Chapter 1: Reborn as Human

  After an autumn rain, the Tianyuan Mountain in the suburbs of Yunwu City was shrouded in mist. A middle-aged man stood quietly at the summit, his body slightly hunched over, motionless for a long time, as if merged with the mountains, like a tragic autumn painting by a painter who had experienced many hardships.

  However, this painting was soon destroyed.

  A burst of laughter came from a short distance away, and a young man was seen walking towards this side with his arms around two young girls as if no one else existed.

  A man in a full Louis Vuitton outfit, two girls, one wearing a white tank top and red ultra-mini skirt, the tank top tightly outlining her chest, with the mini skirt barely covering her buttocks. The other girl wore a low-cut tennis dress, with a pair of breasts that seemed to be about to pop out of the neckline at any moment, both with wasp waists and provocative figures.

  "Hey, Lu Zhengdong, you're still stuck in the past, nostalgic for old times!"

  The young man's tone was somewhat frivolous and arrogant. As he spoke, he let go of the two women and walked towards the middle-aged man.

  Just then, a fat man who was slightly lagging behind also came up with a seductive woman in his arms.

  The middle-aged man didn't turn back at all, his eyes still gazing into the distance, and he casually flicked the cigarette butt out of his hand, as if he hadn't heard that sarcastic voice.

  The young man was ignored directly and couldn't hold his face up anymore, so he cursed:

  "Lu Zhengdong, you've become like this, and still dare to pull a long face in front of me? I'll beat you to death..."

  As he spoke, one foot kicked out and swept past.

  The fat man who came up from behind saw the front hand move and quickly walked a few steps to catch up. The fat man's name was Zhang Zihua, the son of a wealthy family in Yunfeng City. His family's task for him was to make friends with the young man in front. The young man's surname was Zeng and his name was Kun. He had a deep background in Beijing, which was the breadwinner of his family. He had to serve well and couldn't afford any accidents.

  A middle-aged man with a head of long hair blown into a mess, a long beard, and a weathered face looked very disheveled and dejected. Zhang Zihua saw that the man lying on the ground didn't even have the intention to fight back, so he didn't approach him.

  "Lu Zhengdong, aren't you trying to get our Zeng family to break up and perish? Haha, my dad is still fine, I'm still eating well and drinking spicy food, still playing with women! Damn it, what are you now? You're just a dog, a stray dog with a broken spine, dare to bark wildly!"

  Zeng Kun kicked the middle-aged man a few more times, and the woman next to Zhang Zihua looked puzzled, hurriedly helped Zhang Zihua wipe his sweat, and curiously asked:

  "I thought Kun Ge was usually quite elegant, but why is he so angry today? This old guy is really something, since he knows Kun Ge, how dare he be so arrogant with him, has his brain been flooded?"

  Zhang Zihua smiled, thinking that Zeng Kun had come to the mountain because he was no longer interested in ordinary entertainment and wanted to have a wild adventure. But looking at the situation now, it seemed that Zeng Kun's main intention was not to fight, but to target the middle-aged man in front of him who was down on his luck.

  No matter what Zeng Kun's purpose was in bringing him here, the fact that he could bring him along shows that he has gradually integrated into Zeng Kun's circle, anyway this thing is done quite well.

  Zhang Zihua was also in a good mood and wanted to show off a bit, saying in a low voice:

  "Don't look at his sloppy appearance and think he's just a stray cat or dog, daring to be so arrogant in front of Kun Ge. He must have some background too. His grandfather used to be someone who could make many people tremble with fear in the capital city, do you know what others called him? They called him Lu Guoqi..."

  Like Lu Zhengdong, who has some background but is so miserable, there is no second one in Yunwu, so in Yunwu, as long as you are familiar with this circle, you know this person.

  The woman beside Zhang Zihua was shocked when she heard that something like this had happened, and her curiosity suddenly became uncontrollable. She hastily asked:

  "Unbelievable, he's still doing so badly?"

  Zhang Ge smiled and said:

  "This is a long story, but the key point is that Lu Zhengdong is simply a hopeless case. While working in government departments, he caused loss of life and triggered mass incidents, which eventually led to his mother's death from anger."

