Chapter One: A Tragic Rebirth

On July 8, 2001, a sudden torrential downpour swept across the entirety of Haizhou City, as if the heavens themselves were intent on scouring the streets. Caught off guard, pedestrians scrambled to huddle under eaves, seeking even a foot of shelter from the rain. Amid the cars and the few scattered souls braving the storm with umbrellas, there was also a young man, drenched and splattered with mud, dashing desperately through the deluge.

Clutched tightly to his chest was a transparent plastic document folder. Inside were a ballpoint pen, a pencil, an eraser, and, most crucially, his entrance ticket for the college entrance examination and his identity card.

The boy’s name was Li Mu. Blood was oozing steadily from a wound on his left temple, but even so, he ran with wild abandon, his reckless momentum drawing startled glances from those around him.

Inwardly, Li Mu lamented, “Even after being reborn, I still couldn’t avoid getting hit by a car. If only I’d come back ten minutes earlier!”

Half an hour ago, on his way to the final English exam of the college entrance examination, Li Mu had been cycling across a pedestrian crossing when a sedan struck him. He lost consciousness, and the ambulance rushed him to the hospital. Unexpectedly, before they even reached the hospital, he awoke.

Yet the Li Mu who opened his eyes was not the same as the one who’d been knocked down. Though inhabiting the same body, it was now Li Mu from fifteen years in the future who had awakened.

In his previous life, Li Mu had been working overtime, writing code late into the evening. At some point, darkness fell—as if he’d drifted into a deep sleep—and when he came to, he was lying inside an ambulance.

It took several minutes before he realized he had been reborn. In his memory, the car accident that occurred today had changed the entire course of his life.

That afternoon, at 3 p.m., was the English exam—the last subject of the college entrance examination. In his past life, after being hit, he hadn’t regained consciousness as quickly as this time. When he finally woke in the hospital, it was already 3:15 p.m.—the exam had started fifteen minutes earlier.

Ignoring the protests of both the doctors and the beautiful woman who’d been driving, he insisted on going to the exam hall. The doctors, having determined his injuries were not serious, accompanied by a traffic officer and the at-fault driver, took Li Mu back to the exam hall in the ambulance.

By the time he arrived, he was thirty-five minutes late. According to regulations, anyone more than half an hour late had no right to enter. But given his special circumstances, and with both the police officer and the doctor vouching for him, they allowed Li Mu in. By then, the listening section of the exam was nearly over.

Li Mu’s composure hadn’t been strong back then, and missing the listening section meant he did poorly—scoring only 49 points in English.

Because of his low English score, his total score was just 535—five points short of the threshold for first-tier universities. Ultimately, he could only enroll in a second-tier science and engineering college within the province.

His parents and the responsible female driver both urged him to repeat the year and try again. The driver even offered to cover all his expenses. But considering his family’s circumstances, Li Mu was eager to graduate early and earn money. He gave up on repeating.

After that, he never saw the woman again. Not until 2015, when he was working in Beijing, did his parents call him home to attend a funeral. Only then did he learn that the deceased was the same young woman who’d once hit him with her car—her name was Chen Wan. She’d been a host on a provincial TV variety show—never a major star, but well-known in her province.

Only at the funeral did his parents reveal that, after the accident, Chen Wan had quietly paid his tuition and fees for all four years of university, in accordance with her own wishes. Out of respect, his parents had never told him.

Her death was a tale full of sorrow: her father was sentenced to death with reprieve for illegal fundraising; her husband lost everything gambling on the stock market and vanished after the financial crash; then unscrupulous local media distorted her story, dealing her a heavy blow. Drowning her sorrows in alcohol, she died unexpectedly of alcohol poisoning.

From the moment he learned the truth, Li Mu felt nothing but gratitude toward this woman. That was why, just moments ago, when he bolted from the ambulance, he’d even turned back to tell the beautiful woman about to chase after him, “Don’t follow. This isn’t your fault. Just remember—never gamble on the stock market again!”

Li Mu had never blamed her in his previous life, and he certainly wouldn’t now. As for the tragedy that would befall her many years later, there was nothing more he could do to warn her.

His digital watch now read 2:50 p.m.—ten minutes before the exam, and less than a kilometer to the test site.

“There’s still time!” Li Mu barely had a moment to process the thrill of being reborn; his mind was consumed by thoughts of the upcoming English exam. What if, after all this, he still couldn’t do well?

Back then, he hadn’t understood the difference between first- and second-tier universities. But after eleven years as a programmer in Beijing, the value of a degree was painfully clear to him.

Before his rebirth, Li Mu worked at a large Internet company in Beijing. Those of similar age with elite degrees had already become directors or vice presidents, earning at least half a million yuan a year. Because of his academic background, Li Mu could only be a so-called senior engineer, never reaching true management roles. His annual salary, at best, was in the low two hundred thousands—a mediocre sum for someone with eleven years’ experience.

He had regretted it countless times. If only he had been less stubborn, repeated the year, and gotten into a good school—perhaps he could have bought a home in Beijing in his thirties, perhaps his relationships wouldn’t all have ended in failure, perhaps he could have brought his parents to the capital for a comfortable life.

He’d often fantasized about having the chance to start over from a pivotal moment.

He could have mended so many regrets in life.

For instance, he could have returned to the days before the college entrance exam and salvaged his performance in 2001. Or, back to his younger years, he could have been more considerate to his parents, less rebellious, so they wouldn’t have aged so quickly.

Or perhaps, on some sunny afternoon, he would have confessed his feelings to Su Yingxue, the school beauty he’d silently admired for so long. Even if she rejected him, he could simply reload that moment and choose to remain friends, instead of abandoning his feelings out of fear of losing the friendship altogether.

He never imagined that, today, he would truly return to this most crucial turning point in his life.

But to be reborn only to be immediately struck by a car, and now to drag his injured body through the rain to the college entrance examination—such was the cruel irony of fate.

What’s more, the questions on the English exam from fifteen years ago were long forgotten; how many points he could score remained a daunting question.

Recalling how his parents could not let go of his disappointing exam performance even years later, Li Mu felt the pressure mounting.

How maddening!

No point in overthinking—he could only do his best.

...

Fortunately, Haizhou was a small fifth-tier city, with only a handful of blocks in the urban area. Having grown up here, Li Mu knew every street by heart. Racing through the rain-soaked roads, he finally arrived at his exam hall just as the bell rang.

At the entrance stood a male proctor. Before Li Mu could step inside, the man blocked his path, eyeing him in astonishment as he frowned and asked, “What do you think you’re doing here?”

“I’m here to take the exam,” Li Mu replied.

Inside, two other proctors and more than thirty examinees stared in shock. No one had ever seen someone arrive for the college entrance examination like this: a tall boy, nearly six feet, covered head to toe in mud, blood streaked across his face, half his white T-shirt stained red and blurred by the rain—a striking sight indeed.

The female proctor, who was in the midst of unsealing the exam papers, was so startled she froze mid-motion. Proctors rotated each session, and it was her first time overseeing this room—her first time seeing Li Mu.

The male proctor at the door, frowning, barked sternly at Li Mu, “What on earth do you think you’re doing, coming to the exam in such a state? Do you take this place for your living room? Dry yourself off before you set foot inside!”