We Can’t Go Back 1

Chapter 1

“Alright, that’s all for today’s class. We have the monthly exam next Monday, so I won’t assign any homework this weekend. Remember to review the key points we discussed in class.” The handsome young man on the podium tossed the chalk into the box, wiped his hands, took a sip of cola from his thermos, and looked at the large group of students below the podium. “Any questions or anything you didn’t understand?” Junior high students are nothing if not confident, unanimously and shamelessly replying: “We understood everything–”

“Really?” Jian Wu chuckled after hearing this. “Don’t you dare fail the exam.”

“Teacher Jian!”

A boy below raised his hand with particular enthusiasm, practically reaching for outer space. “Is there a reward for getting first place in our class?”

Jian Wu organized his textbooks and lesson plans, then asked with a smile, “What kind of reward do you want?” The student who raised his hand was clearly the most extroverted and boisterous child in the class, shouting loudly: “Teacher, sing!” Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the whole class joined in, clapping their desks and cheering: “Sing! Teacher Jian, sing for us!”

“Alright, request any song you want,” Jian Wu screwed the cap back on his thermos. “But let’s agree beforehand, no ‘King of Love Songs’ or anything like that, it’s too long, I won’t have time to teach you after singing it.”

“Oh! Oh! Oh–”

The joy of receiving the teacher’s promise briefly dispelled the pain of the impending monthly exam. In the bright and clean classroom, a group of middle school students with few major worries immediately cheered up, and some even began discussing song titles.

Seeing their excitement, Jian Wu couldn’t help but smile along with them.

The bell rang just at the right moment, accompanied by the students’ laughter. Jian Wu, a stickler for timing, silently praised himself “Perfect” in his heart, then cleared his throat: “Have a good weekend, class dismissed!”

The class monitor on duty called out “Stand up,” and as the dragging and colliding sounds of desks and chairs rose, the students gradually stood up, dragging their voices as they bowed: “Goodbye, teacher–”

However, before they could even bend their waists, Jian Wu had vanished.

The campus of B Medical University’s affiliated middle school was located within the university itself, five days a week, with no evening self-study. Because the last class on Friday was homeroom, subject teachers who weren’t homeroom teachers could leave work at 4:30, starting their happy weekend early.

Jian Wu washed his hands and, upon entering the office, immediately began packing up to leave. However, as soon as he slung his bag over his shoulder, he was blocked at the door by a female teacher.

The female teacher had elegant French waves and looked very young. She grabbed Jian Wu’s arm, panting, “Luckily I ran fast, I only overran my class by one minute today, I didn’t expect you to have already packed up.”

“Ling Meng?” Jian Wu was in a hurry to leave, asking as he walked out, “What’s up?”

Ling Meng caught her breath: “It’s a long story–”

“Then don’t tell it.”

Ling Meng: “…”

“In short, my dad said he has a friend coming to B Medical University for an interview today and asked me to go meet him, but I find it so awkward and don’t want to go, but if I don’t go, my dad will cut off my allowance, so I want you to go with me!”

She delivered the whole spiel without pausing, like a machine gun. Jian Wu barely caught anything, only grasping the last sentence.

He flatly refused: “No way.”

No matter what kind of social gathering, if it affected his weekend, it was a definite no-go.

“Jian Wu,” Ling Meng pleaded, “Just do me a favor.”

Jian Wu: “Those who aren’t proactive about getting off work have problematic thinking.”

Seeing that Jian Wu remained unmoved and was already shaking his motorcycle keys, preparing to ride his beloved motorbike, Ling Meng finally resorted to her ultimate move: “I’ll bring you breakfast next Monday!”

The affiliated middle school required teachers to be present from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Usually, if Jian Wu didn’t have a first-period class, he would sleep until 7:40, then ride his “lateness buddy” motorcycle, speeding all the way to school. By then, the school cafeteria would be closed, and to avoid being late, he had no time to buy breakfast on the way.

Compared to dry bread, a steaming hot breakfast of baozi and youtiao was far too tempting.

Seeing Jian Wu hesitate slightly, Ling Meng sweetened the deal: “I’ll bring it for a whole week!”

“Deal!”

Jian Wu’s hesitant eyes instantly became firm. He smiled, put away his motorcycle keys, and shamelessly changed his tune: “It’s just accompanying you to meet someone, what’s the big deal? After all, we’re best friends.”

He paused, then added, “So, what’s the situation again?”

Even though she was used to Jian Wu’s swift changes in attitude, Ling Meng still couldn’t help but choke up a bit.

As she led him towards the B Medical University office building, she slowed down her speech and repeated, “My dad has a friend returning from abroad. He’s in B City these two days. He’s supposedly incredibly talented, my dad’s been praising him to the skies. He apparently even looks down on our B Medical University. My dad worked so hard to get him to come to our school to ‘understand’ the situation.”

Ling Meng’s father was the vice dean of the Basic Medical Sciences College at B Medical University. Middle-aged, his biggest hobby was thinking about how to recruit more scientific backbone and make B Medical University’s basic medical sciences bigger and stronger.

She sighed, “You know my dad, with that personality of his, when he meets a big shot, he can’t wait to drag me to meet them, thinking maybe I can develop a ‘network’ for the future.”

B City was a small, not very famous city. The most typical characteristic of small cities was that parents were all socially adept, keen on making friends, and could meet countless “acquaintances” just by taking a walk outside.

After listening to Ling Meng’s description, Jian Wu’s mind conjured up the image of a pot-bellied, balding, arrogant man.

