1. Goodbye goldfish, the one restarting is me

The Beijing International Trade Building phase three landmark, the 81-floor International Trade Hotel, soared into the clouds.

Wrapped in a bathrobe, Lu Jincheng stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, accompanied by the sound of rushing water, looking out.

The well-lit prominent building opposite was still ablaze with lights, even though it was late at night. The area around the structure commonly known as "Big Underpants" was still bustling with a stream of vehicles and pedestrians.

There was no helping it; not everyone could be like Lu Jincheng, who had achieved financial freedom and success, trampling the work pressures of a top-tier city underfoot.

The sound of water stopped in the bathroom.

Lu Jincheng stretched lazily, standing there indifferently, with no intention to draw the curtains.

The man leaned back on the sofa with a cigar between two fingers and with his other hand expertly picked up a lighter, flicking it with a stylish flourish to light up.

The Gurkha cigar in his hand, also known as "the Rolls-Royce of cigars," cost $750 each.

"Mr. Lu, what are you looking at over there?"

A melodious and sweet voice, like the song of orioles, rang out from behind him.

A girl with her hair wrapped in a shower cap pushed open the door, her body enshrouded in steam, her fair and delicate skin seeming almost squeezable.

Her cheeks flushed, she smiled merrily as she moved to the edge of the sofa, wrapping her arms around him willingly.

"Nothing much, just admiring your colleagues who are still working overtime this late."

Lu Jincheng sized up the girl from head to toe, a meaningful smile on his face.

Being young and beautiful alone couldn't secure a ticket into Mr. Lu's suite.

What was even more astonishing was her ambition, which towered above her peers.

As a well-known boss in the circle, with his net worth laid out there, only top-notch beauties could show their faces around him.

At thirty-five, Lu Jincheng had struggled through the business world, fighting for half his life, now at the peak of a man's charm.

Rich and relaxed, he had seen it all, only his youth was no more.

"Who asked them not to be free!"

The girl giggled, taking over the conversation.

Barefoot with magenta nail polish on her tender toes, she stepped on the soft carpet, her body freshly bathed and her breath as sweet as orchids.

"What is freedom?"

Lu Jincheng narrowed his eyes, took a deep draw from his cigar, and with one hand, he playfully lifted the girl's delicate chin, asking.

"I'll be free too! I'll become a rich lady, haha..."

She clasped her hands together, made a praying gesture toward the sky, her eyes shining brightly.

"Freedom isn't about doing whatever you want, but about not doing whatever you don't want to do."

Lu Jincheng sighed deeply, stood up, and extinguished the cigar in his hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Lu, thinking about it, I had a really great time last weekend!"

The temptation across social classes was deadly.

The girl slightly tilted her head, her red face beaming with satisfaction from the discipline and gifts from the mature man.

Girls who brazenly used their feminine wiles to climb social ranks have only recently become more pursued.

But in the court of public opinion from years past, cunning beauties who loved money were once as despised as rats on the street, chased by everyone with sticks.

Ultimately, the world had changed, and people had removed their masks.

Lu Jincheng didn't respond, merely humming through his nose, one hand reaching for the robe's tie, while the other picked up a small blue pill from the table, swallowing it with water.

People always ascribe beautiful virtues to pretty girls.

If it were back in her school days, she would have been a goddess far out of Lu Jincheng's reach, her demeanor and temperament alone dispelling any frivolous thoughts.

Such girls during school days were only for the few reincarnated masters bearing the six-pointed star.

Now, looking down at her, there was a sense of desecrating the pure love of his youth.

"Turn around."

The girl, biting her lip, obediently pressed against the glass of the floor-to-ceiling window, her pupils filled with hopeful anticipation now turning into a pool of spring water.

"Mr. Lu, could you pull the curtains... What if there are people across?"

"So what if there are."

Lu Jincheng casually patted the girl's smooth, slick back, holding his phone nonchalantly.

"Ah, what if someone sees?"

"The world's so big, who the hell knows whether your surname is Zhang or Li?"

Lu Jincheng curled his lips, carelessly grabbed a lock of hair, exerting force in his hand, letting his horse run wild, "If you're scared of being seen over such a small thing, I advise you not to stick around in this business, better find some honest man to marry soon."

"Please Mr. Lu... If I'm seen, I'll have to start over."

The whimpers from below went from high to low, as fine as a mosquito's hum.

"Start over?"

"The hell I believe that..."

Lu Jincheng scoffed disdainfully and was about to continue speaking when suddenly a wave of dizziness hit him, reaching all the way to his crown.

What was going on?

He looked at the remnants of the pills on the table and the empty wine glass, and the next second, he completely lost consciousness.

...

"Lu Jincheng, Lu Jincheng, are you alright?"

Lu Jincheng gradually regained his senses in the pitch black, feeling only a burning pain on his cheeks.

"Somebody help! Someone's fainted over here!"

What was happening, who had fainted?

Was the drug too potent or had she been hit too hard?

The seasoned player Mr. Lu, well-versed in thirty-six strategies, felt alarm bells going off in his head upon hearing these words.

He hurriedly opened his eyes, desperate to understand the situation.

The darkness was torn apart by blinding sunlight in an instant, turning the golden splendor of the International Trade Hotel suite into blue skies, white clouds, and a school playground. Lu Jincheng found himself surrounded by a crowd of faces, both unfamiliar and yet oddly familiar, as if caught in the midst of a South Sea bubble dream.

