Prologue
If one day you were reborn,
Would you still marry her?
— Prelude
Zhou Yuwen's throat felt a bit dry.
The noisy clattering of the train was incredibly loud, and no matter how many times he turned over, he couldn't fall asleep.
But thinking about the absurd scene from last night, Zhou Yuwen just couldn't bear to open his eyes.
He tilted his head, resting it on his young girlfriend's shoulder.
He remained in this half-asleep state.
Otherwise, even after the divorce, you’ll still run into them at classmates' weddings.
Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing had been divorced for two years.
Initially, everything was fine.
But this time, a college classmate was getting married.
Zhou Yuwen's young girlfriend insisted that he take her along.
Zhou Yuwen thought, "Why not?"
It didn't matter much to him.
The main thing was, Zhou Yuwen never expected Su Qing to show up.
Even more surprising was that at twenty-nine years old, Su Qing was still so childish.
The moment she saw Zhou Yuwen with a girl younger and prettier than herself, her eyes turned red.
During the meal, she was passive-aggressive.
She told their classmates, "You all have families and careers now, unlike someone who’s almost thirty and still acts irresponsibly, messing around with twenty-something girls all the time!"
This made everyone around feel awkward.
It also embarrassed Zhou Yuwen.
But Zhou Yuwen couldn't be bothered to argue with her; he didn't even want to acknowledge her.
Zhou Yuwen's young girlfriend was only twenty-two, from Taiwan, and spoke in a sweet, clingy voice. She wore a pink knitted off-shoulder top, exposing her jade-like shoulders and a hint of her snowy white chest.
Taiwan girls not only spoke sweetly but were also well-nourished.
Most importantly, they really knew how to act coy.
During the meal, she clung to Zhou Yuwen, asking for this and that.
As Zhou Yuwen helped her with the dishes, he said, "Can't you get it yourself?"
"Aw, I want you to get it for me, Uncle!" she said in her sweet voice.
Zhou Yuwen's old classmates couldn't help but laugh at this.
And Su Qing's eyes looked even more resentful, ready to kill.
Eventually, halfway through the meal, when the old classmates were chatting happily after not seeing each other for years, Su Qing drank alone, one glass after another.
Her face quickly turned red.
To be honest, Su Qing still had her charm. After all, she had been the campus belle.
With her hair up and dressed in a black undergarment, her figure was still outstanding.
Zhou Yuwen was a year older than Su Qing, turning thirty this year.
They dated for four years in college and got married right after graduation, lasting two years in a short-lived marriage.
Sometimes, fate really plays tricks on people.
Su Qing was an ambitious girl, working in the student union during college and joining a foreign company after graduation, becoming a glamorous urban white-collar worker.
Zhou Yuwen, on the other hand, was quite the goof. He spent his college years playing games and found a job with a 5,000-yuan monthly salary through family connections after graduation. He worked nine to five with weekends off.
Every day at work, he clocked in, played games, and occasionally read novels and argued with people on forums.
Seeing authors writing borderline green content could keep him up all night in anger.
Su Qing, on the other hand, got up early to squeeze into the subway, worked all day, and had to listen to Zhou Yuwen's complaints at dinner.
"Damn it, what's wrong with this author?
It was going so well. Why did they have to ruin it?"
"I’m telling you, this author is a freak. He actually made the female lead fall for the villain. Damn it, if I were writing, anyone who even looked at my woman would get their eyes gouged out!" Zhou Yuwen would rant.
Su Qing looked at her husband, feeling a bit tired.
Two years had passed since graduation.
Others were getting promotions and raises.
But Zhou Yuwen was still living day-to-day, like a child.
Su Qing was a career-oriented woman.
Zhou Yuwen was not only a goof but also had his mother nagging for a grandchild all the time.
Su Qing was genuinely tired.
Finally, she said the word "divorce."
The house went to Zhou Yuwen.
The savings went to Su Qing.
Actually, Zhou Yuwen felt a bit sorry for Su Qing because, in those two years of marriage, they had no savings.
But Su Qing didn't care about that.
Two years, and Zhou Yuwen's salary was still around 5,000 yuan.
Su Qing’s year-end bonus and dividends amounted to over 300,000 yuan annually.
After the divorce, she was highly valued by her company, sent abroad for six months of training, and upon return, promoted to supervisor. She thrived without the burden of a goof of a husband and a nagging mother-in-law.
