After a hard day's work, Xia Chuyi rubbed her shoulders and continued to tidy up the kitchen.

Bang, a noise came from behind her.

She turned around, startled, and saw a middle-aged man, plump and balding, wearing an ill-fitting jacket, jumping down from beside the wall.

At the sight of the man, Xia Chuyi's body tensed up suddenly, both shocked and scared,

"He Qing? What are you doing!" she angrily demanded.

He Qing, her ex-fiancé and also her former brother-in-law, had been pestering and harassing her in her shop ever since they bumped into each other at the vegetable market last month.

To avoid him, she had even started closing the shop unusually early, but who knew he would actually climb over the back wall!

What the hell did this bastard want?

"I just came to check on you, Chuyi. After all, we were once family..." he rubbed his hands while licking his lips.

"Who's family with you? You were Xia Family's son-in-law, and I've severed ties with the Xia Family long ago. Get out, get out of my shop!"

Xia Chuyi felt so nauseous.

"Don't say that, Chuyi. You haven't married all these years, aren't you keeping yourself pure for me?" He Qing flashed a sleazy disgusting smile, "It's been a long time since you tasted a man, hasn't it?"

He lunged at her.

"Help!" Xia Chuyi ran for the door, screaming as she sprinted.

He Qing caught up to her in two steps, covering her mouth tightly with one hand and strangling her neck with the other.

"Good Chuyi, if you like to scream, I'll let you scream enough on the bed later!" He Qing's tone became more obscene.

Xia Chuyi fiercely shook her head, thrashing and kicking at him.

Ignoring her resistance, he dragged her towards the small bedroom behind the shop.

Realizing his intentions, she struggled even more fiercely; her hands unintentionally brushed against the dishes in the cupboard.

Her eyes lit up, and she grabbed a stack of porcelain bowls, flinging them forcefully at He Qing.

Bang,

The porcelain bowls shattered on the floor.

He Qing momentarily paused his actions, cursing, "You bitch!"

A sharp pain in her scalp, her hair was fiercely pulled, and she was yanked up by He Qing who grabbed her collar and slammed her hard towards the cupboard.

Her body hit the cupboard hard, causing intense blunt pains in her organs. She fell to the floor like a kite with a broken string.

Crash—the dishes in the cupboard spilled out, shattering upon her.

Sszz—a glassy piercing sound as shards lodged into her flesh.

The back of her head was pierced by a piece of those porcelain shards.

She moaned, the taste of blood spreading in her nose and mouth, fluid slowly seeping from the back of her head, drenching a large patch of hair, and trickling down to the ground.

Seeing the blood, He Qing was shocked.

"Chuyi, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it..."

"He... Qing... If I die... I won't... let you go!" Xia Chuyi gasped, enduring the severe pain, word by word.

He Qing stepped back twice, his voice panicking.

"No, no, no... not my fault... it was Xia Lan, Xia Lan sent me!"

"It was her all those years ago too, she was the one who drugged you and Huo Shiqian..."

At this, the fading consciousness of Xia Chuyi widened her eyes: "What... did you say?"

Xia Lan? It was her!

No wonder that day, despite her not coming home all night, it was only in the morning Xia Lan anxiously and "worriedly" began searching everywhere for her. Then, "coincidentally" found her entangled with Huo Shiqian, drugged and bruised.

"It's all Xia Lan, all Xia Lan..." He Qing shouted as he fled out of the shop.

"Xia Lan..." she used all her strength to cry out that name that had led to a lifetime of tragedies for her.

Why, why!

She ruined her thirty years ago, and now a second time, thirty years later!

Xia Lan!

What grudge do I hold against you!

She was very unwilling to let it go!

Clenching her teeth, with a bloody hand, she moved inch by inch towards her phone... Her bloody fingerprint moved less than an inch, the blood's owner's consciousness began to blur, thoughts scattering.

Past years flashed before her eyes like scenes from a movie.

Her life had been hard, her father died early and her mother was weak, grandparents favored her cousin, forced to quit school when young, lost her virginity before marriage, fiancé snatched away, forced to marry an old widower, causing her uncle's death, driven out of the house...

A trail of tears mixed with blood slowly slid from Xia Chuyi's eye; she never managed to reach her phone. The blood from her head soaked the fragmented ceramics red.

She died with her eyes open.

Xia Chuyi had a dream, in which she returned to the military guesthouse on that day.

Outside the guesthouse, the world was a frozen expanse of ice and snow; inside the room, her body burned like hot coals, her restlessness unbearable.

She was pinned under the body of a robust man.

The temperature of the man's body was even higher than hers.

The dream was too realistic; Xia Chuyi struggled to open her eyes and lifted her weak arms, trying to touch the man's handsome face.

"Huo... Shi... Qian..."

Her lips trembling, tears of a physical reaction flowed ceaselessly.

All of this marked the beginning of a nightmare... A surge of fury suddenly rose in her heart, her eyes flashed with intensity, she put strength into her arms, pulling the two of them closer, opened her mouth, and fiercely bit down on his robust neck.

Her resistance only provoked a more intense reaction from the man.

The night passed in this manner.

