Rebirth: He refused to Divorce Again

(Note: Consuming Guide: Fiction set in an unspecified era, please do not relate it to any real-world setting.)

*****

Gu Qiaoqiao stood on the cliff.

The sky in September seemed exceptionally clear.

The sun was radiant and bright.

Even such sunshine couldn't penetrate the gloom that filled Gu Qiaoqiao's heart.

She couldn't go on living.

The only thing that had kept her going was her younger brother, the lone family member still in prison.

She had to wait for him to get out.

But on this day last month, her brother died of a heart attack.

Her parents had passed away one after the other eight years before, and her younger sister had committed suicide soon after.

After she took care of her brother's funeral and settled other affairs, there was no one and nothing left in this world for her to cling to.

The mountain wind fiercely blew her white hair, yet she was only twenty-nine.

Her throat had been scorched by hot coals to rawness; she didn't even have the right to question the heavens.

She gritted her teeth, her deeply sunken eye sockets long dry of tears.

Her lifeless eyes watched a wispy cloud in the sky silently shift its shape.

It was as if she saw a seventeen-year-old young girl, shyly saying to a handsome young man beside her, "Grandpa, I want to marry him."

She got her wish.

She thought she would live happily ever after from that moment on.

But it was the beginning of her nightmare.

Back then, she didn't know that Qin Yize was the designated heir to the first family of the Imperial Capital, the Qin Family, didn't know he was a prodigious young talent with a doctorate in medicine, and didn't know how many noble ladies from high society were infatuated with him.

She was even more unaware that his childhood sweetheart secretly harbored feelings for him.

By the time she found out, she had been sold into the mountains by human traffickers, and from then on, fate was exceptionally cruel to her.

She dared not recall, for each memory pained her to the core.

Gu Qiaoqiao took one more look at the blue sky and the wispy cloud, whimpered a few times in her throat, closed her eyes, and leapt with all her might, like a butterfly with broken wings, gracefully falling into the deep pool below the cliff.

When the horrifying sensation of suffocation hit, a smile unexpectedly appeared on her lips.

From now on, she wouldn't be in pain.

As she sank into darkness, she thought, if there were a next life, she would stay far away from Qin Yize...

...

"Grandma, you're just too kind-hearted; she was seeking death herself, why save her?" That was a girl's crisp voice.

"After all, it's a life, she's also your sister-in-law, and, sigh, during the festive season..."

An old person sighed when speaking.

Gu Qiaoqiao's head hurt terribly, and she strained to open her eyes, but after much effort, she failed to do so.

Who was talking?

Could it be that she didn't die and got rescued?

"She made my mom faint from anger, and you're still giving her water?" The girl's voice flared up again.

"Xiao Yu, can you check if your mom is feeling better?"

Then there was the sound of shuffling, and suddenly there was a moist sensation at her mouth.

Gu Qiaoqiao trembled her lips and, with all her might, suddenly opened her eyes.

"Qiaoqiao, you're awake?" The old person exclaimed with joy.

Gu Qiaoqiao stared blankly at the old lady before her, who held a porcelain bowl and spoon in her hands, her expression kind and smiling; suddenly her heart pounded like thunder.

All the blood in her body seemed to freeze at once.

Wasn't this Qin Yize's Grandma?

But wasn't she dead?

Eight years ago, on the day her brother stabbed Qin Yize's sister, she suddenly died from a cerebral thrombosis.

So, was this a meeting in the underworld?

"Grand... Grand..." Gu Qiaoqiao, with trembling lips, began to speak, "I'm sorry..."

But suddenly stiffened up, she abruptly reached for her own throat.

She had been mute for eight years; now that she was dead, could she speak?

At that moment, the door was pushed open.

A girl with a ponytail stormed in, pointing at Gu Qiaoqiao, "My mom got so upset because of you that she's shaking and can't get out of bed, you owe my mom!"

Gu Qiaoqiao's eyes widened in terror.

This was Qin Yize's sister, Qin Xiaoyu, she...

Realizing something, Gu Qiaoqiao suddenly sat up, frantically looking around.

On the wall opposite, adorned with a delicate patterned wallpaper, hung a picture frame with a large photo inside—of a sweet-smiling young girl and a handsome young man with a hidden aloof coldness.

It was her wedding photo with Qin Yize; her mind exploded for a moment, and there was a blank.

She bit her lip hard, forcing her gaze away from the image.

On the east wall stood a row of ancient redwood furniture.

Adorned with large red "happiness" characters.

She abruptly turned her head; the brilliant sunlight stabbed into her eyes undefended.

Gu Qiaoqiao winced and closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, she saw a young man standing in the doorway.

He had clearly just returned from outside.

His hands, with their distinct knuckles, were draped over a dark blue wool coat; his looks were exceedingly fine, with eyebrows like distant hills and eyes like autumn waters in a deep pool, but his expression was as indifferent as mountain snow.

Wearing a simple white shirt, the pristine collar seemed to carry a touch of coldness.

Accentuating his tall, upright figure.

Gu Qiaoqiao's hand suddenly clutched at the clothes over her heart, her breath catching as if choked.

Qin Yize!

The man she had loved for four years and hated for eight.

Eight years earlier, after parting in the mountains, she had never seen him again.

This man, who carried the dreams of her youth, this man with the indifferent gaze void of warmth, was now quietly watching her.

His handsome face betrayed no emotion.

Grandma Qin gave Qin Xiaoyu a look, "Go, take Grandma to see your mother; it's almost time to prepare the New Year's meal..."

"Grandma..." Qin Xiaoyu stomped her foot in hatred.

"Xiao Yu, take Grandma out," Qin Yize spoke, his voice like the strings of a fine instrument, melodious and pleasing, yet carrying a tremor-inducing chill.

Nothing frightened Qin Xiaoyu more than her own older brother.

She darted a resentful glance at the pale-faced Gu Qiaoqiao on the bed before pushing Grandma Qin out of her big brother's bedroom.

Gu Qiaoqiao had yet to come to grips.

Her body was shaking, her hands trembling, and so she clenched them into fists tightly.

Fingertips pressed into her palm; a sharp pain shot through her, making her bite her lip.

Qin Yize hung up his coat and hat leisurely on the wardrobe rack and then walked slowly to Gu Qiaoqiao's bedside.

His tall figure loomed by the bed, looking down at Gu Qiaoqiao with an oppressive air.

At that moment, his lips formed a chilling straight line.

After a pause, he spoke in a deep voice, "Do you really not want to live?"

Gu Qiaoqiao's heart clenched, her pale lips trembling silently.

She hastily lowered her head.

She didn't dare meet Qin Yize's gaze, for his piercing eyes seemed to see through everything, leaving her nowhere to hide.

And making her feel utterly disheveled.

That's how it was in her memory.