Why did you make me reincarnate?

Xu Chaoyang felt the gaze behind him, turned around, and met Shen Ju's eyes.

The two stared at each other for two seconds, and the older man's blatant aggression overwhelmed the naive girl.

Shen Ju looked away first, but the frequency of her fluttering eyelashes betrayed her unsettled state of mind.

This boy is really annoying.

Although they didn't communicate, Old Chen clearly saw their unusual behavior, which further convinced him that the two had a very close relationship!

Old Chen tugged at Xu Chaoyang, "Stop looking, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. I'm giving you the day off today, you don't even need to take the test this afternoon, just go home."

Xu Chaoyang was being dragged forward, thinking to himself, "Old Chen, with your reading comprehension skills, it's a real shame you're not a professor of Chinese language."

Old Chen escorted him to the corner of the teaching building, then returned alone, just as a group of people came rushing towards him—students who had finished their exams.

The leaders were a few classmates of Xu Chaoyang.

"Yang Ge is awesome! He left halfway through without even looking back!"

"We saw it in the exam room just now, that back view was absolutely stunning."

Zhao Shijun squeezed out of the crowd, his face beaming with excitement: "Brother Yang, what's going on? Why are you out here?"

Xu Chaoyang was too lazy to explain: "I don't want to take the exam anymore."

Zhao Shijun's eyes widened. "This is an exchange exam! Old Chen didn't scold you?"

"What are you cursing about? Old Chen personally escorted me out," Xu Chaoyang said casually.

"Old Chen delivered it personally? Brother Yang really has connections."

"No, the key point is that Old Chen didn't swear at anyone? Last time I was three minutes late, he nagged me for a whole week."

"Yang, did you bribe Old Chen?"

Xu Chaoyang was too lazy to deal with these clowns and was about to leave when he suddenly heard someone exclaim.

"Hey, look over there, isn't that Shen Ju from No. 1 Middle School?"

"Where? Where?"

"Second floor! The one in the white dress!"

The crowd fell silent instantly, and dozens of eyes turned to look at them.

Shen Ju walked slowly, carrying a book in her hands, her skirt swaying slightly in the sunlight, like she had stepped out of a painting.

"It really is Shen Ju..."

"Wow, she's even prettier in person than in the rumors."

"What's she doing here? We're supposed to be exchanging exams, shouldn't she be at Yulan?"

Someone realized what was happening and turned to look at Xu Chaoyang.

"Yang-ge, you just came out of the disciplinary office, and Shen Ju was there too..."

Xu Chaoyang felt the gazes around him, as if they had already anticipated what was about to happen, and couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

Sure enough, someone shouted it out the next second.

"Yang Ge skipped the exam because of Shen Ju!"

"No, wait, they chased her all the way to the No. 1 High School exam site. It must be that Shen Ju skipped the exam for Yang Ge. You two are going in the same direction."

Xu Chaoyang took a deep breath; this was something he couldn't explain away at all.

He looked up in Shen Ju's direction. The girl seemed to notice the commotion as well, tilting her head slightly and looking over the crowd to him.

It was still that same faint, slightly curious look in his eyes.

The girl seemed to have guessed the reason for the crowd's commotion. She first frowned and thought for a moment, then revealed a mischievous look that no one noticed, and smiled gently at Xu Chaoyang.

The crowd immediately erupted in cheers.

"She smiled! Did you see that? Shen Ju smiled at me!"

"Pah! That's not aimed at you, it's aimed at Xu Chaoyang!"

"Damn it, Yang-ge, what's your relationship with him? Confess!"

Xu Chaoyang was also taken aback. It seemed like this girl had done it on purpose just now?

Her friendly smile was actually a prank on her peers; who would have thought that this rich heiress could be so quirky?

At the edge of the crowd, Jiang Banxia stood quietly, her gaze passing through the gaps to see Shen Ju at the entrance of the teaching office, and also to see Xu Chaoyang staring at her.

Her expression changed slightly. Why did Shen Ju know Xu Chaoyang?

Was Xu Chaoyang looking at her just now?

Jiang Banxia clenched her pencil case tightly, suddenly feeling a tightness in her chest. He had confessed his feelings to her last night, but today he was flirting with other girls.

She didn't speak, but just stood there, watching Xu Chaoyang's back with a complicated expression.

Zhao Shijun, with his sharp eyes, noticed Jiang Banxia's expression and whispered in Xu Chaoyang's ear, "Brother Yang, Jiang Banxia is looking at you."

Xu Chaoyang didn't even turn his head: "What does this have to do with me?"

"Don't you like her?"

"That happened last night," Xu Chaoyang said calmly. "People always change."

Zhao Shijun felt that Yang Ge's words sounded strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong. He could only lament that his own level of understanding was still not up to par.

"So, Yang-ge, where are you going this afternoon?"

Xu Chaoyang thought for a moment. Although Lao Chen had generously given him a holiday, he really couldn't think of a destination for the time being.

Go back to school? It's full of students from No. 1 High School now, and if I suddenly go back, it will definitely cause a commotion.

"Forget it, let's just go home."

My home is in the old town, only a half-hour bus ride away. Since I don't have an exam this afternoon, I'll go back and take a nap first.

Outside the gate of the No. 1 Middle School in the city is an old street. In 2002, Vancouver did not yet have the high-rise buildings and wide roads that would later appear.

The streets are lined with low-rise buildings, with various small self-operated shops on the ground floor. The signs are all kinds of things, mostly light boxes and handwritten wooden boards, and some are simply painted directly on the walls with red paint.

Xu Chaoyang walked along the sidewalk toward the bus stop. When he passed a music and video store, he was attracted by the red-painted signboard and suddenly slowed down.

The shop wasn't big, with two large speakers at the entrance playing Jay Chou's albums on a loop. Xu Chaoyang stood at the door, listening to the familiar melodies, feeling a little dazed.

The shop owner noticed the boy at the door and called out, "Come in and listen, it's all authentic!"

Xu Chaoyang pushed open the door and went in as if possessed. The shop was only about ten square meters, and the shelves were crammed with cassette tapes and CDs.

Xu Chaoyang could tell at a glance that they were all pirated.

The shop owner was a thin man in his thirties wearing glasses. When he saw Xu Chaoyang actually come in, he stood up and asked, "Young man, what do you like? Pop songs are on the left side. Jay Chou's new album just arrived."

Xu Chaoyang casually agreed, his gaze slowly sweeping across the shelf before he picked up a cassette tape without any cover.

"Boss, whose photo is this?"

The man peeked out and said, "Oh, that one? I don't know either. It came in with the shipment. It's probably a self-published book by some unknown singer."

"This is it, I'll take one plate, please pay."

"Okay, five yuan."

The shop owner found it a bit strange, but he wouldn't refuse a business that came to his door. He was just curious why Xu Chaoyang would buy a cassette tape of an unknown singer.

At their age, most of them like Jay Chou and Stefanie Sun.

Xu Chaoyang didn't explain. He left the music store, stuffed the cassette tape into his backpack, and continued walking towards the bus stop.

Reborn, he first needs to make his first fortune. In 02, opportunities were everywhere, but accumulating initial capital was indeed quite difficult.

Cash flow is really hard to generate in this era. Xu Chaoyang came up with several solutions, among which self-funded cassette tapes were a good one.

To take this first step, he needs to meet with a few people over the weekend.