Upon lowering his head, Tan Xiaotian saw the glittering tip of a knife protruding from his chest, followed by an arrow of blood ejecting outwards.
Severe pain surged from his heart, a choking agony flaring across his mouth and airways like fire, as the darkness loomed over him ominously…
Ah!
Tan Xiaotian let out a scream, abruptly leaning backwards. His tall stature of over 1.8 meters tumbled to the ground, his back harshly crashing against the wooden back of a chair, searing in pain. He could not afford to consider much, opening his mouth wide like a fish on the brink of death, greedily gulping down each breath of fresh air that came his way.
"Am I dead? Mu Yang, did you really do this?"
The sufficient oxygen allowed him to regain some of his thinking ability. The moment Tan Xiaotian opened his eyes, his left hand subconsciously reached to cover the wound on his chest, while his right hand quickly drew towards his waist. Simultaneously, he was agile enough to flip upright, kneeling on one knee, and looking around in alert.
There was no injury on his chest, the knife was gone, and his right hand came up empty – his gun was missing.
Fine beads of sweat dotted his forehead in an instant, causing Tan Xiaotian to feel stunned.
At this moment, he found himself in the back row of a brightly lit classroom, with forty or fifty extremely familiar faces turned back to look at him. Expressions varied with the golden sunlight pouring onto each individual, giving an unreal and beautiful warmth like a dream.
The white Hermès T-shirt, previously stained with blood, was now replaced by a blue and white synthetic sports uniform. The sports uniform had the words "Mountain City No.1 Middle School" printed on the left chest.
In the lower right corner of the blackboard in front was written “109 days remaining for the college entrance examination”.
On the playground, a familiar song floated in the air.
Come on! Come on! Let's meet up at '98!
Let's meet under the silver moon, meet in the perpetuity of youthful days…
Tan Xiaotian closed his eyes once again, immersing himself in the melodious music. If death was such a beautiful dream, he was content!
"Phlegm Pot, who are you imitating? 007? Haha! Are you going to pull out a gun?" A voice chimed in his ear.
Tan Xiaotian suddenly opened his eyes, squinting painfully. A huge face was swinging in front of him, full of good-natured ridicule.
Zhang Dapeng!
The moment the chubby guy spoke, the name naturally surfaced in Tan Xiaotian's mind.
A high school classmate who got into a teacher's college, became a teacher for two years, had a wake-up call and stopped misleading students so he switched to politics. Relying on his efforts, he found a good father-in-law, and after more than ten years of ups and downs, he finally took up a leadership position in the district.
But how is he so young now? His fat, white face was full of collagen, with a hint of blue on his lips from sweat hair that can't yet be called a mustache.
As Tan Xiaotian puzzled over it, a hand reached out to help him up. An adolescent-looking skinny guy with a face covered in pimples was looking at him with concern, "Tan Xiaotian, I give up. How can you fall asleep while eating? Hurry up and get up!"
Ma Wei, in his past life, became vice squad leader of the criminal police team after working in the same field as Tan. His expressionless face was really fitting for a police officer.
But how did he become young too?
Tan Xiaotian was a bit confused. He was just in a villa in the Golden Triangle with his identity exposed. Mu Ying, a woman with a black heart and ruthless hands, stabbed him in the back. How did he get here in just a blink of an eye?
Is this the senior year third class? The year of the college entrance examination in 1998?
Before Tan Xiaotian could continue thinking, Zhang Dapeng and Ma Wei pulled him up and took him back to his original position. On the corner of a heavily scarred wooden table was carved a large character 'Endure,' probably a relic from a senior student of some previous batch.
It seemed to be lunchtime, with hot lunch boxes sending out the aroma of food on the table.
Zhang Dapeng was chewing on half a chicken skeleton, his mouth dripping with oil. Speaking unclearly as he chewed, he said: "Phlegm Pot, I just love the taste of your dad's soy chicken skeleton. It's perfect. Wouldn't trade it for a lobster."
Tan Xiaotian picked a piece of chicken bone and chewed it. A burst of sauce fragrance blended with cumin and sesame instantly filled his mouth. That's right, it was the taste of his family's signature dish, Tan Yuejin's secret recipe of soy chicken bone.
It's been many years since I last tasted the soy chicken my father used to cook. This dream seemed too real.
After Tan Xiaotian finished his piece of chicken, Zhang Dapeng had already wolfed down the rest of the dish. With a lunch box in his hand, Tan Xiaotian followed in a daze to the washing room.
The washing room was filled with students cleaning their lunchboxes. It took Tan Xiaotian a while before it was his turn in the queue. It wasn't until the icy water hit his hands that he began to feel something was not quite right – this dream was persisting. After cleaning his lunchbox, he surreptitiously pinched his thigh, hard.
Hiss!
Tan Xiaotian sharply inhaled. The pain was like a needle prick.
Could it be... I've been reborn?
In a corner of the washing room, a mirror with three cracks reflected Tan Xiaotian's uneasy face.
Strong eyebrows, deep-set eyes, delicate facial features, fair skin, slightly long hair parted in a 60/40 ratio – this was the iconic hairstyle that Guo Tianwang had in his years, and it highlighted the dazzling youth of Tan Xiaotian's high school days.
However, his gaze was the only thing that contradicted his youthful appearance – a depth and maturity that only a middle-aged man should have.
