Chapter 1

“Qinqin, I left a kiwi in the dining room. Remember to eat it before bed.”

“Got it! I’m coming to get it now!”

Si Chun slipped on her headband and hurried toward the dining room in the beige bunny slippers she had loved best when she was twelve. She picked up the kiwi, which was still cold enough to chill her fingers, carefully peeled it, and scooped into it with a small spoon. Sure enough, it was red-fleshed.

Ms. Si Jiao normally lived frugally, but she firmly believed that no matter how difficult life became, a child should never be made to suffer. When it came to food, she always carefully selected the very best for her daughter.

The sweet-and-sour flesh danced across Si Chun’s tongue, and the vivid sensation of every bite seemed to remind her that a car accident had sent her back to the summer when she was twelve years old.

In her final memory, she and her girlfriend, Ling Yan, had been waiting at a red light on their way home from work when they started arguing over something trivial.

Who would have thought that a car would suddenly barrel into what should have been a safe area? Her head slammed heavily against the inside of the vehicle, and before she lost consciousness, the last thing she saw was Ling Yan throwing herself toward her without any regard for her own safety.

During the first few days after she traveled back, Si Chun’s thoughts were a complete mess.

She missed her mother. She missed Ling Yan.

She had grown up in a single-parent household, and her mother, Ms. Si Jiao, loved her dearly. Even when she suffered some minor illness or injury, her mother would worry about it for a long time. Now that she had been unfortunate enough to get into a car accident, Si Chun could not imagine how devastated her mother must be.

Aside from that, before losing consciousness, she had felt nothing except the pain in her head, yet she had still returned to her youth. She did not know whether she was trapped in one long dream or whether…she had simply died like that.

But if Ling Yan had shielded her and protected her from being hurt [unauthorized copy]a second time, then theoretically, Ling Yan must have been injured even more severely than she was.

Si Chun forced herself not to think about things she had no way of confirming for the time being. Summer vacation would end in a few days, and she would have to report to Zhiting No. 3 Middle School.

Everything in this world was far too real, so for now, she could only assume that she had been reborn. Everything had to begin again from scratch, and naturally, she could not neglect her studies either.

–

“Yanyan? Yanyan!”

A woman’s voice came from behind Ling Yan. When she received no response, her second call immediately grew louder, carrying an undisguised impatience.

Ling Yan turned around mechanically, and her aunt’s face entered her field of vision.

In the past, she had numbed herself too thoroughly to notice, but now she could see it all with perfect clarity.

Every part of her aunt’s expression revealed genuine annoyance, as though she had been unfortunate enough to find herself saddled with a hot potato she could not get rid of. Bound by so-called morality and familial affection, she had no choice but to swallow her displeasure and take Ling Yan in.

So her uncle and aunt’s family had disliked her from the very beginning.

Several days had passed since she returned to her youth, yet she still could not tell whether she was dreaming or whether, just as those online novels described, she had died in an accident and then been reborn, traveling back to where everything began.

Whichever it was, fate had played a joke on her—and it was not the least bit funny.

“Yanyan, you’ll be reporting to Jiarui in a few days. Have you prepared everything? Do you need us to buy you anything new?” Perhaps sensing the tension bailiantales.combetween them, her uncle hurried over to smooth things over.

“Thank you, but Mom prepared everything long ago. I’m not missing anything,” Ling Yan replied tersely, her voice cold.

“You child! Why are you so hostile when your elders are only showing concern?” Her aunt was visibly displeased. “Jiarui is an elite school! If you overlook anything, you won’t even know how those rich people swallowed you whole! No matter how thoroughly your mother prepared everything, she can’t look after you anymore—”

“That’s enough! Stop talking!” Her uncle immediately cut her off, then looked apologetically at Ling Yan. “Yanyan, your aunt only means well. After all, we’re the ones who are a family now. If you need anything in the future, you have to tell your uncle and aunt, all right?”

“I need to help my younger cousin with his summer homework.” Unable to be bothered wasting any more words on them, Ling Yan casually dropped that sentence, immediately silencing the married couple who had been playing bad cop and good cop.

