“Just got back from working three jobs. I’m really exhausted. Can we skip it today?”
A man’s voice came through the darkness, carrying obvious fatigue and helplessness, as if he were trying to negotiate.
The moment Rong Jiqiao opened her eyes, she was startled.
Instinctively, she took a step back, her spine hitting the wall. Everything around her was dim and shadowy.
Where was she?
Wasn’t she already dead?
Seeing that she didn’t respond, the man sighed.
A rustling sound came from the darkness—the sound of fabric brushing against fabric.
He was taking off his clothes.
Then he started walking toward her.
The unfamiliar scent drew closer and closer, carrying the faint fragrance of body wash—the cheapest brand you could find in a supermarket.
Rong Jiqiao’s mind hadn’t caught up yet, but her body reacted first.
Smack!
The sharp sound echoed clearly through the cramped room.
At first, Rong Jiqiao thought he was some kind of pervert.
But the moment her palm connected with his face, she realized something was wrong.
A sliver of light slipped through the gap in the curtains, illuminating the man’s features.
The slap had knocked his tongue against the inside of his cheek. He paused for a moment.
Rong Jiqiao’s eyes widened.
The man had deep, striking features. His nose was straight and high, the lines flowing smoothly from the bridge to the tip with a naturally sharp elegance. His thin lips were pressed into a tight line.
Rong Jiqiao felt her mind explode with a buzz.
Duan… Duan Yan?!
No… that wasn’t right…
How could Duan Yan be this young? He carried none of the commanding presence expected of the crown prince of Beijing’s elite circle.
At that moment, his brows were lowered, and his dark eyes fixed on her. There was suppressed anger in his gaze.
Yet he was still holding himself back.
“Rong Jiqiao, what are you causing trouble about this time?”
Her mind went blank.
The ceiling of the partitioned rental room was yellowed with age. From the neighboring room came the faint sounds of a television and the gurgling of water running through the pipes.
Combined with Duan Yan’s unusually youthful appearance…
Rong Jiqiao realized the truth.
She had been reborn.
She had returned to the time before they broke up.
Rong Jiqiao had graduated from a vocational nursing program and worked as a nurse in a small county hospital.
Back then, Duan Yan was still a construction laborer hauling bricks on job sites.
After an accident, someone brought him to the hospital for treatment. By coincidence, Rong Jiqiao was the nurse on duty.
Seeing that the people who brought him in were well-dressed and obviously wealthy, she assumed he was some rich second-generation heir.
So while Duan Yan was unconscious, she took meticulous care of him and even paid his medical expenses out of her own pocket.
Then, after waking up, Duan Yan told her:
“I’m just a construction worker who carries bricks for a living.”
Rong Jiqiao was dumbfounded.
But she’d already paid the money.
No matter what, he had to pay her back.
And Duan Yan understood that too.
Duan Yan knew he owed her a debt of gratitude.
During the day, he hauled bricks at construction sites. At night, he delivered takeout orders.
And every time Rong Jiqiao reminded him, “I spent all my savings paying the medical bills of a complete stranger like you,” he would feel deeply moved. No matter how busy he was, he always found time to run errands for her, pick her up from work, and take her home.
Rong Jiqiao enjoyed all of it without the slightest guilt.
She liked having such a handsome man by her side—it made her look good.
She liked that he worked tirelessly for her, willing to do anything she asked.
As time passed, the two of them got together.
She quit her job and let him support her.
Later, dissatisfied with spending her life in a small county town, she insisted on moving to Beijing to make something of herself.
Without a word of complaint, he followed her.
Rong Jiqiao considered herself beautiful and destined for greater things. Deep down, she always felt that a poor construction worker like Duan Yan wasn’t worthy of her.
When they first arrived in Beijing, she refused to live in the crowded urban villages where sunlight barely reached the windows. She also refused to stay in the dirty, cramped courtyard houses hidden in narrow alleys.
So Duan Yan gritted his teeth and rented a shared apartment that cost ten thousand yuan a month.
Seven or eight tenants lived there together.
The rooms had been divided with thin plasterboard walls. You could hear the person next door sneeze.
The rent alone was enough to crush someone who had just arrived in Beijing.
Yet Rong Jiqiao was still dissatisfied.
Then one day, the truth came out.
The person who had sent Duan Yan to the hospital back then was never Rong Jiqiao.
And the medical expenses she claimed to have paid weren’t over a hundred thousand yuan at all.
