“My brother’s widow… please accept my condolences.”
The familiar voice reached her ears, followed by the face she had looked at every day for the past five years.
Although countless questions flooded Su Jiuyue’s mind, she said nothing.
She quietly accepted the urn and instinctively searched the crowd.
At a glance, she spotted the tiny figure clutching tightly at the leg of her pants.
Her daughter.
Li Jiaojiao.
The five-year-old looked up at her with tears brimming in her eyes, stubbornly glaring at the man who looked exactly like her father.
When Jiaojiao saw her mother looking over, she pursed her lips, tightened her little grip, and whispered through her tears,
“Mom… Daddy’s gone… Jiaojiao doesn’t have a daddy anymore. Don’t cry, Mommy. If you don’t cry, Jiaojiao won’t cry either.”
The scene…
Those words…
Oh my God!
She had been reborn.
She had returned to the year 1975—to the very day Li Yanchuan pretended to be his elder brother and announced his own “death.”
Taking a deep breath, she forced down the turmoil in her heart. She crouched and pulled her daughter tightly into her embrace.
“Don’t be afraid, Jiaojiao. Mommy’s here. I’ll always stay with you. I’ll never leave you.”
Then she stood up and fixed a razor-sharp gaze on the man before her—the one calling himself Li Haichuan.
There was the faint scar above his eyebrow.
Three years ago, during an argument, he’d dodged her and slammed into a doorframe, leaving that mark.
And just now…
His Adam’s apple had bobbed ever so slightly.
A subconscious swallow.
Something he always did when he was nervous.
Her husband.
Li Yanchuan.
Alive and well.
Yet here he was, holding his own ashes and telling her to accept his death.
Beside him stood the woman clinging to his arm, pretending to wipe away tears.
His “widowed sister-in-law”—
Bai Lili.
“Don’t worry, Sister-in-law,” Bai Lili said in a choked voice, her acting flawless.
“Yanchuan may be gone, but we’re still family. From now on, we’ll take care of you and Jiaojiao. We won’t abandon you.”
In her previous life…
This had been the exact moment.
She had lunged at him like a madwoman, grabbing his collar and screaming,
“You’re not dead! You’re alive!”
His response?
He shoved her away without hesitation, his eyes colder than ice.
“Sister-in-law, you’ve lost your mind.”
Everyone around them had looked at her strangely. Several people restrained her while Bai Lili hypocritically urged her to “accept reality.”
And afterward?
Because she refused to believe her husband had died and kept insisting that Li Yanchuan was still alive, she was declared mentally unstable and sent to a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of the city.
Bai Lili even visited her there.
Standing outside the iron bars, she smiled sweetly as she delivered the cruelest news imaginable.
Since Su Jiuyue had gone insane and could no longer care for her daughter…
Five-year-old Jiaojiao had gone to the river alone to wash clothes.
She had fallen into the water…
And drowned.
As for Su Jiuyue…
She had died of grief and rage in that freezing hospital ward.
She had never imagined that after opening her eyes again…
She would be given another chance.
The urn felt heavy in her arms.
Before her stood the face she had once loved…
And now hated with every fiber of her being.
“Yanchuan—!”
Suddenly, Su Jiuyue let out a heart-rending wail.
The anguish in her voice was so genuine that everyone present felt their eyes sting.
“Why did you have to leave us like this? How are Jiaojiao and I supposed to live without you?”
Clutching the urn, her body went limp as she pretended to collapse.
Almost instinctively, Li Yanchuan stepped forward and reached out to catch her.
“Haichuan!”
Bai Lili’s shrill voice rang out.
She grabbed his arm so tightly that her nails nearly dug into his flesh.
“What are you doing helping your younger brother’s widow? I’ll do it!”
Li Yanchuan froze.
Slowly, he withdrew his hand and clenched it into a fist at his side.
He was Li Haichuan now.
Li Yanchuan was supposed to be dead.
As the elder brother, he had to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Taking advantage of the moment, Su Jiuyue leaned heavily against Bai Lili.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Li Yanchuan’s conflicted expression and sneered inwardly.
Go on.
Keep acting.
She wanted to see just how long this shameless couple could keep playing their roles while wearing his brother’s name and identity.
As for Bai Lili…
Since she wanted to support her so badly…
She could keep holding her up.
Su Jiuyue cried until she was nearly breathless.
