# Chapter 1: Past Life · Present Life
『Pre-reading reminder: This book is a compound novel, a compound novel!!! If you cannot handle the female lead admitting her mistake and turning back, please exit to the left!!!』
It was night.
The smell of disinfectant drifted through the room shrouded in darkness. Raindrops pattered against the window like the hand of the Grim Reaper, and the rumbling thunder sounded like the death knell struck by Yama, the King of Hell.
The middle-aged man lying on the hospital bed was unusually calm. His phone, resting beside his pillow, was in the middle of a call, and its faint glow illuminated his haggard face.
After a few sounds, the call connected.
Gu Qiu took a few shallow breaths, gathered himself, and did his best to keep his tone relaxed.
“Qin Zhiyi, I’m going to die.”
There was a brief silence on the other end, then a somewhat cool female voice came through.
“Don’t divorce me!”
Hearing that, Gu Qiu froze for a moment, then let out a soft laugh.
He was already like this, and this woman actually thought he was pressuring her into a divorce!
After a pause, he continued to explain:
“Stomach cancer. I got checked and treated, but unfortunately, it still didn’t work.”
“I meant to hide it from you, but then I thought you’d have to handle my affairs after I’m gone. I was afraid you’d get so angry you’d even refuse to put up a grave for me, so I figured it would be better to tell you myself!”
After hearing this, Qin Zhiyi finally realized he didn’t seem to be joking, and her tone instantly became anxious.
“Where are you?”
Gu Qiu took a deep breath, clenched his teeth, and with great difficulty rolled over to lie on his side facing the phone.
“A-Long will tell you.”
“Don’t worry too much. I saw online that late-stage cancer causes coughing up blood, swelling, and all that. I’m fine, not in that much pain. But this damn illness really tortures people. I haven’t slept a single decent night in over a week…”
He kept rambling, but his speech gradually slowed, and his voice grew softer and softer.
At the same time, on a certain street covered by the rain curtain, a white Mercedes with its hazard lights on was parked by the roadside.
In the driver’s seat, a woman in a dark blue women’s suit gripped her phone tightly.
Mist welled up in her eyes beneath her willow-leaf brows, and her body would not stop trembling, making even her voice shake.
“Send me your location!”
“Tell me where you are!”
“I’m begging you!”
The faint voice on the phone continued.
“Qin Zhiyi, take good care of yourself. Eat breakfast on time. Wait for the green light on the rice cooker before pressing start. Don’t buy a lot of groceries at once and stuff them into the fridge. Try to eat fresh food…”
“Do you remember when we got married? You promised you’d build our little home with me and be a considerate, clingy little wife. And yet… Qin Zhiyi, you broke your promise!”
“Qin Zhiyi, I’m a little cold.”
“If there’s a next life, I…”
Gu Qiu’s faint, mosquito-like voice broke off intermittently, and soon there was nothing more.
The tears that had been spinning in Qin Zhiyi’s eyes finally burst forth at that moment. She was blank and helpless, shaking her head over and over.
“Gu Qiu, Gu Qiu, don’t scare me!”
“Gu Qiu!”
But no matter how she called out, there was no response from the other side.
Suddenly, Qin Zhiyi extracted the key word “A-Long” from Gu Qiu’s earlier words. But at this moment, she didn’t dare hang up Gu Qiu’s call. Turning her thoughts, she hurriedly restarted the car and made a sharp U-turn at the intersection.
But before she could accelerate, a large truck suddenly rushed out from the side road.
“Bang!”
The two vehicles collided violently. The Mercedes’ front end twisted instantly, rolled twice, and then clouds of white smoke began rising from it.
Just then…
“Rumble!”
A bolt of lightning tore through the night sky, splitting the heavens into two, surging downward. Where the two halves met, electric light burst outward in all directions, like a blooming flower of lightning, and also like a mysterious passage running through time and space.
…
Yuncheng, Yunmeng Middle School.
It was March, and spring was in full bloom.
In a spacious office for eight people, a young man napping face-down at the desk in the innermost corner suddenly woke up.
“Huff, huff!”
Gu Qiu was panting heavily, sweat beading all over his forehead.
He sat up straight and looked around. Only after seeing the bright light outside the window did the gloom in his heart gradually disperse.
This scene happened to be seen by a middle-aged teacher who was getting water at the dispenser behind him.
Chen Qian set his thermos aside, then used a disposable cup to pour half a cup of warm water and handed it to Gu Qiu.
“Has something happened lately?”
“I’ve seen you like this several times already!”
“Thanks, Brother Chen!”
Gu Qiu took the cup with both hands, gave an honest-looking smile, and made up an excuse:
“It’s nothing. I just haven’t been sleeping well at night.”
