May There Be An Echo - Chapter 1

“Shao, I’ve read the speech draft. Overall, it’s pretty good. The wording still needs some polishing. Try to keep the number of people we offend to an absolute minimum.”

“Cough, cough. Understood, President Yu. I’ll revise another version as soon as possible.”

“Manager Shao, a new topic just exploded on the trending list! Chu Tian’s statement is completely different from the draft we gave her!”

“Cough, cough, cough. Contact her manager.”

“We already did, but they won’t answer our calls.”

Cough, cough, cough…

With a heavy thud, something struck the carpet. The scrape of a chair, hurried footsteps, and anxious voices rose one after another around her. Lying on the floor, Shao Yuci found the noise irritating and wanted to tell everyone to be quiet, but before she could, the sudden ringing in her ears instantly drowned out every other sound.

Breathing became extremely difficult. A damp chill spread through her entire body, as though she had been thrown into an icy cavern. Gradually, all the sounds around her seemed to be sealed beneath a glass dome, muffled and distant, growing blurrier and blurrier.

It felt as though she had sunk to the bottom of the water, her chest filled with liquid. No matter how desperately she opened her mouth to breathe, she couldn’t get enough oxygen.

In Shao Yuci’s final shred of consciousness, only four words remained: I can’t make it.

She had no idea how long she remained submerged in darkness before sounds reached her ears again. At first, they were just as muffled and chaotic, but they quickly became clear.

“Miss, wake up! You can’t fall asleep! Hang in there!”

Her chest hurt terribly, as if someone were swinging a sledgehammer into her, blow after blow, each one brutally hard.

Before Shao Yuci could even cry out in pain, violent nausea seized her. A strong fishy stench made her retch, and then foul-smelling water mixed with what felt like rough grains of mud and sand burst from her mouth and nose.

Her entire body hurt. Curling in on herself, she finally began to move.

The person who had been pounding on her with that “sledgehammer” immediately sounded delighted. “Miss! That’s it! Take deep breaths, hurry, breathe!”

Using every ounce of strength she had, Shao Yuci forced her eyelids open and saw a middle-aged woman staring at her anxiously, even patting her cheeks.

“I…”

I don’t know you. Shao Yuci couldn’t get the words out. She had no strength, her mind wouldn’t work, and all that remained was the instinct to breathe.

She heard the sound of an ambulance. Then came another burst of commotion, and after that, she was lifted into the vehicle. The chatter around her never stopped, different voices talking over one another.

“She’s so young. What could’ve made her give up like this? If no one had spotted her in time, she’d have been on the news tomorrow.”

“Probably got dumped. Young people these days really can’t handle anything psychologically. How big of a deal could it possibly be?”

“Good thing Ms. Yu happened to be there. The current was so strong. Someone who wasn’t a good swimmer could’ve gotten dragged under with her.”

“Hopefully this girl won’t do anything foolish again, or saving her really would’ve been for nothing.”

The next time Shao Yuci woke up, she was lying in a hospital bed.

Those chaotic memories flooded back one after another, flashing through her mind. She could hear someone breathing nearby, but she didn’t have the strength to turn her head. Instinctively, she assumed it was her assistant, Xiaomeng.

The moment she opened her mouth, she asked about the thing weighing most heavily on her mind. “Did you manage to reach Chu Tian’s manager?”

“Miss, who is Chu Tian?”

The voice sounded much older than Xiaomeng’s, and it was the kind of voice Shao Yuci rarely encountered in her usual work. Her eyes snapped open. After getting a good look at the person beside her, she froze.

Who… was this?

Seeing Shao Yuci’s bewildered expression, Aunt Lian felt her heart ache.

“Miss, were you dreaming just now?”

Miss? Shao Yuci became even more confused. From the way this auntie looked at her and the concern in her voice, this was definitely not the casual “miss” strangers used in passing.

But Shao Yuci had grown up in an ordinary family. When had she ever experienced being some wealthy young miss?

She tried to keep talking, only to discover that her throat hurt badly. Just then, a straw was brought to her lips.