Dean Ling had arranged to meet the person in his office. When Jian Wu and Ling Meng went upstairs, they heard voices coming from inside.

“You’ll have absolutely no problems with equipment and instruments for your research here. You just saw, all the instruments in our school are newly purchased. If there’s anything else you need, just come to me, I’ll apply to buy it for you.”

“Our school may not be as good as those established prestigious universities, but the school has invested heavily in promoting disciplinary development and recruiting talent. As long as you come to our school, we can directly appoint you as a full professor. It just so happens that the position of head of our Anatomy Department is open this year. If you’re willing to come, I’ll reserve this position for you.”

“…Including various subsidies and performance bonuses, you should be able to earn about four to five hundred thousand a year. We’ll also give you a house on campus. If you want to buy a house elsewhere, we also have a settlement allowance. What do you think of this offer?”

Hearing this, Jian Wu exclaimed: “Turns out our school is quite rich.”

Ling Meng curled her lip, muttering resentfully under her breath: “They just don’t give it to us, always crying poor to us, but when it comes to this, it becomes ‘absolutely no problem’.”

Dean Ling’s voice was quite loud, but the other person’s voice couldn’t be heard at all through the door. Ling Meng sighed, comforting herself: “But my dad’s friend is probably in his forties or fifties. After so many years in the field, it’s quite normal for him to get this much money–”

Jian Wu saw her suddenly stop speaking as she peeked through the back door’s glass panel and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ling Meng stiffly turned her neck, looked at Jian Wu, and stammered: “This person…is so young!”

“He doesn’t look even thirty, and he’s also a super handsome guy,” she lamented, covering her face. “I understand now, my dad brought me here to humiliate me. Comparisons are odious.”

“Really?” Jian Wu muttered sarcastically, “A researcher who hasn’t gone bald?”

As he spoke, he also walked towards the back door. Tall and long-legged, he could see inside through the glass panel without having to stand on tiptoe.

Dean Ling’s familiar Mediterranean hairstyle appeared in sight, looking kind and amiable. The man sitting opposite Dean Ling was wearing a black shirt and a gray trench coat, looking gentle and refined, perfectly embodying the stereotypical image of an elite intellectual.

He wore a polite smile and took off his gold-rimmed glasses. This was a long-standing habit of Song Shuci, indicating his lack of interest in the current conversation.

As expected, in another minute, he would politely decline these enviable offers.

However, half a minute later, the unexpected happened.

Song Shuci glanced casually, and their eyes met unexpectedly through the thin glass panel. Jian Wu was startled and subconsciously crouched down, avoiding that fleeting gaze.

“What’s wrong, Jian Wu!” Ling Meng was startled, her voice rising slightly.

Jian Wu squatted there, the back of his head feeling like it had been hit by a blunt object, numb and unable to react for a while.

A buzzing filled his ears, like a rough wind blowing through rusty iron pipes, rumbling so loudly that he couldn’t hear Ling Meng’s voice at all.

But he clearly heard Song Shuci inside slightly raise his voice and say to Dean Ling, “I am willing to join your school.”

After a brief, silent two seconds, Jian Wu abruptly stood up and walked towards the elevator. Ling Meng chased after him, asking, “Why are you leaving? Do you know that person?”

Jian Wu denied without hesitation: “I don’t know him.”

“Then you–”

“Sorry, Ling Meng, I can’t accompany you today,” Jian Wu spoke quickly, his pace not slowing down. “I’ll bring you breakfast for a month starting next week as an apology.”

“What’s so urgent?”

“I just suddenly remembered that the monthly exam is coming soon, I need to go back and review the exam papers again.”

Jian Wu and Ling Meng were both teachers in the science group, Jian Wu taught biology, and Ling Meng taught geography.

She asked, puzzled, “Aren’t our biology and geography papers combined this time? I remember we’ve reviewed them several times already.”

Jian Wu lied without blushing or a racing heart: “Constant review brings new insights. I’ll also do the exam myself, to predict which questions my students will get wrong.”

Ling Meng was completely confused: “Don’t you usually never work overtime?”

“I don’t know why, but right now I really want to do some practice questions, really want to take the exam,” Jian Wu said with a determined look. “I feel uncomfortable if I don’t do any questions for even a minute.”

Ling Meng, with a “Are you human?” expression of disbelief, reached out to feel his forehead, observing him carefully: “Jian Wu, are you possessed?”

Jian Wu said as he walked quickly, “If you became a ghost, would you possess a worker who starts work at 8 am every day?”

“That makes sense.” Ling Meng was convinced. “Might as well possess the one inside, he doesn’t even need to buy a house.”

Jian Wu didn’t know whether ghosts would possess Song Shuci, but he knew that if he didn’t leave quickly, someone even scarier than a ghost might actually catch up to him.

As he finished speaking, the elevator doors opened with a “ding.” Jian Wu rushed inside with lightning speed, frantically pressing the close button. Although Ling Meng didn’t know what was happening, out of concern for her friend, she still followed him into the elevator. Just as the elevator doors were about to close, Jian Wu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, before he could fully relax, a clean and slender hand suddenly appeared between the narrow gap of the elevator doors.

“Fuck.”

The almost closed elevator doors slammed against the hand, then were pushed back open by that inconsiderate hand. Finally, with a reluctant “creak” of complaint, they slowly opened again, begrudgingly giving the two space to meet each other’s gaze once more.

Jian Wu’s scalp exploded, and he subconsciously held his breath.