Back in 1994: My Dad Was a Gangster and My Mom Worked at a Vocational School

I transmigrated into the body of a grubby little kid on the streets of Taohua County in 1994.

No.

To be precise, I was a seventy-year-old woman who had lived two lifetimes and died peacefully of old age, and now I’d transmigrated back into my ten-year-old body.

In my previous life, I was reborn in 2005. I gritted my teeth and saved my parents’ marriage when it nearly fell apart. I watched them turn their little computer shop into a big company, watched them grow old together, and then lived a happy, fulfilled life before passing peacefully in my sleep.

I thought it was over.

When I opened my eyes again, I was on a dirt road in 1994. A clunky old bicycle rang as it passed, and the music shop was playing “The Waves Remain as Before.”

My biological father, Ji Yechuan, had been the old man in my previous life who wore tailored suits and slapped the boardroom table to say, “My daughter is right.” Now he had a cigarette dangling from his lips, the top three buttons of his floral shirt undone, and was crouching outside a pool hall betting on a game.

Beside him, Zhao Lei and Zhao Yang were still green young men. Zhou Bin was keeping accounts in his green post office cap, and Chen Hu was watching the entrance to a dance hall.

My biological mother, Su Nianxi, was eighteen. She came out of vocational school with her hair in a ponytail and her skirt spotless. She hadn’t yet been made to cry by my dad, or worn down by life until her hair turned white.

They didn’t recognize me.

I called out, “Dad.”

Ji Yechuan looked me up and down, covered in mud, and sneered. “Who are you calling, little beggar?”

I called out, “Mom,” again.

Su Nianxi blushed bright red, got on her bike, and rode away.

I crouched by the roadside in Taohua County, clutching the only 1994 coin in my pocket.

In my previous life, I got another chance at life and protected you both for a lifetime.

Now I’ve got another chance. All right.

You don’t recognize me. That’s fine.

I recognize you, and that’s all that matters.

This isn’t being reborn.

This is me dropping down from the sky once again to be your daughter.