerved by that gaze, and instinctively replied, "Uh… not going to play basketball?"

"No, I mean the next line."

"Next line?" Zhao Rongjun blinked again. "High school entrance exam tomorrow?"

Confirming those words, Li Luo looked around at the youthful, immature faces before him, then lowered his gaze to his own hands and the middle school uniform he wore…

He seemed… truly reborn!

Just moments ago, he'd been calling online Taobao customers "dear" one after another, begging them for good reviews.

In the blink of an eye, he had returned to the summer of 2014, standing again at the most crucial crossroads of his life.

Slap.

A crisp slap echoed softly.

Zhao Rongjun stared, hand pressed to half his face, stepping back a pace, shocked at Li Luo: "Dude… you really don't need to slap me like that!"

"Does it hurt?" Li Luo stared at him intently.

"... A bit."

"Then hit me back." Li Luo's voice was excited, eagerly pressing his own cheek forward. "Hit me. Go on, hit me."

"Uh… this…" Zhao Rongjun, though tall and imposing, was fundamentally an honest kid—he couldn't bring himself to strike back, looking at Li Luo with obvious distress.

But the next second, a slender figure stepped forward swiftly, arm swinging—

Slap!

A much sharper slap rang out across the surroundings.

Li Luo's head tilted forty-five degrees; he blinked, dazed, a clear palm print now visible on his cheek.

Ying Chanxi, who had struck him, burst into tears herself, then turned away with a choked voice: "Yuting, let's go."

Saying that, she turned and walked toward the intersection.

Jin Yuting hurried after her.

"Ah… you really are…" Vice-monitor Shao Heqi also rushed after them, glancing back at Li Luo and pointing at him accusingly, as if deeply disappointed on Ying Chanxi's behalf.

In truth, he longed to slap Li Luo's other cheek, to match Ying Chanxi's mark perfectly.

But Li Luo was a fierce fighter—Shao Heqi could only imagine it in his mind, never daring to act.

Right now, comforting Ying Chanxi was far more important.

"Uh… Li Luo, you okay?" Zhao Rongjun asked nervously from the side.

Li Luo only shook his head. Though his cheek burned with pain, this sharp, clear ache made his lips curl into an involuntary smile.

He turned his head toward the three figures ahead, and memories flooded his mind like a playback tape, vivid and clear.

He and Ying Chanxi had been close childhood friends before the high school entrance exam.

Their homes faced each other.

Their fathers were fellow villagers, raised together since childhood, inseparable as if sharing one pair of pants.

Before middle school, things were fine—Li Luo wasn't stupid; he could get decent grades with minimal effort in elementary school.

Though he could never match Ying Chanxi's perfect scores in every subject, it was still passable.

But since entering middle school, where serious studying was needed to achieve good results, Li Luo became addicted to leisure—either playing basketball with friends or sneaking off to internet cafés to game.

His grades, compared to Ying Chanxi's, were worlds apart.

At home, his parents constantly used Ying Chanxi as an example of "that other kid," making Li Luo increasingly resentful, gradually growing to dislike her.

And this dislike reached its peak at the critical juncture of the high school entrance exam.

Because Ying Chanxi's grades were so outstanding, she didn't even need to take the exam—over a month earlier, she had already been early-admitted by the district's top high school through autonomous recruitment.

And Li Luo's grades were truly abysmal—he might not even qualify for a regular high school.

Once the high school entrance exam ended, Ying Chanxi would go to Yuhang Affiliated No. 1 High School to receive education from a provincial key high school.

Li Luo, however, could only be forced to attend some obscure vocational high school and continue sinking.

From then on, they were no longer people from the same world.

When the young Li Luo realized this, he chose resistance and avoidance—and in the most detestable way possible.

On the contrary, having already confirmed his early admission through independent enrollment, Ying Chanxi could have skipped school entirely and enjoyed a long, blissful holiday.

Yet she still came to school every day, wanting to tutor Li Luo.

Every night after returning home, she would go next door to Li Luo's house, trying to help him organize his knowledge.

But for the emotionally sensitive young Li Luo, the more she did this, the more it felt like pity and charity—something he simply could not accept.

Especially since he knew deep down: just over a month of review could change nothing.

Even if he passed into a regular high school, they were destined to attend different schools, their lives already diverging.

So he gave up entirely—every day after school, he dragged Zhao Rongjun, who had also been granted early admission, to play basketball.