As for Zhou Yuwen, he remained a goof post-divorce.
But since he was single, the company handed him all the business trips.
As a result, he got to know his superiors better.
Miraculously, he got promoted!
Even funnier was,
during the marriage, Zhou Yuwen constantly ranted about authors, questioning how their terrible writing could make the bestseller list, and wondering about the current quality of novel writing.
Back then, Su Qing always thought that Zhou Yuwen was useless. He always complained and said what he would do if he were writing, but he never actually put pen to paper.
"If you’re so good, why don't you write?"
"You say they make hundreds of thousands a month. Write and make hundreds of thousands. Let me see!"
Zhou Yuwen would always laugh it off, saying he had to take care of his wife and had no time.
"Get lost, you smooth talker," Su Qing would retort.
After the divorce, with no need to cook for Su Qing or pick her up on rainy days,
Zhou Yuwen found himself thinking of Su Qing during his free time.
But recalling Su Qing's criticisms, he decided to give writing a shot!
Who knew, it actually took off!
Not only did he make tens of thousands annually, but his boss turned out to be a big fan of his writing.
This got him promoted again!
At thirty, Zhou Yuwen was making about 400,000 yuan annually.
To be honest, before divorcing Su Qing, Zhou Yuwen had only dated her.
Back then, he was incredibly pure, spending his time playing games in the dorm.
After he got enlightened and had a girlfriend, he wasn't interested in other girls.
Until after the divorce.
Young girls flocked to him like there was no tomorrow.
They were so forward that Zhou Yuwen couldn't believe it was real.
The most memorable was when his friends wanted to play Werewolf but couldn’t find a venue.
Zhou Yuwen said, "Well, I live alone. You can come to my place."
That night, four girls came. When they found out the apartment was his, they added him on WeChat.
These girls were genuinely forward, chatting with him all the time.
One of them, an art school student with fair skin, long legs, and a somewhat campus belle status, brought him breakfast every morning by subway.
Touched, Zhou Yuwen was seduced, and they ended up together for almost three months.
One day, while they were enjoying a private moment at home,
Su Qing unexpectedly walked in.
There wasn’t too much drama,
but later, the girl said Su Qing had talked to her privately.
Zhou Yuwen hadn’t planned on dating one after another,
but every relationship was disrupted by Su Qing.
Frustrated, Zhou Yuwen asked Su Qing what she wanted.
"Remarry," she said.
She must be crazy. After finally getting divorced, why remarry? Impossible!
This time, before the classmate's wedding, Zhou Yuwen confirmed she wasn’t invited.
Yet, she came on her own!
Originally, Zhou Yuwen thought that Su Qing would at least maintain her image on such an important occasion.
Who would’ve thought?
She got drunk!
Then made a scene at the wedding!
To be fair, she just tearfully asked why Zhou Yuwen was demeaning himself.
"You weren’t like this before!"
Su Qing meant Zhou Yuwen used to be honest; now he changed girlfriends frequently.
Zhou Yuwen didn’t know how to respond.
Meanwhile, his young girlfriend, blinking her big eyes, asked, "Obasan, who are you? Do you know Uncle well?"
Goodness, calling Su Qing "Obasan" in front of everyone hit her sore spot.
Su Qing lost it.
The ensuing scene was chaotic!
Su Qing and Zhou Yuwen’s young girlfriend pulled hair, tore clothes, and caused a scene at the wedding.
Drunk Su Qing clung to Zhou Yuwen’s leg, crying like a pear blossom in the rain, begging for reconciliation, saying he owed his success to her.
"How could you abandon me now that you’ve made it?"
"Zhou Yuwen, I was wrong! Let’s remarry, please!"
Graduation had been five or six years ago.
Su Qing always said Zhou Yuwen hadn’t changed a bit.
But the one who hadn’t changed was Su Qing—competitive, childish, possessive, taking things for granted.
Even disrupting a friend’s wedding seemed justified to her.
Honestly, maybe being with her was a mistake from the start.
I really wish life could start over.
The train clattered on, never ceasing its sway.
With eyes closed, Zhou Yuwen didn't know if he had fallen asleep.
Until the train announcement blared:
"Dear passengers, the 2013 train is about to arrive at its final destination: Jinling Station!"
