Chapter 1: That Tender And Imposing Voice

The pitch-black night sky was filled with rolling dark clouds. A raging gale roared, sweeping in with overwhelming force, raising towering waves on the sea.  

Each massive wave was a life-and-death ordeal.  

Ye Tianhui knew that she had to use all her strength to seize a slim chance of survival when the giant waves struck.  

The moment she let her guard down, she would be swallowed by the ferocious waves, disappearing instantly into the boundless sea.  

She also knew that her stamina was on the verge of exhaustion.  

Every breath became exceptionally difficult, as if it were the last one of her life.  

Everyone dies eventually, and Ye Tianhui wasn’t unfamiliar with death.  

In her previous life, her ultimate fate should have been to perish in the sea.  

Born into a family of generals, though she was a girl, she loved riding and archery. At fourteen, she followed her father to fight against enemy forces and had already made military achievements. By the age of seventeen, she had been conferred the rank of Si Jin Zhonglang Jiang (Fourth-Rank Central Army General).  

At twenty-four, having repeatedly distinguished herself, she was promoted to Fuguo General(Deputy National General). At twenty-five, she was ordered to patrol the Minzhou border, only to encounter the Beidi^[1]The Beidi or Northern Di (literally “Northern Barbarians”) was a term referring to various ethnic groups who lived in northern China during the Zhou Dynasty. By the end of the dynasty they were … Continue reading Army that had been living in isolation for a long time. Trapped at Fenghuang Mountain, she sent out seven urgent letters requesting supplies and reinforcements, but no help came.  

When the trees were stripped of bark, the grass uprooted, and there was no food left to eat, she slaughtered the imperial steed that had accompanied her for years and divided the meat among her troops. She then led her emaciated loyalists to break out of the siege.  

But in the end, she lost.  

As the Fuguo General, young and a woman, she knew all too well the fate awaiting her if captured after defeat. When besieged on all sides, she leapt into the sea.  

What happened after, she couldn’t recall, but she should have died in the sea.  

She still remembered that, at the moment she jumped, her last thought was—hunger.  

This memory of hunger was etched into her soul, like a brand. Even after her reincarnation, as her infant cries filled the air, her first impression was hunger, still hunger, unbearably hungry.  

When it came to reincarnation, it seemed she lacked a bit of luck. This time, she was reborn into an era of hunger.  

Particularly poor. So poor that starvation was a daily ordeal, making her suspect that the siege of her past life had never ended.  

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Even worse was her convoluted family background.  

When she was born, she was just a baby—soft, weak, with poor eyesight, unable to see much of the world. From her “mother’s” occasional words, she roughly pieced together her origins.  

She was born in the early years of the country’s founding. Her “mother” had been a servant raised by a wealthy family before the establishment of the state. When the family fled to Hong Kong in a hurry, only the third young master and his wife, who were out at the time, were left behind in the mainland.  

The servant, though married, kept in touch with the young mistress.  

After a few years, the situation stabilized. The family in Hong Kong sent word to bring the young master and his wife over. At the time, the young mistress was heavily pregnant and could not endure the journey. The young master stayed behind with his wife.  

However, the wife persuaded him, saying the hard-won travel permit shouldn’t go to waste. It would be easier for the young master to settle first and then bring her over after the baby was born.  

The family decided that the young master would go to Hong Kong first. After giving birth, the wife would follow.  

Who could have predicted that the young mistress would die in childbirth? By coincidence, the servant had also given birth, so she raised both babies together.  

When the young master returned to fetch the child, the servant deceived him, passing off her own daughter as the young mistress’s child while keeping the young mistress’s daughter—Ye Tianhui.  

Born in the 1950s, Ye Tianhui’s “mother” lived a tough life and endured many hardships. She was far from affectionate, and Ye Tianhui grew up in hunger.  

Ye Tianhui felt deeply wronged.  

In her previous life, she had been the mighty Fuguo General. She had starved to the point of barely lifting her sword, even feeding her warhorse to her men.  

In this life, she was still starving—starving since she was a child!  

From the age of three months, Ye Tianhui had been pondering how to get food. She kept pondering until she turned eighteen.  

Whenever this happened, her “mother” would scold her, often in veiled terms.  

Initially, she hadn’t planned to seek benefits from the Hong Kong family. After all, in her past life, she had been a Fuguo General. Since she had been given a second chance at life, with her own hands, even if she had to perform on the streets, surely she could earn enough to feed herself!

But who could have guessed that she had entirely misjudged? This world was vastly different from what she had imagined. Even with all her skills, there was no room to put them to use—she could only barely fill her stomach.

The year she graduated high school, things improved slightly. She got a job in a factory as a textile worker, diligently working during the day while writing letters at night. She sent these letters to Hong Kong.

She knew that her “mother” would never reveal a single detail to her, but she had overheard some things as a child. Based on those vague snippets, Ye Tianhui knew a little about the situation over there. She figured if she sent ten or so letters, she might hit the mark.

However, she knew far too little about the other side. The letters she sent disappeared like stones into the sea, leaving no response whatsoever.

So she decided to apply for a travel permit to go to Hong Kong herself. Yet, easier said than done. She encountered countless obstacles, endless questioning, and endless approvals looping between her factory and higher authorities. 

