In his past life, after Gu Chenshi’s car accident, the ones most devastated were naturally his parents.
They often cried behind his back, but whenever they faced him, they always wore smiles, encouraging him not to lose heart and assuring him that everything would get better.
Yet Gu Chenshi knew all too well that those were nothing but comforting lies.
Forget about medical miracles—he knew he would be bedridden for the rest of his life, a useless burden unable to even take care of himself!
His life was completely ruined.
To care for him, Mother quit her job. She later grew terribly thin, her face gaunt and hollow, her skin sallow and sagging. At just fifty years old, she looked like an eighty-year-old Old Lady, her hair completely white.
For his sake, Father worked day and night, taking on endless overtime, yet the family was still drained dry by his needs, left with massive debts on top of it all.
Not only was his own life destroyed—he had ruined his parents’ lives as well.
A simp, a simp—in the end, he truly ended up with nothing!
Gu Chenshi gazed at the few strands of white hair on his mother’s head, his heart aching even more.
What woman doesn’t care about her appearance?
Yet in his memory, Mother always wore the same few clothes. Of course, she never used cosmetics, rubbing her face with a two-yuan bag of children’s cream, and she never styled her hair either.
In her eyes, he needed money for school, for getting along with classmates, for university in the future, for getting married someday—money was needed everywhere.
His parents’ world revolved entirely around him.
And he? His eyes were filled only with that woman who could trample his dignity at will. He had even once thought he would give his life for her, yet he never spared a bit of his attention for the parents who loved and cherished him. He truly deserved to die!
Even though he had already endured a full year of guilt and pain in his past life, now that he was reborn, his heart still clenched with agony.
“Look at what you’ve wrapped—isn’t it ugly? Stop making a mess here, go do what you’re supposed to do!”
Jing Lan pointed at the dumplings Gu Chenshi had wrapped, her tone full of disdain.
Indeed, each dumpling Jing Lan wrapped was plump and round, lively and neatly shaped.
In contrast, the one Gu Chenshi had wrapped looked shriveled, as if malnourished, lying limp on the cutting board—a pitiful sight compared to those little plump ones.
Gu Chenshi quietly took a deep breath, forcing back his tears, and smiled. “First time clumsy, second time skilled. Mom, you weren’t born knowing how to wrap pretty dumplings either. Mine are ugly because I lack practice. A few more tries and I’ll get better.”
Jing Lan muttered, “Instead of wasting time practicing dumpling wrapping, you’d be better off solving a couple of math problems. There’s not much time left—you can’t keep slacking off like this. Study hard, get into a good university in the future—isn’t that better than anything?
No matter how pretty your dumplings are, if you grow up useless, you won’t even be able to get a wife!”
Jing Lan started nagging again.
In the past, when Gu Chenshi heard Jing Lan nagging, although he was relatively well-behaved and wouldn’t retort like some rebellious kids, he mostly let her words go in one ear and out the other, not taking them to heart.
But now, hearing his mother’s nagging again, Gu Chenshi actually felt he couldn’t get enough of it.
In his past life, after he became paralyzed, Mother took care of him with extreme caution, afraid of saying anything wrong that might upset him, completely giving up her habit of nagging.
Yet who would have thought that Gu Chenshi missed his mother’s nagging so much?
In the end, Gu Chenshi didn’t wrap many dumplings. He truly sat down at his desk and started solving problems.
From today onward, he would listen to his parents and never make them sad again.
Then, as they wished, get into a good university, work hard in the future, and let them enjoy a comfortable life.
However, before he could finish even one problem, Jing Lan’s nagging drifted in: “Alright, alright, stop writing. Don’t you see how late it is? Hurry up and wash up for bed.”
Gu Chenshi: “…”
Who was it that just said making dumplings wasn’t as good as solving a few problems?
This fickle woman!
But Gu Chenshi knew all too well that his mother thought he usually faced too much academic pressure and wanted him to rest more.
“Got it, Mom.”