It was strange, though—why hadn't he ever thought that Zhao Rongjun, too, would one day be from a different world?

At 35, Li Luo now looked back on those days and could barely understand the logic of his 15-year-old self.

Especially on the very last day before the exam, when the school announced at noon that classes were dismissed so everyone could relax and enter tomorrow's test in the best state.

Ying Chanxi still thought that even on the final day, if she could just cram a few formulas and vocabulary words into Li Luo, it might earn him a few extra points—and perhaps push him over the threshold into a regular high school.

But when she caught up to him near the school gate, he impatiently shoved her away, sending her tumbling to the ground.

Back then, when Ying Chanxi fell to the ground, she must have been utterly disappointed in him.

Thinking of it, Li Luo himself couldn't help but want to slap the other side of his face.

"Huh…" After recalling it all, Li Luo exhaled deeply, calming his emotions.

Then he shoved his backpack into Zhao Rongjun's arms and sprinted forward toward the three ahead.

"Hey! Wait up for me!" Zhao Rongjun grabbed Li Luo's backpack and hurried after him.

At this moment, Ying Chanxi, who walked ahead, was still wiping her tears.

The two beside her comforted her while scolding Li Luo.

"Xixi, you're going to Yuhang Affiliated No. 1 now. No matter how much Li Luo reviews, he'll at best get into a regular high school—maybe even a vocational one. You won't even see him anymore. Why bother with him?"

Jin Yuting had long disliked Li Luo.

Ying Chanxi was beautiful, kind-hearted, and had consistently ranked first in the entire school—she was a perfect goddess.

Yet this polite, gentle, and outstanding girl only occasionally revealed a slightly spoiled, adorable side when speaking to Li Luo.

Countless boys at school secretly competed just to earn a shred of Ying Chanxi's attention.

Only this fool Li Luo, blind and clueless, spent his days playing basketball and video games, with grades this terrible.

In Jin Yuting's eyes, only Liu Shaowen—the perennial second-place student, tall and handsome—was even remotely suitable for Xixi.

Even the vice-class monitor, Shao Heqi, fell short in Jin Yuting's estimation.

"Don't be upset, class monitor," Shao Heqi continued stoking the fire. "It's not worth crying over someone like him. I don't see a hint of remorse in him."

Though it was a bad thought, Shao Heqi secretly felt it was a good thing that Ying Chanxi had broken with Li Luo—especially after making her cry.

If he could comfort her now, draw closer to her, and deepen their bond, then once they both entered Yuhang Affiliated No. 1, their junior high connection might earn him the same special treatment Li Luo once had.

Thinking of this, Shao Heqi felt a faint, giddy lightness in his chest.

But just then, a figure sprinted up, rushed behind Ying Chanxi, and grabbed her wrist.

Ying Chanxi paused mid-step, instinctively turned her head, and saw Li Luo's face—the one that always made her slightly angry.

Li Luo, meanwhile, promptly released her hand, but his expression froze.

Hmm… I have to admit, my teenage brain was bizarre.

How could I possibly have made such a beautiful girl cry?

Even now, Ying Chanxi's delicate oval face still bore tear tracks, her cheeks faintly flushed, exquisitely lovely, with a touch of childish baby fat that begged to be poked.

Her figure was slender and delicate; even her bulky school uniform couldn't hide her ethereal, untainted purity.

But Li Luo was a 35-year-old man now—he snapped out of his daze instantly, took a deep breath.

Before anyone else could react, Li Luo stepped forward and bowed slightly to Ying Chanxi in front of everyone, speaking loudly:

"Ying Chanxi, I'm sorry! It was my fault!"

"Please tutor me for tomorrow's exam subjects!"

The moment he finished speaking:

Jin Yuting instantly covered her mouth, her face twisted in the expression of an old person staring at a smartphone.

Vice-class monitor Shao Heqi opened his mouth slightly, his face a mix of shock and confusion; he rubbed his ears, convinced he'd hallucinated.

Zhao Rongjun, who had just sprinted up from behind, froze in place, his face filled with astonishment—he stared at Li Luo's back, half-convinced Li Luo had been possessed by a spirit.

And standing before Li Luo, Ying Chanxi, upon hearing his unreserved, loud apology and plea:

First, she blinked in stunned silence.

Then slowly:

Her eyes sparkled with quiet relief and joy.

"You said that?"

"Of course I did!"