Chapter 17: Encountering My First Love from a Past Life

Chapter 17: Encountering My First Love from a Past Life

Nearby were several former classmates from his previous life, including his closest friend at that time.

In fact, ever since deciding to take the entrance exam for City No. 1 High School, he had been thinking about his former middle school, for he had many memories there.

His first love, three years of youth, over a year of piano and guitar lessons, his close high school friends, and more.

Among these, his strongest attachment was, of course, his first love and the girl he had secretly admired since elementary school—yes, you read that right, a crush that began in elementary school.

His story with his first love wasn’t particularly dramatic, but upon reflection, he realized it involved a tangled web of love triangles and even a love quadrangle.

The triangle formed before he and Fang Yueshan officially got together, when a classmate confessed to her—though he was unaware at the time.

The quadrangle came later, when another girl who secretly admired Li Jingkun entered the picture.

Thanks to the division of arts and sciences classes, Li Jingkun finally had the chance to interact with the girl he had long admired.

In the end, however, he and Fang Yueshan ended up together, only to break up upon graduation like many high school couples.

It could be said that there were quite a few couples in their graduating class, but those who stayed together and married were few and far between.

Most first loves ended without resolution, largely because they were too young and inexperienced, unable to fully understand or maturely consider many issues.

Besides, school life was not everything; there were many challenges awaiting them beyond it.

Did he still have feelings for his first love?

Yes, but now it was more about nostalgia and regret—cherishing the moments they had shared, and feeling sorry for the mistakes and harsh words spoken in immaturity.

So after glancing a few times, Li Jingkun started his motorcycle again and headed home.

...

Although many things were spoken of with nonchalance and ease, few could truly live that way.

On Monday afternoon after school, Li Jingkun finally couldn’t hold back and decided to visit his former middle school.

He asked the class monitor for leave, changed out of his school uniform in the dormitory, then rode his motorcycle to his old middle school—Quanling Middle School.

He parked his motorcycle outside the school and then entered.

Since classes hadn’t started yet, the school gates were still open, allowing him to enter easily. Not many people were inside, most were heading toward classrooms for lunch self-study.

Quanling Middle School did not require uniforms, so no one noticed the outsider among them.

After all, Li Jingkun was of the same age as the other students; no one suspected he didn’t belong there.

Neither the students nor the gatekeeper thought anything was amiss.

Li Jingkun naturally made his way to the teaching building for the first-year students, then climbed to the second floor.

Class 6 of the second year was the second classroom on that floor, so he headed in that direction.

Everything in the school remained unchanged; he was intimately familiar with every blade of grass and every tree. Astonishingly, the seats of every student in Class 6 of the second year were exactly as they had been.

Only minutes remained before the lunch self-study period began, so the classroom was nearly full.

Li Jingkun moved to the front entrance and looked around one by one.

Those youthful faces, some reading, some chatting, some joking—though some were not very familiar before, now they all seemed warm and friendly.

“Excuse me, make way, please!”

Suddenly, someone nudged him, and three or four girls rushed past, quickly sitting in several seats inside the classroom.

Li Jingkun recognized that somewhat familiar voice. Focusing, he saw that the first girl to enter was indeed Fang Yueshan, his first love from his past life. The others were naturally her current classmates.

“Phew, almost late!”

“Who’s to blame? You ate too slowly!”

“Blame you for not reminding me I was late!”

“Blame you, silly head!”

“Blame you, blame you!”

...

As the class bell was about to ring, everyone naturally returned to their seats.

Li Jingkun noticed something strange again—his old seat was empty, with only the seat beside it occupied by his former deskmate, who was asleep, head down on the desk.

He found this odd; the classmates were even more curious. Many had already begun to speculate about who he was and why he lingered near the classroom door.

“Jingkun?”

Suddenly someone called his name. Turning around, he saw Yu Weijie, a classmate from ninth grade.

Yes, Yu Weijie was not only his junior high school classmate but also his high school classmate in the previous life.

Most of their junior high classmates had continued on to Quanling Middle School for high school.

“Why are you here? Don’t you have classes today?”

Yu Weijie was truly surprised. Li Jingkun, known as the top student from their junior high, was supposed to be studying at City No. 1 High School. How did he have time to visit their school now?

“Just came to see you,” Li Jingkun smiled.

He had always gotten along well with his junior high classmates; Yu Weijie sat near him back then, so they were quite familiar.

Hearing this, Yu Weijie was delighted and immediately invited him inside to sit and chat. “No worries, it’s just lunch self-study, teachers rarely come. Besides, you’re a top student at City No. 1 High School. Even if the teacher knew, they wouldn’t kick you out.”

Yu Weijie said this deliberately to let others know that a student from City No. 1 High School had come to visit, which boosted his own status.

Sure enough, the sudden appearance of a stranger in class sparked curiosity. Thanks to Yu Weijie’s intentional announcement, almost everyone now knew he was a high achiever from City No. 1 High School.

Yu Weijie then asked his deskmate to move to an empty seat at the back so he could catch up with his old friend.

Yu Weijie sat in Group 5, while Fang Yueshan was in Group 3. She glanced back at Li Jingkun with some puzzlement, wondering why the boy looked so familiar yet she couldn’t place him.

Suddenly, someone poked her back—it was her deskmate and best friend passing her a note, a ritual they did nearly every day to communicate. They even had one or two notebooks dedicated to their conversations.

Yang Minhan wrote: “What’s going on? Why keep glancing back at the handsome guy? Fallen in love at first sight?”

Fang Yueshan replied: “Shut up—I just feel he looks familiar, and it seems like we should know him well.”

Song Cailan asked: “Is he an old classmate of yours?”

Yang Minhan said: “Are you crazy? We never went to the same school before. How could we know the same person?”

Fang Yueshan: “Maybe it’s just my imagination.”

Yang Minhan: “Oh no, looks like our Shan-shan is lovesick. I heard he’s a top student at City No. 1 High School. We support you going after him! Then help us meet some handsome guys from City No. 1 High School.”

Xu Yueshan: “You all think he’s quite handsome too?”

Song Cailan and Yang Minhan remained silent.

Lunch self-study was about to end, and Li Jingkun’s emotions gradually eased.

He sensed a strange feeling—he realized he no longer belonged here.

After all, the curious and unfamiliar gazes around him made him somewhat uneasy.

Yet he still wanted to attend one class here, to relive the feeling of studying in this place.

He asked Yu Weijie why a seat in Group 1 remained empty—it wasn’t even in the last row.

Yu Weijie said, “Oh, that seat? Someone used to sit there, but he later joined the army. What was his name again? I can’t quite remember right now...”

(End of chapter)