Chapter 1

“Chi Yiyi, you can go ahead and die in peace. Zhou Zixiao left early this morning to take my beloved dog to the vet. He’s probably saying goodbye to my dog right now — he doesn’t have time to say goodbye to you!”

“Chi Yiyi, did you know? The first time your son was so sick he had to be hospitalized, I wasn’t actually ill at all. I had someone fake a medical report so Zixiao would pity me. While you were running yourself ragged in the hospital watching over your little boy, Zixiao was by my side the entire time.”

“And that little dog Zixiao and I raised together? I trained it so well. It was that dog who knocked your son into the water. Zixiao chose — instinctively — to save the dog first. To him, the only son you gave him wasn’t even as important as a dog I raised.”

“Chi Yiyi, aside from successfully marrying Zhou Zixiao, is there anything else in your life you’ve actually won against me? Fighting with me for a lifetime — what’s the point? If I were you, I’d just die.”

Ha. Ha. Ha.

After finishing her venomous rant, Chi Bilian stood at the foot of the hospital bed and laughed wildly, unrestrained and triumphant.

This was exactly what Chi Bilian wanted — to anger Chi Yiyi to death. That stubborn woman never knew what was good for her, always clinging to the idea of fighting her.

As long as Chi Yiyi was alive, Chi Bilian could never openly be with Zhou Zixiao.

When Chi Yiyi had lost her son all those years ago, she’d personally killed the first dog Chi Bilian ever raised. Since then, Chi Bilian raised countless dogs, always waiting for this day — to use Zhou Zixiao and another dog to finally drive Chi Yiyi to her grave.

In her mind, Chi Yiyi was nothing but a fool.

If she really had Zhou Zixiao’s heart, why would Chi Bilian need so many dogs just to torment her? The truth was, she hated that Zhou Zixiao would never divorce Chi Yiyi. So today, she was determined to anger her to death.

Lying weakly on her hospital bed, her body ravaged by illness, Chi Yiyi felt… oddly calm. Maybe she really was dying. But instead of hatred, her heart felt peaceful for the first time in years.

She was tired. So very tired. Too tired to hate anymore.

And strangely, she was happy. She thought she had finally let go.

She had no more strength left to hate Zhou Zixiao, the man who let their son die, or Chi Bilian, the woman who spent her life clawing for a place at her side.

She had spent 25 years fighting them. She was done. She was ready to go and finally say goodbye — and sorry — to her son.

If fate allowed, perhaps they could be mother and son again in another life.

And if that happened, she swore she’d never choose someone like Zhou Zixiao to be his father.

The two people she failed most in this life were her son — and herself, for spending her youth buried in hatred.

If she could do it all over again, she would never, ever marry Zhou Zixiao.

As Chi Bilian stripped away her mask and cackled hysterically by the bedside, Chi Yiyi slowly closed her eyes.

It was just as well Zhou Zixiao didn’t come to say goodbye — he wasn’t worthy of walking her and her son to the next life.

…

But when she opened her eyes again, Chi Yiyi was stunned.

Everything in sight was bathed in red — the color of wedding decorations.

She had been reborn. She was back on the day of her wedding to Zhou Zixiao.

That day, the Zhou family’s wedding procession had arrived late, and it was Zhou Zixiao’s older brother and sister-in-law who came to fetch her.

Only later did Chi Yiyi find out the reason Zhou Zixiao didn’t come to pick her up personally — he was at the hospital taking care of Chi Bilian.

Chi Bilian had pretended to be hit by a bicycle and faked unconsciousness, so Zhou Zixiao rushed her to the hospital.

Zhou’s father was the deputy director of a textile factory, and as his son, Zhou Zixiao was considered a highly eligible bachelor. Chi Bilian had always secretly set her sights on him.

Back then, many women dreamed of marrying Zhou Zixiao.

That’s why in her past life, Chi Yiyi endured every humiliation just to marry him.

But in this life, she didn’t want him anymore — not this central-heating, lukewarm, indecisive man.

Suddenly filled with clarity, Chi Yiyi turned around and walked back into the house — straight to Chi Bilian’s room to search for the jade pendant…

It was like a gift from her rebirth—Chi Yiyi somehow just knew that Chi Bilian had a heart-shaped jade pendant capable of unlocking a hidden space.

