Chapter 17 Has the Female Lead Been Reborn?

In the afternoon, Zhao Qianqian left work a little earlier.

Anyway, her cousin was covering her shift.

Whether she left early or late wouldn’t affect her job!

Besides, going home required an hour’s bicycle ride, then she had to buy vegetables and cook—it would take plenty of time.

Even if she left at three, she wouldn’t arrive home until five!

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Qian Sanya.

Today was the third day since Qian Sanya’s rebirth.

If the first two days were for her to reflect on her past life’s failure and plan for the future,

then now was the time to act.

Her first target: Zeng Cheng.

She would use his money to support herself and Zhou Wen.

Yes—Zhou Wen, who in her past life became Zhao Qianqian’s second husband, had already come down to the countryside.

And she had met him.

Handsome, educated.

Just a bit thin, and poor.

But that didn’t matter!

Thin—she could feed him until he grew strong.

Poor—she could make him and Zeng Cheng connect, and Zeng Cheng could provide.

And she could also use the excuse of being wronged by Zeng Cheng to borrow money from him.

Anyway, all of this was what he owed her.

No matter how much she took, it was only right!

As for that bitch Zhao Qianqian, who dared to steal her fiancé—she would make her pay, even bring her down completely…

Though in truth, Zhao Qianqian choosing Zeng Cheng was her own misfortune.

Because Zeng Cheng was not a man so easily controlled.

In terms of looks and family background, he was unmatched.

Even his personal abilities were first-class.

He excelled in everything he did.

As a young master, he excelled in academics.

When sent down, he endured hardships well, quickly mastering farming.

Later, after the reforms, freed from the shadow of his capitalist grandfather, he rose swiftly in the army, highly capable.

But was this man good or bad?

Even Qian Sanya herself wasn’t sure how to judge him.

She recalled his actions in her previous life.

For instance, he was engaged to her, but then turned to her stepsister Zhao Qianqian.

Though Zhao Qianqian had seduced him, he hadn’t resisted.

It meant Zhao Qianqian had a very high place in his heart.

High enough for him to abandon principles.

High enough to risk being sent to a labor camp for her.

High enough to discard integrity.

He truly loved Zhao Qianqian—she was his first love.

By rights, their marriage should have been happy.

But strangely, after marrying Zhao Qianqian, Zeng Cheng also began treating her, Qian Sanya, well!

In her past life, she had taken advantage of this.

She had exploited his guilt, stirring up discord between him and Zhao Qianqian.

And it had worked.

Later, when she provoked Zhao Qianqian and Zhou Wen, Zhao Qianqian—perhaps out of anger or disappointment—actually ended up with Zhou Wen.

She had cuckolded him!

By all logic, Zeng Cheng should have hated Zhao Qianqian.

But instead, he divorced her, generously gave her a large divorce settlement, and let her go.

He was the kind who didn’t cherish in marriage, but treated her well after divorce.

He was like that with Qian Sanya too.

While engaged, he flirted with her stepsister. After breaking the engagement, he treated her better out of guilt.

With Zhao Qianqian, during marriage he failed to cherish her. After divorce, he treated her better still—even helping her new husband Zhou Wen.

People thought it was because Zeng Cheng and Zhou Wen were close.

But only Qian Sanya knew—he helped Zhou Wen only because he wanted Zhao Qianqian to live well.

Later, he married another educated youth, Wen Bing, a beautiful girl no less stunning than Zhao Qianqian.

But soon after, reforms came.

Before that, his father had secured him a place in the army. He divorced Wen Bing and left.

Why, she never knew.

But she knew that once in the army, he constantly sent money and ration tickets back to the village.

And the money was always split into three parts—

one for Qian Sanya,

one for Zhao Qianqian,

and one for Wen Bing.

It was as if he wanted to give every woman in his life a home.

He sent money like this for a long time.

Until his later military wife caused a scandal—accusing him of misconduct and divorcing him. The army even investigated where the money had gone.

Only then did the three women realize what had been happening.

Laughable, wasn’t it?

That later wife was of good background, influential enough to strip him of everything and force him out of the army.

But Zeng Cheng had a wealthy grandfather.

