After the world spun around her, Tang Wan found herself plummeting downward in a slow, heavy manner.
She realized she was underwater. In her ears was the muffled sound of flowing water, the suffocating sensation of being unable to breathe, and a bone-chilling cold, as if countless ice needles were piercing her skin all at once.
She instinctively flailed, trying to swim upward, but her limbs refused to obey.
Unable to hold her breath any longer, she choked on a large mouthful of water. Her throat burned, and her lungs felt like they were on fire.
She wanted to breathe, but all she inhaled was water. She wanted to get to the surface, but she wasn’t even sure which way was up and which was down.
She struggled to open her eyes. The water stung them painfully, and all she could see was a deep, dark mass.
Her consciousness gradually faded, leaving only the gushing of water and the chaotic thumping of her own heart.
Just as she was about to give up, a pair of large hands suddenly wrapped around her waist from behind, holding her steady and pulling her upward.
The sound of splashing water filled her ears, its intermittent rhythm strangely reassuring.
Someone had saved her.
Tang Wan turned her head for a look and saw the person’s face clearly.
It was, without a doubt, an exceptionally handsome face. His eyes were deep-set, his nose was straight, his lips were pressed into a firm line, and his jaw was smooth and well-defined. His skin was a healthy, wheat-like tan, and his gaze was calm and focused.
He was too handsome to be a mortal.
He definitely wasn’t a mortal; after all, she was already dead.
So, was he a psychopomp?
Tang Wan’s mind was hazy, yet she could feel the distinct, rippling muscles of the body pressed against her back, and his touch was warm.
…Warm?
She subconsciously reached out and ran a hand along the man’s waist.
It was indeed warm.
He felt very solid. It was a rather nice feeling.
Slightly stunned, she couldn’t resist touching him again.
The man clearly paused. He glanced down at her with a slight frown, but his movements didn’t slow as he continued to pull her toward the surface.
The next moment, they broke through the water together.
“Cough, cough cough—!”
Tang Wan violently arched her back, coughing up several mouthfuls of water, her entire body trembling from the force of it.
The man quickened his pace, dragging her toward the bank.
The moment she was placed on the ground, she was flipped over. In the next second, a force pressed down on her abdomen. She let out a retch, forced to expel the water in her stomach. Amid her choking coughs, tears streamed from her eyes.
When she finally relaxed, her mind buzzed as a flood of memories poured in. Before Tang Wan could process anything, her vision went dark, and she sank into a deep blackness.
When she woke again, Tang Wan found herself in a narrow room that was both strange and familiar.
The room was cold, dark, and cramped. Multiple layers of paper on the window barely kept out the cold wind, and the light was dim. Still, a hint of the early spring chill seeped through the cracks in the window frame.
Above her were dark, mottled beams and grayish roof tiles. Beneath her was a clay kang bed padded with wheat straw and covered with a reed mat. Tang Wan shifted slightly and felt a familiar, uncomfortable hardness. When her arm brushed against the wall, some mud plaster flaked off.
“Elder Sister… you’re awake?” a hoarse, childish voice sounded beside her.
She turned her head and saw a small, thin boy sitting by the kang.
He wore a short jacket of coarse cloth covered in layers of patches. His face was pale and his eyes were red-rimmed, clearly trying his best to hold back tears.
It was her younger brother, Tang Mu.
A warmth couldn’t help but well up in Tang Wan’s eyes. In her memory, Mu-ge’er should have been ten this year, but due to malnutrition, he looked no older than seven or eight.
Tang Wan was a transmigrator.
She had once transmigrated to a wondrous era, where she had lived a marvelous life she had never imagined for more than a decade. She had thought she might live there forever.
Unexpectedly, an accident had brought her back.
After being rescued from the water, the memories of her two lives converged and merged, rushing into her mind like a tidal wave.
She was originally the granddaughter of an old military clerk in Huai Rong County, part of the Su Bei Camp in the Da Yong Dynasty. In the 5th year of Yuan He, she lost her life due to a conspiracy and immediately transmigrated to 21st-century China.
Her grandfather had joined the army to guard the border in his youth. After retiring, he made a living in this small northern city by transcribing letters for military households. Her grandmother had passed away early, her father had died on the battlefield, and her mother had remarried and moved far away. Last winter, her grandfather had fallen gravely ill and ultimately failed to survive the biting cold.
