8: Chapter 8 Where are my childhood playmates now?

"Chen Fan."

Just as Chen Fan was immersed in his memories, a crisp voice rang out by his ear.

He turned his head and saw a girl in a school uniform standing not far away, holding a book in her arms. Chen Fan glanced at it; it seemed to be a novel, but he couldn't see the title clearly.

The girl had a very clean and beautiful look, with a single ponytail and a smooth forehead. Her eyebrows were natural, with a perfect curve that was neither too thick nor too thin. Her lips were small and delicate, showing a faint pink hue. By the standards of over a decade later, this girl was exactly the 'white moonlight' type.

Her figure was neither thin nor plump, just right—a very healthy physique. Beneath the clean school uniform, one could vaguely see the hint of graceful curves.

Looking at this girl, Chen Fan felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

He froze for a moment as the memories in his mind scrolled rapidly.

When he finally matched that face with a certain spot in his memory, he suddenly remembered.

Lin Xi—a name that sounded refreshing just hearing it.

A classmate from his first and second years of high school. For a period during the second year, their grades were neck-and-neck. Seats were assigned by ranking, so they moved back and forth together and were eventually assigned as desk mates. They shared a desk for nearly half a semester until his ranking dropped a few places after the final exam and they were separated.

Chen Fan had a deep impression of Lin Xi, mainly because she was beautiful. All the boys liked her, and Chen Fan was no exception.

Back when they were desk mates, he would constantly find excuses to talk to her, like borrowing a pen or an eraser, or turning around to ask if she had finished her homework.

Lin Xi didn't find him annoying; she answered every question and occasionally shared her snacks with him. Over time, the two of them had a pretty good relationship in class.

However, after the classes were reshuffled in the third year, they weren't in the same class anymore, not even in the same building. Gradually, they lost contact. After going to university, Chen Fan even lost her contact information.

He hadn't expected to run into her so soon after his rebirth.

"Lin Xi," he greeted her softly.

Lin Xi had already walked up two steps. Hearing him call her name, she paused, tilted her head to look at him, and her eyes curved into crescents. "Yo, you still remember my name?"

Chen Fan knew she was joking; after all, they had been in the same class just last semester.

But in reality, Chen Fan truly had only just recalled her name.

"We were desk mates, after all. How could I forget?" Chen Fan's lips curled slightly into a smile.

Lin Xi came over and sat down in front of Chen Fan. "What are you doing here?"

Chen Fan looked up, squinting at the sun radiating its blinding light overhead, and spoke slowly, "Soaking up the sun." After saying that, he looked back at Lin Xi. "And you?"

Lin Xi raised the book in her hand. "Reading for a bit~"

"That's a novel, isn't it?" He raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you afraid it'll affect your grades?"

"It's fine, I'm just reading for a bit during break time. It won't affect them much," Lin Xi said, raising her right hand to block the sunlight. That hand was very white—dazzlingly so—with long, slender fingers casting a small patch of shadow across her forehead.

She squinted and looked around. "Oh, it's too sunny here. I'm going over to that shady spot. Do you want to come?"

Chen Fan glanced in the direction she was pointing, then looked back.

"No, I'm planning to head back to the classroom."

"Alright then~" Lin Xi stood up and patted the dust off the back of her school uniform. "I'll head over first, then."

"Yeah, bye."

"Bye-bye."

Watching Lin Xi walk away, Chen Fan also prepared to return to the classroom. Although he had a crush on Lin Xi in his previous life, facing her now, he had no other intentions.

His primary task now was to write novels to make money and gain wealth points. Everything else was temporarily out of consideration.

Moreover, he knew that Lin Xi didn't feel that way about him; they were just normal friends.

The bell for the end of the last class of the afternoon had just rung.

Students who had already packed their things began streaming out of the classroom.

Today was Friday, and Chen Fan was going home.

His village was called Wangjia Village, about twenty kilometers from the county town. It took about forty minutes to get there by bus.

Following the route in his memory, Chen Fan walked for half an hour and finally arrived at the county bus station.

The bus station wasn't large—roughly two or three hundred square meters—but it was packed with buses heading to various towns and villages.

It looked quite lively now, but in less than ten years, it would become desolate.

Mainly because fewer and fewer people remained in the villages as they moved to the cities for work. Consequently, the number of buses operating between the villages and the county town dwindled, and over time, this place was abandoned.

In his previous life, Chen Fan had visited this place once and felt quite sentimental seeing its desolate state.

Coming back to his senses, Chen Fan began looking for the bus from the County Town to Kong Township.

Kong Township was a large township next to Wangjia Village. The bus from the county to Kong Township passed through Wangjia Village, so that was the one Chen Fan needed to take.

Soon, Chen Fan found his target vehicle.

Shortly after he boarded, the conductor began collecting fares from the passengers one by one.

Chen Fan pulled out his last 10 yuan from his pocket and handed it to the conductor, who gave him 4 yuan in change.

After the ticket was bought, the vehicle started up and slowly drove toward Kong Township. Chen Fan gradually closed his eyes amidst the jolting of the bus.

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Fan suddenly opened his eyes to find the vehicle stopped. The door was open, and a passenger was boarding.

He was startled, wondering if he had missed his stop.

Rural buses didn't have fixed stops; you had to tell the driver to pull over where you wanted to get off. Thus, he was worried he might have overshot it.

Thinking of this, he quickly looked around and realized the bus was in a town. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he hadn't missed his stop, he wasn't far from Wangjia Village—only about three or four kilometers away. Chen Fan immediately braced himself and waited for the bus to start again.

As the vehicle set off once more, Chen Fan drew closer and closer to home.

Ten minutes later, the bus pulled over by the roadside, and Chen Fan stepped off.

After getting off, Chen Fan continued walking along a small path perpendicular to the highway. A plump young woman in her twenties, who was picking vegetables in front of her house at the intersection, saw Chen Fan and spoke: "Xiao Fan, home for the holidays?"

"Yeah, Sister Hui," Chen Fan replied.

This young woman from the same village was named Sun Hui. Over a decade later, Chen Fan would occasionally see her when he returned to the village and would greet her. But by then, her hair was cut short, her figure had bloated, and her face had sagged, with the flesh on her cheeks hanging down—she looked like a typical middle-aged auntie.

She wasn't like she was now, in her twenties, at her most charming age.

Actually, it wasn't just people; the village was the same. The village right now was just like the twenty-something Sun Hui, in the prime of its beauty.

In just over a decade, it would become sparsely populated, only becoming lively with a hint of life during the Lunar New Year.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered a phrase he had seen online. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but later, he would remember it every time he returned to the village—

As cities rise, ten thousand villages empty; no souls remain in the streets and alleys. Where are the childhood playmates now? All in the city, paying off their mortgages.