In the dimly lit room, two intertwined shadows were cast against the snow-white wall.
“Lu Yuanshan… no, don’t… it hurts so much…”
The woman’s pleading voice was soft and fragile, yet carried a strangely seductive moan.
The springs beneath the thick Simmons mattress creaked rhythmically with the movement on the bed.
The man’s powerful body arched slightly, like a wild beast on the grasslands. His bronze skin was drenched in sweat, gleaming under the light with an oily sheen.
His low, magnetic voice carried a husky sensuality.
“Lili, be good. Cooperate with me. It’ll be over soon.”
“Lu Yuanshan, stop… please… I’m begging you…”
The woman’s pale hands wrapped tightly around the man’s strong neck before sliding across his muscular back, her sharp nails leaving red scratches across his bronze skin.
“Lili… I really want a child that belongs to us.”
“No… don’t… it hurts too much… ah—Lu Yuanshan, you bastard!”
…
“Lili, come live with me at the military base. Let me take care of you.”
…
“Lili, Lu Yuanshan already has another woman outside. He betrayed you. Why keep his child?”
…
Jiang Li was jolted awake by the two clashing voices in her nightmare.
Join the military family?
Cheating?
Weren’t those things all in the past already?
She had been dead for so long, yet she still couldn’t forget them.
Opening her eyes, she saw the familiar room around her — the color photograph of herself with her parents on the bedside table, and beside it, the black-and-white memorial portraits of her father and mother.
Only then did she realize—
She had been reborn.
Reborn to the time after her parents’ deaths, when she had just learned of her husband’s supposed affair and was about to abort the child in her womb.
In her previous life, her parents had been denounced and exiled. Before being sent away, they had hoped to entrust her to her childhood fiancé, a military officer they had arranged for her since childhood.
But the moment they contacted his family, the other side proposed canceling the engagement.
Unwilling to let their daughter suffer alongside them, her parents tried to find her another husband — preferably someone from a politically “clean” background who could protect her.
At that time, everyone avoided her family like the plague. What decent man would willingly marry the daughter of a capitalist family and risk being implicated?
Just as Jiang Li had resigned herself to accompanying her parents into exile, a deputy regiment commander named Lu Yuanshan happened to come to the capital to visit an injured comrade. Through a neighbor’s introduction, he was arranged on a blind date with her.
Lu Yuanshan was twenty-six, six years older than her. He was handsome and carried an air of maturity and steadiness.
His only flaw was that he had been wounded in battle and had lost the ability to have children.
Lu Yuanshan was very satisfied with her. Her parents also felt he seemed dependable. As long as Jiang Li didn’t mind his infertility, they agreed to the marriage.
At that point, Jiang Li had little room to be picky. Everything else about him seemed good, and she didn’t care whether he could father children or not.
Very quickly, they registered their marriage.
But only three days after the wedding, Lu Yuanshan received orders to return to the army.
Before leaving, he suggested taking her with him to the military base. However, Jiang Li felt they were incompatible in bed. Every time, he made her hurt so badly she could barely endure it. If life were going to be like that every day, she thought she would never survive it.
So she stayed behind alone in the city.
Only days after he left, she received news of her parents’ deaths.
On the verge of collapse, she called the military unit looking for her husband, only to learn he was away on a mission and unreachable.
At that moment, her aunt came to visit, showering her with concern and meticulous care. After comforting her and speaking heart-to-heart, her aunt carefully asked about the hidden treasure her family possessed.
Her aunt explained that with her parents dead, Jiang Li was now in danger. If the authorities discovered the family’s hidden wealth, she could also be implicated. It would be safer, she said, to move the treasure somewhere more secure.
With no parents left to rely on and no way to contact her husband, Jiang Li could only trust her aunt and revealed where the family treasure was hidden.
Unexpectedly, a few days later, her uncle also came asking about the treasure.
Feeling uneasy, Jiang Li thought perhaps her uncle could keep her aunt in check, so she told him as well.
Later, the two of them came together, saying the investigations above had become stricter. If the treasure were discovered, her deceased parents would face even harsher condemnation. They insisted it should be moved to Hong Kong for safekeeping.
They said both families were relocating to Hong Kong — and wanted Jiang Li to come too.
Believing her aunt and uncle truly cared for her as family, she agreed.
Right at that time, she discovered she was pregnant.
The baby was only a month old.
Now that she was carrying a child, she no longer wanted to go to Hong Kong. The child’s father was still here, and she wanted to go northwest to find Lu Yuanshan.
But then her aunt told her Lu Yuanshan had long since found another woman. He had married her only to seize her family’s fortune.
Her aunt even produced evidence of his affair.
Jiang Li called the military again, desperate to confirm the truth, but Lu Yuanshan was once more away on a mission, leaving her without answers.
Thinking back, they had spent very little time together. She barely knew him beyond his outwardly reliable appearance. Her aunt said men who looked honest were often the most deceitful inside.
With evidence laid before her, she couldn’t help believing it.
Already devastated by her parents’ deaths and now betrayed by her husband, Jiang Li finally mailed a divorce letter to the military district.
Then she followed her aunt to an illegal clinic and aborted the baby.
Her aunt even sold her family home and traded away her job for ship tickets.
With her aunt and uncle arranging everything, they arrived safely in Hong Kong.
But once there, her aunt and uncle used her family’s wealth to establish companies. Because Jiang Li was beautiful, they intended to use her body to please wealthy Hong Kong tycoons in exchange for business opportunities.
After drugging her and sending her to the bed of a Hong Kong businessman, Jiang Li suddenly regained consciousness.
Using a fruit knife to cut herself awake, she escaped and returned to her aunt’s residence, where she overheard their conversation.
Only then did she learn the horrifying truth.
Her parents had originally been reported by her own aunt and uncle, all for the sake of stealing the family fortune.
Bringing her to Hong Kong had never been about protecting her — they simply wanted to exploit her beauty for profit.
Filled with overwhelming hatred, Jiang Li charged in with the fruit knife, intending to die together with them.
But unexpectedly, her cousin used a mysterious “space” ability, pulling the family into another dimension. Jiang Li watched them vanish before her eyes in utter shock.
Before she could understand what had happened, they suddenly emerged again, caught her off guard, knocked her unconscious, and finally threw her into the sea.
She woke in the freezing water while they stood above, coldly watching as she slowly sank beneath the waves.
Their faces were full of smug satisfaction.
Her cousin curled her crimson lips into a triumphant smile and sneered:
“Jiang Li, now you’ve seen how powerful this space is. But do you know? This space actually came from your mother’s jade pendant. Now it’s become our tool and weapon. In the future, we’ll use it to make a fortune too. Hahaha!”