Chapter Summaries

At thirty, Zhou Yuwen argued with his mother about an arranged marriage and regretted spending his youth working instead of dating. After a sudden flash on the expressway, he woke up in his high school classroom, where he interpreted a poem as a warning to date while young.

• Zhou Yuwen told his mother he rejected the proposed match because the woman had lived with an ex for five years and demanded a large bride price, but his mother called him picky and unable to find a wife.
• After arguing with his mother about her past advice to focus on studying, Zhou Yuwen left in his Audi and drove away, bitterly regretting that he had spent years working while other men dated.
• A horn blared and a flash blinded Zhou Yuwen as he drove on the ring expressway.
• Zhou Yuwen woke in his high school classroom, young again, while classmates recited a poem about making the most of youth.
• When his Chinese teacher asked him to explain the poem, Zhou Yuwen said it meant people should start dating young or risk being unable to find a wife later, making the class erupt in laughter.

Zhou Yuwen realized he had been reborn into his final year of high school and endured a lecture from his homeroom teacher, Hu Jie. After returning to class, he listened as his classmates talked about their college plans and reflected on how miserable his earlier life had been.

• Hu Jie stopped the class laughter, summoned Zhou Yuwen to her office, and lectured him about studying for the college entrance exam and considering his mother.
• Zhou Yuwen stayed silent through Hu Jie's lecture and waited in the office until class ended.
• After leaving the office, Zhou Yuwen confirmed that he had been reborn and marveled at how sharp his senses felt.
• Zhou Yuwen returned to class and heard Shen Ding ask Chen Rongrong about her plans to attend college and become a flight attendant.
• Zhou Yuwen reflected that his high school years and the first half of his life had been thoroughly miserable.

Zhou Yuwen recalled how poverty, family troubles, and years of reading novels shaped his school life and inspired him to start writing. By high school, he had begun earning four or five thousand yuan a month from a novel on Furnace.

• Zhou Yuwen's father had paid his mother thirty thousand yuan in installments to end the child-support dispute, and Zhou Yuwen later refused his father's request to meet.
• Zhou Yuwen's grades declined after he became absorbed in computer games and novels, though reading historical fiction taught him some writing techniques.
• In high school, Zhou Yuwen and a like-minded classmate read novels, and the classmate challenged him to write one himself.
• Zhou Yuwen began writing One Piece fanfiction and later attracted interest from an editor at a small website.
• Zhou Yuwen wrote about two thousand characters a day on Furnace and earned four or five thousand yuan a month.

Zhou Yuwen recalled how he had earned money writing novels as a teenager and remembered his poor high school classmates. When Chen Rongrong could not pay her 420-yuan school fees, Zhou Yuwen offered to cover them.

• Zhou Yuwen remembered earning royalties from his novel while he was still in high school and regretting that he had not used the money to accomplish more.
• Chen Rongrong and her classmates imagined her becoming a flight attendant, but class monitor Sun Yue interrupted to demand her unpaid textbook and miscellaneous fees.
• Chen Rongrong explained that she had forgotten to ask her family for the money and requested a few more days, while Shen Ding tried to defend her.
• Sun Yue told Chen Rongrong to call home and challenged Shen Ding to pay the fees for her, leaving the group silent.
• Zhou Yuwen recalled that Chen Rongrong was an orphan living with her uncle and aunt, then offered to pay her fees.

Zhou Yuwen lent Chen Rongrong money, then checked his savings and decided how to use his second chance: grow his capital, improve himself, and avoid getting emotionally entangled. He left ready to invest his nearly 150,000 yuan and make the most of his time.

• Zhou Yuwen gave Chen Rongrong 420 yuan to lend to Sun Yue, and she promised to repay him the following week.
• Zhou Yuwen left the classroom while his classmates speculated that he liked Chen Rongrong.
• Zhou Yuwen checked his bank account and found a balance of 143,862 yuan.
• Zhou Yuwen resolved to build wealth through compound interest, work on his fitness and skills, and keep relationships uncomplicated.

After buying new electronics, Zhou Yuwen used his knowledge of the 2015 market to invest all 150,000 yuan in Zhongchao Cable, then returned to writing his novel. He posted 12,000 characters, but readers complained that the writing had gotten worse.

