Chapter 8: Long Time No See

“Liu Qian, it’s been a long time.”

Wu Ya turned to look at the person who had just arrived.

Liu Qian.

Her skin was pale and radiant, glowing with a delicate luster. Her features were exquisitely harmonious, the perfect combination of grace and beauty. Not only was she breathtaking, she had also been the axis around which his entire youth had revolved—the girl who haunted his dreams for the next twenty years, so much so that he would often wake from sleep with tears on his cheeks.

But, alas.

Their story ended for good after the college entrance exams.

Liu Qian, with the top score in the city, had been admitted to Yan University, the most prestigious institution in the country.

Wu Ya, though he had started striving in the latter half of high school, could not make up for lost time. His efforts proved to be nothing but a fleeting dream. He managed to enter a provincial key university, but lost the girl he yearned for.

Years later, the next time Wu Ya heard news of Liu Qian, it was from a black public notice box attached to a lamppost by the street.

Gnawing on a cold steamed bun, soothed by the sweetness of her voice on the radio, he was suddenly shattered by a piece of news: a student studying abroad had been killed in a foreign land. In that instant, his face was streaming with tears, and the bun in his hand was crushed to crumbs.

Now, reborn in this life, Liu Qian stood before his eyes once more. Naturally, she was the key to changing his fate.

“A long time? Wu Ya, are you sick or something?” Liu Qian’s wide eyes brimmed with confusion.

This guy always acted so proper whenever he saw her. Only yesterday, they’d been together with classmates, eagerly awaiting their exam results. And now, today, he greeted her as though it had been ages? It was baffling.

“Heh, I did just get out of the hospital,” Wu Ya replied hastily, a smile on his lips.

To see his youth again, to feel the innocence of that time, left him momentarily dazed, and he blurted out the words he’d kept buried for twenty years... “It’s been a long time.”

“What happened to you?” At the mention of his hospitalization, Liu Qian’s tone instantly became anxious.

Eighteen years old—innocent, yes, but not naive. There was only that thin veil left between the two of them. Her concern was sincere, straight from the heart.

“Oh, I got overexcited after we saw our results yesterday, and on my way back, I was framed—got caught up in a staged accident scam,” Wu Ya confessed without hesitation.

It was strange—whenever he saw Liu Qian, the Wu Ya who could spin any tale became someone who simply couldn’t lie. That flaw, it seemed, had followed him even through reincarnation.

“You did what? You actually managed to con twenty thousand out of those thugs? My God, Wu Ya, what did you do—become a righteous hero, robbing the rich to help the poor?” As Wu Ya told his story, Liu Qian’s exclamation burst forth.

Wu Ya seemed like a stranger to her now.

Was this really the same “bad student” she’d always known? He was always getting into mischief or scraps with others, but that was only because of his fiery temper. His mind had always been simple.

And yet now, he’d managed something extraordinary—outwitting real criminals and getting them to fork over twenty thousand yuan! That sum, regardless of the circumstances, was staggering. After all, he was only a student. To make gangsters meekly pay out so much—a fortune—was unthinkable!

“Oh, my dad’s friend works at the police station. He’d talk about these people sometimes, and I remembered what he said. I never thought I’d have to use it, and I certainly didn’t expect those guys would be such cowards. A bit of bluffing and they handed over the cash,” Wu Ya lied this time.

He had the mind of a thirty-nine-year-old now—he could keep himself in check. As for his earlier slip, that had just been a momentary lapse.

“So why did you call me here in such a hurry?” Liu Qian changed the subject.

Her family was well-off; they already had a landline telephone, something everyone envied back then. But she had an agreement with her parents: she could only use it at fixed times, so that they wouldn’t suspect her of having a teenage romance. Yet today, Wu Ya had broken the rules. That meant it must be something urgent.

“Hmm...” Wu Ya didn’t hesitate, and told Liu Qian everything about the tailor’s shop.

When he finished, Liu Qian didn’t respond at all. She simply stared at him, her eyes glazed with confusion, as if she were seeing someone completely different. This person felt unfamiliar, somehow changed.

What was it? His way of speaking was no longer scattered and disorganized, but methodical, full of intelligence and insight—as though he were a worldly man in middle age.

But how could that be? Wu Ya was the same age as her—only eighteen! Had getting caught up in that scam knocked some sense into him? Even so, how could he possibly shoulder the responsibility of saving the tailor’s shop? He was still just a blank slate, with no experience in business or society. How could he possibly save a crumbling enterprise?

She couldn’t let herself get swept up in his nonsense—she had to avoid giving his parents the impression that he was making up stories or acting recklessly.

With that in mind...

“Wu Ya, I can’t agree to this! I won’t join you in some wild scheme, and I won’t help you deceive your parents!” she refused him outright, her expression resolute and unyielding.

He’d risked everything—braving retaliation and possible injury—to get that twenty thousand from those thugs. And now, instead of using it to make life better for his family, he wanted to take over the tailor’s shop and risk even greater losses by expanding the business? It was madness.

Twenty thousand was a lot, but it could vanish in a few days in a failing shop. The existing stock alone could consume the entire sum. And if they needed to buy more fabric to keep producing, where would the money come from? Even if they made the clothes, how would they sell them? Were the products even suitable for the market? All of these were real problems.

Liu Qian didn’t know business, but her background meant she could see the risks more clearly than Wu Ya could.

“Liu Qian, do you think I’m just being impulsive? That just because I managed to trick some money out of those thugs, I think I can do anything?”

“Isn’t that exactly it?” Liu Qian cut him off before he could finish. Such a simple matter—what excuse could he possibly offer? How could a fresh high school graduate hope to revive a dying business? Unless he was some kind of genius—but was he? As far as she knew, his only talent was fighting. Wasn’t he just being delusional?

Looking at Liu Qian’s frosty expression, radiating a clear “keep away” warning, Wu Ya could only smile wryly.

“So you really don’t believe in me?”

As he spoke, he crouched down, picked up a stick, and began to draw in the dirt.

With a few swift strokes, a rough sketch emerged—it was a jacket.

Liu Qian’s gaze was immediately captured by the drawing. Unconsciously, she crouched down beside him.

“This is…”