My girlfriend was reborn.

Chapter 17, Act 3: Safe Escape from Age 35

On the river embankment, under the streetlights, Qiao Jinchen and Xu Youyou were walking one after the other.

Around, elementary school students who had finished school early were walking together, college students were taking photos in groups of three or five, and there were also couples who lived nearby and were strolling hand in hand.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of life, the two remained silent, their shadows occasionally brushing against each other.

Qiao Jinchen walked to a bench and sat down. Xu Youyou sat down a body length away from him.

"So, you also heard Zhou Heming talk about rebirth and the future?"

He was a boy after all, and spoke first.

"Ah."

"That's pretty outrageous, hahaha, this kind of rebirth thing, and they even say they want to make up for our regrets."

Qiao Jinchen saw the Lingjiang River, which runs through Jiangcheng, reflecting the streetlights on the riverbank. In this city where no stars can be seen, it was like a shattered dream of a starry river.

"That's really a pity."

Xu Youyou looked up at the boy beside her.

"Yes, so we really can't let those things happen."

Qiao Jinchen paused for a moment before continuing.

“I will fight with my parents. You know they are just worrying too much, but they actually spoil me rotten. If I just act cute, they will change their minds.”

"Really? I just can't believe it."

Xu Youyou somewhat reverted to her usual吐槽 (tu cao, meaning to complain or criticize) mode.

"I'll tell them that it's too late to transfer now that I'm in my final year of high school. I'm doing just fine here. I'll have to learn English when I go abroad, and with my current English level, I'll have trouble even ordering takeout. I might as well stay in China."

Qiao Jinchen chattered on and on, just like his usual banter.

"Will you be able to convince them like this?"

Xu Youyou was skeptical.

Actually, no.

Qiao Jinchen lowered her eyes slightly and then looked at the girl next to her.

A strong premonition, accompanied by a sudden surge of heartbeat, made even the whistles of cargo ships on the river seem distant.

Xu Youyou instinctively tried to avoid eye contact, but Qiao Jinchen's gaze was fixed on her, leaving the eighteen-year-old girl with nowhere to escape.

“I will tell them that I want to stay, not because of studying or getting used to it, but because of a girl. If I transfer to another school and go abroad, I will regret it for the rest of my life. If you don’t want your son to have regrets for the rest of his life, then hurry up and get the transfer procedures done for me.”

Speak your mind.

The "reborn" Zhou Heming tells Qiao Jinchen his ultimate technique.

Don't be afraid of losing face, don't worry about reality, just speak your mind earnestly and sincerely.

"I actually don't like school at all. In junior high, everyone thought my family was rich and that being friends with me was a waste of money, so they weren't too willing to be with me. I also didn't like morning self-study. I had to get up at six every day. What young person could endure that? I hated evening self-study even more. I'd rather play a few more games than spend that time on it. I hated all those difficult lessons, the problems I couldn't solve, and the answers I couldn't calculate."

"I hate all of this, I only love you."

The moment she uttered those words, Qiao Jinchen felt as if she heard a crackling sound bursting through the air.

The heavy and suffocating reality that had previously enveloped the two seemed to collapse suddenly, with only a gentle breeze blowing the girl's hair by her ears, and where the hair touched, her cheeks were already flushed.

"You, you, you're so cunning!"

Xu Youyou took a long time to finally manage to utter a single sentence.

How am I cunning?

“You live near Jiangqiao! But you’ve never told me that.”

"I just wanted to walk to get some exercise, okay? I just wanted to spend more time with you."

"!!!"

Eighteen-year-old Xu Youyou was caught in a trap.

She turned her face away, seemingly muttering something, before finally speaking as if relieved.

"Actually, you don't have to do that. You can go abroad too. I'll take the exam and go abroad later. It's just a few years of being apart from home anyway."

"Do you want to?"

"Of course I don't want to!"

Xu Youyou's eyes were a little red. She sniffed and continued.

“I also want to be with the person I like openly and honestly, like Zhou Heming and the others, without caring about other people’s opinions. But I know myself, I know I’m not good enough for you. Even if you don’t care, even if everyone else doesn’t care, I do care! But I can’t do anything. I’m just a bookworm who only knows how to study. I’ll never earn as much money as you were born with. And now, I can’t even help you with whether you go abroad or not!”

Having never heard Xu Youyou speak so excitedly before, Qiao Jinchen suddenly understood why Zhou Heming insisted on paying that hundred yuan back then.

Even if others don't care, he does.

Just four words.

Have a clear conscience.

Qiao Jinchen looked at Xu Youyou, whose eyes were red and about to spill tears, and raised her hand to gently pinch her nose.

