Before her eyes was a murky darkness, like an endless black cloth wrapping tightly around her, letting no air through. Sang Ru felt awake, yet her eyelids were too heavy to open.

Then suddenly, an overwhelming sensation of weightlessness surged through her. She felt herself continuously falling, falling.

This might be a nightmare, Sang Ru thought.

Some faint sounds appeared in her ears. They seemed to come from far away, gradually getting closer, becoming clearer alongside indistinct noises from somewhere unknown.

“Sang Ru, Sang Ru?”

Someone was calling her name…

Sang Ru’s eyes flew open. Her chest heaved as she took deep breaths. As air rushed into her body and flowed to her limbs, she suddenly realized she was alive again.

Li Chenfei was startled, gripping her arm and asking urgently: “What’s wrong?”

Sang Ru took a moment to recover and said, “Nothing.”

“You scared me to death,” Li Chenfei patted her chest. “As long as you’re okay. Class is about to start, hurry and get ready.”

“Class?”

“Yes, it’s Old Zheng’s class,” Li Chenfei flipped through a tall stack of books, turning to look at her. “How did you manage to become so confused after just a nap?”

Class, nap, Old Zheng…

Old Zheng was her high school math teacher, and she was his class representative.

These distant terms coming from Li Chenfei’s mouth…

Wait, Li Chenfei!

Sang Ru was dazed for quite a while, then broke out in a cold sweat.

Li Chenfei, before her, had short hair and wore a school uniform, but the last time they met, she had flamboyant beach waves… This was her high school appearance.

High school…

Sang Ru looked down at herself—the same blue and white school uniform with its peculiar aesthetic. On her desk was the same pile of books and test papers, with a book pressed on top of the stack. Wind came through the window, lifting the corner of a page.

Sang Ru’s heart raced as she looked around, seeing those faces both strange and familiar.

She had seen them just a few months ago—or more precisely, more mature versions of them.

…

Sang Ru couldn’t help but doubt: Am I still dreaming?

Li Chenfei watched as Sang Ru uncharacteristically looked around everywhere, then put her head down on the desk as if about to continue sleeping. She leaned over and asked: “Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“No,” Sang Ru replied dully.

“Tell me if you’re not feeling well, okay?” Li Chenfei advised with concern, then went back to correcting her mistakes.

Her deskmate was indeed acting strange today, Li Chenfei thought.

Sure enough, after lying down for a moment, Sang Ru suddenly sat up again, extremely frustrated as she ran her hands through her hair, then asked: “What grade are we in?”

Li Chenfei: …

Well, she had lost it.

“We’re in senior year, sister, and the first mock exam is coming soon. Are you awake now?”

Sang Ru unscrewed her water bottle and took a sip: “I’m awake.”

What the hell was happening?

Wasn’t she just enjoying her life, having sex with Zhou Tingzhao? How was she suddenly back in a high school classroom doing practice questions?!

And in senior year, no less! If she couldn’t get back, wouldn’t she have to take the college entrance exam again?

…Damn!

Right, Zhou Tingzhao…

Sang Ru sat in the third-to-last row, and she remembered that Zhou Tingzhao was tall and always sat in the very last row.

She stretched her neck to look, but before she could get a clear view, someone called her name.

“Sang Ru,” Old Zheng walked into the classroom, “come help me hand out the test papers.”

Old Zheng wasn’t old—at least now he was still a middle-aged man in his forties without a beer belly, which was rare.

Later, when Sang Ru visited this teacher again, he had added quite a few white hairs but remained spirited and energetic. When asked about his method for staying young, he half-jokingly said that being around students kept him young, as long as they didn’t irritate him to death.

It felt like a reunion after a long time, and Sang Ru suddenly felt her eyes getting warm.

She went up to the podium, preparing to hand out the papers one by one, but was stopped. Old Zheng unscrewed his thermos and said, “Call their names and have them come up to get them.”

Sang Ru secretly rejoiced—the perfect opportunity to recognize people. As expected from her favorite teacher!

“Should I announce the scores?”

Old Zheng glanced at her: “Use your judgment.”

Sang Ru agreed and called out names, having them come up one by one to get their papers. She didn’t announce the scores—only a heartless person would announce scores aloud.

She turned over a paper, her mouth moving faster than her brain: “Zhou Tingzhao.”

Only after saying it did Sang Ru realize that Zhou Tingzhao had already stood up and was walking toward the podium.

No wonder she couldn’t find him—he was sitting at the back of her row.

Sang Ru felt a bit dazed. The vague image of Zhou Tingzhao in her memory was now plainly before her eyes.

He was very tall, already over 180 cm in his senior year. His expression was calm, and he wore black-framed glasses that somewhat subdued his sharp edge. Perhaps because they were the same person, Sang Ru could already vaguely detect some similarities with his future self.

Or perhaps, Sang Ru thought, could Zhou Tingzhao also have returned here, just like her?

“150 points,” she said as she handed him the test paper.

Zhou Tingzhao’s hand paused as he looked up at her. Sang Ru sincerely complimented him: “You’re amazing.”

After all, 150 was a perfect score.

Zhou Tingzhao’s calm expression showed a slight crack. Sang Ru caught his surprise and gave him another sweet smile.

Then Sang Ru was surprised as well, because she discovered—

Zhou Tingzhao’s face had turned red.