“Dad, Mom, I want to marry Song Wei!”
The moment those words came out, the man sitting on the sofa in the living room scolded her sharply. “Stop fooling around! Didn’t we already agree that you would marry Gu Jingcheng while your sister marries Song Wei? Why are you changing your mind again?”
Father Meng had a headache. This youngest daughter of his changed her mind every other minute.
“We’re not married yet, so why can’t I change it? I don’t care, I want to marry Brother Song Wei.”
All three of them turned to look at the girl sitting on the other side of the sofa.
Meng Yao dazedly met their gazes. Her eyes moved away from the young-looking Father and Mother Meng before finally landing on the eighteen-year-old Meng Yu.
When her gaze swept over the jade pendant hanging around Meng Yu’s neck, her eyes flickered slightly.
She had been reborn!
Reborn to the very night when she and Meng Yu were choosing their future husbands.
In her previous life, because her grandfather had been a martyr, their family counted as a martyr’s family. Using that reputation, Meng Zhihong carefully selected two sons-in-law for them.
The eldest son-in-law was a soldier stationed in the capital, a squad leader named Song Wei—Meng Yao’s husband in her previous life.
The younger son-in-law was the young master of a wealthy capitalist family. Although his background was politically sensitive, his family owned factories and businesses, so marrying into the family meant never worrying about food or clothing. His name was Gu Jingcheng, Meng Yu’s husband in her previous life.
“Yao Yao, what do you think about what your sister said?” Mother Meng asked her eldest daughter.
Before Meng Yao could answer, Meng Yu spoke first.
“Sis, you always say you feel sorry that I got lost when I was little, and now that I’m back, you want to treat me well. You’re not going to refuse me even this, right?”
Meng Yao looked at the younger sister she had cherished for an entire lifetime in her previous life, but her heart was icy cold.
Back then, after marrying Song Wei and following him to the military base, her living conditions had been harsh.
Her relationship with Song Wei had never been good, and the endless schemes and politics in the military compound left her mentally exhausted.
Yet every month, she still sent money to Meng Yu because Meng Yu constantly wrote letters complaining that the wealthy young master looked down on her for being a country bumpkin with neither money nor education.
Meng Yao pitied her so much that she scrimped and saved to send her money. Because of this, she often quarreled with Song Wei.
Later, Song Wei was framed in the army and urgently needed a large sum of money to resolve the crisis. The first people she sought help from were her family and younger sister.
Not only did Meng Yu refuse to help, but when she heard Father and Mother Meng intended to give Meng Yao money, she rushed home overnight to make a huge scene and took part of the money away.
As a result, Meng Yao had to borrow money everywhere, even kneeling in the military compound begging others for help before finally gathering enough.
She lost all her dignity and had her heart completely shattered.
There had been countless incidents like that. Meng Yao had long since given up all expectations for this ungrateful younger sister.
But what she hadn’t expected was that after being reborn, this younger sister who only wanted a luxurious life had suddenly chosen differently from their previous life.
Meng Yao narrowed her eyes as she stared at her.
Could it be… Meng Yu had also been reborn?
Meng Yu felt uncomfortable under her gaze and deliberately acted coquettishly.
“Sis, I know I shouldn’t keep changing my mind. I’ll definitely compensate you in the future. Just agree this once, okay?”
“You can compensate me right now,” Meng Yao said softly, her eyes fixed on the jade pendant around Meng Yu’s neck.
Meng Yu froze. “Sis, what do you mean?”
Meng Yao didn’t waste words. She pointed at the jade pendant and said, “Give me your necklace as compensation, and I’ll agree to switch marriages.”
The moment she said that, Father Meng, Mother Meng, and Meng Yu all froze, their gazes landing on the jade pendant around Meng Yu’s neck.
The pendant had been left behind by Grandpa Meng, and there was only one of it. When Meng Yu was finally found, the whole family felt she had suffered greatly. After much consideration, Grandpa Meng had passed the pendant down to her.
Meng Yu touched the warm jade pendant hanging around her neck. Her eyes filled with hesitation.
When Grandpa gave it to her, he had told her to wear it properly and said she would understand its special use in the future.
But she had worn it from the age of seven until now and had never discovered anything special about it.
“I was originally supposed to marry Gu Jingcheng anyway. Back then, when you said you wanted to switch, I agreed. But now everything’s almost settled, and you suddenly want to change your mind again. Meng Yu, I’m really getting angry. If you won’t give me the jade pendant, then I won’t agree to switch marriages.”
Meng Yao’s tone carried obvious dissatisfaction and unusual firmness.
Meng Yu thought about how, in her previous life, Meng Yao returned home dressed in gold and silver, clearly living well.
