Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts
Chapter 2: No Change is Allowed Within a Hundred Years

The name Lin Youxi was not unfamiliar to Mei Fang during his school days.

In any public event during high school, the figure of Lin Youxi could always be seen taking the stage to deliver speeches as a student representative.

As the perennial top student in the grade, she always ranked first on the list of academic stars. Because they were in neighboring classes, Mei Fang would often run into Lin Youxi.

She had an extremely cold and aloof personality, emitting an aura of unfriendliness that discouraged others from approaching—an extraordinary female academic genius. Mei Fang hadn’t exchanged a single word with her in his previous life, so there naturally wasn’t any interaction between them.

Who would have thought that she was such a mischievous troublemaker in kindergarten?

What exactly did she experience during those years…

It’s really intriguing.

At four o’clock in the afternoon, when it was time to go home, the area outside the classroom was crowded with parents picking up their children. One by one, they entered the classroom, greeted the teacher, and took their children home.

Mei Fang immediately recognized his father, Mei Lijun, with his thick hair. Other than that, his appearance seemed to have changed very little after twenty years, except for a few wrinkles.

But today, he wet his pants and had a nosebleed, so naturally Mei Lijun couldn’t take Mei Fang home directly.

Lin Youxi’s parents arrived relatively late and were also left behind—a slim man with glasses.

After all, Lin Youxi had a little friction with Mei Fang today, so it’s better to have some understanding of what really happened. Lin Youxi’s father kept apologizing to Mei Lijun repeatedly, with a very sincere attitude. Although Lin Youxi was being led by her father and had her head down, she remained silent.

In this era, parents were used to their children’s ups and downs, and as long as they informed each other, there would be no disputes.

Mei Lijun, Mei Fang’s father, even gave Mei Fang a beating as soon as he came up.

“You wet the bed at kindergarten again. How old are you? You’ve made your father lose face!”

“Hey, hey, Mr. Mei, don’t hit him, what’s the point of hitting a child? He didn’t do it on purpose.”

Teacher Li tried to persuade from the side, but Mei Fang didn’t say a word even after being beaten. Seeing that the child didn’t cry and make a fuss like before, Mei Lijun suddenly felt bored and could only drag Mei Fang home on a motorcycle.

Upon careful thought, besides lacking strength, this 5-year-old body still had many troubles…

He thought he could rest well at home, but after returning home, his mother, Xiang Xiaoxia, found out about Mei Fang’s glorious deeds and got so angry that she picked up a clothes hanger and beat Mei Fang again.

Mei Lijun saw his wife beating the child so fiercely and immediately tried to stop her, saying, “I’m telling you, wife, that’s enough. I already gave him a beating in the classroom. If you keep beating him like this, he’ll hold a grudge.”

“What’s there to be afraid of? I am his biological mother! Besides, he’s so young, he’ll forget everything when he grows up.”

How is it possible to forget now!?

Mei Fang seriously doubted how he grew up so healthy. This kind of perfect nuclear family without any shadows is really unbelievable.

Compared to his father, who only had changes in his hairline, his mother, Xiang Xiaoxia, looked very different. Her hands that used to spank were very delicate, and there were almost no wrinkles on her face.

Mei Fang seemed to realize for the first time that his nagging and annoying mother, who always urged him to go on blind dates, was actually quite beautiful when she was young.

Time is merciless…

Today, Mei Fang changed his usual crying and tantrums. Even when he was beaten, he just shouted a few words without crying. After that, he silently ate and watched TV.

After finishing his meal, Mei Lijun picked his teeth on the sofa and saw Mei Fang constantly changing channels. He couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Why aren’t you watching cartoons today? Don’t you like that Four-Wheel Drive Brothers^[1]the most?”

“I’m tired of it. Only kids watch that.”

Mei Fang changed the channel to the sports channel and saw that a football match was currently being broadcast. Looking at the content inside, Mei Fang suddenly came back to his senses.

“Dad, is there a World Cup match now?”

“You’re interested in this?”

After a moment of hesitation, Mei Fang nodded, “This is the golden year of our national team.”

“That’s right, so you understand these things too.”

In Mei Fang’s memory, his father had always been a die-hard football fan, often staying up late to watch matches. Obviously, he couldn’t hide his excitement:

“Do you know? Our football association said that they aim to win a match, get one point, and score one goal this year. It’s really disappointing!”

