May 21, 2010.
Rongcheng University. The warm afternoon sun filtered through the leaves, creating dappled patterns on the tree-lined path. A gentle breeze stirred, causing the mango trees lining the road to sway slightly. Groups of students chatted as they walked by, creating a tranquil campus scene.
A student, dressed in unfashionable clothes, walked along this tree-lined path with a gloomy expression. He was about twenty years old, with an ordinary appearance. He wore a blue t-shirt that was clearly from a street vendor, faded light blue jeans, and cheap sneakers.
From his appearance, he was an ordinary, poor student, the kind who would be completely lost in a crowd.
But at this moment, his heart was surging with turmoil.
Because he was Chen Yang, who had just died in a plane crash.
Three days ago, after a failed parachute jump, Chen Yang thought his colorful, extravagant life had come to a regrettable yet incredibly dramatic end. Unexpectedly, he woke up at Rongcheng University, transformed into a poor student also named Chen Yang. The previous owner of this body had probably been destroyed in the accident three days prior.
For the past three days, Chen Yang has been trying to adapt to this new body and new identity, and also trying to understand his new environment and background.
The first thing he noticed was the time difference. Chen Yang's accident occurred in May 2013, but after time-traveling, he found himself in May 2010—meaning he had returned to three years ago.
To be precise, he had traveled to another parallel world where the time was currently 2010.
Chen Yang's confusion stemmed from the fact that everything he knew seemed surreal.
After understanding his current situation three days ago, the first thing Chen Yang did was find a computer with internet access and enter a complex domain name. Almost instantly, the familiar login screen of the Hongyan Club, with its strong revolutionary theme, appeared before Chen Yang.
The Hongyan Club was a high-end private club founded by several third-generation Red Army elites. Its online forum was extremely private, with fewer than a hundred people holding accounts. These top-tier playboys frequently shared and boasted about their glorious achievements on the forum, making it Chen Yang's first choice for intelligence gathering.
However, when Chen Yang entered his own account, the forum displayed that the user did not exist!
Chen Yang immediately switched to his cousin Fang Qiao's account, and logged in successfully on the first try. Ignoring the question of why his account didn't exist, Chen Yang plunged into analyzing the vast amount of information revealed in the forum posts, summarizing and comparing it with the intelligence he had gathered in his previous life. After two days of work, Chen Yang arrived at a conclusion he was extremely reluctant to accept:
The outstanding scion of a prominent Chinese political family, Chen Yang, had never existed in this parallel world! Although the powerful families he remembered remained unchanged in this world, and even some of the纨绔 (playboys) he knew continued their decadent lifestyles, as if nothing had changed, Chen Yang was the only exception. In this world, he was just a poor student, completely unrelated to the behemoth Fang family.
Chen Yang was frustrated. Since fate had given him a second chance at life, why had he become an ordinary, useless student? From the fragmented memories of his predecessor, Chen Yang roughly understood his situation in this world: his predecessor had come from a poor family; his father had died when he was three, and his mother had raised him by growing vegetables in a small county in northern Southeast Province. His predecessor had always been an extremely ordinary student, from elementary school to university, with mediocre grades. Coupled with a somewhat introverted and timid personality, he had few friends and a very narrow social circle.
This was extremely unsettling for Chen Yang, the pampered and extravagant playboy he was in before his rebirth. For someone accustomed to luxury cars, beautiful women, and a retinue of followers, returning to ordinariness was worse than death. From this perspective, Chen Yang would rather die a glorious death than become an insignificant drop in the vast sea of people.
"Chen Yang! Want to play a game?" A classmate with a buzz cut and wearing a Lakers jersey called out as he dribbled the basketball on the nearby court.
Chen Yang hesitated for a moment, then waved at the buzz-cut guy and said,
"I have something to do! Maybe next time!"
With that, Chen Yang continued walking towards the school gate. The man with the buzz cut made a hook shot, sending the basketball accurately into the hoop. He then said to his teammates,
"You guys are lucky! Chen Yang isn't playing, otherwise he would have utterly crushed you!"
His teammates scoffed, saying,
"Han Song, who are you kidding! We all know him! He's been in college for three years, and I bet he's only played a handful of games!"
"You're kidding me! I've been his roommate for years, and I only saw him yesterday in PE class. That guy's shooting is incredible! Three-pointers from a fixed spot, 30 attempts, guess how many he made? 28! That's what you call a hidden talent!"
...
Chen Yang, caught up in his classmates' gossip, had no interest in playing basketball at all! As he walked towards the north gate of Rongda University, he mentally grumbled: His ex, that loser, was the epitome of a loser. He actually went to work at the bar where a commoner campus beauty, whom he'd secretly loved for three years without daring to confess, and even borrowed six thousand yuan from the bar, secretly giving it to her under someone else's name when she desperately needed money.
The direct consequence of this was that he had to sign a labor contract with the bar that was practically a contract of servitude.
In other words, his ex had left Chen Yang with a mess of negative assets.
Furthermore, his upcoming summer vacation was ruined; he had to accept the exploitation of capitalists until he paid off the debt. The day Chen Yang transmigrated, the bar called to ask why he hadn't come to work. Chen Yang took three days off under the pretense of injury and was docked a week's wages.
What devastated Chen Yang the most was that he couldn't remember what this commoner campus beauty named Su He, who had directly caused his debt, looked like, no matter how hard he tried. He could only sense his ex's intense admiration for him and a vague beauty about her.
So this loser had never dared to properly examine the other person, resulting in such a blurry memory for Chen Yang.
Thinking of this, Chen Yang wanted nothing more than to drag his ex out of the underworld and slap him a few times. As a playboy in his past life, Chen Yang deeply resented this guy with negative emotional intelligence. If you like someone, you should boldly express it and pursue them openly! Three years of unrequited love, and even having to rely on others to help him with financial matters—he deserved to be a loser forever!
