As Qin Lian stepped out of the building, her façade crumbled. Her forced composure shattered like fragile glass.
Silent tears streamed down her face, mixing with the rain that poured relentlessly from the dark sky. Her hands trembled, her legs barely holding her up.
The cold rain soaked through her clothes, chilling her to the bone, but she barely felt it.
Her breath hitched as she staggered forward, heels clicking against the wet pavement; until a sharp snap echoed through the empty street.
Her heel broke.
Qin Lian staggered forward, falling onto her hands and knees. The impact sent a jolt of pain through her arms, the rough pavement scraping her palms.
Her breath came in ragged gasps, chest tightening with unbearable pain. Her vision blurred as tears and raindrops merged, distorting the world around her.
A bitter, choked laugh escaped her lips, "Do I not deserve to be loved?"
She had fought for everything in her life.
Her parents died when she was young. Abandoned by her relatives, she grew up in an orphanage.
She struggled her way up, studying, working, and enduring sleepless nights to survive. Just when she thought she finally had someone to stand by her side—a loving boyfriend, a supportive friend, and maybe, just maybe, a future family she could build with him…
It turned out everything was a lie.
While she was lost in her misery, a sharp honk cut through the rain, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Qin Lian turned her head just in time to see the blinding glare of headlights cutting through the darkness.
A truck. Its horn blared. The tires skidded against the wet pavement.
But her body refused to move. Her legs were numb and frozen and wouldn't listen to her. Her mind was blank. For the first time in her life, she had no strength left to fight.
The world slowed.
She thought for a moment, "Was I meant to die alone?"
And then—A sickening crash.
Pain split through her nerves, sharp and overwhelming. Her body was flung through the air like a ragdoll.
The last thing she remembered was the crushing agony lacing through every part of her body before everything faded and darkness swallowed her whole.
****
Qin Lian's head throbbed as she stirred awake, her body heavy, chest tight. Flashes of memory clawed at her mind—blinding headlights, screeching tires, the sickening crunch of metal against flesh.
Panic shot through her as she opened her eyes, expecting the sterile white ceiling of a hospital. But what she saw wasn't a hospital.
The room was dimly lit, and the furniture was simple and old-fashioned. A sturdy wooden wardrobe stood in the corner, a plain cotton blanket covered her body.
The faint scent of incense lingered in the air, mingling with the earthy aroma of herbs.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
Her heart pounded as she sat up, clutching her throbbing head. "Where… where am I?"
Her gaze darted across the unfamiliar room until a small mirror on the bedside table caught her attention. Something about it made her hesitate. Slowly, with trembling fingers, she reached for it.
She lifted the mirror.
The face staring back at her stole her breath.
It was hers… but different.
Her features were softer, younger, and untouched by the exhaustion of life. A white bandage was wrapped around her forehead, a faint dried crimson bloodstain adding a fragile elegance to her delicate appearance.
Despite looking pale and weak, she was undeniably beautiful, far different from the woman she had been in her past life.
She ran a hand over her impossibly smooth skin. Her once calloused fingers, hardened by years of work, now looked soft and unblemished, as if they had never done any hard labor.
Even her thin, shoulder-length black hair had become long and silky. Though unkempt, it was still softer than it had ever been in her past life.
"This….this is me?" she whispered, voice barely above a breath.
It didn't make sense. The last thing she remembered was the accident.
The truck. The rain. The betrayal....
But she was here, alive, in a body that felt like hers but wasn't. Before she could piece together the impossible, a voice from downstairs broke the silence.
"She'll marry Xu Yinchen tomorrow, and that's the end of it."
Qin Lian's breath caught.
Xu Yinchen?
The name struck her like lightning.
It wasn't someone she knew personally, but something about it tugged at her memory; like a distant story, a plot of a novel she had once read.
"No…" Qin Lian clutched the blanket tightly, her fingers trembling. "It can't be…"
Before she could fully process the thought, a sharp pain shot through her skull.
A sudden wave of nausea surged through her, dizziness crashing over her like a tidal wave. Then, without warning, a flood of foreign memories invaded her mind, overwhelming her senses.
She gasped, her body trembling and was drenched in cold sweat. The images, the voices, the emotions; they weren't hers, yet they felt too real.
Her breath became ragged as she clutched her head. 'This… this has to be a dream!'
"How can that be possible... Am I... in a novel?" she whispered in a hoarse, weak voice, staring at her familiar yet unfamiliar reflection in the hand mirror.
.....
Downstairs, the Qin family's living room was thick with tension. Zhao Shuying's furious sobs shattered the silence as she clutched a tissue in her trembling hands.
Her face was red, her eyes swollen from crying, but her anger far outweighed her grief.
"Qin Lian is utterly shameless!" she spat, her voice trembling. "We fed her, clothed her, and raised her for twenty years—only for her to turn around and humiliate us like this? She called Ruoyu a vixen in front of the entire Lin family and accused us of mistreating her. How dare she?!"
"She humiliated not just Ruoyu but all of us," Qin Zhong added coldly, arms crossed over his chest.
"And that ridiculous stunt, slamming her head against the wall? What was she hoping for? Pity? Sympathy? Or did she think she could threaten us with her fake act? That girl is nothing but a disgrace."
Zhao Shuying sniffled, dabbing at her eyes. "All we asked was for her to break off the engagement with Lin Chengyan. It should have been Ruoyu's all along."
"Poor Ruoyu, she never even asked for any of this. And yet, Qin Lian hates her and blames her for everything."
"She finally showed her true colors," Qin Zhong said, voice like ice. "Ruoyu is our real daughter. It's time she takes back what belongs to her."
A moment of hesitation flickered across Zhao Shuying's face. "But… Lian'er, she has known Lin Chengyan her whole life and was engaged to him. Wouldn't this be a bit cruel—?"
"She's not a child," Qin Zhong cut her off, his tone sharp. "The engagement was never hers to begin with. She stole Ruoyu's identity, her life, and her future. It's only right that she returns it."
"Even the Lin family agrees that Mu Ruoyu is a better match for their family. She is polite, simple, and an obedient girl, who has suffered in life and knows her place."
"Unlike Qin Lian, who was spoiled since childhood and is becoming rebellious and unruly by the day."
Tears welled up in Zhao Shuying's eyes. "But forcing her to marry Xu Yinchen... He's nearly thirty, a pig farmer with three children. Lian'er grew up in the city…how could she possibly survive in a village?"
"She'll survive," Qin Zhong said coldly. "She comes from a village, after all. If not for the switch at birth between Ruoyu and her…"
"Anyway, she should be grateful we're arranging a marriage at all. Xu Yinchen has already paid the bride price to the Mu family."
"Since they refuse to cancel the engagement or return the betrothal gifts, as their biological daughter, it's only right she takes responsibility and fulfills the engagement in their place."
Zhao Shuying's grip tightened on the tissue in her hands. "But she'll hate us forever…"
"And?" Qin Zhong shot her a cold look.
"Do you think I care about the opinions of an outsider? We raised her for years, and this is how she repays us? There's nothing more to say. The wedding is set. Xu Yinchen will come for her tomorrow, whether she likes it or not."