Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

【Rain falls all night】

【My love overflows like rainwater】

【Leaves fall in the courtyard】

【My longing piles up thickly】

【A few words of gossip】

【Cannot cool down my passion】

【You appear on every page of my poetry】

The time came to the summer and autumn of 2005. It was the era when Allen’s golden songs dominated the Chinese music scene, and the title “President Chou” began to be mentioned by countless people.

At the age of 9, Mei Fang officially entered the fourth grade.

At that crossroad where choices had never been made in the previous life, Mei Fang persuaded his parents to let him attend the audio-visual class taught by Teacher Yu, who was also Xia Yuan’s mother, under the pretext of wanting to learn more about computer.

During her elementary school years, Xia Yuan was still liked by her classmates, not only because of her identity as Teacher Yu’s daughter, but also because of her angelic personality and sweet and lovely appearance, which made her a topic of conversation.

Of course, she did not disappoint her mother’s expectations in her studies. As the Chinese language study committee member, her Chinese language grades ranked among the top in the class, but she was a bit weak in math.

During this period, Teacher Yu implemented a mutual learning assistance group plan in the class, and Xia Yuan became desk mates with a student who excelled in math, achieving the goal of mutual assistance.

“It’s time for morning reading, no sleeping in, let’s start memorizing.”

Xia Yuan nudged Mei Fang, who was dozing off on the desk, until he moved.

“Sigh… time passes too quickly.”

Mei Fang lazily yawned and reluctantly took out his textbook.

Although it had been three years since his rebirth, Mei Fang still couldn’t get used to waking up at six or seven in the morning.

“Did you stay up late playing games again last night?”

Mei Fang propped his cheek and stared blankly at the textbook, still in a dazed state, which made Xia Yuan a little angry.

“I’m telling you, even if your grades are good, you can’t be so lazy. Learning is like rowing against the current, if you don’t advance, you’ll fall back. Look, last time you only got 99 points in math, which is a big step back from always getting 100 points before.”

“Will you stop bothering me if I finish memorizing today’s content?”

Mei Fang flipped through the Chinese textbook, “It seems like I only need to memorize two poems today?”

During the morning reading time, elementary students had the task of reciting poems and texts. The person who finished reciting the poems in front of the teacher had the authority to check other students’ recitations.

“Don’t underestimate just two poems, it’s not easy to memorize…”

As the class representative, Xia Yuan had already memorized the poems from her mother the night before, “I spent an hour memorizing them last night!”

“What’s so difficult about it? I’ll recite it for you now.”

Mei Fang closed the textbook and thought for a moment before speaking.

“A strip of water’s spread in the setting sun,

Half the river’s emerald, half is red.

I love the third night of the ninth month,

The dew is like pearl; the moon like a bow.”

“Well… ‘Mu Jiang Yin’^[1] is no problem, the next one is Su Shi’s ‘Written on the Wall of West Forest Temple.’^[2]“

Xia Yuan was worried that Mei Fang had just peeked at the textbook, so she pressed it down and said, “I’m telling you, you can’t read now, otherwise you’ll have to memorize it again for me.”

“Since that’s the case, why don’t we make a deal?”

Mei Fang half-closed his eyes and smiled slightly, “If I can memorize it, will you do my homework for me tonight?”

“Then…” Xia Yuan pouted, “What if you can’t memorize it?”

“You tell me.”

Xia Yuan seized the opportunity.

“You promised last time that we would go roller skating together at the cultural square, but you never fulfilled it! If you can’t memorize it, you have to accompany me this weekend no matter what.”

“No problem!”

Mei Fang coughed lightly a few times, then began his performance:

“From the side, a whole range; from the end, a single peak:

Far, near, high, low, no two parts alike.”

“…” Xia Yuan showed a slightly surprised expression.

“Why can’t I tell the true shape of Lu——”

Xia Yuan bit her lip tightly, staring at Mei Fang eagerly. Mei Fang glanced at her, then pretended to ponder for a long time.

Hmm…

Mei Fang playfully stuck out his tongue at Xia Yuan, “I forgot.”

“You lost! You have to accompany me to go roller skating this weekend! I’m telling you, this time you can’t bail on me like you did with Lin Youxi.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll listen to you.”

Why can’t I tell the true shape of Lushan?

Because I myself am in the mountain.

^[3]

Mei Fang did not forget the tragedy of the former homeroom teacher of the audio-visual class in his previous life. For the past few years, he has been paying special attention to Xia Yuan’s family situation.

