The Moment of Waking from a Dream

The biting wind scraped his cheeks like a knife, sending a stinging pain across his face.

Chen Zhi stood at the edge of the rooftop. Below him was a bottomless abyss of darkness, while in the distance, the city shone with the brilliant lights of thousands of homes.

In his hand, he clutched a crumpled divorce agreement. His phone screen lit up, displaying a debt collection message from the bank.

The childhood sweetheart in his memory, who used to follow him around calling him Zhi Zhi, had lost touch with him as early as middle school.

The girl who always secretly looked at him hadn't crossed paths with him since elementary school.

Nor had he ever met a good bro who would stay up all night gaming with him while letting him admire her legs.

He had followed the standard path, attending a private college, finding a trashy company that only knew how to exploit its employees, and marrying a wife who cared only about money and not about people.

For a few pieces of silver, he bent his spine and crushed his dignity, only to end up with a broken family and absolutely nothing.

This is your fate.

The mean boss pointed at his nose and cursed.

Chen Zhi wanted to retort, but his throat couldn't make a single sound.

He leaned forward.

A sense of weightlessness washed over him.

Bang!

Chen Zhi violently shuddered, his whole body bouncing up in his seat.

His heart pounded wildly in his chest. Panting heavily and with his pupils sharply contracted, he looked up in bewilderment.

In the dimly lit classroom, the curtains were drawn tight, and the large screen on the podium was playing a movie.

The soothing melody of the movie's ending theme played from the speakers. The air was a bit stuffy, mixed with the smells of various snacks.

It was a scent that belonged uniquely to youth.

Chen Zhi felt a bit dazed.

He subconsciously touched his face. It was warm.

He pinched his thigh.

It hurt.

What's wrong? Had a nightmare?

A mumbled question came from beside him.

Chen Zhi turned his head stiffly.

In the dim light, he saw a familiar profile.

Lin Wanwan was holding a bag of potato chips, her cheeks bulging, with a little crumb stuck to the corner of her mouth.

Her smooth, long hair draped casually over her shoulders, with a few playful strands falling by her ears.

The light and shadow cast a beautiful curve on her straight nose. Her large eyes, which usually held a hint of mischief, were now focused intently on the credits rolling on the screen, seemingly looking for a post-credits scene.

Alive, vivid, and within reach.

An indescribable sourness welled up in his heart.

Thank goodness it was a dream.

Thank goodness that messed-up future was no longer going to happen.

Chen Zhi just stared at her fixedly, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

Lin Wanwan noticed this overly intense gaze.

She struggled to swallow the chips in her mouth, turned her head, and looked at Chen Zhi with a confused expression.

Why are you looking at me? Is there something on my face?

She subconsciously touched the corner of her mouth, thinking she had chip crumbs on it.

Wanwan, what time is it?

Chen Zhi's voice was a bit hoarse.

Huh?

Lin Wanwan didn't understand, blinking her large eyes a couple of times. What time is it?

She took her phone out of her pocket, lit up the screen, and took a look.

Thirty minutes until school is over. What, did you sleep until you got confused?

Saying that, she stuffed another chip into her mouth, munching happily with a crunching sound.

Chen Zhi didn't answer.

He looked at this girl who would get as happy as a fool just from eating something good.

In this world, he hadn't missed out on her.

Not only had he met the gentle and introverted Li Zhiyi, but he also hadn't missed out on Pei Ningxue, who could stay up all night gaming with him.

Chen Zhi took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the surging emotions in his chest, but the tenderness in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

He suddenly reached out and, as if possessed, helped Lin Wanwan tuck the messy strand of hair behind her ear.

His fingertips brushed against her warm earlobe.

Lin Wanwan's chewing suddenly stopped, and she froze in place.

Wanwan.

Chen Zhi looked into her eyes and said softly.

It's so good to have met you.

The sentence came out of nowhere, but it was incredibly sincere.

It exploded like a bomb in Lin Wanwan's heart.

The movie's ending theme was still playing on the large screen.

