In the rearview mirror, Qin Ziqi saw a Hummer speeding toward her at an absolutely insane speed. Qin Ziqi changed lanes. She couldn’t afford to provoke someone driving that recklessly.
But the Hummer changed lanes as well, without slowing down at all. Before Qin Ziqi could change lanes again—
“Bang!”
A violent impact sent Qin Ziqi’s car crashing uncontrollably into the roadside barrier. Her head slammed hard against the steering wheel.
Before losing consciousness, Qin Ziqi glanced up at the sky. The sun was glaring brightly overhead.
Then she passed out.
“Drip, drip, drip…”
The blood from the wound on Qin Ziqi’s head fell drop by drop onto the ground beside her feet. After reversing for a short distance, the Hummer sped away.
Passing vehicles noticed Qin Ziqi’s car and called the police and an ambulance.
Qin Ziqi slowly regained consciousness amid the pain in her head. She discovered that she was lying on an iron-framed bed, with thin curtains surrounding it.
Where was this?
Enduring the pain in her head, Qin Ziqi sat up and tried to remember what had happened. She had been in a car accident. Who had rescued her? Had they brought her back to their home?
Shouldn’t they have taken her to the hospital?
She looked around.
Aside from the iron-framed bed beneath her, there was a bedside table on either side. Opposite the bed stood a row of large wardrobes. A dressing table and a desk were positioned near the window, and the floor was covered with a carpet.
The furnishings were somewhat old-fashioned, and the room was quite spacious.
But what was going on?
The bedroom door opened, and a young girl walked in.
“Ziqi, you’re awake? I didn’t do it on purpose. I only touched you lightly. I didn’t expect you to lose your balance and fall down the stairs.”
This girl knew her?
“Who are you?”
Yao Zhenzhen looked at her suspiciously. But when she saw the complete unfamiliarity in Qin Ziqi’s eyes, she was shocked and immediately shouted toward the doorway, “Dad, Mom, come quickly! Ziqi doesn’t recognize anyone!”
Her shrill voice made Qin Ziqi’s head begin throbbing again.
“Get out.”
Suddenly, something seemed to force its way into her mind.
It was… a memory.
The pain in her head became so intense that Qin Ziqi couldn’t help crying out.
She lost consciousness again.
When she woke up once more, there was an additional set of memories in her mind that did not belong to her.
Qin Ziqi’s face was filled with disbelief. She threw off the covers and walked over to the dressing table.
Reflected in the mirror was a breathtakingly beautiful face.
She was stunning.
A delicate oval face, deep-set eyes, slightly upturned outer corners that gave her an alluring charm, and large eyes with a tiny tear mole at the corner. It wasn’t particularly conspicuous, yet impossible to ignore.
Her nose bridge was high and straight, with slender nostrils and a delicate tip. Her cupid’s bow was distinct, while her lips were full and beautifully shaped. Every line of her face looked as if it had been sculpted. Her skin was fair and smooth, creating an overwhelming visual impact.
Qin Ziqi stared at herself in shock.
Was this glamorous beauty in the mirror really her?
Such a beautiful face?
But why had she come here?
Could it be that she had died in the car accident?
According to the memories Qin Ziqi had received, the owner of this body was also named Qin Ziqi. She was seventeen years old and the eldest daughter of this family, taking her mother’s surname. Her father, Yao Zheng, was a live-in son-in-law.
The original owner’s fate, however, was difficult to describe.
Her mother had been the daughter of a capitalist family. Before her maternal grandparents died, they had handed over most of their family fortune and entrusted their daughter to Yao Zheng.
After getting married, Qin Xueman gave birth to a daughter—the original Qin Ziqi. When Qin Ziqi was four years old, her mother, Qin Xueman, fell ill and passed away.
Less than a month later, Yao Zheng remarried a rural woman named Zhao Xinhua under the pretext of taking care of Qin Ziqi.
Zhao Xinhua was a widow with a daughter—the same Yao Zhenzhen who had just entered the room. She was eighteen years old. Her original name had been Wang Chun’er, but after her mother remarried Yao Zheng, she changed her name to Yao Zhenzhen.
After marrying into the family, Zhao Xinhua gave birth to another son and daughter.
Her daughter, Yao An’an, was twelve years old and in her first year of junior high school.
Her son, Yao Jinyao, was in the second grade of elementary school.
