Chapter 1

Hot.

So hot.

A scorching, bone-deep kind of heat.

The moment their skin touched, Song Qingdai couldn’t hold back a soft moan. Her brows furrowed tightly, and a flush quickly spread across her fair cheeks.

“Still not enough?”

The sudden impact and the low, restrained voice above her made Song Qingdai’s eyes snap open—only to meet an unfamiliar face.

“You…”

“Don’t move.” The man’s voice was slightly hoarse. They were both completely undressed, pressed tightly against each other.

Red marks had already appeared on her pale skin.

Then, she spotted the calendar poster on the wall—July 21, 1984.

Song Qingdai’s pupils shrank sharply. She… she had returned to the night of her engagement in her previous life—the night both she and her sister, Song Mingshan, were betrothed?

Yes, that day in her past life was when her parents arranged her engagement alongside her sister’s.

To scrape together a dowry for her brother’s marriage, her parents forced her to marry Zhang Shaoxing, a divorced man with three children who worked as a deputy director at a textile factory.

Meanwhile, her sister, Song Mingshan, was engaged to Jiang Zhaoyun, a shop clerk at the supply and marketing cooperative, arranged by their mother.

After the marriage, everyone expected to see her fail. Who would willingly marry a divorced man with three kids, even if he was a deputy director?

To make matters worse, Zhang Shaoxing had a notoriously violent temper—no woman dared marry him. But he was the only one who could offer the 1,600 yuan bride price her family needed.

Despite it all, she and Zhang Shaoxing lived respectfully as husband and wife. They grew to care for one another, and she lovingly raised his three children. Years later, each of her stepsons had become successful in their fields.

In contrast, her sister’s marriage to Jiang Zhaoyun was a disaster. She suffered repeated domestic abuse, miscarried her child, and lived in chaos.

Her three stepchildren thrived, and her husband eventually founded his own textile factory. Everyone said Song Qingdai had become a wealthy and respectable lady.

But during a TV interview about how she raised the three boys into successes, Song Mingshan suddenly lunged from the crowd and stabbed her multiple times like a madwoman.

The next time she opened her eyes—was in this exact moment again.

But she distinctly remembered—none of this had happened in her past life.

If not for the lingering pain and the burning skin of the man pressed against her, Song Qingdai would have thought it was all just a dream.

“Mom! I saw her go into the room with Jiang Zhaoyun! I’ve said it before—Song Qingdai is not as innocent as she pretends to be. She never wanted to marry Brother Shaoxing. She was probably having an affair with Jiang Zhaoyun all along!”

The voice of Song Mingshan outside the door made Song Qingdai instinctively shrink back, and the man on top of her hissed sharply at the movement.

He quickly pulled away, and just as the door burst open, he tossed his jacket over Song Qingdai, covering her completely.

But when Zhang Shaoxing saw the scene inside the room, his face instantly turned dark.

“Gao Han?!”

“Gao Han?!” the woman behind him shrieked. The sharp tone made Song Qingdai’s head throb.

Still reeling from the pain of being stabbed in her previous life, she was now dealing with a whole new kind of pain. And worse, her sister Song Mingshan had brought along not only Zhang Shaoxing—her previous husband—but also her stepmother Feng Cuifen.

Everything felt like a blur.

“Mingshan, didn’t you say Jiang Zhaoyun was in this room? Why is it Gao Han?”

Gao Han—the notorious troublemaker of Hongxing Town. Wild, fierce, and feared by everyone.

Song Mingshan was stunned too. She had drugged Song Qingdai and sent her to Jiang Zhaoyun’s room. After marrying Jiang Zhaoyun in her past life, she learned firsthand what kind of man he was—greedy, lustful, and shameless, never turning down any woman thrown at him.

This was a guesthouse, and both sisters were engaged here today. Song Mingshan had planned everything precisely, sending Song Qingdai in at the right time. So how did Jiang Zhaoyun suddenly become someone else?

“What are you all trying to do?”

The man shielding Song Qingdai had a stormy expression. Although he kept her well covered, Zhang Shaoxing still noticed the redness around her eyes.

He was no stranger to this. He had been married before—he knew exactly what that meant.

Tonight was supposed to be his engagement party with Song Qingdai. And now… this?

Even though he was divorced, there was no way he’d marry a woman who had already been defiled!

“I should be asking you that—what are you doing here with my fiancée?”

“Your fiancée?” A meaningful smile appeared on Gao Han’s face.

Yes, Zhang Shaoxing’s fiancée—who just happened to end up in his bed. She had clung to him, crying, begging for his help, saying she’d take responsibility.

And when Gao Han saw her face, he knew his chance had come.

He had waited for that face—for a very long time.

He just never thought it would happen like this.

“We’re breaking off the engagement!”

Before Zhang Shaoxing could speak, Song Qingdai interrupted coldly. “Gao Han and I love each other. We’re young and in a guesthouse—what we did is perfectly normal, isn’t it?”

“We’re not officially engaged yet, so I’m going to marry Gao Han instead!”

Yes!

A divorced man with three kids? Whoever wanted him could have him. She certainly didn’t.

From the look on Song Mingshan’s face earlier, Song Qingdai guessed that she too had been reborn.

Back when she was stabbed, Mingshan had raged, “Why should you get to live the life of a rich wife? I’m the one loved most by our parents. If anyone deserves that life, it should be me, not you!”

And from her foggy memories, Song Qingdai could tell Mingshan had probably returned earlier than she had—that’s how she had time to drug her.

Her plan had been to push Song Qingdai into Jiang Zhaoyun’s arms. But Song Qingdai, waking up in time, had blindly grabbed a man and stumbled into a room.

And the rest, well… was like dry wood meeting a spark.

As for Gao Han—though she hadn’t known him in her past life, she’d heard of his reputation.

The local “bad boy” of Hongxing Town. Word was he’d served in the army and returned for unknown reasons, now working at a brick factory. She didn’t know much about him—but marrying him still beat marrying Jiang Zhaoyun.

“Comrade Song, I hope you understand the consequences. My family already gave your family the bride price. If you call off the engagement now, do you know what that means?”

Zhang Shaoxing’s face was thunderous. He had finally found a woman he thought he could control, someone to raise his three children—and now this?

Song Mingshan panicked. She was afraid Zhang Shaoxing might really cancel the engagement. While she did want him to break it off with Song Qingdai… it was only because she wanted to marry him herself!

“Brother Shaoxing, our family wronged you. I… I’m willing to marry you instead, to make up for the hurt my sister caused. Is that okay?”

The moment she said it, Song Qingdai was absolutely certain—

Song Mingshan had been reborn too.