  That's all, entered a state-owned enterprise, who knew that again made a big mistake of misusing public funds... whoever encountered him would be unlucky. So he became the role of "样姥姥不疼爷爷不爱，舅舅不爱" (a person who is not loved by anyone), haha, naturally becoming an object for people with some background to bully and have fun with...

  Zhang Zihua watched as Zeng Kun continuously kicked and punched Lu Zhengdong on the ground, saying.

  "He's already in such a state, how dare he still provoke Kun Ge?"

  The woman was also obviously stirred up with great interest and asked in detail.

  Zhang Zihua shook his head and said:

  "Hehe, heaven knows how his brain got water in it again?"

  In fact, Zeng Kun ran thousands of miles to Yunwu to find trouble with Lu Zhengdong. Zhang Zihua was not clear about the reason, and he did not dare to ask about things that should not be asked. These guys sometimes turned their faces faster than turning pages, and he didn't want to invite trouble for himself.

  Zeng Kun continued to beat and scold the middle-aged man on the ground, who did not fight back or cry out, like a dead dog. Zeng Kun seemed extremely pleased with himself after seeing the man in such a state, and only then did he leave with a swagger...

  Lu Zhengdong slowly got up from the ground. A smile of despair floated on his weathered face, which was far from matching his age.

  He has been learning martial arts from a master in the factory since he was young, and these years have never been abandoned. The beating of Chen Kun's fists and feet did not cause him any substantial harm, his injury is in his heart.

  At that time in Beijing state-owned enterprises, accidentally broke the old Wang Baigui Zeng Huai De's scandalous things, was Zeng Huai De counter-accused, he fell to today's situation, mostly thanks to Zeng Huai De. He also fought back with all his might, but ultimately failed due to a small mistake.

  Zeng Kun has specially come all the way to Yunwu to "reminisce" with him, it seems that Zeng Huai De has made progress again, and he can't do anything about it himself.

  Lu Zhengdong couldn't help but smile wistfully.

  Lu Guoqi?

  What a great irony, all these years he never enjoyed any glory of the Yun family, but tasted all the ups and downs of the world.

  If I hadn't been so young and reckless back then, my mother wouldn't have ended up depressed; if I hadn't been so inexperienced, I wouldn't have been framed by that old scoundrel Zeng Huai and become a person who is neither human nor ghost.

  Just as Zeng Kun was about to deliver the final blow, he thought of finishing off that little scoundrel once and for all. However, in the end, he bit his lips until they bled and restrained himself. If he were to die, it would be the end of everything, but others would surely sensationalize the incident and take advantage of the situation to attack him when he was down. Although they couldn't be said to have been particularly good to him, after all, they were his mother's siblings, his relatives, and had taken him in during his most desperate moments. He didn't want to bring another heavy blow to his already struggling maternal grandparents' family...

  The enemy is right in front of him, yet he cannot strike them down. This feeling is like a sharp knife twisting and turning in his heart, making him feel suffocated, as if living is worse than death...

  After a long time, Lu Zhengdong slowly walked out of that emotional state, let out a soft sigh, and slightly tilted his head to look at the wildflowers beside him.

  Every year at this time, he comes here once to mourn his deceased parents. The flowers bloom and wither, but ultimately are not the same as before. Every day, people play out different joys and sorrows of parting and reunion. Countless encounters, countless farewells, all demonstrate the passage of time. If only time could flow backwards, how wonderful would that be? Perhaps many regrets would not have occurred...

  It's just that if it is, no one can go back to the past, what has been lost will be lost forever...

  Lu Zhengdong stared blankly at the wildflower, which had been ruthlessly battered by the wind and rain, leaving only a few broken petals clinging to the branch in an attempt to show its resilience. However, it was still unable to escape the natural law, and with one blow of the autumn wind, the remaining flowers scattered, just like himself, living a life of humiliation and desperation, thinking that one day he would be able to expose the scoundrel Zeng De's true nature, but in reality, it was just an act of futile struggle.

  No matter what it is like, living or dying, life has to go on. As long as one lives for a day in this world, there will still be opportunities for revenge!

