Rebirth: My college entrance exam score was stolen? I turned the tables and made a billion.

Liu Guangming lay frozen on the bed, not moving for a long time.

Then, he looked down at his hands.

Young hands, without calluses, without brick dust.

He then tried moving his left leg.

It doesn't hurt; it's not my left leg that was crushed for four hours in the mine.

"Guangming! What are you dawdling for! The egg will get cold!"

There was another shout from outside the door.

Liu Guangming recognized the voice as that of his third sister, Liu Cuilan.

In my past life, my third sister still spoke this way even at sixty.

Liu Guangming threw off the covers, put on his shoes, stood up, still somewhat dazed.

Just a minute ago, he was sitting in the plaintiff's seat in court.

My chest was throbbing with pain, and my vision was going black. My lawyer was shouting for an ambulance in my ear.

Then everything was gone.

And then we ended up here?

He walked to the door and lifted the curtain.

The courtyard was small, the yellow earth was swept clean, and chopped firewood was stacked at the base of the wall.

A speckled hen was pawing for food in the yard, with a yellow dog tied up beside her. The dog wagged its tail a few times when it saw him come out.

Third Sister Liu Cuilan squatted at the kitchen door, holding fire tongs in her hand, her face flushed red from the stove fire.

She looked to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with her hair in a ponytail and wearing a faded blue cotton jacket.

Liu Guangming stared at her face for several seconds.

The last time I saw my third sister in my past life, her hair was gray and she had few good teeth. She had been squatting outside the petition office in the provincial capital for three days, just to help him submit a document.

"Guangming, what's wrong? You look terrible."

Liu Cuilan stood up and wiped her hands on her apron. "Didn't you sleep well? Were you nervous?"

"Hurry up and wash your face, then go eat an egg."

Liu Cuilan pointed to the stove, "Two eggs, my older sister brought them over yesterday. She was going to sell them, but she said we have to eat well before the college entrance exam."

Liu Guangming nodded, but didn't rush to eat.

He walked to the water vat, scooped up a ladle of cold water, and splashed it on his face.

The coolness seeped into my skin, instantly dispelling the last vestiges of my dazed state.

It's not a dream.

July 6, 1992, the day before the college entrance examination.

They say time never returns, but now it seems I really have traveled back in time!

He couldn't understand why.

After washing his face, he hung the towel back on the rope and went into the kitchen.

On the stove, there were two hard-boiled eggs in an enamel bowl, a bowl of thin sweet potato porridge so watery you could see your reflection in it, and half a cornbread.

"Eat everything, don't skimp."

Liu Cuilan sat down next to her, holding a bowl of porridge in her hands, which didn't even have a single egg drop.

"And you?"

"I've already eaten."

Liu Guangming didn't say anything more. He picked up the egg, tapped it on the rim of the bowl, and began to peel it.

He ate while he thought.

Since God has given me this chance, to start over...

Then I will definitely never repeat the same mistake in this lifetime!

Fifty-three years of life experience, social changes.

There were bricks from the brick factory, the darkness of the mine, and every piece of evidence in court—all stored in this eighteen-year-old's head.

In my past life, when I was in court, the case went on for over a year, and every step was thoroughly investigated until the very end.

He knew better than anyone how those people would act, when they would act, and at what stage they would act.

Wang Shouzhen retrieved the transcripts from the file folder, Zhao Youcai forged identity documents, and Chen Defu obtained the grades.

Three people, three steps, and they took his life.

The entire process was far from precise.

But in the county town in 1992, information was scarce, there was no internet, and no electronic records, so that was enough.

At the time, he didn't understand anything.

An 18-year-old rural boy, whose parents died early and whose four older sisters are all rural women, didn't even know where the knife came from when someone put a knife to his neck.

Liu Guangming put the second egg into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it.

He hasn't taken the exam yet.

The exam is on July 7th and will be completed in three days.

Results will be released at the end of July, admissions will begin in early August, and acceptance letters will arrive in mid-to-late August.

So the window of opportunity from the end of July to the middle of August is when they will make their move.

Now that we know it's there, how do we prevent it?

In 1992, there was no internet, no smartphones, no social media, and you had to queue at the post office to make a long-distance call.

I'm just an 18-year-old high school graduate from a rural area, with no money, no connections, and no backing...

Several thoughts flashed through Liu Guangming's mind, some vague, some clear.

"What are you thinking about?"

