“Sangsang, why aren’t you wearing shoes? Are you praying or something?”
Shen Jingnian had been given strict orders by Zhou Hui.
He absolutely had to drag his lazy little sister out of bed and make sure she ate breakfast.
But when he opened the door, he found her bedroom empty.
After looking around, he finally found her in the bathroom.
“What kind of new ritual is this? Does it require you to go barefoot?”
The fragmented light reflected off the bathroom glass, casting a golden sheen over Shen Jingnian’s light-brown hair.
He leaned casually against the doorframe and asked Shen Sangyu with an exasperated smile.
Then he bent down.
With a soft slap, a pair of fuzzy slippers landed beside Shen Sangyu’s feet.
“Big Brother!”
In her previous life, after their parents died, the two siblings had relied on each other for survival.
Whenever she remembered how miserable and frustrated Shen Jingnian had been in that life, Shen Sangyu couldn’t help feeling heartbroken.
Thankfully, her brother was still the same proud, spirited young man he had always been.
Wait!
The lotus bud!
“Brother, did you see it?”
Shen Sangyu pointed at the enormous flower bud floating in front of the mirror.
Although it was still only a bud, several different colors could faintly be seen beneath its petals.
And surely anyone who saw such a gigantic flower bud suddenly floating in midair would find it strange.
“Yeah. I see a big idiot.”
Shen Jingnian looked at the messy-haired girl reflected in the mirror and teased her with a grin.
Shen Sangyu rolled her eyes helplessly.
Her brother really hadn’t changed at all.
He was still such a childish goofball.
In truth, Shen Jingnian was only four years older than her. He was currently a fourth-year student at Haida University.
In her previous life, their family had been struck by disaster without warning, forcing Shen Jingnian to grow up overnight.
But back then, he had only just graduated from university…
Shen Sangyu studied her brother’s face carefully.
There wasn’t the slightest sign that he could see anything unusual.
So it seemed that only she could see the lotus.
She wondered if Meng Chengxi had obtained this lotus bud in her previous life too.
There were still far too many things Shen Sangyu didn’t know about her previous life.
How exactly had Meng Chengxi borrowed her life?
And did the Meng couple know anything about it?
Forget it.
There was no point thinking about all that right now.
Shen Sangyu shook her head, clearing away the tangled thoughts in her mind.
“I’m going to wash up. No entry!”
Pretending to be annoyed, she shoved Shen Jingnian away from the doorway.
Then she slammed the door shut.
“Hurry up! Madam Zhou specifically ordered me to make sure you eat breakfast.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Old man.”
Although Shen Sangyu had been adopted, her parents had loved her as if she were their own precious daughter.
Apparently, their love had rubbed off on Shen Jingnian too.
At this rate, he was practically turning into a nagging little old man.
Once the door was closed, Shen Sangyu turned her attention back to the lotus bud still floating in midair.
She carefully reached out and touched it with one finger.
It felt cool and smooth beneath her fingertip.
Slowly, a crystal-clear droplet of water condensed at the tip of the lotus bud.
“Huh?”
The droplet followed her fingertip before slowly disappearing.
Before she could figure out what had happened, a pungent smell suddenly hit her, jolting her fully awake.
Shen Sangyu looked into the mirror.
Her face was covered in a layer of dark grime, which extended all the way down her neck and disappeared beneath her clothes.
Was this the legendary cleansing and marrow-purifying process?
But it didn’t hurt at all.
If anything, Shen Sangyu could clearly feel that her body had become much lighter.
Her senses seemed sharper too.
She could perceive the slightest changes in the air, the sound of the wind, the chirping of birds…
A strange energy flowed from her fingertip through every meridian in her body.
It nourished and repaired her from the inside out, restoring both her body and her skin.
After Shen Sangyu washed all the grime away, she stared at her reflection.
“Looks like I can even save money on whitening serum now!”
And it wasn’t just whitening serum.
She didn’t know whether it was because of having her life borrowed in her previous existence, but although she had returned to her own body after being reborn, her face had still seemed slightly hazy, as if covered by a thin veil.
Now, that veil had completely disappeared.
Her brows and eyes resembled distant mountains veiled in emerald green, dark and pure, calm and seemingly bottomless.
Her nose was delicately defined, while the corners of her lips curved into a faint smile.
