Chapter 1 Flashback

  "Alright?!" A familiar yet distant voice sounded in front of Xiao Yao.

  Xiao Yao opened his eyes, and he saw the butterflies still fluttering in front of him. The sky was so blue with a few soft white clouds floating slowly across it. A gentle mountain breeze brushed past his ears, everything felt familiar yet seemed to be separated by something.

  "...retreat a little further..." Xiao Yao's consciousness suddenly heard his own voice, so abrupt, so heart-stopping.

  "Halt!" Xiao Yao seemed to have understood something, and he shouted loudly with great effort, his voice bursting out of his throat like it was breaking through the barriers of time and space.

  He let out a loud roar, startling the people in front of him and seemingly draining the last bit of strength from his body, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

  "Are you okay?!" The voice was soft and gentle, with a hint of doubt.

  "Ah!" Xiao Yao's soul finally returned to this body. He saw clearly the person in front of him, this face.

  After seeing clearly again, he became a little confused. This pure and beautiful face has appeared countless times in his dreams for more than 20 years.

  This dream had made him feel extremely relieved, and all the misfortunes and frustrations he encountered in his daily life could be alleviated in this dream. However, every time he woke up from the dream, it was also the moment when he felt most regretful and remorseful.

  Is this another dream of her?

  But now the feeling is so clear, and it's completely different from a dream. He looked around, these lush mountains, this familiar environment, and the small grasses grasped in his hands gave him a completely real tactile sensation.

  "How can you yell so loudly! And then fall down for no reason..." The girl complained.

  "Nothing! I just saw you retreat to the edge of the cliff... got scared... and shouted!" Xiao Yao replied incoherently, his two eyes scanning around, both searching for that strange butterfly that had inadvertently distracted him, and reconfirming the surroundings.

  "Oh no! That was close... If I had taken two more steps back, I would have fallen off! What a narrow escape!" The girl returned to where she just stood and looked forward with fear, saying "Xiao Yao! You saved my life!"

  "Of course, from today on you should call me Master!" Xiao Yao confirmed some things in her heart and her mood also improved greatly, she couldn't help but tease him.

  "You're the one who's been telling me to retreat, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have ended up at this cliff edge! You almost got me killed! Shouldn't we settle accounts like this?! You're a would-be murderer!" The girl retorted immediately after hearing Xiao Yao's words.

  "It didn't happen, so it doesn't exist. But I did save you, and that's a fact. Of course, I should be, and absolutely am your lifesaver!" Xiao Yao couldn't help but tease the girl in front of him who had suddenly turned hostile, thanks to his years of chatting online which had honed his quick wit.

  "You!......" Unexpectedly, Xiao Yao, who usually looked honest and steady, actually argued with himself today, and Chu Yu was choked for a moment.

  "I remember it's usually like this, the weak woman who gets rescued by the hero will eventually...” Xiao Yao was about to continue teasing the beauty when he suddenly realized that this wasn't 25 years later. If he dared to say something like that now, he would definitely get a big slap in the face and be honored with the title of "rascal".

  "Why not say it? Say it! If you're going to say it, then say it clearly!" Chu Yu had already walked up close to him and was looking at this boy who suddenly became eloquent, she couldn't help but suspect that Teacher Zhang had deceived her earlier.

  What a steady and reliable high-achieving student! Compared to him, those flies that linger around the girls' dormitory every day are simply small sorcery compared to great magic.

  "Haha! My silence is golden, besides Confucius said it right, arguing with a woman is the most meaningless thing... Ah yo!" Xiao Yao looked at her approaching furiously and hastily retreated two steps, but unexpectedly slipped underfoot and fell again.

  Originally annoyed by Xiao Yao's teasing, Chu Yu couldn't help but burst out laughing when he fell again. She eventually covered her stomach and laughed so hard she couldn't breathe: "It's really... evil... has evil retribution! Must be... Confucius... heard you distorted his teachings... so gave you a lesson."