  Lu Zhengdong was thinking, riding that old motorcycle, down the winding mountain road, but Lu Zhengdong found that the car was getting faster and faster, but he couldn't stop it at all. It seemed that this old motorcycle had finally broken down. He had just walked out of his daze, missed the best opportunity, and could only stare blankly as the motorcycle rushed out of the curve, flew off the cliff, and presented a perfect parabola flying towards the valley below.

  Sound ceased, mountain quiet, man fell...

  ————————————————

  "Zheng Dong, have you woken up?"

  When Lu Zhengdong moved his aching head with some difficulty, he heard a female voice next to him calling out in surprise. The voice was somewhat ethereal, but it didn't seem to have that gloomy tone.

  It should be in the underworld now, who is it?

  Could it be that Mother has come to pick me up?

  It's all right. If I die, it will be the end of everything, although I won't have the face to see my mother, but at least I can still serve by my mother's side and alleviate my guilty conscience.

  Thinking of this, Lu Zhongdong couldn't help but smile in his heart, his mother's voice sounded so young. Lu Zhongdong was eager to open his eyes and take a look at his mother's current appearance, but he was a bit weak, and after gathering all his strength, he finally managed to open his eyes, only to see a blurry shadow in front of him. He asked somewhat impatiently:

  "Mom, is that you? Have you come to pick me up?"

  "No, I am Lin Donghe..."

  Lin Donghe?

  Lu Zhengdong was very familiar, his mother was a colleague of theirs at the pig hair factory, and he lived next door to them. He had the closest relationship with their mother and son duo. After his mother passed away, he also died unexpectedly.

  Lu Zhengdong's eyes gradually adapted, and the scene in front of him also became clearer. What entered his eyes was a pair of big eyes with anxious concern, bent over and staring at him without blinking. Seeing his gaze looking over, the full lips slightly curled up, and a white smile was revealed, seemingly genuinely concerned and delighted that he had woken up.

  Although it wasn't his own mother, but after dying and coming back, he actually met a very familiar person, Lu Zhengdong's heart was somewhat happy, and he couldn't help but say:

  "Donghe sister, are you still living next to my mom? But how come you're getting younger and younger? You look like you're only in your twenties, do ghosts in the underworld live forever?"

  Lu Zhengdong looked at Lin Donghe, and he was also very curious. Calculating her age, Lin Donghe should be over 40 years old, but the Lin Donghe in front of him looked very young. Due to her bent waist, the neckline revealed a hint of white jade-like skin, giving off an enticing glow. Especially the lower part of her chest formed two plump and upright bulges under the thin floral blouse, like two beautiful small mountain peaks, very large and round. Her waist was slender and soft, naturally forming a perfect curve down to her hips, full and high, plump but not giving a bloated feeling. Adding to that, her skin was so white it seemed almost flawless, making her look young and sexy. What made Lu Zhengdong even more astonished was that Lin Donghe was still wearing the popular clothing of the 80s and 90s.

  Lin Donghe was stunned by his words and looked at him with some confusion:

  "Zheng Dong, what are you talking about? What's this about the underworld? What ghosts?... I'm only in my early twenties this year!... You've been running a high fever all along, has your brain been burned out?"

  At this moment, Lu Zhengdong was stunned. He only then discovered a faint red cross on the bed sheet of an empty bed beside him, indicating that he was in a hospital.

  Lu Zhengdong was also confused, he clearly fell directly into the deep canyon and there was no possibility of survival! But all this seemed to indicate that he hadn't died, so he couldn't help but confirm:

  "Where is this? Is it a hospital?"

  "This is Mountain and Village Health Clinic. I came back home to see my parents. Your mom asked me to bring some stuff for you, only to find out that you're sick... You... how could you forget everything?"

  Shanhe Township's Lu Zhengdong, of course, remembered that Shanhe Township was his first workplace. It was here that he encountered the biggest setback in his life for the first time, leaving him with a memorable experience. But why did he appear here? Yunwu Mountain is hundreds of miles away from here! And it wasn't an injury, but an illness... what's going on?!

  And the news being broadcast outside, whether it was a TV or radio, surprised him even more - that there were less than a month until the Asian Games opening ceremony and that the national team was actively preparing for the Beijing Asian Games.

