Late at night.
In the bedroom, moonlight slipped through a gap in the curtains, casting a line on the floor that served as the sole source of light.
The grayish-white moonlight faintly revealed the creeping shadows of tiny bugs on the window.
Woo~
A vehicle from the residential complex passed by the window downstairs, its engine purring softly.
The pale car lights pierced through the gap in the curtains, drawing a fan-shaped halo on the ceiling, which then gradually dimmed as the vehicle moved away.
Click.
An old cassette tape was inserted into the player, and upon closing the lid, it made a clicking sound of engagement.
Li Chengyi furrowed his brows as he put on his headphones and adjusted the volume; soon, the soft sounds of music gently floated out of the headphones and into his ears.
The music was lyric-free, a pure classical mixture of guzheng and pipa.
The rhythm was relaxed, clear.
The sounds of the two instruments were like two slender, sharp threads that occasionally intertwined with each other, sometimes distinctly separate.
They seemed to be narrating an ancient story or like two continuously entwining pale fingers.
Li Chengyi lay on his side on the pillow, staring at the dark curtains, unmoving, listening to the song in his headphones.
The cool pillowcase gradually warmed from the heat of his face, starting to release a faint scent of laundry detergent.
His eyes were open, as if he were daydreaming, yet also as if he were pondering something.
He clearly remembered that just twenty minutes earlier, he had been halfway up a mountain hike; then, twenty minutes later, after finding a pretty little flower, his head swam... everything changed. He inexplicably switched bodies and found himself here, in this room, much younger.
After ten minutes of shock, doubt, and incredulity, he began to accept his new reality.
At this moment, a massive amount of information and memories were rapidly merging with him in his mind. All these were the twenty-some years of memories belonging to another Li Chengyi with the same name in this world.
The information wasn't complete, much of it was vague, but it was enough for him to get a preliminary understanding of his situation.
"Tomorrow, I have a very important friend coming over to visit. You and Li Chengyi go out and find something to do, come back after five in the afternoon, got it?"
A low, young female voice could be faintly heard from outside the bedroom.
Li Chengyi's train of thought was interrupted, and he automatically followed the voice to its owner—the name Li Chengjiu surfaced.
This was his biological sister in this body, probably talking to their parents.
"Okay, don't worry, we definitely won't disrupt your plans," his mother Feng Yurong replied cautiously.
His father remained silent, merely breathing a bit more heavily, signifying his agreement.
"Jiu, about... your brother's job situation hasn't been settled yet, look..." The mother hesitated before bringing up another matter.
"What's the rush? I haven't stabilized the situation on my end yet. We'll talk about that later. Just don't cause me trouble," Li Chengjiu said impatiently.
"Don't worry, we definitely won't, definitely won't," Feng Yurong answered softly.
"I'm off to bed, remember, don't you guys come back before twelve. If you see me out with a girl with fair skin, don't greet me. Pretend you don't know me, okay?" Li Chengjiu continued.
"Don't worry, we'll stay out of your way and won't mess up your important matters," the mother paused for a moment before responding in a low voice.
"Oh, right." Li Chengjiu paused, "I need to pay my tuition fees this month, roughly a hundred and ninety thousand. Make sure you pay it for me tomorrow."
"A hundred and ninety thousand... didn't we just make a big payment?" Feng Yurong's voice was laced with difficulty. Her and her husband's funds were getting tight due to frequent expenses.
A hundred and ninety thousand was not a small sum.
"That's for materials and training fees!" Li Chengjiu said impatiently. "Don't you still have your pension? Take that out and pay for me first, and then slowly make it back."
"That..." Feng Yurong hesitated, "Alright, we'll definitely make the payment for you."
She didn't mention that she and her husband had already withdrawn their pension for Li Chengjiu's expenses.
The factory where they worked was not doing well, resulting in continuous cuts to their salaries. They genuinely didn't have enough money.
Li Chengjiu snorted, pushed back his chair, got up, and went to the washroom.
He left Feng Yurong and father, Li Zhao, to discuss in hushed tones in the living room.
"I'm running short on pension funds on my end; let's draw some from the medical fund to make ends meet. Our daughter's future is important," Feng Yurong whispered.
"We need to spend money on relationships and gifts to find a job for Xiao Yi. If we draw everything, what about medical expenses? Won't your back pain get ignored? You need medication every day," Li Zhao responded stiffly.
"We'll just have to cut back more, we'll make up for it soon enough, don't worry. My back doesn't hurt much now, it's fine," Feng Yurong urged softly, "Come on, our daughter's future is at stake, don't hold her back at the critical moment."
"I know, I know," the father replied impatiently. After a pause, he sighed deeply, seeming a bit helpless and distressed.
Then came the sounds of the two fiddling with their mobile phones, figuring out how to proceed.
Li Chengyi lay on the bed, eyes open, heaving a slight sigh.
Uncontrollably, the image of his father, Li Zhao, begging relatives for money in a muted voice on the balcony only two days prior flashed through his mind.
Although unfamiliar with his new surroundings, the love he felt from the parents of this body, as genuine as that from his own parents, eased the restlessness in his heart a little.
Different bodies, different worlds, but the sacrifices parents make for their children seem to be universally identical.