Chapter 1: Rebirth and Return to Hong Kong

The seventh day of the eleventh lunar month, winter of 1961.

There was no snowfall when dawn broke, yet the wind that swept through was sharper than a blade, cutting across one’s face mercilessly.

At this moment, after three entire years in Baiyan Village, Lu Yao had long since shed the innocence and pride of her youth, worn away by time. Her lips trembled, her hands were cracked and rough, her complexion waxen, hair dry and brittle, and her large, dark eyes suddenly contracted with shock when they met the gaze of the woman before her, both familiar and strange.

Had she been reborn?

Lu Yao looked at the people and the scene before her, and understood: she had returned to the day when Xu Yanran came to Baiyan Village to fetch her.

A sourness and bitterness welled up in her heart, mingled with hatred she could not name.

In her previous life, Lu Yao’s true identity was exposed—she was not the genuine third daughter of the Xu family. Years ago, their nanny, driven by resentment, had secretly switched her own child with the Xu family’s newborn during Madam Xu’s labor. The truth of this exchange remained hidden for more than a decade, until the drunken, gambling husband of the nanny discovered it and, seeking a thousand yuan from the Xu family, revealed everything.

From that day forward, Lu Yao became an outsider to the Xu family. Her parents’ affection shifted away from her; her older siblings revolved around Xu Xingyue. Even the little brother she had raised from infancy was easily coaxed by Xu Xingyue’s words and took her side.

Lu Yao tried to convince herself it did not matter, that it was only temporary—that everyone was simply focused on Xu Xingyue because she had just returned. If she behaved well enough, surely her family would treat her as they once did?

But she had not foreseen what would happen next.

The country began its “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside” movement. As an educated youth, Xu Xingyue was supposed to answer the call from above and go to Baiyan Village to eradicate the three great divides—between workers and peasants, between city and countryside, and between manual and intellectual labor.

Xu Xingyue had only just come home; how could the Xu family bear to let her leave again and endure further separation? Unanimously, they decided that Lu Yao should go in her place.

They believed she had enjoyed fifteen years of privilege that rightfully belonged to Xu Xingyue. Now that Xu Xingyue was finally home, how could they allow themselves to remain apart?

Thus, Lu Yao, bound by the family’s moral coercion, was forced to take Xu Xingyue’s place and move to the countryside.

She never imagined this exile would last three years.

Three years later, when Xu Yanran arrived in her car to bring Lu Yao back, Lu Yao thought the family had finally come to their senses and remembered her virtues, sending Xu Yanran to fetch her home.

She never expected that her return would mark her true descent into hell.

The Xu family had never truly intended to welcome her back. She was only remembered because the Xu family’s company faced financial difficulties.

To save the company, her father arranged for her to marry the foolish son of the Huang family, so she could bear their child.

Unable to endure such humiliation, Lu Yao ultimately chose suicide in her previous life.

Looking back now, she realized how naïve and foolish she had been. The Xu family had already abandoned her; how could she still hold out hope for them? If they had ever cared for the daughter they had raised for fifteen years, they would not have moved the entire family to Hong Kong to pursue business just two months after she was sent to the countryside, taking Xu Xingyue with them.

Now, having returned to the day Xu Yanran came to fetch her, Lu Yao resolved not to repeat the path of her previous life.

She had already paid her debt to the Xu family in her last life.

In this life, whatever the Xu family did to her, she would repay in kind, without hesitation.

“What are you thinking? Get in the car, quickly,” Xu Yanran frowned, unable to suppress her impatience as she looked at the dazed, motionless Lu Yao.

After three years apart, Xu Yanran sensed Lu Yao had grown strangely distant. In the past, whenever she was wronged or upset, Lu Yao would always run to her eldest sister to cry. Now she seemed so cold, so detached.

Xu Yanran had personally set aside her business affairs, driving from Hong Kong to the mainland to fetch Lu Yao. If nothing else, Lu Yao should at least embrace her and weep with relief and joy.

Yet none of these expectations came to pass. The moment Lu Yao saw her, she merely stared blankly, then turned indifferent and cold, as if gazing at a stranger.

This irked Xu Yanran deeply.

Lu Yao, coming to her senses, lowered her gaze and bent to sit in the car without hesitation.

She knew perfectly well this was her only way out of Baiyan Village.

She no longer wished to remain.

Xu Yanran’s frown deepened, her dissatisfaction evident.

What was wrong with Lu Yao? Was it so difficult to respond when asked to get in the car? Did she still begrudge them for forcing her to take Xu Xingyue’s place in the countryside?

Xu Yanran pressed her lips together, annoyance flickering in her eyes.

“Stop with the childish tantrums,” she said, opening the car door and getting in. Through the rearview mirror, she glanced at Lu Yao, who sat in the back seat.

“It was only three years you spent here. Xingyue endured fifteen years in the countryside under your name. Your three years barely compare—what do you have to complain about?”

How melodramatic!

Lu Yao’s lips twisted in a bitter smile as she gazed out the window, silent.

Yes, she had no right to feel aggrieved. The trip to the countryside was her punishment, her restitution for usurping Xu Xingyue’s life.

She had already made amends in her previous life.

But why were they never satisfied? Why did they still push her into hell?

“Why aren’t you speaking?” Xu Yanran asked, glancing at her through the car’s rearview mirror as she drove.

“Are you sulking again? Three years gone, and you’ve grown so temperamental? Is it really so hard to answer me?”

“I’ll tell you now: Mother’s health is not good. When you return, don’t cry in front of her. Try to talk about happy things. You don’t know how many nights she’s wept for you over the years. Please, don’t make her sad again.”

Lu Yao could not help but sneer inwardly. What did any of this have to do with her? That woman was no longer her mother.

She would never again confide in any of them.

It was pointless.

Her pleas in her previous life had only made them see her as weak and overly sentimental, incapable of hardship.

Outwardly, her face remained calm and unmoved.

Xu Yanran saw her silence and, though displeased, said nothing more.

Three years of neglect—they had ignored her all this time. It was only natural she harbored some resentment.

Thus, the journey passed in silence.

By the time the car reached the capital’s airport, night had already fallen.

“Miss, the tickets are ready,” said a man in a black suit, handing two plane tickets respectfully to Xu Yanran.

“Let’s go,” Xu Yanran said, glancing at the tickets and then, with a look of pride, urged Lu Yao onto the plane.