Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

Du Zihan, who had just finished his second year of middle school, was walking with his parents while playing games on his father’s iPhone 4S.

“Du Zihan, can you stop playing with my phone while walking? Can’t you have a proper chat with your mom and dad?” His father scolded.

“I got it, I got it.”

“You’ll be taking the high school entrance exam next year. Make sure to pray to the Bodhisattva and ask for his blessings to help you achieve the admission score threshold of Baimei No.1 High School. If you can achieve that, you’ll save us tens of thousands of yuan,” Du Zihan’s father continued.

“Mm-hmm.”

Du Zihan’s father, Du Yingjun, became furious. “Hey, you brat! Are you listening to me? Do you want me to smash that phone?”

“Go ahead, it’s yours anyway,” Du Zihan replied nonchalantly.

“You ungrateful child!”

Du Yingjun was about to raise his hand to give Du Zihan a slap when suddenly a voice came from behind them.

“…”

Du Yingjun stared at the handsome young man in front of him and felt a bit confused. “Are you…one of Du Zihan’s classmates?”

Du Zihan looked up at the person and was also taken aback. “Are you Messi?”

“Haha, not Messi…” Mei Fang chuckled, “I’m Mei Fang.”

“Oh, no, I haven’t talked to you in a long time, my tongue slipped. Mei Fang, Mei Fang!” Du Zihan quickly corrected himself.

Mei Fang reminded Du Yingjun, “Du Zihan and I were kindergarten classmates. You even held me when I was little. Don’t you remember?”

Du Yingjun scratched his head and thought for a while. Finally, he remembered Mei Fang’s identity and immediately put on a somewhat flattering smile. “You’re Mei Ju’s son, right?”

“Mei Ju? Which Mei Ju…”

Du Yingjun whispered to his wife:

“It’s that Mei Lijun from our previous workplace. He competed with me for the position of office director before. Now he’s in Baizhou City——”

Du Yingjun’s wife, upon hearing about Mei Fang’s family background, was naturally delighted. “I didn’t expect that. He was such a little kid back then, and now he’s grown into a handsome young man. Your parents are really fortunate.”

“Hehe… not at all.”

Mei Fang touched his head and smiled. “Uncle and Auntie, are you here today to pay respects too?”

“Yes… oh, by the way, you have finished the high school entrance exam, right? How did it go? Your dad said your grades were pretty good, so you should have met the score requirement for Baimei No.1 High School, right?”

“Umm… I think I did? I’m not quite sure.”

Mei Fang had forgotten what the cutoff score for Baimei No.1 High School was this year.

“Uh-huh… but your family is not short of money, so you can easily get into Baimei No.1 High School. Unlike our Du Zihan, he’ll have to rely on his own exam results.”

“Du Zihan will take the exam next year, right? You have to study hard.”

“Uh…”

Du Zihan touched his nose, paused for a moment, and then pointed at Mei Fang. “Wait, you didn’t even take the Baimei No.1 High School’s entrance exam, right? I saw your name on the honor roll poster a while ago. You went straight to study at Jiangcheng No.1 High School.”

“Jiangcheng No.1 High School? Is this kid really capable?”

Du Yingjun and his wife exchanged glances, thinking that there was no need to worship any Bodhisattva; they could just worship the great god directly in front of them!

“So, since you two know each other, you should pay respect together. Mei Fang, are you alone? Didn’t your parents come with you?”

Mei Fang shook his head and pointed to a group of boys and girls waiting behind him. “I came with friends.”

“Then, Du Zihan, you should come too! Young people should have fun together. Take the phone with you and call us later.”

“Why should I go? I’m not familiar with them.”

“Oh, you’re still shy even at this age… Go, go! Socialize and learn from these seniors.”

Mei Fang chimed in, “But we haven’t bought tickets yet. We need to wait a bit.”

Du Yingjun immediately patted Mei Fang’s shoulder and said with a smile, “Uncle is here today, so how could I let you pay? Uncle Du will cover the cost of the tickets for today!”

“Great! Thank you, Uncle Du!”

So Mei Fang brought little Du Zihan over. Xia Yuan seemed somewhat disdainful because Du Zihan used to bully girls when he was younger, and she never had a good impression of him.

“Ah Fang, why did you bring this troublemaker…”

“Isn’t it kind of fate that we are able to meet Du Zihan here?”

Mei Fang gently tapped Du Zihan’s sleeping head. “Tell me, how long has it been since we last saw each other, Du Zihan?”

“It hasn’t been that long. I see you guys’ faces every day, always on that honor roll…”

As Du Zihan spoke, his voice became weak and feeble, unlike when he was in elementary school. He now gave the feeling of Runtu^[1] being humble in front of Lu Xun.

Oh, how boring.

“Is he your friend?” Yue Xinyi asked curiously.

“Yes, he is. We were in the same kindergarten class with Ah Fang and Youxi. He was the most naughty one,” Xia Yuan couldn’t help but comment.

“But he seems quite introverted now,” Yue Xinyi was curious, patting Du Zihan’s head. “How was he naughty before?”

“Hey…don’t address me like that.”

Du Zihan said seriously, “Although I’m one grade lower, I repeated a grade, so we should be the same age.”

“Then you’re a bit short. Look at the boys here, you should be as tall as them,” Yue Xinyi pointed to Mei Fang and Zhang Ming. Zhang Ming was slightly shorter than Mei Fang, currently only 167 centimeters, but he looked much more mature than Du Zihan, who seemed to be less than 1.6 meters.

“…I don’t know.”

Du Zihan didn’t dare to raise his head and speak much.

“Alright, stop bullying Du Zihan all the time.”