But whether it was due to the butterfly effect caused by Mei Fang’s rebirth or not, some places in this world are no longer the familiar ones to him.

The names of some cities, people, and the plots of some animated films are different from what Mei Fang remembers.

If these could still be attributed to memory deviations, then what happened next undoubtedly proved the change in the world line—

In his previous life, Mei Fang had always been an only child. However, after this rebirth, Mei Fang gained a younger sister.

Because of this, their mother resigned from her job within the system. During that time, family planning was strictly enforced, and if they were discovered, their father Mei Lijun’s job would also be at risk. The existence of the younger sister became a secret known only to a few people around them.

Undoubtedly, this was the confidence brought to their parents by the wealth Mei Fang obtained from winning the lottery. But when he first learned that he was going to be a big brother, he was still shocked.

Due to the long span of the rebirth, Mei Fang cannot confirm whether Xia Yuan will still experience the same tragedy.

But as long as he stays by her side, closely watching over her, there will always be a chance to change the original world line.

As long as he can avoid the tragedy from happening again,

After school, the elementary students of Baimei County would choose to organize teams, with the person living farthest from school usually being the captain.

Captain Lu has a road sign prepared by the school with the word “Give Way” on it. The students in the same class line up in an orderly manner and can only leave the team and go home when they are close to home.

When Mei Fang and Xia Yuan return to the residential area, they don’t go to their own homes. Mei Fang will stay at Xia Yuan’s house to complete their homework together and stay there for a while before going home.

“Your dad seems to be coming home late these days.”

“Yeah, he’s been busy with the hotel business lately…”

Xia Yuan was contemplating a math problem, and seeing her worried expression, Mei Fang leaned over to take a look.

“Haven’t I taught you this question many times before? Here, use the method of trapezoidal approximation. You place the area here, and it becomes a trapezoid…”

“I know you’ve taught me many times…”

Xia Yuan sighed silently, “But I just can’t figure out that one point.”

Fourth grade is a hurdle for many elementary students. Maybe they have been doing well in grades one, two, and three, with simple teaching content that can be achieved by being diligent.

In the fourth grade, the gap in math scores will gradually become apparent because there are more and more knowledge points to learn, and the difficulty is constantly increasing. Some elementary students may find it more difficult to study, and Xia Yuan is obviously one of them.

“But… if you really can’t do it, why not just leave it blank? Don’t force yourself.”

“You can’t think like that.”

Xia Yuan shook her head, “I am a model student, an example for everyone to learn from, and I am also the homeroom teacher’s daughter. If I don’t work hard, everyone will think that I am relying on my mom’s authority to play the role of a good student…”

Xia Yuan’s burden of being an idol is as heavy as ever. Mei Fang sighed and said:

“There are many ways in life, and you don’t have to be a good role model. The most important thing is to live happily.”

“That’s true… but I really like that feeling.”

“Also…”

Xia Yuan took a deep breath and continued, “You know, Mei Fang, the reason why I have always liked playing with you since we were young is because you are really different from other boys.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most of them only know how to play cards, play games, fight, show off, and bully girls, but you don’t do that.”

“Have I never bullied you?”

Mei Fang tapped Xia Yuan’s head, “Look, I often do things like this too.”

“That doesn’t count as bullying. Many boys have such childish behavior, like drawing on girls’ clothes, pulling girls’ braids… you wouldn’t do that.”

“What about this?”

Mei Fang pinched Xia Yuan’s cheek, “Does this count as bullying you?”

“Don’t push it, you big idiot!”

Annoyed, Xia Yuan also pinched back, and as they pinched each other’s silly faces, both of them couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

In the slanting sunset, the two little ones were innocent and carefree.

Translator’s Notes:

1. Mu Jiang Yin (暮江吟), also known as “Song of Sunset on the River,” was written by the famous Chinese poet Bai Juyi (白居易) during the Tang Dynasty. (ref: https://www. newworldencyclopedia. org/entry/ Bai_Juyi) ↩︎
2. Su Shi (苏轼) was a Chinese poet (and also calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, politician, travel writer) during the Song dynasty. (ref: https://en.m. wikipedia.org/ wiki/Su_Shi) ↩︎
3. Written on the Wall of West Forest Temple (题西林壁) (ref: https:// poetryandplaces.com/ 2020/09/30/ written-on-the-wall-of -west-forest-temple-by-su-shi/) ↩︎

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