Without the army, he turned to business, and made even more money.

After that, he lived freely, surrounded by women.

Yet Qian Sanya suspected—through it all, he had only ever truly loved Zhao Qianqian.

His guilt toward her, Qian Sanya, was not love.

Wen Bing, perhaps, was just jealousy over Zhao Qianqian and Zhou Wen.

And his later military wife was just circumstance.

But love?

Never.

If he had loved Wen Bing, he would have taken her with him when he joined the army.

Qian Sanya had seen with her own eyes the difference in how he treated them.

With Zhao Qianqian, there were quarrels—but the quarrels of husband and wife.

With Wen Bing, there were no fights, but a coldness like strangers.

Even later, when he sent money,

she believed the person he most wanted to send it to was Zhao Qianqian.

But by then, Zhao Qianqian had already remarried Zhou Wen.

So she and Wen Bing were just his cover.

As for his later military wife, dragged into things by their involvement,

Qian Sanya had looked into it.

It was nothing but entanglement and appearances, with no true feeling.

Even then, he never sent her a cent.

When confronted, he had even said, “She doesn’t need money.”

But wasn’t it natural for a husband to spend on his wife?

What did “she doesn’t need money” have to do with anything?

To outsiders, Zeng Cheng seemed good to both her and the Qian family.

But what had he really given her?

When her philandering husband Xu Fei left her homeless, she had to beg Zhou Wen and Zhao Qianqian for help to keep her house.

When had Zeng Cheng ever stood up for her?

But Zhao Qianqian—

she had tried to distance herself from him, yet he went out of his way to become Zhou Wen’s best friend, just to see her more often.

He had indirectly given her so much help.

Did anyone really believe he wanted to befriend the man who had cuckolded him?

Unless he loved Zhao Qianqian to death.

Only that explained everything.

He hadn’t known how to cherish her when young.

When he finally did, she was already someone else’s wife.

Though her theory was extreme,

Qian Sanya felt it was the only explanation for his behavior.

So, for now, her goal was clear—go to Zeng Cheng, stir his guilt, and reel him in. Not waste time overthinking.

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Zhao Qianqian’s Home.

When Zhao Qianqian arrived home, something felt off.

Why was Qian Sanya in her house?

And why was Zeng Cheng home early, when he never came back this soon?

For Qian Sanya, he’d even skipped earning work points?

When he saw her, Zeng Cheng looked perfectly open:

“Earlier today, I nearly got crushed by a falling tree while working. Third Sister saved me. To thank her, I invited her for dinner and to give her something.”

Zhao Qianqian recalled this exact scene from the novel.

On the female lead’s third day of rebirth, she deliberately cut a tree along Zeng Cheng’s path, just so she could save him and earn his gratitude.

And from then on, he was slowly ensnared by her.

Already guilty toward Qian Sanya,

now with a life-saving debt on top of it,

wouldn’t he become her personal goldmine?

So—

the female lead really had been reborn.

And her first step was to hook her husband.

Qian Sanya looked embarrassed, sitting in another woman’s home, chatting with her husband.

“This doesn’t look right. Brother Zeng, maybe I should go back now.”

Of course, it was deliberate.

Zeng Cheng and Zhao Qianqian were married, so she should call him brother-in-law.

But she deliberately called him Brother Zeng.

Refusing to acknowledge the marriage.

Zhao Qianqian’s teeth nearly ground together.

She didn’t care about the past grudges between the original Zhao Qianqian and Qian Sanya.

She only knew—

Zeng Cheng was her husband now!

And Qian Sanya, this shameless woman, was openly flirting with him in front of her.

So Zhao Qianqian smiled and said:

“Don’t go. When I’m not home, you can stay alone with my husband. But now that I’m back, you want to leave? What, are you afraid people will think you came to seduce my husband?”

Her words turned sharp and sarcastic.

Zeng Cheng immediately noticed her hostility.

His face darkened as he scolded:

“What’s wrong with you? Third Sister is my savior. And if we’re talking about stealing, weren’t you the one who stole first? After all, she and I were engaged before.”

Ha.

So right after her rebirth, he was already standing with the female lead.