Chapter 2: Fainting

Ye Fan retorted, “I’m not a child, so you don’t get to decide what I can or cannot do.”

“I haven’t finished,” she continued. “The Ye family raised me, so when they’re old, I’ll take care of them. Xiaohui was raised by you; when you grow old, she’ll take care of you. You gave birth to me, so when you pass away, I’ll see to it that you’re properly buried. Beyond that, don’t even think about it.”

Chen Kuanren, Zhao Rujing, and Chen Xiaohui looked stunned, clearly not expecting Ye Fan to say something like this so openly.

Just the day before, the three members of the Chen family had arrived at the Ye family’s home. Ye Fan had sent her two children to stay with her in-laws and arranged for Chen Kuanren and Zhao Rujing to stay in the guest room, while Chen Xiaohui was given the children’s room. Worried they might feel bored or out of place, Ye Fan had gone out of her way to engage them in conversation, keeping them company over the past two days.

Chen Kuanren and Zhao Rujing both felt coming here had been the right decision. Just as Xiaohui had said, they had gained not only a good family connection but also another daughter.

Chen Kuanren snapped back to reality, his blood boiling as he stood up abruptly. “We’re leaving!”

Tao Chunlan quickly stood to block his way. “Chen—”

Ye Fan interrupted, “Mom, sit down. Who knows whose influence they’re under, showing up just to make trouble for us.”

Chen Kuanren froze, feeling deeply insulted. His hand trembled as he pointed at Ye Fan. “Say that to me again!”

“What else am I supposed to think? Where were you the past twenty-five years? When Xiaohui was sent to the countryside, you didn’t come for her, but now you’re here, concerned about the hardships I might have faced?”

Chen Kuanren’s breath caught in his throat, and he nodded. “Exactly!”

Everyone looked taken aback.

Ye Fan didn’t even blink. “Swear to me that you didn’t come to find me just because you were afraid I’d die young due to poor health, leaving you without a daughter if Xiaohui returned to the Ye family. Tell me it was only out of concern for my well-being.”

Chen Kuanren stood frozen, and Zhao Rujing’s expression turned awkward, clearly revealing that Ye Fan had guessed correctly.

Chen Xiaohui, stunned, shook slightly and instinctively gripped the arms of her chair.

No, it wasn’t like that.

Chen Xiaohui tried to calm herself, and her thoughts drifted back to eight years ago.

In the fall of 1966, the university entrance exams were suspended, and the neighborhood committee encouraged Chen Xiaohui to go to the countryside. Xiaohui hoped to wait it out a bit longer. She managed to stall until the new year, but by then, the situation at school had worsened, with mounting chaos. Upon returning home from school, she encountered a neighborhood official who again urged her to go to the countryside. Xiaohui didn’t want to go and couldn’t sleep that night, hoping to discuss it with her mother. But as she approached her parents’ room, she overheard them talking, saying, “If we’d known Xiaohui wouldn’t stay with us, we might as well have raised one of our own.”

In her past life, Xiaohui didn’t wait for them to finish and instead pushed the door open, turned on the light, and demanded to know what they meant. Chen Kuanren explained that they had discovered she was mistakenly brought home as a baby. When they tried to find her biological family, they could only learn her mother’s name: Tao Chunlan. He was busy with work, and since Xiaohui was still very young, he figured she would naturally grow attached to whoever raised her, so they decided to raise her as their own.

Desperate to avoid being sent to the countryside, Chen Xiaohui asked Chen Kuanren if the other family only had one child. If so, she reasoned, they could switch her back, and then she wouldn’t have to go. Chen Kuanren and Zhao Rujing didn’t hesitate for long before agreeing, and Xiaohui always believed they had done it out of love for her, given that they had raised her themselves.

In her past life, the exchange went through as she’d hoped, and Ye Fan had no choice but to go to the countryside in her place. The Ye family didn’t say much outwardly, but they secretly resented Xiaohui for it. That same year in her past life, as soon as Ye Fan returned to the Ye family in Shanghai, they began arranging her marriage to someone back in the capital.

A few years later, when the college entrance exams were reinstated, Ye Fan’s older brother and sister-in-law arranged tutoring for her, and after graduating from university, she joined a state-owned company. That company later became a leader in its field, with Ye Fan eventually rising to helm the organization. Meanwhile, Chen Xiaohui, who had married young and had children, didn’t have time to prepare for the exams. When the economic reforms began, she nearly faced layoffs.

Her husband suggested she apologize to her parents and seek their support, but Chen Xiaohui believed she could make her own way. However, with limited experience and little contact with her family, she missed out on many opportunities to earn money. Later, due to the physically demanding work and poor nutrition, her health deteriorated, and it was Ye Fan who ended up covering her medical expenses.