• Zhou Yuwen bought an iPhone 5 and a MacBook, got a haircut, and relaxed at a bathhouse before opening his laptop.
• Zhou Yuwen remembered losing 300,000 yuan in stocks in his previous life and recognized that Zhongchao Cable was poised to rise.
• Zhou Yuwen invested all 150,000 yuan in Zhongchao Cable, then turned down an attendant who offered him company.
• Zhou Yuwen checked his writing income and continued his novel, writing and posting 12,000 characters that afternoon.
• Zhou Yuwen refreshed the novel's page and found readers asking whether someone else had taken over because the writing had worsened.

With the college entrance exam approaching, Zhou Yuwen studied at home while exercising and reflecting on how much his memory, physique, and outlook had changed. He returned to school to collect his admission ticket, where he reunited with Chen Rongrong, who repaid him 420 yuan and said she would wait for him.

• Zhou Yuwen told Hu Jie that he would study at home instead of attending school, then spent the remaining days studying, writing, checking stocks, and exercising.
• The day before the exam, Zhou Yuwen dressed neatly and went to school to collect his admission ticket.
• Zhou Yuwen arrived amid the seniors' graduation celebrations and felt both familiar with and separate from the scene.
• Chen Rongrong saw Zhou Yuwen, happily repaid the 420 yuan she owed him, and told him she would wait while he went to the office.

After collecting his exam admission ticket, Zhou Yuwen was drawn into Chen Rongrong’s clique, where she grew closer to him while Shen Ding grew jealous. The group discussed going to college in Nanjing together, and Chen Rongrong appeared eager to add Zhou Yuwen to her circle.

• Hu Jie gave Zhou Yuwen his exam admission ticket and suggested he consider a vocational college if his studies did not go well.
• Chen Rongrong called Zhou Yuwen over to take graduation photos with her, and Shen Ding reluctantly photographed them together.
• Chen Rongrong’s clique invited Zhou Yuwen to eat rice noodles with them after school.
• Chen Rongrong learned Zhou Yuwen would probably attend college in Nanjing and said the group could look after one another there.
• Shen Ding accused Zhou Yuwen of choosing Nanjing because of Chen Rongrong, while she rebuked him and dismissed his remark.

After paying for a farewell meal, Zhou Yuwen kept Chen Rongrong at a distance as she messaged him, while she quietly anticipated leaving her unhappy home. The gaokao ended, but Chen Rongrong learned Zhou Yuwen had already left the exam site and felt an unspoken sense of kinship with him.

• Zhou Yuwen paid for the group’s rice-noodle meal and left, prompting Dong Xue and Shi Zhenzhen to speculate that his family was wealthy and suggest he suited Chen Rongrong.
• Chen Rongrong messaged Zhou Yuwen that night, thanked him for the meal, and asked about his plans, but he gave brief replies and ended the conversation.
• Chen Rongrong heard her family arguing outside her room and thought about leaving home in a few days.
• Zhou Yuwen sat the gaokao, recalled some answers from his previous experience, and finished the three days of exams.
• After the exams, Shen Ding and the others discussed trips and meals while Chen Rongrong asked where Zhou Yuwen was.
• Shen Ding said Zhou Yuwen had left early and assumed he had given up, while Chen Rongrong felt he was more like her than the rest of their group.

After turning down Chen Rongrong’s invitation, Zhou Yuwen sold his Zhongchao Cable shares for a large profit and planned his next investment. At home, he began building skills and fitness for a more ambitious life, leaving him increasingly confident.

• Chen Rongrong called Zhou Yuwen and invited him to eat with her and the others, but he refused, disappointing her and irritating Shen Ding.
• Zhou Yuwen sold his Zhongchao Cable shares after they rose from 1.63 yuan to 3.12 yuan, turning his 150,000 yuan investment into 286,500 yuan.
• Zhou Yuwen combined his stock profits with 15,000 yuan in writing royalties to reach 300,000 yuan, then planned to use leverage to invest in Luzhou Laojiao in July.
• Zhou Yuwen reflected on his previous life and his ideas about writing a different kind of white-moonlight character.
• Zhou Yuwen kept running and working out, started guitar lessons, and followed a daily schedule of writing and practicing.
• Zhou Yuwen found that he learned quickly, grew taller and fitter, and gradually gained confidence.

