Chapter 2

Cheng Xiaoyu regained consciousness, not knowing how long he had been in a deep sleep in the river of time. His mind felt muddled, as if two sets of memories were running parallel in his head, making it seem like he had lived two lives. He tried hard to open his eyes but found himself unable to do so no matter how much he struggled.

Faint voices reached his ears, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. After the voices disappeared, the sound of a piano played, and Cheng Xiaoyu could vaguely recognize it as Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major. The soothing piano notes stirred a melody in his mind.

This piece was clearly very familiar to him. Suddenly, memories of his childhood piano lessons flashed through his mind, a flood of images rushing in. His mother's stern gaze, the bruises on his back from being hit with a hanger when he played a wrong note, his mother's pained expression during her migraine attacks, and his own tears as he played Chopin to comfort her.

However, these memories were something the music director Cheng Xiaoyu had never experienced.

Amidst the confusing images, Cheng Xiaoyu suddenly woke up, his eyes opening to find himself strapped in, leaning on the airbag that had deployed from the steering wheel. His head felt wet and uncomfortable, and when he touched it, his hand came away covered in bright red blood.

Looking at the windshield, he saw it was covered with spider-web-like cracks. Cheng Xiaoyu shook his muddled head, and a curse slipped out, "Damn, wasn't I hit? How the hell did I end up inside the car?"

Before he could recall what had happened, he saw someone lying in front of the car, illuminated by the headlights. On closer inspection, it was a girl in a long dress.

Without time to think, Cheng Xiaoyu unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car to check on her. His legs ached terribly, but he forced himself to hobble over to the girl. What he saw made his heart skip a beat: the unconscious girl with a slowly spreading pool of blood beneath her. Shaking, he pulled out his phone, not even noticing it wasn't his iPhone 6, and immediately called 120 and 110.

After making the calls, Cheng Xiaoyu crouched down shakily and used his fingers to check the girl's breathing. Fortunately, though weak, it hadn't stopped. This slightly calmed his racing heart.

Although the girl looked severely injured, the car wasn't badly damaged, except for the front windshield, the right headlight, and the front trunk, which were deformed. Cheng Xiaoyu didn't dare look at his once-dreamed-of Ferrari, only staring in shock at the girl lying on the ground.

The girl was slender but had long legs that formed a beautiful curve. Her dark, smooth hair covered half of her face, but the soft contours and clear skin revealed that she was a beauty. She wore a white lace dress and a light gray cardigan, lying in a pool of dark red blood like a beautiful painting.

Cheng Xiaoyu knew he shouldn't feel this way, but at that moment, he found her incredibly beautiful, so ethereal that it made him forget his pain and anxiety.

He didn't notice that someone behind him was taking photos with a phone.

While he was still staring at the beauty, before the 110 and 120 arrived, a cry and the sound of wind came from behind him. Before Cheng Xiaoyu could turn around, he was pushed back by a series of uncoordinated slaps.

Turning his head, he saw a woman in her forties or fifties, her eyes filled with tears, dressed in shabby clothes. She shouted, "You beast, why did you hit my daughter?" while hitting and kicking Cheng Xiaoyu.

Cheng Xiaoyu felt incredibly wronged. "I don't know anything! I'm a victim too!" he wanted to shout, but his memories gradually became clearer.

He was no longer the music director Cheng Xiaoyu; he was now a genuine rich second generation. This was not the world of the music director but another parallel universe.

Although he didn't remember how he hit the girl, there was no other explanation except that he had.

Cheng Xiaoyu could only cover his head and endure the beating, thinking, "Just don't hit my face." He didn't realize that his current appearance wouldn't make much difference even if he were hit.

The ambulance arrived before the 110. Cheng Xiaoyu supported the crying woman, who had tired herself out from hitting him, and said, "Auntie, you can hit me later. Let's save the girl first. I'll take full responsibility for this."

Seeing the ambulance, the woman rushed to the doctors and nurses, shouting, "Save my daughter!" Her voice was hoarse and not very shrill.

The medical staff performed a preliminary examination on the unconscious girl, finding her heartbeat and breathing normal, and carefully lifted her onto a stretcher, quickly loading her into the ambulance.

A nurse asked Cheng Xiaoyu where he was hurt. He said his head and legs were painful, and the nurse invited him to join them in the ambulance.

The ambulance, with its siren wailing, sped toward the hospital. Cheng Xiaoyu saw the 110 passing by through the window.

The woman also followed the ambulance, despite the nurse's劝阻 (persuasion) to wait. This made the already cramped ambulance even more crowded.

Cheng Xiaoyu's hands were still trembling, fearing he had killed someone. He asked worriedly, "She should be okay, right?"

The doctor, wearing a mask, glanced at Cheng Xiaoyu and said in a muffled voice, "She's fine for now, but it's hard to say more." Then he asked, "How old are you? Do you have a driver's license?"

Cheng Xiaoyu suddenly realized. In this world, he lived in San Francisco's Chinatown, also named Cheng Xiaoyu, with the English name RAIN. He was the illegitimate son of the chairman of the largest record company in China, Shanghe Records Co., Ltd. He had returned to China from the United States and would be 17 in a few days.

In RAIN's world, China had long been the second-largest country after the United States. After the end of World War I, China achieved unprecedented success at the Versailles Peace Conference, and the continuous development of national capitalism further strengthened the power of the Chinese bourgeoisie and proletariat, providing a material and class foundation for China's social transformation. The bourgeois democratic ideas, the New Culture Movement, and the New May Fourth Movement put China on the path to rise.

The September 18th Incident was a significant turning point in history. It was a military adventure initiated by mid-level fascist officers in Japan without domestic authorization or orders from the military high command, making it an illegal action. The Japanese army encountered strong resistance in Shenyang, unlike in the previous life where there was no resistance. After withstanding the Japanese attack, the Chinese and Japanese governments resolved the conflict politically within a month.

Since the September 18th Incident was a military adventure, if it succeeded, the victors would not be blamed, and everything would be fine. If it failed, it would be a significant blow to Japan's fascist forces. At the time, Japan's political situation was not monolithic. Japan was in the Taisho Democracy era, and the civilian government did not have a strong desire or capability for expansion because expansion meant war, which would strengthen the military's power, detrimental to the civilian government's interests. Therefore, due to the Northeast Army's firm resistance and the挫败 (defeat) of the Japanese army, the Japanese government began to politically suppress the fascist forces, leading to internal political struggles.

In terms of military strength, the Japanese army's total land forces were only slightly more than the Northeast Army. Economically, in the previous life, Japan's economy surpassed China's after seizing the resources of Northeast China. Therefore, in this life, without the three northeastern provinces, Japan played a minor role in World War II, being pinned down in the Korean War.

After World War II, China, along with the United States and the Soviet Union, embarked on a path of rapid development, forming a multi-polar world. In this world, Hong Kong and Macau were returned to China after World War II, and Taiwan did not split. Chinese opera, folk songs, kung fu, martial arts, Go, and kung fu movies had a significant influence in Asia.

Clearly, Cheng Xiaoyu's soul or memories had been preserved in some unknown way and had crossed into the mind of another parallel world's Cheng Xiaoyu. Or, as Zhuangzi might say, it was unclear whether it was Zhuangzi dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuangzi. For Cheng Xiaoyu at this moment, the life of the music director was just a dream.

But this was a good thing. At least he had escaped the life of a struggling commoner and become the rich second generation he had always dreamed of.

Oh, perhaps he was a fake rich second generation, as he was still an illegitimate child.