Qirong walked through the school gate, student ID in hand, a troubled expression on his face. Curious glances occasionally darted his way, causing his cheeks to flush, and he quickened his pace.
“Is this person a boy or a girl?”
“Probably a girl, right? What boy looks like this, without even an Adam’s apple?”
“And it looks like they’re wearing makeup. What boy dares to come to school wearing makeup these days?”
“It’s good to be a girl in this world. They can ignore school rules. If it were a boy, their parents would have been called ages ago.”
“You could be a girl too, you know. Transgender surgery is so advanced now.”
“Even if it’s advanced, you can’t become a complete girl. What’s the point? Otherwise, why would you even say that?”
Similar discussions vaguely reached Qirong’s ears along the way. Hearing them sparked a question in his mind: the original owner of this body always came to school wearing makeup, which clearly violated school rules, yet no teacher had ever bothered them. What exactly was going on?
‘Did Chen Xuanqiu find some reasonable excuse to handle the teachers? Or was it because his family was wealthy, so no one dared to pick a fight with him?’
Qirong was utterly baffled. Still puzzled, he arrived at the classroom.
“Why are there three men in suits at the door of Class 1, Grade 2?”
“It seems they came with the school belle, Chen. No idea what they’re up to.”
“Could they be her bodyguards?”
“Coming to school with bodyguards? That’s a bit too high-profile, isn’t it?”
“Give it a break. She’s already low-key enough. If you were stared at by a pack of hungry wolves every day, you probably wouldn’t bring bodyguards; you’d bring the police.”
Students were discussing at the classroom entrance.
Qirong instinctively glanced towards the door of Class 1, Grade 2. Sure enough, his ‘cheap’ younger sister’s three bodyguards stood guard like prison wardens, drawing all eyes.
‘This is good, then. Though a bit ostentatious, at least there’s no need to worry about safety.’
Qirong thought this to himself, then walked into the classroom.
“Why are you always staring at me?”
After Qirong sat down, he noticed his deskmate was intently watching him. Feeling a pang of guilt, he asked.
“I’ve been thinking, and I just kept feeling like you were really strange this morning. Are you sure you’re alright?”
Lu Mengyuan probed.
“Thank you for your concern. I’m perfectly fine.”
Qirong feigned composure in his reply. In the past, if someone had shown him such concern, he would undoubtedly have been deeply moved. Now, however, he only wished the other person would say as little as possible.
“That’s good. I wouldn’t want to get a new deskmate after only half a month.”
Lu Mengyuan breathed a sigh of relief.
“A new deskmate? Was it that serious?”
Qirong questioned.
“The way you looked earlier, you were practically a fish that escaped a mental institution.”
Lu Mengyuan mercilessly retorted.
“Hey, Lu Mengyuan, have you ever heard of a boy named Qirong?”
Qirong grimaced awkwardly, then asked with a sliver of hope.
“Qirong? Never heard of him. Who is he?”
Lu Mengyuan asked, puzzled.
“It’s nothing.”
Qirong sighed, thinking to himself that he was truly too naive.
“You’re acting all mysterious.”
Lu Mengyuan couldn’t help but stare at his deskmate with a few more suspicious glances.
The first class was Physics. The teacher, a bespectacled middle-aged man named Huang, was usually stern in class, tolerating no nonsense. Consequently, no student dared to cross him.
Qirong had been somewhat worried before class because of his makeup. Yet, the outcome was the same as before; throughout the entire lesson, Teacher Huang completely ignored his rule-breaking behavior.
‘What exactly has this Chen Xuanqiu done?’
Qirong grew increasingly curious. However, his deskmate was already suspicious of him, making it difficult to ask directly.
After class, all the students rushed towards the sports field, as the next period was physical education.
“Are you going too?”
His deskmate, Lu Mengyuan, asked, observing Qirong’s eager expression.
“Me? Why wouldn’t I go?”
Qirong asked instinctively.
“Suit yourself, then.”
Lu Mengyuan shook his head, speechless.
‘Did I do something abnormal again?’
Qirong said, frustratedly tugging at his ear-length hair. Upon reflection, he realized that boys having hair this long would certainly not be permitted by the school.
Filled with misgivings, Qirong arrived at the sports field. Since he hadn’t been at school long before the soul transmigration, he wasn’t familiar with his classmates, so he simply stood in a corner as an observer.
Soon, the class bell rang, and the tall, burly physical education teacher blew his whistle for assembly. Qirong quickly ran over, then instinctively took his original spot.
