To “see you again” is a terrifying phrase. It implies reunion, whilst also signifying farewell.

When Xu Tingsheng saw Xiang Ning again, he was already 31 years old. On that fateful day, he was sitting in the small shop he had opened by a side street. The store had been open for over a year, and was the sustenance of his aimless, meandering life, during which successive entrepreneurial failures had drained away all the spirit of his soul.

Having surrendered to the winds of fate, Xu Tingsheng no longer had his heart set on business ventures, instead spending most of his time fixated on the computer screen.

“Boss, how much is this?”

Perhaps due to having been numbed for so long, Xu Tingsheng had actually already fallen to the extent of having forgotten this voice, despite how much he had once loved the owner of the voice.

Even still, he remembered this hairband. The design was a little out of date, but his shop still had many of them, as that person had always liked to wear hairbands, which revealed her reportedly priceless 'Fuxi Bone' forehead. And this, was her most loved design.

Usually, Xu Tingsheng did not like establishing eye contact with his customers, as if in fear of others seeing through his inner struggles. However, he would always raise his head to look at girls who bought this brand of hairband, not because he yearned for her appearance, but just...fine, he yearned to, in what was just limited to a simple yearning, just once more- to have just one more glance at her.

In that moment in which Xu Tingsheng raised his head, he saw that familiar face, that same familiar smile, any change in her appearance tiny, very tiny-or perhaps there had been absolutely no change in it at all.

The ancients have long conveyed many emotions well, for instance ‘a sudden regretful twinge of the heart’. Sorrow and grief rise in the chest; the tears well up, unable to fall in the moment.

“What brings you back here?” Xu Tingsheng enquired.

This was the city of her university, also the city where they had once met and fallen in love.

“I’m here to attend a course,” Xiang Ning said.

“Where do you teach now? I did find out that you were admitted, third for the written examination, third for the interview, with the physical examination passed as well. However, I wasn’t able to find out which primary school you are at now,” Xu Tingsheng said.

“Wenyan Primary,” Xiang Ning answered whilst paying for her items.

This pace of events left Xu Tingsheng feeling very helpless. He attempted to return a little more change, but Xiang Ning politely handed it back, leaving Xu Tingsheng even more pressured and helpless.

Xiang Ning walked towards the door.

“Have you gotten married?” Xu Tingsheng couldn’t stop himself from asking.

Xiang Ning looked back, smiling as she gently shook her head.

“Can, can you stand here for a while?” Xu Tingsheng stood up, raised his hand and then put it back down, unable to find an appropriate place for it.

“No. I just wanted...to see you again, and, tell you I always believed that you would come and find me,” Xiang Ning swung away, and before Xu Tingsheng could catch her expression, she was already unfurling her umbrella, vanishing off into the rainy night.

Xu Tingsheng blanked out for a minute before fishing out his handphone to call Huang Yaming and Fu Cheng.

He said through his phone, “She just appeared, a minute ago, in my shop.”

Both of them understood at once. Having been best friends for more than ten years, they were aware of Xu Tingsheng’s situation, including his feelings.

“Hurry up and go chase her already,” they said one after another.

“Should I?” Xu Tingsheng replied.

“Of course! Just having come back to see you proves that she still hasn’t forgotten about you yet, isn’t it?”

“Alright.”

The same conversation played out twice.

Xu Tingsheng stood up, knocking down the stool behind the counter in his haste.

“Bang...”

Those customers leisurely browsing through his shop turned to look at him.

“Boss, you’re not going to look after your shop?” a customer asked in jest.

This remark reminded Xu Tingsheng about his current life and his current circumstances as a voice seemed to reverberate within his mind, “Even if you manage to catch up with her, what next? ... What would you say to her? On what basis would you be able to get her to stay? ... Get her to stay, and then become a burden for her?”

“So what if you find her?”

“So what if you find her?”

“So what if you find her?”

Xu Tingsheng sat down, looking as though the last dregs of his energy had finally been drained from his soul.

…...

