Chapter 1

When people are on the verge of death, they always begin to look back on the past.
Blood bloomed like red spider lilies in the bath. Gu Nianxi closed her eyes and submerged half her body in the water, feeling her life slowly drain away along with the last of her body heat.
Her entire life had been as absurd as a novel.

Gu Nianxi was born into one of the most prominent wealthy families in Jing City and grew up as the little princess everyone in the city’s elite circles envied. However, when she was seventeen, Father Gu brought the Gu family’s biological daughter home. Only then did Gu Nianxi learn that the life she had lived for the past seventeen years had belonged to someone else.
Seventeen years ago, the Gu family had taken home the wrong baby, mistaking her—an abandoned infant—for their own daughter. The Gu family’s real daughter was named Bai Jin. She had been sent to an orphanage at birth and was later adopted by a family of modest means, but naturally, her life there had been far inferior to the one she would have enjoyed with the Gu family.

From the day Bai Jin was brought home, Gu Nianxi’s life underwent a complete upheaval.
Overnight, everything that had once belonged to her was set back on its rightful course and returned to Bai Jin.
Everyone’s attention turned to Bai Jin. Everyone put Bai Jin’s feelings first. Everyone showered Bai Jin with praise… Meanwhile, Gu Nianxi was like a forgotten flower. Even if she withered away in her vase, no one would spare her another glance.

Gu Nianxi was jealous of Bai Jin—so jealous that it drove her mad.
She tearfully begged her parents not to reveal Bai Jin’s identity, spread rumors that Bai Jin was an illegitimate daughter, deliberately made her wear her outdated dresses, and snatched away both the company project assigned to her and the engagement meant for her.
But every time, Bai Jin handled everything with ease and turned danger into safety. In the end, Gu Nianxi was always the one who suffered.

Despite the overwhelming malice Gu Nianxi directed at her, Bai Jin never once retaliated. Even when Gu Nianxi was driven out of the family and reduced to a laughingstock throughout Jing City’s elite circles, Bai Jin remained calm and indifferent. She told Gu Nianxi that she could stay in Jing City to recover from her injuries and that she would not pursue what Gu Nianxi had done in the past.
It was as though all the wicked things Gu Nianxi had exhausted herself doing had failed to leave even the slightest mark on Bai Jin.

Gu Nianxi closed her eyes.
The blood loss deprived her brain of oxygen, and bizarre, kaleidoscopic images flickered before her eyes.

All of a sudden, she felt terribly tired. It was not physical exhaustion, but weariness of the heart—the kind that came from working all day only to discover that everything she had done had been utterly pointless.

A trace of grievance welled up inside her, just like the bathwater rising over her neck.
Gu Nianxi regretted it.
If she were given another chance, she would never provoke Bai Jin again.
She would stay far away, earn enough money through her own unauthorized copy efforts, leave that cold, loveless home, and live a life that truly belonged to her.

…
“Miss. Miss?”
A familiar voice sounded beside Gu Nianxi’s ear.

She frowned.
Was this a hallucination, or did even heaven have annoying servants?

“Miss seems to have fallen asleep… Where is Second Miss? Didn’t she come back with her?”

“Oh, Miss said Second Miss came back ahead of her. Has she not arrived home yet?”

Gu Nianxi opened her eyes.
This definitely was not heaven, because Gu Nianxi’s heaven would never contain Second Miss Bai Jin.

A Bentley stood before her. She was sitting in the back seat, leaning against it. A round-faced maid was just about to wake her. The night breeze was chilly, and the maid had even brought a blanket for her.

“Xiao An?” She stared at the maid in astonishment.
This was the maid who had grown up alongside her. Affection was scarce in the Gu family, and to Gu Nianxi, Xiao An was almost like an older sister.

Not long after Gu Nianxi was thrown out of the family, Xiao An was dismissed as well, supposedly because she had spoken disrespectfully to Second Miss. Xiao An had even come to find her afterward.

