Chapter 1: After the Brick Fell from the Sky

  On September 23rd, at 9:30 in the morning, I walked out of the examination room with a disheveled appearance. The sun was shining brightly and the gentle breeze blew by as my junior schoolmates chatted and laughed together, looking so happy. Looking at myself, oh dear, it seems like university is about to end soon, yet I still haven't gotten my second-level certificate, and this time it seems like there's no chance either. It's really frustrating! If only I had the guts to ask someone from the neighboring dormitory to take the exam for me... Alas, I was sighing and lamenting here when suddenly a brick fell from the sky, hitting me on the head. All I felt was a burning sensation, and when I touched my head with my hand, it was bleeding! I fainted, and honestly, I didn't check the almanac before leaving the house today!

  When I woke up, I found the room in front of me was very familiar. I knocked my head and realized it was my old room. However, my headache got worse, and I cried out "Ah, so painful".

  I only saw my mom walking over, but this isn't the 52-year-old old mom I know. I quickly pinched myself to see if I was dreaming, but this dream felt so real it still hurt.

  "Meat, wake up! Is your head hurting again? You're so naughty, but this time you'll have to remember the lesson. Come and eat dinner, Mom made your favorite dried plum vegetable stew with pork."

  I was stunned and couldn't react for a moment, sitting stupidly on the bed, and said: "Mom, how did I end up here?" Mom said: "Today is Sunday, you didn't go to school, so you went out to play with your cousin, bullying other kids, and one of them hit you with a small stone. We took you to the hospital and they said it was nothing serious, you came back and said you were sleepy, so you slept... but now you're all dizzy, is your head still hurting? Maybe we should go to the hospital."

  I thought to myself: Was I just sleeping? Obviously, I had just finished the computer exam. It seems that I have also become a member of the rebirth army. But this is good too. Thinking about it, since I failed the college entrance examination and attended a third-rate university, I didn't have any ambitions or aspirations anymore. I've fallen to the point where I'm almost graduating but still haven't gotten my computer certificate, and now it's possible that I won't even get my graduation certificate... (·~)

  Mom said this thing I also have an impression, isn't it happened when I was in first grade? Just because that dead kid told my mom that I wouldn't recite the poem and got punished by the teacher to stand, I wanted to fix him, but unexpectedly, after I bullied him, he randomly threw a small stone and hit my head, luckily it was on the front of my head, and my hair covered it, otherwise, I would have been disfigured. Mom looks so young now, haha, from now on, I want to be a new person! I got down from bed, walked over, hugged mom's waist, and said: "Mom, I was wrong, next time I won't do this again, I'm also hurt, it hurts so much, you blow on me, let's go have dinner, where is dad?" My stomach growled loudly afterwards.

  Mom said with a mix of anger and amusement, "You always say that, but every time you do it again. I have no way to deal with you. Considering your headache today, I'll let you off this time. What are you looking for your dad for? Want to find someone to help you? Your dad has gone on a night shift. Go eat, I can hear your stomach growling."

  Eating the dried plum and braised pork made by my mom, looking at her slightly rough hands, I think I must not waste this resource that heaven has given me to be reborn. I will study hard, achieve my own dreams, and also help dad and mom achieve their dreams.

  My mom used to work in a cotton textile factory, then later in a toy factory, but her lifelong dream was to do something related to clothing. However, due to family constraints, she could only stay in the factory, just for that one formal job. And my dad actually wasn't suited for working in a chemical plant; he wanted to open a restaurant, but didn't have the funds or mom's support. Although he went out to learn for two years when I was in kindergarten, ultimately he still had to bow his head to reality, all for this family, all for me... thinking about it makes my nose a bit sour.

  I quietly finished dinner with my mom, and as it happens, today is the first day of my rebirth. I'm quite excited, constantly asking her questions left and right, but still seeming very sensible, helping her clean up the bowls and chopsticks, and even offering to sing for her or give her a back massage...

  It's almost 7:30, Mom smiled and said: "You've been so obedient today, is it because you want to watch 'Emperor Taizong of Tang'? I promise you can watch until 8:30, then you must go to sleep, you have school tomorrow, did you finish your homework? Did you memorize it? Hurry up and pack your bag, don't be in a rush again tomorrow.

