Chapter 3: Return Part 1

“Xiao Chen, come downstairs and have breakfast!” A voice calls out to Lu Chen from downstairs.

“Uggh.” Lu Chen groans as he starts to wake up. Wait, I’m waking up, didn’t I die. Lu Chen is confused. The only thing he remembers is lying in his own pool of blood as he watches Long Shen and Liu Fei Fei. He looks around and notices this wasn’t his original bedroom.

He walks towards the mirror at the corner of the room. He looks into it and notices his face was covered by god awfully long hair. Lu Chen’s mouth went wide enough for him to put an apple in it, as he knew who was in the reflection.

It was him, but a different him. To be more specific, Lu Chen was looking at his younger self.

Am I in the past? Lu Chen’s eyes widen as he double-checks himself in the mirror to see if he had actually turn back into his 18-year-old self.

Still in shock by the sudden situation he is currently placed in, Lu Chen doesn’t realize his Lao Ma (mother) was calling for him again.

“Xiao Chen, come downstairs! Your breakfast is getting cold!”

Lu Chen snaps out of his shock and realizes his Lao Ma was calling out to him again. He rushes downstairs as fast as possible, hoping the voice he heard was not an illusion. And when he got downstairs, tears begin to form in his eyes as he saw the people he wanted to see most was there.

Walking into the dining room, he saw his Lao Ba (father) reading the newspaper and his brothers chatting with each other over at the table. A woman who looks to be in her mid-30s walks out from the kitchen. She gave off a warm and comfy aura towards others. Lu Chen’s Lao Ma, Zhang Wenling, notices her son was bawling his eyes out.

She said with concern, “ Xiao Chen, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Lu Chen wipes his tears away, “Nothing, Lao Ma. I just have something in my eyes.” He couldn’t tell her how happy he was to see them all alive.

To see his Lao Ba was killed in a car accident. Then his Lao Ma killing herself out of grief, and his brothers disappearing from S city. All of them were alive and living, right in front of his eyes.

“Lu Chen, you look like somebody owes you some money. Go wash your face.” One of the boys at the table said jokingly to Lu Chen. The person who said this was Lu Chen’s second brother, Lu Hao. He looks to be in his early 20s and had messy black hair. He had a handsome face that gave him a wild and carefree aura.

Turning his head to Lu Hao, Lu Chen knew his annoying remark was something different than what he meant. Lu Hao had always been there to clean up the messes he had caused.

“Ok, second brother.” Lu Chen said warmly.

Hearing how his youngest brother didn’t retort back at him and instead agrees with him made Lu Hao’s eyes widen. Lu Hao thought the sun has risen up from the west as he asks Lu Chen with worry,

“You good, little bro? Did you eat something weird before you went to bed?”

“...”

Forgot he was such an ass. Lu Chen was about to retort back when another voice interrupts him.

“Lu Hao, stop teasing Xiao Chen.”

Lu Aotian, Lu Chen’s first brother, interrupts the two of them. If there were any words to describe him, then it would be; a mature role model. His looks are the opposite of Lu Hao, prim and proper, but he still has a handsome air around him.

He turns to Lu Chen, “ And Xiao Chen, go clean yourself up. I can still see drool stains near your mouth.”

“Yes, sir.” The two said in unison.