"You have such good grades, how could you be so stupid? I could never earn that much money on my own in my entire life!"

He flashed a smile that looked a bit like a grimace.

"Just like you're smart and have good grades, I can't be either. That's both our strength and our weakness. There's nothing we can do about it. After all, we like each other so much, what can we do but get a divorce? We can only put up with it."

Xu Youyou's sobs were choked back.

How can this person talk like that? Isn't this just sophistry? What did he just say? Shameless!
"However, Xu Youyou, did you say something just now?"

"what?"

With a heavy nasal tone, Xu Youyou stared blankly at the boy who was a head taller than her.

"It's something about being in a long-distance relationship, I remember, you have to talk about it to be considered a long-distance relationship, right?"

Qiao Jinchen curled the corners of her mouth.

It has to be said that once he accepted the idea of ​​speaking his mind, his thick-skinned nature made him quite comfortable. "I'm ignoring you."

"Xu Youyou? Sister Youyou? Youyou?"

Qiao Jinchen leaned closer to observe the girl's expression. A faint fragrance wafted over, making him curious about what kind of shampoo could have such an intoxicating scent.

But Xu Youyou ignored Qiao Jinchen no matter what he said, so he could only stand up.

"what are you up to?"

Xu Youyou turned her head and looked at Qiao Jinchen's back.

The boy remained silent, simply standing on the riverbank, gripping the iron railing, and shouting towards the colorful river water.

"—Qiao Jinchen likes Xu Youyou!"

crackle—

Xu Youyou heard a cracking sound coming from the air.

Many passersby heard his shout and looked over, while some even egged him on.

In an instant, the girl blushed, but her heart was pounding so hard. The river, the breeze, the grass, everything in the world seemed to be surrounding her, urging her to do something.

Promise him.

next moment.

Xu Youyou stood up and came to Qiao Jinchen's side, but instead of shouting at Ling Jiang, she leaned close to the boy's ear.

"Xu Youyou likes Qiao Jinchen."

They whispered and murmured like that.

On the riverbank where dandelions bloom, under the dim light of the streetlights, a boy and a girl's fingers touch each other.

click-

Not far away, below the river embankment, Zhou Heming took a picture of this scene with his mobile phone.

That was a life photo that would be perfect to have the words "The End" written on it.

but.

"not enough."

Zhou Heming said.

He was already prepared, placing the things he had bought a day in advance on the cement blocks by the river. The wind could pick up at any moment, but that wouldn't bother him.

Cheng Shuangjiang stood beside him and when she saw what he took out of his bag, she had a feeling that she knew it.

It's fireworks.

Zhou Heming took out a lighter.

He couldn't change reality, nor could he change other people's lives. Even improving his score by 80 points in a month seemed extremely difficult. All he could do was help his friends.

Let them like each other when they are eighteen, the age when they like each other.

and so.

He wanted to ensure that these memories of his youth left no regrets whatsoever.

He wanted to add a touch of fantasy to the ending of this story.

then.

The boy became a spark in the wilderness.

whoosh-

With a sharp whistling sound, cheap fireworks rose into the night sky beside the river embankment, shattering the heavy reality, the closed loop of fate, and the regretful future.

then.

"Light up the long night."

Zhou Heming murmured as if sighing.

The colorful light illuminated Qiao Jinchen and Xu Youyou's faces.

Even if harsh realities eventually separate them, their love may help them stay together for life.

They will always remember that on their eighteenth birthday, under the dazzling fireworks, their hands were clasped together.

These are the beautiful memories that Zhou Heming left for them, memories that will bring a smile to their faces whenever they think of them.

Some memories, even if they are only fleeting, can sustain a person for a very long time.

Seeing the fireworks rising continuously, Zhou Heming smiled happily. He glanced at the girl beside him and then spoke.

"So, the reason I chose to set off fireworks is actually because..."

"It's because in the end of 'Golden Slumber,' the protagonists escaped disaster by relying on fireworks, thus avoiding the malice of the world. So, you also hope that they can be free from the troubles of reality through this."

Cheng Shuangjiang and he had already tacitly understood each other.

"I was originally imagining this would be a really cool settlement screen."

Zhou Heming rubbed his nose, and suddenly, he seemed to hear a sound, so he quickly turned around.

"what happened?"

Cheng Shuangjiang followed his gaze.

The riverside patrol officer was rushing towards them in a flurry, flashlight in hand.

It seems that fireworks are no longer allowed in Jiangcheng City?

"Run!"

The next moment, Zhou Heming took Cheng Shuangjiang's left hand and, with the girl in tow, attempted to safely evacuate from the thirty-five-year-old.

(End of this chapter)