Chapter 1

Only as I lay dying in the hospital did I discover that my husband of ten years had never loved me.

With the woman he'd always loved in his arms, he stood beside my hospital bed and looked down at me with cold contempt.

“Lâm Tiểu Ngôn, you're finally going to die. Now I can be with Tiểu Tiểu without having to hide it.”

Only then did I realize that, for the past ten years, I'd been paying to support both him and her. Even the ruin of my health was their doing: they had poisoned me to get their hands on the Lâm family's entire fortune.

I died full of hatred—and woke up in the past...

1

The sunlight was so bright I could barely open my eyes. I raised a hand to shield them, leaving only a narrow gap between my fingers.

Students in uniform passed me in excited little groups, chattering as they went.

“Have you heard? Lục Bỉnh Kiệt, the campus heartthrob, is confessing to Bùi Tiểu Tiểu, the campus beauty, in the auditorium!”

“Hurry! If we're late, we'll miss the big moment!”

As my eyes adjusted, I lowered my hand and froze.

Lục Bỉnh Kiệt? I knew that man all too well.

It had taken ten years of marriage to see him for what he was: a wolf who would devour anyone to get what he wanted.

Soon after our freshman year began, his top grades and handsome face had made him famous across campus. With my mediocre grades and weakness for a pretty face, I'd fallen for him at once, joining the crowd of girls who admired him in secret.

To my surprise, he had asked me out not long after the start of term.

He came from a poor family, but he had never seemed ashamed of it. There was a stubborn pride in him, a refusal to bow to anyone.

That was what had made me turn down the match my father arranged and choose him without hesitation.

During our ten-year marriage, I paid for him to study abroad, funded his company, and quietly dealt with every problem he left behind. I poured money into that bottomless pit of his, only to be repaid with a betrayal that cut me to the bone.

He had said Bùi Tiểu Tiểu was like a sister to him. She had been his true love all along.

And I'd lowered myself to keep him happy, letting him live off me like a parasite.

I followed the crowd to the auditorium. There he was, declaring his love for Bùi Tiểu Tiểu.

“Tiểu Tiểu! I can't keep lying to myself. You're the one I love, and I want to be with you now!

“I can't give you a good life yet, but I promise I'll make you happy someday!”

The moment I heard that, I understood. Lục Bỉnh Kiệt had come back too.

Only this time, he had chosen Bùi Tiểu Tiểu—someone as poor as he was.

Gasps rose around them, and a few spectators called out.

“Lục Bỉnh Kiệt, isn't your girlfriend Lâm Tiểu Ngôn? The rich girl everyone knows?”

“I haven't heard you two broke up. Why are you suddenly confessing to someone else?”

“Did she dump you?”

Laughter rippled through the crowd. His face flushed. He clenched his fists and shouted, “No!

“What does Lâm Tiểu Ngôn have besides money? She's just a rich girl with lousy grades!

“Bùi Tiểu Tiểu is the only one I love. I'll break up with Lâm Tiểu Ngôn for her right now!”

Every word drove a nail into my heart. The pain left me trembling.

Of course. Bùi Tiểu Tiểu had been the only one he loved from the start.

In my last life, he'd asked me out for my money. To him, I was a walking ATM.

2

Someone soon spotted me. They pointed and shouted, “Lâm Tiểu Ngôn's here!”

“She's gorgeous, she's rich, and she treats you so well. Are you seriously going to break up with her?”

A few boys nearby exchanged contemptuous whispers.

Following everyone's gaze, Lục Bỉnh Kiệt saw me too. He took Bùi Tiểu Tiểu's hand and announced, “Lâm Tiểu Ngôn, since you're here, let's settle this. I want to break up with—”

Before he could finish, I turned and walked away.

I also froze every bank card I'd given him and revoked all the privileges he'd enjoyed at my expense.

Behind me, the students exclaimed in surprise.

“Wow. Has she finally stopped worshipping him?”

“He's with someone else, and she's not even crying or making a scene!”

“Maybe this is just the calm before the storm.”

I ignored them and kept walking, my steps firm.

I'd been given another life. I wasn't going to waste it on a man who had never cared about me.

University left me plenty of free time. With no classes that afternoon, I had my driver take me straight home.

The moment I saw my father, I forgot my pride and burst into tears.

In my previous life, my insistence on staying with Lục Bỉnh Kiệt had made him so upset that he fell ill. Not long afterward, he died.

Now, by some mercy, I had the chance to see my father healthy again.