An Hao slowly opened her eyes and was astonished at the scene before her.
She remembered clearly, utterly disheartened, she had jumped from the twelfth floor and crashed onto the cold concrete ground, not lying on this earthen kang bed.
An Hao sat up and took a careful look around, the mud-brick house with walls pasted with newspaper, the square table painted red with leftover pancakes on it, the enamel washbasin, the kang bed she was lying on, and the quilt made of patchwork fabric.
This... This scene looked just like the life she lived twenty years ago—could it be that time had flowed backward?
Realizing something, An Hao was startled, hurriedly leaped out of bed, and stood in front of the wardrobe mirror at home, immediately gasping in shock.
In the mirror was a delicate little face, skin smooth and gleaming, with two black braids hanging in front of her chest, and in those big watery eyes was a look full of astonishment.
She incredulously raised her hand to touch her smooth cheek, then pinched herself hard to remind herself she was still alive.
That's right! She had been reborn!
An Hao smiled joyfully, and as she smiled, tears streamed down her face!
This was crying tears of happiness!
She thanked Heaven for pitying her, giving her a chance to live her life anew!
Her previous life had been too much of a failure, filled with unbearable pain and despair in her dying moments—she refused to accept such a wretched ending for herself, so with her fiery temper, she ended her life in such a tragic way.
Thinking of her past life, An Hao's heart ached, the treachery of her stepmother and stepsister, a trusted friend stealing her man, ending up homeless, chased for debts and dying a grim death away from home.
All of that happened because she was brainless and hot-tempered, quick to explode, and easily manipulated into doing foolish things, letting herself and her husband Qin Jian down. Now that she could live again, she vowed to keep her eyes wide open and live a brilliant life.
As An Hao was reflecting, she heard her stepmother Bai Xue's voice from the courtyard, "Husband, what to say about that girl? Neighbor Zhang's goodwill in matchmaking was with good intentions. It's said a daughter is hard to keep at home, and our girl is already eighteen; it's time we found her a husband. Although Wang Genqiang is a bit... well, the village head's family is in such good standing... I didn't expect her to be unwilling, but who knew she had such a temper, even resorting to hitting her head against the wall, sigh..."
The Wang Genqiang mentioned by stepmother Bai Xue was the second son of the Wang family, and the only son of the village head.
Previously, the village head had a first son who was very bright but always sickly; he died from a serious illness at the age of fourteen, leaving the village head devastated.
Later on, they had a second son, whom they named Wang Genqiang, but he had some problems with his mind.
To say he had 'problems' was putting it mildly; in plain terms, he was an idiot, and the people in the village privately dubbed him 'Wang the Simpleton.'
In her past life, An Hao remembered Bai Xue had wanted to marry her off to Wang the Simpleton with a simple aim: Wang the Simpleton was very fond of her, and the village head had promised if she married him, stepsister Bai Yanjiao would get a city job, and there would also be a hefty bride price, which was why the stepmother forced her into the marriage.
She was unwilling at the time and had a big fight with Bai Xue about it; things escalated quickly, and Bai Yanjiao panicked and pushed her, causing her to hit her head.
When her father An Shuchao returned, she wanted to explain to him, but the stepmother beat her to it, with a tear-streaked face full of supposed grievances, recounting the family's hardships.
She even showed the scratches An Hao made on her to An Shuchao.
Her father exploded in rage immediately and ordered her to go on the matchmaking visit; even if she could not marry that fool, she had to show up for the sake of giving face to the village head, as not showing up could lead to the village head making life difficult for him at the production team's work assignments.
She defied her father and berated Bai Xue mercilessly; her father was so furious he beat her severely and forced her to meet with the suitor.
Afterward, she did go, beat up Wang the Simpleton, had a fight with the village head's wife, and even wreaked havoc at Aunt Zhang's house.
That incident truly made her infamous.
After that, no one in the village dared to propose to her, and half a year later, when the stepmother heard that Qin Jian, who worked at the Provincial Electric Power Research Institute, had returned home, word was that Qin Jian was ill-fated, as women who got engaged to him would fall ill not long after, nearly dying, only recovering after calling off the engagement.
Because of this, Qin Jian, in his thirties, was still unmarried, so Bai Xue consulted fortune-tellers, claimed compatibility, and spoke with Qin Jian's mother; the two mothers quickly arranged the marriage.