Chapter 1: Tao Yu’s Fate
In the late spring and early summer, the breeze was gentle and pleasant—a perfect day.

Tao Yu sat atop a dangerously slanted roof edge, the height enough to make anyone’s heart race with fear.

Unfazed, she leaned back on the old tiles, her legs dangling freely.

With her delicate chin slightly raised, she lazily squinted at the sun, letting its warmth wash over her without restraint.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Tao Yu opened her eyes.

Running her hand over the rough tile beneath her, its texture felt startlingly real.

She then touched the white scarf around her neck and pressed down on it almost cruelly, the bruises hidden beneath bringing sharp pain that rendered her speechless.

A cold smile graced Tao Yu’s lips.

It seemed she had really transmigrated—and into someone else’s body, no less.

Ironically, this person was also named Tao Yu.

Tao Yu. Tao Yu. Even reborn, she was still Tao Yu.

Fate had a cruel sense of humor—it seemed she couldn’t escape her destiny.

So, where exactly had she ended up?

Sorting through the original host’s memories, Tao Yu was sure this wasn’t modern China. It was a world similar to it but slightly different—reminiscent of the 1980s. The historical trajectory matched her original world but with subtle differences.

The wind toyed with the scarf around her neck, its fluttering offering a fleeting relief to the burning pain in her throat.

Tao Yu straightened her posture, her cold gaze sweeping over the sprawling, dilapidated courtyard below. She raised an eyebrow.

So be it. A new life in a different place was still just living, after all. Nothing much had changed.

From afar, Li Juan hurriedly pushed a small cart, sweat dripping from her brow despite the cool weather.

Entering the alley, she greeted neighbors absentmindedly, stopping to ask if anyone had seen her daughter, Xiaoyu.

Everyone gave her varied looks but replied the same: they hadn’t.

Li Juan comforted herself that her daughter must be safe at home. Yet, unease gnawed at her, growing stronger with every step.

Finally, after stumbling into the courtyard, she hadn’t even unloaded the cart when she instinctively looked up—and froze.

There, on the roof, was her daughter.

So high up.

Li Juan’s face turned deathly pale. She dared not shout, forcing a trembling smile instead.

“Xiaoyu, come down. Mom bought you rice cakes at the co-op,” she said, voice wavering.

But her pale face betrayed her terror—she was petrified that her daughter would try to take her own life again.

Over the years, she had wrestled her daughter back from death’s door so many times she couldn’t bear to recall.

Just days ago, she had returned home to find her daughter lifeless, strangled with cloth tied to the bed. Li Juan had nearly lost her mind trying to save her.

Miraculously, Tao Yu had coughed faintly at the last moment, returning from the brink of death.

That day, Li Juan had knelt and offered fervent thanks to the heavens.

Now, looking up at her daughter, she could only pray this wouldn’t happen again.

Tao Yu heard her mother’s trembling call and looked down at her pale, frozen figure. Her gaze was cold and unfamiliar.

Still, she nodded obediently, signaling that she’d come down.

Once on solid ground, Li Juan wasted no time pulling her into a small, dimly lit makeshift room at the corner of the courtyard.

The cramped space was hastily cobbled together with wooden planks, full of cracks and gaps. It was painfully evident how desperate their situation was.

Thankfully, the weather was mild. Otherwise, the leaky roof and chilly air would’ve been unbearable. Survival here was nothing short of miraculous.
Entering the small board house, there was nothing inside except for a makeshift wooden bed and a rickety, broken-legged square table. Not a single decent piece of furniture could be found.

How could a home be so poor?

Poor?

At that thought, Tao Yu recalled that their home wasn’t always this impoverished.

The side wing next door used to be where they lived.

But earlier this spring, her father, Tao Lijun, secretly sold the house along with all the valuable belongings inside without telling Li Juan or her daughter.

It wasn’t until someone showed up with the property deed, ready to take possession, that Li Juan, completely unaware, felt like her world had collapsed.

She could never have imagined that after nearly twenty years of marriage, Tao Lijun could be so heartless. He sold the family home without hesitation, took all the money, and disappeared without a trace.

Not only did he abandon his wife and daughter, but he also left them without any means to survive.

It was only thanks to a few neighbors in the shared courtyard who couldn’t bear to see their plight that they helped build this small board house for the mother and daughter, saving them from homelessness.

Fortunately, Li Juan had always been the one supporting the family.

For over a decade, she had made a living by folding paper boxes for a factory, pushing a small cart to sell candied hawthorns, and occasionally selling fresh vegetables brought from the countryside. With these efforts, she managed to ensure that she and her daughter didn’t go hungry.

Li Juan sat on the edge of the bed with Tao Yu, wiping her hands before carefully taking out a rice cake wrapped in oiled paper from her apron pocket. She unwrapped it and looked at her daughter expectantly.

“Yu’er, try this rice cake. The clerk at the supply store said it’s fresh and crispy.”

Tao Yu glanced at the snow-white rice cake in her mother’s palm, the faint aroma wafting to her nose.

She shook her head.

She was hungry, but she didn’t want to eat. The pain in her neck was unbearable, and she doubted she could swallow the rice cake.

Seeing her daughter refuse, Li Juan’s hopeful gaze turned to despair and worry. Her pale face showed no sign of recovery.

Looking at her daughter’s frail, pale face and the white scarf around her neck that she had tied herself, Li Juan swallowed the lump in her throat with difficulty.

“Yu’er… Are you still thinking… thinking…”

She couldn’t bring herself to say the word. Fear and panic gripped her, and the light in her eyes began to fade.

Tao Yu remained silent, offering no response.

At last, as if coming to a resolution, Li Juan looked at Tao Yu with determination and said, word by word, “Yu’er, I know you’re suffering. If you can’t bear it anymore and still want to leave… then I won’t live either. I’ll follow you… We can’t be separated, mother and daughter.”

After saying this, she grabbed her apron and started sobbing uncontrollably.

Tao Yu remained calm, watching her mother cry.

Those tears must be salty and bitter, she thought.

If only her mother knew that her daughter was already gone, replaced by someone else, she wouldn’t be able to carry on.

But Tao Yu wouldn’t tell her.

She wasn’t like the original Tao Yu. She was resilient. She wanted to live.

Death? That wasn’t in her plans for now. She intended to live well.

Perhaps annoyed by Li Juan’s tears, Tao Yu finally took the snow-white rice cake without a word.

She broke it in half and gave one part to Li Juan.

With just that small gesture, Li Juan immediately stopped crying.

She wiped her face and said, “Alright, alright, I won’t say anymore. I’m really losing my mind. Don’t listen to your mother’s nonsense, Yu’er. Let’s live a good life together. I’ll try the rice cake too.”

Then, despite saying she wouldn’t talk, Li Juan began to chatter again, talking about the nice weather outside, how she sold one more stick of candied hawthorns today, and how sweet and fragrant the rice cake was.

Tao Yu remained calm, neither annoyed nor pleased.

She had already decided—she would live.

The life the original Tao Yu abandoned, she would cherish. There was no way she’d tie a cloth around her neck and end it all.

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