She sipped the water while images raced through her mind at breakneck speed. Raising her eyes to look at the person feeding her, she suddenly realized that face matched one from those memories!

“Aunt Lian?”

The delighted expression on the other woman’s face confirmed Shao Yuci’s tentative guess. It seemed those unfamiliar memories really weren’t fake.

That confirmation was like a floodgate being opened, unlocking the rest of the memories all at once.

Shao Yuci lay calmly in bed, numb as she adjusted to the fact that she had transmigrated into a novel.

She had read this book before and hadn’t liked it one bit, because it was a BE! The protagonist wasn’t her. It was the sworn rival of the Shao Yuci in the book—Ji Linqing.

Shao Yuci’s character had thrown herself into a river after her family fell into ruin, making a hasty exit from the story. But Ji Linqing’s glory hadn’t lasted much longer. A few years later, her reputation was destroyed, and she jumped from the top floor of her company building.

Shao Yuci had never expected to transmigrate into the one who had jumped into the river and exited first, much less to actually be rescued. At this point in the original novel, Shao Yuci’s quality of life had plummeted, and creditors constantly harassed and hounded her. Her former friends all avoided her, and some had even switched sides to curry favor with her sworn rival.

At this time, Ji Linqing had only just begun fully taking over the family businesses and could be said to be at the height of her glory, forming a stark contrast with Shao Yuci.

Shao Yuci thought, Temporary glory doesn’t mean anything. She still jumps in the end.

Her eyelids lowered. She felt none of the satisfying pleasure of schadenfreude. Instead, a wave of desolation rose in her heart.

Aunt Lian saw her suddenly fall silent, staring at the ceiling by herself with sadness written across her face.

She carefully tried to comfort her. “Things really are difficult right now. But Miss, as long as you’re alive, there’s still hope for everything.”

Shao Yuci pulled herself out of her thoughts and looked at her again.

“I know.” But in the novel, the storyline that belonged to her had ended long ago. What hope was there?

Perhaps because both of them understood exactly how cruel reality was, they fell silent after that.

Before transmigrating, Shao Yuci had been a crisis PR expert, so it wasn’t difficult for her to guess what Aunt Lian was thinking. She knew this former housekeeper wanted to persuade her not to attempt suicide again, but when the words reached her lips, she couldn’t bring herself to say them outright.

A young miss who cared so much about saving face would certainly never be able to bear hearing someone bring up something like this directly. Aunt Lian had worked for the Shao family for so many years and knew exactly where the line was.

What gave Shao Yuci a headache wasn’t saving face. It was what she was supposed to do now.

Now that she had taken over Shao Yuci’s identity, she could simply choose not to jump into the river again—but what about all those debts? And what about that impossibly successful sworn rival? All their old grudges would undoubtedly be pinned on her too.

If they crossed paths in the future, would Ji Linqing deliberately make trouble for her? Given the enormous gap between their circumstances now, Ji Linqing ruining her would probably be about as difficult as switching to a different brand of perfume.

Shao Yuci’s occupational habits immediately kicked in, and she instinctively began searching for a solution.

At that moment, someone knocked and entered the hospital room. It was the police.

Calling the police over something like transmigrating into a novel would be useless. She might even be mistaken for mentally unstable. Relying on the original plot she remembered, Shao Yuci answered the routine questions very cautiously.

Before leaving, the police officer also earnestly advised her to stay strong and told her that hope still lay ahead.

Shao Yuci regretted having skipped chapters while following the novel back then. Great. Now there were plenty of specific plot details she knew nothing about. Still, she was certain that as a cannon-fodder character who exited the story early, reading every chapter wouldn’t necessarily have given her any glorious moments either.

Lying down again in the silent hospital room, Shao Yuci contemplated how she was supposed to survive in this world from now on. Suddenly, a childish voice sounded beside her ear, soft and sweet, like a little girl around Maruko-chan’s age.

[Congratulations, Host. Memory activation successfully completed. Binding will now begin.]

