Chapter 1: Returning to the Moment She Lost Her Innocence

“Slah…” The sound of tearing fabric accompanied the man’s clear, sharp voice piercing into her ears. “Ranran~ give me…”

Ye Siran was so shocked by the scene before her that she nearly had a nosebleed. The man’s eyes were bloodshot, his pupils burning with an overwhelming lust.

Her neck slightly arched, her body tensed to the limit, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead, even her breath radiating scorching heat.

But this man had just infuriated her. No one would feel any ripple of desire for a man who had made them so angry.

She angrily reached out to push him away, but the man was much faster, twisting her arms above her head.

He gently coaxed her, “Be good, don’t move. Isn’t this what you wanted?”

His words triggered the resentment Ye Siran had been forced to suppress for over twenty years. Her nose burned, and tears fell unexpectedly.

“Stop crying… tomorrow we’ll get married~” The man lowered his voice, gravelly like sandpaper against paper, with a hint of hoarseness.

Married?

Ye Siran stared at the man’s blood-red eyes. One hand held her wrists, the other tearing at her clothes.

His handsome face was just inches away—thin lips, sharp brows, a jawline like a cutting blade—he was in the prime of his twenties.

Her pupils widened, fists clenched tightly, nails digging painfully into her palms.

The pain nearly made her cry out: Had she been reborn?

In this second chance at life, she would never allow this to happen again. Since this man liked her stepsister, she had to stay far away from him.

On this same day in her previous life, she had woken too late. She had been awakened by pain, and it had been too late to stop it!

Besides, she had loved this childhood fiancé since she was young, so she had obediently gone along without struggling or explaining at the time.

She had accepted it wholeheartedly, even when the man publicly announced at the engagement party that he wanted to break the engagement and marry her stepsister instead.

Because of what happened, many aunts in the compound had seen it, forcing them to hastily hold the wedding.

She became the villain who had torn lovers apart, while her stepsister—the true instigator—became the unattainable white moonlight of the man’s heart.

After marriage, her husband unconditionally favored her stepsister and her mother, leaving her to pretend not to mind out of guilt. Her tolerance only emboldened her stepsister.

During that endless cycle of heartache, she had often asked herself: if heaven granted her a second chance, would she still willingly act as a doormat?

The answer was yes. No matter the heartbreak or pain, divorce had never crossed her mind.

Yet the cruelest blow wasn’t her husband’s favoritism toward her stepsister—it was her own mother’s betrayal.

Perhaps even heaven couldn’t bear to watch, for it had truly given her a second chance.

In Ye Siran’s deep amber eyes, emotions swirled before settling into a cold, dead silence.

She shouted, “He Hongwen, get away from me! Don’t do something you’ll regret!”

“Ranran, why would I regret it?” The man asked, confused, brow tightly furrowed.

“If you like my sister and want to marry her, then you shouldn’t have come to provoke me! I hate you!”

Perhaps it was her hatred, or perhaps the man was stunned by her expression, but she suddenly pushed him over, sending him crashing to the ground.

“…”

He Hongwen, now on the floor, was utterly bewildered. His body felt as if thousands of ants were biting him, nearly driving him insane.

The fall sobered him considerably. He stared at his fiancée, the one he had been betrothed to since childhood.

As a child, he had proudly declared he would marry her, joyfully calling her his wife.

But as he grew older and understood what being a “wife” truly meant, he had begun to distance himself from her.

He couldn’t accept that, unlike other classmates who were free, he was bound by a marriage pledge due to his father’s life-saving act.

Knowing he couldn’t oppose his father, he had used the engagement party to vent his frustration by claiming he would marry Ye Ruyue instead.

Ye Ruyue was bolder than Ye Siran, but he had never liked her enough to actually consider breaking off the engagement.

While the man was dazed, Ye Siran quickly tied together the torn corners of her clothes.

She then slipped on her shoes and, without hesitation, stomped on his chest with one foot, pressing down heavily.

Having lived a previous life, she knew the man had been drugged. Arguing with someone in that state was pointless.

The wisest choice now was to stay away, preventing the events of her previous life from repeating. Other grievances could wait.

Before leaving, she stomped once more on his chest, venting some anger.

Even though she had been drugged and felt weak, the joy of rebirth surged through every cell of her body.

She ran to the door, but it was locked.

Quickly, she went to the window. Fortunately, the windows of this era had no security bars.

Her stepfather, a rural student who had passed the entrance exam for a Beijing university, had married her mother. The Ye family helped him secure a decent government job.

Her mother, a martyr’s widow with the Ye family’s backing, lived in a single-story courtyard rather than a communal building.

Ye Siran nimbly opened the window and jumped outside, peeking out to glare at the sweating man below.

She took the initiative to remind him of his actions in their past life, altering her words slightly for emphasis:

“He Hongwen, you said you’d break the engagement to marry my sister, and now you drug me. Are all the women in the world dead? I never thought you could be so shameless!”

“…”

He Hongwen, burning with the drug’s effects, could barely speak.

Her aggressive stomping brought him partial clarity. He bit his lip, struggling to control the rising desire within him.

He watched her lips move furiously, her clear eyes blazing with anger and hatred.

“Hmph! You and my sister locked the door from the outside to trap me, just for my Worker-Peasant-Soldier university admission?

She wanted pretty clothes, I let her have them. Grandpa He offered a textile factory job, I let it go. She wanted you, I let it go.

But for a university admission, you would go so far as to harm me? Are you even human?”

In her previous life, Ye Siran would never have thought of this. Only through rebirth could she speak with such piercing clarity.

“…”

So it had been Ye Ruyue, after all, who wanted her university admission, drugging them and locking them together.

The girl who claimed to love him, who had wanted to marry him, had schemed for a university admission!

What puzzled him even more was that, at every prior moment, Ye Siran’s eyes had always been full of love and obsession for him.

But now?

Her gaze was like shards of ice, her words mercilessly piercing his vulnerable heart.

Her clear eyes seemed worn by hardship, as if someone had snuffed out all light within them, leaving only endless exhaustion and sorrow.

After speaking, she slammed the window shut and walked away, no longer caring for his fate.