Immediately, she removed the jade pendant from her neck.
Hmph. In this life, it would finally be her turn to become the wife of a military officer. Wouldn’t big gold bracelets be worth far more than this broken jade pendant?
“Sis, I was being childish. Let this jade pendant be my apology. Please agree to switch marriages.”
She handed the pendant over.
Only after Meng Yao took it did she finally feel relieved.
Her grandfather once told her that there seemed to be something magical inside the pendant, and only descendants of the Meng family could unlock it.
However, based on her memories from her previous life, Meng Yu had never managed to unlock it. Otherwise, with Meng Yu’s personality, she would have shown it off long ago.
Meng Yu stared at the pendant, suddenly feeling empty inside, as though something incredibly important had slipped away from her hands.
In her previous life, she had chosen Gu Jingcheng.
The Gu family never mistreated her, but Gu Jingcheng had never touched her after marriage. He looked down on her for being poor and rustic, and he even had a childhood sweetheart outside.
At first, she thought it didn’t matter if there was no love as long as there was money.
But the good days didn’t last.
Later, the Gu family was suppressed. Their factories collapsed, they lost huge sums of money, and everything in the house was sold off. Meng Yu went from being a pampered young madam to a despised daughter-in-law everyone cursed at.
Meanwhile, Meng Yao’s life only got better and better. Song Wei earned merits and promotions in the military, and every time Meng Yao returned home to visit relatives, she was clearly living a wealthy life.
Meng Yu had been so jealous her eyes nearly turned red.
Now that she had another chance at life, the good life, the good man, and the respected status would all belong to her!
Meng Zhihong repeatedly confirmed whether they were certain this time.
Both sisters nodded solemnly.
Having achieved her goal, Meng Yu happily returned to her room to sleep.
Meanwhile, Father Meng lit a kerosene lamp in the courtyard and began writing a letter to the matchmaker.
Zhao Meilan felt guilty toward both daughters.
Not long after giving birth to Meng Yao, she became pregnant with Meng Yu. But when Meng Yu was three years old and they returned to their hometown, she accidentally got lost.
Zhao Meilan cried so much she nearly went blind. She spent three years searching, exhausting the family fortune before finally finding Meng Yu at the age of seven.
But because of that, she had no time to properly care for Meng Yao, causing her to mature much earlier than ordinary children.
Meng Yao looked at Zhao Meilan, barely in her forties yet already covered in white hair, and sighed inwardly.
In her previous life, even on her deathbed, Zhao Meilan still worried about her two daughters. By the time Meng Yao rushed back from Jingxi City, Zhao Meilan had only one breath left, mumbling the names of her daughters.
Yet Meng Yu never appeared, not even attending Zhao Meilan’s funeral.
Meng Yao truly wanted to tell her mother that Meng Yu was not worth treating so well.
But there was no rush. If she suddenly said it now, no one would believe her. She would slowly make her parents see Meng Yu’s true nature.
Before sleeping that night, Meng Yao once again sorted through everything that would happen in the future before finally taking out the jade pendant from her pocket to examine it carefully.
After staring at it for a while, she turned around and picked up an embroidery needle from beside the bed, wanting to see whether there was some kind of hidden mechanism inside the pendant.
Unexpectedly, she missed the target and pricked her own finger instead.
A drop of blood fell onto the jade pendant, which suddenly emitted a dazzling white light.
Frightened, Meng Yao hid beneath the blanket and closed her eyes.
Then, a vast open space suddenly appeared in her mind.
The temperature was perfect, the air fresh, like a hidden paradise untouched by the outside world.
She opened her eyes, and the scene disappeared.
She casually grabbed the pillow beside her, closed her eyes again, and used her thoughts to return to that mysterious place.
The pillow had come with her!
With such a huge space, how many things could she store there?
She wandered around, observing her surroundings, and discovered a flowing spring behind the open land, with mist floating above it.
Carefully, she scooped up a handful of water to drink.
Immediately, she felt refreshed and invigorated. Her body, which had been sleepy moments ago, was now full of energy.
Even more surprising, the hands she had dipped into the spring water became smooth and delicate, as if covered by a soft glow.
Excitedly, she used the spring water to wipe down her body. Her skin instantly became as flawless as a peeled egg.
If even the spring water had such miraculous effects, then the fertile land nearby would surely be even more extraordinary.
Overjoyed, Meng Yao did not stay long. Using her thoughts, she returned to her room and spent the entire night thinking about how to make use of this unexpected blessing.
But another question followed closely behind.
With such an amazing treasure, if Meng Yu had possessed it in her previous life, there was no way she wouldn’t have used it.
Could it be that she had never managed to unlock it?
After pondering for a while, Meng Yao decided she would test things out later.