Tan Xiaotian undid the buttons on his shirt, revealing a clean, bare chest. His poppy tattoo, which he'd had for many years, was nowhere to be found. It was that of Mu Yin forcing him to tattoo after infiltrating the drug trafficking syndicate in those years.
Tan Xiaotian wanted nothing more than to laugh hysterically. However, when he opened his mouth, a pang of sorrow welled up, gave him a sting in nose.
In his previous life, he was set up by some scumbags and got expelled from high school three months before graduation, barring him from attending the college entrance exam. In a state of desperation, he enlisted in the military. During a vacation, he happened to meet Mu Yin, the daughter of a drug lord who fell in love with him at first sight. Hence, Tan Xiaotian joined the police force and used Mu Yin to infiltrate Southeast Asia's drug trafficking group as an undercover agent, beginning a life of turbulence.
Back in his classroom seat, Tan Xiaotian spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out two things.
One, he had been reborn.
Two, it was the 19th of March 1998, and there were 109 days left to the college entrance examination.
Tan Xiaotian's heart was stirred involuntarily, something big was about to happen! The harvest was bountiful, and the flood had been driven away...
His memory was remarkably sharp. He distinctly remembered the stock market surge of 519 in 1999, the successful Olympic bid by Yanjing in 2001, the internet storm that began to sweep everything before it, the big bull market from 2005-2007, the skyrocketing house prices, and he even knew the champions of the World Cup over these years. The birth of Bitcoin in 2009 and its subsequent crazy rise. What if he got involved before the rise of companies like Penguin and Ali...
"This time, I ... I ..." Tan Xiaotian's fist smashed into the desk, making it wobble like it was about to fall apart.
His deskmate, Ma Wei, gave him a look, swore, "There he goes again," and continued to doze.
The memories of the distant past were sharp, but the recent ones were starting to blur. Tan Xiaotian held his head in deep thought. He had been expelled in his former life because he had hit the dean, but the trigger was a woman who falsely accused him of soliciting a prostitute. When did she come to make trouble? He remembered it was in March. She was the catalyst that prevented him from taking the college entrance exam. This time he must find a way to deal with it.
"Excuse me, is Tan Xiaotian in your class?" A soft and seductive female voice echoed from the back door.
The voice was loud, attracting many students to turn their heads and look. Many boys were stunned on the spot.
A gaudy woman in her late twenties, wearing bright red lipstick, stood at the back door, bending over to ask around. Her chest jiggled impressively. Under her leopard print skirt were two fair legs; a strong aura of the red-light district drifted from her.
"Isn't this the famous Flower of the East Gate? She is quite famous!" Students who recognized her began to whisper among themselves.
"How is she famous?"
"Kid, don't ask nonsense questions. She came to find Tan Xiaotian, I'm afraid this means trouble!"
The student asked, pointed blankly at Tan Xiaotian. A whiff of perfume swept past, and the woman rushed towards Tan Xiaotian.
As soon as she entered the classroom, Tan Xiaotian was alert. Damn, it was today. No time to catch his breath!
"Fatty, Ma Wei, wake up, there's a good show coming!" With a slap, Tan Xiaotian woke up the deeply sleeping Zhang Dapeng and Ma Wei. Both were angry, but upon seeing the seductive woman, their eyes lit up, and their breathing quickened.
"Xiaotian, you left in a hurry that day and left your stuff at my place. I washed it clean and brought it to you." The seductive woman feigned shyness and lowered her head. She reached out her hand and pulled out a pair of blue men's briefs from her bag, flapping it in the wind like a flag.
The entire class was taken aback, their eyes all turned toward Tan Xiaotian. There were those who scorned him and those who envied him.
The classroom was filled with a constant buzz, like ten thousand flies circling around.
"Oh my God! Could it be that Tan Xiaotian and this woman... are shameless!" Some of the girls blushed, deeply disappointed in Tan Xiaotian.
"No way! Tan Xiaotian is the most popular guy in our school. There must be at least fifty girls secretly in love with him in our school, why would he get a... well you know? I can't believe it!" Some people simply didn't believe it.
Zhang Dapeng pointed at Tan Xiaotian heartbroken, "You dare to do this behind our backs? Are we still friends?"
Tan Xiaotian finally lifted his head, innocently looked at the woman. As soon as he opened his mouth, she almost died of anger.
"Ma'am, I think you've mistaken me for someone else!"
The seductive woman gritted her teeth, thinking that this little rascal's mouth is truly sharp. If she couldn't ruin his reputation today, she would retire from this profession forever.
With her right hand covered in thick makeup, she reached out to grab Tan Xiaotian's collar, "Tan Xiaotian, you can't deny this. It's just a matter of a few hundred yuan…"
Before her hand could touch him, Tan Xiaotian raised his hand and flicked her on the back of her hand. A red mark instantly appeared and swelled at a visible pace.
The woman yelled in pain, jumped up clutching her hand, and then squatted back down, screaming in pain.
The strength in this kid's hand is so strong, her hand felt as if it had been lashed by a whip, it might even be fractured.
"Ma'am, we can talk things out. There's no need for physical contact, I am a student after all!" Tan Xiaotian sat on his chair, looked down on her from his high position, a wicked grin spreading across his face.
