Chapter 1

Ding ling ding ling—

The incessant ringing of the alarm clock woke Zhang Yunyi.

With her eyes still half-closed, she stared at the top of the mosquito net, unwilling to face the harsh reality. She turned over and buried her face in her pillow, wanting to continue being an ostrich.

The classmates in the dormitory were yawning and getting up, moving busily but calmly, forming a line to wash up.

The dormitory monitor, Dai Jia, saw Zhang Yunyi still lying there motionless and assumed she hadn’t woken up. She walked to the side of her bed and gently called out, “Zhang Yunyi, wake up, it’s six o’clock.”

In senior year, morning self-study starts at six-thirty. Although it was still early in the semester and the homeroom teacher might not be too strict, what if she was unlucky and got caught being late? A mild reprimand or, in a worst-case scenario, being made to stand as punishment.

A few seconds later, Zhang Yunyi propped herself up on her elbow, her face full of despair. She stuck her head out, her hair messy, and groaned, “…I’m going to die.”

Dai Jia, the oldest of the six girls, was used to taking care of them. Looking at Zhang Yunyi’s pitiful appearance, she found it cute and reached over to rub her head. “Stop saying that, you were fine and lively yesterday, weren’t you? Come on, don’t waste time, get up quickly.”

Yesterday, the person inside this body was truly a seventeen-year-old student. Aside from being frustrated about not finishing her English newspaper, she had no other worries.

However, in this moment, the soul inside was twenty-seven years old.

In the early hours of the morning, she woke up thirsty, and without even opening her eyes, tried to get out of bed. If it weren’t for the guardrail on the upper bunk, she might have broken her leg. Her body reacted quickly, breaking out in a cold sweat. She suddenly opened her eyes wide, the moonlight outside casting a pale glow on the floor. The room was dim, but she could still see clearly.

This scene felt like a horror movie.

If Dai Jia, sleeping next to her, hadn’t groggily woken up and asked her what was wrong, she would have almost screamed. Her skin broke out in goosebumps, and she lay back down, fumbling for her phone under the pillow. When she turned on the screen, she was stunned.

At that moment, she thought she was dreaming. After all, she had experienced worse dreams before, like the time in the college entrance exam room, facing a test paper she couldn’t understand at all, frantically pulling at her hair.

Perhaps she was someone with a relatively big heart, as after the brief shock, sleepiness hit her again. She closed her eyes once more, thinking that she needed to sleep earlier, or else she’d be exhausted for work tomorrow and would need iced coffee to keep herself awake.

Who could tell her, why was this still a horror movie scene?!

“What year is it this year?”

Zhang Yunyi asked stubbornly.

This must be some kind of prank, or else how could she wake up to find herself ten years in the past?

Dai Jia looked at her lovingly. “I don’t know what year it is either, but I know that the college entrance exam is next year.”

Another one driven mad by senior year.

Zhang Yunyi closed her eyes in pain but obediently got out of bed, slipped on her slippers, and headed for the bathroom. There were three people brushing their teeth at the sink, so it wasn’t her turn yet. She could only rely on memory to find a comb, her mood as grim as attending a funeral. She combed her hair slowly, with a bitter expression on her face.

She occasionally looked up at her unfamiliar yet familiar roommates, still feeling disoriented.

After the college entrance exam that summer, they reluctantly parted ways, promising to meet at least once a year in the future. The first two years, they kept the promise, but as time passed, the gatherings became fewer. The last time they met was three years ago when Dai Jia got married. Even then, they couldn’t get the whole 602 dormitory together.

They kept up with each other’s lives through WeChat Moments.

Now, crammed back into this narrow dormitory, Zhang Yunyi felt both strange and nostalgic.

Being roommates was a form of fate. Though they had their conflicts, they were all small matters, and they quickly reconciled. They respected each other’s living habits. After brushing their teeth and washing their faces, they never hesitated and hurriedly made way for each other.

After ten years, Zhang Yunyi didn’t immediately recognize her toothbrush cup. She paused for a few seconds.

Dai Jia nudged her, her mouth still full of toothpaste foam, and mumbled, “What’s wrong?”

Zhang Yunyi glanced over the row of rinsing cups, some of which still had wet toothbrushes. She tentatively grabbed a cup that matched her aesthetic from high school. When Dai Jia didn’t exclaim “You took the wrong one,” she relaxed and squeezed out toothpaste, brushing her teeth with a hum.

The dormitory was lively in the morning, with occasional shouts.

“Ah, my socks are still wet! What am I supposed to wear?”

“Are you going to the canteen? Bring me a bun!”

“Where’s the time? I’ll go after morning self-study,” Dai Jia replied.

Zhang Yunyi had switched to an electric toothbrush during university, and only changed the brand since then. Now, returning to a traditional toothbrush, she was still a little unaccustomed. After gargling and quickly washing her face, she moved through the motions. High school students also have their own skincare routines, though simple. She had a bottle of lotion on her desk, nothing like ten years later, when her vanity table at home would be filled with bottles, even having a separate glass cabinet just for perfumes.

She poured some lotion into her palm, hesitated for a moment, and then decisively patted it on her face.

