The clamorous noise accompanied the crowd dancing energetically on the stage. The strong smell of alcohol, paired with the deafening trendy pop music, heightened the atmosphere throughout the bar.
“Ruan Xing, with your disgusting and nauseating appearance, the sight of you alone makes me lose my appetite. Who would want to eat cake now?” A cold voice cut through the noisy bar with unusual clarity.
After speaking, the man curled his lips slightly, reached out a hand, took the cake from the girl in front of him, and abruptly smashed it onto her face.
A few people nearby gasped in shock at the scene.
“Hahaha, that ugly freak totally deserves it. With a face like that, does she ever look in the mirror?”
“Looking like a ghost and still daring to chase our Brother Jing? It’s like a toad lusting after swan meat.”
…
Ruan Xing felt a sticky mess on her face. She wiped it and stared blankly at the scene before her, the rich fragrance irritating her nose and making her want to sneeze.
Where is this place? What’s happening to me?
Ruan Xing couldn’t dwell on it further; the burning pain on her face was impossible to ignore, and it was extremely uncomfortable. As a wandering spirit, she shouldn’t be able to feel anything—so why was this happening?
They were certain that the girl standing motionless before them, her face smeared with cake and looking utterly disheveled, wouldn’t leave over such a minor setback.
Without a doubt, she would cling to them again in the next moment.
Everyone at Sanzhong High knew that this ugly freak was obsessively infatuated with Brother Jing.
“Get lost.” Seeing her still standing there without moving, Huo Jing’s icy voice lashed out.
Why does this voice sound so familiar? It’s as if I’ve heard it many times before.
Something hazy seemed to be blocking her vision. She forcefully raised her hand to rub her eyes, finally allowing her to see her surroundings clearly.
The familiar scene, the familiar decor, the familiar faces of men and women—this was the bar at Jincheng Plaza, wasn’t it?
Hadn’t she turned into a wandering spirit?
Wasn’t she supposed to be drifting around the plaza?
How did she end up here?
Yet, at that moment, she didn’t notice the tall figure standing right in front of her.
Then, Ruan Xing rubbed her foggy head and suddenly, as if remembering something, it hit her.
Right, that’s it… this is his voice.
She had heard this voice countless times in her past life—it was all too familiar.
To confirm that the person before her was indeed Huo Jing, she frantically rubbed her eyes again.
Lifting her head, she saw the same arrogant, hot-tempered youth from her past life. Ruan Xing couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on.
The young man before her had clear, fair skin, sharp and defined features, a strikingly attractive Adam’s apple that exuded charm, and he stood tall and straight with a stern expression and cold eyes.
She distinctly remembered lying on a cold Surgery table, the icy scalpel repeatedly cutting into her chest, blood staining everything… The bone-deep pain was something her body still remembered vividly.
Hadn’t she died? What was going on?
Ruan Xing kept replaying the two sentences she had heard earlier in her mind, desperately searching for something. Soon, it dawned on her—this was during their senior year of high school, on Huo Jing’s birthday. How could this be…?
Could she have been reborn, returned to the year she was eighteen…?
She never imagined fate would grant her another chance to start over. Since she had been given this opportunity, in this lifetime, she would definitely protect her father, safeguard her home, and cherish that man named Lin Shen. She would study hard, never be deceived by Lu Wan again, and stay far away from Huo Jing, the man who had always hurt her.
Ruan Xing remembered that in her previous life, on this very day, she had spent all her savings to rent out an entire bar for Huo Jing’s birthday, only to be humiliated by him in the end.
She had happily presented the cake she made herself to Huo Jing, gazing at him with naive hope, thinking he would be touched and even accept her feelings. Instead, he had scornfully smashed the cake right into her face.
The timing couldn’t be worse—she had been reborn at the exact moment when Huo Jing had flung the cream onto her face.
Without even thinking, she knew she must look utterly disheveled, with cake smeared all over her face and her hair a mess.
She looked at the mocking young man before her and the crowd of onlookers whispering and staring at her with undisguised scorn and amusement. In her past life, such gazes would have upset her, but now, she felt no turmoil at all.
Honestly, she wanted nothing more to do with Huo Jing and just wished to leave quickly. But then she remembered all the money she had wasted on this man, and her heart ached at the loss.
No, she had to recover her losses today, no matter what.
Amid the crowd’s laughter, she made a bold move.
She wiped the cream from her face with a fierce swipe, then strode confidently onto the stage, unceremoniously pushing aside the dancers performing there.
Under everyone’s astonished gazes, she reached for the microphone. Strangely, despite her rude actions, she carried herself with an unexpected elegance that made her seem anything but ill-mannered.
Huo Jing frowned slightly. Like everyone else, he watched Ruan Xing with mocking curiosity, completely unsure what she was up to.
Still, he found himself intrigued by the ugly freak’s audacity today, and his gaze toward her grew more scrutinizing.
The blaring music and flickering strobe lights only added to Ruan Xing’s irritation.
She took two steps forward and decisively shut off the headache-inducing speakers, her movements swift and fearless.
The moment the noise stopped, the entire hall fell into abrupt silence.
Everyone—whether dancing on stage or drinking below—turned their displeased eyes toward Ruan Xing, their scornful stares clearly accusing her of ruining the fun.
“How annoying! We were just getting into it!”
“What’s wrong with that ugly freak’s brain again!”
“Can’t you let people play in peace?”
…
The mocking voices and scornful curses from her past life gradually overlapped with the current moment.
Ruan Xing calmly watched the expressions on these people’s faces below, as if watching a comedy…