“Because it’s the first time we’ve entered the World Cup, I think this goal is reasonable.”

“Reasonable my foot, this ambition is too small! With the strength we showed in the qualifiers, isn’t it just a casual match against Costa Rica?^[2] They’re in the World Cup for the second time this year. It’s not too much if the result is a draw, right? At most, we’ll lose to Brazil, after all, they are a football powerhouse, we should respect them…”

Mei Lijun looked dissatisfied with the complex expression on his son’s face. “Can’t you listen properly? Why do you have an expression that doesn’t believe in your father’s professional predictions?”

“Dad, let’s make a bet. If our national team doesn’t advance, you give me 100 yuan.” Mei Fang showed his ambition as a reborn person.

“Why do you, a little kid, need so much money for?”

Mei Lijun became furious and fiercely knocked on Mei Fang’s head.

“As a son of our country, why don’t you have confidence in the national team? This is the first time our national football team has entered the World Cup in 44 years. Hao Haidongis a fierce player in the English Premier League, and General Fan^[3]is invincible. And that person, he is the number one striker in the eastern region. There is no doubt that this is the beginning of a legend, the first step of a great journey!”

“If you don’t want to bet 100 yuan, how about 50 yuan?”

Mei Fang didn’t give up, “The match is tomorrow, right? Let’s bet that we’ll lose to Costa Rica in the first match.”

“Why do kids gamble so much money? At most, I’ll bet 10 yuan with you.”

Mei Fang thought for a moment, “If you lose, you’re not allowed to buy snacks and toys for a month.”

“Fine…” Mei Fang reluctantly agreed, thinking to himself, “10 yuan for all this? Dad, you’re really stingy.”

After watching the news on TV for a while to review the current situation, Mei Fang’s mother urged him to go to bed and he started planning how to make money.

Children in kindergarten are always accompanied by their parents when going to and from school, and they can only play with other kids in the park within the neighborhood with their parents’ permission.

Fortunately, it was already June, and in less than a month, he would become a elementary school student. Most ordinary families in the county let their elementary school children roam freely and play wherever they want. This would increase their freedom and allow them to do whatever they wanted.

However, before entering elementary school, Mei Fang had one thing he couldn’t miss – the World Cup betting lottery.

As Mei Fang, who had returned from 20 years later, he couldn’t miss this opportunity for wealth.

The next morning, Mei Fang was woken up by his family to go to school.

“You’re dressing yourself today? Impressive, kid.”

Xiang Xiaoxia rubbed Mei Fang’s head and said with some confusion, “After wetting the bed yesterday, it seems like you’ve changed. You didn’t even cry when I hit you. You’re really strong.”

Mei Li Jun nodded and pretended to be profound, saying, “I guess that’s growing up.”

In fact, Mei Fang wanted to gradually make his family get used to his independence. Fortunately, his parents didn’t suspect the changes in him, and ordinary people couldn’t even imagine it.

But he couldn’t overdo it either; he had to act like a child.

Mei Fang sat on his father’s motorcycle and reached out to him.

“Dad, give me one yuan. I want to buy a lollipop.”

“Fine, your true colors are showing.” Mei Lijun frowned and said, “You’re behaving so well today, it’s obviously for food.”

“I’m not eating it myself. I made Xia Yuan cry yesterday, so I’m going to apologize to her today.”

“Xia Yuan… the girl who lives in the same neighborhood as us, the one in the house next door? How did you become friends with her? Didn’t you say you don’t play with girls before?”

Mei Lijun pinched his son’s face and said, “You little rascal, have you changed your mind now and started liking her again?”

Mei Fang pushed away his father’s hand and said, “Stop talking nonsense and give me the money.”

“How dare you talk to your father like that! And have the audacity to ask for 1 yuan for a stick of lollipop, you little brat!”

Mei Fang received another slap.

Despite the beating, Mei Lijun still led Mei Fang to the small shop at the entrance of the kindergarten and bought a 50-cent strawberry-flavored Alps lollipop, showing his generosity as a father.

Tsk… I was planning to pretend to save the money, but the plan failed.

Mei Fang was one of the few who came to kindergarten early, but Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi came even earlier. They were already doing handicrafts in their seats early in the morning.

