Chapter 3: Past Lives

Fang Mingyuan lay in the factory hospital for a full three days, unconscious. During these three days, the Fang family was in a state of great anxiety. The old man almost decided to take Fang Mingyuan to the big hospital in the provincial capital, Fengyuan. However, fortunately, although Fang Mingyuan remained unconscious, all his vital signs were completely normal, with no fever or other illnesses, which somewhat relieved the family.

On the evening of the third day, Fang Mingyuan finally regained consciousness under the anxious gazes of his family. The moment he opened his eyes and called out that he was hungry, the hearts of his family, which had been hanging in the air for three days and three nights, finally settled. Although they still did not understand why Fang Mingyuan had been unconscious for three days, they were grateful that he was now safe. In their joy, no one noticed the confusion in Fang Mingyuan's originally bright eyes.

As soon as the family returned home from the hospital, Uncle Guo from next door came over with his sons to express their gratitude. On that night, if it hadn't been for Fang Mingyuan's sudden scream, which drew Uncle Guo's attention to the tugging between his two sons, he might not have rushed over in time to catch Guo Donglin as he fell from the tree. The Guo family was still shaken by the sight of the bricks and tiles on the ground. Therefore, upon learning that Fang Mingyuan had been discharged safely, the Guo family quickly brought gifts to visit. With this distraction, Fang Sheng and his wife paid even less attention to their son's occasional dazed expressions since he had woken up.

Fang Mingyuan rested at home for two more days before he was allowed to return to school. After being absent for five days, he immediately became the envy of his classmates. The chaos only subsided when the teacher entered the classroom.

"One times one is one, one times two is two, one times three is three, one times four is four..."

While reciting the multiplication table with everyone else, Fang Mingyuan turned his head to look out the window. Watching his classmates play carefree on the playground, he felt a mix of emotions—bitterness, sweetness, sourness, and saltiness. Six days had passed since the incident, but even now, he still couldn't understand what had happened to him that night. Had he just had a dream, living an additional twenty years beyond his peers? Or had he been reborn, returning to his childhood and taking over his younger self? Perhaps all of this could only be explained by the story of Zhuangzi and the butterfly.

In his previous life, he was an ordinary citizen, drifting through his childhood, adolescence, and youth. Although his academic performance was always decent, he only truly understood the harshness of reality after entering society. As a popular saying at the time went, "When we were in primary school, university was free; when we were in university, primary school was free. When we had no jobs, they were assigned; when we could work, we had to fight to get a job. When we couldn't earn money, houses were assigned; when we could earn money, we found houses unaffordable. When we weren't in the stock market, fools were making money; when we rushed in, we became the fools. When we weren't of marriageable age, a bicycle was enough to get a wife; when we were of marriageable age, we needed a car and a house to get a wife. When we didn't have girlfriends, girls valued feelings; when we had girlfriends, girls valued money. When we didn't have jobs, primary school students could be leaders; when we started looking for jobs, college graduates could only clean toilets. This is our generation."

Although he was fortunate enough to leave Hai Zhuang for Yanjing after middle school because he was the child of a knowledge youth, his parents, who had to start over in the capital, could only provide him with basic living support. Despite this, he entered university more easily than his childhood friends, but finding a satisfactory job in the capital, where elites gathered, was far from easy. Poor Fang Mingyuan struggled for several years after graduation, experiencing ups and downs before finally settling down at the Yanjing Mining Exploration Institute. Although he had dated a few times, he never married due to various reasons. By the time his parents passed away, he was still single and in his thirties.

However, his fortunes changed for the better starting at the age of thirty-one. This once obscure junior officer suddenly gained the favor of his superiors and was promoted to section chief. He then led several exploration teams, and his income naturally increased. In the company, he was no longer the ignored underling. He was deeply grateful to the superior who had promoted him. However, six months later, his once kind and approachable superior revealed his hidden fangs.

It was the summer of 2012. Fang Mingyuan accompanied his superior to a certain area in Jibei Province for exploration and accidentally discovered a small gold mine. Although the reserves were limited, it was a rich mine and easy to mine. Fang Mingyuan was naturally delighted by this discovery. Back at the institute, his superior, Xu Dongping, would gain both fame and fortune, and he would also benefit.

"Director Xu, what do you mean?" Fang Mingyuan asked in surprise as he looked at the exploration report Xu Dongping handed him. In the report, the rich gold mine, which could produce nearly a ton of gold, was described as a poor coal mine that would heavily pollute the environment and be too costly to mine, making it worthless.

Xu Dongping smiled faintly and pushed another agreement and a bank card toward Fang Mingyuan. "This card has 500,000 RMB, and you will have a 1% share in the gold mine, a pure share that requires no investment. You just need to sign your name on the exploration report. Fang, as the saying goes, 'If a man does not act for himself, heaven and earth will destroy him.' What do you think?"

Fang Mingyuan was taken aback. The nearly one-ton gold reserve, worth hundreds of millions of RMB, was something Xu Dongping clearly intended to take for himself. If this were to be discovered, it could cost him his life.

"Don't worry about anyone finding out. We've already taken care of everything from top to bottom. All we need is the exploration report!" Xu Dongping, seeing Fang Mingyuan's hesitation, smiled and said, "Fang, to be honest, I've known about this place for half a year. If it weren't for the institute's regulations requiring two or more state-recognized personnel to sign the report, I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble. You're in your thirties, and it's not easy to settle down in Yanjing, is it?"

Xu Dongping looked at Fang Mingyuan confidently. He was 70% sure that this subordinate, who had been unremarkable until he was promoted, would sign the report. This was a pure income of 1.5 million RMB, enough to support him for life at the institute. Since he discovered the gold mine six months ago, he had kept it a secret and carefully selected Fang Mingyuan to sign the report. Once he signed, the mining rights would be transferred to the local government, and he was confident that he could mine the entire deposit within three to five years, making him a multimillionaire. As expected, Fang Mingyuan hesitated for a long time before finally taking the bank card and agreement and signing the report.

After a toast, Fang Mingyuan bid farewell and left. The sound of a car starting outside made Xu Dongping ecstatic as he picked up the exploration report. With this, his plan, which he had been preparing for over half a year, could finally be implemented. In less than three years, he would become one of the multimillionaires in the People's Republic of China. As for Fang Mingyuan... a sinister smile appeared on Xu Dongping's lips.

Fang Mingyuan drove his small car down the narrow mountain road toward the county town. He was drenched in cold sweat. Although he had wanted to refuse, he understood that with billions of RMB at stake, if he hadn't signed, he might not have left the room alive. Xu Dongping had been planning for over half a year and had already secured the necessary connections. How could he tolerate Fang Mingyuan ruining his plans? His immediate priority was to escape. He hoped that the small trick he had used in signing the report would deceive Xu Dongping for a while. If he could contact his cousin, he wouldn't have to fear any further threats.

Fang Mingyuan had a cousin who worked at the Yanjing City Procuratorate and was now a deputy procurator. However, the two families were not close, and the proud Fang Mingyuan, despite his struggles, had never sought help through connections. Now, his only hope was his cousin. As he drove around a mountain road, he held the steering wheel with one hand and took out his phone with the other. However, he couldn't remember his cousin's phone number, so he had to call a relative to ask for it. In that moment, a Jiefang J6 heavy truck silently turned around the bend, blocking the road. Caught off guard, Fang Mingyuan swerved to avoid the truck and plunged into the ravine beside the road...

When he woke up again, he found himself in a hospital in 1983.

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End of Chapter 3