The bag of chips in Lin Wanwan's hands slipped halfway down with a rustle.

Her large eyes widened perfectly round, her pupils trembling.

Her brain's CPU completely overloaded at this moment.

What... what does this mean?

A... a confession?

Or did this guy sleep until he turned stupid?

A visible redness quickly spread from her neck, instantly covering her entire pretty face.

You... you you you...

Lin Wanwan stammered for a long time without forming a complete sentence.

She lowered her head in a panic, grabbed a handful of chips, and tried to stuff them into her mouth, but because she was too nervous, she shoved them right against her nose.

Cough, cough, cough!

Lin Wanwan coughed violently, frantically brushing the crumbs off her clothes, looking utterly flustered.

Seeing her so flustered, the corners of Chen Zhi's mouth curled up slightly.

He pulled a bottle of water from his desk drawer, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to her.

Lin Wanwan snatched the water bottle and gulped down a few large mouthfuls, barely managing to suppress her coughing.

Blushing intensely, she glared fiercely at Chen Zhi. Her eyes held a mix of embarrassed anger and an indescribable watery gleam.

Chen Zhi, are you sick in the head?! Spouting nonsense in broad daylight!

Although her words were a scolding, her voice was soft and completely lacked any intimidation.

Chen Zhi smiled and didn't retort. He stood up and gave a big stretch.

He glanced at the still-rolling credits and then at the wall clock at the back of the classroom.

The teachers' meeting was probably about to end soon.

Turning on the lights, wake up everyone!

Chen Zhi walked to the door and lightly pressed the switch.

Click.

The glaring fluorescent lights instantly illuminated the entire classroom.

Holy crap! My eyes!

Class rep, what are you doing? We haven't seen the post-credits scene yet!

Who turned on the lights?

A chorus of howling complaints rang out in the classroom.

Chen Zhi ignored the bunch of animals, walked straight to the podium, skillfully cut the power, retracted the projector screen, and locked the multimedia cabinet.

Stop howling. If you keep howling and attract Old Baldy, Sister Qian's salary is going to get deducted again.

Chen Zhi tapped on the blackboard, his tone returning to its usual state.

There are twenty minutes left until school ends. At least pretend to study and take your books out.

Even though everyone was reluctant, they obediently pulled their textbooks from their desks and began their final round of slacking off before the bell.

Chen Zhi stood at the podium and scanned the room.

This was his empire.

These goofy classmates, though none of them looked particularly smart, were truly and genuinely alive.

When his gaze swept past the second-to-last row, it suddenly stopped.

As if discovering a new continent, Chen Zhi's eyebrows twitched slightly.

He saw classmate Jiahao, who usually slept during class, peed between classes, and was useless aside from trying to show off every day.

At this moment, he was actually sitting upright in his seat.

Holding a pen in his hand, his brows tightly furrowed, he was staring intently at a book on his desk while muttering something under his breath.

Did the sun rise from the west?

Chen Zhi's interest was piqued.

He stepped down from the podium lightly and quietly sneaked up behind Li Jiahao.

Leaning in to listen.

He could only hear Li Jiahao whispering some sort of incantation.

A... abandon, abandon...

Chen Zhi was completely baffled.

What the hell was this?

He shifted his gaze to the book in front of Li Jiahao.

There, on the open page, was a vocabulary list.

Abandon.

Next to it, written in crooked handwriting, was a phonetic pronunciation guide using Chinese characters:

[Ah-ben-deng].

Chen Zhi: "..."

Ah-ben-deng my ass.

If the English teacher saw this, they would probably have a stroke on the spot.

"Ahem."

Chen Zhi really couldn't hold it in and coughed from behind Li Jiahao.

"Holy shit!"

Li Jiahao jumped out of his skin, the pen in his hand flying into the air.

He whipped his head around. Seeing it was Chen Zhi, he patted his chest and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Class rep! You scared the crap out of me!"

Chen Zhi picked up the pen from the floor, looking at him with a half-smile.

"Jiahao, what got into you? Giving up the sword for the pen?"