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After teasing Huang Bohan before getting off the bus, Chen Zhu was in a very good mood.

The two of them were still just as they had always been. For this friendship, being reborn seemed to add only the feeling of meeting again after a long separation-familiar, yet fresh.

But as he followed his memories back to the familiar residential complex, Chen Zhu couldn't help growing nervous again.

Will it feel strange seeing Mom and Dad so much younger again?

Standing outside his front door, Chen Zhu raised his arm, then lowered it. He hesitated several times before finally gritting his teeth and knocking. Knock, knock, knock.

"You're home!"

Before long, a middle-aged woman came over and opened the door.

She was in her forties, of average height, with faint crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. At the sight of Chen Zhu, a smile spread involuntarily across her face, probably from the happiness she felt.

Her crow's feet gently unfurled like a lotus in bloom.

This was his mother, Mao Xiaoqin, who worked in the emergency department at the Municipal People's Hospital.

When Mao Xiaoqin was younger, she had often needed to work shifts. Now that she had earned her professional rank, and with plenty of young doctors rotating through the emergency department, she generally only needed to work days. That also gave her time to look after Chen Zhu, who was about to graduate from high school.

"Mom..."

Chen Zhu mumbled the word and stepped inside with his head lowered.

The living room looked exactly as he remembered it. Not only were the furnishings unchanged, even the faint smell of cooking oil drifting from the kitchen was familiar.

"Have some milk first."

Mao Xiaoqin brought out the milk and bread she had just warmed up. Every day, she timed it carefully, getting everything ready before Chen Zhu finished his evening study session.

A boy in his final year of high school was still growing, and studying took plenty of mental energy. Chen Zhu was used to eating something when he came home from evening study, or he would get desperately hungry in the middle of the night.

Seeing his mother come out with a glass of milk, Chen Zhu instinctively started to stand and reach for it.

"What's the hurry?"

Mao Xiaoqin gave the back of his hand a light pat. "It's still hot. Wait until it cools down."

"Okay."

Chen Zhu rubbed his nose, his eyes beginning to sting.

His mother's gentle scolding, the warm, fragrant milk, the familiar living room... all of it was like a star in his memories, its immense gravity pulling the Chen Zhu of 2024 forcefully back into 2007.

Without his noticing, warmth welled up inside him, slowly soothing the unease and agitation that had followed his rebirth. For one fleeting moment as he drank the milk, he felt as though he had finally settled completely into this seventeen-year-old body.

"Mom."

Chen Zhu swallowed a mouthful of bread. This second "Mom" came much more naturally. He looked around, and when he couldn't find his father, he asked, "Where's Dad?"

Mao Xiaoqin pursed her lips. "Probably out entertaining people again. Never mind him. He's hardly ever home."

His father, Chen Peisong, was a deputy director at the subdistrict office. His rank wasn't high, but he had endless miscellaneous duties. Chen Zhu understood that kind of busyness all too well; he had been much the same while working on poverty alleviation at the grassroots level.

Seeing his mother again after his rebirth still left Chen Zhu somewhat overwhelmed, and he didn't know what to say. After asking about his father's whereabouts, he simply drank his milk in silence.

Mao Xiaoqin thought nothing of it. She sat across the table, smiling at her only son.

She was very pleased with him. He got good grades, was tall, and stayed out of trouble. From childhood to now, he had never given her much cause to worry.

He was also fairly patient in everything he did, which suited the meaning behind the name they had given him: Chen Zhu sounded like the word for "composed."

If she had to find fault, it was that he was too introverted and too earnest. In all these years, she had never heard him mention which girls were pretty, nor had she heard of him following any celebrities. It was as though studying was the only thing in his world.

He was the sort of child other parents held up as an example. All these years, whenever Mao Xiaoqin talked about her son, her face filled with pride.

Still, sometimes Mao Xiaoqin wondered whether qualities like being studious, obedient, and earnest, which were strengths in middle and high school, would be enough once he went to university and entered society. He would need a broader range of abilities then.

"Chen Zhu."

