Stepping out of the restaurant entrance, Chen Mo felt the glare of the harsh sunlight on his face, truly appreciating the beauty of a second chance at life.
Healthy, strong, and full of vigor.
And best of all, he had been reborn right after the college entrance examinations.
Otherwise, even if he killed himself, his academic score could never match what he had achieved in his past life.
Just as Chen Mo was still immersed in the joy of his rebirth, Luo Botao suddenly spoke up.
"Xiao Mo, Lin Zhitong and Fang Yongming seem to be in trouble."
Hearing this, Chen Mo turned his head and glanced inside through the glass.
Of course he knew what was happening inside.
In his previous life, Chen Mo hadn't been nearly as easygoing as he was now.
After being rejected by Lin Zhitong, he had lingered inside, nagging her endlessly.
A few young men who had just finished eating passed by and noticed the pretty Lin Zhitong, and their leader, a guy named Wang Zikang, wanted to go over and ask for her QQ number.
Chen Mo, who was already depressed and gloomy from being rejected, immediately clashed with him.
In fact, after hearing Chen Mo's notorious name, the other guy had already apologized, but Chen Mo, eager to vent his pent-up resentment, still started a fight with him.
Things escalated in the heat of the brawl, and Chen Mo stabbed a shattered beer bottle straight into Wang Zikang's abdomen, leading to an emergency hospital rush.
Later on, the restaurant called the police, and everyone was dragged to the police station, where Chen Mo's actions were ruled as intentional assault.
Even though his parents scraped together all their savings for compensation and begged for forgiveness, the other party refused to let it go and took the matter to court.
In the final verdict, Chen Mo received a suspended sentence.
Not only did he miss out on university, but it also ruined the rest of his life.
...
Living a second life.
Seeing this group of people again, Chen Mo—whose mind had grown as hardened as an old dog—felt no hatred at all. Instead, he simply marveled at what an absolute, bona fide idiot he had been in his past life.
It had taken Chen Mo half a lifetime to figure out one simple truth.
Love always cools down, and the flesh ultimately decays. Sometimes, in pursuit of a higher sense of satisfaction, people are forced to pour all their energy into loving fantasies.
In the end, you realize that picking a rat dropping out of a pot of rice, or picking grains of rice out of a pot of rat droppings, are essentially both filthy businesses.
Life is short, so if you accidentally cross paths with the wrong person, you must learn to stop while you're ahead.
Without a trace of mercy.
"Let's go, Luobo."
Chen Mo called out Luo Botao's nickname and started walking forward.
He had no time to waste caring about what happened inside.
Besides, they were just a bunch of street punks who couldn't possibly stir up any real trouble.
Luo Botao hurried to catch up and said, "Shouldn't we go back and take a look? Even if Lin Zhitong rejected you, she's still our classmate."
Faced with Luo Botao's worry, Chen Mo just smiled and said, "Luobo, let me ask you something."
"If your rival in love and the person who once abandoned you fell into a river at the same time, and neither of them could swim, would you choose to go clubbing or go to a karaoke bar?"
The question left Luo Botao stunned, unable to react for a moment.
Chen Mo kept smiling as he said, "Me? I'd choose to swim circles around them."
That said, Chen Mo had neither the time nor the interest to hang around and watch the spectacle.
So after speaking, regardless of Luo Botao's expression, he casually tossed the bouquet of flowers into a trash can and walked on alone.
...
Reaching the corner of the street.
Chen Mo felt an urgent desire to go home and see his parents, whom he hadn't seen for so long in his past life.
Even though neither of them would be off work yet at this hour, he had only one thought in his mind: going home.
With that, he said goodbye to Luo Botao.
...
The moment he opened the front door, a familiar yet distant scene came into view.
Even before his rebirth, it had been a very long time since he last came home.
Looking at the apartment as it had looked nearly twenty years ago, his heart was filled with a mix of joy and sorrow.
After the fight, Chen Mo, on probation, had seemed like a completely different person, locking himself in the house all day and refusing to step outside.
Later on, hearing that Lin Zhitong had found a boyfriend in college, Chen Mo cut off contact with almost everyone entirely.
Once his probation ended, he resolutely bade farewell to his parents and family, heading south to Yangcheng alone to make his way in the world, and hadn't returned more than a handful of times in over a decade.
...
After wandering through the living room, the kitchen, and even the bathroom, he finally returned to his own bedroom.
Hanging on the wall was a 41-inch Yamaha acoustic guitar, along with numerous posters of Dou Xianer, Eminem, Allen Iverson, Rukawa Kaede, Asakura Minami, and others.
The manga Attack on Titan hadn't started serialization in 2005 yet; otherwise, the wall would definitely feature the dashing Mikasa and Captain Levi.
Ahead stood a bed, two bookshelves, the desk where he used to slave away writing essays, and a computer with outdated specs.
Chen Mo faintly remembered that the very bottom drawer of his desk held discs of Teacher Sora, Teacher Iijima, Teacher Ogawa, Teacher Kamiya, and others from his adolescent enlightenment.
Above the desk was a tiered storage rack filled with trophies and prizes won from past competitions, as well as nationally recognized certificates.
And right there was the admission letter from Jingdu Business and Technology University that he had never used in his previous life.
How nostalgic it all felt!
"Walking out for half a lifetime, returning still a youth; traversing rivers and mountains, the mortal world is still worth it."
Lying on the bed, Chen Mo reminisced about the past while plotting his future plans.
In his previous life, his parents had stayed in this small apartment for his sake, toiling away for the greater part of their lives without ever moving into a larger place.
Since heaven had granted him a second chance, he would completely change the destiny of his family and himself.
Make money.
And he had to make enough money to ensure his parents lived a life free from financial worries for the rest of their days, or even a far more affluent one.
This was the most valuable and meaningful first ambition of his rebirth.
As for romance.
In this lifetime, Chen Mo would never play the role of a pathetic simp again.
Nor would he carelessly enter into a relationship without a future.
In any case, he would never act like a bootlicker who blindly poured his heart out for nothing.
Of course, if he met a truly good girl, he might consider it.
After all, he was now full of youthful vigor...
Pui.
No, wait.
He was just a young man in the prime of his youth, wasn't he?
At this thought, Chen Mo suddenly sprang up from the bed, pulled a notebook from the desk, and flipped to the back page.
He rapidly scribbled down two lines:
From now on, three things matter in life: ideals, romance, and a good girl.
While the peach blossoms are bright and the wild flowers are yellow, write love poems, act wildly—what harm is there if the path ahead is perilous?