Song Tingwan, who had been dead for ten years, was reborn[1]In Chinese web novels, rebirth generally refers to a character returning to life, often retaining memories of their previous existence. The circumstances and rules of rebirth vary between stories. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729578_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729578_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
The summer wind was hot and sticky. Beneath the dazzling lights of the plaza, a young woman stood frozen in place.
The city’s bustle poured into her ears, and Song Tingwan struggled to make sense of where she was.
Until—
“Mr. Song, is the dream amusement park you’ve spent a fortune building really for Bai Xiyuan’s birthday?”
“What exactly is your relationship with Bai Xiyuan?”
“Bai Xiyuan recently emphasized on her social media account that she’s single. What do you think about that, Mr. Song?”
“Mr. Song, is it true that the amusement park cost five hundred million to build?”
“We’ve heard you nearly came to blows with Fu Shiyan over Bai Xiyuan. Is that true?”
On the giant screen outside the mall, a young man was surrounded by reporters, all firing questions at once.
Song Tingwan stared blankly at the young man on the screen and recognized him.
As she listened to the reporters questioning him, the moment she understood what was going on, she was so furious she nearly ground her teeth to dust.
“You’ve got some nerve, Song Hanzhou! Is this what you’re doing with the family business Mom and Dad left us?”
“Have you got shit for brains?”
She didn’t have time to wonder how she’d ended up here. Fuming, she pulled out her fifth-generation “Fruit”[2]A playful substitute for Apple, the technology brand. Chinese web novels sometimes use indirect names or humorous substitutes when referring to real-world brands. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729578_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729578_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); phone, found her younger brother’s number, and called him.
At that moment, Song Hanzhou was being interviewed. Just as he was about to answer the reporters’ last question, his assistant came up with a phone and murmured, “Boss, you have a call.”
Song Hanzhou shot his assistant a displeased glance. “Don’t answer it.”
The assistant looked troubled. He hesitated for a few seconds, then braced himself and said, “The caller ID… says it’s your older sister.”
The instant he heard that, Song Hanzhou snatched the phone from his assistant.
Ignoring the reporters still waiting for an answer, he stared fixedly at the screen as if he could bore a hole through it.
The caller was saved as “Big Sis”[3]In Chinese families, older siblings are commonly addressed by kinship terms rather than personal names. Calling an older sister “Big Sis” reflects the distinction between older and … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729578_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729578_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. He checked again and again. It was the number he knew by heart.
The phone rang until the call ended automatically, but Song Hanzhou didn’t dare answer.
A few seconds later, just as he thought it wouldn’t ring again, the call came through once more.
Song Hanzhou’s fingers trembled. Torn between apprehension and anger, he pressed the answer button.
So nervous that he didn’t think, he put it on speaker.
The next second, an irritable voice, brimming with anger, burst from the phone.
“Song Hanzhou, are you planning to squander the whole family fortune and find out what it’s like for a down-and-out young master[4]A translation of the Chinese term shaoye, traditionally used for the son of a wealthy or prominent family. In modern Chinese fiction, it can also refer to a privileged young man from a rich … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729578_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729578_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); to sleep under a bridge?”
The familiar yet unfamiliar voice left him stunned for a moment. But then anger surged up and swallowed everything else.
Song Hanzhou’s face darkened. Through gritted teeth, he demanded, “Who are you? How did you get this number?”
A cold laugh came from the other end, followed by that same familiar voice. “You can’t even recognize my voice? Good for you!”
Song Hanzhou only grew angrier. “I don’t have time to waste on you. How dare you impersonate my sister? Are you looking to get yourself killed?”
“You’d better hide somewhere I won’t find you, or else—”
“Or else what?” Song Tingwan stared straight at Song Hanzhou’s changing expression on the screen and said coldly, “Come to Shengting and pick me up in half an hour. Be one minute late, and you’re dead!”
She hung up before Song Hanzhou could say a word, then stared at the date displayed on the big screen.
…It was ten years after her death.
That was right. Song Tingwan had been reborn—but ten years after she’d died.
The night she broke up with her ex-boyfriend, she’d been caught in a landslide. The mudslide had swept her and her car away, and she’d died at eighteen.
Her memories ended with the car engulfed by mud and sand, the violent impacts and tumbling plunging her into darkness in an instant.
When she opened her eyes again, she was here.
Song Tingwan had no idea how she’d been reborn, but she had more urgent business: she needed to beat up her younger brother.
Shengting was one of the Song family’s businesses.
