This was a very special breakfast.
Mother and son sat at the dining table, the fried eggs on their plates had already gone cold, yet neither had started eating.
Chai icen forgot to scold her son.
Zhou Rui forgot to apologize.
The two sat there together questioning life.
The clock on the wall of the living room was muted when bought, and hadn't been changed in eight years. Now it ticked loudly every second, "tick tock tick tock".
Mother and son listened to the clock's sound, an unusual silence between them.
After a long while, Zhou Rui finally let out a slow breath, as if coming out of a daze.
"You used to brag to about your stunning beauty when you were young, and I didn't believe you. Now I do, you really were so damn...so damn good looking." After Zhou Rui said this, he still had to add, "No wonder you gave birth to such a handso son like ."
The previous Chai icen was short and stout, with decent features, but poor skin care had left her complexion sallow and pores large. There were also acne scars on her chin from hormonal imbalances, as well as eye bags and dark circles around her eyes.
Her complexion was just not good, her appearance really not very attractive.
Zhou Rui had always thought his father was just a gigolo, seducing Chai icen for her money. After taking advantage he would disappear without a trace.
He had looked at himself in the mirror several tis, imagining what his father looked like, and each ti couldn't help sighing: "So handso..."
He really wasn't being narcissistic.
Zhou Rui was 16 years old this year and already 185 cm tall, as handso as an idol star. If he entered showbiz he could make a living purely on his looks.
He was also athletic, liking basketball, road cycling, swimming, his physique was especially good. Adding to his nice complexion, fair and delicate skin, he had a touch of charm when quiet.
He wasn't the school heartthrob, purely because he was too overbearing at school, so when voting those who disliked his reputation didn't pick him, and the heartthrob title went to soone Zhou Rui looked down on.
Looking at his mother's appearance now, he finally admitted that so of his good looks ca from her.
But he really didn't know how Chai icen had ruined such a good foundation, making herself look as she did before.
"What's going on here? How can I change back?" Chai icen was still in shock, too distracted to care about her son's foul language.
"Why change back? This is returning to your youth, those ancient emperors loved taking immortality pills to live forever without aging. Not one succeeded. If they heard about you they'd definitely jump out of their graves in jealousy, wearing yellow dragon robes, looking like old lemon demons, and be sour at you."
"Can you be serious? I don't even know what's happening to right now." Chai icen was so angry she kicked Zhou Rui, not too hard, just itching to hit this annoying brat.
Zhou Rui howled as if gravely injured, "We just fought and my leg is already bruised yet you still kick ."
Only then did Chai icen co to her senses, pulling up Zhou Rui's pant leg to see a distinct bruise on his fair calf.
What Zhou Rui didn't say was that he had kicked too hard himself when fighting soone, not that he was hit. The person he beat up was too skinny, all bones, and he didn't connect properly, causing this bruise.
"Why are you always fighting for no reason? In the end you're only hurting yourself?" Chai icen was extrely distressed.
"I'm acting righteously."
"Let call your Uncle Hou and ask." As Chai icen spoke she was about to call Hou Ranxi, not noticing Zhou Rui's reply.
"Uncle Hou is away on a business trip. If you call he'll definitely rush back from out of town, disrupting his work. First we need to make sure you're physically okay. Change your clothes and co with ." Zhou Rui stood up and led Chai icen to the bedroom to find clothes.
Chai icen had poor taste, her clothes loud and colorful, not fitting for a girl in her teens.
After much difficulty they finally found a pair of black sweatpants with a drawstring, and Zhou Rui gave her one of his own t-shirts.
"These clothes are too big." Chai icen complained.
"It's called boyfriend style, very popular nowadays. Go change into them." Zhou Rui pushed Chai icen into the bedroom and closed the door.
After Chai icen finished changing, Zhou Rui ca to tuck the front of the t-shirt into her pants a bit. Seeing her current look he was finally satisfied.
But her hairstyle really left much to be desired. He took one of his own baseball caps and put it on her head, then brought Chai icen out of the house.
Chai icen wanted to drive but Zhou Rui stopped her. "Your license photo looks nothing like you now. If you get pulled over I'll have to bring you als for 15 days. Let's call a car to the hospital."
"I feel like an undocunted migrant, very insecure."
"Don't worry, you have ." As Zhou Rui spoke he was also ssaging on his phone, fingers continuously tapping.
Chai icen turned to look at Zhou Rui. His face was still injured, he didn't seem like a proper young man, crude and wild. Yet suddenly she felt Zhou Rui was a bit reliable now.
Since discovering her change she had felt panicked. At her age it was difficult to imdiately accept such a sudden occurrence. She really wasn't as calm as Zhou Rui.
The two went to the hospital but didn't imdiately register, waiting in the lobby instead.
Soon a girl ca over upon seeing Zhou Rui and said, "Why the urgent call to get here?"
"Did you bring your ID?" Zhou Rui asked.
"I did."
