1 – Chapter 1
Rebirth
“Tao Tao, I’m your grandfather! Open your eyes and look! Your grandfather waited so long for you to come home – must I really see the young depart before the old?”
A mournful wailing reached her ears. The young woman on the bed furrowed her brow slightly, finding the noise rather bothersome.
“Doctor, come quickly! She moved!”
The commotion grew louder until the young woman finally slowly opened her eyes. Everything before her felt unfamiliar.
Her memories remained trapped in that raging inferno, surrounded by the smell of burning… her body relentlessly scorched by fierce flames for three days and three nights, until finally she…
If A Tao remembered correctly, she had died. So what was happening now?
The old man who claimed to be her grandfather sat on the edge of the bed, while a woman around forty and a girl about twenty stood beside it.
A Tao rubbed her temples, trying to recall something, but found her mind in complete chaos. Those memories seemed to have been torn into fragments, scattered and broken, impossible to piece together at the moment.
“Tao Tao, you scared me to death! If you were unhappy with the marriage Grandpa arranged, you should have just said so! Why would you mistreat yourself by jumping into the river?”
“That’s right, little sister. Who would have thought you hated Brother Sicheng so much that you’d rather give up your life to escape the marriage?!”
A Tao looked at the two women – one older, one younger – and frowned, instinctively feeling that neither seemed like good people.
Too weak to move, A Tao allowed the old man to help her sit up against the headboard. With the leisurely expression of someone watching a play, she observed the two women’s theatrical performance while still struggling to recall past events…
Wang Ling and Lin Jinyi, mother and daughter, didn’t notice the young woman’s unusual behavior, assuming she was just disoriented from falling into the river.
“Tao Tao, Mother isn’t blaming you, but your actions have shamed our Lin family. The rumors have already spread everywhere…” Wang Ling’s face was tightly scrunched up, wearing an expression of distress and conflict.
“What rumors?” A Tao finally deigned to ask.
She had finally remembered why this scene felt familiar – the two women before her strongly resembled the villainous supporting characters described in storybooks and novels, with their upturned eyes and mean appearances…
“Everyone’s saying our Lin family’s youngest daughter is inherently promiscuous!”Clearly, they are supposed to be engaged, yet they are still coveting other men! Going out to steal someone! Not to mention that man is just a blind man with a pretty face!”
As these words left Wang Ling’s mouth, the tension in her brow eased, and she actually seemed somewhat pleased with herself. But she couldn’t stop talking, continuing, “They’re also saying I didn’t raise Tao Tao properly, that coming from the countryside means she’ll never be presentable!”
“Enough!” the old man shouted angrily.
Wang Ling shrunk back: “Old Master, these are just things outsiders are saying, not us!”
“Speaking such words in front of Tao Tao – aren’t you afraid of breaking her heart as her mother!”
At this, everyone in the room turned their attention to the young woman on the sickbed.
Only then did they notice that the formerly timid girl who rarely dared to look others in the eye, who always seemed somewhat provincial, now leaned back against the headboard.
Her expression was calm, her posture relaxed and comfortable. Though her eyes weren’t directly looking at them but rather focused on playing with her fingernails, the aura surrounding her had truly changed!No longer a country bumpkin girl from the countryside, she now resembled a transcendent master from another realm!
Even Old Master Lin, who had lived for seventy years, actually felt a sense of intimidation! Fortunately, this feeling passed in an instant—who else could the person on the bed be if not his granddaughter?
A Tao, aware that everyone was staring at her, slightly lifted her eyelids: “You just accused me of stealing men? If I truly fancied someone, I’ve always preferred to take them by force.”