1982, deep winter, Shishui Village in the north.
The night was fierce, with howling winds driving heavy snow through the cracks of the earthen house’s windows.
Li Jiao’s eyes snapped open, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.
She gasped for breath, her lungs aching from the cold air she inhaled, until her vision cleared and she realized, in a daze, that she was still alive!
By the pale, snowy light, Li Jiao tremblingly raised her hands.
These hands were slender and fair-skinned, smooth as peeled eggs.
Everywhere they showed the delicate softness of a pampered life, with none of the repulsive calluses or frostbite she remembered.
In her hand, she clutched tightly a blue cloth bag patched with gray fabric.
The bag felt heavy.
Li Jiao’s gaze grew distant as she suddenly remembered—inside was exactly 550 yuan.
500 yuan was the hush money Qin Lie had received after a cave-in at a private black coal mine cost him a leg.
The remaining 50 yuan came from selling the last of their family’s rations, money he had originally set aside to buy coal for her to survive the winter.
Li Jiao’s throat tightened.
In her previous life, it had been on a snowy night just like this.
She was the switched-at-birth fake heiress from the capital. After the real heiress returned, her adoptive parents heartlessly abandoned her, sending her down to this remote, impoverished village.
Too delicate for farm work and too eye-catching for her own good, she had married Qin Lie—a man with a poor class background, looked down upon by the entire village—in search of protection.
Back then, she had despised Qin Lie for his poor background and his quiet, uncommunicative nature. Blinded by infatuation, she had believed the sweet words of the educated youth Li Wenbo, stolen the money Qin Lie had risked his life for, and eloped.
But just outside the village, Li Wenbo knocked her unconscious, swindled her out of all the money, and sold her into the deep mountains.
For ten whole years, she lived a life worse than death!
And that foolish, silent husband she had once scorned for his poor background—dragging a festering, disabled leg, enduring scorn and disgrace—had searched for her frantically all over the world.
She had tried to escape but froze to death on a snowy night.
The last thing she saw before dying was Qin Lie kneeling in the snow, dragging his bad leg, holding her already stiffened body.
The man wept bitterly, his hair turning white in an instant, until finally, tears of blood streamed from his eyes as he followed her in death.
“Qin Lie.”
Li Jiao murmured the name, tears instantly welling up, her heart aching unbearably.
Knock, knock. Someone tapped on the window, interrupting Li Jiao’s sorrow.
Li Jiao’s body stiffened abruptly. Her tear-filled eyes instantly turned cold, hatred surging through her entire being.
The person outside was none other than that scumbag Li Wenbo, who had caused her miserable death.
In her previous life, they had agreed on this exact time, with the window tap as the signal.
Li Jiao gritted her teeth tightly, stepping barefoot onto the icy dirt floor. She grabbed the enamel mug from the table and walked to the window.
With a creak, a freezing wind carrying snowflakes rushed in, making Li Jiao shiver from the cold.
Under the window, Li Wenbo wore an ill-fitting army-green overcoat, his face blue and purple from the cold, huddled and shivering uncontrollably.
Li Jiao frowned deeply. In her previous life, she had truly been blind, thinking someone like Li Wenbo was handsome.
Hearing the creak of the window opening, Li Wenbo’s eyes lit up. He leaned forward, craning his neck, his eyes filled with greed. “Jiaojiao! Why are you so slow? Did you get the money that boss gave Qin Lie for risking his life?”
He blew on his hands and rubbed them together. “Hurry out! We need to leave quickly while the snow is heavy!”
Li Wenbo spoke while reaching out to grab Li Jiao’s hand.
Li Jiao dodged, raising the enamel mug in her hand and sneering coldly.
Qin Lie’s background might be problematic, but for Li Wenbo to demand she steal the hard-earned money Qin Lie had risked his life for in the black coal mine, and then insult him—that was truly beyond her tolerance!
“Jiaojiao?”
“Don’t call me that!” Li Jiao roared angrily.
