Anan

008 Young Nan (2)

Li Xinyuan withdrew her hand, feeling... embarrassed.

She lowered her head against the window, wishing she could just disappear. How could she feel a strange sense of camaraderie with him, both being lost souls at the end of the world? It was embarrassing to ramble on like that! And perhaps due to her heightened emotions, her head seemed to ache even more, and her feverish state intensified.

The car was about to exit the tunnel.

"Five years," came the deep voice.

Li Xinyuan: "...Hmm?"

"My goal is to clear all those debts within the next five years," he continued.

Li Xinyuan widened her eyes. Paying off seven billion in five years was truly impressive. Compared to that, her own goals seemed minuscule.

But he shared his goal with her.

Li Xinyuan pressed her hot forehead with her hand and said, "Thank you so much. Really, thank you. You're a good person and will surely achieve your goal. You will definitely be even more successful!"

Zhang Yanan chuckled lightly, as if self-deprecating yet finding it amusing.

Li Xinyuan didn't know when she fell asleep, almost immediately plunging into a bewildering dream of sorrow and confusion—children crying, fathers screaming, someone leaping from a rooftop... Tears flowed freely in her dream.

A vast expanse of white light engulfed everything, swallowing her whole.

---

Li Xinyuan was awakened by the sunlight, warm and comforting against her eyelids. Her head throbbed and spun, but she didn't question why there was sunlight at this time. She propped herself up with her hand, slowly sitting up, yawning, and touching her head. Fortunately, she wasn't running a fever.

Then she took in her surroundings, feeling as if she were under a spell.

Where was this?

It was a completely unfamiliar room, probably around forty square meters. Painted in a light blue hue, the ceiling adorned with a row of stunning crystal lights. Against the wall in front stood a long table, with a desktop computer, a laptop, and at least five pairs of fancy headphones.

Further to the side were a row of sleek light-colored wardrobes. Next to them, a large glass cabinet neatly filled with at least a hundred... colorful game figurines?

And there she was, sitting on a bed at least two meters by two meters, covered with a deep blue duvet that had a rather masculine vibe, while the bedframe was gray. On the bedside table lay another pair of headphones, a PSP, and a cellphone.

Could this be... Zhang Yanan's room?

Li Xinyuan immediately hugged herself, shielding herself.

It was already morning, had he brought her home? Or was it a ruse, a malicious intent, and he had locked her up? What other explanation could there be? She had given him her home address.

Oh god, it must be true. Look at him, pretending to be a domineering CEO, who would have thought his room looked like it belonged to a rebellious teenager? Definitely schizophrenic!

So, what happened last night?

Li Xinyuan suddenly looked down at her legs, under the covers, unable to see anything, but she couldn't shake the feeling of swelling down there, her body feeling completely off.

She broke out in a cold sweat, realizing how naive she had been. How could she have handed out the good person card so easily just because he was young, handsome, wealthy, talented, and saved her? She, with her delicate appearance, was not even picky about perverts! She had wasted her time watching American and Korean dramas!

Li Xinyuan cautiously glanced at the door, no movement, no one came in. She immediately threw off the covers, wanting to see just how far he had gone, but when she looked, she froze.

Why did her legs look so long? And her feet, so big.

Li Xinyuan's eyes went wide, then she saw those large hands, distinct and powerful. She quickly lifted the oversized T-shirt she was wearing to look at the neckline and her mind buzzed.

Then she hurriedly put the T-shirt back down, closed her eyes, reopened them, and lifted the T-shirt again to look.

Li Xinyuan felt her ears buzzing too, her mind blank. She looked around, feeling as if she were in a dream. She swallowed hard and her gaze slowly fell between her legs... it felt swollen.

She reached into her pants, feeling something, and recoiled in shock, as if she had touched something disgusting, subconsciously wiping her hands on the bedsheet. After all, she didn't even know whose body she was in. She got out of bed, legs a little weak but managing to stand, and walked unsteadily to a large full-length mirror in the room.

A familiar yet unfamiliar person appeared in the mirror.

Li Xinyuan stared fixedly at him.

Zhang Yanan.

Li Xinyuan recognized him at first sight. But this Zhang Yanan... the one she had become... was very different from the person last night.

He looked much younger, not even twenty, tall and slender, wearing a white T-shirt and square shorts, revealing his slender and elegant legs. His hair was fluffy and soft, and though his features were identical, the person in front of her seemed much softer and more juvenile. The rebellious teenage aura was almost bursting out of the mirror. How different from last night's Zhang Yanan, every inch of him exuding the sharpness and restraint of a mature man.

Li Xinyuan was stunned for a long time before leaving in a daze from in front of the mirror. She realized that there were many situations that needed to be clarified now, but more importantly... she looked down and felt like she was about to burst.

Although there was no one else here, she entered the bathroom of the room like a thief.

A few minutes later, with a flushed face, Li Xinyuan grabbed a cloth to wipe the tiled walls and fixtures.

She was truly out of practice.

Enduring it, she washed the cloth, washed her hands ten times, and finally felt relieved. She returned to the bedroom, picked up her phone first, which showed the date:

January 11, 2014, Saturday, 9:37 a.m.

She closed her eyes in disbelief!

She then opened the laptop, notebook, and found a backpack under the desk. Taking out the books and notebooks inside, she saw:

Central University of Finance and Economics, Department of Economics and Management, Sophomore Year, Zhang Yanan.

Central University of Finance and Economics, another 985 university in the province, ranked higher than Li Xinyuan's alma mater.

The dates on every page of notes matched.

Li Xinyuan collapsed back onto the bed.

Was this a dream?

She pinched her thigh—definitely not her own—ouch, it hurt!

And how could a dream feel so real?

Li Xinyuan stared at the ceiling for a while, then suddenly bounced up.

If this was real, she had become Zhang Yanan from eight years ago...

Had Zhang Yanan also come back? Where did he go? Did they switch? How were they doing in their 2022 bodies? Was this a different spacetime?

...

All the bizarre and absurd didn't matter, and there was no need to rush to investigate.

What mattered was, she remembered,

her sister Li Xiaoyi had accepted Zhou Zhihao's intense pursuit in this year, 2014. In other words—

Her sister was still alive.

She was still the healthy and fresh Li Xiaoyi, not having endured any of the later hardships.

It was January, and her sister hadn't even officially started dating Zhou Zhihao yet!

Li Xinyuan's face flushed with excitement. She randomly grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe, took a step forward to the door, grabbed the handle, paused for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and then pulled open this new world.

It's starting, it's starting. Ah Nan, she's starting.