Xu Tingsheng had been born in the outskirts of a small district into a rural family. When he was 19 years old, he lost his father to an accident. From then on, his household had struggled constantly, placed under difficult circumstances.

Xu Tingsheng had later gained admission into a teacher’s training institute, and upon graduation had become a history teacher at a senior high school in Jiannan City.

He stayed in this position for 4 years.

During this period of time, his younger sister graduated from university, easily gaining employment at the city municipal office, his mother remained healthy, her mood jovial and he repaid the debt owed by the family from a few years prior, though he had still been unable to afford the downpayment for a new flat.

In 2011, when Xu Tingsheng was 27 years old, his pals from university invited him to invest in a joint venture, setting up a small construction materials company. With a desire to completely turn around his fate, Xu Tingsheng had spared no effort in the endeavour, resigning from his previous job to take a leap into the great unknown.

On the third day after he resigned, he and his fated one - Xiang Ning, who had then been in her third year at Jiannan University, crossed paths.

One year later.

The company ran into trouble, one of the three business partners running away with the funds. Xu Tingsheng’s business had failed, saddling him with a debt running into the millions.

Not long after, Xiang Ning had graduated from university, successfully making it through the required tests and becoming a language teacher at a primary school. Yet, she had found herself unable to locate Xu Tingsheng afterwards.

Just like that, Xu Tingsheng had suddenly vanished from Xiang Ning’s life.

At that time, Xu Tingsheng had still held onto hope, dreaming about the day that he finally made it big, whereupon he would immediately go back for Xiang Ning. This matter weighed down on his mind every single day, he who remained ever in anticipation.

Yet afterwards, his business ventures had failed twice more.

......

In the year 2015, the next time Xu Tingsheng saw Xiang Ning, he was already 31 years old. The him at this point was still standing, but barely; just like people in their declining years - a dead, lifeless shell, pathetic beyond compare.

…...

That evening, Xu Tingsheng shut up shop early and wandered the streets aimlessly.

This city had too many places which held memories of their time together; their silhouettes, sweetness, laughter, fortune, and sorrows. It was as if Xu Tingsheng could see their past selves, a familiar yet alien image. There they were, standing in the distance, holding hands, waving happily towards him.

There was a street junction at which Xiang Ning had once sat and cried.

Back then, when Xu Tingsheng had brought up the matter of breaking up, Xiang Ning had sat at this spot and cried. She had cried as she walked, and Xu Tingsheng had not chased after her. That night, Xiang Ning had called Xu Tingsheng and told him that she had lost her wallet while crying and walking home. She wanted Xu Tingsheng to accompany her in looking for it, only breaking up after it had been found.

Xu Tingsheng knew, of course, that it was all a lie. But when a proud girl, having once been pursued and pampered by many suitors, was willing to shamelessly and blatantly lie like that just for you, just what more was required for one to feel satisfied? Just what kind of heart wouldn’t soften?

That day, they had searched for a long, long time, both pretending to be very earnest and meticulous in the search, till finally their gazes met and they couldn’t help but chortle out loud.

Here now was another street junction where Xu Tingsheng had once sat and cried.

“Uncle” Xu Tingsheng did not like taking selfies. The first few times when Xiang Ning had wanted to take selfies with him, he had refused to do so. Thereafter, she had not persisted on the matter. Once, when Xiang Ning had gone to the washroom, with Xu Tingsheng responsible for carrying her bag, he had casually browsed through Xiang Ning’s phone.

He had discovered that there was a folder entitled ‘Sweet’ in Xiang Ning’s phone, and that this folder was filled with photographs of the both of them together, only that in those photos, Xu Tingsheng was either sleeping, looking off in another direction, or doing something else. Only Xiang Ning was looking at the camera in the pictures, leaning her face close, smiling like a flower...she had stealthily taken all these photos, stealthily...taken photos together with her boyfriend.

Back then, Xu Tingsheng had cried very terribly. When Xiang Ning had returned from the washroom, she had jumped in shock. Then, Xu Tingsheng, his face smeared with tears and mucus, had held onto Xiang Ning and insisted on taking photos together with her, making for an unpleasant and messy yet comical sight.