Liu Cuilan collected the bowls and rinsed them in the basin of water. Seeing Liu Guangming staring blankly, she said...

"After you finish eating, hurry up and pack your things. We'll take Uncle Wang's tractor into town. The exam is early tomorrow morning."

"Are you staying at your older sister's house or at a guesthouse?"

"My eldest sister's house."

"Okay, I aired out your bedding yesterday. Oh, by the way, your exam admission ticket..."

"It's in my schoolbag, I've checked it."

Liu Cuilan turned around and glanced at him.

She felt that her younger brother was acting a little strange today.

However, I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong.

"Guangming, take the exam normally, don't put too much pressure on yourself."

She dried her hands, took out five yuan from the cloth bag on the stove, and handed it over.

"Even if you're poor, travel with extravagance. Take this money."

The five-yuan note was crumpled, but Liu Guangming took it and accepted it without refusing it.

He knew better than anyone how long he had saved those five dollars.

"Third sister, wait until I finish my exams..."

He paused for a moment, then swallowed the rest of his words.

It's too early to say anything now, let's focus on the exam first.

Liu Guangming turned around and went into the house, opened his schoolbag, and took out his admission ticket to look at it.

Liu Guangming, male, born in March 1974, Songyang No.1 Middle School, examination site: No.2 Middle School of Songyang County.

The photo is black and white; she's wearing a white shirt, very thin, and very young.

He put his admission ticket back in its place and flipped through his textbooks again.

The books—Chinese, Politics, History, Geography, and English—are worn out from being read so many times, with the margins filled with notes.

Each stroke is meticulous and precise.

In his previous life, after working in a brick factory for several years, his hands became rough and he could no longer write like that.

Looking at the knowledge he had learned, memorized, and answered questions about, Liu Guangming paused in his movements.

and many more.

He had been thinking about how to defend himself.

To prevent Chen Defu from stealing his grades, to prevent Wang Shouzheng from accessing his files, and to prevent Zhao Youcai from forging materials.

But if we look at it another way, why should he put all his energy into "defense"?

During the lawsuit, he recalled the answers he had written back then and memorized the standard answers.

If I wanted to, I could even get first place in the whole province without any problem!

What does it mean to be number one in the entire province?

Newspapers will publish it, television stations will interview it, the provincial education department will make it public, and countless eyes will be watching.

At that time, the whole province will be watching where the admission notices will be sent and to whom they will be sent.

Chen Defu, whose actual skill level is only three or four hundred points, is trying to compete?

The more Liu Guangming thought about it, the clearer things became, and the more relaxed he felt!

It turns out that I didn't need to defend myself at all. The best defense was to get a score that no one dared to reach!

After calming down, Liu Guangming stuffed his textbooks into his schoolbag and then checked his pencils, erasers, pens, ink bottles, set squares, and other items one by one.

After the inspection, he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out.

As they reached the door, Liu Cuilan, the third sister, came over and took off a red string from her neck, with a small copper coin tied to it.

"Take this, Mom left it to me. She said it would bring you good luck during the exam. Take it with you."

Liu Guangming took it, pinched the copper coin between his fingers, and rubbed the edge with his thumb.

He wore it in his past life too.

Later, at the brick factory, the rope broke, and the copper coin fell into the brick kiln and was never found again.

Never again in this lifetime.

He hung the red string around his neck and tucked it into his collar.

"Sister, I'm leaving."

"Be careful on the road!"

Liu Guangming walked out of the courtyard and headed towards Uncle Wang's house.

As we approached the fork in the road at the village entrance, we heard the chugging sound of a tractor; Uncle Wang was probably warming it up.

Liu Guangming continued walking forward. Just as he turned a corner, a teenager riding a bicycle was rushing down the earthen slope in front of him.

The wheels rolled over the gravel, the handlebars wobbled and rattled.

"Hey! Brother Guangming!"

The boy slammed on the brakes, bracing himself on the ground, and almost tumbled into the ditch with the car.

"Are you planning to ride Uncle Wang's tractor to town?"

Liu Guangming looked at the face and nodded.

The boy's name was Zhao Xiaojun.

His father's name is Zhao Youcai, a police officer in the household registration department of the county public security bureau.

That's right, it was the person who helped Chen Jianguo forge documents; he was sentenced to three years in court.

Zhao Xiaojun grinned at him when he saw him nod.

"Brother Guangming, are you nervous about the exam tomorrow? I spent all night studying last night, but I didn't remember anything. My head hurts."