The carriage started bustling.
Sounds of people getting luggage and babies crying filled the air.
Final stop, Jinling Station?
Zhou Yuwen remembered his stop was Jinling South Station.
What’s going on?
Did he miss his stop?
Why didn’t his girlfriend wake him up? Was she angry?
Opening his eyes slightly, Zhou Yuwen was stunned by what he saw.
He was supposed to be on the high-speed train to Jinling.
Why was he on a green train?
All he saw were students with luggage ready to get off.
Where was his girlfriend?
Turning around, he found himself sleeping next to a plump middle-aged man. No wonder he felt his girlfriend had become more plump.
"Young man, awake?" The man, in his forties, smiled kindly.
Ignoring the man, Zhou Yuwen reached for his phone, wondering where his girlfriend had gone. Was she really angry and got off first?
Something wasn’t right. Why was he on a green train?
"Hey! You’re so rude. My dad’s talking to you, didn’t you hear?" came an annoyed voice from across.
Turning his head, Zhou Yuwen saw a young girl in a red tank top.
It was September, the hottest time in Jinling, and she dressed coolly. Her tank top and blue denim shorts exposed her slim waist and long, tender legs under the table, radiating youth.
Zheng Yanyan?
A college classmate?
What confused him more was his latest iPhone 15 had turned into a Gionee 305, his college phone.
And his outfit…
"Hey! I’m talking to you, did you hear?" Zheng Yanyan remained displeased.
The middle-aged man laughed kindly, "It’s alright, it’s alright. Young man, is this your first time away from home? Are you here for school?"
The word "school" triggered Zhou Yuwen's memories.
2013.
That year, Zhou Yuwen got into a southern second-tier college, leaving home for the first time.
That night, he took an overnight train.
He remembered sitting opposite a pretty girl, not knowing her name but noticing her long legs.
Adolescent restlessness kept his eyes glued to her, his mouth unconsciously salivating.
Later, he learned the girl was Zheng Yanyan, a classmate.
As Zhou Yuwen reminisced, the train finally arrived.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, a girl stared incredulously at herself in the mirror.
Eighteen-year-old her looked incredibly pure. Standing at 167 cm, she was not yet the sharp woman of the future. She was dressed in a floral dress, with long, shiny black hair, a high nose, and rosy lips.
She looked at her reflection, first in disbelief, then a bright smile appeared on her lips.
"Zhou Yuwen! This time, we won't get divorced again!"
---------
September 2013.
For the first time, Zhou Yuwen left his hometown and came to Jinling alone.
Jinling Station was particularly noisy.
Travelers with large bags and small suitcases bustled around.
In the distance, elderly men and women in plain clothes with Jinling accents were asking passengers, "Where are you heading?"
"Going to Lishui?"
"Heading to Gaochun?"
"Hey handsome, want to have some fun?"
Some young ladies were also dressed lightly: "Hey handsome, can you lend me two yuan for the subway?"
Looking at this familiar yet unfamiliar city,
Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but sigh, "Someone like me, actually got reborn."
At thirty, he had climbed to a mid-level position in his company, had seen the world, and wasn't surprised by being reborn.
In fact, he was somewhat unwilling.
Since divorcing Su Qing, Zhou Yuwen's life had been smooth sailing.
He got promotions and raises, and his novels sold well.
By then, Zhou Yuwen not only had an eight-million-yuan apartment in Jinling, but also two million yuan in savings and a BMW 5 Series worth fifty thousand yuan.
Of course, such a Zhou Yuwen never lacked older sisters and younger girls around him.
Yet now, Zhou Yuwen, who had everything, was reborn to a time when he had nothing.
Walking out of the station along a route from his memories,
Zhou Yuwen reminisced about his youth.
Back then, he had nothing—no money, no love.
The gloom of senior high school hadn't lifted.
Like all high school students, Zhou Yuwen felt that the college entrance exam was his only way out. With a desperate struggle in the last half of his senior year,
he barely got into a second-tier college in Jinling.
His parents sighed every day because of it.
Zhou Yuwen also felt he had let his parents down.
To be honest, if his parents hadn’t suddenly taken out a million yuan to buy him a house in Jinling after his college wedding,
Zhou Yuwen would have thought his family was quite poor.