After much back-and-forth, her factory branded her as “restless,” labeling her with “wild ambitions of going to Hong Kong.” Then her “mother” heard the news, flew into a rage, tore up her household registration booklet, and told her she could forget about ever going to Hong Kong in her lifetime. Her “mother” even reported her, framing her with numerous accusations.

Being reported by her so-called “biological mother,” Ye Tianhui’s protests fell on deaf ears. Others commended the act as a noble case of “righteous denunciation.” When she tried to explain that the woman wasn’t her real mother, people simply dismissed her as insane.

That was how the world worked—without a household registration or identification, she couldn’t get the necessary approvals to travel to Hong Kong. Without an official letter of introduction, even leaving her hometown was nearly impossible.

Even a hero could be stymied by lack of resources. Ye Tianhui, who had once commanded armies and stood before emperors, now found herself reduced to beg grandpa and call on grandma^[2]To go around begging for a mere letter of introduction.

Forced into a corner, she withdrew all the money she had saved from working in the factory and headed south to Bao’an County in Guangdong Province.

She had thought it through. The world was no longer the same. Even if she possessed extraordinary abilities, there was no place to use them. She might as well risk it and cross over to Hong Kong to find her father.

If her father accepted her, great—she’d have a parent to rely on. If not, it didn’t matter. Hong Kong, with its allure as a bustling, open world, was vastly different from the mainland. There, she could perform on the streets, become a martial arts actor, or even do acrobatics. With her skills, she could at least make a living. Anything was better than being tied to this fake “mother,” standing in front of a textile machine every day.

In Bao’an County, she gathered a lot of information she hadn’t known before. She also heard that, in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday, the border with Hong Kong would be open for three days. Because of this, tens of thousands of people were gathering to rush into Hong Kong.

She didn’t mix with the crowds, opting instead for a less conventional route along the western line, which required swimming.

In her eighteen years of this life, Ye Tianhui had never learned to swim. 

She had grown up in Beijing, a dry inland city with no opportunity for it.

Fortunately, in her previous life, she had been adept both on horseback and in the water. She was a good swimmer. In this life, her habit of morning exercises and consistent discipline gave her confidence that she could swim across the strait.

Before setting out, she made thorough preparations.

Basketballs and other floating devices were prohibited and unavailable, so she bought a lot of ping-pong balls, tying them together with thin hemp ropes to increase buoyancy and conserve energy.

The key to success was understanding the weather and tidal patterns. If she entered the water during low tide, she could drift to the middle and swim slowly, catching the rising tide to carry her to shore. However, entering during high tide would make the effort twice as hard.

Such information was classified and not disclosed to the public. She had to observe and deduce it herself.

After some time studying the patterns, she finally identified a suitable time to enter the water.

But who could have predicted? Human plans could not outwit the heavens. She encountered a fierce storm at sea.

While she understood weather patterns, she was unfamiliar with maritime climates and couldn’t foresee such sudden changes.

It was just bad luck to encounter such raging winds and waves.

She kept telling herself not to give up.

She had once hunted amidst wild grasses in howling winds, her curved bow echoing with power, brimming with vigor. She had also ridden through endless sands, galloping across Yangguan, gazing at the boundless wilderness under a thousand miles of twilight clouds.

She was Ye Tianhui, the same Ye Tianhui who, when surrounded by tens of thousands of enemy troops at the edge of a cliff, remained fearless in the face of life and death.

She had been granted a second chance at life, and this world must surely hold countless wonders waiting for her to experience.

The big white mantous of Hong Kong were waiting for her—how could she just die here?

If she died, her body would float on the sea, be picked up by corpse scavengers, and buried to earn a mere fifteen yuan.

How could she let herself die?

Her hair and face were drenched, the salty, fishy seawater stinging her senses. In the distance, through the misty waves, she thought she saw faint, hazy lights.

In the crashing waves, the lights shimmered like the flickering lamps one might find on the Naihe Bridge^[3]Bridge of Helplessness – A bridge every soul must cross before being reincarnated..

She thought, perhaps those were the lights of Hong Kong.

She was not far from the shore now.

If she could just reach the shore, she would succeed.

But then, a wave crashed over her, and the icy, briny seawater poured over her head. The ping-pong balls tied around her waist swayed violently in the water, tossing Ye Tianhui like a battered leaf, lifted and dropped by the waves.

She had completely lost control of her body, unable to feel anything.

She was exhausted, on the brink of death.

The thought of death wrapped around her like seaweed, choking her resolve. The last vestiges of her determination slackened, and she wanted to let herself drift away, to simply die here.

She felt the cold, wet seawater seep into her nose and mouth. She felt her hair clinging to her body. She thought, in her past life, when she had leapt into the deep sea, this must have been how it felt in the end.

So, this was her destiny after all.

Another massive wave rolled in, and she ceased her struggle.

But at that moment, amidst the howling sea winds, a voice rang clear in her ears.

“Hui Hui.”

The voice was gentle yet brimming with immense power, distant yet familiar.

In that instant, it was as if a divine force had touched her, and Ye Tianhui jolted awake.

She fought desperately against the surging waters to snatch a single breath of air. She craned her neck to look at the sky, where a flash of light streaked across, illuminating the entire sea as if it were broad daylight.

With her face upturned, she kicked her legs with all her strength.

The waves roared, and water splashed everywhere.

She thought, I can hold on a little longer.