……

Xu Tingsheng walked towards that couple in the distance.

An Audi sped towards him.

Caught in its bright, dazzling headlights, he forgot to evade it.

The piercing, screeching noise of friction resounded as hasty deceleration fought against tarmac, the beautiful lady in the front passenger seat screaming in panic.

Xu Tingsheng felt himself fly into the air, the sensation of weightlessness momentarily overtaking him.

There was also the sensation of pain, but it persisted only for a fleeting moment.

After that, was infinite darkness.

A 19 year old Xu Tingsheng sat on the long distance bus to Yanzhou City.

In the year 2011,  the bus journey from Jiannan City to Yanzhou City would have taken three hours. Now, in the year 2003, checking with the driver, Xu Tingsheng had heard that it would take 5 hours.

Earlier, Xu Tingsheng had spent a day and a night before finally accepting his fate of having been reborn. This was the year 2003, currently being early March. After the initial stages of panic, perhaps because he had left with too many regrets in his previous life, he became a little excited, as well as emotional.

Three things were laid out before him:

One was his father’s accidental death, which would happen sometime more than a month later, on 15th April.

Second was Xiang Ning. Currently, she should only be 14 years old, in seventh grade. From what Xu Tingsheng had witnessed to date, this flap of a butterfly’s wings had not changed anything, but he still desperately couldn’t resist the urge to personally confirm Xiang Ning’s existence; or rather, he just wanted to see her.

The third was the university entrance examinations, which would take place in less than three months’ time.

Xu Tingsheng had once gone to Xiang Ning’s senior high, the second best of Yanzhou City, accompanying her, in the fourth year of university at that time, as she reminisced on her youth. However, what was bad was that he didn’t know what junior high Xiang Ning had been in.

Long distance buses weren’t too comfortable in the year 2003, and the condition on the roads were also rather bad. A middle-aged woman sitting beside Xu Tingsheng, wearing silver-rimmed spectacles, vomited non-stop due to the shaking of the bus.

Xu Tingsheng handed her a plastic bag and a paper towel, also opening a bottle of mineral water for her.

“Thanks, sorry for the trouble.”

Raising her head and breathing in deeply, the middle-aged woman then turned over slightly, thanking Xu Tingsheng somewhat awkwardly.

“It’s fine, my mother and little sister get carsick as well.”

Xu Tingsheng smiled genially, his 31-year-old mental age causing him to appear more mature than others of the same age.

“Going to Yanzhou City to play? Are you still a student?”The woman asked, covering her mouth.

“Yes, in twelfth grade, going to handle some matters…I have family members over there,” An inexplicable feeling of guilt caused Xu Tingsheng to cover things up a bit.

“Oh, twelfth grade is very taxing. I am a teacher, but I teach in junior high.”

“A junior high school of Yanzhou City? Or Jiannan City?” Xu Tingsheng’s mind wavered for a moment as he asked.

“Yes, Yanzhou City. A few days earlier, I participated in a course over here…do you want some plums?” The female teacher asked.

“Alright, thanks…I’ve loved eating sour food since young.”

“Me too.”

Xu Tingsheng took a plum and placed it inside his mouth, the two seemingly having grown closer because of this. Xu Tingsheng hesitated for a moment. If he asked: Teacher, do you know a seventh grader named Xiang Ning, it would almost definitely lead to the other’s wariness.

Thinking for a bit, Xu Tingsheng purposefully said in a relaxed manner, “My cousin is currently studying in seventh grade at Yanzhou City; she might even be your student, haha.”

“If that were true, it would really be a great coincidence…which school does your cousin go to?” The female teacher also smiled, now no longer vomiting, perhaps because her conversation with Xu Tingsheng had diverted away some of her attention.

“I’m not too sure; I seldom go out. Her name is Xiang Ning,” Xu Tingsheng said, almost a little hastily.

The female teacher’s mouth was half-open as she stared at him.

Xu Tingsheng raised his eyebrows doubtfully.

“It can’t be, right. I have a girl named Xiang Ning in my class; I wonder if it is just that they share the same name.”The female teacher said.