The thought that he had transmigrated into such a loser made Chen Yang extremely depressed. While cursing his ex in his heart, he walked helplessly towards the bar.
Bai Ma Road runs along the Bai Ma River, the most famous inland river in Rongcheng. On the other side of the Bai Ma River, echoing Bai Ma Road, are dozens of bars of varying sizes situated along the riverbank. This is a bar street planned and constructed by the municipal government in recent years, ostensibly to leverage a cluster effect. It's around 5 PM now, and most of the bars are already open.
One of the bars had its doors and walls spray-painted with wild graffiti. Above the door, studded with thick copper nails, hung a huge flame-shaped plaque with the words "Blazing Flame Pub" in large blue graffiti characters, secured by a thick hemp rope.
Chen Yang pushed open the door and entered. It was still early, and the spacious area felt particularly empty. In the center of the area was a small stage, with all the seats arranged around it. Several waiters were making final adjustments to the stage equipment under the direction of the owner, Zhou Weiqiang.
Zhou Weiqiang was in his thirties, tall and burly, with a full beard. He wore a white vest and blue jeans, revealing his muscular physique and menacing tattoos. The waiters chatted privately, saying that Zhou Weiqiang used to be involved in the underworld and knew many people there. Chen Yang didn't care about that. These days, without protection, a bar wouldn't last three days. In his previous life, Chen Yang wouldn't have even considered a small-time gangster like this, let alone the top underworld boss in Rongcheng.
Upon seeing Chen Yang enter, Zhou Weiqiang stopped what he was doing and walked over, asking with concern, "Xiao Fang, I heard you were injured a few days ago? Are you alright? Rest a few more days if you're not feeling well!"
Zhou Weiqiang had a deep voice, and his eyes naturally conveyed concern as he spoke. His hand gently rested on Chen Yang's shoulder. This simple gesture made him feel warm and comfortable; it had to be said, he was quite adept at winning people over.
"If I don't come soon, my entire month's salary will be deducted!" Chen Yang thought to himself. However, he didn't show it outwardly, simply saying politely, "Thank you for your concern, Brother Qiang, I'm fine now!"
"Alright! Get ready, come help out in a bit!" Zhou Weiqiang patted Chen Yang's shoulder and said.
"Xiao Yang! Come here for a second!" A pleasant female voice rang out behind Chen Yang. Chen Yang turned around and saw a sexy girl catching a cocktail shaker that was tumbling down from the air with a graceful and beautiful movement. Chen Yang's eyes lit up: A stunning beauty! He walked towards the bartender, sizing her up as he did so.
She wore a black, low-cut, tight-fitting t-shirt, revealing her alluring cleavage and a sliver of her slender, white waist. Purple sequined petals adorned her cute belly button, shimmering under the lights. She wore light blue denim shorts, accentuating her shapely hips and long, shapely legs.
Her hair was dyed a light chocolate brown, with wispy bangs and layered, dynamic curls that exuded mature womanly charm. After pouring the drink, she leaned forward, resting her elbows on the bar counter, her hands supporting her chin. Her large, watery eyes gazed at Chen Yang, a languid smile playing on her lips.
With a slight bend, the girl's slender waist formed a seductive S-shape. From Chen Yang's angle, he could just see her two perfect breasts seemingly about to burst out of her tight t-shirt. Her slightly curled hair fell casually, partially obscuring her delicate face, creating an alluring, half-hidden effect.
Perfect! Chen Yang couldn't help but praise inwardly.
At that moment, memories of the bartender from his ex naturally surfaced in Chen Yang's mind: the girl's name was Ning Qiaoqian, 24 years old, the bar's star bartender, and a former runner-up in the national flair bartending competition. Ning Qiaoqian had always been quite considerate of his ex, like an older sister, though she would occasionally tease and flirt with him, leaving him blushing and incredibly embarrassed. Therefore, his ex both respected and feared Ning Qiaoqian.
"Hello, Sister Qian!" Chen Yang swallowed hard as he greeted Ning Qiaoqian, who was deliberately striking a seductive pose.
Chen Yang didn't even blush! Ning Qiaoqian was slightly surprised, and after a moment of stunned silence, she said casually,
"Come here quickly and let your sister touch your wound!"
Chen Yang walked to the bar, somewhat amused and exasperated, and lowered his head. From his ex's memories, Chen Yang knew that his ex had been quite "disciplined" by Ning Qiaoqian, and in her presence, he was practically submissive. However, it was precisely because of his honest and unassuming demeanor that Ning Qiaoqian, with her chivalrous spirit, had a good impression of him and had always taken care of him.
Ning Qiaoqian touched Chen Yang's injured head a few times, then examined his hair repeatedly, and breathed a sigh of relief, saying,
"Thank goodness, it's already scabbed over!"
After saying this, Ning Qiaoqian's hand continued to gently stroke Chen Yang's hair. Chen Yang smiled wryly and said,
"Sister Qian! I need to go inside and change!"
"Get lost, get lost..." Ning Qiaoqian withdrew her hand, gave Chen Yang an impatient glare, and said. Chen Yang, feeling relieved, quickly walked towards the small changing room behind the bar.
Just then, a waiter brought the drink menu. Ning Qiaoqian glanced at it and picked up the juice pitcher, ready to start mixing drinks. However, Ning Qiaoqian seemed to remember something, slapped her forehead with her left hand, put the juice pitcher down, and turned to say,
"A-Lei, come and take over for me!"
"Yes, Sister Qian!" a male bartender beside her hurriedly replied.
Ning Qiaoqian left the waiting customer and walked towards the changing room.