  These are all things from 1990!

  It can't be a dream, right? Lu Zhengdong couldn't help but pinch his thigh hard, it hurt so much. This kind of pain definitely isn't a dream. Lu Zhengdong couldn't help but ask:

  "What year is this?"

  "In the year ninety..."

  "Is it really 1990?"

  Lu Zhengdong suddenly felt his head buzzing, exploding, and subconsciously asked a sentence, even his voice was trembling. Despite his many years of experience through thick and thin, he couldn't help himself.

  "Yes, Zheng Dong, you...you can't even remember which year it is?...You lie down, I'll go call Dr. Xie to take a look..."

  Lin Donghe said, taking a flashlight from the bag on her bedside table.

  Lu Zhengdong has already confirmed that he returned to 1990 and also prevented Lin Donghe from doing so, saying with some effort.

  "I'm fine, it's just... I had a dream and haven't woken up from it yet. It's dark and chaotic, so don't go..."

  Lin Donghe saw him say that, and only then did she feel a little more at ease. She put down the flashlight in her hand and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel. As she moved her hands, a faint fragrance wafted into Lu Zhengdong's nose. While busy with one hand, she said to him:

  "You've had a high fever for two days, kept talking nonsense, must have had a nightmare, look at all that sweat..."

  This sudden event made Lu Zhengdong feel a bit bewildered, and no matter how he thought about it, he felt that it was unbelievable. His brain was like a pot of boiling water, constantly churning, and he hadn't caught up with Lin Donghe's words. He just looked at the suddenly lit electric light on the roof in a daze.

  "Has electricity come back on? Are you hungry? I'll go out and buy some food for you?"

  Lu Zhengdong shook his head:

  "It's getting late, I woke up, and there's nothing else to do, you should get some rest too..."

  "Well, I'll go to my classmate's house across the street and come back early tomorrow morning to see you..."

  Lu Zhengdong nodded, his mind was very confused at this time, and he wanted to calm down and think about it alone.

  "Zheng Dong, don't worry too much either. You've done family planning and grain collection, and no one has hanged themselves yet. It's just a postal office, Yang Yuqing didn't think it through, who could have thought of that?... Your body is what matters most, take good rest and stop thinking wildly..."

  Lin Donghe comforted him for a few words before getting up and walking out quietly.

  After Lin Donghe left, Lu Zhengdong lay on the bed thinking that Yang Yiqing had always been an unforgettable shadow in his heart.

  At that time, he was the deputy head of the township in charge of finance and trade. The township party secretary Wang Liben had a tyrannical style, and one sentence that had been hanging on his lips for a long time was:

  "I just don't believe some guys can resist the power of people's dictatorship!"

  He did not agree with Wang Liben's extreme measures, and in the matter of requisitioning grain, he was unwilling to adopt such extreme measures as pulling cows and pigs to grab food. He came up with a plan to block the post office and credit union, but unexpectedly, soon after its implementation, Yang Yucheng, the wife of Dong Yangsheng from Lüdun Village, committed suicide because she had been requisitioned over 200 yuan at the post office. As a result, the originally dissatisfied villagers angrily carried Yang Yucheng's body to the township government to protest and reason with them, brewing a mass incident.

  He, as the deputy head of the township in charge of finance and trade, was also the proposer of squatting credit cooperatives and postal and telecommunications offices. He was naturally the first to be dealt with, plus the township party committee secretary Wang Liben and other people in the township desperately pouring dirty water on him, pushing all the responsibility onto him. As a result, he was administratively removed from office and placed under party discipline.

  Because of the Yang Yucheng incident, those implicated also blamed him, and people who didn't know the truth looked at him coldly. The common people regarded him as a person of the same kind as Wang Liben, he himself felt that he had no face to stay in his hometown, and also felt that he was not suitable for officialdom, so he quit his official career in disappointment.

  And his mother was also exhausted from running around because of him, her illness worsened, and soon she passed away...

  Past events surged out like water bursting through a gate, causing Lu Zhengdong some heartache. Now that he had been reborn, would he once again be tormented and end up with a tragic fate like in his previous life?

  Absolutely not!

  Lu Zhengdong clenched his fists tightly...