Xu Tingsheng was somewhat lost for words, his emotions hovering somewhere between joy and nervousness.

“Which school does teacher teach in? …I’ll ask my parents when I get back; perhaps then I’d have to trouble teacher to help take care of her a little.”

“Xinyan Junior High. If it really is so coincidental, I would be happy to help. I am surnamed Liu, full name Liu Xueli. Why don’t you take down my number…”

“I hope so,” Xu Tingsheng took down Mrs Liu’s number.

……

Xu Tingsheng stayed in a cheap motel five minutes away from Xinyan Secondary School.

He did not dare to find Xiang Ning through Mrs Liu.

If Mrs Liu said to Xiang Ning ‘ your cousin’s looking for you’ , and that girl who was still only 14 years old saw a complete stranger…Xu Tingsheng feared scaring her.

He did try his luck at the school gates, but they were shut and watched over. Without sufficient identification and reason, he wouldn’t be able to get in at all. Xu Tingsheng didn’t even dare to mention Xiang Ning, much less show his identification or register his name.

Xu Tingsheng tried climbing the hill behind the school, next remaining there for the entire day. From there, he could see the school field, where the students attending physical education lessons would appear.

However, he didn’t see Xiang Ning.

That evening, after the students had been released from school, a portion of them would return home. Watching for two days, Xu Tingsheng still had yet to see Xiang Ning, who perhaps resided within the school dormitories. As for the possibility of him being unable to identify Xiang Ning who had actually already appeared earlier, he thought that it did not exist at all, even though she was currently only fourteen years old.

Xu Tingsheng began to suspect that this school might really only just have someone of the same name and age as her.

On Friday evening, all the students would return home after school.

Xu Tingsheng bought a bottle of mineral water at the small provision shop outside the school gate, leaning by the counter as he watched every student who came past.

Some ‘unique after-school scenarios’  appeared, such as a little boy being chased and beaten by a few slightly bigger boys.

There was also the phenomenon of ‘early love’, where a little boy and a little girl would secretly walk by each other’s side, not daring to hold hands, sometimes even too afraid to even speak, just that this ambiguous atmosphere was still easily obvious from a bystander’s viewpoint.

“Did Xiang Ning experience early love?” Xu Tingsheng’s heart ached a little as he thought about this.

“She was in a relationship when in senior high, that boyfriend rumored to look like Wang Lihong, also being a rich second gen…I can’t stand this, should I prevent it?”

Having the weekend off, most of the students appeared as if they couldn’t wait to leave, the people leaving through the school gates quickly turning from a jostling crowd into a slight trickle.

Xiang Ning had still not appeared.

Xu Tingsheng looked at his watch rather anxiously. He had left a note behind for his school and family, such that while his parents and teachers would inevitably be anxious, it was most likely that nothing would happen. However, having already been out for four days, the $200 the Xu Tingsheng had stolen from his mother before coming here had almost been depleted completely. If he had to wait for another week, he would be forced to sleep on the streets.

Perhaps he would still have to look through several schools, and that would take not just a single week more.

However, he still had to see Xiang Ning, or he would be unable to do anything at all.

The security guards were currently closing the school gates. At this time, school gates were still not those automatic doors that could be controlled through electricity, instead consisting of two tall iron gates. As the gates slowly shut, they emitted the grinding noise of metal.

From within the gradually decreasing gap between the gates, the figures of two little girls appeared within his line of vision as they rushed towards it.

“Uncle, wait a bit.”

Hand-in-hand, the two little girls rushed out together, their expressions joyful, as though they had just acted out a successful great escape.

The long-haired one, was not her.

The other had short hair that ended at her ears, a single plait that shot up skywards hanging above her head. Her brows, mouth, nose and smile-while they were still undeveloped as opposed to the freshness within his memories, they all still seemed just so familiar.

As soon as he glanced at her, tears began dripping down from Xu Tingsheng’s eyes.

However, he also wanted very much to smile. This appearance, was very wild, wasn’t it… of a different style from how she would be in the future.

