Twenty-nine-year-old saleswoman Liu Chen was again helping a client move goods late into the night, until past eleven o'clock, to secure a deal. As she walked out of the wholesale market, she remembered a colleague mentioning that there would be a rare meteor shower tonight, one that only happens once in a century. Liu Chen looked up expressionlessly, but only saw a few twinkling stars in the sky. She sighed silently and lowered her head, continuing towards where her electric scooter was parked.
People always say that one life has many opportunities, and if you can seize just one, your life will be completely different.
Liu Chen didn't know if this statement was true, but she knew that if a person makes one wrong decision, their life will be like a skateboard, slowly sliding downhill, much like the guarantee agreement her mother signed over a decade ago.
From then on, their fates were like being trapped in a quagmire, where struggling hard only allowed them to barely survive.
However...
Liu Chen calculated in her mind that the three million yuan they owed should be completely paid off by next month. Over the years, they had sold their house and car. Her mother initially worked as a cleaner, and she herself started working right after high school, without even graduating.
Because she lacked education, even slightly better jobs were out of her reach, and she endured a lot of hardship. Finally, her cousin brought her into factory sales, and after running around for two or three years, she managed to build up some clients. During good times, with commissions, she could earn over eight thousand yuan, keeping one thousand for living expenses and using the rest to pay off debt.
Later, her mother switched to being a confinement nanny, earning over ten thousand yuan a month.
As for herself, intermittently over the years, her income gradually increased. Now, she consistently earns over ten thousand yuan a month, and the remaining one million yuan will be paid off next month.
Riding her electric scooter, with the cool night breeze carrying a hint of chill, the twenty-nine-year-old saleswoman Liu Chen returned home. Home, in reality, was a single room in a self-built house that she and her mother rented. The house was a twenty-minute ride from the city center. They chose this location simply because rooms in the city outskirts cost three hundred yuan more per month.
In this day and age, even self-built houses have price differences based on location.
As soon as she locked her electric scooter and plugged in the charger, Liu Chen dragged her legs, which felt as heavy as if they were tied with sandbags, up the side stairs of the self-built house to the second floor. The last door inside led to their home.
After paying off the debt next month, she would save some money and rent a one-bedroom apartment in a community for her mother. She would also get a few potted plants.
By next year, if she had more money, she could let her mother stop working, or find a less strenuous job.
The last step was taken.
A strong white light flashed before her eyes.
Liu Chen instinctively closed her eyes.
"Chenchen?"
"Chenchen!"
A familiar voice sounded in her ear. Liu Chen wanted to open her eyes but felt her body was exceptionally heavy, as if she had been run over by tires.
"Doctor, why isn't my daughter waking up? Didn't you say it was just a common fever? How can she still be unconscious after half a day of IV fluids? Is there something you missed?"
"Observe for another half an hour. If she doesn't wake up after half an hour, we'll see."
The speaker finished and left the room. The sound of the door closing echoed.
Liu Chen's mind, however, involuntarily began to calculate. Half a day of IV fluids, a day's room fee, the cost of the IV drip. It sounded like she had been checked, and by the calculation, it would cost at least four to five hundred yuan before she could be discharged.
The money in her medical insurance card was originally intended for buying laundry detergent and shampoo when the pharmacy had a sale.
Thinking of this, Liu Chen had to open her eyes.
"Mom."
A childish, hoarse voice came from her throat. Liu Chen was stunned.
Because the voice sounded very small, like that of a student still in school.
But this was the sound coming from her own throat.
And the woman before her, with a rosy complexion and a slightly plump figure, turned her face and had a face exactly like her mother's.
Except, she was younger, healthier...
Seeing her daughter's dazed expression, Liu Fang's face showed more anxiety, her eyes fixed on her daughter's face.
"Chenchen? How are you feeling? Is anything uncomfortable?"
As she spoke, Liu Fang placed her hand on Liu Chen's forehead, as if to check if her daughter's fever had subsided.
Liu Chen asked with a slightly wavering voice:
"Mom?"
Then her gaze moved down, to her own hands.
Fair and tender.
Over the years, to secure orders while maintaining her bottom line, she could only show more sincerity to help distributors. Selling goods, moving goods, these were all routine. Her once tender hands had gradually become calloused.
"Mom, give me my phone, I want to see the time."
Liu Fang didn't ask any further questions and took out her mobile phone from her jacket pocket, handing it to Liu Chen. However, she couldn't help but nag:
"I told you to turn up the air conditioning at home, but you didn't listen. Look, now you've got a fever and are in the hospital, getting an IV. It hurts! See if you'll listen next time!"
Liu Chen listened to her mother's slightly awkward scolding, while looking at the date displayed on her phone.
July 1, 2008.
She had returned to 2008!
The week before her mother signed that guarantee agreement!
Realizing this, Liu Chen's hands holding the phone couldn't help but tremble. The topic of reliving life had been discussed online countless times.
In her early twenties, Liu Chen lay in bed in the company dormitory late at night, and had also thought about how she would wish her life to be if it could be redone.
But after having such dreams two or three times, she realized that instead of thinking about reliving life, it was better to do her best with what was in front of her. At least, she could increase her income a little.
But now, holding the Nokia in her hand and looking at the date on it, Liu Chen's heart gradually overturned all the fantasies of her youth when she lay on the narrow dormitory bed.
If I could start over, I just wish to live well.