“Wife… surely this wretched girl hasn’t up and died on us?”
“Pah, pah, pah! Such ill‑omened talk! Died, indeed? If she’s dead, who’s going to marry that country fellow in place of our Meili?”
“Mother, I tell you — I won’t marry some dirt‑poor peasant! Even if she’s dead, the Gu family’s engagement still falls to her…”
Upon the earthen floor lay a girl, gaunt and sallow, thin as a scrap of paper. Slowly… her eyes fluttered open.
Lu Qiqi stared at the strange room around her — and froze in shock.
Am I dead… or not?
In her former life, she had been a single, devoted doctor. A catastrophic multi‑vehicle pile‑up had flooded the hospital with the dying and the gravely wounded. She had operated non‑stop for three days and three nights — until her heart simply gave out.
Before she died, she had signed an organ‑donor pledge. And so, when her life ended, her spirit did not dissolve. She watched herself wheeled into surgery, watched her colleagues remove one organ after another — each sent to save a life somewhere else. Her remains were borne to the crematorium… reduced to ash… and scattered into the vast sea.
As her very last speck of ash drifted away, a force seized her soul and pulled her down to the Underworld.
And then… she was turned away.
The Underworld would not receive her. Her accumulated merit and good deeds were too great, they said — there was no suitable womb prepared for such a soul.
A flash of light… and an old man with flowing white hair and beard stood before her.
“My child — I ask you: were you granted a second life… what would you wish for?”
Lu Qiqi blinked, bewildered. “I… may make a wish?”
The elder stroked his beard instead of answering directly. “Speak. Let me hear it.”
Since he asked… Lu Qiqi decided to be bold.
“I want wealth, a fine home, plenty of free time… and a handsome man. Preferably the kind — tall, broad‑shouldered, with eight distinct abs, loyal, capable, utterly devoted — and a warm, lively household…”
The elder raised an eyebrow. *Warm and lively household?*
“So be it.”
The moment the word left his lips, consciousness slipped from her.
When she awoke — memories flooded into her mind, foreign yet vivid.
She had not been reborn into a new life. She had returned — reborn.
Into the 1970s. Into the body of a girl who shared her name: Lu Qiqi.
The original girl’s fate had been as bitter as her own — an orphan, just as she had been. Lu Qiqi had no kin but a younger brother, and the three people standing before her were her only living relatives: her uncle, her aunt, and her cousin.
The original Lu Qiqi had turned eighteen only recently. At ten, her father had died in an accident. Her mother, eight months pregnant with shock, had gone into premature labour and passed away — leaving her orphaned overnight.
She and her baby brother had been raised by their grandmother. But last year, the old woman too had fallen ill and died. On her deathbed, she had entrusted the two children to her son and daughter‑in‑law — Lu Qiqi’s uncle and aunt. The couple, eager to seize the family’s property, had sworn to care for the orphans as their own.
But no sooner had the grandmother been laid to rest than the couple’s true colours showed. They tricked the girl into agreeing to send her little brother, Lu Chuan, away — claiming he would have a better life elsewhere. The naive child had consented. And from that day on, she had been little more than a servant in their home — given the filthiest, hardest work, and often not fed even once a day.
Now that she was eighteen, her aunt Sun Kaifeng had been preparing to marry her off — until a letter arrived. It spoke of a betrothal arranged years ago by the girls’ late grandfather: one of his granddaughters was to wed a young man from the Gu family, in the countryside of Northeast China.
One granddaughter… of whom there were two. Nineteen‑year‑old Lu Meili — the aunt’s beloved daughter — and eighteen‑year‑old Lu Qiqi.
It was perfectly clear: the marriage had been meant for Lu Meili. But Lu Meili had no intention of marrying a country bumpkin. She had set her heart on Li Feng — son of a factory director, with a comfortable home, good prospects, and a position already secured for him. The Li family had even hinted the future bride would work as an office clerk, never to labour in the fields.
To the uncle and aunt, such an alliance was a dream come true. If Meili were sent to the countryside instead… they would lose everything. Yet the letter promised a generous bride price — and the engagement, once made, could not be broken.
And so they struck a bargain. Send Lu Qiqi in Meili’s place. She was a Lu, after all — the Gu family need never know.
Lu Meili refused to marry a farmer. Lu Qiqi, heartbroken and desperate at the betrayal… had taken her own life.
“Wretched girl — stop feigning death! Get up!” Sun Kaifeng kicked hard at the girl’s body.
Lu Qiqi, eyes sharp and alert, twisted aside — avoiding the blow entirely.
“Aunt… what are you doing? I’ve only just regained my strength. And I hear the young man from the Gu family is nearly here. Surely you don’t imagine they’ll accept a corpse in place of a bride? Unless… Aunt — perhaps *you* wish me to refuse? And let Cousin Meili go in my stead?”
“You wicked girl — what nonsense do you prattle?” Sun Kaifeng hissed. The Gu family had already arrived — and word must not reach them. Her precious Meili’s reputation must not suffer. She forced her voice into a honeyed, wheedling tone.
“Qiqi, dear… the Gu family isn’t at all bad, you know. And that young man, Gu Mufeng — tall, broad‑shouldered, sturdy as an oak…” Sun Kaifeng’s tone softened, a flicker of envy in her voice. In truth, were he not from the countryside, Meili could do far worse. And that face… those features… truly handsome. A pity her daughter could not see it.
*Youth… so blind to a fine man when one stands before her.*
“If he is so very wonderful, Aunt… why not let Lu Meili marry him?”
“Cough!” Sun Kaifeng cleared her throat awkwardly. Handsome faces, alas, do not put bread on the table. But she could not say such things aloud.
“Qiqi… Meili’s cousin, dear… surely you know we wish the very best for you first! This engagement was arranged by your own grandfather — his solemn promise. You would not have your grandfather remembered as a man who broke his word… would you?”
Lu Qiqi let out a short, cold laugh.
“Hah!”