After the entrance exam, Zhou Yuwen befriended Shen Ding and learned he had scored high enough to apply to university. He met his estranged father and demanded 200,000 yuan, then showed his mother that he had already saved even more through trading.

• Chen Rongrong grew tired of Zhou Yuwen’s bland replies, while Shen Ding, feeling isolated, invited Zhou Yuwen to play League of Legends.
• Shen Ding told Zhou Yuwen he had liked Chen Rongrong for three years and asked for help pursuing her, but Zhou Yuwen refused.
• Zhou Yuwen scored 355 on the entrance exam and chose Nanjing Forestry University as his intended school.
• Zhou Yuwen met Father Zhou and demanded another 200,000 yuan, saying he would otherwise have no reason to maintain their relationship.
• Father Zhou transferred the money, and Zhou Yuwen told his mother about the meeting before showing her his 350,000-yuan balance.

Zhou Yuwen used his novel royalties and his mother’s savings to build his trading capital, then risked it on leveraged Shanghai RAAS shares and sold for a large profit. After buying plans for his mother and himself, he received admission to Nanjing Forestry University, while his former classmates discussed his acceptance and family background.

• Zhou Yuwen showed his mother that he earned thirty thousand yuan a month from writing novels, and she transferred her two hundred thousand yuan in savings to him.
• Zhou Yuwen invested five hundred and fifty thousand yuan with ten times leverage in Shanghai RAAS, endured a near-liquidation as the share price fell, then sold at 75 yuan on July 7 for a profit of 1.68 million yuan.
• Zhou Yuwen left 1.23 million yuan in his trading account and planned to spend six hundred thousand yuan on an apartment for his mother and buy himself a small car.
• Zhou Yuwen was admitted to Nanjing Forestry University, and Shen Ding told their classmates about his acceptance.
• Shen Ding explained that he and Zhou Yuwen were close, while Chen Rongrong said she had barely known Zhou Yuwen and had not contacted him since graduation.
• Shen Ding told the girls that Zhou Yuwen’s parents had divorced when he was three, surprising Chen Rongrong, Dong Xue, and Shi Zhenzhen.

After hearing Shen Ding’s account of Zhou Yuwen’s family, Chen Rongrong left the KTV and returned to the hostile home of her uncle and aunt. There, she found her cousin rummaging through her belongings, and the argument ended with Chen Mengyao falling and crying.

• Shen Ding told Dong Xue, Shi Zhenzhen, and Chen Rongrong that Zhou Yuwen had grown up in a troubled family, but Chen Rongrong dismissed the conversation and left.
• Shen Ding took Chen Rongrong home by taxi and talked about staying friends, while she barely responded.
• Chen Rongrong arrived at her uncle and aunt’s home and found Chen Mengyao trying on her makeup amid her scattered belongings.
• Chen Mengyao said she had a right to inspect Chen Rongrong’s things because the room would be hers after Chen Rongrong left, and Liu Mei urged Chen Rongrong to give her cousin some belongings.
• Chen Rongrong confronted Liu Mei about being excluded from a KFC meal, and Liu Mei and Chen Mengyao insulted her.
• Chen Rongrong snapped at Chen Mengyao and shoved her, causing her cousin to fall and burst into tears.

After Chen Rongrong confronted her uncle and aunt about using her allowance and her father's money, Chen Jianjun slapped her, and she left home. Alone outside the post office with nowhere to stay, she called Zhou Yuwen to borrow money, and he went to meet her.

• Chen Rongrong refused to apologize to Chen Mengyao and accused Chen Jianjun and Liu Mei of taking her orphan's allowance and her father's money.
• Chen Jianjun slapped Chen Rongrong, and she left the house while Liu Mei and Chen Mengyao watched.
• Chen Rongrong sat outside the post office, unable to afford a place to stay and unwilling to return home.
• Chen Rongrong called Zhou Yuwen to borrow money, and he ended his game with Shen Ding and told her to wait.

Zhou Yuwen borrowed his father’s Audi A6 and picked up Chen Rongrong at the post office after noticing she had been slapped. He took her to get something to eat, leaving the reason for her distress unexplained as they headed toward KFC.