After finishing the routine, more than ten minutes had passed. The sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway, everyone rushing in a hurry. Zhang Yunyi was caught up in the atmosphere, quickly slipping on her shoes and grabbing her bag, rushing out with Dai Jia.

The summer heat still lingered in Jiangzhou in September, with the faint sunlight streaming through the clouds. As Zhang Yunyi stepped out of the dormitory, she felt a momentary dizziness. Apart from catching early flights during holidays, she hadn’t woken up this early in a long time. In university, she could still manage to wake up at 7:30 for an 8:00 class, rushing with all her might. After starting work, she only needed to arrive at the company by 9:00 to clock in.

She wouldn’t be called nocturnal, but she’d stay up until midnight every day before putting down her phone.

To ensure seven to eight hours of sleep, she rented a place close to her company, always riding a bike if she left early, and taking the subway if she left late—just two stations away. She could sleep until 8:00 and still not feel rushed.

For the truly difficult lives, it was the senior high school students.

“What’s up with you today? You seem strange,” Dai Jia asked as they walked toward the teaching building, the path long, and Dai Jia walking quickly, almost too fast for Zhang Yunyi to keep up. She was nearly out of breath when Dai Jia’s voice broke through her thoughts. Zhang Yunyi’s brow twitched, and she quickly found an excuse. “Not feeling well. Probably getting my period soon.”

Dai Jia responded with a hum and then said, “It’s the beginning of the month, huh? What if you get your period during next year’s college entrance exam?”

Zhang Yunyi: “…”

She gave her first smile of the day. “Jia Jie, you’re so funny.”

But after saying that, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of a heartache. With such a precious opportunity for reincarnation, she felt it could’ve been given to someone else—someone who truly had deep regrets about their past. For her, it felt like a waste. First, she hadn’t had any unexpected deaths in her family. Second, she hadn’t missed any great moments in life.

From the age of seventeen to twenty-seven, it had been smooth sailing and happy times. If there was any regret, it was that her adventure in the entertainment industry ended in failure.

After the college entrance exam, she went to Hengdian with her friends to visit a few film sets and played background roles. She added an agent on WeChat, and in her second year of university, through the agent’s connections, she signed a five-year contract. She was drawn into the glitz of the entertainment world, throwing herself into it without any real success, appearing in a few dramas with no splash. Years later, she returned to being a nobody.

Her parents, unable to tolerate it any longer, insisted she return to Jiangzhou.

She pondered for a while and left without hesitation once her contract expired, returning home to be a full-time daughter for a few months. Bored, she started applying for jobs everywhere. At twenty-six, she officially became a corporate slave: 9 to 6, weekends off, five insurances, and two pension funds. Her life was stable.

“I had no choice,” Dai Jia’s voice snapped her back to reality. “During the holidays at home, my parents kept nagging me, saying if I just hold on for one more year, life will be better. They’re like, ‘Only one more year of hardship in this life.’ My ears are about to get calluses from hearing it.”

“One more year of hardship?” Zhang Yunyi’s mouth twitched, and she rummaged through her memories. If she wasn’t mistaken, her parents had said similar things. Was this some sort of standardized parent speech? They really dared to say it.

She wasn’t sure if it was the filter of memory, but in the following years, whenever she thought back to her senior year, she felt that it was a fulfilling time. Her memories of it were even deeper than the four years of university combined.

But the truth was, the past only existed in memories.

Now, back in her senior year, she truly felt some pain. She just wished she could wake up and return to her apartment… If that wasn’t possible, returning to her desk would be fine too.

Zhang Yunyi let out a distracted “Heh heh.”

The teaching building was growing closer, and the conversation with Dai Jia continued, extending into topics about the college entrance exam. “My parents are already looking into what major I should study in college. They asked me what career I wanted. I couldn’t think of anything. What about you?”

Zhang Yunyi gently reassured her, “Don’t worry too much. So many people end up doing jobs that have nothing to do with their major.”

High school students might still have many fantasies about the future.

Even imagining themselves working one day, they picture it like the TVB urban dramas from earlier years: neat, crisp suits, assertive personalities, drinking a little after work with colleagues or friends, living a romantic and comfortable life.

What about the crowded subway during rush hour, the takeout with the added bonus of a grilled sausage for 9 yuan, or the small rewards from group purchases? These things were nowhere to be found in TV shows, how could they show up in the blueprint for the future?

The future.

Just the thought of the word made Zhang Yunyi uneasy. Frowning, she stepped onto the stairs, starting to drift off as she half-heartedly chatted with Dai Jia while trying to calm herself. There were only a few minutes left until 6:30. The students in the corridor were all moving quickly. As they passed another classroom, she could hear students lazily reciting words by the window. Distracted, she didn’t notice the person coming in front of her and bumped into someone with broad shoulders and a strong frame, nearly losing her balance.

Before she could steady herself, a clear voice rang out. “Are you okay?”

Without thinking, she looked up, her gaze landing on a sharply defined young man’s face. Standing at about 6’1”, with a build that was both lean and tall, his arms muscular, messy hair, and sharp brows, he looked strikingly handsome.

As he furrowed his brow and looked at her, she almost blurted out, “Good morning, boss.”