But when Song Tingwan arrived, she was told that Shengting no longer belonged to the Song family.
In that instant, her urge to beat up her brother turned into an urge to chop someone up.
She did her best to keep a smile on her face, booked a private room, and waited quietly for Song Hanzhou to arrive.
The seconds ticked by. The half hour she’d given him had already passed by ten minutes.
With a server leading the way, Song Hanzhou reached the private room. He gripped the doorknob tightly and stood there for a full ten minutes, unable to bring himself to open the door.
Ten years after his older sister’s death, the number she’d used in life had called him. Song Hanzhou felt no joy at all—only anger at the person behind the phone.
For ten years, he’d paid the bill for that number on schedule, but it had always been unreachable.
Who was this person pretending to be his older sister, who’d been dead for ten years?
On the way over, he’d decided he would make the prankster pay.
Inside the private room, Song Tingwan lit up her phone to check the time. A hint of impatience immediately surfaced on her cool little face.
She called Song Hanzhou again.
The next second, a ringtone sounded outside the door.
She glanced up at the firmly shut door, the corners of her lips lifting. Tossing her phone onto the table, she settled in to see when the person outside would finally come in.
Song Hanzhou stared at the phone screen. A split second before the call ended automatically, he flung the door open.
He strode in, bristling with anger—but the moment he saw who was inside, all the fury he’d been nursing vanished.
His gaze fixed on her, disbelief filling his eyes.
Beneath the gentle light, the young woman sat upright on the sofa. Her face was unchanged, just as it had been when she left home all those years ago, smiling as she promised she’d come back.
Song Hanzhou couldn’t bring himself to go closer. He stared at the person before him.
A flood of emotions swept through him like a storm, tearing at his reason.
How could there be two people in this world who looked exactly alike?
Impossible!
It couldn’t be!
Instinctively, Song Hanzhou wanted to deny that the person before him was his older sister. But when his eyes fell on the three unusually conspicuous pearls at her collar, his mind went blank.
He’d sewn them onto his Older Sister’s clothes himself…
Song Hanzhou stood there stunned, his heart suddenly racing.
As he realized what it meant, an uncontrollable rush of warmth welled in his eyes. He was rooted to the spot, unable to move.
Song Tingwan said nothing. She simply sat quietly and waited for her younger brother to slowly accept the fact that she’d suddenly appeared.
After a long while, Song Hanzhou cautiously took a step forward and managed to choke out, “Sis… is it really you?”
Looking at him, Song Tingwan remembered how she’d left her younger brothers without warning, so suddenly, after they’d relied on her since childhood.
A complicated feeling rose in her heart too.
Her younger brother had grown into an adult. Their reunion didn’t feel familiar at all; instead, he seemed so strange that she didn’t know how to respond.
Song Tingwan tried to steady her emotions, gave him a faint smile, and asked, “Are you passing Chinese class yet? Still getting zero on your essays?”
At those words, the last trace of doubt in Song Hanzhou’s heart vanished.
He hurried over, then sank to his knees, letting his head rest against her knees.
He choked out, “Sis…”
Song Tingwan was moved. She stroked his head and said hoarsely, “It’s me. Long time no see, Xiaozhou[5]A familiar and affectionate form of address. In Chinese, Xiao means “little” and is often placed before part of someone’s given name to express closeness or affection, regardless of … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3729578_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3729578_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });”
“I finally get to see you again. This isn’t a dream, is it?” Song Hanzhou couldn’t hold back anymore. At six foot one, he cried like a child who’d suffered one injustice too many, completely unable to stop himself.
His howls filled the private room.
Outside, the assistant listened in utter bewilderment. Several times he almost pushed open the door to check, but stopped himself.
With the boss crying that hard, he surely wouldn’t want anyone to see him in such a sorry state.
And yet the assistant was burning with curiosity. He desperately wanted to know why his boss was crying.
After a while, Song Tingwan’s head began to ache from all his bawling. She pinched Song Hanzhou’s ear and scolded him, “That’s enough. How old are you? And you’re still crying?”
Song Hanzhou winced and lifted his head, looking at her pitifully. He was nothing like the cool, composed man who’d been surrounded by reporters.
The three younger Song brothers were all adept at acting cute to curry favor.
Seeing the grievance in his eyes, Song Tingwan put on a cold expression. “Song Hanzhou, you’re a grown man now. Acting cute is shameful!”
“And I heard you spent five hundred million on someone else’s birthday? Who is it, anyway? Must be quite the big shot to make you so generous.”
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