Does Your Back Still Hurt?

Five in the morning.

Xia Chen woke from a light sleep.

Last night’s summer rain had come and gone quickly, disappearing again before dawn.

In the courtyard, the boy simply took a bucket of water and poured it over himself, taking a cold shower.

A chilling shock straight to the core.

It helped him wake up as quickly as possible.

Although Xia Chen always gave off a languid, carefree impression—

In truth, he hated feeling muddled and sluggish.

Even if, in others’ eyes, he always looked like a laid-back delinquent.

Like the old man next door, who often said—

“That Xia kid next door… he’s kind at heart, but he’ll never amount to much.”

Of course, after saying that, the old man would later discover that his chess pieces were missing—his general or marshal gone.

After finishing his cold shower,

Xia Chen sat in the courtyard wearing only shorts and lit a cigarette.

The harsh taste of the cheap cigarette grounded him.

It made him feel real—like he truly existed in this world.

As for why he needed that feeling—

Perhaps it was because this life of his was too ordinary.

More importantly, unlike any of his previous lives,

He lacked ambition.

He lacked desire.

Perhaps… even reincarnation gets tiring.

He comforted himself with that thought.

Though he didn’t remember most of his past lives—

Only fragments remained.

And subconsciously, he avoided recalling them.

Something deep inside told him—

Those were not good memories.

Six-thirty in the morning.

Xia Chen left the courtyard.

Wearing his long-forgotten high school uniform,

He walked toward Zhijiang No.1 High School.

Even by taxi, the journey from the old district to the school would take nearly an hour.

Zhijiang was a provincial capital, vast in size.

The old district wasn’t close to the city center,

And transportation wasn’t convenient.

Xia Chen didn’t deliberately speed up.

At just slightly faster than a normal walking pace,

He arrived at the school gate in about forty minutes.

At this time, there weren’t many students yet.

Xia Chen didn’t rush in.

Instead, he stopped to chat with an old man selling breakfast at the entrance.

“One serving of dumplings, boss.”

“Coming right up.”

The vendor handed him the dumplings and noticed that he wasn’t in a hurry.

Out of boredom, he smiled and said—

“Not many kids wake up this early these days.

Working this hard… your family must not be well-off, right?”

Xia Chen glanced at him.

One sentence was enough to tell what kind of person he was.

“Boss, you open your stall this early too.

Your life must be pretty tough as well, huh?”

On the first day back to class,

He had already fallen out with the breakfast vendor.

It was a rather pointless start.

So Xia Chen headed into the classroom.

When he arrived,

Only two or three students were there.

There was still more than half an hour before class.

Students were masters of timing—

So it was perfectly normal for the room to be empty.

As Xia Chen sat down—

A few nearby students cast surprised glances.

“Is that… Xia Chen?”

“He actually came to class…”

“I need to check if the sun rose in the west today.”

His presence was shocking to Class 273.

After all, he was someone whose attendance matched perfectly with everyone else’s days off.

As the next thirty minutes passed,

More and more students arrived.

Almost all of them glanced toward the boy by the window in surprise.

“Why did you suddenly come to class?”

A boy sat down beside him, visibly excited.

Xia Chen knew him—Sun Zhen.

One of the few people who spoke to him regularly.

Sun Zhen came from a stable family—

A civil servant father and a housewife mother.

A complete contrast to Xia Chen’s rootless existence.

“I’m a student.”

Xia Chen answered without thinking.

A reason that didn’t really sound like a reason.

“Thud…”

Just as Sun Zhen was about to speak—

A soft sound came from the front row.

A slender figure sat down.

Long black hair flowed down her back like a waterfall.

A striking sight.

As the girl took her seat, Sun Zhen seemed to remember something and leaned forward with a grin.

“Hey, Cao Qingyi—look who showed up.”

The girl named Cao Qingyi turned around calmly.

Her face had a gentle, girl-next-door charm—youthful and delicate.

At first, her expression was neutral.

But the moment she saw Xia Chen—

Her eyes widened.

Her lips parted slightly.

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

She looked shy.

But not because of his appearance.

It wasn’t admiration.

It was something else entirely.

She clearly remembered—

On the first day of school,

When he sat behind her—

He had tugged on the strap of her undergarment.

And even asked—

“What is this? It’s so tight. Doesn’t it hurt?”

Worst of all—

He had stretched it to its limit—

And let go.

The sharp snap—

Not only hurt her back,

But shattered her pride.

From that day on,

They became enemies.

She couldn’t even stand seeing him.

Even though Xia Chen seemed indifferent about it,

Cao Qingyi could never forgive him.

“Xia… Chen!”

Just as she was about to say something—

Xia Chen flashed a bright grin and waved.

“Hi.

Does your back still hurt?”