“You’re awake, Miss!” Two adorable dimples appeared on the maid’s face, but she quickly asked with a troubled expression, “Miss, do you know where Second Miss went? Madam and Master came home today. If they ask about her, you…”

Gu Nianxi’s heart gave a violent thump.
Everything before her was so clear and vivid that she could not dismiss it as a mere dream.
“Xiao An, what’s today’s date?”
Her voice trembled slightly.

“Today… is May twelfth.”
“What year?”
“Why, 2023, of course. Miss, what’s wrong?”

Xiao An looked in confusion at Gu Nianxi, whose face was turning pale one moment and flushed the next.

Gu Nianxi raised her hands and stared at them.
—They were completely intact, without a single scar.

Each of her pale fingers was slender, its joints clearly defined. They were nothing like the twisted, ugly hands she had once been left with after their shattered bones healed.
Nor were there any hideous wounds on her wrists from having them cut open again and again…

Gu Nianxi clenched her fists tightly.
It was only May 12, 2023. Bai Jin had returned just one month ago.
It seemed the heavens really had heard her plea and given her another chance to start over.

“Miss!” Seeing the reddened corners of Gu Nianxi’s eyes, Xiao An cupped her face in [bailiantales.com]a panic. “Why are you crying?”
“I’m fine.” Gu Nianxi gently turned her head and shook off Xiao An’s hands. “The wind just got into my eyes.”

Xiao An hurriedly draped the blanket over Gu Nianxi’s shoulders:
“Miss, let’s go home first! As for Second Miss, just say you don’t know where she is. She was the one who didn’t get into the car, anyway. If anyone is to blame, she can only blame herself…”

Gu Nianxi remembered what had happened today.
There had been a rather informal gathering for the young people of Jing City’s elite circles. Her parents had told her to bring Bai Jin, who had been home for a month, so that she could meet others her age. Gu Nianxi had agreed on the surface and brought Bai Jin along, but she had deliberately arranged for people to gossip about and humiliate her before abandoning her alone at the party.

But Father and Mother Gu had happened to come home that day. When they asked about Bai Jin and learned that Gu Nianxi had left her there alone, an enraged Father Gu slapped her and planned to confine her to the house for a week.
It was only because Bai Jin pleaded on her behalf that her week of confinement was shortened to three days.

During those three days… Bai Jin personally delivered every one of her meals. Gu Nianxi could never forget the indifferent way Bai Jin had looked down at her. Under that gaze, she had felt utterly exposed, every contemptible part of herself laid bare before Bai Jin.

Gu Nianxi closed her eyes briefly.
“Miss?” Xiao An called cautiously.

“I’m not going back yet.” She opened her eyes and stuffed the blanket back into Xiao An’s arms. “Xiao An, go home and tell Gu… tell my parents that neither Bai Jin nor I have returned yet.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going back to get her.”
After saying that, [bailiantales.com]Gu Nianxi glanced at Xiao An and took the blanket back again.

“Oh. All right, Miss.”
Xiao An could not make heads or tails of what was happening, but she obediently agreed.

The car returned to the exclusive club, “Floating Jade.” Gu Nianxi got out and headed straight for the private room on the top floor.

On the way there, she sorted out her thoughts.
She had never truly been some wealthy family’s daughter. If Bai Jin wanted that identity, Gu Nianxi would simply give it back to her. She did not owe Bai Jin anything. The ones who owed Bai Jin were Gu Hongzhuo and Jiang Man—the people who had been Gu Nianxi’s parents for seventeen years.

Given another chance at life, she would not entangle herself with Bai Jin again. They would each go their separate ways and live in peace for one year. Once Gu Nianxi came of age, she would go far away and never return.

Gu Nianxi exhaled and forcefully pushed open the door to the private room.