They had only been five thousand.
The real savior was a kind-hearted daughter of a wealthy family.
Soon afterward, Duan Yan’s true identity was revealed.
He returned to Beijing as the long-lost heir of the Duan family—the crown prince of Beijing’s elite circle—and married the wealthy young woman who had actually saved him.
As for Rong Jiqiao, she was cast aside and sent back to her small hometown to fend for herself.
But by then, he had spoiled her rotten.
She no longer knew how to work.
She didn’t want a job.
Her ambitions were sky-high, but her fate was fragile as paper.
Unwilling to give up, she kept causing trouble and repeatedly went to Beijing to harass Duan Yan.
In the end, one of the wealthy heiress’s devoted admirers killed her to prove his loyalty and affection.
No wonder.
She had been drowned to death one moment, and then mysteriously opened her eyes the next.
Rong Jiqiao’s legs gave out from shock.
She dropped straight to her knees in front of Duan Yan.
Duan Yan: “…?”
He had been expecting her to start another tantrum.
Instead, he froze, confusion flashing across his eyes.
“You…” He opened his mouth, then found himself at a loss for words.
A moment later—
He knelt down too.
As if he had suddenly realized something.
“Can we not do anything too… extreme?” he said in a low voice.
There was helplessness in his tone, exhaustion, and even the faintest trace of pleading.
“I really can’t handle it. I’m exhausted.”
Rong Jiqiao: “…”
The two of them knelt face-to-face.
Knee against knee.
Less than half a meter apart.
Rong Jiqiao was mortified.
The embarrassment was so overwhelming she wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
The man before her had knelt down as well.
His cool, refined face was now only inches away from hers.
In the dim light, the fatigue etched into his features gave him a strangely decadent, almost heartbreaking air.
The air felt like it had solidified into iron.
Rong Jiqiao’s mind raced, her survival instincts instantly kicking in.
She scrambled up from the ground.
“What are you talking about? What playing around? The room was pitch dark—I was just startled by you.”
Duan Yan pushed himself up from his knees, his movements slow.
His gaze fell on her evasive eyelashes.
Since when did she start considering his hardships?
Rong Jiqiao felt his stare and got even more nervous.
The more she said, the more mistakes she’d make. So she simply brought back her old, unreasonable self from ten years ago.
“What are you staring at? You smell like sweat—disgusting!”
She pinched her nose in disgust and stepped back, pointing at the cramped bathroom where there was barely room to turn around.
“Go take a shower. Now.”
Duan Yan had worked as a security guard during the day. After dinner, he went to a construction site for a part-time shift, and then spent hours delivering food.
How could he not smell?
He didn’t say a word. He grabbed his change of clothes and went into the bathroom. Soon, the sound of rushing water came from behind the thin partition.
This so-called “shared apartment” was actually just a pigeon cage carved out of plasterboard walls. A normal three-bedroom unit had been forcibly split into six rooms.
Rong Jiqiao was terrified again.
The memory of being held down and drowned was still vivid in her mind.
Her hands trembled uncontrollably.
It felt as if those impatient voices were still ringing in her ears.
“Just dump her into the sea.”
“How shameless can she be? After getting dumped, she still clings on like that.”
“Hurry up, or Sister Nian and Brother Yan will be here soon. They’ll be unhappy if they see her.”
Her mind went blank. She still couldn’t fully grasp the reality of everything in front of her.
Duan Yan finished his shower quickly.
When he came out, he was only wearing a loose sleeveless shirt.
He didn’t look at her. He lifted the blanket and lay down.
The moment his head hit the pillow, his steady breathing followed almost immediately.
He was truly exhausted.
During the day, he stood guard in a security booth. At night, he braved wind and rain delivering food.
Every bit of that grueling effort was turned into money—money that was poured endlessly into Rong Jiqiao’s bottomless pit.
The room was very small, only enough for a 1.5-meter bed and a wardrobe.
After hesitating for a moment, Rong Jiqiao stiffly lay down on the edge of the bed, curling herself into a small ball.
The warmth beside her spread continuously.
It had been a long time since she had shared a bed with Duan Yan.
All she could remember were the days after everything was exposed—when Duan Yan broke up with her, when she went mad trying to find him again, only to see his cold, impatient, noble indifference every time.
Behind her, the sound of the blanket shifting came again.
Rong Jiqiao stiffened.
The next second—
Duan Yan pulled her into his arms.