When they were sent back, they had only been in their early fifties.
The fortune they had spent a lifetime building was gone before they had a chance to truly enjoy it. The husband she had struggled alongside for decades, the children she had raised with so much love—all of it had vanished like a bubble.
Ahhh! Wasn’t this joke Heaven played on her a little too cruel?
Who would even want this kind of rebirth?
“Hey! Hey! Why are you screaming like a ghost first thing in the morning?”
Liang Fengjiao walked into the room, still holding a cooking spatula.
“You came home so late last night that I didn’t ask. Tell me—where have you been these past few days?”
“Big Sister! The missing person has finally returned!”
Her younger brother, Lin Yaozu, shouted from outside the window. It was Sunday, so there was no school.
Lin Family Village favored boys over girls to some extent. Just look at her brother’s name—Yaozu, meaning “bringing honor to the ancestors.” The entire family’s hopes rested on him. They dreamed he’d get into high school, attend university, and bring glory to the family.
Unfortunately, in her previous life, he’d only managed to get into a junior college. That wasn’t the problem, though.
Instead of focusing on his studies, he got swept up in stock trading and lost everything. Later, wanting to buy his girlfriend a luxury apartment, he copied others and got involved in private investment funds, which turned into illegal fundraising. In the end, he was arrested and sentenced to prison.
That was one of the reasons Lin Sui had spent time studying the stock market before.
But now that she’d come back, Lin Yaozu was still young.
Maybe… he wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes.
Thinking that way, returning to the past didn’t seem quite so terrible anymore.
So what if the mansion was gone?
So what if she’d lost her husband?
Her little brother hadn’t ruined his life yet.
Her grandparents were still alive.
Liang Fengjiao hadn’t developed liver cirrhosis.
The whole family was together.
And she herself was healthy—a twenty-year-old body that could probably wrestle down two wild boars.
As long as she worked hard, perhaps she could earn back everything she’d built in her previous life.
Maybe she’d even get to meet the children she’d raised once more.
As for Gu Shaonan…
Maybe she’d misunderstood him.
He had always been slow and methodical, someone who planned every step carefully.
He hadn’t come last night.
Maybe he had his own reasons.
Maybe his trip to Ning County wasn’t what she’d imagined.
Maybe in a couple of days, he’d come looking for her.
After all, they’d shared decades together.
Even if romantic love had faded…
Surely family affection still remained.
But remembering last night’s danger left her feeling wronged and miserable.
Her emotions were completely tangled.
“Say something!”
Madam Liang’s shout snapped Lin Sui back to reality.
“Mom, look what this is.”
She unzipped her backpack, revealing a thick stack of ten-yuan bills.
“Prepare to witness your daughter’s superpower.”
As Lin Sui proudly showed off the money, Gu Shaonan, in Ning County, was also taking out a stack of cash.
“Qinghe, take this. Use it for your father’s operation.”
Gu Shaonan had arrived the previous evening.
He had taken half a day’s leave and, after spending the entire night thinking in the guesthouse, finally made his decision.
Chen Qinghe’s father had stomach cancer.
At this time, there was no rural medical insurance. Surgery plus follow-up treatment would cost twenty to thirty thousand yuan.
In his previous life, because he couldn’t help her raise the money, Chen Qinghe had no choice but to marry Liu Gao.
But this time…
He could save her.
She wouldn’t have to marry Liu Gao.
Even now, Gu Shaonan still found it unbelievable.
One moment, he and Lin Sui had been moving into their brand-new luxury villa in Nancheng’s wealthy district—a mansion worth tens of millions.
Before they could even enjoy it…
They died in a car accident.
When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to a time before he was married.
Chen Qinghe was still single…
But not for long.
The moment he returned, he scraped together the 3,000 yuan he’d borrowed from relatives and coworkers after endless pleading, then rushed to Shenzhen to buy stocks.
In his previous life, he and Lin Sui had researched the stock market from this year.
He vaguely remembered two stocks soaring in value.
He couldn’t remember whether it was Shenkex or Jintian, but he knew Shenkex would eventually increase more than tenfold and had excellent long-term prospects.
So he bought Shenkex.
Knowing Chen Qinghe was only days away from accepting another man’s proposal, he had no choice but to sell part of his holdings and withdraw ten thousand yuan.