As for whether she would actually do it, and how much effort she would devote to that useless little bully who relied on others’ power to throw his weight around, that would depend entirely on her mood.

After returning to the tiny bedroom where she had lived for years in this so-called “home,” Ling Yan locked the door behind her. She touched the strip of black mourning cloth pinned over her heart, removed it, folded it neatly, and locked it inside a drawer.

During the summer when she was twelve, just after graduating from elementary school, both her parents had drowned during a trip they had taken her on to see the ocean. Afterward, she had been adopted by her uncle’s family.

To be sent back to the beginning of everything by fate during the period when she had most wanted to die—should she consider herself fortunate or unfortunate…?

Ling Yan thought bitterly.

–

September. The beginning of the first year of middle school.

Si Chun returned to a school environment she could not have been more familiar with.

Middle school was an important stage in a person’s journey from an ignorant child to an adolescent gradually capable of standing on their own. Ms. Si Jiao had worried about her, so she had deliberately enrolled Si Chun at Zhiting No. 3 Middle School, where she taught. That way, she could check on her daughter with the homeroom teacher and subject teachers whenever she wished, accompanying her all the way until graduation.

After graduating from university, Si Chun had also taken the examinations to become a teacher at Zhiting No. 3 Middle School, partly out of personal attachment and partly for convenience.

The beginning of a school year was always hectic. Si Chun had taught middle-school Chinese and knew perfectly well how severely unbalanced her academic strengths were. Back then, she had performed poorly on the high school entrance examination and failed to meet the recommendation cutoff for No. 1 Key High School. Since she now had the chance to begin again, she needed to identify and fill the gaps in all the science knowledge she had long since returned to her teachers.

The first week was the customary military training. September’s blazing sun left Si Chun thoroughly dazed, and during the break, she flung out both arms and collapsed onto the grass beneath the shade of a tree.

“Get up and drink some water first.”

Yet the moment she did so, Ling Yan’s voice suddenly rang through her mind.

Si Chun abruptly pushed herself upright, but Ling Yan was nowhere beside her.

She looked around in confusion, but there was no sign of Ling Yan anywhere.

…That was right. She had already returned to her youth.

Naturally, the girlfriend who had recently kept starting inexplicable arguments with her over trivial matters would not have anything to do with her at this point in time.

But Si Chun vaguely remembered Ling Yan once mentioning that they had actually attended the same middle school, just not in the same class.

That made things easy. She could ask her mother for ​bailiantales.com​the list of first-year students. As long as she found out which class Ling Yan was in, she could secretly go and see her!

Si Chun had never looked forward to the lunch break so eagerly. The moment she finished eating, she hurried to her mother’s office, greeted each of the teachers one by one, then familiarly pulled open a drawer and took out the neatly stapled student lists. She carefully went through them page by page from top to bottom, not overlooking a single name.

Her heart pounded in her chest, each beat faster than the last, making her cheeks grow slightly warm.

She did not even know exactly what she was looking forward to. Perhaps…she was merely curious to see what the person she loved most in the world had looked like during her youngest and most innocent years.

–

Jiarui International School.

Ling Yan had long since grown accustomed to returning from a meal only to find her water bottle and important textbooks missing.

Back when she had still been an ignorant young girl, she had yearned for the various elite schools depicted in novels. With her parents’ consent, she had applied to a nearby one.

It was only many years later that she learned just how expensive Jiarui’s tuition was.

Her parents had worked diligently, knew how to seize opportunities, and had accumulated considerable savings, so naturally, they could afford it. As for her uncle’s family…

Whenever she remembered the truth a classmate—whose name she had already forgotten—had confessed to her while drunk during a game of Truth or Dare at a future class reunion, Ling Yan wanted only to sneer.

—“Remember how you transferred out after only a few days at Jiarui? I think a group of students ganged up on you and bullied you, right? Your uncle actually paid them to do it. That cost much less than three years of tuition at Jiarui!”