The bullying inside had just reached its peak. A young woman sat on the floor with her hair hanging loose. A large portion of her white blouse had been soaked with alcohol, and the ends of her black hair were dripping wet, several damp strands clinging to her cheeks.
Her features were cool and aloof, her irises lighter than most, and her facial features refined. Although she was not as breathtakingly beautiful as Gu Nianxi, she was still like a luminous full moon—radiant and captivating.

The person who had poured the drink over her gave an exaggerated cry of “Oh!” and said, “I’m so sorry. My hand slipped, and I accidentally spilled it on you. But you probably don’t mind, do you?
“After all, you’re just an illegitimate daughter who was brought back to the Gu family. Being allowed to attend our party is already a blessing you must have spent eight lifetimes earning!”

The people around them burst into laughter. The girl being mocked remained unmoved, her expression as impassive as ever. Only when the door opened did she turn to look in Gu Nianxi’s direction.
Their gazes met across the crowd, and Bai Jin visibly froze.

Gu Nianxi was panting.
Bai Jin had exceptionally sharp eyesight. Even from this angle, she could clearly see the faint flush on Gu Nianxi’s face, the moisture at the corners of her eyes, and even the beads of sweat gathering on the tip of her nose.
Their gazes remained locked for a moment before Bai Jin looked away first.

Gu Nianxi braced herself against the doorframe and steadied her breathing. She had run all the way here, tripped over her long dress midway, and fallen hard enough to bruise her knee. She had been frail since childhood and had an extremely low tolerance for pain. Even the slightest bump or scrape ordinarily brought tears to her eyes. It was a physiological reaction she could not control.

“Floating Jade” was enormous, and their reserved room was tucked away at the very back. She had been afraid that if she arrived too late, Bai Jin would be humiliated and forced to kneel just as she had been in Gu Nianxi’s previous life.
Although they had ultimately failed to make her kneel, how could being forced to do so possibly feel good? Since Gu Nianxi had decided to draw a clear line between herself and Bai Jin in this life, she did not want to owe her any more favors, much less allow anyone to think she was bullying her.

Besides, now that she thought back on all the obstacles she had placed in Bai Jin’s way during her previous life, they seemed so childish that they were almost laughable.

The people in the private room noticed that something was wrong with her expression and did not dare make a sound. Only the person who had poured the drink, whose back was turned to the door, remained unaware of her arrival and continued verbally humiliating Bai Jin:
“What are you looking at? Don’t tell me you’re expecting Miss Gu to come back for you. Stop dreaming. To Miss Gu, you’re nothing more than a clump of mud stuck to the bottom of her shoe. Just looking at you makes her sick, and she can’t wait to scrape you off.
“For an illegitimate daughter like you, your best choice is to crawl back wherever you came from. Stop hanging around here and offending the rightful heiress with your presence—”

“—She is not an illegitimate daughter.” Gu Nianxi finally caught her breath and called out.
The soothing music continued to drift through the private room, but the surrounding laughter and quiet chatter slowly faded away after those words.

“Listen carefully.” Gu Nianxi took a deep breath, tossed her hair, and walked toward Bai Jin beneath everyone’s stares, her expression arrogant and imperious:
“She is my younger sister, a daughter of the Gu family—Gu Baijin. If I discover anyone gossiping about her behind her back again, hmph…”

That hum was laden with meaning, and the warning behind it could not have been clearer.

Bai Jin did not raise her head.
She caught the fragrance that swept over her when Gu Nianxi turned around. It was Gu Nianxi’s favorite scent—a blend of roses and mellow champagne, fresh yet rich enough to leave one pleasantly intoxicated.
Then came her hair.
Gu Nianxi’s long hair hung loose, its ends brushing Bai Jin’s arm. The contact lasted only an instant before the strands slipped away, yet it sent a secret shudder through Bai Jin.

Gu Nianxi tossed the blanket in her hands over Bai Jin, covering the clothes stained and soaked by the alcohol:
“Why aren’t you getting up? Must I personally invite you to rise?”
After speaking, she paused and heavily emphasized, “—Second Miss Gu?”