Her skin was as smooth and cool as jade. It wasn’t pale, but instead carried a soft, lustrous glow.
It was as though her features had finally blossomed into their full beauty.
Even the lotus bud floating in the air seemed to have grown slightly larger than before.
Shen Sangyu closed her eyes and silently focused her thoughts.
In an instant, the lotus bud transformed into a streak of golden light and returned to the tiny red mole beneath her collarbone.
While eating the soy milk and mochi Zhou Hui had prepared, Shen Sangyu couldn’t help thinking,
No wonder Meng Chengxi had gone to such lengths to obtain this jade pendant.
Knock, knock.
Shen Jingnian lightly tapped the table in front of her.
“What are you thinking about? Running out of pocket money?”
Shen Jingnian had watched her stare into her soy milk for so long that he finally leaned closer to see what she was doing.
This girl…
She could actually zone out while eating breakfast.
Shen Sangyu was lost in thought when her brother’s words pulled her back to reality.
Without saying a word, she held out her hand and opened her palm.
“I’m out. Hand it over!”
When it came to asking for pocket money, Shen Sangyu had always been completely shameless.
It was so good.
Her father, mother, and brother were all still alive and well right in front of her.
And now she had the lotus’s mysterious spiritual dew as well.
For the first time since her rebirth, Shen Sangyu felt truly confident about the future.
…
January in Haishi was bitterly cold, the air filled with a sharp winter chill.
By now, Meng Chengxi had probably already noticed her existence.
Shen Sangyu couldn’t afford to sit around and wait.
She put on the New Year’s gift Zhou Hui had bought for her, a cashmere coat from M brand.
She also emptied every last bit of cash from Shen Jingnian’s wallet.
Then she happily headed out.
Even the plane-tree leaves scattered along the roadside looked pleasing to her eyes.
Her parents’ high-end private restaurant was called Qinan Restaurant.
It specialized in Huaiyang cuisine and had spent many years establishing its reputation in Haishi.
Now, during every holiday, getting a private room at Qinan Restaurant was nearly impossible.
Haishi still preserved many of the old-fashioned buildings from the last century.
Qinan Restaurant was located on a street where old-world architecture blended with modern development, and it was only a short distance from the city’s central business district.
“Sangsang, you’re here.”
Shen Sangyu was heading upstairs to one of the private rooms when she spotted Uncle Chen.
The kindhearted middle-aged man was anxiously waddling along, his round belly slightly swollen with age.
He was carrying something in his hands.
It looked like something had been broken.
“Good morning, Uncle Chen!”
Shen Sangyu greeted him before asking,
“What broke?”
“Oh, this? Your Auntie Wu accidentally broke the vase in the boss’s office while she was cleaning.”
Uncle Chen sighed helplessly.
“I’m going to ask Master Li if he can repair it.”
Shen Sangyu’s eyes fell on the pieces of the vase in his hands.
She vaguely remembered something like this happening in her previous life.
The vase had been left behind by Grandpa Shen.
Although it wasn’t considered a particularly valuable antique, it held tremendous sentimental value.
That was why her father had always kept it in his office.
Shen Sangyu was just about to look away when her right eye suddenly stung.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
When she opened them again, she saw something astonishing.
The broken pieces of the vase were covered in a faint golden mist.
Golden mist?
Shen Sangyu wondered if she had imagined it.
But when she looked again, she realized that only her right eye could see the strange mist.
Her left eye saw nothing unusual at all.
“Uncle Chen, give the vase to me. I have some free time anyway. I’ll ask Uncle Li later whether he can repair it.”
Because Haishi had such a strong historical atmosphere, several antique shops had opened around Qinan Restaurant.
In her previous life, Shen Sangyu had often wandered into those shops.
As soon as Uncle Chen heard her offer, he quickly handed the broken vase over to her.
“Then I’ll leave it to you, Sangsang. Thank you. I still need to go check on the dining area.”
The three-day New Year’s holiday was in full swing, and every employee at Qinan Restaurant was so busy that they barely had time to catch their breath.
Before Shen Sangyu could even respond, Uncle Chen had already disappeared.
Shen Sangyu had only just taken the vase when the golden mist suddenly surged toward her right eye before she could even examine its patterns properly.