“What are you squeezing in for?”
An adjacent classmate asked, his expression unfriendly.
“This is my spot. If I don’t stand here, where should I stand?”
Qirong counter-questioned, puzzled. He reasoned that since he had transmigrated into a parallel world, these details should be the same as in his previous life.
“This is your spot? When did this become your spot? Don’t you have sun allergy and can’t be in the sun?”
The male student clenched his fists, trembling with anger. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Qirong was deliberately provoking him.
“I have sun allergy?”
Qirong retorted like an idiot, but regretted it the moment the words left his mouth. Wasn’t that a crazy thing to say?
“You’re asking me? Don’t you know if you have it yourself? You’re not deliberately lying to get out of P.E. class, are you?”
The boy speculated maliciously.
Teachers and students nearby heard their argument and all looked over.
“No, no, no, I have it! I do!”
Qirong quickly defended himself, cold sweat already beading on his forehead.
“Qirong, is it? You don’t have to attend P.E. class. Your homeroom teacher mentioned it to me right after school started.”
The P.E. teacher, seeing the commotion, kindly reminded him.
“Alright, alright!”
Qirong quickly retreated from the student formation, almost fleeing to sit on an iron chair in the corner.
‘How could I be so foolish?’
Qirong’s old face flushed red with embarrassment. He felt like an utter fool. This was merely a parallel world, and he was now ‘Chen Xuanqiu’. It was laughable that he was still acting on ‘Qirong’s’ habits; it would be strange if problems *didn’t* arise this way.
‘Since I’ve transmigrated, it proves that souls truly exist. If I expose my identity, what consequences would I face? Would I be expelled? Or would I be ‘sent off’?’
For the first time, Qirong pondered this question seriously, his mood growing heavier. He might not have believed in theology before, but after experiencing such a bizarre event, he harbored some concerns. Who knew if this world truly had individuals capable of subduing demons and banishing evil?
‘As the saying goes, ‘caution is the parent of safety.’ It seems I need to establish a clear self-identity. I am Chen Xuanqiu now. I am Chen Xuanqiu.’
Qirong repeatedly hypnotized himself. As his subconscious shifted, he felt his head grow heavy and dizzy, and the world before his eyes gradually blurred.
****
In a daze, Qirong found himself standing by a small path. Everything within his sight appeared significantly taller than what he was used to, as if he had become a child of four or five years old.
Qirong tried to move, but it felt as if he was experiencing sleep paralysis; he couldn’t stir in the slightest, unable even to shift his eyeballs. He could only vaguely glimpse Melissa, his ‘cheap’ mother, standing beside him.
Suddenly, a small boy of five or six years old rushed out from an unknown direction. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around Qirong’s shoulders, then tripped him, sending him tumbling to the ground. The incident happened so quickly that no one nearby had time to intervene.
“Qiu! Are you alright?”
Melissa cried out in alarm, quickly scooping Qirong into her arms.
Qirong immediately burst into wails. While this might not be much for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, his current state of mind seemed to have regressed to that of a four or five-year-old, leaving him feeling utterly wronged.
“You dare bully my brother?”
Just then, a delicate, doll-like mixed-race little girl suddenly darted out from somewhere, lunging at the boy.
‘It’s Chen Xuanzhu.’
Qirong vaguely recognized the little girl’s appearance; she was unmistakably a miniature version of the school belle, Chen.
The boy seemed terrified of the tiny Chen Xuanzhu, and promptly took off running.
“Apologize to my brother.”
Chen Xuanzhu, however, had no intention of letting him off the hook. She vigorously chased after him on her short legs, passing one shop after another. She stumbled several times along the way, yet she pursued him with the ferocity of a small dog, detesting evil.
“Sweetie, come back! Come back!”
Melissa cried out anxiously, but the tiny figure continued to charge forward relentlessly.
Qirong watched, dumbfounded, a feeling of deep kinship spontaneously rising within him.
Just then, as Chen Xuanzhu reached the entrance of an alley, a motorcycle suddenly sped out.
****
“Ah!”
Qirong jolted awake from his dream, feeling his cheeks were completely wet.
‘Am I Qirong or Chen Xuanqiu?’
Qirong’s mind was still in a daze, momentarily lost as if in Zhuangzi’s dream of the butterfly.
‘I don’t know if I can ever go back. Forget it. From today onwards, I’ll try my best to be Chen Xuanqiu. I hope that one day I can fully become him, otherwise, I’ll be too lonely in this world.’
A moment later, Qirong tentatively accepted his current identity.