2019, Shenjing Hospital, Shenyang, Liaoning Province.
Beep—beep—beep—
The rhythmic sound of the heart monitor echoed through the ward.
A half-drawn curtain obscured the figure on the bed, leaving only a pair of thin, bony ankles visible.
“Dad, I’m the beneficiary of Mom’s insurance, but I’m willing to give you half. Don’t you want to travel the world with Auntie Rou? That should give you enough capital. But you’re not allowed to touch Mom’s savings!”
A sharp female voice rang out in the ward. It wasn’t loud, but it was chilling.
“Once you marry Xudong, we’ll still be one family. Why be so calculative? The insurance is only a bit over ten million. Half of that is only five or six million. What can you do with that? It’s not even enough to buy a few bags for your Auntie Rou.”
The man’s voice was deliberately lowered, clearly trying to avoid being overheard.
“That’s still a no. Doesn’t Auntie Rou have money? She’s a university professor; why does she need you to buy her bags? I don’t care. All of Mom’s money is mine. I want to buy a villa with Xudong and move out; I’m not staying cramped up with you two.”
“Besides, there’s not much left from Mom’s medical expenses anyway. But isn’t there still the clothing factory? You can have the factory. The cash, her real estate, and her jewelry all go to me.”
“Fine, fine. However…” The man seemed to make a massive concession. “You’re the one who has to do it this time.”
“Why?” Zhao Chao looked at him warily. Although the man before her was her father, she felt little affection for him.
Similarly, her father felt little for her. The two of them were merely driven by mutual interest, maintaining a facade of peace.
The middle-aged man didn’t answer. He simply gave her a cold, meaningful look.
On the bed, the patient’s eyelashes fluttered as she struggled to lift her heavy eyelids.
Listening to the conversation between the father and daughter at the foot of her bed, the last spark of light in Gu Wanxing’s heart slowly flickered out.
“Dad, should I do it now? There’s no one around. We can just say she knocked it off herself.”
As if having made a monumental decision, the girl finally walked toward the head of the bed, step by step.
Meeting Gu Wanxing’s open eyes, Zhao Chao visibly froze for a moment, a flash of guilt flitting through her gaze.
But soon, her expression was replaced by a strange, cold resolve.
“Mom. You have terminal cancer. It’s better if you leave the money to me. Didn’t you say you loved me the most? If you leave the money to me, I can live the life I want. So you…” Should just die.
Zhao Chao finished the sentence silently in her mind.
Then, she reached out her fair, slender hand and placed it on the oxygen mask.
Gu Wanxing’s eyes were bloodshot. She thought she had been hurt enough by this father and daughter to be numb, but at this moment, she still couldn’t control the urge to scream a question: Why?
This was her biological daughter. A daughter she had raised with meticulous care, fearing she would break if held too tightly or melt if kept too close. A daughter she had nurtured personally, never letting her lack for anything.
Why had it come to this? For the sake of insurance money and some savings, she was actually going to kill her.
She was unwilling…
But she didn’t even have the strength to struggle.
This father and daughter had stopped her medication long ago. Whenever the nurses gave her an IV, they would pull it out when no one was looking; when they brought her medicine, they wouldn’t let her take it.
Consequently, her body was already withered and skeletal. Even her voice when she tried to speak was miniscule.
“Mon…ster…”
Gu Wanxing used every ounce of strength she possessed to roar in fury.
Though she intended it as a roar, it was actually little more than a mosquito’s hum.
Zhao Chao let out a cold sneer. “Mom, it’ll be over quickly. I’m helping you. Otherwise, the disease will just torture you more. I really love you. I hope that in our next life, I can be your daughter again.”
Gu Wanxing looked into her daughter’s eyes, which were filled with a complex range of emotions. Before she could even process it, her brain fell into chaos due to the lack of oxygen.
Soon, a sense of suffocation swept over her. She gasped for air, making a futile struggle.
If… if there was a next life, she would absolutely never let this pair of monsters have a good day ever again.
Before she completely lost consciousness, memories of her life with Zhao Chengyan flashed through her mind like a slideshow.
It was laughable, really. Between her and Zhao Chengyan, she had been the one to pursue him.
That sunny young man who always wore military green trousers and a white shirt, who showed two tiger teeth when he smiled, and who had been bitten several times while chasing away stray dogs for her—he had been fatally attractive to her.
Finally, the day she graduated from vocational school, she had mustered the courage to confess to Zhao Chengyan.
Miraculously, Zhao Chengyan had actually agreed.
And so, though their relationship wasn’t some grand romance, they began a relationship that felt warm and sweet every day.
To escape her original family, she had told him, “Let’s get married.”
And he really did marry her.
She thought he cherished her. Even if there wasn’t love, she believed they would become each other’s support over time. Yet, her life had ended up like this.
Looking back now, the time he agreed to date her was exactly when Gu Yuerou got engaged.
The time he agreed to marry her was exactly when Gu Yuerou got married. It turned out there were signs all along, but she had been too blind to see them.
That wasn’t quite right. She had known there was someone else in his heart; she just hadn’t known that person was her neighbor, Gu Yuerou.
Fool. What a fool. So stupid that I lost my life.
“Gu Wanxing, if it weren’t for the fact that you can make money, I would have divorced you long ago.”
“Gu Wanxing, you’re actually just a substitute for Yuerou. If Yuerou were available, I never would have married you.”
“Gu Wanxing, you really are pathetic. How could you ever compare to Yuerou? Yuerou is a university professor, while you’re just a calculating merchant reeking of filthy lucre. Calling you a ‘boss’ is just a nice way of saying you’re a lowly vocational grad who barely knows her ABCs.”
“Mom, I want to marry Xudong! Mom, look at Auntie Rou—she’s so refined and reasonable. All you ever do is criticize me.”
“Mom, just die. Mom, I’ll be your daughter again in the next life, and your money will all be mine…”
…
Gu Wanxing felt like her head was going to explode. Hadn’t she already died? Why was it still so noisy?
She frowned and raised her hand, wanting to cover her ears, but a tender and familiar child’s voice sounded beside her:
“Waaa… It’s so cold. Mommy is bad!”
“So noisy—”
Gu Wanxing sat up, unable to bear it any longer. She breathed heavily, looking toward the source of the noise.
When she saw that small figure, her pupils shrank.
What was going on? Why was this the young Zhao Chao?
Gu Wanxing scanned her surroundings and realized this was the old house she had lived in during the first few years of her marriage.
The little girl by the bed was crying her heart out, her small face an abnormal shade of red. It looked like she had a fever.
Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a memory surged into her mind, overlapping with the current scene.
It was when Zhao Chao was three years old. She had been taken out by Zhao Chengyan’s mother and somehow fell into the water.
Gu Wanxing was a good swimmer and had jumped in to save the child without a second thought. She had held the girl up while swimming toward the shore. In her panic—or perhaps she was just too scared—Zhao Chao had kicked downward, stepping on Gu Wanxing’s nose and mouth, pushing her under.
If it hadn’t been for a soldier who happened to be nearby and pulled her out, she probably would have been held under and drowned…
Thinking of the possibility, Gu Wanxing’s heart pounded wildly. Could it be that she had been reborn?