Rebirth
Spring in HX2122 came later than usual.
Despite it being March, a time of warm spring weather and blooming flowers, Xu Changjia, wearing a sweatshirt, still felt the biting cold wind completely extinguish any warmth from her body, making her shiver.
Her appearance drew frequent glances from people on the street.
The reason was simple: she was holding an enlarged black-and-white photograph in front of her chest. The photograph showed a man and a woman smiling brightly, but it also looked somewhat eerie. The large black backpack behind her also attracted the attention of passersby.
The red light across the street corner came on, and Xu Changjia stood to the side, looking around listlessly, oblivious to the stares from the pedestrians.
Instead, she immediately noticed the huge electronic screen in the mall, which was showing one handsome man and beautiful woman after another. They all looked to be about the same age as her. How come they were so successful and had such bright futures?
She became an orphan, out of school and unemployed, a social outcast?
She recites the core socialist values every day and hasn't violated a single one, so how come all the misfortunes have befallen her?
The moment the green light came on, she quickly tightened her clothes and patted the black backpack behind her. The sachet with the magnolia flower pendant was still there, and she felt comforted. Only then did she walk across the street with her parents' portraits in her arms.
The black backpack contained her parents' urns. Five days ago, her father returned from a business trip, and her mother drove to pick him up. Because of the slippery roads due to rain, they had an accident on the way back and both of them died.
Even now, she still can't accept that at only twenty-two years old, she is all alone in this world.
So when the black car went out of control and hurtled towards her, she froze for a moment, and what she was thinking was: would this allow her to reunite with her parents in heaven?
Xu Changjia was knocked and rolled several meters away. The glass of the photo frame in her hand shattered all over the ground, and some powder was spilled from her black backpack. Some pedestrians on the roadside took out their mobile phones to take pictures and videos, and some called the police, but no one dared to approach her.
She touched her face, as if sensing something she wanted to say, but the pain rendered her speechless. She could only stare wide-eyed at the black-and-white photograph drifting further and further away from her...
In the last moment before she closed her eyes, she heard the long wail of police sirens and the sound of hurried footsteps.
Was it a dream? Why could I smell the fragrance of magnolia blossoms in my dream?
With great effort, she opened her eyes and saw the magnolia flowers hanging on the bed curtains, swaying in the wind, and the long, shady summer sun outside the window.
Didn't she die in a car accident?
Xu Changjia propped himself up on the bed and sat up. He then heard the announcement of an electronic clock: "It is now June 30, HX2115, 2:00 PM South Coast time."
The old-fashioned clock hanging on the wall, the fragrant magnolia blossoms on the bed curtains, and the junior high school Chinese textbook on her desk all told her that she seemed to have been reborn and returned to the age of 15.
She couldn't believe it. She was supposed to be dead, so how could she have come back to life? And she had returned to the summer of 2115.
But standing in front of the full-length mirror at the foot of the bed, her still-childish face clearly told her that she was still a child.
A 15-year-old girl who has just graduated from junior high school is no longer an unemployed or destitute member of society.
She wanted to look around, and then a "ding-dong" sound went through her mind, as if something had been activated.
The mechanical voice hissed and continued broadcasting: "Hello, it's a pleasure to serve you, my host."
Xu Changjia sat at the foot of the bed and communicated with this thing, which he didn't know was human or ghost, using his consciousness: Hello.
"I am SOUL World 011 Memory Book. Congratulations on unlocking the mission to save five stars. Completing the mission will earn you life, and may you live a long and peaceful life to the end."
Her mind was overwhelmed by too much information at once, and she couldn't process it all. Whether she was twenty-two or fifteen, the concepts of the Soul World, the Memory Book, and the Redemption Mission all seemed absurd to her.
She instinctively reached for her phone to write something in her notes app.
Looking up, I saw the calendar next to the digital clock on the wall. It was June 2015. Smartphones wouldn't appear for another three or four years and enter every household.
"Knock knock knock..."
The three knocks on the door made Xu Changjia realize that she was not alone; at this moment, she still had her parents.
She sat up straight and saw her mother, Wei Xiyan, push open the door and enter. "Mom."
Seeing that her daughter had been napping for too long today, Mrs. Xu knocked on the door and came in.
My daughter's middle school entrance exam results came out a couple of days ago, and she didn't do very well. These past few days, she's been staying in her room and not going out.
I finally mentioned last night during dinner that I was going to visit the Qiuzhi Bookstore at the Children's Palace this afternoon, and now that the time has come, I still haven't left the house.
Mrs. Xu subtly mentioned, "Jiajia, I'm going out in a bit. Your Uncle Chen is driving me to the airport. Do you need a ride?"
Xu Changjia frowned. "Give me a ride?" What does that mean?