Also, pimples not yet having grown on her skin, it indeed looked much better than the her of the future.

Still, why had she left so late; could she have been asked to stay behind by her teacher?

“What should I do?” Xu Tingsheng opened his mouth and exhaled a breath of cold air, frantically rubbing away his tears. He had imagined this scene before, but had never properly decided on the reaction he should have.

“Should I go up and tell her: You are Xiang Ning, and I am Xu Tingsheng; eight years from now, Xiang Ning will fall in love with Xu Tingsheng, and we will get together? ...This is what I most want to say, but it is also the option that should be ruled out the earliest.”

“Pretending to be a guy who looks up to her and go up to flirt? …But I am too old, and she is too young; will she go and tell her teacher? It perhaps might not be obtrusive for a 27-year-old guy to flirt with a 22-year-old girl, but 19 years old and 14 years old-this gap is really too great to the point of being shocking.”

“The best choice should be…just glance once at her like this, before leaving silently,” Xu Tingsheng worked hard to suppress the rashness within his heart.

“That you are here, it is good enough…there’s actually nothing else that’s important; it can all come slowly,” Xu Tingsheng clenched his fist tightly, his palm full of sweat.

The two girls rounded a bend, moving in a frolicking manner as they approached the small provision shop.

Arriving beside Xu Tingsheng.

“Boss, I want a bottle of orange juice.”

The voices of girls before they changed was still very different as compared to how they were afterwards. Yet, the rough voice sounded like music to Xu Tingsheng’s ears, like a heavenly melody.

That plait hanging upwards from Xiang Ning’s head swaying, she focused on taking out money from her bag, a portion of slim, delicate arm revealed as her sleeve fell down to her elbow.

Xu Tingsheng stopped his breathing, but just having cried, the gulping could still not be resisted as his shoulders repeatedly heaved up and down.

As Xiang Ning paid for her drink, she raised her head and looked puzzledly at this guy who was strangely crying inside the provision shop.

Her eyes, whom his had met countless times before, were clear and bright, all the happiness in the world visible within. Xu Tingsheng’s face felt a little like twitching. He very much wanted to smile, best smile a little more charmingly, yet had no way to do so.

Just having glanced at him once, Xiang Ning then furrowed her brows and grit her teeth as she tried hard to remove the cap of the bottle of orange juice.

“Sigh…I can’t open it,” Xiang Ning said, curling her lips.

“I’ll help you,” Xu Tingsheng fought to hold back the words that almost shot out of his mouth, even though he had once helped her to remove bottle caps countless times before.

“I’ll do it,”The long-haired girl received the bottle, removing the cap with a ‘pop’ sound, not exerting much effort at all.

Xiang Ning raised her head, gulping down the drink. Her slightly tremoring throat, her long, slim neck, as well as her cute, intricate ears and her smooth, clear earlobes…once, Xu Tingsheng had told Xiang Ning, “Every time I see you drink something, I feel like I really might die of thirst.”

In close to ten seconds, Xiang Ning drank half the bottle of juice in a single go. Xu Tingsheng only glanced once at her. He did not dare to watch on any further.

Hand-in-hand, the two little girls left.

Xu Tingsheng did not dare to follow. He looked at that distant, retreating back, gradually getting further, further, till finally it was no longer in sight.

“Dearest one, I will prepare everything, and, await your growth.”

Xu Tingsheng had brought forward his first meeting with Xiang Ning by 8 years, but nothing had developed from this. Still, this was the most normal, logical situation, and also the best situation.

“You glanced at me, but didn’t say anything. I am a stranger.”

“You certainly don’t know why this person was crying out of the blue; he has surpassed life and death for you. Once, you glanced at him for the final time; he is already dead. Now, you glance over again, and he is alive once more. Coming back to life and glancing at you once more; one glance, one life.”

She had glanced at him. His previous life. His current life.

Only with this glance was Xu Tingsheng truly ‘reborn’ into this life.

This night, Xu Tingsheng did not sleep.