Mao Xiaoqin tore open a small bread roll and placed it in front of him, then said conversationally, "Once you get into university, I have a suggestion. Why not join the student council and get some experience? Good grades are only one part of it. Outstanding people need to develop in all sorts of ways."

Chen Zhu paused. He had planned to do that himself, but as a deputy division chief, joining a student council could hardly be called "getting experience."

Wouldn't "providing guidance" be more accurate?

Seeing her son's expression, Mao Xiaoqin assumed he was reluctant, so she smiled and said, "When your dad and I first met, he used to stammer whenever he spoke at meetings. Now he can talk for three hours straight without missing a beat. I think joining the student council really could give you some useful experience."

"Speaking for three hours without a script?"

I could do that too, Chen Zhu thought. It's just a matter of presenting theories in complete sets and using parallel phrasing in speeches. Once you've mastered those stock expressions, speaking without a script is smooth sailing.

But he didn't want to argue with his mother, so he nodded. "We'll see when the time comes."

After finishing his milk, he returned to his bedroom. The first thing he saw was a desk with slightly chipped paint, its surface decorated with a sticker of Sun Wukong in his Super Saiyan 2 form from Dragon Ball.

Chen Zhu rummaged here and ran his fingers over things there. Every corner of the room held traces of his growing up. That little desk lamp with its unreliable switch had witnessed countless late nights of him scribbling away.

"Oh, right!"

Something suddenly occurred to Chen Zhu. He bent down and took out the diary hidden in his drawer.

What was it like to reread your high school diary when you were over thirty?

Looking at those immature, sensitive words, full of insecurity and pride, Chen Zhu cringed so hard his toes nearly clawed through the floor.

Seriously, what self-respecting person keeps a diary?

Perhaps he had never been all that respectable deep down. His later career choice had merely forced him to become that way.

After flipping through the diary, Chen Zhu began fiddling with the BBK cassette player on his desk.

It really was an old relic. Such devices had gradually fallen out of use after 2010, but for a child from an ordinary family at this point in time, a cassette player costing a little over two hundred yuan was still very useful.

It could help with English listening practice and double as a way to sneak in some pop music. Chen Zhu had bought quite a few official Jay Chou tapes and pirated Mayday tapes.

Time slipped away as he reminisced. Only when his mother urged him to hurry up and shower did Chen Zhu reluctantly open the door.

"Here's your change of clothes."

Mao Xiaoqin casually pushed a pile of fresh-smelling clothes into his arms.

Chen Zhu glanced down and found even his boxer briefs among them. It suddenly came back to him that before he went to university, his mother had apparently washed all his clothes.

He had never thought there was anything wrong with that before, but now it felt a little awkward.

"Mom."

Chen Zhu stopped Mao Xiaoqin and said sheepishly, "I'll wash my own underwear from now on."

Mao Xiaoqin seemed a little surprised, but she didn't agree. "Your college entrance exams are coming up. Spend the time you'd use washing clothes on studying instead. You don't need to do housework for now."

Chen Zhu sighed inwardly. Perhaps in his mother's eyes, her high-school-age son was hardly any different from her primary-school-age son. Even seeing him bare-bottomed would be nothing unusual.

Once he had finished getting ready and climbed into bed, waves of drowsiness washed over him, even though it was only a little past eleven.

After starting work, Chen Zhu had often worked late and been under immense pressure. Even with his eyes closed, he would still think about work. Over time, he had developed severe neurasthenia and sleep problems.

This young body had none of those issues. His head barely touched the pillow before he drifted off.

He didn't know how much time had passed when, deep in sleep, Chen Zhu sensed his bedroom door being pushed open, accompanied by a strong smell of alcohol.

His father must have come home.

His dad stood silently in the doorway for a while, then tiptoed away.

The night has switched off the lights, but Mom and Dad are both watching over me outside. This year, I'm only seventeen.

Chen Zhu slept more soundly than he could have imagined.

(Chief Chen is almost used to life after rebirth. Thank you all for your tips and monthly votes. I'll post another standalone chapter before the novel goes premium. Keeping up with the latest chapters is very important, so please keep supporting the story. Updates are usually at noon and eight in the evening.)

(End of chapter)