Chapter 58: Skating Rink Accident

The woman stood up and beckoned to a waiter.

"I don't usually frequent the internet café much. If you need me, you can have the front desk call me."

As she spoke, she pulled out a bank card to pay the bill.

"I have things to attend to, so I'll be leaving first."

"I'll see you out."

The two walked out of the coffee shop together, and the woman drove up in a red Mazda.

Just as she pulled open the car door and prepared to get in, the woman suddenly turned around to look at Chen Fan.

"I forgot to ask, what is your name, little brother?"

"Chen Fan. Chen as in the ear next to the east, Fan as in mortal." Chen Fan said with a smile.

The woman nodded, and broke character to make a rare joke.

"At your age, with your mindset and insight, you don't seem like a mortal at all."

"My surname is Tang."

"Hello, Sister Tang."

Seemingly amused by Chen Fan calling her Sister Tang, the woman cracked a smile for the very first time.

"No need to be so polite. From now on, you can call me Aunt Tang."

"I'm off. I look forward to your good news."

Watching the woman drive away, Chen Fan put away the smile on his face and fell into a dilemma.

"Should I really take it over or not?"

"I need to scrape together two hundred thousand in a week..."

Moreover, two hundred thousand was merely the cost of taking over the internet café; once he took it over, he would still need to completely renovate the layout and style of the entire establishment.

Then there were the electricity bills, equipment maintenance costs, and rental fees...

Calculated this way, if he wanted to secure this internet café, he would need to prepare at least three hundred thousand.

Yet right now, Chen Fan only had fifty thousand to his name.

Wanting to gather two hundred and fifty thousand within a week—even as a rebirth survivor—brought considerable pressure.

Chen Fan even contemplated selling the domain name website cheaply and calling it a day.

He quickly dismissed the thought.

The money from selling the domain name website was his first pot of gold and the foundation of everything he would build.

It must never be sold on the cheap.

If the funds fell short, he would simply have to think of other ways.

Chen Fan desperately racked his brains, trying to find some clues for making money from his memories.

What major events were happening this year?

In January at the beginning of the year, the sequel to Journey to the West premiered, and humans successfully cloned a monkey...

China Mobile was established, the three major internet portals successively went public on NASDAQ, and the Great Emperor became the new president of the northern bears...

Gladiator won the Oscar for Best Actor, and Director Zhang won the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Award for Best Director with The Road Home... Jay Chou debuted with his self-titled album...

Yet all of this seemed to have very little to do with Chen Fan.

Wait?

Chen Fan suddenly stopped in his tracks, his gaze turning toward a shop by the roadside.

Standing by the street, he could faintly hear music drifting out from inside the establishment.

Chen Fan's mind suddenly flashed with inspiration.

Jay Chou's debut... debut... singing...

Right!

Chen Fan wanted nothing more than to slap himself across the face.

He had been so focused on pondering major international events that he had completely forgotten about this.

As someone reborn into the past, was there anything easier or less demanding than plagiarizing songs?

This sort of venture only required him to remember the lyrics, demanding virtually zero investment—truly a lucrative business yielding massive returns with minimal capital.

At this thought, Chen Fan grew somewhat excited, lifting his gaze to examine the shop before him carefully.

"Little Snowman?"

Chen Fan was taken aback.

Wasn't this the skating rink that the Adidas-clad guy had mentioned when he provoked Chen Fan's dormitory mates the other day?

Chen Fan glanced inside through the iron railing by the roadside.

So this skating rink was outdoors.

He could see a large plaza inside, where quite a few customers were skating around on roller skates.

Aside from that, there was an indoor venue beside it, which was presumably for ice skating.

Chen Fan thought to himself no wonder those guys chose this place to meet up.

With such a vast space, even if they fought until their heads were split open at night, probably no one would notice.

Chen Fan couldn't help but walk inside.

He had no interest in roller skating.

What attracted Chen Fan was the song playing loudly from the massive loudspeakers on the roller rink.

He wanted to find some inspiration to see what kind of music was trending this year, so he could decide which song to plagiarize later.

"I'd rather you be cold-hearted to the end, letting me give up and forget you entirely..."

Ah, that was by Yu Quan.

At this time, they were truly immensely popular, but a few years later, the duo would face their biggest crisis.

"Because love is love, feelings don't need to be bestowed generously..."

Ah, that was Nicholas Tse's.

Who could have guessed that twenty years later, this star nominated by the media as the successor to Hong Kong's final generation of heavenly kings would prefer being a chef.

"Men, cry if you want, crying is no crime..."

That was Heavenly King Andy Lau's.

"I'm afraid it's too late, I want to hold you..."

"The sky and earth grow dark, shooting stars I cannot help but shed, scorching a frozen, deadened heart..."

That was Richie Jen's Horizon...

Hmm? Right.

Chen Fan suddenly remembered.

Just the day before the college entrance examination, he seemed to have sung a song by Richie Jen called I Want to See You in front of Su Ruochu.

Although this song wasn't considered particularly famous among Richie Jen's works.

What if he didn't rush to register and publish it, and a few years later, Richie Jen suddenly released an identical I Miss You? Wouldn't that be awkward?

How would he explain it to Su Ruochu back then?

Although there were quite a few classmates who heard Chen Fan sing at the time, as the years passed, everyone would surely have forgotten all about it long ago.

However, Chen Fan did not dare to gamble on that possibility.

To cover up his identity as a person reborn, he had to be meticulous and plug every single loophole that could potentially expose who he was.

Realizing this, Chen Fan clenched his fist excitedly.

"Then I'll publish this song first."

Having made his decision, Chen Fan breathed a slight sigh of relief and turned to leave the roller rink.

The moment he took a few steps, an exclamation rang out from behind him.

"Ah, get out of the way..."

Puzzled, Chen Fan turned his head, only to see a young woman on roller skates wobbling straight toward him.

"Quickly dodge..."

She looked panicked, but Chen Fan recognized her at a glance.

"Xu Qiuci?"

Chen Fan instinctively wanted to dodge to the side, but unexpectedly, in her panic, she moved in that exact same direction.

Thus, in the next second.

Boom.

The two collided solidly.

Xu Qiuci crashed directly into Chen Fan's arms.

Instantly losing their balance, the two tumbled sideways as they staggered.

Thud.

A muffled sound echoed.

Chen Fan's back slammed hard against the unyielding ground.

Xu Qiuci tumbled down sprawled across Chen Fan's chest.

Her pretty little face pressed tightly against Chen Fan's head.

Her delicate lips pressed directly against Chen Fan's cheek.

Their eyes locked.

Both of them froze instantly.

Xu Qiuci was dumbfounded, momentarily not knowing what to do.

Chen Fan was equally dazed, because the back of his head had taken a knock and was still ringing with a buzzing sound.

The most crucial thing was... earlier, in order to protect her, Chen Fan's hands had remained in an upwardly hoisted position.

His gaze swept upward.

Chen Fan's expression abruptly stiffened.

Because his hands were currently supporting her in the most inappropriate place imaginable.

His two palms were cupped against her chest, pushing upward with force.

In his dazed state, Chen Fan's palms had moved entirely out of reflex.

He gave them a squeeze.

"So soft..."