Chapter 1 Chapter01 Rainy Day
The rain was falling softly, covering the small town of Sushan in a curtain of rain, and the landmark buildings and passers-by became blurred.
At six in the morning, breakfast shops along the street had already set up their stalls, and white smoke from the hot stoves poured into the humid air. At this time, the street was mostly filled with students wearing No. 1 Middle School uniforms, hurriedly moving towards the school gates.
An electric car drove past, and the mud and water it brought up when it passed a pothole splashed onto Yan Sui's white socks, immediately leaving stains on them.
Yan Sui just glanced down and continued walking forward without much concern.
"Classmate, where is your school badge?"
The voice of the school duty officer came from the front, bringing Yan Sui's slightly absent thoughts back to reality.
She fished her school badge out of her pocket. It felt familiar yet strange. Even though she had been home for four days, she couldn't hide her excitement when she saw the sign that read "Sushan No. 1 Senior High School."
Yan Sui pinned her school badge on her collar, pulled the strap of her schoolbag, and walked into the No. 1 Middle School campus with her chest slightly puffed out.
"Sui Sui!"
Just as Yan Sui was about to enter the teaching building, she suddenly heard a shout.
She looked in the direction of the sound and saw Tan Shu standing in the flower bed on the left side of the teaching building with a broom in his hand, waving at her.
Tan Shu ran over to Yan Sui with a broom in hand: "Good morning!"
When she met Tan Shu, a strange look flashed across Yan Sui's eyes, but it was quickly covered up by the smile between her eyebrows: "Are you on duty today?"
Tan Shu and Yan Sui lived in the same neighborhood and grew up together, sharing the same classes throughout elementary school, kindergarten, and junior high. They were also in the same class when they first entered No. 1 Middle School in their freshman year of high school. However, when classes were divided in their sophomore year, Yan Sui chose the liberal arts program, while Tan Shu remained in the science program. These differing subject choices drove these close-knit sisters apart.
Due to different class rules, the two of them arrived at class at different times. They usually went to school separately and went back together after school in the evening.
Tan Shu swung the broom irritably and complained, "It was a boy in our class who annoyed me all day last night and asked me to switch duty with him today. I was originally scheduled for Wednesday, who wants to be on duty on Friday? I even leave school later than everyone else in the afternoon."
Yan Sui smiled and comforted: "It's okay, I'll wait for you in the afternoon."
Tan Shu waved his hand and said, "Forget it, forget it. You'd better not wait for me. If I keep dawdling, I'll probably be waiting very late. You should just go home. My dad said that your father will be back this week, so I don't want to disturb your family reunion."
Hearing the word "Dad", Yan Sui's eyes froze for a moment. But the emotion in his eyes was only fleeting. Yan Sui slowly raised the corners of his lips, and a smile appeared on his face again: "Yes, he will be back this week."
But this time the smile did not reach his eyes, his eyes were calm and no emotion could be seen.
When Yan Sui arrived at the classroom, most of the students were already sitting in their seats reading. This was normal in the elite class, let alone the elite class of No. 1 Middle School. Half an hour before the morning self-study session began, almost the entire class would be there.
Yan Sui sat down at her seat, took out the Chinese textbook from the hole in the desk and looked at the recitation homework assigned yesterday.
The notes on the book were densely packed, almost memorizing all the knowledge points taught by the teacher. Yan Sui attended the classes for the past two days very seriously, and even after school, she did not put down the book.
If she had the chance to do it all over again, she wouldn't repeat the regrets of her past life.
Yan Sui came back four days ago and returned to her seventeen years old.
Her memory still lingered on the moment she received an emergency call from the hospital and hurriedly drove back to Sushan from the neighboring county.
The rain that day was incredibly heavy, the heaviest torrential downpour Lin'an had seen in recent years. In just one morning, the weather bureau issued three yellow alerts. The windshield wipers couldn't keep up with the speed of the rain lashing the car windows, causing the view to blur. The summer downpour was accompanied by a sweltering heat. The air conditioning in the car wasn't on, but Yan Sui felt as if she'd fallen into an icy cave, her body shivering uncontrollably.
Thinking back to the call she had just received, she tightened her grip on the steering wheel.
"Ms. Yan, Ms. Sui's condition is not good..."
Yan Sui's thoughts were in a mess, and the only clear words in her mind were the doctor's last words in the receiver.
Ever since that incident in her senior year of high school, her mother's health has been failing. When she was in college, she was diagnosed with severe depression. Her younger brother dropped out to stay home to care for her. She struggled to complete her university studies while working part-time to support the family and her younger sister. Upon completing her undergraduate studies, she gave up on the postgraduate entrance exam and went straight to work at a foreign trade company.
Those years were incredibly stressful, but she felt the support of her younger siblings and mother, giving her the motivation to persevere. But things got even worse. She had been scheduled for a promotion to a supervisory position by the end of the year, with her salary more than doubling, but her position was snatched away by a newly returned international student. She contacted her manager, who said there would be another opportunity in the future.
A colleague told her that the international student was the boss's niece, and the position of supervisor was just a gilded title for her.
When Yan Sui learned this inside story, she didn't know how much effort she had put into controlling her emotions and not letting them out in front of the company. The position she wanted so much to climb to was just a gilded position for others, a position they could easily take.
She returned home exhausted, only to receive the news that her mother had attempted suicide and was in the intensive care unit of the hospital.
Yan Sui felt like the sky was about to fall to the ground.
But when she saw her sister hugging her brother and crying, she knew she couldn't fall down.
