Chapter 2: Transmigration

I buried myself under the duvet, tossing and turning like a strip of bacon in a sizzling skillet. Just as I was drifting off into sleep, my phone buzzed with a loud chime.

I popped my head out to check it, and my mood plummeted straight off a cliff: Zheng Xian!

Frowning in annoyance, I stared at the screen, which was flooded with his bossy, overbearing interrogation texts:

[What the hell is wrong with you today?]

[Are you mad? Come on, Xu Zhizhi, since when are you so petty? Or are you still holding a grudge over what happened last month?]

It took a good bit of digging through my memory before I finally recalled what “last month’s incident” actually was.

Zheng Xian and I were childhood friends through and through. When we were little, I was like a shadow stuck to his heels, while he always played the dutiful older-brother figure protecting me. Our families were practically joined at the hip—sharing holiday dinners, attending the same schools, and even applying to the same universities.

Everything went sideways once we hit college. Zheng Xian entered a delayed rebellious phase and suddenly grew sick of sweet, conventional girls like me. Instead, he became obsessed with bold, edgy girls like Lin Xi. He started slinging his arm around her shoulder, acting like best buddies, being so insufferably close with her that… I, his lifelong childhood friend, suddenly became the third wheel.

The prime example was our hiking trip last month. It was supposed to be a day trip just for the two of us, but Lin Xi barged in, turning it into a crowded trio.

The second we hit the foot of the mountain, those two started racing each other to the summit. Driven by their petty competitiveness, they left me in the dust within minutes, disappearing without a trace.

Naturally, because she overexerted herself, Lin Xi sprained her ankle. So, Zheng Xian carried her piggyback down a different trail, leaving me stranded behind without a word. I trudged all the way to the top by myself, waiting until my neck grew stiff, only to realize nobody was coming. Any joy from reaching the summit evaporated completely.

Text messages went unread; calls went straight to voicemail. As dusk fell, I made my way down the mountain alone, shivering, only to end up twisting my ankle badly. Injured, overwhelmed, and brimming with resentment, I limped my way to the hospital step by grueling step.

And as luck—or twisted fate—would have it, I ran right into Zheng Xian there. He was gently supporting Lin Xi by the elbow, leaning down to shower her with tender concern. When I suddenly popped into view, he froze. “What are you doing here?”

I had registered all by myself, limping around and looking like an absolute wreck. I kept my head down, not even bothering to answer. He pressed on: “Are you hurt? Why didn’t you tell me?”

I couldn’t hold it back anymore. “I called you! You didn’t answer.” (Turns out his phone had been sitting inside Lin Xi’s handbag. Upon hearing this, he mumbled sheepishly, “Oh, it was on silent. Didn’t notice. Sorry about that.”)

The fury in my chest exploded. Pain mixed with bitter grievance, and tears poured down uncontrollably. “What good is a ‘sorry’ now?! If something happened, couldn’t you at least text me? Do you have any idea how long I waited up there?”

Faced with my confrontation, his patience snapped. He cut me off sharply: “Well, didn’t you make it to the hospital on your own anyway? Stop making a scene over nothing! Lin Xi is on her period, she needed care more than you did. Xu Zhizhi, can you not cause a dramatic scene? I am in no mood to fight with you.”

He glared at me with pure annoyance. “Who told you to cling to me all the time anyway? At the end of the day, you brought this entirely on yourself.”

I rubbed at the goosebumps breaking out over my arms and erased that toxic childhood friend from my mind without a second thought.

Right then, my darkened screen lit up with a notification: Jiang Yu’an has accepted your friend request.

I immediately got down to business:

Me: [Hubby! Where are you working tomorrow? I wanna come find youuu!]

Jiang Yu’an: […] [Why do you keep calling me that?]

Me: [You mean ‘hubby’? Don’t you like it? But you like me anyway, don’t you?]

Having his deepest secrets exposed so bluntly, he went dead silent. The “Typing…” indicator flickered on and off, struggling for five solid minutes before squeezing out a single text:

[…]

Another helpless string of ellipses. I vibrantly typed out a whole manifesto:

[Actually, I transmigrated from the future! Four years from now, you’re the one who comes with betrothal gifts to propose to me. We’re going to live happily ever after and even have the most ridiculously adorable daughter!]

Worried this wild story sounded too hard to believe, I threw in some hard evidence to boost my credibility:

[You have a long scar across your back, right?]

He replied instantly: [No, I don’t.]

Huh? I stared at the screen, utterly baffled for a few seconds.

Then it hit me. Just like his right ear—at this point in time, that terrible accident hadn’t happened yet! Everything could still be saved!

At that realization, my mood soared like a kite in the wind. Fearing he’d write me off as a psycho talking nonsense, I scrambled to hit the call button right away.

“Jiang Yu’an, wait! Let me explain!”

The steady, heavily controlled breathing of the young boy came through the receiver. His voice was soft and low. “Okay. Go ahead.”

“I swear I’m not lying to you! You have a mole on your left butt cheek and another on your right waist, right? And two faint back dimples right above your waist! Oh, and that place down there—it’s like—”

“Xu Zhizhi!” he cut me off in sheer panic.

Over the line, I could clearly hear his panicked, erratic gasps. I could practically picture his face turned as red as a boiled lobster.

A long moment passed before he asked slowly, “What you just said… is that true?”

“One hundred percent true! If you don’t believe me, where do you think our daughter came from—thin air?”

“…I’m not asking about that.” He took a deep, audible breath on the other end to regain his composure. “Are you… really a transmigrator from the future?”

“Yes!”

Silence hung between us for a few seconds before he mumbled softly, “Is this a new prank you guys are playing? If you really want to play along like this… I suppose I can try to cooperate.”

Speechless, I hung up. Looks like the guy still thought I was just committing deep to the act.

I sprawled flat on my back across the bed, sighing heavily. This guy was just too sensitive and full of self-doubt—he simply refused to believe a word I said.