I Was Reborn
When Shi Xu opened his eyes, the harsh light made him shut them again almost immediately.
He was slumped over his desk, completely motionless, like a corpse.
He even held his breath, testing whether he was really alive.
Only when the familiar bell suddenly rang beside him, like some kind of ritual, did he slowly open his eyes. He was alive.
Dead, and… back again.
“Brother Xu, come on, let’s play ball!” A lively boy bounced the ball against the floor, calling to Shi Xu as he held it up.
No memory of him.
But from the uniform, this was high school. Which year, exactly, he couldn’t tell.
High school…
Something caught his eye. A hint of light appeared in the boy’s slightly dazed gaze. He turned his head at once and looked toward the last desk against the wall, in the same row. Nobody there.
But a name was faintly visible on the textbooks arranged on the desk.
Gao Zan rolled the ball over his fingertips and followed Shi Xu’s gaze. He gave a disdainful snort. “That kid got called out by the teacher. Seriously, who transfers schools in senior year? He looks like a total mess, all scruffy and disheveled. If Brother Xu’s good looks weren’t carrying us, he’d drag Class 1’s reputation straight down to some bumpkin class.”
Before he’d even finished speaking, a slender figure appeared at the classroom door.
Head bowed, longish hair and thick-framed glasses hiding half his face, he was impossible to make out. He paused for the briefest moment, then lowered his head and walked toward the last row.
The pause was too brief for anyone to notice. The boy who’d been caught talking behind someone’s back wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. He even let out another snort.
But Shi Xu had noticed. His brows knitted together, and he turned his gaze back.
“Brother Xu…”
“Get lost.”
“…”
The noisy classroom fell silent at that one word.
His classmates turned to stare at Gao Zan, frozen in the aisle beside the desks, the ball no longer spinning in his hands. He looked completely bewildered.
Then they all looked at Shi Xu. His expression was no joke, and the entire class hurried back to their seats, not daring to make a sound.
Why was tyrant bro getting up with a temper after a perfectly good nap?
But they were used to his arrogance. While silently lighting a candle for Gao Zan, they couldn’t help feeling a little gleeful. They were both rich second-generation kids, but Shi Xu’s arrogance was out in the open, carefree, and good-looking. Mostly because he was handsome and had a great figure.
Gao Zan, on the other hand, relied on his family’s money to look down on everyone, with his snobbery practically perched on top of his head.
Shi Xu usually seemed like someone you shouldn’t mess with, but he never actually caused trouble. He just didn’t like talking to people, and no one had ever seen him bully anyone. So when he suddenly came down hard on someone like that, the whole class was too scared to speak.
After all, the rumors spoke for themselves. Don’t mess with him. If it’s not your business, stay out of it.
Gao Zan stood there for a moment. He’d meant to crack a joke and find a way to save face, but Shi Xu’s expression made it clear he wasn’t kidding. With a sullen look, Gao Zan awkwardly walked away.
Shi Xu leaned back casually in his chair and nudged himself a little farther back with the toe of his shoe. That way, he could see the jawline of the boy on his right, hidden beneath his tousled hair, without turning his head.
It was beautiful.
He really couldn’t understand how those lovestruck girls could have such terrible taste, seeing the future big boss, who’d make a name for himself in business on his looks alone, as some ugly bumpkin.
That face… Even Shi Xu, whose looks had once been unmatched in the entertainment industry, had to admit he was impressed when he saw him.
But…
Shi Xu ran his long, handsome fingers over his chin and narrowed his eyes. It was a habit he’d picked up later: whenever he was thinking something through and wasn’t sure, he’d narrow his eyes. As for where the habit came from, maybe it was because fans had once gone wild over a gif of him doing it.
But… when had he started liking me?
Shi Xu watched the motionless figure and stood up.
The instant he rose, Shen Yu’s body went taut as a wire.
The open pencil case on the desk reflected the handsome, blurred outline of the person behind him to the side, and, within that person’s line of sight, his own seat.
He lowered his head even further.
His palms were tense, his fingers curling slightly. The moment Shi Xu stood, he’d nearly bolted for the door.
In his school uniform, Shi Xu seemed to have been transported back to his arrogant, swaggering student days. He didn’t waste time. He went straight to Shen Yu’s desk, leaned against the desk in front of him, crossed his long legs, and tapped twice on the desktop beneath Shen Yu’s eyes.
