Chapter 1: Rebirth

“Wuwuwu… Mom, please stop hitting me, please!”
In her sleep, He Jingshu furrowed her brows tightly. She was having that strange dream again.
In the dream, a thin, small girl stared up with wide eyes, pleading desperately with the woman before her.

But the woman showed no mercy. She viciously snapped, “Why are you crying? Have I ever let you starve or thirst? Why are you begging like a stray?”

“Wuwuwu… Mom, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” the little girl sobbed, clenching her teeth and trying to suppress her emotions. She was terrified of being hit again for crying—but in the end, she couldn’t hold it in.

“You’re already this old and still crying all the time. So annoying!” As expected, when the woman heard her crying, she raised her stick and struck hard.

The little girl curled into a corner from the pain. But this time, she didn’t dare make another sound, only biting down on her lip hard.

Yet this didn’t earn her any sympathy. The woman simply sat down, grabbed a bowl from the table, and hurled it at the girl. The bowl hit her head with a thud. With a muffled grunt, the girl collapsed to the floor. Seeing this, the woman laughed gleefully.

He Jingshu jolted awake, clutching her chest as she gasped for air. She had no idea how many times she had dreamt of this scene. Each time, she cried for the poor little girl. How could anyone be so cruel to such a sweet child?

Suddenly, the whole house began to shake violently. He Jingshu quickly grabbed her phone and ran to a corner, covering her head.
The building collapsed.
She realized it was an earthquake. She turned on her phone—no signal. Buried in the rubble, He Jingshu could only wait silently for rescue.

One day… two… three…
Eight days passed.
She tried every method to call for help, but no one ever heard her cries.
Eventually, her strength gave out. Her hand fell heavily to her side.

“Wuwuwu… Mom, what’s wrong?”
Suddenly, she heard a little girl’s panicked voice.

Xiao Zhongling was helpless. She wanted to ask her grandparents for help, but her mother hated them. Every time she talked to them, her mom would beat her up.

But seeing her mother unconscious in bed, she gritted her teeth and ran to the old Zhong family home to ask for help, hoping someone could bring a doctor.

“Wuwuwu… Grandpa, Grandma, my mom has been unconscious all day and night!”
As soon as she saw her grandparents, Xiao Zhongling burst into tears.

“Aiyo, my precious girl, don’t cry,” her grandma soothed.
“Old man, hurry and get Doctor Zhang!”
Even though their daughter-in-law disliked them, hearing she was unconscious still made the elderly couple worry.

Zhang Xiuying held her granddaughter’s hand as they rushed back to her youngest son’s home.
Feeling her grandma’s hand, Zhongling finally stopped crying—she had someone to rely on now.

Zhang Xiuying looked at the unconscious He Jingshu and sighed. Though her daughter-in-law wasn’t pleasant, she was still her granddaughter’s mother. She hoped she’d be alright.

He Jingshu slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was an elderly woman with white hair breaking into a relieved, slightly nervous smile.
He Jingshu was confused. Wasn’t she buried under rubble from the earthquake? Where was this?

She looked around the poor, shabby house. Then her gaze fell on the sweet, eager smile of Xiao Zhongling.
Her heart skipped a beat. That face—it was the little girl from her dreams!

No way… could this be… rebirth?

She pinched her thigh hard—
“Ow!”
It hurt. This wasn’t a dream. This was real.
He Jingshu gasped in shock… and fainted.

Xiao Zhongling burst into loud sobs when she saw her mother faint again.