What the hell! Shao Yuci jolted and struggled upright.

After experiencing death from overwork before transmigrating, followed by the original character’s near-drowning and rescue, she had already become fairly accustomed to hallucinations.

She looked around. No one was there. Even the new phone Aunt Lian had left behind sat completely silent. There was nothing else in the room that could possibly be producing a human voice.

[Don’t be afraid. I’m your good partner. I’m here to help you make it in this world.]

Shao Yuci hesitated. “You can hear what I’m thinking?”

[You’re the host I’m bound to. Of course our minds are connected.]

Shao Yuci snorted. She didn’t want this kind of connection!

The soft, childish voice was clear and pure. [I am the Save People for Money System. I will periodically issue missions. As long as you complete them according to the requirements, you will receive generous rewards.]

Another pie-in-the-sky promise. Shao Yuci had heard this kind of thing countless times in the workplace and curled her lips disdainfully.

[Resolve one basic crisis and receive two million in cash. The greater the crisis, the greater the reward.]

Shao Yuci raised an eyebrow. “That generous?”

[Note: When saving someone, you must also include one line of “affectionate care” to repair your relationship. Otherwise, settlement will fail.]

Shao Yuci immediately began analyzing the feasibility. She could earn a generous cash reward just by resolving a crisis, and two million really was impressive. She also had to throw in a line of “affectionate care”? What was difficult about that? In her line of work, shamelessly flirtatious lines came to her as naturally as breathing.

This was practically a perfect match for her! It was as though the system had been custom-made for her. If it wasn’t lying, then she really did have confidence that she could make a pretty good life for herself in this world.

[I don’t lie. I’m extremely sincere.]

Shao Yuci: …

The system continued explaining its operating rules, but Shao Yuci frowned and interrupted.

“Who did you say I’m supposed to resolve crises for?”

[I already told you. Ji Linqing.]

“Can’t it be someone else? Does it have to be her?”

The system repeatedly emphasized, [This exchange rule only applies to her. If you help anyone else resolve a crisis, you won’t receive this money.]

Half the confidence that had just flared up instantly went out. Saving her sworn rival wasn’t a big deal. The problem was whether Ji Linqing would even agree to let her!

That greatly reduced the plan’s feasibility. Shao Yuci was extremely annoyed!

[Where there is sincerity, there is success. As long as you truly want to make money, you’ll overcome every difficulty.]

Shao Yuci silently complained: So young, and you’ve already learned how to PUA people!

[I don’t PUA people. I’m extremely sincere.]

“Go away for now. I want some peace and quiet.”

Shao Yuci lay back down on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling as she tried hard to recall the plot. For the parts she hadn’t read, she filled in the gaps using common sense and logic.

The hospital room door was gently pushed open. The sound was so faint that Shao Yuci didn’t notice.

Ji Linqing stood outside the door and glanced through the tiny crack at the person lying on the hospital bed.

Shao Yuci—the person who loved clashing with her the most, who never missed a single opportunity to go against her—was now lying there wrapped up like a mummy.

The person who had opened the door turned back to look at her. Ji Linqing gave a slight nod, indicating that they should leave.

From the hospital room all the way until she got into the car, Ji Linqing never made a single comment about Shao Yuci.

Her secretary, Qu Yingzi, didn’t ask about her even once either. As usual, she reported the latest work progress and the emails they had just received.

After Ji Linqing finished giving her instructions, she lowered the car window slightly.

Her thoughts returned once more to the person lying in the hospital bed. It was the first time she had ever seen Shao Yuci so quiet.

The Shao family had gone bankrupt a year ago, and Ji Linqing hadn’t seen Shao Yuci since. Over the past year, she had occasionally heard bits and pieces of news about her, but had never paid them much attention.

Today, Ji Linqing had come to the hospital to visit an old friend of her grandfather’s. While walking through the corridor, she happened to hear that Shao Yuci had jumped into a river, been rescued, and brought to the same hospital. On a sudden impulse, she had decided to come take a look.