She opened the jewelry box on Chi Bilian’s vanity, and sure enough, inside lay a heart-shaped jade pendant.

Chi Yiyi couldn’t understand how a morally rotten homewrecker like Chi Bilian could possess such a treasure.

She remembered that in her previous life, Chi Bilian didn’t inexplicably become successful until five years later—which meant that at this point in time, Chi Bilian likely didn’t know the secret of the jade pendant yet.

Chi Yiyi recalled from the online novels she’d read before that the usual method to activate a space within a jade pendant was a drop of blood.

She was just about to try it when she suddenly heard her stepmother Lin Ru’s footsteps outside.

“Yiyi, hurry up and come out! The Zhou family’s wedding party is here!”

Chi Yiyi quickly tucked the pendant away and stepped out of the room.

Lin Ru was Chi Bilian’s biological mother, so naturally, she wanted her own daughter to marry Zhou Zixiao. But Chi Yiyi had clung tightly to Zhou Zixiao and refused to let go. Plus, Chi Daqiang (Yiyi’s father) had warned Lin Ru in private not to interfere, so she had never succeeded in sabotaging the marriage.

Chi Daqiang was a workshop supervisor at the textile factory. For him, it didn’t matter which daughter married into the Zhou family—but since Chi Yiyi and Zhou Zixiao had grown up as childhood sweethearts, he still had some conscience when it came to her.

Chi Yiyi had been able to attend school, graduate from a vocational college, and now even had a formal job at the textile factory—all largely thanks to Zhou Zixiao’s influence.

“Yiyi, what’s wrong? Today’s your big wedding day with Zixiao. Why do you look so unhappy?”

Lin Ru deliberately raised her voice, making sure Chi Daqiang could hear her.

Sure enough, Chi Daqiang quickly stepped inside and scolded her.

“Yiyi, don’t be ungrateful! Today, Zixiao’s older brother and sister-in-law have come to fetch you personally. You’d better behave yourself in front of them.”

In her previous life, Chi Yiyi would’ve instantly acted like the obedient daughter to avoid letting Lin Ru’s little schemes succeed.

But this time, she had no intention of marrying Zhou Zixiao.

Chi Yiyi’s eyes spun with a quick idea. Maybe she could shift the blame for the broken engagement onto Lin Ru.

“Dad,” Chi Yiyi said, “today’s the day I’m marrying Zhou Zixiao. Why isn’t he the one coming to pick me up?”

Chi Daqiang frowned, clearly annoyed.

“You and Zixiao have been childhood sweethearts for years—why are you suddenly hung up on this little detail?”

Lin Ru hadn’t expected Chi Yiyi to be so stubborn today. Overjoyed, she jumped in to add fuel to the fire.

“Daqiang, don’t say that. A wedding is the most important day in a woman’s life. It really is improper for Zixiao not to pick up his own bride.”

“Shut your mouth!”

Chi Daqiang snapped, his face turning dark.

Even though he’d been infatuated with Lin Ru for years, when it came to major matters, he still had some sense of right and wrong.

Chi Yiyi added calmly, “Dad, I think Aunt Lin is absolutely right.”

Lin Ru could tell—Chi Yiyi had clearly lost her mind today.

She was ecstatic.

She had fought against this little brat in the house for so many years, and now the girl had finally lost her wits!

SLAP!

Chi Daqiang suddenly turned around and slapped Lin Ru across the face.

A burning pain spread instantly across Lin Ru’s cheek. She clutched her face and looked up in shock.

“Chi Daqiang, you—!”

But Chi Daqiang’s sharp gaze had already turned back to Chi Yiyi, threatening her coldly:

“Chi Yiyi, if you dare throw a tantrum today and offend the Zhou family, then don’t blame me. If you lose the chance to be the Zhou family’s daughter-in-law, the Chi family won’t keep you either!”

Chi Yiyi knew her father was someone who meant what he said.

But truth be told, the Chi family had never really been a safe haven for her.

And now she had truly figured it out.

If she ended up causing a scandal and getting kicked out, she could just go down to the countryside.

She’d been given a second chance at life—and there was no way she was going to keep putting up with these cold-blooded people.