Damn, was this new drug produced in Yunnan Province?

Why is there also a hallucinogenic effect... And why are these people still wearing camouflage uniforms?

However, this dream that went straight to the heart was all too real.

It's as if it was reminding him that the youth in his memories was nothing but an illusion.

"Alright! Everyone's already opened their eyes, why are you still slapping his face!"

Lu Jincheng looked puzzled at the boy in camouflage trying to slap him awake, only to be pulled aside by a tall girl.

The side profile of the girl seemed incredibly familiar to Lu Jincheng, yet he couldn't recall immediately, forcing him to stare a bit longer.

It's commonly said that a high ponytail is the hallmark of a school beauty, but just judging by their silhouettes, there were actually quite a few girls in school who purposefully tied their ponytails high.

What truly made a girl stand out was the fair swan neck that became visible when her soft hair was gathered up high.

Following the long neck upwards, he saw her jawline, perfect in its curves, paired with a perky and tall nose bridge, her entire side profile like an exquisite masterpiece carefully carved by the Creator.

Even if he spent an entire night in a game modeling a female protagonist, repeatedly polishing her bone structure, he wouldn't be able to pinch out such a smooth work.

Looking further up, a signature beauty mark caught his eye.

The beauty mark, a unique mark given by the heavens to a beautiful person.

It made the entire face more vivid and three-dimensional, emanating an indescribable charm that made one want to delve deeper.

Girls with beautiful facial features often only dared to dot a beauty mark near their eye after their makeup skills reached perfection, attempting to reach the third level where the mountain still is a mountain.

But even the most top-notch makeup artist couldn't dot out the natural beauty inherent in her.

Shit, I remember who she is now!

The tender memories, long sealed away, came flooding back like an unstoppable slide show.

Seeing the signature beauty mark, Lu Jincheng finally remembered that the girl before him was named Zhong Ruixi, the undisputed school beauty of his high school alma mater.

As everyone knows, the concept of a school beauty is rare in universities.

Partly because university relations are looser, with students from different classes and majors finding it hard to know each other, it lacked authority.

On the other hand, when a school's student body came from all corners of the country, and the gender ratio was unbalanced, it became difficult to judge amidst the vast array of beauties, making the selection of a school beauty quite contentious.

But high schools did have one.

Under the high-pressure and tense learning environment, you might not know the teacher of the class next door or the students in lower grades.

But what the prettiest girl in the entire school looked like, after a few physical education breaks, was quickly agreed upon by the whole school's faculty and students.

Lu Jincheng blinked hard, inwardly exclaiming that it had been a long time since he dreamed of Zhong Ruixi.

And he wondered how long it had been since he had dreamed about university.

Like most of his high school classmates, he developed a liking for Zhong Ruixi.

But the difference between Lu Jincheng and those suitors was that he had extraordinary execution ability, waiting until university to start his pursuit.

As a northerner, he willingly gave up the opportunity to study in Beijing to apply to the same university and major as her, going to a first-tier institution named Nanhu University, in Jiang City.

All for the sake of accompanying the bright moon and being close to the waterside pavilion.

Regrettably, Lu Jincheng, an ordinary university student, ended up with nothing despite his efforts.

He only realized this truth when he entered society: women are not won by pursuit, but by attraction.

Those hard-to-get items of youth often laid the groundwork for the willful caprice after one achieves success in their career.

Otherwise, why would he specifically remind the girls around him to dot a beauty mark when doing makeup?

Seeing this haunting beauty mark again, and it was the eighteen-year-old, peak beauty original version, Jincheng couldn't help but stretch out his finger, as if cradling the other's face, and gently poked near Zhong Ruixi's eye.

Then he did a twirl.

Huh?

What kind of simulation is this tactile sensation?

The skin under his fingertip was delicate and smooth, with barely any makeup, not picking up a speck of foundation during the twirl.

What's happening?

Has makeup technology become so deceptive that it's mistaken for reality?

"Have to say, the beauty mark you put on today looks so real..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the girl before him open her apricot eyes in disbelief, filled with incredulity. Under her high ponytail, her snow-white neck blushed up to her ears.

"Lu Jincheng! What are you doing!"

Zhong Ruixi, both embarrassed and angry, grabbed the man's offending thumb and twisted it to one side with force.

Ouch!

How can a hallucination hurt this much??

Enraged, Zhong Ruixi spoke her next words, leaving Lu Jincheng's mind completely blank as he stood in place.

"Did you fry your brains standing at attention in this heat? I've had this beauty mark since I was born, is it your first day seeing me?"

...

The wind carried the humid heat of Jiang City's September, the scent of plastic tracks baked by the high temperatures infiltrating his nostrils, and the midday sun gently pierced through the dense green willow leaves, casting a dazzling array of light spots on the ground like shattered diamonds.

The searing pain was not fake.

The familiar yet strange classmates were not fake.

The camouflage uniform on his body was not fake.

The one hundred percent recreated campus military training ground was not fake either.

The once heavy burden of Rainbow Di vanished without a trace, but Lu Jincheng knew without looking at his wrist that it was the summer of 2014.

I...

Did I fucking get reborn?