Chapter 1

“ Song Haowen!”

In a daze, Song Haowen felt someone shouting loudly in his ear, like an explosion, abruptly awakening him. As he looked up, to his surprise, he found himself into a high school student, sitting in a classroom during a Chinese class.

Standing beside Song Haowen was a somewhat stern middle-aged male teacher, tall in stature, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses. He was none other than Song Haowen’s former high school homeroom teacher and Chinese teacher, Dong Xing.

Song Haowen couldn’t help but be stunned: Wasn’t he taking a short break in his home study? How did he end up in this classroom?

Song Haowen was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Jiangdong Technology, a listed company.

In the past few months, due to special circumstances, he had been working from home. This morning, after the company’s video conference, he felt physically uncomfortable, a bit dizzy, so he rested his head on his office desk.

Song Haowen wondered, “Am I dreaming?”

“Song Haowen, haven’t you woken up yet? Then, please wake up from your nap outside the classroom before coming back to class,” Dong Xing said coldly.

Song Haowen was startled and immediately stood up. Oh my, this didn’t seem like a dream at all! He looked around the classroom and at his classmates who are laughing uproariously, his cheeks turns red feeling a bit embarrassed. For him, dozing off in class was unheard of, especially considering he was an executive in a company.

Wait a minute!

Song Haowen realizied something: this wasn’t a dream; it was a rebirth! He saw the calendar on the blackboard: June 6, 1979. He was now a student in Class 4 of the second year at Zhao Sheng High School in Linshan County.

In this second year, Zhao Sheng High School had a total of four classes: Classes 1 and 2 were arts classes, while Classes 3 and 4 were science classes. Class 4 was the elite class. Apart from recent graduates like Song Haowen, there were also previous years’ transfer students who had failed the college entrance exam. However, from this year onwards, the county had established college entrance exam review classes in the five designated schools, so there would be fewer transfer students in the upcoming years.

In his previous life, Song Haowen’s academic performance was above average in his class, ranking around the top ten.

His college entrance exam didn’t go smoothly; he didn’t get in on the first attempt, falling short by more than twenty points.

Zhao Sheng High School wasn’t one of the designated schools and didn’t offer college entrance exam review classes.

After the summer vacation, Song Haowen attended a review class at Red Flag High School, one of the designated schools, and passed the exam to enter the Physics Department of a provincial University School the following year. After graduating, he pursued a master’s degree in Computer Science and Technology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

After completing his master’s degree, Song Haowen was assigned to work at the Jiangnan Province Computer Research Institute.

Shortly after, through a friend’s introduction, he met Tan Shishi, a flight attendant, and they fell in love at first sight, quickly establishing a romantic relationship.

This was his first love. However, to his dismay, just as he was actively preparing for the wedding and dreaming of a happy life together, she cheated on him with a wealthy man and broke up with him.

After the failure of his first love, Song Haowen became somewhat depressed. He later resigned from the research institute and switched to a Sino-foreign joint venture, working as a network engineer.

Several years later, he resigned again from the joint venture, went abroad for further studies, and pursued a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Cambridge in Great Britain. Upon returning to China, he was hired as the CTO by the listed company Jiangdong Technology, a position he held for nearly 20 years. Despite a few romantic encounters after his first love, none of them led to a lasting relationship, leaving him single until now.

Song Haowen never expected that just as he was about to retire, he would be sent back to high school, starting all over again. Was this a reward or a punishment? As he looked at the familiar faces in the classroom, he realized he couldn’t remember half of them.

Song Haowen stood outside the classroom, feeling a mix of emotions. Just as he was lost in his thoughts, the bell rang. The classroom corridor suddenly became lively, filled with students rushing out like a gust of wind.

After class, Teacher Dǒng Xíng, carrying his teaching materials and Chinese textbooks, spoke with a somewhat disappointed tone, “We are currently in the final stage of the three-round review, and there’s only one month left until the college entrance exam. It’s inappropriate for you to doze off during class. Pay attention and balance between work and rest, and don’t study too late at night. Alright, go prepare for the next class.”

Song Haowen felt a warm sensation in his heart. The teachers from those years had emerged from the shadow of the “Stinky Old Nine” (Cultural Revolution) and cherished their jobs greatly.

They treated their students with sincere responsibility, akin to their own children. His ability to work diligently and professionally was influenced by these teachers.

Thinking to himself, since he had been reborn, he needed to live differently. Although he hadn’t discovered any special abilities or “golden finger” like the protagonists in those transmigration novels, he was confident. With decades of life experience and a wealth of scientific knowledge, he believed that without much effort, he could reach the pinnacle of life and achieve remarkable success.

He no longer wanted to settle for the life of a senior white-collar worker, a tech guy, CTO, a regular life working for others. Instead, he aimed for something grand, to accomplish a significant career.

