Chapter 2: Back to Seven Years Ago
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"You were supposed to fix the chicken coop roof for the old lady, and you can't even handle this simple task, did you grow up eating shit? The old lady raised you all these years for nothing!"
A shrill scolding, Huo Sining opened her eyes.
Feeling a throbbing pain at her temple, she couldn't help but reach to touch her forehead.
That touch came back with a handful of bright red blood.
Huo Sining froze, only then realizing she was lying in a dilapidated courtyard, beneath her a pile of broken tiles and rubble.
Hadn't she been harmed by Wu Jingyi and thrown into the sea? How come she was here?
Huo Sining's gaze was somewhat vacant, her mind muddled and blank for a moment, unable to discern where she was.
"Look at the mess you've made! All these broken bricks and tiles, do you have any idea how much money you're wasting for the old lady?! Stop pretending, lying there—are you waiting for the old lady to collect your corpse?"
A broom came flying for no reason, smashing right onto Huo Sining's body.
The intense pain caused her to suddenly widen her eyes, gazing at everything in the courtyard!
What entered her sight was the familiar greenery, a grape arbor covering the entire yard, dotted with crystal-clear fruits.
She couldn't help but get up and reach out to touch the grapes on the vines; the cool texture surprised and puzzled her.
But this action annoyed Huo Longjiang, who was causing trouble in the yard, and as soon as Huo Sining's hand touched the arbor, the brat started howling at the top of his voice:
"Mom, come quick! Huo Sining, that bitch, is trying to steal grapes to eat!"
Huo Sining's hand stopped, and she turned her head to see Huo Longjiang, his young face making a gleeful grimace at her. That left Huo Sining dumbfounded.
Xu Lian, hearing her son's cries, rushed out from the kitchen, three steps at a time.
She was holding a kitchen knife, her face full of anger as she glared at Huo Sining.
"You shameless slut, who allowed you to filch grapes? Have you no shame, little whore? You think you can get the old lady to send you to college with that attitude, pah, keep dreaming!"
The wound on her forehead throbbed faintly, proving that none of this was her delusion.
The familiar courtyard, the aunt who cursed with impunity, the cousin with malicious intent…
If Huo Sining still couldn't understand what was happening, she really would be a fool.
Her heart was racing uncontrollably, her eyes swelling red, and her clenched hands fiercely holding back the urge to burst into wild laughter.
The heavens indeed have eyes. In her previous life, she had lived so wretchedly, and in the end, she met with the tragic fate of being gutted and thrown to the bottom of the sea. It seemed even the heavens couldn't stand by, allowing her to be reborn.
Maybe seeing the fresh blood on Huo Sining's forehead and her red eyes made the usually tender-hearted uncle, Huo Yong, misunderstand.
Thinking that Huo Sining felt aggrieved, and seeing his niece about to cry, he hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Enough, enough, it's just a few broken tiles, I'll fix them later. Ning girl, go back to your room and take care of that wound first."
"So you're the nice guy, huh? Can you fix tiles that are smashed to bits? If you had that ability, why do you lurk at home like a parasite? Earn some money yourself if you're so capable! A good-for-nothing and one without a mother, why am I so cursed to deal with the likes of you Huo family members?"
Seeing Huo Yong stand up for Huo Sining, Xu Lian's anger grew even stronger. She initially directed her rage at Huo Sining but now turned it onto Huo Yong.
But as she cursed, her eyes were still fiercely fixed on Huo Sining.
The sharp and shrill scolding lasted for a full half-hour, Huo Yong unable to contend with Xu Lian, his face red with shame as he lowered his head and walked out the door.
Huo Sining, however, was too preoccupied to pay attention to Xu Lian's cursing. After returning to her room, she stood quietly before the dressing mirror.
Looking at the girl reflected in the mirror, with her ponytail and youthfulness yet to fade, her emotions were far from as calm as she appeared on the surface.
As she passed the living room, she had noticed the yellowed calendar on the wall. The prominent date on the page clearly told her—
The heavens had not been unkind to her.
She had unwittingly traveled back to the day after her college entrance exam, seven years ago.
The wheel of history had yet to start turning, and everything could still be made right.
Huo Sining's gaze fell on her neck, where a thin black cord caused her expression to flicker with surprise.
She instinctively raised her hand and pulled the cord from under her collar, bringing into her hand a green jade pendant.
It was a Jade Clean Bottle Pendant of no significant size, just the size of a thumb.
But the bottle was crystal clear, and anyone with a bit of knowledge about jade could tell at a glance that it was a delicate item.
This pendant was the only thing left to her by her mother.