“Perhaps not interfering with her life too early on is the right choice; she will follow her original footsteps, growing into that Xiang Ning whom I love.”

“However, she will be in a relationship in senior high...it seems like it started when she was in eleventh grade. What should I do about that?”

All men were petty in this area. It was fine when Xu Tingsheng had been unable to do anything about in his previous life, but what about this time? Watch on as she engaged in a two-year relationship with ‘Wang Lihong?’ That would be intolerable!

Xu Tingsheng’s fate was virtually destined to change in this life.

“What about the relationship between me and Xiang Ning? Will she still fall in love with me as she did before? After all, even though she is still the same her, I might no longer be the me I once was?”

“Her growth -- to what extent should I be involved in it?”

In his previous life, because of the age difference between them, Xiang Ning had once joked:

When I was still in twin braids and flicking rubber bands about, you had already fallen in love with me, right?

When I was bullied and huddling in a corner crying, you didn’t come to protect me.

When I left home after a spat with my parents, and instead discovering that there was nowhere I could go, why didn’t you tell me where you were?

When I was sick and had a stomachache, you were definitely shopping or watching a movie with another girl.

When I was hesitating over whether or not to get into a relationship, why didn’t you jump out to stop me, telling me that my boyfriend was just you?

When I was worrying over the entrance exams for senior high and university, why didn’t you appear and help me to revise?... Xu Tingsheng, Mr Xu?... Just knowing how to care about other girls, hmph.

Most pairs of lovers would not have participated in each other’s pasts. In the moments she had been saddest, perhaps when you just happened to be in the prime of your life, when she had been the most helpless, you were not by her side. Yet today, her sorrow is your worry, her joy is your happiness, sorrow and joy shared as one.

“What about this time then? I have the chance to participate in all of this, just that I don’t know if I actually should.”

……

The second day after seeing Xiang Ning, Xu Tingsheng visited all of the places she had once brought him to in Yanzhou City. Some of the restaurants in which they would eat had not yet been established; some of the parks they had walked through hand-in-hand had not yet been built; the Chinese parasol tree whose leaves scattered the street had just been planted not long ago; the person whom he had once held hands with still wore a single skyward plait, asked to stay back by her teacher.

Xu Tingsheng went to the established noodle restaurant Xiang Ning had once brought him to at the height of their love. Sitting in the same position, he ordered the same type of noodles. If things still developed according to how they had originally, eight years later, Xiang Ning would bring him to this noodle restaurant renowned for its seafood, bombarding him endlessly with introductions on how abundant the variety of seafood here was, as well as how great it tasted.

At that time, he would not say, “Oh, I’ve eaten this before.”

The third day, Xu Tingsheng embarked on the return journey.

Five hours later, Xu Tingsheng arrived at Jiannan City, hurriedly eating his lunch before getting onto another bus, spending another 3 hours before he finally arrived back home at Libei County.

Because it was already a little late upon his arrival, Xu Tingsheng gave a call at the public telephone booth to report his status to his family before directly heading to school, entering the classroom along with the late self-study bell.

When he had left, it had been on a weekend. He had slipped a note through the gap under the door of the student affairs office, considering that as having applied for leave.

Therefore, this was the first time he was returning to his previous classroom.

Xu Tingsheng was slightly disorientated for a moment. Those fresh, youthful faces in his classroom-he had not seen some of them after graduation, and his next meeting with some others had been more than ten years later.

Youth and meetings, amidst renewed adolescence.

Whether he had been friendly with or had had disputes with them, in his previous life, when a mishap had happened in Xu Tingsheng’s family with his father’s sudden accidental death, these classmates of his had all provided him with much warmth as well as encouragement.

Seeing them once again, Xu Tingsheng was filled with emotions.

Huang Yaming and Fu Cheng led the applause, “Freaking cool, the world is so vast, I wish to experience it... dude, wanting to leave and leaving just like that.”

These two were his best friends back in high school, their friendship having continued long after, till the end.

Their other classmates laughed alongside them, those smiles pure beyond compare.

