Chapter 3: The Altered Reality

Lu Zhen glanced at the clock with curiosity, walked to the shop entrance, and found that the shop was open.

Lu Zhen turned around in surprise and saw Yin Xia standing at the bottom of the steps, staring at him with curiosity. He did not expect her gaze to be so sharp that she immediately recognized him.

Carefully examining each item on the bedside table, Lu Zhen found that nothing was missing, except for the bottle of asthma medication he had just taken.

The alarm clock slipped from Lu Zhen's hand and fell to the ground

Ah, it's nothing, Uncle Li. I just wanted to ask what date it is today. It seems that my alarm clock is broken," Lu Zhen said, raising the alarm clock in his hand for Uncle Li to see.

Suddenly, a wave of bitterness surged in Lu Zhen's heart

The self at that time

As Lu Zhen stood up and looked at the bedside table askew, he suddenly remembered that during the asthma attack, everything on it had been knocked to the floor by himself

Ah, good, good. Lu Zhen came to his senses and hurriedly bent down to pick up the alarm clock

Oh my God

Uncle Li still had several neighborhoods to visit and did not have time to chat with Lu Zhen. He cast a strange glance at the somewhat distracted Lu Zhen and said, "I have to go now, something happened over at Aunt Wang's place. I’m waiting for hetushucom to pull me over."

Walking on this road, Lu Zhen recalled his school days, when he would secretly escort Yin Xia home each time, only considering his heroic mission complete after watching her go upstairs

Lu Zhen looked at his phone in disbelief. He opened the message and saw Yin Xia texted: "I drank too much at the party, have a headache and can't sleep. Are you asleep?"

Lu Zhen tightly gripped his phone, a sudden feeling of suffocation from asthma overwhelmed him, and he felt a wave of dizziness. Suddenly opening his eyes, he realized he was lying on the ground

Lu Zhenhan responded vaguely and then lowered her head to look at the alarm clock in her hand. The top left corner had already chipped off a small piece, but it was still functioning.

Lu Zhen looked at Yin Xia in disbelief, not expecting that she would actually agree

Lu Zhen gasped for breath, looking at the scattered ornaments around him, and thought to himself, aren't these all the items from my bedside table

Upon hearing Uncle Li mention the 29th, Lu Zhen's heart sank, as if he had received some kind of verdict, leaving him completely stunned.

Lu Zhen gasped in surprise, not expecting to actually see Yin Xia, and that shadowy figure lurking around couldn't possibly be...

Indeed, he had saved Yin Xia's phone number. Lu Zhen opened the contacts and checked through them.

"Lu Zhen?" Yin Xia's voice came through

Lu Zhen reached into his pocket and discovered that, he did not know when, this bottle of medicine had somehow ended up in his pocket. Perhaps he had subconsciously put it away after finishing it.

Lu Zhen had taken tablet medication for asthma, which was not as fast-acting as the inhaler. However, he did not expect that the efficacy of this bottle of tablets would be completely on par with that of the inhaler, ultimately saving his life in a critical moment

Lu Zhen stared at the time on his phone, feeling that it was about time. He stood up and looked out the window of the corridor, just in time to see Yin Xia walking into the community. Meanwhile, behind a tree across the street, there was a shadowy figure lurking.

Lu Zhen rearranged the items that had fallen on the ground. When he lay down on the bed, he felt something pressing against him in his pocket. He took it out and found it was the medicine bottle.

Knowing what she was about to say, Lu Zhen awkwardly scratched his head, wanting to explain but unable to find a good excuse

"Good." Lu Zhen nodded hurriedly, watching Yin Xia stand by for a while after closing the door

Lu Zhen's phone rang once. Upon picking it up, he saw a message, and the note surprisingly read 'Yin Xia'.

Lu Zhen was sitting on the stairs, taking out his phone to look at a chat message from an hour ago in the class group. Someone mentioned that they had just seen Yin Xia, who was still as beautiful as ever

Lu Zhen casually placed the alarm clock on the counter, did not bother to lock the roller shutter door, and directly ran towards the opposite residential complex

It was only when he spoke his phone number that Lu Zhen came back to his senses as the phone rang

Yin Xia furrowed her brows: "It really is you. How come you are here? It seems like your family..."

I really went back to a week ago and got Yin Xia's phone number..." Lu Zhen murmured in disbelief while sitting on the bed

29. Uncle Li said without a moment's thought

"Um, may I exchange phone numbers?" Lu Zhen said directly, since it was back to a week ago, he treated it as a dream, whatever happens, happens.

Ding dong

This medicine

For a moment, Lu Zhen felt fortunate that his father had left him a small shop located at the entrance of the residential complex, leaning against one community, with two other communities directly opposite and diagonally across. This not only allowed Lu Zhen to barely afford the examination and medication fees, but also meant that Yin Xia's community was just separated by a road.

Yin Xia did not have any aversion to Lu Zhen, and directly saved his phone number, then shook her phone: "I have saved it, you can call me if you need anything"

Seeing Lu Zhen struggle for a long time before finally uttering this sentence, Yin Xia couldn't help but laugh out loud, and she generously took out her phone: "Go ahead, it's yours."

This alarm clock has been placed there for a while; it cannot possibly be out of battery. It was functioning well in the morning, and if it were out of battery, it should have been noticed on the day it stopped working.

In order to prove that he had truly returned to a week ago, Lu Zhen first went to the entrance of Yin Xia's community, relying on his memory to find the door to Yin Xia's home

Snap

Uncle Li pulled the handbrake of the tricycle, stopped, and sat on it: "What happened?"

The message sent by Yin Xia

Strange, why is the door open? Lu Zhen felt puzzled.

It is precisely during this time difference of buying gifts that Lu Zhen happens to not encounter another version of himself

Yin Xia saw Lu Zhen hesitating and unable to speak for a long time, so she rummaged through her shoulder bag for the keys. The clattering sound reminded Lu Zhen that if he didn't talk to the librarian soon, he would miss seeing Yin Xia.

Lu Zhen stared at the sneaky figure, the clothes indeed resembled the ones he was wearing at that time, but he had not seen another version of himself when he arrived

Lu Zhen's attention shifted away from the alarm clock, and only then did he notice that the floor around him was clean and tidy. The items he had knocked off the ground during his asthma attack were all neatly placed on the bedside table.

Uncle Li hurriedly said: "Lu Zhen, you little thing, quickly pick it up, don't let it break."

If Lu Zhen remembers correctly, it was a week ago, on this very day, that he learned of Yin Xia's return and specifically waited by the roadside just to catch a glimpse of her

At that moment, Lu Zhen had his wish fulfilled; he saw Yin Xia, reminiscent of the time in school when he secretly watched Yin Xia return home.

By the way, I learned about Yin Xia's return and originally planned to buy a gift. However, Lu Zhen searched for a long time without finding anything suitable, so he came empty-handed.

At that moment, Uncle Li rode past the entrance on his tricycle. Lu Zhen greeted him, and as usual, Uncle Li nodded, intending to ride on, but was called to a stop by Lu Zhen

What is wrong with this alarm clock? Lu Zhen held the alarm clock and examined it repeatedly, but could not find anything that was broken.