An Xiuqing was frantic, terrified that once Ji Fengmei recovered, she would recall the abuse—doom after doom, wasting her rebirth.
“Auntie, what should I do? I’m scared.”
Du Qiuyi, confident in her drugs, told her not to worry:
“After so much medication, Ji Fengmei couldn’t have recovered anyway. She wouldn’t have survived past the New Year. Now in the hospital, she can live a few more days, but she won’t be able to speak again. Don’t fear—just care for her as before. What happened before must continue—no sudden changes.”
An Xiuqing, at a loss, regretted her actions:
“But Dr. Qi won’t let me in the ward. He won’t even take the meals I bring.”
“Deliver meals each day, no need to speak. Leave them and step away. Once his mother dies, things will settle after a while.”
An Xiuqing’s resentment toward Jiang Zhen grew:
“Auntie, Jiang Zhen climbing the roof to spy—will the hospital punish her?”
Du Qiuyi shook her head:
“She had her reasons—fear that Ji Fengmei would be abused to death. After discussion, the hospital decided not to punish her. Let your elder sister handle it first and see the outcome.”
“Auntie, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
An Xiuqing gathered her courage: “Auntie, actually, I was reborn. I suspect Jiang Zhen might be too…”
…
An Qihui had just reported Jiang Zhen’s personal affairs to the hospital, demanding serious handling, and had quarreled with Jiang Zhen—but didn’t succeed.
The hospital only gave Jiang Zhen a verbal lecture, with no actual punishment. An Qihui’s mental state was already poor.
Thinking that there were still no children, she continued giving Yan Jiawen the medicine. Unexpectedly, Yan Jiawen yelled at her, calling her crazy: “I’ve already said, if it’s not your problem, it’s mine. You refuse to get checked. Are you insane?”
After a huge quarrel, Yan Jiawen went into hysterics, revealing all the private matters between the couple.
The psychiatric staff looked at An Qihui as if she were a patient. The strong-willed An Qihui couldn’t accept it and collapsed, immediately admitted for treatment.
Yan Jiawen’s mental issues caused by the medicine would subside once it wore off, but An Qihui losing her mind was unexpected.
…
Du Qiuyi had just calmed An Xiuqing when she learned that An Qihui had gone insane. She immediately rushed to the psychiatric ward, holding An Qihui and questioning the people around her: “Why did this happen?”
The staff looked at Qihui with disdain. Seeing the poor Qihui, Du Qiuyi decided to take her abroad, conveniently taking Xiuqing and Dr. Qi along.
Among the crowd, she found Jiang Zhen. Xiuqing explained that before rebirth, Jiang Zhen had been killed. Now alive, she should know that Xiuqing had hired someone to kill her, and that Jiang Zhen was taking revenge!
Qi Junshan was already dead, Ji Fengmei was barely alive. Next would be Xiuqing and Qihui, then perhaps Du Qiuyi herself.
Du Qiuyi calculated: since she had decided to go abroad, preparations needed to start immediately. Before leaving, she wouldn’t let Jiang Zhen have it easy.
…
Du Qiuyi’s resolute and vicious gaze made Jiang Zhen grateful. Luckily, Yan Jiawen had “gone mad,” otherwise he would have been the first target of Du Qiuyi’s revenge.
Soon, Li Chongling contacted Jiang Zhen again with new developments. He hoped to quickly build trust in order to learn what had really happened to her twin sister.
“Du Qiuyi wants me to go abroad. I pretended to agree, which made her happy. But I noticed she contacted people I’ve never dealt with before. Be careful.”
Never dealt with before? Why would they listen to her? Maybe because their children had been swapped and they were now coerced into compliance?
Jiang Zhen suspected as much. She knew Li Chongling wanted information from her, but for now, she couldn’t really help.
“Thank you,” Jiang Zhen said. “I don’t even know how I could help you.”
Li Chongling hurriedly replied: “No need. One day, if you feel our interactions can be shared with Gu Liancheng, I’ll be satisfied.”
Jiang Zhen: …He can already infer a lot, knows what is crucial. She didn’t need to make things difficult for herself.
…
Jiang Zhen wanted to test her concerns, so she discussed with Gu Liancheng: “Make up an excuse to stay at the barracks, then I’ll see if the hospital schedules me for night shifts. If I can’t swap the night shift, we’ll have to be careful.”
Thinking about the four children at home, Gu Liancheng felt a tightness in his chest: “Du Qiuyi wouldn’t be cruel enough to harm even the kids, would she?”
Jiang Zhen: “I think she could.”
Soon, Gu Liancheng stayed out both nights. Neighbors learned from the children how long he would be gone.
The next day, Jiang Zhen was scheduled for a night shift—and couldn’t swap it.
She and Gu Liancheng had agreed: while she was on duty, he would secretly return home to watch over the children.
Ji Fengmei had been in treatment for several days. That night, Jiang Zhen had the chance to give Ji Fengmei a brief revival to reveal the truth.
…
In the middle of the night, when Qi’s laxative in the cup took effect, he rushed to the bathroom. Jiang Zhen seized the opportunity.