They had taken in the orphaned daughter of her uncle’s deceased elder brother, yet they were unwilling to shoulder the cost of her tuition. At the same time, they cared too much about appearances to suggest that she transfer read the original at bailiantales.com schools themselves. To preserve their false façade, those filthy adults chose to spend a little money and let the cruelty of her surroundings and other young people stab at an innocent, ignorant child.

Since she would have to transfer sooner or later anyway, she had no intention of enduring even half a day more of that torment.

When she returned to the place where she was temporarily staying that evening, Ling Yan approached her uncle and asked to transfer to Zhiting No. 3 Middle School.

In truth, transferring to Zhiting No. 3 Middle School back then had not been her own choice. Above No. 3 were No. 2 and No. 1 Middle Schools, both of which had better overall academic results and teaching environments. Ling Yan’s grades and aptitude were also more than sufficient to earn her a place at No. 1.

Ling Yan could more or less piece together the reason behind her uncle’s arrangement. He simply wanted it to be easier to suppress and control her, lest her wings grow strong enough for her to abandon them and fly away on her own.

She even knew perfectly well what would be waiting for her after she transferred to Zhiting No. 3 Middle School, yet she still wanted to leap into that pit of fire.

—Si Chun was at Zhiting No. 3 Middle School.

It was Si Chun’s alma mater and the school where she would work after graduating in the future.

If nothing unexpected happened, the two of them were destined to have no contact with each other during this period, all the way until graduation.

But Ling Yan still decided to go.

Even if she could only catch a glimpse of Si Chun—the Si Chun who did not know her yet—that would be enough…

The name “Si Chun” repeated endlessly in her mind. When Ling Yan abruptly came back to her senses, she discovered that she had unconsciously dug her nails into her wrist until it bled.

–

Si Chun spent the entire lunch break searching through the lists but did not find Ling Yan’s name.

Refusing to accept it, she patiently waited until school ended and she returned home. After previewing the science lessons she had planned for herself, she borrowed her mother’s computer under the pretext of looking up a problem. While her mother was cooking in the kitchen, she quietly opened the digital student list and used Ctrl+F to search for the name directly.

Still no results.

Ling Yan had never been willing to talk about her past, while Si Chun was accustomed to respecting her wishes. If her girlfriend did not want to mention it, she would not ask. As a result, she had no idea what Ling Yan had experienced during middle school.

Besides that, Ling Yan’s grades throughout most of middle school did not seem to have been particularly good. Otherwise, the school administration would have favored her early on, assigned her to numerous academic competitions, and helped her win all kinds of honors. By the third year, she should also have been placed in Class One, where all the top students gathered, and earned eligibility for direct admission to a key high school.

Si Chun searched her memories and discovered that there was one thing about Ling Yan from this period that she remembered clearly.

During the high school entrance examination alone, Ling Yan had performed far beyond her usual level. She ranked first in the entire grade—first in the entire district, even.

When the scores were released, Si Chun heard her homeroom teacher mention that a girl in one of the classes had emerged as a complete dark horse. Her score was so high it was almost as if she had seen the official answer key beforehand, even though she had kept an utterly low profile during ordinary times.

After expressing her amazement, the homeroom teacher deeply regretted that the girl had not been in her class. Otherwise, she could have given her opportunities to compete in academic competitions and qualify for direct admission. Then, upon entering No. 1 Key High School, those honors would have made her a favorite among the teachers from the very beginning.

Which class would Ling Yan end up in?

And why had she concealed her abilities for three years, only drawing her sword at the last and most crucial moment?

During dinner, Si Chun finally told her mother the name “Ling Yan.”

Ms. Si Jiao could clearly tell that her daughter was avoiding her gaze and hiding something.

Her curiosity piqued, she propped her chin on her hand and pressed, “Would you like to tell Mom who she is?”

“She’s…” Si Chun paused. “A very good and outstanding girl.”

The person she loved most—the lover she would never let go of for the rest of her life.

“She’s going to transfer here, is that right?” Si Jiao asked again.

“Yes. Unless something unexpected happens.” Si Chun did not know whether anything would change in “this life,” but if Ling Yan’s name was absent from the initial enrollment list, then the only remaining possibility was that she would be a transfer student. “Please keep an eye out for her, Mom!”