Chapter 2

"Zhang Chen, wake up, get up quickly, Auntie and her family will be here soon."

"Get up quickly! The sun is already up, and you’re still in bed, lazybones!"

Zhang Chen opened his eyes groggily and saw his mother calling him to get up while wiping his desk with a cloth.

Wait, how did his home become like this!? And wasn’t he already living alone? Why was his mother here? And why did she look so young? She looked to be in her early forties.

Zhang Chen looked around the place he was in, surprised to find himself in the old house he had moved out of 20 years ago.

His hazy memories gradually became clear. Yes, this was the home where he lived when he was in high school 20 years ago.

Had he been reborn? Or was this just a dream? He pinched his thigh hard, and it hurt.

"You, what’s wrong? It’s already after the New Year, and you’re still sleeping in. Get up quickly if you’re awake. Auntie and her family will be here soon," Su Wenjin said, a bit angry to see her son still dazed.

"Okay, I will." Zhang Chen, as if waking from a dream, quickly put on his clothes while looking at his mother.

In his memory, his mother was already in her sixties, with a lot of white hair. But the mother in front of him, though middle-aged, still had a certain charm. Only the pressure of life had made her neglect her appearance, with a few crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes and not-so-deep nasolabial folds.

The window of his room was decorated with a red paper cutout of a fish, and the door had a character for "blessing" on it. It seemed they were still in the New Year period.

Yes, this was the mother and home from his memories.

"What are you looking at? Go brush your teeth and wash your face quickly," Su Wenjin felt a bit uneasy under Zhang Chen’s gaze.

"Nothing, Mom, you look very festive today." As he put on his pants, Zhang Chen asked casually, "Mom, what day is it today?"

"Are you confused? It was the first day of the New Year yesterday, so today is the second day. Auntie will be coming to see Grandma soon. Hurry up, it will look bad if you’re still in bed when they arrive!" Su Wenjin said to Zhang Chen, a bit annoyed.

Right, Grandma.

Zhang Chen quickly got dressed and went to the living room, where he saw his grandmother sitting on a small stool, peeling shrimp. His heart was filled with emotion.

Zhang Chen’s grandmother had passed away almost ten years before he was reborn.

Because his parents worked in another city, he grew up with his grandmother and had a deep bond with her. Among her grandchildren, he was the eldest and lived with her every day, so she loved him the most. When his grandmother passed away, Zhang Chen was on a business trip and couldn’t return in time to see her one last time.

Seeing his grandmother hunched over, putting the peeled shrimp into a small bowl, Zhang Chen felt a lump in his throat, and tears threatened to fall. His grandmother, due to her hard work in her youth, had a hunched back and arthritic hands.

"Grandma," Zhang Chen called out, his voice trembling.

"What’s wrong, Chen Chen? Why are you crying?" Grandma looked at him with the same kind and gentle eyes.

"Nothing, just got something in my eye when I woke up." Zhang Chen quickly covered up and went to the bathroom to wash his face.

Looking at the familiar yet strange and simple bathroom, with only a squat toilet and a sink, and a showerhead hanging on the wall, which was a simple solar water heater made by his uncle.

Looking at his young face in the mirror, with a light mustache and a couple of acne spots, and his popular 60-40 hairstyle that made him look silly, Zhang Chen felt a mix of emotions. He had no dark circles or fine lines around his eyes.

Was this a dream? Would he wake up back in 2017 tomorrow? Zhang Chen didn’t know.

But now, he was undoubtedly in his home in 1996. The new calendar on the living room wall confirmed it.

This year wasn’t particularly special in Zhang Chen’s life. He was 17, in his first year of high school, and his grades were in the top ten of his class, not his best or worst.

This year, his parents’ workplace was struggling, and both were on unpaid leave. His mother worked as an accountant for a decoration company, and his father, despite being a senior engineer, had to sell vegetables at the market to make ends meet. With no business acumen and the need to pay stall fees, they could only earn a modest living.

It wasn’t until 1997 that his father’s company formed an engineering service company, and he volunteered to transfer there, gradually improving their living conditions.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Zhang Chen felt both excited and anxious. He silently resolved that if this was a real rebirth and not a dream, it was a second chance given by heaven, a chance to change his life and destiny.

He would definitely seize this opportunity!

Although his life in the previous life wasn’t bad, he graduated from university and joined a foreign company, eventually becoming a manager. However, because he didn’t buy a house in time, by the time he could afford a down payment, the housing prices had skyrocketed. Zhang Chen was burdened with a huge mortgage.

As a mortgage slave, it was much harder to turn things around.

On the night before his rebirth, a colleague was laid off, and Zhang Chen and a few good colleagues threw a farewell party for him. After dinner, they went to a bar and drank until they were drunk. No one could see their future, and no one knew if they would be the next to be laid off in the current economic situation.

Zhang Chen also drank a lot, went to sleep in his house, and woke up to find himself reborn.

After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Zhang Chen silently resolved to make the most of this opportunity. Just then, the doorbell rang, and Auntie and her family had arrived.

Zhang Chen quickly went to open the door and took the New Year’s gifts from Auntie: a box of cola and two boxes of pastries from Gui Shunzhai. In the mid-1990s, these were the most popular New Year’s gifts.

Zhang Chen’s aunt worked at the Bincheng Agricultural Machinery Factory, which, as a state-owned enterprise, was also in a poor state. According to his future memories, his aunt would be laid off in late 1997. Fortunately, his uncle worked as a technician at the Binzhou Port, and his job was relatively stable, helping to maintain the family. However, his aunt’s stroke in 2012 further worsened the family’s situation, and her only daughter, Chen Ting, was deceived by a man over 20 years older and developed depression, eventually committing suicide by jumping from the 25th floor of their home a year before Zhang Chen’s rebirth.

In 1996, Chen Ting was only an 8-year-old girl.

Zhang Chen’s parents had always lived with his grandmother, and his mother, being gentle and kind, was very filial to her. They also had a good relationship with Auntie’s family.