The reason the original Qin Ziqi had fallen down the stairs was because she had returned from shopping and discovered Yao Zhenzhen kissing and embracing her fiancé.
What was even more absurd—and left Qin Ziqi speechless—was that this fiancé was also named Lu Chenghua.
Qin Ziqi rolled her eyes.
The wound on her head had been hastily bandaged, and blood was faintly seeping through the gauze.
According to the memories, the original Qin Ziqi had always been proud and aloof. She wasn’t particularly friendly toward her stepmother and stepsister, nor was she close to her half-siblings.
But her life was still quite comfortable.
Zhao Xinhua stayed home to wash clothes, cook, and clean. These were things the original Qin Ziqi never bothered with.
Yao Zheng and Zhao Xinhua had tried to get the original Qin Ziqi to do some housework, but they had failed.
Yao Zheng also didn’t dare to offend his eldest daughter too badly.
After Qin Ziqi’s maternal grandparents died, the remaining family fortune had been entrusted to Qin Xueman. When Qin Xueman became ill, she had entrusted the money to her good friends, Zheng Zhongyao and his wife.
Over the past two years, the couple had gradually handed the money over to the original Qin Ziqi.
The original owner was clever as well. When it came to her father, she didn’t reveal a single thing.
So far, Yao Zheng had only managed to squeeze a thousand or so yuan out of her.
He had searched the entire house but still couldn’t find where she had hidden the money.
As for her fiancé, Lu Chenghua, he was the original Qin Ziqi’s high school classmate. Just like Qin Ziqi, he had pursued her relentlessly, and with encouragement from the people around them, she eventually accepted him.
Because of the era they lived in, less than a month after the two confirmed their relationship, their families had already arranged their engagement.
Thinking about the era, Qin Ziqi searched through the original owner’s memories and discovered that it was now 1973 in Huaguo.
This Huaguo seemed to have a national situation and level of development similar to the Z Country she had come from.
That meant this was precisely the most turbulent period in Huaguo’s history.
Following the original owner’s memories, Qin Ziqi took some money from the drawer of the dressing table.
There wasn’t much by the original owner’s standards—just over two hundred yuan.
But in this era, that was already equivalent to half a year’s wages for many workers.
And this was Shanghai, one of the country’s major cities.
After changing her clothes, Qin Ziqi endured the dull ache and dizziness in her head and walked downstairs.
The original owner’s bedroom was the largest room in the house and had its own private bathroom.
Next door was Yao Zheng and Zhao Xinhua’s bedroom, followed by Yao Zhenzhen and Yao An’an’s room. The remaining, slightly smaller room belonged to Yao Jinyao alone.
Downstairs were the living room, kitchen, bathroom, study, and a guest room.
The furnishings throughout the house had a strong period feel, but they were also clearly refined for that era.
The house was registered under the original owner’s name. Qin Xueman had transferred it to her.
It was a small Western-style villa.
When Qin Ziqi reached the first floor, the original owner’s father, stepmother, and Yao Zhenzhen were all sitting on the sofa. Yao An’an and Yao Jinyao had probably gone to school and had not returned yet.
Ignoring the three people on the sofa, Qin Ziqi walked straight toward the front door and opened it.
“Mom and Dad, what do you think she’s going to do?”
Yao Zheng’s brows furrowed tightly.
“Zhenzhen, go follow her and see.”
Yao Zhenzhen pouted, but she didn’t dare refuse. She got up and hurried after Qin Ziqi.
Hearing the footsteps behind her, Qin Ziqi stopped and turned around.
She said nothing as she looked at Yao Zhenzhen.
Yao Zhenzhen sensed that something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
“Ziqi, where are you going? I’ll go with you.”
“No need. I’m going to the hospital to have my head examined. If you come with me, I’m afraid I’ll be dead before we even get there.”
Qin Ziqi had already stepped outside the Qin family courtyard.
From the neighboring yard, someone poked their head out.
“Ziqi, what happened to your head? How did it get hurt?”
“Auntie Zhang, Ziqi accidentally fell down the stairs. I was just about to accompany her to the hospital,” Yao Zhenzhen hurriedly answered before Qin Ziqi could speak.
Qin Ziqi glanced at her.
“You pushed me down the stairs. I didn’t fall by myself. Go back. I don’t need you to accompany me.”
“As for you and Lu Chenghua fooling around behind my back, I’ll deal with that after I get back from the hospital.”