Peng Xue clapped her hands and then patted Du Zihan’s shoulder. “Hey, do you still recognize me? We met at the skating rink a couple of years ago.”

“…”

Du Zihan blushed without saying much to Peng Xue and immediately turned his head. “I remember, I remember.”

Seeing his ears turning red, Peng Xue knew that he finally had thoughts about the opposite sex, and she immediately had the idea of teasing him:

“Well, what’s my name then? If you can’t answer, you have to give me a hundred yuan.”

“Peng… Peng Xue, right? We were deskmates in elementary school.”

“Wow, you actually remember!”

Peng Xue was quite pleased and held onto Mei Fang’s arm, seeking praise. “See, Mei Fang, I told you I’m quite charming!”

“What does that have to do with whether you’re charming or not… Let go, don’t cling to me.”

“Xiaoxue!” Xia Yuan stomped her feet in annoyance.

“Ahaha, okay, okay.” Peng Xue let go of Mei Fang’s arm.

At this moment, Guo Yun saw that Lin Youxi seemed a bit unsteady and decided to join the conversation. “It’s not good to just stand here. Let’s go in and pay our respects first, shall we?”

Under Xia Yuan’s lead, the group of people entered the temple and presented their tickets to enter one by one.

Du Zihan was quite chubby, and he struggled to squeeze out of the gate and catch up with Mei Fang and the others.

Since they didn’t share a common language, Du Zihan kept his head down and played with his phone along the way. Only Peng Xue occasionally engaged him in conversation.

Whenever Peng Xue spoke to him, Du Zihan didn’t dare to look at her. However, after Peng Xue walked ahead, he slightly raised his head and watched her figure from behind.

After the group passed through the Gate of Shanmen and crossed the Feihong Bridge, they successively visited the four main halls: the Four Heavenly Kings Hall, the Mahavira Hall, the Pilu Hall, and the True Body Hall.

“Ah Fang, who is the Buddha statue in this True Body Hall? It looks a bit strange.”

“Well, this one isn’t a traditional Buddha statue. It’s a seated image of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren, enshrined here.”

After Xia Yuan finished paying her respects, she stared at the statue in front of her with some ominous thoughts arising. “Hey, could this statue be made from his actual body?”

“It seems so…”

“After a monk’s death, shouldn’t his body be cremated into relics? Don’t lie to me; I’m not uneducated!”

Xia Yuan pounded on Mei Fang’s shoulder.

“Usually, that’s the case, but Master Hongren is one of the few exceptions. His physical body remains uncorrupted for thousands of years, so it’s called the complete body relic. Perhaps, the actual body of Master Hongren is inside this statue?”

“Ugh…”

Xia Yuan was suddenly frightened, cold sweat breaking out. She clasped her hands together in a gesture of respect. “Master, please forgive me, please forgive me…”

Then she grabbed Mei Fang’s clothes and urged him to walk faster.

The legend of the true body of the Fifth Patriarch was indeed true, but in reality, during the chaotic period of the 16th year of the Republic of China, his physical body was already cremated and eventually turned into relics. This was something even Mei Fang didn’t know.

Now, as the entrance exam scores were not yet released, several grand halls symbolizing Manjusri Bodhisattva were filled with students and parents paying their respects, offering continuous streams of incense.

Upon Mei Fang’s reminder, Du Zihan also specifically paid his respects to Manjushri Bodhisattva, hoping for a smooth high school entrance exam.

After visiting the four main halls, the group wandered around the seven side halls, paying respects to some unfamiliar Buddhas and taking a look at the several Yama Kings of the Underworld before ceasing their visits.

They arrived at the Hand-washing Pool, where they saw many people throwing coins into the offering bowl in the middle of the pool and praying. They also clamored to join in throwing coins.

“Ah Fang, you go first!”

Mei Fang looked at Xia Yuan. “Do you want me to make a wish for you?”

Xia Yuan shook her head, giggling with her hands behind her back. “You can do it for yourself.”

So Mei Fang took a coin and threw it in, succeeding on the first try. Everyone got excited and applauded.

“Ah Fang, what did you wish for? It worked so quickly.”

“Um… I’m not telling. If I say it, it won’t come true.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Holding a coin, Xia Yuan silently prayed in her heart and then also threw it, succeeding on the first try as well.

“Ah Fang, did you see that? I’m amazing too!”

“I know, I know…” Mei Fang patted Xia Yuan’s head and praised her, then looked at Lin Youxi. “Youxi, are you going to try?”

Lin Youxi shook her head. “I don’t need it… I’m not feeling well today.”

“Well… it’s okay if you don’t. Because in the wish I just made, I included you too.”

“Then what about me, Ah Fang?” Xia Yuan raised her head.

“Of course, you’re included too. Don’t worry… But I can’t say it, or it won’t come true.”

“Okay!”

Mei Fang pinched Xia Yuan’s nose, and Yue Xinyi and Peng Xue both made a clicking sound at the same time.

Taking advantage of everyone being distracted, Du Zihan touched his pocket, took a coin, and silently prayed in his heart.

His mind was filled with the charming appearance of Peng Xue, her gentle expression when she talked to him earlier, making Du Zihan, who had never experienced the kindness of a beautiful girl, unable to forget.

Why was I so stupid when I was in elementary school… Why did I like to bully Peng Xue and oppose her back then?

Du Zihan deeply regretted it now.

But now that we’ve met so many times, it must be some kind of special fate, right?

Due to these vague thoughts, Du Zihan’s face turned red.

With all his strength, he threw the coin.

Plop.

The coin fell into the pool.

Du Zihan wasn’t annoyed.

Anyways… I still have plenty of coins in my pocket.

Du Zihan tossed all his coins and none made it into the bowl.

Du Zihan cried incessantly.

Translator's Notes:

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