Gu Jiaoxia, doing this for the first time, was nervous and said: “Dr. Qi is worried about his mother. Even with diarrhea, he’ll come back quickly. Jiang, you should be done in five minutes. I’ll stand guard outside.”
In the ward, Ji Fengmei glared venomously at Jiang Zhen. She hated Xiuqing and Du Qiuyi, and now Jiang Zhen too.
Jiang Zhen said: “Don’t look at me like that. You’ve been overmedicated and won’t fully recover, but I have a medicine that can give you a brief recovery. You can tell Dr. Qi whatever you want. Blink twice if you want it, three times if you don’t. Once the sun rises, you’ll die.”
Ji Fengmei blinked once physiologically, still defiant.
Jiang Zhen said: “Fine, I’ll find another chance to deal with Xiuqing and Du Qiuyi. But Dr. Qi will definitely be fooled. You know the dirty deeds kept from him. Sadly, he’s left clean for Xiuqing to medicate. In the future, if Dr. Qi misbehaves, she’ll medicate him again.”
After two to three minutes, Ji Fengmei finally blinked twice.
…
In under five minutes, Jiang Zhen left the ward. Gu Jiaoxia, no longer nervous, said: “Jiang, does your medicine really work?”
Jiang Zhen nodded: “It takes effect within an hour. Sister, I’ll go. You check on her and pretend it’s a miracle.”
“Won’t Ji Fengmei say you did it?”
“She won’t. If she did, it would harm Dr. Qi. Besides, I took extra precautions—she also took the secret beans.”
Soon, Dr. Qi returned, repeatedly thanking Gu Jiaoxia for helping with the shifts.
Gu Jiaoxia, anxious, wondered what medicine could make Ji Fengmei speak in an hour. Her gaze in the ward was terrifying—after all that, still only hate?
Nearly an hour passed. Ji Fengmei suddenly struggled violently, then spoke: “Junhai, son, call for help—more people, the better. Mother has something to say.”
Gu Jiaoxia stared in shock as Ji Fengmei sat up and spoke—Jiang Zhen’s medicine had worked…
An Xiuqing was probably still asleep, thinking herself clever. Once the sun rose, everything would be decided.
…
At home, Xiuqing, excited, hadn’t slept. Auntie said she would take her and Dr. Qi abroad. If Dr. Qi disobeyed, he’d “fall ill” and then be treated abroad.
Auntie said tonight, no matter what happened at home, don’t make a sound. Pretend you didn’t hear anything. Tomorrow morning would bring a surprise.
There was already activity at home—at least four people had scaled the yard wall. Xiuqing wasn’t scared at all; this must be Auntie’s arrangement, taking a shortcut from her yard to Jiang Zhen’s.
Gu Liancheng wasn’t home, Jiang Zhen was on night duty. Only the four children were at home. Tomorrow morning, if something happens to them, let’s see if the Gu family could forgive Jiang Zhen.
But how did those people reach her door? Did Auntie instruct them, doing a full act, sneaking in to steal things to frame her?
Xiuqing pretended to sleep, but the intruders didn’t leave—they climbed onto the bed. The scream never came out, muffled by a pillow.
…
Early morning, Du Qiuyi arrived half an hour early, enough to witness the Gu family’s fiasco. Gu Jiaoxia still didn’t know that last night, the Gu twins had already left Fancheng.
And Jiang Zhen—her own two children were dead, and she had lost Gu Liancheng’s twins.
Gu Liancheng gave her most of his allowance to support the family, yet she chose a night shift. This time, Jiang Zhen was beyond redemption.
Du Qiuyi smiled. She had never undergone a “darkening” process; she’d been like this since childhood.
As a child, she envied her sister’s wealthy employer—rich enough to send kids abroad. She had let her brother-in-law die, making her sister a concubine.
From childhood, she knew that if she wanted something, she had to take it herself.
“Why are you all staring at me? Is there dirt on my face?” Du Qiuyi arrived at the inpatient department, noticing whispering nurses. They went silent upon seeing her.
The nurses shook their heads and hurried away with excuses.
Du Qiuyi was suspicious. At Ji Fengmei’s room, she found no one outside—impossible. Alert, she turned to leave.
…
At the staircase, Gu Jiaoxia stopped Du Qiuyi: “Dr. Du, your niece-in-law is Ji Fengmei’s daughter-in-law. You came all this way—aren’t you going to see her?”
Du Qiuyi steadied herself: “Xiuqing said she was delivering breakfast. I’ll meet her at the door. Jiang Zhen was on night duty last night; only four kids were home. Safe? You care about me; I care about your family. Better let Jiang Zhen return early to check on them.”
Jiang Zhen and Gu Liancheng, each holding a child, had already arrived.
Jiang Zhen said: “Dr. Du, thank you for your concern. The kids are fine. I just took them to the cafeteria for breakfast. Gu Liancheng couldn’t eat, but I said, if someone else dies, it doesn’t affect us—we’re fine.”
Gu Jiaoxia, initially worried, relaxed seeing the kids—but then worried again: “Another death? Who died?”
Jiang Zhen calmly looked at Du Qiuyi, whose expression collapsed, and said: “It was An Xiuqing. Last night, intruders entered her house and smothered her with a pillow.”