When Huo Sining was four or five years old, her mother fell seriously ill, and because she didn't get timely treatment, she passed away, leaving Huo Sining behind.
After that, Huo Sining had always lived with her Uncle Huo Yong's family.
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Although memories of Mrs. Huo had gradually blurred with the passing of time, Huo Sining's yearning had not lessened.
Therefore, Huo Sining cherished the pendant greatly and had always worn it around her neck, never parting from it.
To protect the pendant from being snatched away by her aunt, Xu Lian, she was even willing to endure Xu's repeated beatings and abuse.
But in her last life, it was shortly after the college entrance examination, on Wu Jingyi's eighteenth birthday, that she gave the jade pendant to her so-called best sister without hesitation, in the name of sisterly affection.
It was this pendant that brought Wu Jingyi a life of luxury, and also led to Huo Sining's lethal disaster.
Had not Wu Jingyi confessed the truth to her, Huo Sining might never have understood in her life.
Why the good sister who once supported each other and were inseparable suddenly changed her attitude after returning to the Liang Family, growing colder and eventually severing ties with her.
Grand houses have many rules, and they interfere with even the social interactions of family descendants; Huo Sining once believed Wu Jingyi's behavior was due to interference from the Liang Family.
For that reason, Huo Sining had been secretly worried, fearing Wu Jingyi would be wronged when entering the grand household for the first time.
Little did she know that in the face of boundless wealth and splendor, her so-called sincerity and friendship were nothing more than her own wishful thinking.
Looking at the jade pendant in her hand, Huo Sining felt complicated emotions.
In her last life, she had fallen into such a tragic state; surely this jade pendant was the real trigger for her downfall?
Past events were like fleeting clouds; to her, the Liang Family, the family heirlooms, were nothing more than a joke.
Although she had learned the truth of her birth from Wu Jingyi, upon rebirth, Huo Sining had never entertained the thought of returning to the Liang Family to be some rich young lady.
If this pendant was nothing but endless trouble, then what was the point of keeping it? It would be better to destroy it; only without it could she live a peaceful and calm life this time around.
Pain and reluctance flashed in Huo Sining's eyes, but soon she steeled her resolve.
With a heavy heart, she grabbed the jade pendant and harshly smashed it against the table.
A crisp sound echoed as the Jade Clean Bottle shattered into pieces in an instant.
Huo Sining felt a sense of relief and was about to clean up the fragments.
Unexpectedly, as she picked up the pieces of the bottle, a round, plump jade bead rolled out from the shattered pieces, slipped off the table, bounced a few times, and landed at Huo Sining's feet.
Huo Sining was stunned and, after triple-checking that the bead had indeed fallen out of the Jade Clean Bottle, she couldn't help but pick up the bead for a closer look.
The bead was about one centimeter in diameter and was a greenish color throughout.
Unlike the soft and gentle texture of mutton fat jade, this bead, though smooth and shiny on the surface, felt extremely cold in her hand, just like a piece of ice.
A strange expression appeared on Huo Sining's face.
She had worn this jade pendant for so many years, yet she had never noticed that such a strange bead had been hidden inside the bottle.
Looking at the fragments of the Jade Clean Bottle a few times, doubt crept into Huo Sining's eyes.
The neck of the Jade Clean Bottle was just the size of a pinhole; how on earth was the bead put inside?
Huo Sining found it all very peculiar and couldn't help staring intently at the bead.
Just then, a drop of blood from the cut on her forehead fell down, landing exactly on the Azure Pearl in her hand.
Before Huo Sining could react, the drop of blood permeated directly into the bead.
A bizarre scene unfolded as the Azure Pearl, as if stimulated, suddenly emitted a pale blue light.
Huo Sining was startled, slowly opening her mouth in shock as she watched the spectacle before her.
The bead began to spin rapidly amidst the dazzling blue glow, floating in mid-air, and the radiance grew more and more intense, making it difficult to even keep her eyes open.
Huo Sining was caught off guard when the bead flew straight towards her.
With no time to dodge, the bead struck her forehead, drilling directly into the cut.
As the glow gradually faded, the bead vanished from sight.
Huo Sining was stunned by what had just happened.
She had been forced by Xu Lian to fix the chicken coop and had never expected to fall from the ladder, cutting her forehead with a half-inch wound; the same thing had happened in her last life.
It was also because the wound was not treated in time that she had an unsightly scar on her forehead in her last life, which she had to cover with long bangs.
But now, looking into the dressing mirror, the reflection showed her forehead smooth as before, without a trace of injury.
Huo Sining gazed dumbly at the girl in the mirror.
If not for the burning sensation on her forehead, if not for the dried blood on her palms, she would have doubted whether all of this was just an illusion.