“His heart’s stopped.”
“Take him off the ventilator.”
“Where’s the family? Could the patient’s family come over here and sign?”
“Mr. Ye, my condolences.”
…
Gan Lan thought it was a little noisy around his ears.
The nurse’s shouts, men and women crying, and the onlookers sighing.
The sharp smell of disinfectant filled his nostrils.
His body was gradually growing cold and stiff.
In a daze, he thought he’d just been driving home.
A black car came speeding toward him from the opposite direction, its high beams on as it headed straight for him.
He had no idea what happened after that.
“Am I dead?”
Gan Lan tried to move his fingers, but he couldn’t move at all.
He wanted to sigh, but couldn’t even do that.
No breath, no heartbeat. Only white light before his eyes.
It looked like sunlight, but it was cold enough to chill him to the bone.
Just then, he heard the voice of the man who’d often bullied him as a child—Ye Yubai.
“I won’t let you cremate him! All of you, stop!”
Ye Yubai, heir to the Ye Group and Nandu’s youngest billionaire.
He glared darkly at the medical staff around him, then casually tossed down a black card.
“No one is to make Mr. Gan Lan’s death public, either. Anyone who lets a single word slip can kiss their career goodbye!”
Then he ordered the black-clad bodyguards waiting behind him to lift Gan Lan from the hospital bed and place him in the custom crystal coffin beside it.
He’d kept watch since last night, going a full day and night without food or water.
Gan Lan found it strange. He was lying down with his eyes closed, yet somehow he could see Ye Yubai’s slightly gaunt shoulders, his haggard face, and the despair in his eyes.
“Who would’ve thought this guy, who’s always so full of himself, could make a face like that?”
Gan Lan found it a little funny.
“He was saying just the other day that he’d crush my company and drive me into bankruptcy.”
What a bad liar.
This time, his consciousness faded away along with the heavy sleepiness.
“If there really is a next life, I’m going to expose that tsundere, scheming side of yours, Ye Yubai…”
…
Ring-ring~
The insistent ringing dragged Gan Lan back from a deep sleep.
She jerked her eyes open.
With a quick kip-up, she sat straight up in bed.
“Where… am I?”
She looked around. It was a cramped little room, with a poster of Sasuke on the wall.
This looked like the student apartment she’d rented back in high school!
Someone knocked on the door.
Ye Yubai’s lazy voice came from outside.
“Gan Lan, hurry up. I made breakfast today, so you’re doing the dishes.”
Gan Lan sucked in a sharp breath.
She’d been reborn!
Reborn back in high school!
“Holy shit, I actually… Wait, why does my voice sound so weird?”
Her own voice sounded so girly to Gan Lan.
She looked down. Her chest had a slight curve to it, and her hands didn’t feel nearly as solid as she remembered.
She stared in shock, then tumbled out of bed.
She didn’t even have time to put on her shoes before rushing to the wardrobe.
Looking at her fair, smooth skin in the mirror, she had no time to admire her youthful beauty. She hurriedly took off the sheep-shaped pajamas she was wearing.
Staring at the naked girl’s body in the mirror, Gan Lan let out a scream and swore on the spot.
“Holy shit!”
Ye Yubai was just turning the corner into the living room when he heard the commotion behind him. He turned and glanced toward Gan Lan’s room.
“That doesn’t sound right,” he thought to himself. “Why does he sound like a girl?”
Creak—
The door opened from the inside.
Gan Lan appeared in front of him, her forehead slick with sweat and her eyes darting around.
She looked like she’d seen a ghost.
Ye Yubai frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I…”
Gan Lan wanted to tell him she’d suddenly turned into a girl. But knowing Ye Yubai, he’d definitely use it as leverage and squeeze her for everything she was worth from then on.
She couldn’t tell him. Not even if she died.
So she smoothly changed the subject.
Gan Lan took a deep breath and asked, “What year is it?”
Ye Yubai looked at her with disdain. “Did you sleep yourself stupid? It’s the Year of the Dragon.”
Gan Lan counted on her fingers.
The Year of the Dragon…
That meant eight years ago.
In that instant, tears of joy filled her eyes.
If she remembered right, this was the year she was in her second year of high school, about to choose between the humanities and sciences!
Back then, she’d always said things like, “If I could do it all over, I’d choose art.” Now she had her chance!
Ye Yubai eyed her suspiciously. “Don’t think you can get out of doing the dishes by playing dumb. I did them yesterday, so you still owe me three rounds.”
Gan Lan waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah. Quit yapping.”
Who would’ve guessed that a guy who nitpicked over everything from washing dishes to cooking would be the long-lost son of the Ye Family, one of Nandu’s top aristocratic families?
Right now, Ye Yubai was just the kid Uncle Ye, the neighbor across the hall from Gan Lan’s family, had adopted from an orphanage.
Their parents were old family friends.
Their fathers in particular had worked at the same place together for over thirty years.
Since both boys were in the same class, their fathers had decided to rent them a small apartment near school.
It had been a convenient arrangement so they could look after each other. Now, though, it left Gan Lan feeling awkward and giving her a headache.
They had separate bedrooms, but shared plenty of other things.
Ye Yubai would sometimes wear his sports clothes. He’d often walk into his room without knocking, and even come in to use the bathroom while he was showering, as if it were perfectly normal.
Gan Lan was panicking inside and unconsciously started biting her nails.
It seemed like it was only a matter of time before her identity was exposed!
Ye Yubai raised a hand and slapped hers away.
“Your mom told me to make sure you stop biting your nails.”
Then he turned around as if nothing had happened and sat down at the dining table.
“Come on, hurry up and try my masterpiece: century egg and lean pork congee.”
Gan Lan let out a breath, walked over to him, and sat stiffly across the table.
There were no bowls on the table, only chopsticks.
She couldn’t be bothered to go to the kitchen for one, so she used one of the disposable cups on the table and ladled herself a cupful.
She drank the congee like it was water.
It tasted pretty good—the same as she remembered.
It was the first time in five or six years she’d tasted this delicious food again.
Gan Lan felt so moved she almost cried.
She lowered her head so Ye Yubai wouldn’t notice the change in her expression.
Ye Yubai watched her with a complicated look.
“Gan Lan, you don’t have to get this lazy just to dodge the dishes, do you?”