Only now did Xu Tingsheng remember. In his unstoppable urge to see Xiang Ning, not even having thought of an excuse in applying for leave, he had hurriedly written in the ‘reason’ bracket that sentence which would be greatly popular in the future: The world is so vast, I wish to experience it.”

Having left, he had been gone for an entire week. During this one week, this sentence had already become widespread, coming to be a popular topic of the entire student population.

Appearing at the door of the classroom, their form teacher, Zhou Xueyin, waved his hand, “ Xu Tingsheng, come to the staffroom for a bit.”

In his previous life, Xu Tingsheng had not been called over to the staffroom much. He had been one of those higher-than-average students, one of those who would be easy to overlook as he simply passed his days just like that.

Having been called into the staffroom by Old Zhou now, Xu Tingsheng was neither nervous nor afraid, instead being happier at that.

Old Zhou was a very peaceful person. The last time Xu Tingsheng had seen him in his previous life was at the time of Huang Yaming’s wedding. At that time, he was already close to retiring, his hair turning white and his steps getting slower.

But currently, the Old Zhou before Xu Tingsheng was still middle-aged and handsome, standing straight and tall.

Zhou Xueyin had the appearance of Lu Zhishen, yet just possessed a warm personality. Xu Tingsheng’s deepest impression of him came from during the evening self-study sessions back in twelfth grade. Old Zhou had worn his weathered cloth slippers every night, carrying around an electric kettle, soundlessly adding water to the cups of all the students. Many a times, a student would suddenly raise their head, only to discover that their cups, somehow, were already full.

In that generation when classrooms had still not contained water dispensing machines, Old Zhou’s water had been the cool breezes of spring.

Xu Tingsheng felt a little like he wanted to see what a fuming Old Zhou would look like, because from what he remembered, he had never seen Old Zhou get mad before.

Sadly, his wish would not be fulfilled.

“Firstly, the world is so vast, I wish to experience it. This sentence is very profoundly meaningful; as your form teacher as well as your language teacher, I am very glad at that.” Old Zhou said.

“Next, I will go pour some water for your classmates. You can think first on how to account to me on this matter. After all, I helped to shield you against the school, saying that it was with my consent that you left. I have also not called your family... do as you think fit, based on your brotherhood...heh.”

Old Zhou returned after roughly fifteen minutes, holding an empty kettle as he looked at Xu Tingsheng smilingly.

“In the next monthly tests, in the entire year’s ranks, I will get for you...the top 20, I guess.” Xu Tingsheng smiled, speaking mildly.

His voice was not loud, but the gazes of all in the staffroom were drawn over. His tone here was a little strange, giving one an uncertain feeling. Just hearing it, it might feel like a joke which had not passed through his mind. Still, thinking back on it for a bit, it would feel as though he had truly meant such, his mildness being due to his confidence, not having to accentuate it.

What was so obtrusive was the number 20. These were the greatest big words that all the teachers here had ever heard. Currently, Xu Tingsheng was ranked somewhere between the 20th to 30th positions in the twelfth grade’s Class 10, a normal class. As for the entire year, of the four Humanities classes, with one of them being a special, more proficient class, Xu Tingsheng was definitely ranked around the 140ths or worse.

In his previous life, Old Zhou, Zhou Xueyin, had always loved to tell his students of a legend. That legendary student had attained the 37th rank from around the 140th ranks over the final month before the university entrance examinations. He was none other than Xu Tingsheng.

And for that legend to return, he currently seemed to be at a rather more advantageous position.

In the junior high entrance examinations, Xu Tingsheng had ranked second in his entire district. Afterwards, it was his rebelliousness as well as obsession with football that had caused his grades to fall behind. He possessed a very, very good memory. In his previous life, after his father had passed away and he had finally grown to be mature and diligent, Xu Tingsheng had raised his proficiency in the three Humanities subjects to a very high level in not even a month’s time. In the mock exams as well as the university entrance examinations themselves afterwards, his Humanities results had been one of the top ranked few in the entire city. As for Language, it had always been one of his stronger subjects. Ever since tenth grade, he had been publishing essays in newspapers like the Jianhai Youth Newspaper. He had also always possessed the habit of reading.