The next two classes in the morning were physics, taught by Teacher Sun Xiamei Despite her dynamic and clear teaching, Song Haowen found it rather dull.

After all, he had majored in physics in college and later earned a master’s degree in computer science and a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence.

At this moment, he had a whimsical idea in his mind – his biggest regret before rebirth was not being able to enter the top university in China, Capital University.

Now that he had a second chance at life, shouldn’t achieving this dream be a piece of cake?

With these thoughts, Song Haowen felt his blood boiling with enthusiasm and hope. With his current foundation, there was no need for continuous hard work, staying up all night, using tactical approaches, or participating in Olympiad competitions.

He just needed to stay sharp, avoid falling ill during exams, and participate in the college entrance exam normally.

After two chemistry classes in the afternoon, there was a self-study session. Today’s Chinese, physics, and chemistry assignments were substantial, especially the chemistry, which had a total of sixteen sheets.

In his previous life, Song Haowen would have spent an entire night without rest and still wouldn’t have been able to finish them, let alone guarantee a high accuracy rate. However, times had changed. For him, these exercises were a piece of cake. He completed all of them in less than one class, with a 100% accuracy rate.

However, Song Haowen, who had completed the exercises, didn’t boast about it. He knew that the fact of his rebirth had to be kept a secret from everyone, not even his own biological parents could know. Otherwise, people would think he had gone crazy or been possessed by ghosts.

During the evening self-study, he sat in the classroom flipping through his textbooks, pretending to read while his mind had already traveled far away.

Song Haowen wanted to get home as soon as possible and check if his parents and siblings matched his memories. He also wanted to know how his grandparents and other relatives were doing.

His father, Song Huaiyu and mother, Li Yīng, were both members of the production team. He had five siblings, and he was the third eldest. His elder brother, Song Haojun, 22 years old, was serving in the Southern Xinjiang military; his second sister, Song Huihua, 19 years old, was working on the family farm after graduating from high school; his fourth brother, Song Haomin, 13 years old, was in his first year of junior high; and his youngest sister, Song Huifang, 11 years old, was in the fourth grade of elementary school.

“What if I encounter that wretched woman Tan Shishi again in this life?” Song Haowen suddenly had this thought, sending a chill down his spine.

“Have you finished your exercises?”

A familiar female voice brought Song Haowen back to reality. He looked up to see his physics teacher, Sun Xiaomei, asking him.

Sun Xiaomei was in her thirties, quiet, elegant, knowledgeable, and well-liked by students.

Thinking about the evening self-study being supervised by Sun Xiaomei today, he replied, “I’ve finished the physics homework.” He didn’t dare say that he had completed all the assignments given today. Who would believe that?

Sun Xiaomei responded with an “Oh,” showing a hint of surprise. Although she knew that students would prioritize the assignments given by the supervising teacher during self-study, considering Song Haowen level, she doubted he could finish so quickly, let alone without any mistakes.

She didn’t express her doubts but nodded at him, encouraging, “Well done. You worked fast today. Focus on the other two subjects in the remaining time.”

Song Haowen agreed and lowered his head, pretending to look for other assignments. Sun Xiaomei left his seat and went to answer questions for students raising their hands in the front.

Song Haowen usual academic performance wasn’t considered top-notch, so claiming to have finished one subject’s homework naturally raised suspicions.

Nearby classmates stared at him with widened eyes. He smiled without offering any explanation, casually flipping through his textbook while taking a moment to refresh his memory.

Zhao Sheng High School was just an ordinary secondary school. In a few years, it would even eliminate its high school section, leaving only the junior high classes, transforming into a junior high school.

Over the past two years since the resumption of the college entrance exam, three students from Zhao Sheng High School have passed the examination: one was two years ago, and two last year.

Therefore, the school focused on cultivating the top five students in the elite class, providing special attention during self-study sessions. These sessions were held in a small conference room with a dedicated teacher for one-on-one tutoring.

Song Haowen had never enjoyed such privileges, but he wasn’t jealous. After all, he didn’t make it to the top five. At that time, the college entrance exam was genuinely challenging, given the limited enrollment quota (a county could admit only a few dozen students, with around ten for undergraduate programs). Moreover, students from the previous three graduating classes took the exam together with the current graduates. Zhao Sheng High School had four in-service teachers supervising the exam with the students.

With the experience from his previous life, Song Haowen no longer feared the college entrance exam like he used to; he viewed it as an interesting experience. With one month left until the exam, he was getting a bit impatient.

At 21:30, it was time for the school to end the evening self-study. Due to the intense preparation for the college entrance exam, few students returned to their dormitories early. Everyone persevered in studying until around midnight. Even if they returned early, they would sit at their bedsides and read, waiting for the majority to return.

Feeling confident, Song Haowen decided not to endure another night of intense study. As soon as the bell rang signaling the end of self-study, he was the first to stand up and head back to the student dormitory.