It turns out Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi are good friends. They seem to have a good relationship… Sᴇaʀᴄh the ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Mei Fang didn’t go over to sit with them, but when Xia Yuan saw him enter the classroom, she ran over to him.

“Mei Fang, Mei Fang, about what happened yesterday, I was wrong and I want to apologize to you.”

“Apologize? What for…”

Xia Yuan said seriously, “My mom says I cry too easily, and no one will like me when I grow up if I continue like this. I need to correct my flaws.”

Xia Yuan fidgeted with her hands behind her back, then extended her hands, holding a paper crane in her palms. “I made this paper crane and I want to give it to you.”

…

It was a pink paper crane, and the head of the crane was painted red, showing that she put a lot of thought into it.

Thinking that no girl had ever given him a gift in his past life, Mei Fang suddenly felt a bit sentimental.

“Th-thank you…”

“And… Lin Youxi pushed you yesterday. She secretly told me that it was an accident, so she also wants to apologize to you.”

Mei Fang looked up at Lin Youxi beside Xia Yuan. She seemed to be lost in thought, but when Xia Yuan lightly nudged her arm, she looked up and handed something to Mei Fang. She raised her head and softly said sorry, then quickly ran behind Xia Yuan.

Couldn’t she communicate properly?

Is it because she feel embarrassed in front of adults?

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I don’t mind.”

The former college overachiever humbled herself and begged for my forgiveness in a low voice. It feels strangely satisfying!

Mei Fang suddenly fell into silence.

Why am I so useless…

Lin Youxi also folded a paper crane, but it was blue and a bit wrinkled and dirty, obviously folded and unfolded many times before succeeding.

Mei Fang didn’t pay much attention to it. He remembered something in his pocket and handed a lollipop to Xia Yuan.

“Oh, this is what I promised you yesterday, the lollipop.”

“You actually remembered, I forgot!” Xia Yuan took the lollipop from Mei Fang, looking ecstatic.

“We made a promise, didn’t we?”

Lin Youxi quietly watched the lollipop, as if contemplating something.

“Well, now that everyone has made up, we can be friends again!”

“Friends? When did we…”

Xia Yuan didn’t notice Mei Fang’s confusion. She just grabbed Mei Fang’s hand, and two dimples appeared on her face, accompanied by a bright smile like the morning sun.

“Mei Fang, Mei Fang, can we do the pinky promise again like yesterday?”

“I don’t mind, what do you want to promise this time?”

Xia Yuan extended her right pinky finger and hooked it with Mei Fang’s, intertwining them, and pulled him towards Lin Youxi.

“Lin Youxi, are you coming too?”

“……”

Mei Fang could sense a hint of reluctance in Lin Youxi’s gaze, but she still obediently followed along.

Sure enough, Lin Youxi was only forced to come because of her best friend’s request…

Come to think of it, when Lin Youxi pushed me yesterday, was it because she was jealous of my good relationship with Xia Yuan?

Thinking about it, it suddenly feels a bit adorable, hahaha…

The three children’s little fingers intertwined, and then Xia Yuan expressed her wish:

“From now on, we can’t fight anymore, we have to be good friends forever!”

“Pinky promise… it’s a deal… No change is allowed… within a hundred years.”

Feeling the lingering warmth on his finger, Mei Fang suddenly felt a strange sense of unease.

In his past life, Mei Fang had always been single until he died from overwork, and he thought that he had never been cared about by girls.

But this Xia Yuan seems to like me… even though she’s just a kid.

According to Mei Fang’s father, he used to only play with boys, and although Xia Yuan lives in the same neighborhood and is close to him, they weren’t actually closer.

Furthermore, when Mei Fang was in the fourth grade, he moved houses, so maybe it was at that time they completely lost contact?

In other words, this girl with whom Mei Fang could’ve had a closer relationship and become childhood sweethearts… for some reason, they missed that opportunity.

Of course, in life, there are countless people we miss due to various reasons, but now Mei Fang has the thinking and experience of an adult.

Once he meets her destined person, he will never let them slip away like that.

As for Xia Yuan…

Although she is a well-behaved little crybaby who parrots “mommy said” at every turn, she’s still quite adorable, haha…

Hmm… the future looks promising!

Translator's Notes:

Sᴇarch the NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.