In his previous life, his mathematics had always been of around average standard. The only thing restricting him had been his English.

For the current Xu Tingsheng, Language was also not a problem. He would only have to revise the memorisation questions for a bit.

As for the three Humanities subjects, firstly, he had been a history teacher in senior high for four years, and secondly, he had relied on home tutoring for his living fees when in university, having taught all of these subjects together in a ‘package’. Even after having become a teacher, he had also had the practice of helping the students in his class in revising on politics and geography. In other words, he had great foundation and talent in these three subjects.

For the English that had once held him back, because he had had a girlfriend in his second year of university in the English course, he had been forced to study English with her frequently, accompanying her in practicing her intonations, helping her to memorise vocabulary...he had achieved Level 4 English that year, having then achieved Level 6 a year later. Afterwards, having become an importer of construction materials, his proficiency in it had risen even further. Currently, he only needed to solidify his grammar and vocabulary foundation, and his English standard should preside over almost all of his peers.

Xu Tingsheng was confident enough of raising up all of these subjects within the month. The only thing that currently held him back was mathematics. Xu Tingsheng felt that his mathematics was basically at the junior high level now, this not being something that he could remedy even if he so desired.

It was precisely considering his weakness in mathematics that he had said that his goal was to be ranked amongst the top 20 of the entire year. The teaching standard of Libei Senior High could not be considered high, with only just a few who were able to make it to the special class every year. Even if there was mathematics holding him back, Xu Tingsheng was still confident of making it all the way up into the top 20.

If it were the university entrance examinations, Xu Tingsheng would have given even bigger words. While so many years had passed, with those after all being one of the most significant milestones of one’s life, Xu Tingsheng could still remember many of the questions up to this day.

Old Zhou raised his brows, smiling, “50 is fine. 50, I’ll brew tea for you.”

Xu Tingsheng smiled knowingly at Old Zhou. He knew that Old Zhou was helping him to extricate himself from the grasp of his earlier words before the other form teachers.

Returning from the staffroom, Xu Tingsheng spent the next three periods frenziedly flipping through various textbooks, at same time taking out a blank notebook to note down stuff, a Chinese composition, two fill in the blanks questions of sentences of Classical Chinese, an English essay, a comprehension passage related to Maradona, a major political question, a combined Humanities question related to all the three Humanities subjects, a major geographical question, a few multiple choice questions, as well as the entire history exam paper which Xu Tingsheng had analysed countless times afterwards as a history teacher in senior high...in its entirety.

These would already be sufficient to secure him assured victory in the upcoming university entrance examinations.

As for mathematics, Xu Tingsheng didn’t remember anything at all.

In the university entrance examinations in his previous life, the person who had sat beside him had been the girl known as the number one math princess of their class. Because this girl had been secretly in love with Xu Tingsheng, having just risen up like a figure of legend, Xu Tingsheng had not done even a single question himself, instead ‘borrowing and referencing’ it all. Sadly, that girl had performed greatly below standard that year, herself only scoring 84 marks, with Xu Tingsheng having copied out 73 marks, eventually entering a normal second-rate university.

Having been reborn now, due to his advantage in the other subjects, Xu Tingsheng felt that 73 marks was actually already enough, not intending to spend any more effort on mathematics.

Looking at the crazed-seeming Xu Tingsheng, Huang Yaming and Fu Cheng both thought that he had suffered some great injustice in the staffroom as they did not dare to interrupt him. When a recess between classes arrived, the both of them came over together, patting his shoulder, shooting him a sympathetic glance.

“What? Go and study properly, why don’t you; the university entrance examinations are already not far away. Studying, taking the exams-you have already spent more than ten years on this; if you can’t show some results now, won’t you feel ashamed?” Xu Tingsheng said, this being a series of phrases that he had frequently used to scold his students with as a teacher in his previous life.

Looking at Xu Tingsheng who had always been the laziest, most uncaring of the trio, the two were rendered wide-eyed and tongue-tied as they thought: this guy has been possessed by the devil.