Inside an abandoned factory building.  

“Lin Min, don’t blame me. You stood in Jingshu’s way and took everything she had. I have no choice but to eliminate you.” A man with a sinister expression looked down at the panicked woman sitting on the floor, his voice icy as he spoke.  

With a snap, he flicked his lighter open and tossed it onto the ground!  

Instantly, flames erupted where gasoline had been spilled, spreading rapidly!  

Only then did Lin Min realize—her senior brother, who had lured her here under the pretense of a medical consultation, actually intended to kill her.  

For the sake of that woman who had stolen her life, he was willing to murder her?  

She couldn’t believe it. How could He Qi, her senior brother, do something so cruel to her?  

They had been fellow disciples for over a decade!  

Yet the scene before her proved it—He Qi had truly been bewitched by that woman, losing all reason.  

“Senior Brother, you’re killing me for Tang Jingshu? Aren’t you afraid of divine retribution? Don’t you know that everything she has was originally mine? Our lives were swapped when we were infants. Jingshu has known this since she was fifteen—she’s been using you all along! Don’t you understand?”  

Lin Min stood frozen, as if struck by lightning, oblivious to the flames now roaring toward her.  

“So what? She promised me that as long as you’re gone, she’ll be with me.”  

He Qi’s face twisted into a grotesque grin. Without another word, he turned and fled.  

Lin Min coughed violently as smoke filled her lungs, her stomach churning in pain. The acrid fumes overwhelmed her, making her legs buckle.  

Desperate, she turned and pounded on the metal door, screaming hoarsely, “Is anyone there? Help me! Please…!”  

But her voice was weak, drowned out by the thick smoke. Her abdomen ached unbearably.  

The fire raged, engulfing the entire factory in rolling black smoke.  

The suffocating sensation grew stronger—she could no longer breathe, could no longer speak.  

Was it an illusion? Through the haze, she thought she saw a tall, broad-shouldered figure charging toward her, shouting, “Xiao Min, hold on! I’m coming to save you…!”  

It was Gu Jingchuan’s voice.  

But it was too late.  

Her vision blurred as smoke filled her eyes.  

The inferno surged toward her.  

Flames consumed her body.  

Excruciating pain tore through her, as if her flesh and bones were melting in the blaze.  

In her final moments, fragments of her life flashed before her—the faces of those who had betrayed her, the deep, solemn gaze of Gu Jingchuan…  

If there was a next life, she would make every one of her enemies pay.  

And she would cherish Gu Jingchuan.  

……  

When Lin Min regained consciousness, her head throbbed violently. Slowly, she opened her eyes, lifting her heavy eyelids.  

The first thing she saw was a bright red quilt adorned with peonies. Blinking, she noticed a simple wooden wardrobe by the bed, a large red “囍” (double happiness) character pasted on it.  

A wedding character?  

This was a bridal chamber?  

Dazed, she stared at the dark wooden beams of the ceiling.  

Had she… not died?  

The fire hadn’t killed her?  

How was that possible?  

Was this some final hallucination before death?

She turned her head mechanically, and then—a strikingly handsome yet sickly face abruptly came into view.  

The moment she saw him, Lin Min bolted upright on the kang (heated brick bed), her eyes wide as saucers, staring at him in disbelief.  

Gu Jingchuan?

How?

Why was she lying on the same bed as Gu Jingchuan… in what looked like a bridal chamber?  

Yes, she had once been briefly married to Gu Jingchuan—but that was over a decade ago.  

Was she dreaming about their wedding again?  

To test this, she pinched her cheek hard. A sharp pain shot through her.  

This wasn’t a dream.  

She scanned the so-called bridal chamber, and the scene overlapped perfectly with a long-buried memory.  

Stunned, she stared blankly at the man sleeping at the other end of the kang.  

He was fast asleep, breathing evenly, showing no signs of waking.  

Hesitantly, she reached out and touched his face.  

Warm.

Had she… really been reborn?  

The moment this thought flashed through her mind, Lin Min frantically searched the room for confirmation.  

A few seconds later, her gaze landed on a wall calendar—a tear-off one. The top page clearly read: August 6, 1992.  

August 6, 1992—the day she and Gu Jingchuan had gotten married.

Overwhelmed, a dull pain throbbed in her forehead. She reached up and felt something like gauze wrapped around it.  

Through the window, the sun had just risen, casting a red glow.  

An answer formed in her mind—she had been reborn on the morning after her wedding to Gu Jingchuan in 1992.  

Back then, her parents had forced her to marry Gu Jingchuan—a man paralyzed from the waist down—in place of her younger sister, Lin Jiao. In despair, she had smashed her head against the wall on their wedding night, leaving a bloody gash on her forehead.  

Gu Jingchuan had also opposed the marriage and caused such a scene that his family had drugged him with sleeping pills to keep him quiet.  

Lin Min stared at the man’s pallid face, her heart a whirlwind of emotions.  

Tentatively, she reached out again, brushing her fingers against his cheek. The warmth of his skin made her chest tighten with indescribable feelings.  

Just then, she heard the sound of a lock turning outside the door.  

The wooden door creaked open slightly, and a middle-aged woman peeked in.  

“Lin Min, please… stop making a scene, alright? I’m begging you. My Jingchuan will recover—the doctors said his condition is only temporary. Our family is doing everything we can to treat him…”

The plainly dressed woman hovered in the doorway, her voice pleading.  

Lin Min stared at that familiar-yet-unfamiliar face, frozen.  

Gu Jingchuan’s mother.

A woman she had only known as her mother-in-law for two days in her past life.  

Seeing Lin Min silently staring, Wang Guixiang cautiously stepped closer, speaking in a coaxing tone, “Xiao Min, breakfast is ready. Should I bring it to you? And your forehead—I’ll have Jingming buy some medicine for it when he goes to town. Please… don’t cause any more trouble, alright?”  

Lin Min didn’t respond to her mother-in-law’s pleas. Instead, she pointed at the sleeping man beside her and asked, “What’s wrong with him? Why isn’t he waking up?”

Since she had woken up, at least half an hour had passed. Outside, birds chirped, and the sky was fully bright—yet he remained in a deep slumber, showing no signs of stirring.  

Had they really drugged him with sleeping pills, just like in her past life?

Wang Guixiang seemed startled that Lin Min had asked about her son. After a brief pause, she quickly replied, “Oh, Jingchuan? He’ll wake up soon.”