She had actually been reborn—returned to thirty years ago, to a time when nothing had happened yet, to her youthful and energetic years.

A distinct noise came from outside the house, and she looked up.  

Bai Huifen walked in carrying a bowl of egg soup. Seeing her daughter sitting at the table, she asked, “Sanya, you’re awake? Look at you, scared sick by that damned Lin family.”  

At the mention of the Lin family, Zhao Xiaoyuan took a moment to react, her eyes flashing with a trace of complicated emotion before she quickly masked it.  

Looking at her mother, who appeared much younger but was dressed shabbily, she felt a twinge of impatience. “I’m better now, Mom. I want to rest alone for a while.”  

Seeing her still dazed and sluggish, Bai Huifen felt a flicker of pity—though, of course, it could never compare to what she felt for her two sons.  

“Then rest well tonight,” she said. “I made you egg soup. Eat it quickly before your sister-in-law sees.”  

“Got it. You can go now.”  

Annoyed by her daughter’s impatience, Bai Huifen set the egg soup down with a huff and left without a second glance, closing the door behind her.  

The room fell quiet. Zhao Xiaoyuan didn’t even glance at the shabby bowl of egg soup.  

Her body still felt weak and exhausted, so she lay back down on the bed, staring blankly at the crude ceiling as she carefully retraced the events.  

She had returned from 30 years in the future.  

In her past life, she had died before even reaching 50. Others said she’d been lucky, but only she knew the kind of life she’d really lived.  

In 1966, the Down to the Countryside Movement called for educated youth to go to rural areas and be re-educated by the poor and lower-middle peasants. Back then, she had volunteered to be sent to the Northeast.  

The farm work was grueling, the food poor, the living conditions worse. Her palms grew thick calluses, and she spent her days locked in petty rivalries with the other female educated youths in the educated youth station.  

In less than half a year, she’d had enough. She wrote to her mother, telling her to ask her aunt for help in getting her back to the city.  

But then, the Lin family had suddenly fallen from grace and been sent down.  

Left with no choice, she followed the example of other educated youths and married to improve her circumstances.  

Yet she couldn’t resign herself to marrying some country bumpkin, and none of the other educated youths came from good families either.  

Then, a new batch of educated youths arrived, and among them was Yuan Weide. His demeanor was exactly her type, and he was from Beijing, no less.  

She also found out that he lived in the military compound in the eastern part of the city—both his parents were soldiers.  

Luckily, she had always taken good care of herself, making her stand out as more delicate and pretty among the other female educated youths.  

She seized the chance to seduce Yuan Weide with a calculated scheme, and later, they married in the countryside.  

After marriage, she whispered in his ear, urging him to write to his family to get them both back to the city.  

But his family looked down on her. They even cut off Yuan Weijun, refusing to send money or ration coupons.  

Her own family was in no position to help, and the work points they earned weren’t enough. They suffered through a stretch of bitter hardship.  

In 1970, she became pregnant, and only then did Yuan Weide’s grandmother relent and allow them to return to the city.  

Once back in Beijing, she had expected the Yuan family to scorn and look down on her.  

But life remained hard. The Yuans seemed fated to clash with her—no matter how she tried to please them, they still despised her.  

Yuan Weide took her side, which only made the family colder toward them. Eventually, they kicked the three of them out of the military compound.  

Only Yuan Weide had a job, earning 25 yuan a month—just enough to rent a room in a crowded tenement.  

Her mother helped them find a 15-square-meter room for 3 yuan a month.  

But with her parents living nearby, they constantly came to extort money from her.  

Over time, Yuan Weide grew resentful, and their marriage deteriorated, filled with endless conflicts.  

Then, in 1980, the Lin family was rehabilitated. By then, nearly all of them had died—only Lin Yaowen remained, though no one knew if he was even alive after disappearing years ago.  

Of all the Lin family’s surviving relatives, the only one left was her mother.  

Her aunt’s sister-in-law was from a capitalist family and owned a large estate in Hangzhou, as well as the Lin family’s residence in Beijing—both of which were later handed over to the Zhao family.  

When private enterprise was encouraged, with goods being sold on every street corner and many diving into business ventures, she too felt the itch to try her luck.  

She stole the property deed for the Hangzhou estate from Bai Huifen, planning to sell it for startup capital.  

But when she visited the Ye family’s old mansion, she stumbled upon a hidden chamber—inside were several chests filled with gold and jewelry.  

With this fortune, she launched her business smoothly, and it grew bigger and bigger.  

But her greed later got her into serious trouble—she nearly faced imprisonment.  

At her wit’s end, she saw a familiar face on the news—one she had admired in her youth.  

She tried every possible means to meet him.  

Back then, someone of Ling Luochuan’s status wasn’t accessible to just anyone. But money opened doors.  

She bribed one of his associates to pass along a message: she was a relative of the Lin family.  

To her surprise, Ling Luochuan agreed to see her. After confirming her ties to the Lins, he helped resolve her crisis.  

Though he was already in his fifties, time had left little mark on him—he remained as handsome and imposing as ever.  

Meanwhile, years of hardship had worn her down, leaving her a far cry from the girl she’d been when they first met.  

Ling Luochuan spoke little. Once the matter of the Lin family was settled, he ignored her.  

An icy, almost lethal aura surrounded him. She might’ve imagined it, but for a fleeting moment, his eyes seemed to flicker with sorrow.  

Later, she realized she hadn’t been mistaken—he must have been thinking of Lin Yaoyu.  

With his intervention, her troubles vanished overnight. From then on, her business thrived under the unspoken protection his influence granted.  

She couldn’t resist reaching out to him a few more times, but he never saw her again.  

By the 1990s, her business had become nationally renowned. But as her success grew, her marriage crumbled.  

Then, she discovered her husband was having an affair—with Chen Yuling, a woman they’d known since their days in the countryside.  

A woman *older* than her.  

The betrayal was unbearable. Refusing to divorce out of sheer spite, she dragged out five years of bitter fights and resentment.  

Eventually, exhaustion set in. She had money now—why cling to misery?  

On an ordinary day, while walking down the street and planning to call Yuan Weide that evening to finally agree to the divorce—  

A truck barreled out of nowhere and sent her flying.  

As she lay dying, she saw Chen Yuling standing in a distant corner, smiling.  

Perhaps the heavens sensed her rage at such an unjust end—and gave her a second chance.  

This time, she *would not* let that vile, shameless woman win.  

Looking back now, her downfall had begun the moment she went to the countryside.  

Even if others called her “lucky,” her years of true wealth only came after seizing the Lin family’s assets.  

In this life, she *would not* go to the countryside. *Would not* marry Yuan Weide.  

She would use the Lin family’s fortune to climb higher—and marry a man of *real* power.