A bus heading to Jiangbei was filled with fifty or sixty young men and women. They had just finished the intense and exciting High School entrance exam and were on their way back to the City Center. Today was their graduation day.
Sitting in the third-to-last row of this bus were a boy and a girl, both remarkably good-looking. Although the girl had a somewhat boisterous personality, her looks were undeniable. Dressed in a simple white T-shirt and jeans, with her hair tied in a high ponytail, she was quite beautiful. However, her Northeastern accent, when she spoke Mandarin, seemed a bit out of place with her sweet and pure appearance.
Just a moment ago, Chen Kai experienced something incredible: he had been reborn.
In his previous life, Chen Kai had made a fortune in business, becoming a well-known magnate on the domestic rich list. His industries spanned the globe, and his personal assets were overflowing with wealth.
He traveled the world, donated tens of billions to charity, bought private jets and yachts, essentially achieving 99% of the dreams that men in this world could not.
Unfortunately, in his later years, he contracted a serious illness and lay in a hospital bed, waiting to die day by day.
The so-called friends he knew in the business world were all self-serving individuals, and as for his wife, she couldn't wait for him to die so she could legally inherit all his assets as his spouse.
When his life came to an end, only one person came to the hospital to see him.
Her name was Qin Xiaoyu, the same girl sitting next to Chen Kai at this very moment.
Qin Xiaoyu had been Chen Kai's friend for three years. He still remembered how Qin Xiaoyu had applied to the same university as Chen Kai back then. Later, Chen Kai fell in love with a girl he met at university, and his girlfriend didn't approve of him having a female friend, so Chen Kai gradually distanced himself from Qin Xiaoyu. He only remembered that Qin Xiaoyu cried very sadly that day.
He saw her again 40 years later. Her hair had turned white. In their youth, Chen Kai had drifted apart from his female friend because he was dating his first love, his 'white moonlight.' Looking back, both of them were already in their twilight years.
It was only before his death that Chen Kai realized Qin Xiaoyu had loved him for a very, very long time. In that instant, he was filled with immense regret for missing her in the best years of his life.
Chen Kai's soul floated on the ceiling of the hospital room, drifting farther and farther, his consciousness becoming increasingly blurred.
Then, he was reborn, just half an hour ago.
At this time, Qin Xiaoyu was 19 years old, and he had been reborn back to the past.
Qin Xiaoyu, sitting next to Chen Kai, spoke with a hint of annoyance, "Old Chen, it's not that I'm lecturing you, but even though we're friends, I'm still a girl, you know? Can you please be a little more careful? Look at you, sleeping with drool all over."
Chen Kai, who had just woken up, yawned. Although he had only slept for half an hour, he felt an inexplicable sense of peace, perhaps because of his rebirth.
Flowers have a day to bloom again, but youth never returns.
But now, he had been reborn, back to the year he graduated, 2016.
As soon as Chen Kai realized he had been reborn, he quickly bound a system.
Chen Kai leaned back in his seat, hands clasped behind his head, his eyes occasionally fixed on Qin Xiaoyu.
"Old Chen, why are you staring at me like that? Do I have something dirty on my face? What kind of expression is that?"
"Xiaoyu."
Qin Xiaoyu was momentarily stunned, looking at Chen Kai innocently, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing much. It's just that I used to think you talked like a firecracker, but suddenly I realized you seem quite good-looking?"
Qin Xiaoyu looked utterly astonished, as if she had heard something incredible. "Old Chen, did I hear that right? Are you complimenting me?"
"The sun must have risen from the west! Old Chen, you're actually calling me good-looking? That's not like something you'd usually say. What's wrong, have you fallen for me?"
"But I have to correct you, it's not'suddenly,' I've always been this good-looking, okay?" Qin Xiaoyu giggled.
What Chen Kai needed to do was simple: he only had to surprise or shock Qin Xiaoyu, and he would receive generous rewards. This was too easy.
"Ding-dong, Qin Xiaoyu has a surprised reaction. Host receives a startup fund."
Then, Chen Kai's phone received a text message that read:
"Dear user with the last four digits 9690, congratulations! You have been selected as a lucky user and are being awarded a grand prize. Please fill in your information, and we will arrange it for you immediately."
Clearly, the system's reward had arrived.
Chen Kai looked at the content of the text message on his phone. In his previous life, similar messages about winning a grand prize were obviously scam texts.
But now, Chen Kai firmly believed that this was absolutely not a scam text!
He took out his phone. In 2016, WeChat wasn't completely mainstream yet, especially in small cities like Jiangbei. Most eighteen and nineteen-year-olds were still using QQ. However, since it was graduation day, the grand finale of three years of High School, the homeroom teacher had specially allowed students to hand over their phones for safekeeping, as long as they didn't bring them into the exam hall. They could collect them from the teacher after the exam.
They could play with their phones and take pictures on the bus ride back to Jiangbei,
just as a memento.
Chen Kai held his phone, looking at the recent text message. He filled in his bank card number. He was already an adult at this point and had a Jiangbei Bank card, so he quickly entered the account number.
Qin Xiaoyu saw this and said:
"Old Chen, are you stupid? You actually believe these scam texts? I even received one offering me a million-dollar prize. It's fake, a trick. Don't believe it."
After sending the text, Chen Kai crossed his hands behind his head and leaned back in the bus seat.
Meanwhile, Qin Xiaoyu continued to chatter away.
"Old Chen, we've known each other for so long, you never seemed to treat me like a girl, did you?"
Chen Kai leaned back in the window seat of the bus, hands clasped behind his head, and glanced at Qin Xiaoyu with a lazy look. "Yeah, what about it?"
"But you just suddenly complimented me on being good-looking. How come I feel like you're treating me like a girl now? No way! Old Chen, don't tell me you've fallen for me?"
Qin Xiaoyu added another sentence.
"But then again, it makes sense. I'm so pretty, and my grades are good. You're with me every day, so it's quite normal for you to fall for me."
Chen Kai found it a bit outrageous. Why hadn't he noticed before how good Qin Xiaoyu was at overthinking things, plus her talkative personality? She was a real live wire; marrying her would definitely be interesting.
Chen Kai couldn't help but laugh, and at the same time, he felt immense regret. In his previous life, he had fallen for a girl in college, but she turned out to be a princess.
Life is like that; you only realize what's most precious after you've lost it.
However, Qin Xiaoyu suddenly felt that Chen Kai seemed like a different person, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. There was just a different feeling, like his aura? Or what?
Normally, Old Chen and she would always be fooling around, but now she felt like he had a mature-beyond-his-years vibe. Was Old Chen trying to act mature with her?
After all, before his rebirth, Chen Kai was just a freshly graduated young man.
But after his rebirth, his mindset and way of thinking were already far beyond what his peers could compare to, a complete dimensional superiority.