Chen Qinghe had been his junior college classmate.
His first love.
They had even met each other’s parents.
Back then, before her father became ill, whenever he couldn’t afford food at school, Chen Qinghe would quietly give him some of her meal coupons.
One semester, when he couldn’t pay his tuition, Father Chen learned about it and lent him one thousand yuan.
Then, midway through the year, Father Chen was diagnosed with cancer.
Chen Qinghe’s mother ran away after taking all the family’s savings.
Unable to afford surgery, Chen Qinghe never told him at first because she knew he had no money either.
Meanwhile, one of her high school classmates—Liu Gao—came from a wealthy transportation family.
He had liked her for years.
To save her father…
She had no choice but to marry him.
“Shaonan… You may think I’m being practical, but when my father collapsed and was hospitalized… where were you?”
“I called you, but you weren’t there. Do you know how helpless I felt?”
“My father couldn’t even afford to stay in the hospital—we were driven out.”
“Do you know how desperate and humiliated I was?”
“I couldn’t bear watching him suffer from illness.”
“So when Liu Gao reached out to help us… I had no choice but to accept.”
“Maybe… this is just fate.”
Those had been Chen Qinghe’s words when they broke up.
Gu Shaonan had felt as though knives were twisting through his heart.
But he couldn’t blame her.
He had begged everyone he knew and could only borrow three thousand yuan—the same three thousand he later invested in stocks.
At the time, he knew nothing about the stock market.
All he could do was accept the breakup.
Later, Liu Gao’s business failed.
He became addicted to gambling and frequently beat Chen Qinghe.
Her life became one long nightmare.
Later still, Liu Gao died of liver cancer, leaving behind two elderly parents and two children.
Chen Qinghe had to support the entire family by herself.
Then she developed hepatitis and had no choice but to borrow money from Gu Shaonan.
By then, Gu Shaonan was already worth over a hundred million yuan.
Yet Chen Qinghe remained trapped in poverty.
In this life…
He wanted her to live a better life.
As for Lin Sui…
She had indeed suffered with him during the early years.
But after they turned thirty, they had already become multimillionaires.
By thirty-two, they were living in a villa.
Although they later died in the accident before enjoying an even grander mansion, they had still spent half their lives wealthy.
Besides…
Lin Sui hadn’t been particularly easygoing.
Because of countless little household matters, she and his mother had often clashed as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, leaving him caught painfully in the middle.
Truthfully, his mother had always preferred Chen Qinghe.
If he married Qinghe instead, that problem would disappear, and his mother would live more comfortably too.
This time, armed with memories from his previous life, he could prevent his mother’s broken leg.
He also knew how to avoid many business mistakes and build wealth much faster.
After thinking it over for a long time…
He finally decided.
This lifetime…
He would choose Chen Qinghe.
Of course, he wouldn’t simply abandon Lin Sui.
For the sake of the years they had spent as husband and wife, if she ever encountered difficulties in life, he would still help her.
Once he and Chen Qinghe became engaged, he’d find an excuse to get acquainted with Lin Sui.
Being ordinary friends wouldn’t be bad.
His thoughts were still in turmoil.
But there wasn’t time to think any further.
He pushed the money toward her.
“Take it. Save your father first.”
Chen Qinghe’s eyes widened.
“Where did you get so much money?”
Only a few days earlier, she had accepted Liu Gao’s proposal and broken up with Gu Shaonan.
She never imagined he would suddenly appear carrying this much cash.
“I already used Liu Gao’s betrothal money to pay my father’s hospital deposit.”
Gu Shaonan hated himself for not returning sooner.
“Then… give his money back.”
Chen Qinghe looked at him.
“And after that?”
“My father will still need a lot of money after surgery. He won’t be able to work anymore.”
“I still have my grandparents at home… a younger sister… and a younger brother.”
“There has to be another way.”
Gu Shaonan couldn’t very well tell her he’d been reborn.
Nor could he reveal how he knew to make money.
“Do you trust me?”
Chen Qinghe held the bundle of cash tightly, frowning.
But when she looked into Gu Shaonan’s eyes—
For the first time, she saw unwavering determination.
And her heart began to waver.