My mother stayed in the intensive care unit for three years.
Today, the hospital called her and told her that her mother might not survive the night.
Yan Sui originally thought that her life was already bleak enough, but when she heard the news, she truly understood what bleakness was.
She thought, why couldn't God be nicer to her?
Just when her mind was in a mess, the phone rang again. Yan Sui glanced at the phone and saw the word "sister" displayed on the screen, and suddenly a bad premonition came to her heart.
Yan Sui pressed the answer button with trembling fingers.
As soon as the call was connected, sister Yan An's tearful voice came out from the car receiver: "Sister..."
"Mom, she's gone."
Yan Sui: “…”
—
"Yan Sui, Yan Sui."
Someone patted her arm gently, and Yan Sui suddenly came back to her senses.
My deskmate Chen Ling clasped her hands together with a flattering smile on her face: "Sui Sui, let me borrow your math paper!"
Yan Sui responded, took out the paper from the book and handed it to Chen Ling.
Chen Ling took it with a smile, then immediately took out her own paper and copied it. As she copied, she kept talking, "By the way, Sui Sui. Is the school choir going to start rehearsals in a few days? I heard that the choir will represent the school in the district competition after this performance."
When she heard the word "choir", Yan Sui couldn't help but tighten her grip on the pen.
The school organized the choir specifically to be the finale of the school's 50th anniversary celebration this year.
Yan Sui was a good singer. In her freshman year of high school, she was tricked by Tan Shu into participating in the school's "Campus Singer" competition and won second place. Therefore, as soon as the news of this choir came out, the school music teacher came to see her.
In the previous life, Yan Sui did attend the choir's performance and met him there.
"Host, don't forget the purpose of our return this time." A cold mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
Yan Sui stared at a corner of the book, her heart in turmoil.
The system came back with her four days ago.
In her previous life, the moment she watched the car window shatter, her consciousness was taken away to another place. There was nothing there, only a voice calling itself "the system" talking to her.
The system asked her if she wanted to go back to the past and change her family's tragedy.
Yan Sui recalled her short life and realized that all the tragedies were caused by something that happened when she was seventeen.
She told the system without hesitation, "Yes."
The system explained to her some rules that must be followed in rebirth, as well as certain taboos: "If you can accept all of this, press the button in front of you."
A moment of confusion flashed across Yan Sui's eyes, but that strange emotion disappeared in an instant. Without thinking, she immediately pressed the red button in front of her.
The next second, her body was sucked into the vortex and her consciousness slowly disappeared.
When she opened her eyes again, she was already lying in her bed at home.
.
Chen Ling didn't see Yan Sui say anything for a long time. He raised his hand and waved it in front of her, asking suspiciously, "What's wrong with you?"
Yan Sui's thoughts were interrupted, and she finally came to her senses: "Oh, oh. Choir, right? I'm not sure of the time, so I won't go because of this."
Chen Ling's eyes widened immediately: "Why?"
Yan Sui lowered her eyes, picked up the next page with her fingertips and turned it over, saying in a faint voice: "I just don't want to go."
—
Friday's classes are easier than the previous four days, with only one physical education class and self-study in the afternoon.
Yan Sui did not attend the physical education class. She stayed in the classroom to review what she had learned in the morning.
She had returned suddenly, having graduated years beforehand and having forgotten much of what she'd learned in high school. Math still had some muscle memory to keep up, but the other subjects required a lot of memorization.
If she wants to get into a good university in the college entrance examination, she has to spend more time than others.
Many students in the top classes would give up physical education classes and stay in the classroom to study on their own, and the physical education teachers would turn a blind eye to this.
When Yan Sui finished a set of math papers, Chen Ling just came back from outside the classroom.
She took two bottles of drinks and placed one of them on Yan Sui's desk.
Yan Sui looked up and met her gaze, and immediately knew that she wanted to talk to him about something, so he stopped what he was doing and asked, "What's wrong?"
Chen Ling clasped her hands together and approached Yan Sui with a flattering look on her face: "Sui Sui baby, my dad is picking me up to attend my cousin's banquet today. I need to go there early to help my cousin. Can I switch duties with you today?"
This is a small matter for Yan Sui. It doesn’t matter whether she goes home early or late. She will feel more comfortable if she goes home late and sees the person at home less.
She agreed without thinking too much, pinched the can of Coke between her fingers and shook it, a smile on her lips: "This, I'll respectfully accept it!"
.
Chen Ling’s duty is to clean the area she is responsible for.
This was something that had happened in her previous life. Because something happened there that left a deep impression on her, when Chen Ling mentioned this, she immediately thought of what happened in her previous life.
The system explained that even though she was reborn in this world, everything she did that was different from her previous life would have a butterfly effect that would affect many things in the future. Therefore, aside from the most important tasks, she had to change as little as possible of the existing world.
"Then can I bring this matter to an early conclusion?"
The system said, "Anything you do will cause a butterfly effect that affects the outcome of the event. This is uncontrollable. As long as you don't change the cause, the consequences won't have much impact on you. If there's something you can't do, I'll tell you."
Yan Sui understood what the system said. It meant that as long as she did this thing, the result would have nothing to do with her.
In reality, she knew the system's requirements for her were quite broad, requiring her to change as little as possible, but without restricting her. Aside from certain key points that affected things, she could avoid everything else based on her experience from her previous life.
But Yan Sui felt that being able to come back once was a gift from God, and she always treated the system with respect.
There are some things she can solve, so she does it according to the timeline of her previous life and tries to minimize the spread of the butterfly effect.
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