Chapter 2 Rebirth

“You…cough…cough cough…” Leng You just wanted to speak, but a sudden, sharp pain tore through her chest, causing her to cough violently.

“Why are you on the mountain in this weather? Where’s your home?” The young man, Xiang Wentian, possessed a natural aura of authority. His words were concise and to the point, the surprise in his eyes not yet fully faded.

On the mountain? Home?

Leng You’s gaze returned to Xiang Wentian’s face. The boy had picturesque brows and eyes, his handsome features tinged with an emerging coldness and majesty.

She looked around again. Beside her were trees with green leaves—incompatible with the snowy season—the chirping of birds, and what sounded like a flowing stream.

Snow, a young boy, a deep valley… a scene so familiar, revisited countless times in her midnight dreams. Coupled with the pain that felt like her body was shattering, Leng You reached a certain conclusion—

It wasn’t heaven, nor a dream, but hell, a living hell!

She had been reborn. The Creator had sent her back to the age of eight, to a time when her life’s hardships were already underway.

Leng You’s heart pounded like a drum.

“Where does it hurt?” Seeing the vacant look in Leng You’s large eyes, her small face, smeared with mud and blood, and her lips pale as paper, Xiang Wentian’s expression tightened.

“Everywhere hurts.” Leng You gritted her teeth.

Even without experiencing the same events as her past life, her rudimentary medical knowledge told her that her injuries were extremely serious. Besides the scrapes, bruises, and cuts all over her body, she had at least three broken ribs.

Her lower leg and ankle bones were also fractured to varying degrees.

Not to mention the displaced internal organs from the violent impact, causing her chest and abdomen to spasm with every breath.

She had survived her past life by sheer luck; surviving this life was a miracle.

“I’ll take you home.” Xiang Wentian knew there was certainly no hospital in this remote area.

“Take me to Old Man Bai’s place.” For Leng You, it was her only chance of survival.

“Old Man Bai? Alright!” Xiang Wentian was slightly taken aback.

Not home.

He couldn’t understand how a child who looked only five or six years old could have such a mature, melancholic, and cynical gaze. If he wasn’t mistaken, there was even a fleeting flash of intense hatred in her eyes.

He gently helped Leng You sit up, grasped one of her arms, and prepared to turn and carry her on his back. But the moment his palm closed around her slender, alarmingly thin arm, Xiang Wentian felt a sharp pain, like a needle prick, in his heart. A pain he’d never experienced before.

He also noticed how ragged and thin the little girl’s clothes were.

He seemed to realize that this child was enduring unimaginable suffering.

He looked at his own army coat, then at Leng You’s small frame, which looked barely more than an infant’s. Finally, he took off the new scarf his mother had knitted for him and wrapped Leng You in it like a bundle, leaving only her arms and feet exposed.

Having “packaged” her, he hoisted Leng You onto his back.

Throughout the process, Xiang Wentian’s movements were swift yet incredibly gentle.

“Thank you, brother!” She finally called him “brother” and expressed her thanks, despite the temporal displacement.

Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around his neck. A single, crystal-clear tear rolled down Leng You’s cheek, landing on Xiang Wentian’s shoulder, silently disappearing into the vibrant green.

“Cry if it hurts.” The soft voice melted half of his heart, filling Xiang Wentian’s eyes with warmth.

She had suffered such serious injuries, yet she hadn’t even groaned or shed a single tear, which further shocked him.

 “Crying hurts too.” Leng You’s tone was stubborn, but her arms around Xiang Wentian’s neck tightened.

The pain was almost suffocating.

Besides the pain, a mild concussion forced her to suppress waves of nausea. The reason she hadn’t vomited was that this small body hadn’t eaten anything for two days.

And all of this was thanks to her unscrupulous father and vicious stepmother, who had cruelly driven her out into the snow, saying she had to collect firewood to get food.

The snow had been falling intermittently for several days, almost reaching Leng You’s height in deeper areas. Where could she find firewood?

Looking around, only the hillside behind the village showed some exposed dark areas—the sunny side of a leafless apricot tree.

The result was that before she even reached halfway up the mountain, she tumbled into the deep valley.

Now she understood that her stepmother’s intention was to kill her, and this method of death was the best way to silence any gossip.

What about her useless father?

And Wang Zicheng, who ultimately led to her death…

Lying on Xiang Wentian’s still slightly thin but already strong back, coldness filled Leng You’s eyes, a bone-chilling coldness laced with bloodthirsty madness.

Her arms around Xiang Wentian’s neck tightened involuntarily.

“Are you alright?” Although her slender arms had little strength, Xiang Wentian was still uneasy, afraid that the child might die at any moment.

“I’m…” Leng You loosened her grip slightly, and as she spoke, she struggled to lift her head, only to suddenly widen her eyes, the rest of her words stuck in her throat.

She saw a purple light suddenly flash on her right wrist, close to Xiang Wentian’s neck.

It started as a small ball, paused for a few seconds, then slowly expanded into a flowing purple mist.

The purple mist gradually spread to Leng You’s entire body, then flowed from her wrist to Xiang Wentian’s body. The color became increasingly intense, reaching a dark purple, with a faint grape-like scent.

As they were completely enveloped in the purple mist, a “crack” like a summer thunderstorm’s thunderclap, a dazzling ray of light suddenly shot from the sky, directly into the purple mist.

Leng You felt a burning hot current shoot from her inner wrist into her body, making her shiver. But as the hot current flowed through every corner of her body, the pain miraculously subsided along with the current’s path.

The chilling coldness that had almost reached her heart, the coldness of a dying person, quickly dissipated. The warm, comfortable feeling caused Leng You to involuntarily close her eyes and sigh.

She didn’t notice that Xiang Wentian, who was striding forward with her on his back, suddenly stopped.

Xiang Wentian felt a sudden burning sensation on his neck, followed by a hot current that shot into his body and quickly spread to his limbs.

Wherever the hot current passed, it was like the unclogging of long-blocked pipes, a sensation that almost made Xiang Wentian cry out in pleasure.

At the same time, he realized that he and Leng You were enveloped in a large mass of purple mist. Before he could be surprised, the purple mist disappeared without a trace.

“Did…did you see that?” The usually composed Xiang Wentian could no longer maintain his composure, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

“You…you saw it too?” Although Leng You had a mature mind, she couldn’t help but be startled by what had just happened.

She subconsciously raised her right arm and looked at her inner wrist.

Instantly, her eyes widened, and her mouth formed an “O” shape.

The cluster of light green birthmarks, which had followed her on her inner wrist in both her past and present lives, like grape buds, now seemed to bloom, revealing tiny white flowers and emitting a faint, sweet grape fragrance.