Chapter 1

So cold. Why is it so cold?

The bone-piercing chill stabbed into Yu Shiying’s skin like countless fine needles.

She clearly remembered being injured by an explosion on set — it should have been burning pain, not freezing cold.

Curled up tightly, her teeth chattered uncontrollably.

Could this be the underworld already?

No, that couldn’t be right.

She could still hear her heartbeat.

“Cold…”

Yu Shiying trembled, forcing her purple lips to squeeze out the word.

She struggled to open her eyes. In front of her was a bare rock wall. Damp earth filled her nose, and in the distance came the sound of dripping water.

A cave?

She could barely see — only faint light leaked in from the entrance.

As her mind cleared, fragments of memory flashed past like scenes from a film.

On set, she’d been filming a Republican-era shootout scene, running as planned, when a deafening blast went off. Her ears rang as though deafened; firelight flared before her eyes.

Then came searing pain across her skin — she was burning. Was her face burned?!

As a struggling actress scraping by for ten years at the very bottom of the industry, she depended on that face to survive.

She vaguely heard her assistant Xiao Han crying, “Sister Ying! Sister Ying! It’s okay, the ambulance is coming!”

Damn you, Liu Dachui — drinking last night made your hands shake, didn’t it? You set off the charge too early! When I wake up, I’ll make you pay for this.

But Yu Shiying’s consciousness faded.

And now — this biting cold.

A flood of unfamiliar memories surged into her head, belonging to another girl named Yu Shiying — only eighteen years old.

I… traveled through time?

Yu Shiying’s mind buzzed in disbelief.

She, a 28-year-old has-been actress, had gone back to 1990!

Even crazier, she’d become an eighteen-year-old girl — also named Yu Shiying.

Ten years younger. Heaven was being generous to her.

As the memories merged, the original girl’s life poured into her mind.

An orphanage. A filthy little waif, until Yu Jin pointed at her and said he wanted her as his sister.

At age five, “Er Ya” finally got her own name — Yu Shiying — and followed Yu Jin from Huizhou to live in Hangcheng.

When she was little, any problem she had, her brother solved. Any danger, he stood in front of her.

When the compound kids mocked her as trash someone had picked up, ten-year-old Yu Jin dragged her door-to-door to tell every neighbor she was his sister.

In primary school, when her grades were bad, Yu Jin patiently tutored her over and over.

In junior high, when thugs harassed her by the school gate, Yu Jin beat them so badly he risked punishment.

How could a girl not love such a brother?

But she dared only to hide the feeling deep inside, secretly writing it into her diary.

While Yu Shiying studied at a local technical school in Hangcheng, Yu Jin went off to university in Jingbei.

Her roommate Hu Shudan stole her diary, mocked her as a pitiful creep with dirty thoughts for her own brother — and worse, Hu Shudan’s cousin Liang Yin was Yu Jin’s girlfriend, both studying at Jingbei Medical University.

Yu Shiying begged Hu Shudan not to tell Liang Yin.

She feared Liang Yin would know, but even more that Yu Jin would know — feared her foster parents would see her as filthy and cast her out.

Hu Shudan agreed to keep quiet — in exchange for making Yu Shiying her servant, washing clothes, buying snacks.

This time, several classmates went on an outing to Sanping Village outside Hangcheng, riding bikes at dawn to climb the hills.

Hu Shudan made Yu Shiying carry her bag, then wipe her sweat — all of which she endured.

But halfway up, several girls were exhausted, and the boys — clumsy and overly cautious about propriety — didn’t offer help.

Hu Shudan, tired of walking, even demanded Yu Shiying carry her on her back.

One boy, disgusted, spoke up, saying Hu Shudan went too far bullying Yu Shiying, who was just a gentle, fragile girl.

Hu Shudan sneered that he was being fooled by appearances — Yu Shiying’s heart was filthy.

Unable to bear it, Yu Shiying ran into the woods crying.

Lost and inexperienced, she tried to retrace her steps but couldn’t.

A sudden downpour drenched her.

Alone, frightened and despairing, she cried for her brother — but Yu Jin couldn’t hear her heart.

Wandering from morning till night with no way out, she finally found a cave to shelter from the rain… and died of hypothermia.

So I’m living in her place now?

Yu Shiying gave a bitter smile, emotions churning.

She remembered the diary entries full of innocent longing for her brother, the helplessness when Hu Shudan discovered them.

Foolish girl…

Yu Shiying sighed softly, an ache rising in her chest.

As a foster daughter, she was insecure; her tender feelings for her ever-protective brother confused her — was it admiration, or love?

All this made the original Yu Shiying sensitive and fragile.

Hu Shudan’s goading drove her into the forest — and to her death.

Good grief. So young, what kind of man can’t you find? Why get yourself tangled in fake forbidden love?

Either way, first she had to get out of here.

Struggling upright, Yu Shiying looked around.

The cave was small, the walls damp, the air filled with the smell of earth and grass.

Outside, rain still fell, pattering softly in the silence.

“Did it rain all night?”

Yu Shiying took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm.

Her legs were numb from curling up so long. She rummaged through the backpack — a few biscuits, some sponge cakes. She ate a bit, washed it down with mineral water.

Bracing herself against the wall, she stepped slowly toward the entrance.

Outside, the sky was gray, shrouded in mist.

In the valley, trees swayed in the wind and rain, rustling ominously.

“No sense of direction at all.”

Yu Shiying steadied herself. Though the rain had eased, she needed to get moving fast — after such a long downpour, flash floods or landslides were a real danger.

She followed the mountain path downhill. Rain soaked her clothes, cold seeping into her bones.

Shivering violently, she dared not stop.

It was still early spring in Hangcheng, with the damp chill of a southern cold snap.

Jiangnan cold really bites, she thought. Back when she worked as an extra in Hengdian, this wet chill was what she hated most.

Now she had traveled to the ’90s — and the mountain air of Hangcheng was even colder.

Keep moving. No matter how big this place is, I’ll walk out of it. Sitting and waiting to die isn’t my style.