After saying this, Gu Chenshi could no longer hold back, and tears silently fell.
To knit a scarf for Lin Ranran, he had secretly hidden in his room, knitting until who knows how late.
And from childhood to now, aside from cards, it seemed he had never given his mother any decent gift.
Even so, his mother’s heart was still completely filled with him.
In the past, he revolved around Lin Ranran, while his mother revolved around him…
Thinking of this, Gu Chenshi felt even more that he was worthless.
Fortunately, heaven took pity on him and gave him a chance to be reborn.
He wanted to make up for the regrets of his past life.
After getting into bed, Gu Chenshi noticed someone had sent him a text message. It was from his relatively close classmate Zhou Xiangyu, who had something come up today and didn’t go to celebrate Lin Ranran’s birthday.
He was the only one who knew in advance what birthday gift Gu Chenshi had prepared for Lin Ranran.
“Hey man, how did it go today? Lin Xiaohua must have been so moved she almost cried, right? That was something you knitted stitch by stitch with your own hands, put so much thought into it—it’s really meaningful. If I weren’t a guy, I’d fall for you too.”
Gu Chenshi was speechless.
Talk about hitting a sore spot!
In his past life, after learning the truth about Gu Chenshi being hit by a car, Zhou Xiangyu was furious and went to Lin Ranran, shouting and cursing at her.
Lin Ranran had looked down on the birthday gift someone gave her, and when discovered, she acted completely justified, causing someone to be so heartbroken and upset that they got into a car accident. This incident spread throughout the school, and her goddess image collapsed overnight.
It’s fine if you don’t love someone, but you can reject them properly. What’s with humiliating others like this?
Does ruining someone’s life make you seem more noble?
Later, Lin Ranran went abroad.
From the time Gu Chenshi had the accident until she went abroad, she never once came to see him.
Now reborn, Gu Chenshi’s heart was no longer burning for Lin Ranran, so he didn’t feel as embarrassed anymore.
He just considered his past sincerity as having been fed to a dog.
Gu Chenshi replied: “I’ve decided that starting today, I’m going to study hard and improve every day. Want to join me?”
As soon as the message was sent, Zhou Xiangyu’s video call came through.
In the video, Zhou Xiangyu looked a bit nervous: “Hey man, are you okay?”
Gu Chenshi shook his head: “I’m fine!”
Zhou Xiangyu didn’t believe it: “Then why are you suddenly talking about studying hard and improving every day?”
“We’re students. Isn’t studying hard and improving every day the most important thing we should be doing right now?”
Saying this, Gu Chenshi smiled. He knew all too well what Zhou Xiangyu was worried about.
Was Zhou Xiangyu worried that Lin Ranran hadn’t felt his burning affection and that he would be deeply hurt?
Yes, in his past life, he had indeed been deeply hurt.
And paid a heavy price for it.
But in this life, he wouldn’t be foolish anymore.
He had long understood that his deep affection was something Lin Ranran didn’t deserve.
“Zhou Xiangyu, I just realized tonight that Lin Ranran and I are actually not suitable at all.
She doesn’t have me in her heart at all; it was just my one-sided affection before.
Now, I don’t want to waste energy on trivial matters of love. That’s not something we should be doing at our age.”
These words sounded somewhat self-defeating, but when Zhou Xiangyu observed carefully, he found nothing unusual in Gu Chenshi’s expression or tone.
This, in turn, made Zhou Xiangyu a bit worried.
Gu Chenshi’s feelings for Lin Ranran—others might not know, but as a good friend, he understood them all too well.
Zhou Xiangyu tentatively asked, “Hey, buddy, should I come to your place tonight?”
Gu Chenshi laughed and scolded, “Why come to my place? You have your own home. Don’t come. You’re too noisy; you’ll scare my mom.”
Though he spoke dismissively, he felt touched inside.
Zhou Xiangyu was afraid he might be too affected and do something reckless, so he wanted to come and keep an eye on him!
What a good friend.