Chen Qian naturally didn’t believe him, but he also didn’t pry further. Picking up his thermos, he walked back to his seat and casually said:
“It’s only the start of the semester. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Go to bed earlier at night. If it really doesn’t work, take a couple of days off to rest!”
“Okay.”
Gu Qiu replied politely, took a small sip of water, and looked back out the window.
Before he knew it, he had already been Reincarnated for half a month!
He never imagined that such an absurd thing would happen to him. At first, he even suspected that the so-called memories of his past life were hallucinations caused by overexertion.
But during this period, every day he dreamed of the scene of his phone call with Qin Zhiyi before his death. Combined with the terrifying realism of being tormented by cancer even in a dream, it felt as if something had been constantly reminding him.
He really had been Reincarnated, and returned to ten years ago!
Just as he was dazed, his phone on the desk suddenly rang with a message notification.
Gu Qiu picked up the phone to check.
The lock screen showed a message from a WeChat official account, but after unlocking it, what appeared was a chat box, and the contact at the top was 『Qin Zhiyi』!
He stared for a moment before remembering that he had forgotten to return to the main interface after browsing at noon.
『Teacher A-Qiu, what are you doing?』
『Qiuqiu, why haven’t you replied to me for so long!』
『Reply to me, reply to me!』
『If you still ignore me, you bad man, I’m going to throw a fit!』
『…』
Looking at the chat history, with the time still stuck at yesterday and all the messages sent one-sidedly by Qin Zhiyi, Gu Qiu felt somewhat sentimental.
In truth, the story between him and Qin Zhiyi was not complicated.
In his previous life, the two met through a game, gradually developed an online romance, then met in person, lived together, and got married.
Everyone, including Gu Qiu himself, believed they would be happy forever. But reality was never so kind.
Qin Zhiyi was born into a family that favored sons over daughters. She grew up enduring all kinds of injustice, and after receiving a modern education, she had long since stood in opposition to that feudal, rotten thinking. After becoming an adult, she began fighting back and often clashed with her family.
She did not follow her parents’ wishes and marry a rich second-generation heir. Instead, she married Gu Qiu, pushing the conflict to its peak.
In the end, both sides fell out completely and never spoke again. This also made Qin Zhiyi determined to prove herself and fight for dignity, to make her parents regret it.
At first, Gu Qiu strongly supported her decision.
He helped her come up with plans and worked hard alongside her.
But after some time, he realized that Qin Zhiyi had become obsessed!
As a biopharmaceutical researcher, she relied on her ability and effort to achieve ever-rising accomplishments and reputation, but the time she gave Gu Qiu and the family became less and less, which led them to start arguing and going cold on each other…
As for why their relationship completely broke down, it had to do with Gu Qiu falling ill with cancer.
He could no longer remember how complicated he felt that day when he brought the test results home from the hospital and sat alone on the sofa, lost in hopeless thoughts…
He only remembered that when he called to tell Qin Zhiyi the news, before he could even speak, she replied that there was a problem with her project, an emergency meeting had been called, and he did not need to wait for her for dinner.
That night, Gu Qiu asked Qin Zhiyi for a divorce, while also hiding the fact that he had cancer.
But what was truly baffling was that Qin Zhiyi did not agree to the divorce, and during the six months afterward, while he was barely hanging on to life, no matter what he said, she rejected or brushed him off with all kinds of excuses. In the end, even until his death, he still could not cut the red thread between the two of them…
“Sigh!”
As old memories surfaced, Gu Qiu let out a sigh.
He glanced at the chat log again and thought:
“If Qin Zhiyi could keep acting like this, would the ending be different?”
After a moment, Gu Qiu came back to his senses.
He swiped left on the screen to return to the WeChat main interface and noticed the official account that had just sent the message… 『Autumn Leaf Love Talk』.
He pressed his lips together and thought for a moment before remembering what this official account was for.
According to the plot development of his previous life, he and Qin Zhiyi should currently be in that stage beyond friends but not yet lovers, an ambiguous relationship. But he had already fallen for her and wanted to break through that layer between them. Unfortunately, with his social anxiety and low emotional intelligence, he had nowhere to begin.
By chance, he learned of the existence of romance and relationship-related official accounts, so he followed some of them to study.
At this moment, recalling how he had curled up under the blanket late at night and gotten brainwashed by relationship pep talks, Gu Qiu smiled helplessly.
Then, he casually slid across the official account, planning to unfollow it, but unexpectedly clicked into it.
Just as he was about to leave, his attention was drawn to the enlarged red text.
『If you could return to the past and face that person again, the one you know perfectly well has no possibility at all, and choose once more, would you choose to be lovers this time, or friends?』