To this day, Chen Xiaohui feels a deep sense of frustration whenever she recalls this.

In this life, the neighborhood committee’s pressure to go to the countryside was just as relentless, leaving Xiaohui unable to sleep night after night. Then, the morning before the day she had overheard her parents talking in her past life, she woke up with memories of her previous experiences weighing on her mind. This time, Chen Xiaohui resolved to go to the countryside. If Ye Fan could endure seven years there, so could she. In her past life, the Ye family’s resources had all gone to Ye Fan; this time, she believed it was her turn.

But if what Ye Fan said was true, then all those years Chen Xiaohui had scrimped and saved to show her filial devotion to Chen Kuanren and Zhao Rujing… Chen Xiaohui felt a wave of darkness overtake her vision, and she collapsed backward.

“Chen Xiaohui?”

In a daze, she saw Ye Fan rushing toward her in a flash, but when she opened her eyes again, it was Chen Kuanren and Zhao Rujing standing by her side.

“You’re awake?” Ye Fan asked as she pushed open the door.

Zhao Rujing looked surprised. “You didn’t leave?”

Recalling the earlier confrontation, Chen Kuanren’s anger flared up again. “Xiaohui nearly died from your words, and you dare to come back?”

Ye Fan didn’t want to argue loudly in the hospital room. “I asked you to swear, not Xiaohui. If you didn’t die from anger, what’s she getting so upset about? Chen Kuanren—”

“I’m your father!” Chen Kuanren shouted.

Ye Fan replied calmly, “Do you have proof?”

Chen Kuanren deflated like a punctured balloon, his anger vanishing. As he tried to raise his voice again, he met Ye Fan’s penetrating gaze, a look that seemed to see through everything. He opened his mouth but managed only, “—You’re not welcome here!”

With lifetimes of experience, Ye Fan was more than ten years older than Chen Xiaohui in wisdom and wasn’t interested in quarreling with her. Xiaohui was a victim too, and Ye Fan didn’t want to make things harder for her. “I’m not here for you,” Ye Fan said, her tone firm. “Out of respect for my adoptive parents, I came to visit Xiaohui. Xiaohui, you’re the Ye family’s daughter; it’s only right for you to go back to them. You don’t need to worry about how I feel—I’m married into the Geng family!” She turned her gaze to Chen Kuanren before fixing her eyes on Zhao Rujing. “Whatever’s going on in the Chen family, I don’t care. It has nothing to do with me, so don’t try to involve me. The hospital fees have been covered. Xiaohui, once you’ve thought things through, you can go to the Ye family. Comrade Tao Chunlan is ready to accompany you to Shanghai to finalize the transfer whenever you’re ready.” With that, she turned and walked out.

Instinctively, Chen Xiaohui called after her, “Wait—”

Ye Fan paused and turned back. “Wondering why no one from the Ye family came? Your eldest brother drove you here. I asked him to go back and let our parents know you were fine so they wouldn’t worry. I didn’t ask them to come—blame me for that if you like. But I’ll say this: they’re all dignified people and wouldn’t want to face off with someone who’d stoop so low as to switch children—”

Chen Kuanren shot up, furious. “Who are you calling low?”

“Did I say it was you? You’re the one so eager to own the title,” Ye Fan replied, giving him a hard look before continuing. “The Ye family raised the child you gave birth to, and you raised the child they brought into the world. Neither side owes the other anything, and from here on, there’s no need for further contact. When you two pass away, Xiaohui can be informed. And if my parents need their daughter at their side in their final days, I’ll notify Xiaohui. I’ve said this before.”

She turned to Xiaohui. “But, Xiaohui, one last thing—a reminder, take it or leave it: the Chen family owes you. No one would blame you if you don’t feel obliged to take care of them.” She pointed at the fruits and snacks by the bedside. “I brought those for you.” With that, she opened the door and walked out.

Chen Kuanren, unable to contain his anger, spat out a few curses before pointing at Chen Xiaohui. “Didn’t I say so? With the Ye family’s wealth and status, there’s no way she’d actually come back with us.” Then he turned on Zhao Rujing. “And you said, ‘she’s still your daughter by birth.’ Look at her—this is the child you gave birth to?”

Suddenly, the door to the hospital room swung open. Kuanren froze, his face flushed as if someone had caught him by the throat.

Ye Fan leaned casually against the door frame. “Chen Xiaohui, you don’t have to put up with the Chen family’s nonsense.” She tilted her head toward Zhao Rujing. “I hear you have a pension. My advice? Divorce him. Then you keep your salary, and you don’t have to care for this vile old man!”

