ECG -Chapter 1 Do Good Deeds, Don’t Ask About the Future

A parallel world.

Summer, 2002.

Northeast China.

The sun was setting in the west. On the desk by the window, a broken electric fan swayed its head back and forth, blowing out waves of hot air. There was an empty glass, and two medicine boxes.

Chen Xi lay on the bed bare-chested, his eyes filled with confusion. His entire body was covered in sweat, and he had been in this state for quite some time.

Who am I?

Where is this place?

He remembered that after he exhaled his last breath, his body suddenly began floating upward. Below him, a group of his closest friends surrounded the bed, crying out his name…

At that moment, he clearly saw that he was still lying on the bed. His body was emaciated, his eyes closed, and his expression peaceful.

Afterward, it was as if a mysterious force had grabbed hold of him, pulling him rapidly through a long tunnel that flickered between light and darkness, filled with brilliant colors. Then, when he opened his eyes again, he had arrived here.

He slowly sat up and stretched out one arm. Looking at the slightly thin but fair and healthy arm, he curled his lips, yet he couldn’t bring himself to smile.

Then, he began examining everything in the room, still looking bewildered.

The room was not large. The walls were snow white, and in the corner stood an easel. On it was an unfinished still-life sketch, though the quality looked fairly average.

By the window was an old, mottled desk. The fan continued to spin with a buzzing sound, and beneath him was a simple single wooden bed.

Turning his head, he saw several faded posters stuck to the wall beside the bed. The girls on them were striking seductive poses, but he didn’t recognize a single one.

Suddenly, his head felt like it was splitting apart. All of the memories belonging to this body surged into his mind…

Lin Hao, male, 19 years old, a third-year senior high school student at Spring River City No. 10 High School.

Father: Lin Qingsheng, a worker at a wood processing factory, laid off ten years ago.

Mother: Li Xiu’e, passed away from cancer thirteen years ago.

He understood.

His soul had traveled through time after death and arrived in a strange new world!

Lin Hao?

Could it be that he would be called Lin Hao from now on?

He sat there, completely at a loss for quite a while. Only after a long time did he gradually accept this reality.

When he was alive, he had been a down-and-out keyboard player. At sixteen, he started accompanying singers in dance halls, later following a music promoter around the country.

At thirty-two, he settled in Yanjing. On weekends, he taught at a music store; at night, he wandered through Yanjing’s nightlife scene, singing and playing piano.

Sanlitun, Workers’ Stadium, Houhai…

At forty, he was diagnosed with bone cancer. After suffering for two years in a hospital bed, he finally breathed his last.

People who worked in music often had pockets emptier than their faces. The speed at which they earned money could never catch up with the speed at which they spent it.

But it was also the only industry where being poor could still attract girls.

He had no house in Yanjing, no wife, and certainly no children.

He had also once had countless romances and friends all over the world. Precisely because he had such a wide circle of acquaintances, so many close friends had accompanied him at his bedside before his death.

Sigh.

With a long sigh, he thought: Fine. Since I’m already here, I’ll accept it.

People always said: Do good deeds and don’t ask about the future.

It seemed Heaven truly had eyes! The old man in the heavens must have known that although he had lived a miserable life in his previous existence, he had often donated money and given blood before becoming ill, doing many good deeds.

That was why Heaven didn’t let him cross the Bridge of Helplessness, didn’t make him drink Granny Meng’s soup, and instead gave him a chance to start over.

Since that was the case, why not live a proper life this time?

He glanced at the mechanical alarm clock on the desk.

18:05.

After thinking about it, he remembered that tonight seemed to be the senior graduation arts performance.

It was already over.

He got out of bed and searched around, but couldn’t find a mirror. He had originally wanted to see what he looked like now, but forget it.

He put on a white undershirt and sneakers, then walked out.

In the hallway was a very clean old-fashioned twenty-eight-inch bicycle. It wasn’t even locked, and he instinctively pushed it along as he left.

…

At the No. 10 High School auditorium, the performance had already begun.

Lin Hao, drenched in sweat, finally found his class’s seats. He crouched down and squeezed his way through row after row of legs, causing quite a bit of dissatisfaction.

The only empty seat was beside the class teacher, Chen Shengli, so he had no choice but to sit there.

Chen Shengli turned his head and saw him, then let out an unhappy grunt.

On the stage:

A crosstalk performance awkward from beginning to end;

A half-joking skit praising the class teacher;

A folk dance where the movements were supposed to be synchronized but weren’t;

A male-female duet where both singers’ faces were painted so heavily they looked like monkey butts;

…

For him, watching these kinds of programs was practically a cruel and inhumane torture.

Looking left and right, he observed his classmates one by one, matching their faces with the names in his memories.

He noticed that ever since he entered, the class teacher Chen Shengli sitting beside him had been constantly checking his watch.

Not long after, Chen Shengli turned his head and asked the cultural committee member Zhang Sisi:

“What’s going on with Li Yibo? Why hasn’t he arrived yet?”

