"Monkey, you and I are even! I will repay Chen Hai with my life! But no one in this world can judge me! Fuck you, old heavens!"
"Bang!"
With the sound of a gunshot, the former anti-narcotics hero fell at Guying Ridge, the very place that had given him a second life.
........
"Hey, junior, stop daydreaming. Registration is over that way."
"Ah? Oh... Th-thank you... senior!"
Seasoned as he was through storms and trials, Director Qi—with his twenty-three years of experience in the Political and Legal Affairs Commission—was utterly and completely dumbfounded by the scene before him.
"Didn't I take my own life at Guying Ridge and pay Chen Hai back with my own life? How can this be?"
At the school gate, the bustling crowds of young men and women were all dressed in white shirts and floral skirts.
The walls on both sides bore quotations from the great leader, and right across the center hung a banner that read: "Welcome, New Students!"
Past memories mirrored reality once again, and Qi Tongwei could not help losing himself in a daze.
He was no old fogey; as a bureau director of public security eager for political advancement, his ambition spurred him on to keep learning.
Keeping abreast of the times, understanding trends and currents, and maintaining social stability were all tasks that could not be ignored.
Among them were popular youth phenomena like time travel and rebirth...
After a brief shock, Qi Tongwei felt no sentimental sorrow; instead, he raised his hand, gently touched the six big characters on the banner, and muttered to himself:
"Handong, I, Qi Tongwei, have returned."
Following his memories to the registration desk, he caught sight of that graceful figure in the crowd at a glance. Her posture was slender and well-proportioned; she wore a white shirt, her hair tied in a high ponytail, and a smile always hung on the corners of her lips.
Chen Yang—his first love, and the beauty and pain he had never forgotten.
At this time, Chen Yang had already joined the student union and was responsible for helping the tutor complete the freshmen's registration.
In his previous life, the two of them had met here. Back then, he had assumed Chen Yang was a senior in her junior year, until they crossed paths in class and he discovered she was actually in the same year as him.
He had even foolishly gone up to ask her how she had managed to join the student union right after entering university.
Back then, Chen Yang had only responded with an awkward yet polite smile—a smile draped in a veil of mystery that Qi Tongwei would never forget, finding it so beautiful that he could not resist wanting to explore further.
Everyone in the world thought Qi Tongwei's tragedy began at Guying Ridge, but only he knew that the tragedy had already started at this very moment.
"I have asked myself countless times: if everything could start over, would I still keep getting close to Chen Yang?"
"The answer is yes. Coming from a rural background, I carried a sense of inferiority deep in my bones. Without love to drive me, I would never have joined the student union, let alone become its president."
Yet when assumptions were reflected in reality, choices naturally changed. With twenty-three years of political and legal experience, this time he needed no one to spur him on, let alone suffer through the agony of such love.
And that bitch Liang Lu would certainly pay the price for this.
Qi Tongwei took a deep breath and strode forward.
"Hello, classmate. My name is Qi Tongwei, and I'm here to register!"
Hearing this, Chen Yang—who was busy recording information—looked up and took a long look at the tall, upright, and righteous-looking classmate before her, a trace of displeasure flashing deep in her eyes.
"You, you, you" — so devoid of manners. And besides, everyone else called her senior.
"Dormitory 308, turn right ahead."
Taking the certificate, Qi Tongwei left with dashing grace, paying no mind to Chen Yang's shifting mood.
Chen Yang stamped her foot in secret, puckered her pink lips, and snapped, "Next!"
"Hello, senior. My name is..."
......
Dormitory 308 was a four-person room. Just like in his memories, Qi Tongwei was the last to arrive, and only the top bunk by the window was left.
With no air conditioning, no fan, and not even a window screen, the spot by the window was the front line against the bites of summer insects.
"Hehe, brother, you're late. That means the position of grand marshal of the imperial court has to be yours. By the way, my name is Fang Xue. You can call me Brother Fang, and I'll have your back from now on."
The speaker was a fair-faced, thin, and tall young man.
Qi Tongwei silently reminisced.
"Fang Xue—from an urban, moderately prosperous family, who always looked down on me for being from the countryside. Later, at my suggestion, he was transferred to serve as the township head of Hongshan, only to be personally arrested by me for corruption and sent to work the sewing machine for eighteen years."
"I remember he only finished his sentence in 2019. Sigh, I was actually planning to go see him after he got out of prison, what a pity."
At this thought, Qi Tongwei broke into a brilliant smile.
"Hello, classmate Fang Xue."
With that, he turned to look at his other two roommates.
"Sun Long!"
"Liu Da!"
Seeing that Qi Tongwei was dressed plainly, both of them acted very aloof. To their surprise, however, Qi Tongwei walked up to them with great enthusiasm and shook their hands.
"Hello, classmate Sun Long. (Bribery during the Strike Hard campaign, twelve years.)"
"Classmate Liu Da, a pleasure, a pleasure. (Accepting bribes during the Strike Hard campaign, fifteen years.)"
The two images of the youth and the middle-aged man overlapped, creating a peculiar sense of detachment. Yet Qi Tongwei was extremely warm, pulling the three of them along to make polite conversation—showing special wistfulness when facing Fang Xue.
At first, the three of them felt a bit awkward and unaccustomed to it, but as they chatted on, they realized that the rural boy in front of them spoke really, really nicely.
There was an indescribable tacit understanding, as if they had known each other for decades.
By this point, Fang Xue had given up on the idea of taking Qi Tongwei as his underling, treating him instead as a true friend.
Strangely enough, the moment this thought arose, his heart inexplicably let go, feeling exceptionally relaxed.
"Old Qi, say no more. Today is the first gathering of our 308, dinner is on me!" Fang Xue declared with grand generosity.
"Then I'll have 'Earth's Three Fresh Delicacies', fish-flavored eggplant, and fried chicken nuggets," Qi Tongwei smiled and said.
The three of them spoke in unison: "My favorite!" ("Earth's Three Fresh Delicacies, fish-flavored eggplant, and fried chicken nuggets.")
The four of them looked at each other and burst into loud laughter. By the time they walked out the door, the three of them had already subconsciously clustered around Qi Tongwei, bantering and laughing.
Naturally, this was intentionally guided by Qi Tongwei—a small trick of his.
He was a man who clearly distinguished between gratitude and grudges; he wouldn't drag his past-life animosities into this lifetime. As long as these three little brothers didn't step out of line, he, their big brother Qi, wouldn't send any more younger brothers off to work the sewing machines.
"Hey, look, they're holding hands..." Fang Xue whispered in surprise, as if he had discovered a new continent.
As September approached, the leaves had turned slightly yellow, and the evening sunlight squeezed through the canopy, casting its light on the concrete path leading to the cafeteria.
A woman was holding a man's hand, her exquisite women's leather shoes treading on the sunlight. Dressed in a white dress, she tilted her head sideways with a look of utter bliss.
She was very pretty, and very bold as well.
The time was now 1984, just the sixth year since the reform and opening up. Most people were still shackled by outdated ideologies and would categorize public displays of physical affection on the street as deviant behavior.
Seeing the three of them making a fuss and acting as if they had never seen the world, Qi Tongwei sneered inwardly. If you can't even stomach holding hands on the street, what about premarital pregnancy and abortion?
Let alone 1984, even by 2017 that would still be a pretty mind-blowing existence.
If the Cannes Film Festival in France was always at the absolute forefront of fashion, then walking toward them right now was a show-off who transcended the times.
That's right—this tender-faced woman was none other than Qi Tongwei's wife from his past life, Liang Lu.