Incensed, Chen Kuanren lifted his hand to strike her, but Ye Fan quickly slipped out, slamming the door behind her with a loud bang. Kuanren, charging forward, crashed into the door, startling Xiaohui, while Zhao Rujing gasped, rushing over to check if he was hurt.

Kuanren rubbed his hand and then his face, wincing in pain. “Discharge Xiaohui right now. We’re leaving immediately and going straight back to Shanghai!”

Chen Xiaohui couldn’t help but ask, “Am I going back too?”

“Do you want to stay here?” Chen Kuanren replied incredulously. “Aren’t you afraid Ye Fan will bully you to death? She’s just like those high-ranking officials’ daughters in Shanghai—arrogant, overbearing, and capable of all sorts of wickedness!”

Zhao Rujing nodded in agreement. “Xiaohui, your dad is right. I’ve seen Ye Fan for what she really is; she’s been spoiled rotten by the Ye family. Besides, she’s already married, and if she doesn’t want to come back, there’s nothing we can do about it. The fact that she didn’t even call the Ye family to come see you—makes it clear that the Ye family is completely under her thumb. How do you think you’d fare back at the Ye family under her watch?”

In her past life, Chen Xiaohui had thought Ye Fan was powerful because she attended university, had a broader worldview, and received support from the Ye family.

Before she fainted, Chen Xiaohui felt a surge of indignation. In her past life, she hadn’t known that Ye Fan was frail and relied on medication to survive. What right did the Ye family have to blame her? Ye Fan had enjoyed seventeen or eighteen years of life; was that not enough? Now, hearing the complaints from Zhao Rujing and Chen Kuanren, Chen Xiaohui began to understand that in her previous life, the Ye family’s detachment from her was not just because they thought she was ungrateful.

In this life, after only a few days, Ye Fan could already tell that the mix-up with the children was a deliberate switch, not an innocent mistake. Perhaps in her past life, the Ye family also believed that she, like Ye Fan, could see through the truth. They probably thought she had figured it out but still chose to maintain her ties with the Chen family, complaining about the Ye family’s favoritism toward Ye Fan. To the Ye family, she must have appeared to lack discernment and judgment.

Since her rebirth, a full seven years had passed, and Chen Xiaohui had always believed that she had over twenty years of memories more than Ye Fan. In this life, even without the support of the Ye family, as long as she got into university, she could do better than Ye Fan.

Hearing Ye Fan dare to call Chen Kuanren by name and insult him as a “vile old man,” while also deliberately provoking Zhao Rujing to consider divorce, filled Chen Xiaohui with a sense of powerlessness. The audacity Ye Fan displayed made her feel weak, and her body seemed to soften as she leaned back. Zhao Rujing rushed over, alarmed. “Xiaohui, why are you crying?”

Chen Xiaohui touched her face and realized she was indeed crying. Confused about the reason for her tears, she felt increasingly suffocated. The frustrations from her past life resurfaced, and now, in this life, she felt equally stifled. Her throat tightened in discomfort, and she found herself unable to cry out, even though the emotions welled up inside her.

Chen Kuanren snorted coldly, “So you don’t want to leave, huh? When I said having two sons was enough, you insisted on having a daughter. Now look, both of them belong to someone else.”

Years of habit made Chen Xiaohui instinctively want to comfort them, to reassure Chen Kuanren and Zhao Rujing that she would always be their daughter. But as the words hovered on the tip of her tongue, the image of Ye Fan’s arrogant demeanor flashed in her mind, and she found herself feeling a twinge of envy. Panic washed over her as she realized that she was actually envious of Ye Fan.

No way!

Chen Xiaohui unconsciously shook her head. There was no way she could envy someone like Ye Fan, who seemed to have everything handed to her in both lives.

“What about my job when I go back?” Chen Xiaohui blurted out, voicing the most pressing question.

Chen Kuanren was momentarily taken aback, caught off guard by her question.

Both he and Zhao Rujing had retirement pensions, but they were not substantial—just enough to support their two sons. Chen Xiaohui didn’t have a job or a partner; she relied on her family for food and shelter. Bringing her back would only add to their burden.

In the past, Chen Xiaohui was unaware of her true surname, Ye, and Chen Kuanren treated her as if she were his biological daughter. Now that she knew where the Ye family was and that they acknowledged her existence, the situation had changed drastically. The Ye family’s conditions were far superior to those of the Chen family. Chen Kuanren reasoned that if Chen Xiaohui became close to the Ye family, he wouldn’t be as willing to support a daughter raised by the Ye family.