Some of those tears were for show.
But many were real.
She mourned the woman she had been in her previous life.
She mourned innocent little Jiaojiao, who had died so tragically.
Her grief, half real and half performed, was enough to move everyone present.
She clung desperately to the cold urn.
Anyone who saw her would believe she was a devoted wife whose world had collapsed.
The neighbors from the military family compound pitied her deeply.
One brought white mourning cloth.
Another carried over a table.
Before long, they had set up a simple memorial altar in the main room.
Because many soldiers had fallen during the operation, the military district had arranged for all the martyrs to be buried together at the military cemetery behind the base the following day.
The memorial would only remain for a single day.
Five-year-old Jiaojiao knelt beside her mother before the altar.
Her tiny hand clung tightly to Su Jiuyue’s clothing, terrified that her mother might disappear too.
The child remained remarkably quiet.
When told to cry, she sobbed softly.
When told not to, she simply knelt in silence.
But her large, grape-like eyes never left the man across from her—the one calling himself her “uncle.”
The child’s pure yet stubborn gaze made Li Yanchuan’s back turn cold.
He almost couldn’t maintain the expression of grief on his face.
“Mom…”
Jiaojiao leaned close and whispered so softly that only Su Jiuyue could hear.
“I know that’s Daddy. But I don’t want him anymore. He went to be Taotao’s daddy instead.”
Su Jiuyue’s heart clenched violently.
She hugged her daughter even tighter.
Even a five-year-old child could see the truth so clearly.
How had she been so blind in her previous life?
You could never wake someone who was only pretending to sleep.
“Good girl,” she whispered back, affirming her daughter’s instincts.
“Remember this. Your father is inside this urn. He’s a martyr. He’s a hero. The man over there is your uncle. Do you understand?”
A trace of icy resolve flashed through Jiaojiao’s eyes—far too mature for a child her age—but it vanished almost instantly.
She nodded firmly.
“I understand.”
Su Jiuyue paused.
That expression…
It didn’t seem like something a five-year-old should have.
Perhaps she had only imagined it.
She had just been reborn, after all.
Perhaps her mind was still unsettled.
To maintain appearances, Li Yanchuan and Bai Lili busied themselves inside and outside the house, acting as though they were doing everything they could.
Meanwhile, Su Jiuyue played the role of the grief-stricken widow to perfection.
She fainted several times from “overwhelming sorrow.”
In fact, two people had to remain beside her and Jiaojiao at all times, afraid that if they looked away for even a moment, she might decide to follow her husband in death.
Finally, Commissar Zhang’s wife, Sister Wang, made the decision.
“Hurry and help Captain Li’s wife into the bedroom! At a time like this, the living are what matter most!”
Thus, Su Jiuyue and Jiaojiao were escorted into the back room.
Several military wives came in one after another to comfort her.
“Jiuyue, listen to me. The dead can’t come back. The living have to keep moving forward. You have to stay strong. Your daughter is still so young—she only has you now.”
“That’s right, little sister. No matter how hard it is, grit your teeth and keep going. Life has to go on. If you run into any difficulties, tell us. We’re neighbors—we’ll all lend a hand.”
…
Su Jiuyue sat motionless like a puppet, tears silently streaming down her face.
But inside…
Her mind was racing.
Throughout their marriage, Li Yanchuan had always maintained the image of a devoted husband.
Most household expenses came from him.
They shared a joint savings account.
Every month, her salary and half of his salary were deposited into it.
Over the years, it had grown to more than 5,000 yuan.
By contrast, Bai Lili had no job.
Li Haichuan had only been a company commander, and with their high expenses, they had very little savings.
That was why, in her previous life…
While she had been unconscious from grief, Li Yanchuan had secretly taken their bankbook and the key to her jewelry box.
By the time she remembered to check the bank, every last cent was gone.
Li Yanchuan denied everything.
Bai Lili stood beside him, mockingly suggesting that Su Jiuyue had simply remembered wrong because of her overwhelming grief.
Later, once Su Jiuyue had been officially labeled mentally ill, the matter was quietly buried.
But this lifetime…
Su Jiuyue lowered her eyes.
A cold smile curved the corners of her lips.
Li Yanchuan.
Bai Lili.
Everything you owe me…
Everything you owe Jiaojiao…
We’ll settle it.
One debt…
At a time.