A beep sounded in my mind: Host, 15-year-old Xu Changjia is going to Qiuzhi Bookstore to buy books at this time. This is a memory video.
Seeing that her eyes were wandering and she was staring at the magnolia flowers by the bedside, Mrs. Xu thought that she didn't want to go.
"Jiajia, if you're not going, Aunt Chen will come to cook later. Dad will be back from his business trip tonight."
Xu Changjia quickly responded and stepped forward to stop her, "No, Mom, I'll go." It was a real body temperature; her mother was indeed still alive.
She also longed to see what Junzhou was like at 15, to walk the paths he had walked before, and to love this world once more.
Qiuzhi Bookstore isn't far; it's only three subway stops away. But Ms. Xu wanted to spend more time with her daughter, so she made Assistant Chen drive for twenty minutes on what should have been a ten-minute journey, and then chatted with her for quite a while longer.
Even as Xu Changjia stood in front of the Children's Palace, his mind was still buzzing: Either you need to eat properly, or you need to go home early tonight to be with your dad, and don't think about the high school entrance exam...
For a moment, I was even a little absent-minded while walking.
Just as she was about to crash into a tree, the sound of a piano stopped her in her tracks.
She remembered that the Children's Palace had students learning drums, guitar, and guzheng, but no piano. Was this because of a series of chemical reactions caused by her rebirth?
Xu Changjia asked the memory book in her mind, but it seemed to be playing dead. After filling her with a bunch of random thoughts, it didn't respond at all no matter what she asked next.
She followed the sound of the piano and saw a glass room at the end of the tree. Golden sunlight shone on it, like a beam of light shining into her dark world. Along with the light appeared a little boy sitting in front of the piano.
The piano room bathed in light was the little boy's own stage, with only her as the audience. The notes were the most beautiful sounds in the world, as if he were in a calm lake, clear and bright, without any trace of the past or the future.
She gazed at his retreating figure as if she were seeing Prometheus stealing fire, his presence piercing her heart and obliterating her divinity.
The little boy seemed to sense something, paused for a moment, and unconsciously played a wrong note.
Xu Changjia stood at the end of the green trees, watching the little boy play the piano. This figure seemed to overlap with some scenes from her previous life.
It was still a stage, only the little boy in white shirt and black pants had been replaced by a mature face in a black suit. What remained unchanged was the piano playing, seemingly oblivious to everyone else. Even the lively notes sounded so familiar to her that she unconsciously leaned against the tree and listened for a while longer.
The sound of a door opening with a "snap" made Xu Changjia hide behind a tree. She peeked out and it seemed to be her piano teacher. She stopped listening and went back to the third floor of the Children's Palace to the Qiuzhi Bookstore. She bought the workbooks and tutoring books she needed and went home.
When she returned home, it wasn't empty. Aunt Chen's laughter came from the kitchen, making her realize how happy it was to have someone with her.
"Jiajia's back! Madam told me that you haven't had much of an appetite these past two days, so she asked me to make some appetizers. I was thinking that you liked the spicy and sour fish from last time, so I went to the seafood market early this morning and picked out a big, fat sea bass. I'm cooking it differently today, so come and try it."
She put the books she was carrying on the coffee table, changed her shoes, and then went to the kitchen to greet Aunt Chen with a smile. "Thank you, Aunt Chen. I could smell the delicious aroma from far away in the hallway. I wondered which restaurant it was from, but it turned out to be Aunt Chen's cooking."
Aunt Chen really liked this 15-year-old girl. Every time she cooked, she would see the girl eat most of the food on the table, which made her, the cook, very happy. Therefore, she was willing to pay more attention to her.
Upon hearing this today, I immediately prepared the passion fruit spicy fish dish that I had learned to make a couple of days ago for her.
"Passion fruit spicy and sour fish, lemon shredded chicken, tomato tofu, and stir-fried shrimp, asparagus, and mushrooms. The dishes are all ready. Jiajia, eat first. I've saved some rice for my husband."
"My wife said that my husband would be back later. I also called him and said that we could just ask him to stay for dinner and that we didn't need to wait for him."
Xu Changjia readily agreed, and as soon as she washed her hands, she drooled over the delicious food on the table. Aunt Chen's cooking skills were undoubtedly superb. Unfortunately, in her previous life, she only finished high school before her mother told her that Aunt Chen had pancreatic cancer. This disease came on quickly and was very torturous, and she passed away within a few months.
Life is precious. At the time, I only felt sad when I heard this, but I never thought that a few years later, his whole family would be reunited in the afterlife.
The passion fruit and spicy fish was so tempting that she ate half of it in one gulp. She wanted to have another bowl of rice with the soup when she heard the sound of a key turning in the living room. Aunt Chen went over first and said, "The master is back. Just in time for dinner."
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