“Hey, little classmate. Let’s get acquainted.”
In the utterly silent classroom, the rustle of collars brushing against necks sounded as one head after another turned. What was going on?
Shi Xu had actually gone over to ask the invisible kid, who’d transferred in a whole semester ago and still had no presence at all, what his name was.
The bolder students turned around and didn’t immediately face front again. Shi Xu had his back to the class, leaning against the desk in his usual devil-may-care pose, while the invisible kid kept his head down and said nothing. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like he was there to call him to account.
So Young Master Shi was going to confront him right there?
The stories about Shi, the school hunk, weren’t exactly flattering, but they were scary enough. Like the fear and excitement kids used to feel when F4 put a note on someone in Meteor Garden, the atmosphere spread through the classroom, then beyond it.
Two people who seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with each other stood in the back without saying a word for several minutes.
It wasn’t just the onlookers, whose gossip-loving hearts were aflutter. Shen Yu was so nervous he forgot how to react.
Shi Xu had come over so suddenly that Shen Yu’s mind went blank. Before he could think, the words escaped him: “I’m sorry.”
Shi Xu frowned. Without saying a word, he turned and left.
That brief exchange sent the school forum into an uproar.
The poor transfer student had somehow provoked Shi, the school hunk, into getting involved in person.
Shi Xu’s memories of senior year, and of high school in general, were just okay. It was the kind of okay where every day felt all right while he was living it, but once that time was over and he’d gone to university, then entered the entertainment industry, the memories vanished completely.
Okay meant there wasn’t much worth remembering.
So Shen Yu’s sudden apology left him a little confused.
Could it be that before he was reborn, he’d bullied him?
He remembered that his high-school persona had been a handsome, domineering, rich school hunk and school bully, plus a bit of an idiot. He hadn’t really bullied anyone, but he did seem like the kind of person who would.
Just look at this atmosphere.
Shi Xu sat back down and looked at the neat row of heads in front of him. Good grief, he’d scared them all.
He was a famous healing-type big brother in the entertainment industry later on.
These high schoolers had clearly never seen the world. Honestly.
His gaze drifted right again. The boy was still sitting there with his head down, timid and deferential, impossible to connect with the cold, aloof big boss he’d become, the kind of man you could tell at a glance was not to be messed with.
After watching him for a while, Shi Xu turned back, covered a yawn with his fist, and laid his head on the desk to sleep off his rebirth.
At almost the same moment, Shen Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
His gaze shifted slightly. A few cowlicks stuck up from the head resting on the desk to his left, just as unruly as the boy himself… and just as cute.
But… was Shi Xu really angry because of that?
Try as he might, he could only think of one reason.
Shen Yu looked away, his brows knitting as he grew angry with himself.
He was terribly, terribly upset.
*
At lunchtime, a boy from the neighboring class came to find Shi Xu.
He was one of the few people from high school Shi Xu had stayed in touch with. They’d been classmates in middle school and met through basketball. They got along pretty well.
Later, though, Shi Xu made a name for himself in the entertainment industry, while the other boy went abroad after graduating from university. Naturally, they drifted out of each other’s lives without any awkwardness.
Shi Xu sat at his desk, looking at the crew-cut boy with his uniform pulled down off one shoulder, and smiled.
There was nothing to feel nostalgic about. Relationships were like that: some grew closer, some more distant; some were new, others old. There was always a reason.
Han Cheng patted his own face and leaned over. “What’s up? Am I looking especially tasty to you today, Brother Xu? Want to take a bite?”
“Stop being gross.”
Shi Xu snorted. This guy had gone on to get married and have a kid, and Shi Xu had even given him a wedding gift.
“The others are waiting at Jiangbei Bistro. Let’s all get together.”
As he spoke, Han Cheng casually draped an arm over Shi Xu’s shoulder. It was a perfectly normal thing for brothers to do. Before, Shi Xu wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
But then something came to mind. Shi Xu glanced to his side. He saw the hand holding a pen as it worked through the problems come to a stop.
Without drawing attention to it, he slipped out from under Han Cheng’s arm, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
If he weren’t still unsure whether Little Boss already liked him, he’d go tease him right now.
Being secretly loved by a big boss was a pretty satisfying thought.
He looked at the still-youthful, flawless jawline reflected in the window. Maybe a few years ago…
Had he already become famous for this face on all the university forums, with Shen Yu among the silent fans drawn in by his good looks?