"Let borrow it to register." Zhou Rui held out his hand to the girl, palm up, speaking very impolitely.
The girl didn't mind, taking out her ID and placing it in Zhou Rui's palm. Still curious, she followed Zhou Rui and asked, "What do you need my ID to register for?"
"Don't ask, go drink so milk tea. I'll return it after." Zhou Rui showed her his phone screen, "I sent you a red envelope."
The girl really left after taking the red envelope, very easygoing.
Chai icen hurried to ask, "She's..."
"My classmate, don't worry, not my girlfriend." Zhou Rui already knew what Chai icen ant.
"She's quite pretty."
"I'll go register for you, do a full physical to see if anything's wrong with your body. Using her ID the age matches your current appearance, that's simplest." As they entered Zhou Rui continued, "They won't check IDs inside either, won't discover anything, so just relax and go through with it. Let's first confirm your body is fine before discussing anything else."
Chai icen nodded and Zhou Rui went to line up.
As she waited by herself she glanced at her blurry reflection in the glass door, a little lost looking at her younger self.
When she was this age, she had been happiest, before everything that happened later.
*
So physical exam results wouldn't be out until the afternoon.
Chai icen waited nearby, while Zhou Rui returned the classmate her ID.
After all results were out, the two went to ask the doctor together.
Chai icen was very healthy, with no issues found.
This news relieved both of them.
Standing outside the hospital, Chai icen asked Zhou Rui, "If I tell the doctor I suddenly beca young, won't they think I have ntal problems?"
"They would."
"Who do you think I should ask for help and advice now?"
"Uncle Hou of course." At the ntion of Hou Ranxi, Zhou Rui smiled crookedly, his tone vaguely ambiguous.
"Then let's wait until he returns. Maybe I'll change back tomorrow morning."
"That's possible too."
The two got in a car to go ho. Just after getting out, Zhou Rui ran into classmates. The two boys ca over calling out, "Brother Rui, I thought you couldn't go out after what happened, so specially bought this to honor you."
As he spoke, one boy opened the plastic bag he held, inside were two packs of cigarettes.
Seeing them, Zhou Rui's face darkened imdiately, and his heart lurched.
Chai icen knew Zhou Rui often fought, and his grades were poor, but didn't know he smoked too.
Seeing the cigarettes, her mind exploded. Fury overturned reason and she slapped Zhou Rui's back.
Zhou Rui stumbled forward two steps from the force before steadying himself.
"What are you doing with that stuff? Take it away, I hate the sll of smoke!" Zhou Rui kept waving his hands dismissively.
The two boys finally noticed Chai icen. The shorter one's eyes lit up seeing her.
He rarely saw such a pretty girl. She seed close to Zhou Rui, could it be... was sothing going on?
"Oh right, Brother Rui doesn't smoke." The boy was smart and imdiately put the cigarettes away, even explaining to Chai icen, "Beauty, don't misunderstand."
Chai icen forced a smile to appear calm, then pulled Zhou Rui aside and pinched his face, puckering his mouth.
"I'm injured, that hurts!" Zhou Rui's features scrunched together.
"Let see if your teeth are yellow or not. Quite capable aren't you, even learned to smoke?" Chai icen released Zhou Rui's face, glaring at him with eyes wide in anger.
She wasn't stupid. His friend was clearly covering for him just now. How could she not see through it?
The previous Chai icen glaring like this was quite scary. Zhou Rui didn't dare make a peep now.
The current young Chai icen glaring looked falsely ferocious and cute instead.
Seeing her face, Zhou Rui felt unaccustod, avoiding her gaze as he fruitlessly explained, "No...they're framing . We're not close friends."
Zhou Rui looked toward his buddies to see the shorter boy actually taking photos of them!
He had a bad premonition and checked his phone to see the boy had posted in their class group chat.
Yang Ming: I ran into Brother Rui bringing a super pretty girl ho. They were very intimate, the girl even wearing Brother Rui's clothes and hat!
Yang Ming: [short video]
Classmate 1: Whoa, explosive stuff!
Classmate 2: What's the situation!
Classmate 3: So pretty! This girl is gorgeous!
Classmate 2: Brother Rui is clearly whipped, is this the legendary "one thing subdues another"?
Zhou Rui quickly typed a reply: Stop kidding around. She's a relative from my hotown, blood-related.
Li Xiaonan: Yeah, you two do look a bit alike.
Yang Ming: You're right, now that you ntion it.
Classmate 3: To have such a beautiful relative, please introduce ! Ah ah ah, little sister is so gorgeous, I'm falling in love.
Classmate 4: How could you not introduce us to a girl, Brother Rui? She have a boyfriend? From today on, I'm your relative too. We'll play mahjong together during New Year's and holidays, we're all family. Am I your brother-in-law or sister's husband?
Seeing the chat ssages, Zhou Rui was furious.
I see you guys as brothers, yet you want to be my dad!
Zhou Rui: All of you piss off!
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