• Zhou Yuwen drove his father’s A6 recklessly through town to prove his driving skill and gained permission to use it.
• The next day, Zhou Yuwen put down a deposit on a white Audi A4L and bought some new clothes.
• Zhou Yuwen found Chen Rongrong sitting alone outside the post office and noticed a red mark on her cheek.
• Chen Rongrong asked to borrow 200 yuan but would not explain what had happened, so Zhou Yuwen offered to take her for food.
• Chen Rongrong got into Zhou Yuwen’s car, and they headed toward the only suitable late-night restaurant in town, KFC.

Zhou Yuwen took Chen Rongrong to KFC, where she opened up about her family and the abuse she had endured while living with her uncle’s family. After she explained that she had nowhere to go, Zhou Yuwen offered to find her a safer place to stay for the night.

• Zhou Yuwen brought Chen Rongrong to KFC and bought them a meal.
• Zhou Yuwen told Chen Rongrong that his parents had divorced and his mother had raised him, prompting Chen Rongrong to cry and admit that she had no father.
• Chen Rongrong told Zhou Yuwen that she had been mistreated by her uncle’s family, had nowhere to live, and had only a little over ten yuan.
• Chen Rongrong planned to borrow two hundred yuan and stay at a hotel, but Zhou Yuwen warned that it might be unsafe and offered to find her a reliable one after they ate.

After Chen Rongrong confided in Zhou Yuwen, he brought her to an upscale hotel and booked her a room. She asked him to stay and share the king bed, and the chapter ended with her asking if he was asleep.

• Chen Rongrong asked Zhou Yuwen about his family and joked that he wanted to sleep with her, though she still preferred to remain friends.
• Zhou Yuwen booked a hotel room for Chen Rongrong after she realized she had forgotten her ID card.
• Chen Rongrong froze when she saw the room had a king bed, then grabbed Zhou Yuwen and asked him to stay with her.
• Chen Rongrong kept her clothes on and left Zhou Yuwen plenty of space as they got into bed.
• Zhou Yuwen decided not to press his advantage and closed his eyes, but Chen Rongrong asked if he was asleep.

Chen Rongrong and Zhou Yuwen talked in bed about their families and their high school classmates before she asked him to hold her. As Chen Rongrong fell asleep in his arms, Zhou Yuwen began moving his hand up from her waist.

• Chen Rongrong complained about the hard bed at her eldest uncle's home, and Zhou Yuwen made room for her on the soft bed.
• Zhou Yuwen told Chen Rongrong that his father had cheated throughout his marriage to his mother, and that they finally divorced after his father got another woman pregnant.
• Chen Rongrong recalled how Dong Xue had first noticed Zhou Yuwen in high school and declared that she would be his best friend.
• Chen Rongrong pulled Zhou Yuwen closer and nestled into his arms, saying that being held by him made her feel safe.
• Chen Rongrong drifted off to sleep against Zhou Yuwen, who stayed awake and slowly moved his hand up from her waist.

Zhou Yuwen touched Chen Rongrong while she pretended to be asleep, interpreting her silence as agreement. Chen Rongrong initially resisted inwardly, then gradually relaxed as he became gentler.

• Chen Rongrong planned to offer Zhou Yuwen a little affection as a friend, while keeping her distance from dating.
• Zhou Yuwen began touching Chen Rongrong as she lay in his arms, watching her face for signs that she was awake.
• Chen Rongrong kept her eyes closed and wished Zhou Yuwen would be gentler, but did not speak up.
• Zhou Yuwen slipped his hand under Chen Rongrong’s sweatshirt, and she stiffened and made a quiet sound of protest.
• Zhou Yuwen grew gentler, and Chen Rongrong gradually relaxed.

Zhou Yuwen pushed Chen Rongrong’s physical boundaries while she pretended to be asleep, torn between discomfort and preserving their relationship. When he tried to take off her pants, she stopped him, and he held her as she pleaded with him to stop.

• Zhou Yuwen touched Chen Rongrong while she kept her eyes closed, and she tried to tolerate his advances to avoid making things awkward between them.
• Zhou Yuwen moved his hand beneath Chen Rongrong’s yoga pants, and she reacted despite trying to remain still.
• After Zhou Yuwen stopped touching her, Chen Rongrong felt relieved, but he then tried to take off her pants.
• Chen Rongrong sat up and stopped Zhou Yuwen, and they looked at each other in the moonlight.
• Chen Rongrong lay back down and pleaded with Zhou Yuwen not to continue, and he wrapped his arms around her and asked what was wrong.