After her grandfather’s death, only she and her brother, Tang Mu, were left to depend on each other.
At this moment, Tang Mu was sitting by the kang. Seeing her awake, the tears he had been holding back instantly rolled down from his reddened eyes. He wiped his face forcefully, but the tears only flowed faster.
“Elder Sister, don’t die. Don’t leave me all alone…”
Tang Wan looked at him, her heart aching with a sorrow so intense she couldn’t speak for a moment.
She couldn’t tell him that if it weren’t for that strange adventure, she probably would have truly died.
Died in that icy, bone-chilling river.
Seeing her silence, Tang Mu’s tears fell even more fiercely, his voice tinged with sobs. “Elder Sister, don’t leave me, okay? I’ll be good and stay with you. I’ll listen to everything you say…”
Tang Wan couldn’t help but raise a hand to gently stroke the top of his slightly messy hair.
In her brother’s eyes, she had merely fallen into the water and been unconscious for half a day. But for Tang Wan, more than a decade had passed in between.
In the early years, she couldn’t help but miss him, worrying if her only brother was doing well in his original world. But as time went on, his small face had gradually blurred in her memory.
“Don’t worry, Elder Sister won’t abandon you again.”
With just that one sentence, Tang Mu clung to her hand as if it were a piece of driftwood, choking out, “The Chen family broke their promise. We can just ignore them. Elder Sister, why would you try to end your life for people like that…”
A cold glint flickered in Tang Wan’s eyes.
“Who said I tried to end my life for people like that?”
Her throat was dry and her voice was a bit hoarse, but her words were clear.
Tang Mu froze, his eyes still shimmering with tears as he stared at her blankly.
Tang Wan asked, “Was it Chen Wenyan who said that?”
Tang Mu shook his head. “I don’t know… When you fell in the water at noon, Second Brother Lu rescued you and brought you home. The neighbors all saw it. I don’t know who said it first, but they said you fell because the Chen family broke off the engagement and you couldn’t get over it…”
Tang Wan said softly, “Elder Sister promised Grandfather that I would take good care of you until you grew up. How could I possibly throw my life away for someone like that?”
Tang Mu thought of their recently deceased grandfather, and his eyes reddened again. He also vaguely sensed that something was wrong. “Then what really happened?”
“It was Chen Wenyan.” A hint of mockery surfaced in Tang Wan’s eyes. Even after so many years, she would never misremember something like this. “He was the one who pushed me into the river.”
Tang Mu’s pupils contracted, and his face turned deathly pale in an instant.
“He actually… Why would he do that? I’m going to go find him and demand an explanation right now!”
“It’s useless to go now.” Tang Wan grabbed his arm. “I heard the neighbors gossiping that he was going to marry someone else, so I planned to confront him…”
Tang Wan’s voice was a little faint as the memory from the depths of her mind became clearer.
“At the time, he led me to the riverbank… The place was secluded. I thought it was just for the convenience of talking, but I never expected he had already planned it.”
“Are we just going to let it go?” Tang Mu trembled with anger, his fists clenched tightly. “He dared to push Elder Sister into the river! If Second Brother Lu hadn’t saved you… you really would have…”
Hearing Second Brother Lu’s name for the second time, Tang Wan recalled the person she had met underwater, and her mind drifted for a moment.
Then she remembered the bone-chilling river water. Even now, a coldness seemed to seep from her very bones.
She was a person who had already died twice. She didn’t know what kind of merit she had accumulated to be miraculously revived both times.
But she would never take a second chance for granted because of that.
The Chen family had gone too far. It was her Tang family’s fault for misjudging their character, but now that she saw their true colors, she would of course seek justice for herself!
After a moment of contemplation, Tang Wan beckoned her brother closer and whispered a few words in his ear.
Although Tang Mu came from a poor background, he had learned to read and write from his grandfather since he was young and had the kindest of hearts. After hearing Tang Wan’s words, he was hesitant at first. But when he thought of how his sister had nearly died in the river, he could no longer contain his sense of grievance and rage.
The winters in the northern borderlands were long. Although it was already the third month of spring, many rivers were just beginning to thaw. The water was so cold; how helpless and desperate his sister must have been in the water at that moment…
“Okay, Elder Sister, I’ll listen to you.” The boy nodded firmly, a trace of determination appearing on his small face.