Zhang Sisi was wearing a folk dance costume. Judging from her appearance, she had probably just finished dancing. The heavy makeup on her face had been ruined slightly by sweat, but she could still be seen as very pretty.

She was also full of anxiety. “I don’t know either! He was still fine during the rehearsal this afternoon!”

“How many programs are left?” Chen Shengli asked.

“Thirteen.”

Chen Shengli fell silent.

After two more programs passed, both he and Zhang Sisi began glancing toward the entrance from time to time.

Li Yibo was the artistic backbone of their Class Three, Grade Twelve. Not only were his grades excellent, but his guitar playing and singing were also famous throughout the school. Every year at the cultural performance, he was always the center of attention—the absolute finale!

The program continued, while Lin Hao was nodding off.

No! He couldn’t wait any longer!

Chen Shengli wiped the sweat from his forehead and made up his mind.

“Zhang Sisi, you’re the arts committee member. Tell me, who can replace Li Yibo?” he asked.

Zhang Sisi said anxiously, “No one. Really, no one. Nobody can replace Li Yibo! Other than him, our class doesn’t even have another person who can play the guitar!”

“Can’t we even pick the tallest one out of a bunch of short people?” Chen Shengli grew anxious, and his voice unconsciously became louder.

Lin Hao was woken up by his shout.

Zhang Sisi gave a bitter smile. A whole bunch of short people—who could they even pick?

“What do we do? What do we do? How can this Li Yibo be so unreliable!” Chen Shengli scratched at his already sparse hair in panic.

“Go ask around. Ask everyone one by one. Anyone who can perform something, their best skill is fine!” Chen Shengli said, then added as an afterthought, “Preferably guitar and singing. Hurry, hurry!”

Zhang Sisi had no choice but to stand up helplessly. She walked into the aisle, then went row by row toward the back, bending down and lowering her voice as she asked the students behind them.

After returning, she said to Chen Shengli in a near-crying voice, “Teacher, what do we do? There really isn’t anyone!”

She knew these classmates too well. She had expected this result long ago and wasn’t surprised at all.

Chen Shengli collapsed into his seat like a deflated balloon.

It was over! Tomorrow, he would become the object of ridicule among his colleagues. He could almost already see the ugly, mocking face of Teacher Li from Class One.

At that moment, a voice rang out:

“Teacher, how about… I give it a try?”

Chen Shengli and Zhang Sisi’s faces lit up with joy. They hurriedly turned around to look, but when they saw it was Lin Hao, both their expressions immediately fell.

Zhang Sisi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Haozi, do you know what time it is? You’re still joking around?”

Some of the students behind them also heard Lin Hao’s words.

“Lin Hao? No way?”

“He can sing?”

“I’ve never heard him sing!”

“Then what is he pretending for?”

“Who knows? He’s crazy!”

“……”

Seeing how anxious his homeroom teacher was, Lin Hao had only wanted to help. But now that he saw his classmates’ reactions, he was completely confused.

What was going on?

Was he really that unpopular?

Why couldn’t he feel any of this from his memories at all?

Could it be that the original owner’s personality left behind some kind of lack of self-awareness?

A series of questions made him deeply doubt himself.

Chen Shengli suddenly stood up.

He was a short, chubby middle-aged man wearing an old-fashioned pair of black-rimmed glasses.

With a serious expression, he turned around to face the students in his class. Waving his chubby hands angrily, he said:

“You bunch only know how to make sarcastic remarks! If it weren’t for Zhang Sisi having a dance performance, I’d be left as a commander with no soldiers! Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Do you people have any shame? You still have the nerve to laugh? You still have the nerve to talk about Lin Hao?”

“Yes! Lin Hao has never sung before, but he has the courage to stand up! He has a heart that wants to defend the honor of the class! What about you? Do you have that? Do you?”

Listening to his homeroom teacher’s lecture, Lin Hao felt deeply comforted and nodded repeatedly.

Sure enough, the teacher understood him!

But when he heard the last few sentences, he almost spat out blood.

“Zhang Sisi, give Li Yibo’s guitar to Lin Hao!” Chen Shengli ordered Zhang Sisi in a somewhat spiteful manner.

Zhang Sisi hesitated.

Her house was right opposite Lin Hao’s. Other people had never heard him sing, but she had!

Ever since they were children, she had heard his countless miserable howls. Every time that happened, she would wonder if Uncle Lin was actually shaving him with a knife…

The teacher and the classmates were all wrong.

The problem wasn’t whether Lin Hao could sing or not.

The problem was how terribly he sang…

And it was extremely terrible!

After he finished singing an entire song, there wouldn’t be a single line that was on tune!

That was also a kind of talent. Ordinary people couldn’t do it, but Lin Hao could accomplish it perfectly, flawlessly.

Letting him go on stage would absolutely be a disaster!

A disaster for No. 10 Middle School!

In a daze, she seemed to see the entire school’s teachers and students running for their lives in panic, scrambling to escape…