Zhao Rujing genuinely wanted a daughter. With Chen Xiaohui finally back in the city, she didn’t want her to move too far away. When they accompanied Chen Xiaohui to reconnect with her biological family, Zhao Rujing hoped for either a reversal of the situation or that Chen Xiaohui would come back home with her. In exchange, the Ye family might offer Chen Xiaohui some compensation, such as money.

Who would have thought it would end up being such a disaster?

It was all Ye Fan’s fault!

Zhao Rujing felt a simmering resentment within her. If she had known things would turn out this way, she would never have given birth to Chen Xiaohui in the first place.

“Xiaohui, what will happen to me if you stay?” As Zhao Rujing spoke, her eyes grew misty. “I’ve missed you every day, every month. After all this time waiting for you to come back, and now you want to stay in the capital? How am I supposed to live without you?”

Chen Xiaohui couldn’t help but feel moved. The mocking words of Ye Fan echoed in her ears, and she clenched her fists, biting her lip tightly. “I need to have a job and earn money first to be filial to you and Dad, right?” she retorted. The Chen family lived in a cramped tenement building, where cooking was done in the hallway, and the bathroom and toilet were shared. The place was poorly soundproofed, filled with smoke and noise every day. It was nothing compared to the Ye family’s spacious, private yard, where even the guest rooms were larger than the Chen family’s living room.

Chen Xiaohui didn’t want to go back. She intended to give the impression that she was being obedient and understanding, wanting to show the Ye family that she was sensible and didn’t covet their wealth. By visiting them, she hoped to strategically place herself in a better position without appearing too greedy.

Zhao Rujing hadn’t expected the Ye family to live so well. The children there had formula milk, and every lunch or dinner included meat dishes. Even if they didn’t have meat, there was at least scrambled eggs with scallions. It was clear that the job arranged for Ye Fan by the Ye family was also excellent. Zhao Rujing felt a bit tempted. “But the workplace isn’t owned by the Ye family. Just because Ye Fan says she’ll give you the job doesn’t mean she can actually do it,” she argued.

Chen Xiaohui replied, “Even a temporary worker can make around twenty dollars a month. I stay and eat at the Ye family’s place, so I can save about ten dollars a month. That adds up to one or two hundred dollars a year.”

Zhao Rujing immediately turned to Chen Kuangren, seeking his opinion on the matter.

Two days ago, when Chen Kuangren stood at the entrance of the Ye family’s spacious courtyard, he felt a sense of foreboding as he observed the bright and clean interior. “It’s so far away, and if you don’t come to see us, we really have no way to do anything about it,” he sighed, resignation evident in his voice. “Let’s just consider it as if we raised you for nothing all these years.”

Suddenly realizing the truth, Chen Xiaohui found herself struggling to process the situation. Instinctively, her body reacted, and she blurted out, “No—” In both her past and present lives, she had always cared about her dignity, and it was difficult for her to say the words, “The Chen family has wronged me.” Instead, she said, “Mom, I don’t want to go back to the countryside again.”

Zhao Rujing sat down on the edge of the bed, contemplating for a long time. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that if Chen Xiaohui had to return to the countryside or marry into a family similar to the Chens, she and her husband might have to support her: “Since the Ye family is willing, let’s take this opportunity to transfer your household registration here. We can deal with the future when it comes.”

Chen Kuangren was incredulous; he believed Zhao Rujing’s suggestion was just a deliberate attempt to provoke Chen Xiaohui. “Transfer? If she stays in the capital, you’ll be dead and gone, and she won’t even know!” he exclaimed.

Zhao Rujing shook her head slightly, confidence shining through her words. “I have my ways to handle this.” She turned back to Chen Xiaohui and said, “Mom respects your decision. Just don’t let me down.”

Chen Xiaohui nodded solemnly and said, “Mom, I won’t. I’m not like Ye Fan.”

Just a door away, leaning against the wall, Ye Fan was momentarily taken aback. It turned out her instincts had been right; Chen Xiaohui truly didn’t like her.

Ye Fan wasn’t made of gold or silver; she had no expectation of being adored by everyone. Since she wasn’t close to Chen Xiaohui, she didn’t mind whether or not she was liked. She shook her head and smiled, then continued to wait.

When the Chen family emerged, they were startled. Chen Kuangren exclaimed, “You haven’t left?”

“Xiaohui just arrived in the capital; she’s unfamiliar with everything. She doesn’t even know which way is Zhengyangmen. If the Ye family hasn’t sent anyone, how could I just leave?” Ye Fan replied, looking at the dazed Chen Xiaohui. “You’re being discharged? I’ll go take care of the discharge procedures.”