When she came to her senses again, Xia Chuyi was staring dazedly at the ceiling of the guesthouse.

The real sensation of pain told her this was not a dream.

So, had she been reborn? Had she returned to that morning which she had desperately wished to end, to that morning which had led her life into a great tragedy?

In her last life, when she woke up and found herself defiled by a stranger, she had completely broken down, crying and waking up the drugged Huo Shiqian.

Huo Shiqian woke up with a cold expression and questioned her if it was her who had drugged him.

What had her response been at the time?

She had heard his words and hysterically screamed, calling him a rapist and lunging at him to tear at him.

She couldn't quite remember Huo Shiqian's reaction because right after, the voice of her cousin Xia Lan came from outside the door.

Xia Lan had come with He Qing and his comrades to look for her.

At that time, her mind had been a complete mess, filled with hatred for the man before her. She had been clinging to Huo Shiqian, and the door was quickly forced open by the people outside.

Xia Lan and her party entered, immediately seeing her and Huo Shiqian in their disheveled state.

After that, Huo Shiqian was reassigned to a mysterious unit in the Southwest due to personal conduct issues, while her engagement was called off by He Qing and she returned home heartbroken.

Reflecting on this, Xia Chuyi felt that this nightmare, though it seemed to be hers, was actually more of Huo Shiqian's.

He was a fine military officer, who had been dragged down by her and nearly had his career cut short.

But fortunately, in the end, he still climbed to a high position.

Many years later, she would often see his interviews on television, while his name had become one that even search engines needed to censor.

"Was it you who drugged me last night?" The man's voice rang in Xia Chuyi's ears.

Huo Shiqian's question was exactly the same as in her past life.

This time, she was no longer hysterical.

"I..." She began, only to discover that her throat was very hoarse.

"Speak up, who sent you?" The man asked coldly, his face stern.

Rubbing her throat, she calmly looked at him.

How strange it was, the demonic voice from her memory that seemed cold and heartless, now sounded deep and magnetic to her.

Huo Shiqian, in this life, let's be a bit more harmonious.

Xia Chuyi silently wished in her heart.

Xia Chuyi grabbed the blanket and covered herself.

She glanced at Huo Shiqian. He had woken up earlier than her and was already dressed neatly.

Leaning on her hand, her body slowly wriggled backwards until she Sat up against the wall at the head of the bed.

"There's no one..." Her throat was still very uncomfortable. She swallowed to moisten it, which made her feel somewhat better. She continued in a hoarse voice, "Believe it or not, I was also set up."

"I don't know you, and you don't know me. Why would I compromise my chastity to set you up?" She looked sincerely into his eyes, plainly interpreting the situation.

Now, it was a time when premarital loss of virginity could lead to public vilification.

Huo Shiqian's lips were tightly pressed together, his eyes, sharp as a hawk's, scanned her as if judging the truth of her words.

She met his gaze openly and without fear.

As she looked, she couldn't help but trace his features with her eyes.

He had fine, sword-like eyebrows, filled with a soldier's sharpness; his deep eyes were inscrutable, difficult to fathom; his high, prominent nose gave him an imperious air; his tightly set lips imparted an aura of authority; his chiseled jaw made him seem serious and no-nonsense.

This man truly had the kind of face that could frighten women and make children cry.

However, to tell the truth, he was quite handsome.

She found herself unconsciously smiling.

Huo Shiqian's expression changed slightly, his brows gradually knitting together.

The atmosphere turned somewhat awkward.

She withdrew her gaze.

She didn't get the information she wanted from his face. Of course, how could such a big issue be believed just from a few words?

No matter, she hadn't planned to resolve the issue right away.

Wrapped in the blanket, she got out of bed and picked up the clothes scattered on the floor, rustling as she put them on under the cover of the blanket.

Once dressed, she jumped off the bed and stood in front of him, tilting her head up slightly to look at Huo Shiqian.

The man was really quite tall.

"Anyway, this is what happened. Although a woman's chastity is important, neither of us did this willingly. So let's just pretend it never happened," she said casually, spreading her hands.

The air in the room suddenly felt degrees colder.

"What did you say?"

His sharp glance made her shiver, and she couldn't help but step back two steps, feeling inexplicably embarrassed, as if she had done something wrong.

"Cough cough, well, it's nothing, I'll be going now!"

She retreated to the wall, turned swiftly, and opened the window, using her hands and feet to climb onto the sill.

"What are you doing?"

Another stern and icy question came as her arm was gripped by him.

Looking back, Huo Shiqian's expression was extremely grim.

She struggled to pull her hand back but couldn't break free.

Fine, she pointed out the window of the inn.

There was a small portion of the balcony visible, with the building's pipes beside it. She planned to climb out there, and descend along the pipes to avoid exiting through the main door, where her fiancé and her "dear sister," Xia Lan, might be lying in wait.

"Don't overthink it. I just want to climb out from the balcony. Otherwise, if I go out the main door, my fiancé and my dear sister are waiting outside."

Her gaze flicked towards the currently quiet and closed door, which, if opened, could turn everything upside down.

"Fiancé?" Huo Shiqian echoed her words, his tone icy.