Seeing that Li Wenbo still had the audacity to grab her hand, she immediately lifted the enamel mug and smashed it down toward Li Wenbo’s brow bone.
“Ah!” Li Wenbo screamed in agony, clutching his forehead as he staggered backward.
Blood instantly seeped through his fingers.
“Jiaojiao, have you gone mad?! I’m Wenbo! Are you still half-asleep and mistaking me for someone else?” He widened his eyes in disbelief.
“I’m hitting you, you scum!”
Li Jiao leaned forward, spat, and pulled out a one-cent coin, hurling it at Li Wenbo. “This money is for your coffin! Stay away, you poor wretch, get lost!”
With a loud bang, the window was slammed shut. Li Jiao slid the bolt into place, leaning against the window as she gasped heavily.
So revenge felt this exhilarating!
Just then, a heavily suppressed cough came from a corner of the earthen bed.
Li Jiao’s heart skipped a beat, and she hurried forward.
Under the dim kerosene lamp, Qin Lie was sitting against the innermost side of the earthen bed.
The man was tall and broad-shouldered; even curled up, his wide back was evident.
On such a cold day, he wore only a black work vest, revealing muscular shoulders and arms.
His bronze skin was covered in old scars of varying sizes, and a thin, worn quilt barely covered part of his body.
At that moment, his sharply defined face was flushed with an unnatural redness—clearly, he was running a fever, and a rather severe one at that.
His broken right leg hung limply outside the quilt, wrapped in tattered strips of cloth that had long since turned black and stiff. Up close, a faint smell of rotting flesh could be detected.
He had been awake all along, his deep, dark eyes now devoid of any emotion.
He had witnessed everything that had just happened.
But he believed it was all an act by Li Jiao to leave.
She was a pampered young lady from the city, looking down on someone like him—a man with a problematic background who was now a cripple. It was only natural she would want to escape and live a better life.
“Qin Lie, are you in pain?” Li Jiao whimpered.
Qin Lie closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing with difficulty as he spoke in a hoarse voice, “Had enough of the act?”
He weakly raised his hand and pointed to the blue cloth bundle on Li Jiao’s earthen bed. “Take the money… and don’t come back.”
He worried she couldn’t endure the cold, that she wouldn’t make it through the winter. Even if his leg was useless, he didn’t care—that money was Li Jiao’s way out.
His life was worthless, but Li Jiao was a delicate young lady who must not be dragged down by him.
Looking at this restrained and self-deprecating man, Li Jiao’s eyes instantly reddened.
You fool, such an utterly hopeless fool!
She sniffled and quickly walked to the earthen bed, picking up the blue cloth bundle.
Qin Lie’s heart grew even more bitter. So, she was crying because she wanted to leave so badly. He shouldn’t have been watching her earlier.
However, before Qin Lie could react, Li Jiao threw the blue cloth bundle onto the inner side of the earthen bed with a thud, then swiftly undid the buttons of her coat.
Underneath, she wore a thin pink sweater that clung tightly to her graceful figure.
Her skin was exceptionally fair, glowing brightly in the coal-dust-filled earthen room, breathtakingly beautiful.
Qin Lie’s lifeless eyes trembled violently.
The next second, Li Jiao had already climbed onto the kang, lifted the tattered quilt, and without a care for the cold, burrowed into his bedding.
“You!”
Qin Lie’s entire body tensed up instantly.
Li Jiao’s hands and feet were icy cold. Feeling the heat radiating from him, she let out a soft hum, her chilly little hands instantly pressing against his burning, firm chest muscles. She clung to Qin Lie like an octopus, wrapping herself tightly around him.
“Shut up!” Li Jiao buried her face in the crook of his neck, letting out a delicate, petulant hum. Her voice carried a hint of spoiled annoyance and a touch of heartache only she understood: “I’m freezing to death. Are you dead or something? Don’t you know how to warm me up?”
Qin Lie’s breath hitched for a moment, his entire body stiff and unmoving. His originally pale earlobes instantly flushed a deep, visible red, almost as if they were about to drip blood!