His parents always made it seem like they worked regular jobs with a monthly salary of three to four thousand yuan. His mother would calculate expenses, telling him, "Your tuition, living expenses, and now you want to learn guitar? That’s another few hundred yuan. Your dad and I only make three to four thousand a month."
"Your dad guaranteed a loan for someone recently, and we owe a lot of money. Where do we have money? You have to study hard."
At the bus terminal near the train station,
a group of students with suitcases waited for the bus.
Zhou Yuwen reached into his pocket, finding only two thousand yuan—his living expenses for a semester.
Before he left, his mother had told him, "If you need more money, let us know."
Young Zhou Yuwen was sensible, thinking his parents didn’t have much money and his grades weren't great, so he was too embarrassed to ask for more.
He flagged down a taxi.
There weren’t many rideshares back then, and taxis were mostly old Santana models that seemed to be prone to breaking down with a bump.
The taxi driver, a true Jinling local, asked, "Where to?"
Zhou Yuwen asked, "How much to Xianlin University Town?"
The driver quoted a hundred yuan.
"Whoa! Twenty-some kilometers for a hundred yuan? You sure know how to charge!"
After some haggling,
Zhou Yuwen offered fifty.
"Take it or leave it."
"If you don't want it, I’m getting off."
"Alright, alright! I’m losing money on this trip!"
Eventually, the driver couldn’t resist the easy fifty yuan and took Zhou Yuwen.
On the way, he grumbled about losing money.
Sitting in the front seat, Zhou Yuwen casually took a cigarette from the pack in front. "Alright, alright, if you’re losing money, just consider it making a friend!"
"I’m already losing money, and you still take my cigarette!"
"Just one! Here, let me light it for you."
Though the driver looked displeased, he still took the cigarette.
"Need a light?"
Zhou Yuwen deftly lit his cigarette.
In 2009, Jinling was lined with plane trees on both sides of the road, shading everything.
The roads were filled with people.
Zhou Yuwen lounged in the front seat, taking a deep drag on his cigarette.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh!" He couldn’t help but cough violently.
Only then did Zhou Yuwen remember that he didn’t know how to smoke back then.
Thanks to good family education,
eighteen-year-old Zhou Yuwen didn’t smoke or drink, had no bad habits, and kept up with running and swimming.
Oh, he also had an eight-pack.
Thinking of this, Zhou Yuwen couldn’t help but touch his abs through his shirt,
smiling.
Good, they were still there.
At eighteen, Zhou Yuwen had many desires—he wanted to eat, sleep, and become the clouds shifting in the sky.
He felt his body was as strong as an ox, capable of piercing the heavens.
Zhou Yuwen suddenly thought of his college years.
He had often thought about getting intimate with Su Qing during their relationship.
But Su Qing had always been strictly guarded.
It wasn’t until their wedding night after college graduation that Zhou Yuwen had his first real experience with her.
By then, Zhou Yuwen no longer had the strength of his eighteen-year-old self.
Wondering how strong his eighteen-year-old self was,
and recalling the struggles with young girlfriends at thirty,
Zhou Yuwen thought maybe being reborn wasn’t so bad.
At least this time, he could indulge a bit.
No, he was a thirty-year-old uncle; he had to maintain his persona!
In any case, he definitely wouldn’t date Su Qing this time.
Thinking of the past, Zhou Yuwen felt he must have been blind to choose Su Qing, the femme fatale, among so many beauties in college!
This time, he would avoid getting involved with Su Qing.
"Here we are!"
A voice brought Zhou Yuwen back to reality as he was thinking about his future plans. He looked up and found himself at the university gate.
He handed over fifty yuan.
As he left, he joked with the driver, "Would a two-yuan discount be possible?"
The driver rolled his eyes, "How about I give you a free ride?"
"That’d be great!"
"Like hell!" The driver snatched the fifty yuan, stomped on the gas, and sped away.
Watching the driver leave, Zhou Yuwen thought, Jinling locals are still so fiery.
Two thousand yuan, minus fifty.
Current funds: 1,950.
How should he make money?
Zhou Yuwen was deep in thought, a cigarette in his mouth.
"Are you here to register, classmate?"
A gentle female voice interrupted his thoughts.
Looking up, Zhou Yuwen saw a girl with long flowing hair wearing a volunteer vest.
Chen Wan, the senior?
"Do I look like it?" Recognizing her, Zhou Yuwen smiled.