Chapter 1

"Men, cry, cry, cry, it's not a sin! Even the strongest have the right to be weary..."

In his headphones, the song by Dehua was hysterical and heart-wrenching.

Xiaofei liked to listen to music while typing. He finished the last line of text, having written six thousand words in three hours, and finally completed his task. He stretched, sighed in relief, and checked the time—it was already two in the morning. The light was soft, and the room was silent.

Writing web novels is really not a job for humans!

Xiaofei got up and went to the balcony, opened the window, lit a cigarette, and smoked silently, gazing at the boundless night of City Z, feeling a wave of confusion.

This life has been a complete failure.

A boy from the countryside, not smart enough, not handsome enough, he had been obsessed with literature since childhood. He started writing and submitting articles in middle school, dreaming of fame and success, of carving out a place for himself. Unfortunately, his talent was not enough. He had published many articles and joined the provincial and municipal writers' associations, but he could never break into the high-end literary circle.

In recent years, with the decline of print media, Xiaofei's enthusiasm for submitting articles to newspapers and magazines had waned. But the dream of literature still lingered in his heart.

Xiaofei's current dream is simple: to earn enough to support his family with his pen, then stay at home quietly, accompany his family, and weave words, living a simple and peaceful life until the end of his days, which would be enough!

He reflected that the reason he lived such a failure was not unrelated to the pretentious habits of a literary youth. He was not good at socializing, and beneath his calm exterior lay a cold and proud heart (or perhaps the extreme product of inferiority). He never knew how to flatter or scheme, and he refused to bow for a living, which made his career prospects increasingly bleak.

Xiaofei began to write web novels in early 2010. With a utilitarian heart, he read hundreds of web novels crazily, believing he had grasped the essence of web novels and that if he wrote, he could make a fortune like the big names.

But when he really started writing, he found it was not that simple. After half a year of struggle, his first book was finally signed. In the following years, he either flopped or was on the way to flopping.

Working during the day and writing at night.

Tired like a dog.

And no hope in sight.

It has been more than three years now.

Xiaofei finished his cigarette, threw the butt downstairs, brushed his teeth, and washed his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and waved his fist to encourage himself: "Xiaofei, you've worked so hard, it's not fair if you don't succeed! Just keep going, the light is at the end of the tunnel!"

After his motivational or self-hypnosis, Xiaofei quietly entered the bedroom.

His wife and son were already sound asleep, and the bedroom was pitch black.

Xiaofei turned on the bedside lamp, woke up his five-year-old son to go to the bathroom, then got into bed.

His wife, Xufengjuan, turned over and mumbled, "Always staying up so late, are you trying to kill yourself?" She snuggled into his arms and fell back asleep.

The light was turned off. Although he was very tired, Xiaofei's mind was clear, and he couldn't fall asleep. Looking at his wife and son, he felt a deep sense of sorrow.

He and Xufengjuan were high school classmates.

Back then, he didn't know that she had been secretly in love with him.

Not until after the 1997 college entrance exam, when he went to a junior college in City Z and she went to a key university in City XA, did they start writing letters to each other, and it all went from there.

After graduation, she followed him without hesitation, and they built a home from scratch in City Z, had a child, and lived a relatively happy and harmonious life.

Xiaofei had a stubborn temper and would often quit his job because of conflicts with his superiors. For him, unemployment became a regular occurrence.

If it weren't for Xufengjuan's shrewdness and hard work, their family would have been in a much worse state.

She earned a living.

She did most of the housework.

She gave him a lovely son.

She worked tirelessly, always without complaint.

Xiaofei felt that in this world, the person he owed the most was her. If she hadn't followed him, her life might have been much more brilliant.

Xiaofei didn't know when he fell asleep or how long he had slept. In a daze, he felt someone pushing him.

"Wake up, wake up!"

A soft and beautiful voice whispered in his ear.

Xiaofei was still half-asleep, his brain heavy, and his eyes wouldn't open. He thought it was Sunday, and it was fine to sleep a bit longer.

With this thought, Xiaofei reached out and pushed, saying in a whiny tone, "Wife—, stop it! Let me sleep a bit longer."

Hmm?

The feeling was different. He pinched a few times, and it felt soft and large.

Xiaofei's heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong.

Then, he heard a loud "boom" in his ear, as if many people were laughing.

He suddenly woke up and looked up. Many people were sitting behind rows of desks. Next to him stood a fierce-looking, bespectacled young woman, and his left hand was grabbing her chest.

Ah?!

