The Capital, Beijing.
East City District, North Entrance of Heping Street.
Yesterday's resurrection had left a profound impact on Johny Lee.
If time hadn't miraculously reversed, he never would have seen his mother or Maggi again.
For the first time in his life, he truly understood how good it was just to be alive.
He had tossed and turned all night, his mind racing, and only managed to fall asleep in the early hours of the morning. Consequently, it was past ten o'clock when he finally crawled out from under his thin blanket.
He rolled off the creaky old spring sofa, rubbed his sleep-heavy eyes, and shuffled to the bathroom to wash up.
After splashing cold water on his face, he yawned and called out casually toward the tightly closed bedroom door.
"Mom, are you awake?"
His mother, Sarah's, choked voice came quickly from inside.
"I've been up for a while, just tidying up the room, Do you want breakfast?"
"Let's just do lunch." Johny frowned; his mother's tone sounded off.
He walked over and pushed the door open. Sarah was sitting on the edge of the white bedspread, frantically wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand.
Seeing him enter, she turned her head, sniffled, and forced a quick, brittle smile. She hurriedly stuffed a few old black-and-white photos she had been holding back into her wallet.
They were wedding photos of his parents, taken over twenty years ago.
A sharp pang of guilt pricked Johny's heart. He sat down next to her.
"Thinking about Dad?"
"No, no." Sarah carefully tucked her wallet away and wiped her eyes again.
"I just found them while cleaning and took a look."
Johny had seen this scene countless times over the past few years.
His mother had a soft, gentle nature, and whenever sadness overwhelmed her, she would hide away to cry alone.
Johny felt a heavy weight settle in his chest. "Mom, it's my fault. Your son is useless.
My grades aren't great, I have no real skills, and honestly, I have zero confidence about passing the civil service exam.
The best I can do is work part-time at the Panjiayuan antique market during holidays. I... Sigh. Years ago, when Dad was hospitalized... if I had been earning money back then, maybe we could have sent him to a better hospital.
Maybe he wouldn't have left us."
Sarah reached out and rested her hand on his knee.
"Don't talk nonsense.
My son is the most capable man I know.
You are definitely destined to be a government official in the future."
Johny moved his lips to argue but found he had nothing to say.
Sarah smiled warmly and stroked his hand. "Don't overthink things. Mom will make you a good meal for lunch."
Lunch was a small plate of stir-fried shredded pork with garlic sprouts, a bowl of stewed cabbage, and a pot of rice porridge.
In the Lee household, this was considered a feast.
When Johny was home alone, he wouldn't dare eat like this.
He would usually just steam a pot of rice and stir-fry a single vegetable, making it last for both lunch and dinner.
It wasn't that Johny was stingy; it was simply that the family had no money.
They had to stretch every single penny until it screamed.
Johny Lee was 23 years old this year, a fresh university graduate.
Ordinary appearance, Ordinary height. Ordinary personality, Ordinary ability.
Family savings: Definitely not exceeding five digits.
The year his father was hospitalized, the family's savings were wiped out.
In the end, they even sold their house to pay the medical bills.
This cramped one-bedroom apartment they lived in now was a rental.
After his father passed away, Sarah, who had taken too much leave to care for him, lost her job.
Faced with the high cost of living in Beijing, she had gritted her teeth and returned to her hometown in the countryside.
Through connections, she found a job as a Chinese teacher in a rural middle school to support Johny's university education.
She only came to Beijing to stay with him for a month or two during her winter and summer breaks.
Rent, utilities, food, daily necessities—relying solely on Sarah's meager rural salary was impossible.
So, Johny often worked as a cashier at a supermarket or labored at the antique market on weekends.
He could barely earn enough to cover his living expenses, pinching pennies so he wouldn't have to ask his mother for money.
It had been a tough, bumpy four years, but he had managed to get through it.
After the meal, Sarah tidied up the dishes while watching an old black-and-white war movie on TV.
Johny returned to the bedroom and lay on the broken wooden bed, staring blankly at the peeling paint on the ceiling.
He turned the situation over and over in his mind.
Nowadays, universities in Beijing didn't assign jobs upon graduation.
He had his degree from United University, but it wasn't from a top-tier school.
If he couldn't pass the civil service exam and secure a stable government job, what would he do?
Sigh... how great would it be if I really had a superpower?
Unfortunately, after trying dozens of times yesterday after the accident, he hadn't been able to trigger it again.
Should I try one more time?
The bedroom door creaked open.
Sarah poked her head through the gap, speaking softly.
"You keep reading. Mom is going upstairs to Aunt Sue's place to chat for a bit.
I heard her son is also taking the civil service exam this year, and he's at the same test center as you.
I'm going to see if I can ask him to tutor you. Tony is very good at studying."
Johny felt a lump in his throat.
His pride stung, but he managed a hoarse hum of acknowledgment.
"I'll be back in a little while."
Thump. The door closed.
Gritting his teeth, Johny pulled himself together and started the boring attempt again.
Go back!
Return!
Retreat!
Reverse!
BACK!
Suddenly, a strange sensation washed over Johny.
He felt a shift in his body, like a glitch in reality.
He blinked and looked around, then shook his head helplessly. Still no visual change.
Just as he was about to give up, the small bedroom door creaked open without warning.
Sarah poked her head in and looked at her son, saying, "You keep reading. Mom is going upstairs to Aunt Sue's place to chat for a bit.
I heard her son is also taking the civil service exam this year, and he's at the same test center as you.
I'm going to see if I can ask him to tutor you. Tony is very good at studying."
Johny froze. "Huh?"
The same words. The same tone.
This was clearly a scene that had happened about sixty seconds ago!
Seeing her son's strong reaction, Sarah blinked guiltily and whispered, "Mom knows you care about saving face, but Aunt Sue's son, Tony, almost got a perfect score on the administrative aptitude test last year.
If you let him teach you, your chances of passing will be a little higher."
Johny stared at her blankly. "That's not what I mean..."
Sarah looked at his stunned expression. "Then... I'll go?"
After his mother left, Johny slapped his forehead hard.
It worked!
It actually worked!
He suppressed the surge of excitement in his heart and quickly grabbed a small orange plastic alarm clock.
Staring intently at the second hand, he silently repeated the "incantation" again.
Go back!
Return!
Retreat!
Reverse!
BACK!
Johny muttered the commands from the afternoon until the evening.
He stopped only to eat, then continued from evening until late night.
Finally, persistence paid off.
At 00:02:28 (12:02 AM), time reversed again.
The clock snapped back to 00:01:28.
He had gone back exactly one full minute!
The joy in Johny's heart was beyond words. He knew the cheap alarm clock might have errors, so he quickly turned on the old 29-inch CRT color TV.
In the upper right corner of a late-night military program, the time was displayed: 23:59:19.
It took about nineteen seconds to turn on the TV and switch channels, which meant the moment he successfully used "Return" was exactly midnight.
He blinked his eyes, his heart pounding against his ribs.
He made a bold speculation:
Is this power centered around midnight? Can I use it only once a day, and does it reset at 00:00?
And does it always send me back exactly sixty seconds?
God!
If his theory was true... then fate was finally smiling on him.
Authors Note :-
THATS END OF CHAPTER 2