Late at night.
In the bedroom, moonlight pierced through the gaps in the curtains, casting a lone streak on the floor, becoming the only source of light.
Within the pale moonlight, the tiny shadows of insects crawling on the window flashed faintly.
Woo~
A vehicle from the residential area, with a gentle hum of its engine, passed by beneath the window outside.
The harsh white headlights shone through the curtain gaps, tracing a fan-shaped halo on the ceiling, which then slowly faded away as the vehicle moved on.
Click.
An old cassette was inserted into the player, and as the lid closed, a sound of opening and closing was heard.
Li Chengyi frowned as he plugged in his headphones and adjusted the volu, and soon, a quiet stream of music drifted out from the headphones and into his ears.
The music was lyricless, purely a blend of classical instrunts: guzheng and pipa.
The tempo was relaxed, clear.
The sounds from the two instrunts intertwined like two delicate and sharp threads, sotis entangling, sotis clearly delineated.
It was as if they were recounting an ancient story, or resembling two pale fingers ceaselessly twisting around each other.
Li Chengyi lay on his side against the pillow, staring at the pitch-black curtains, motionless, listening to the song in his headphones.
The cool pillowcase gradually ward from the heat of his face, starting to release a faint fragrance of laundry detergent.
He lay there with open eyes, as if zoning out, yet as if he were contemplating sothing.
He clearly rembered that twenty minutes earlier, he had still been halfway up a mountain hike; twenty minutes later, he simply discovered a pretty little flower, and then suddenly felt dizzy... everything changed, and he found himself in another body, in this room, this world. He had beco much younger.
After ten minutes of shock, doubt, and incredulity, he began to accept reality.
At this mont, a flood of information and mories rapidly fused with his own in his mind. These were all from another Li Chengyi who shared his na, the mories of nearly two decades in this world.
The information was incomplete, much of it blurry. But it was enough for him to get a preliminary grasp of his situation.
"Tomorrow, I have a very important friend coming to visit our ho, so you and Li Chengyi should go out for a stroll, find sothing to do, and don't co back until after five in the afternoon, got it?"
A deep, young woman's voice faintly ca from outside the bedroom.
Li Chengyi's train of thought snapped as the na automatically surfaced with the sound of that voice—it was Li Chengjiu.
This was his current body's older sister, presumably talking with their parents.
"All right, don't worry, we definitely won't interfere with your matters," their mother Feng Yurong replied cautiously.
The father didn't say a word, rely breathing slightly heavier, a silent agreent.
"Jiu, about... your brother's job situation still hasn't been settled, look..." their mother cautiously broached another subject.
"What's the rush, I haven't even stabilized the situation yet, we'll discuss it later. Don't cause trouble," Li Chengjiu replied impatiently.
"Rest assured, absolutely not, absolutely not," their mother, Feng Yurong, responded softly.
"Go to sleep, and rember, don't co back before twelve, and if you see going out with a girl with very pale skin, don't greet . Just pretend you don't know , got it?" Li Chengjiu continued.
"Rest assured, rest assured, we will stay away; we certainly won't ss up your important matters," their mother's voice paused, then quietly answered.
"Oh, yes," Li Chengjiu paused, "I have to pay my tuition fees this month, about one hundred and ninety thousand. You'll have to pay it for tomorrow."
"One hundred and ninety thousand... Didn't we just pay a large sum?" mother Feng Yurong struggled a bit. Her husband and she were tight on money because of their frequent paynts.
One hundred and ninety thousand was no small sum.
"This ti it's for material costs, plus training fees!" Li Chengjiu said impatiently. "Don't you still have your pensions? Withdraw them to pay for it first, and then slowly replenish it later."
"This..." mother Feng Yurong hesitated, "Okay, we'll make sure it gets paid."
She didn't ntion that their pension had already been withdrawn a long ti ago to pay for Li Chengjiu's expenses.
Recently, the factory's profitability had been down, and their wages had been reduced. They really were strapped for cash.
Li Chengjiu grunted and pushed back her chair, rose to her feet, and walked to the bathroom to freshen up.
Leaving Feng Yurong and her husband, Li Zhao, sitting in the living room, speaking softly.
"I don't have enough pension funds on my side; you'll have to withdraw from the dical fund to make up for it, our daughter's future is important," Feng Yurong whispered.
"There's also Xiao Yi's job; we have to find connections and pay money. If it's all taken out, how will we manage dical expenses? Don't you need treatnt for your back pain? You still need to get dicine every day," father Li Zhao replied rigidly.
"Let's just tighten our belts a bit more, we will make it up quickly, don't worry. My back doesn't hurt much now, it's fine," Feng Yurong whispered urgently, "Okay, okay, our daughter's future is more important, don't hold her back at a critical ti."
"I got it, I got it," the father replied irritably, pausing before sighing deeply, seemingly a mix of helplessness and discomfort.
Then there was the sound of the two of them on their phones, figuring out how to go about the transactions.
Li Chengyi lay on the bed, eyes wide open, letting out a soft sigh.
Involuntarily, his mind conjured up the scene from the day before yesterday of his father, Li Zhao, speaking in a low voice on the balcony, asking relatives for money.
Although still unfamiliar with his surroundings, the parental love of this body's parents was a match for that of his previous parents, settling so of his unease.
Different bodies, different worlds, yet the sacrifice of parents for their children seed to be universally the sa.
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