What's going on? Xiaofei was confused. Wasn't he sleeping in his bed at home?

He thought it was his wife waking him up.

"What a mess! You actually fell asleep during the college entrance exam! Xiaofei, you're really something!" the bespectacled young woman said angrily, straightening her body and freeing herself from Xiaofei's grasp.

She was very angry.

She had seen Xiaofei, a classmate, sleeping during the exam and had kindly woken him up. But this bastard had taken the opportunity to molest her, not only saying shameless things but also grabbing her chest. It was too disgraceful.

The bespectacled young woman stormed off.

Qian Meiju? It was actually his high school history teacher, Qian Meiju?

Xiaofei was completely stunned.

He thought he was dreaming, but when he pinched his thigh, the sharp pain made him realize he was in reality.

Looking around, he found himself in a classroom with portraits of great leaders on the walls. The room was full of students writing furiously, sweating.

Not far away, a young man with a fresh face turned to look at him, smiling slyly and quietly giving him a thumbs-up.

It was Wang Lika, a classmate from his high school repeat year. In 1996, they were in the same exam room. Not only Wang Lika, but Xiaofei also saw his former classmates Tian Yongzhi and a few other familiar faces.

He looked down at the test paper on his desk, which read "1996 College Entrance Exam History Paper" at the top.

Was this a rebirth?

After a nap, he had somehow returned to over 18 years ago!

At that moment, Xiaofei's feelings were incredibly complex. He wondered if his previous life was just a long dream. But why did everything in the dream feel so real?

Qian Meiju stood at the podium, staring angrily at Xiaofei.

Being molested by a student was a great humiliation to her. She didn't know what people would say about her after this incident!

But seeing Xiaofei sitting there, looking dazed, she felt a pang of sympathy. She thought he might not have done it on purpose. She knew this student well; he studied hard and had good grades. The reason he fell asleep during such an important exam must be because he studied too late the night before.

Qian Meiju saw that Xiaofei's answer sheet was not filled out, and she didn't know if he had finished the test. Seeing him still in a daze, she felt a bit anxious for him.

"Students, there are 20 minutes left until the end of the exam. Please hurry and finish your papers."

Qian Meiju's voice snapped Xiaofei out of his confusion. He flipped through his test paper and found that two major questions were not answered, and the answer sheet was not filled out.

Xiaofei put aside his thoughts and hurriedly started answering the questions.

At this moment, he noticed something strange.

When he looked at the two major questions, the answers naturally came to his mind, logically and coherently.

"Swish, swish, swish—"

The pen quickly moved across the paper, and the answers to the two major questions flowed onto the paper in just five or six minutes. Xiaofei's intuition told him that these were the most reasonable and accurate answers.

He then checked the multiple-choice questions and found that seven of them were wrong, including three multiple-choice questions. He quickly corrected them and filled in the answers on the answer sheet.

Next, he checked the fill-in-the-blank questions and found two were wrong, which he also corrected.

Finally, he looked at the three major questions he had already answered. One of them was completely wrong, and with five minutes left, he quickly crossed it out and wrote the correct answer that came to his mind.

The answers to the last two major questions, though flawed, were generally correct. He decided not to change them.

After finishing the test, Xiaofei put down his pen.

At this point, some students had already started handing in their papers.

Wang Lika also stood up, glanced at Xiaofei, and submitted his paper with a grin.

Xiaofei didn't stand up; he was still in a daze.

He clearly remembered that the 1996 college entrance exam was a painful failure for him. That year, he took the exam as a senior in high school, and although he had always been in the top ten in his class, he failed the exam, scoring only 483 points, which was below the admission line!

483 points were standard scores, not raw scores.

The full score for the standard score system was 900 points, and the top scorer in the province's liberal arts comprehensive exam that year had 900 points. The standard score was a position score calculated by a formula, indicating where the student ranked in the province.

The standard score system was implemented in H Province in 1994 and abolished at the beginning of 2000.

It was said that the standard score system was implemented to make the college entrance exam fairer. If a student excelled in one or two subjects, their overall score could be significantly higher.

Now, he had been reborn, and it seemed that his rebirth came with a small bonus: his brain seemed to have gained some subtle abilities.

Unfortunately, the timing of his rebirth was not good. He was reborn during the last history exam of the 1996 college entrance exam.

If he could have been reborn before the exam, that would have been better.

Xiaofei submitted his paper and came out, feeling a deep sense of regret. This time, he was destined to face the same painful failure in the college entrance exam!