  Xiao Yao sat down on the grass, looking up at Chu Yu who was laughing at him. He saw her bend down, and suddenly two little rabbits jumped into his eyes, brushing past a patch of snow white and a deep ditch full of charm. This scene made him stare blankly for a moment.

  After laughing for a while, Chu Yu glanced at Xiao Yao and saw his silly appearance. Looking at herself, she immediately understood that she had just been "eaten tofu" by this man with her eyes.

  "Phooey! What are you staring at?! I'll kick you, you stinky rogue!" Her pale face suddenly turned red, she spat, and in a fit of shame and anger, lifted her foot to kick over.

  Xiao Yao's soul returned when she was scolding him, and he reacted quickly. He immediately flipped over - it was a beautiful sight to see. Chu Yu also hurriedly chased after him.

  The mountain wind carries the sound of laughter and whispers faintly in the mountains.

  Can everything really start over?

  After returning to the village, Xiao Yao saw those familiar people and familiar scenes. He was very certain that he had returned to 25 years ago under the guidance of that strange butterfly.

  Twenty-five years ago, on the eve of graduation, during his last summer vacation, he met Chu Yu. A Yanda female student who planned to use the summer vacation to conduct a social survey in the poor mountainous areas of Hunjiang City. The introducer was Zhang Yunlong, the former deputy secretary of the Yanda University Student Union.

  "Xiao Yu! This is Xiao Yao, a top student from our school's College of Science and Engineering."

  ……

  "Hello! My name is Chuyou, Chu from Jingchu, You from Jieyou. I'm a student of Yan law school."

  ……

  "You said you're from Koganei? Have you been to Akikawa?"

  ……

  Fragments of memories flashed in the vast space of consciousness like a film montage, and all the memories related to this girl poured out instantly. He took Chu Yu to Qiushan Village through an old classmate from middle school who lived in Yunpu Township's Autumn Mountain Valley.

  Qiu Shan, located at the southern end of Mount Emei in western Sichuan. Legend has it that during the Han Dynasty, a hermit named Qiu Zhongyuan cultivated himself on the mountain and eventually flew up to heaven from the cliff.

  The mountain was named after this, and the place where Chuyou almost fell off the cliff is called Shengxian Cliff. Moreover, in the mountains, there are many places that have been given different allusions by this myth, such as Luoxi Gorge, Zhongyuan Cave, and Guadan Song.

  Qiushan Gorge is the only village in Qiushan, and there are no signs of human habitation for dozens of miles around, so the vegetation in Qiushan remains extremely well-preserved.

  Chu Yu said she came to the poor mountain village for social investigation, but the girl's love of beauty made her want to leave her own shadow in front of the beautiful scenery after arriving at Qiushan Gou. However, there was no one in the small mountain village who could use her Haiying brand camera, so she entangled Xiao with Shao and accompanied her to play and take pictures on the mountain.

  How can such a good young man be let go?

  That day, they climbed up Shengxian Cliff...

  Chu Yu had posed and was just about to take a picture when... that butterfly appeared.

  Xiao Yang stared at the butterfly with a look of concentration, but his mouth was saying "retreat a bit, retreat a bit more"......

  Chu Yu fell off the cliff. The hundreds of meters high cliff, directly falling down without any possibility of survival. Subsequently, the police investigation concluded that it was an accidental fall leading to death, and Xiao Yao had no responsibility.

  Overwhelming regret and self-blame weighed heavily on him, causing the originally bright and sunny Xiao Yao to become gloomy and depressed all day long. Everything that happened afterwards was something Xiao Yao did not want to recall.

  The trajectory of time appeared a rapid flash back, that strange butterfly reappeared, leading Xiao Yao back to the most dangerous moment in those years. Xiao Yao also fortunately grasped this moment's flashback and prevented the tragedy from happening.

  Time has returned to this node once again, and everything will undergo a different change, the future is unknown.