Given how he was acting now, it seemed very possible.
But seven years later…
He’d had the good fortune to attend a business summit once, where the biggest names in business all gathered. Celebrities like him might draw everyone’s attention under normal circumstances, but when they met people who could change the course of society with their brains, they had to take a back seat.
Shen Yu had been seated beside him.
Shi Xu had seen him on trending searches and on TV from time to time. With a face so stunning it took people’s breath away and a mind that had astonished the entire world, Shen Yu had become so famous that plenty of fans had climbed walls just to catch a glimpse of him.
He still remembered sitting in the middle of the front row at the summit. Every other seat in that row belonged to a big shot. He was the only celebrity there, and he’d attracted plenty of attention.
The media reports all said he was there because of his impressive family wealth.
That wasn’t entirely wrong. He did have a rich father.
But after Shi Xu insisted on refusing to inherit the family company and entering the entertainment industry instead, his rich father became a father who didn’t want a son.
There was no way he’d give Shi Xu a chance to show his face at a business summit.
At the time, Shi Xu had assumed he was simply famous enough that the organizers wanted him there to lend the event some star power.
Now, he was sure Shen Yu had given up the center seat for him.
As for looks, Shi Xu wasn’t sure he could beat Shen Yu. And that brain of his had already been praised by the foreign media as the most valuable in Country W.
That had been the “first time” he’d met him.
The lights flickered. Shen Yu sat straight-backed in a perfectly tailored suit, his profile so exquisitely handsome it was almost impossible to describe. Even men couldn’t help blurting out, “Damn, he’s handsome.”
That was the first time they’d met, as far as Shi Xu remembered, and the last.
After all, that transfer student in senior year hadn’t said a single word to him, from beginning to end. Back then, Shi Xu hadn’t even noticed him.
If he hadn’t left his body while he was in a vegetative state and seen the big boss grieving at his bedside, he wouldn’t have had any memory of him at all.
Just before leaving, Shi Xu glanced back once more. Shen Yu still had his head down, but his pen was moving again.
Only after Shi Xu disappeared through the classroom door
did Shen Yu lift his head.
His eyes, hidden behind his tousled hair and glasses, flicked up. He let out a long breath, then couldn’t help looking toward the door again, even though he couldn’t see anything.
Author’s note:
Let me recommend my upcoming novel, and thanks to everyone reading!
《I Fell for My Resurrected Archenemy》
Yan Yinnian came to understand deeply that, as a person, you really shouldn’t be a jerk.
He’d only lost a game and, on a whim, gone up to some guy in a booth and asked:
“Hey, handsome, wanna go?”
The man had an air of noble refinement and very fair skin. Hidden away in the corner, he looked like a crown prince on a secret visit among the people.
This wasn’t even a gay bar. Yan Yinnian had only gone through the motions of honoring his bet, and at the sound of his buddies’ whistles, was just about to apologize and explain when the man stood up.
His body, like something out of an international fashion show, drew covetous looks from everyone in the bar under the lights. The man raised the corner of his eye and looked at Yan Yinnian with an amused, teasing smile.
“It would be my pleasure.”
Yan Yinnian: ???
After a century of sleep, Bai Qi opened his narrow eyes and drew a deep breath.
The air still smelled disgusting. Only that one scent brought him pleasure.
Seated in a bar, Bai Qi watched the little Taoist who’d fought him for decades and sealed him away for centuries, now reincarnated as an ordinary person. His phoenix eyes narrowed as he considered how to get revenge.
And then the man came right to him.
Human blood stank. Only his smelled sweet.
In his previous life, Bai Qi had only been unable to resist biting his mouth once.
And the man had gone mad and chased him down to seal him away for centuries.
This time…
The man held a stemmed glass. The red wine inside had just been poured from a blood bag.
Watching the little Taoist tremble with fear, Bai Qi swirled the glass full of blood…
Humans often said, “Kill the body, and you kill the heart.”
The little Taoist loved to prattle about benevolence, righteousness, morality, propriety, and purity.
Since it was his heart Bai Qi wanted to strike…
Then he’d make him break his vows…
The man’s eyes flashed as their color changed. Just as the little Taoist was quaking with fear, Bai Qi spoke calmly.
“Good boy. Get down.”
#Unhinged Vampire X Purehearted Little Taoist#