  I suddenly remembered that I still had homework, but quickly said: "Yes, yes, it's done. I'll go organize my things and then we can wash up. If not, we won't have time to watch TV." I looked at my bag and inside there were only a few books, a pink pencil case, a class schedule, and no notebook for homework. Ah, I thought, when I was in first grade, I didn't remember what homework I had either. It's really true that "heavenly retribution is still forgivable, but self-inflicted suffering is not." This time, I'm really out of luck. But I should have finished it, since there are notes on my math and language arts notebooks that haven't been graded yet. Forget it, let me check what classes I have tomorrow. In the morning, I have four classes: math, language arts, activity class, and music. In the afternoon, I have three classes: language arts, math, and class meeting. After checking my schedule, I quickly washed up with my mom and then sat on the bed watching TV. At that time, we didn't have cable TV or digital TV at home, but we did have a color TV. All I could do was hold the remote control and switch between the few channels available. I really miss my computer. Time passed so quickly, and before I knew it, it was already 8:30. My mom told me to go to sleep, and promised that tomorrow at breakfast time, she would braid my hair while telling me about the plot of the TV show in detail. Of course, I couldn't fall asleep, but I still lay down. My mom thought it was strange that I was being so obedient today, thinking that I had changed my ways. But what she didn't know was that I had already watched this TV show before, and not only that, but also other shows that were even better than this one.

  Lying on the bed where my dad and mom got married, I was thinking wildly, a little afraid that tomorrow when I wake up I'll be back in college again, and also worried about how my rebirth would affect my parents who are living in 2012. Dazed and confused, I didn't know how much time had passed before I fell asleep.

  The next morning, the alarm clock rang, and I instinctively covered my ears, even using the quilt to cover my head. My mom got up first, which was her habit, always liking to cook porridge before calling me, so that I could sleep a little longer, even when I was in high school, this hadn't changed. After about ten minutes, my mom came to call me to get up. To be known, I used to be notoriously slow in the morning, but today I got up after being called just once, I quickly washed and dressed, finished washing up and eating breakfast, said goodbye to my mom and went to school with my backpack on.

  All the way humming a little song, walking with quick steps to school, it only took 10 minutes to walk to the school gate. I saw two senior brothers and two senior sisters checking if they were wearing red scarves at the school gate. How am I supposed to get in now? Standing still a few steps away from the school gate, hesitating, I heard a voice behind me: "Nan Xiuxiu, why are you standing there like an idiot, aren't you going in? There's only 5 minutes left before the bell rings."

  I turned around and saw that the person who came was not my best friend Wang Xiao Xiao. I whispered: "I didn't wear a red scarf, and I was thinking about how to sneak in."

  Wang Xiaoxiao looked at me strangely and said, "I heard from my mom that your head was smashed, looking at the bandage, it's just a small piece, aren't you stupid? We're only in first grade, we won't wear red scarves until third grade, do you really want to be a Young Pioneer so badly?"

  I quickly said: "You just said there were 5 minutes left, hurry up and go, I was joking with you, didn't you hear it? Not a bit of humor cells."

  As they talked, they arrived at the classroom of Class 2, Grade 1. It's great to be in first grade, no need to climb stairs. But then there's another problem, where am I supposed to sit? With a confused face, Wang Xiaoxiao said: "Hurry up and take your seat, Teacher Liu is about to come for the Chinese language morning reading class."

  I remember sitting in the first row from grade one to four, but there were four classes, and the first row of the second and third classes were empty. Which one was I? So I touched my head and said embarrassedly: "I... I forgot where I sat."

  Wang Xiaoxiao said: "As expected, it's confusing enough. No wonder you lost your math exercise book and forgot to recite. You sit in the second group of the first row."

  I smiled and said, "Okay, okay, no need to tease me like that. I'll find you after morning reading class." I sat down in my seat, tidied up my bag, took out the language textbook and stationery box, glanced at the boy next to me, thinking to myself that I didn't seem to know this person, who was he? I sneaked a peek at his language textbook, which had "Wu Hanwen" written on it in childish handwriting. As I looked, I couldn't help but smile. Wu Hanwen turned around and gave me a weird look, then continued reading seriously: "People have two treasures, their hands and brain, hands can do work, brain can think."

  I also picked up the language text, casually flipped through it, and was asked to read this childish lesson seriously and loudly, which I couldn't do. But my little friends around me, who are also my classmates, were all reading seriously.

  Just as I was daydreaming, Teacher Liu arrived and all I heard her say was: "Classmates, be quiet. Did you all complete the memorization homework assigned by the teacher over the weekend?" Suddenly, a chorus of children's voices rang out in my ears: "Yes!"

  Mr. Liu said, "Then I'll have to ask a classmate to recite it. Who should I pick first? Nan Xixi." The classroom fell silent, and before I even realized it was my name being called, Mr. Liu repeated "Nan Xixi" again. I suddenly stood up, but then I didn't know what to recite. Uh-oh, would I really make a fool of myself on the first day back at school? Just as I was thinking this, someone pulled on my sleeve from behind - it was Wu Hanwen. He pointed to two treasures (the textbook), and I knew what to do. I recited fluently.

  After finishing reciting, Teacher Liu said: "There's been progress, not like last time when you couldn't recite 'One, Two, Three Miles' at all. However, during class, you need to focus and sit down." Later, Teacher Liu picked a few more students to recite and praised the relevant classmates.

  This is my first time writing an article, I hope you will give me a lot of support and comments.