"Hey, Xiao Jiang is back!"

"What goodies did you buy?"

As soon as he entered the neighbourhood, several elderly ladies basking in the sun greeted Jiang Hai loudly.

Carrying his things, Jiang Hai smiled politely and nodded in acknowledgment.

"I caught some fish by the river," he replied, showing them his catch of the day.

"Xiao Jiang, have you talked to your wife about what I mentioned last time? What did she say?" One of the elderly ladies slowly approached him and cautiously asked.

"Uh, I mentioned it to her. She said she'd think about it, but she hasn't given me a definite answer yet." Jiang Hai's face showed a hint of awkwardness, but he mustered up the courage to respond.

"Sigh… rich people are always so complicated. But, no matter how complicated, they're still rich, right? Haha!" The elderly lady patted Jiang Hai's arm and chuckled. Jiang Hai laughed awkwardly in response, then headed home.

The moment he unlocked his front door, the smile on his face faded, replaced by a tired, resigned expression. He let out a sigh as he looked around his spacious five-bedroom, three-living-room apartment. Shaking his head with a bitter smile, he carried the bucket into the kitchen.

On his way through the living room, he passed by three wedding photos on display. In the pictures, he looked handsome, and the woman beside him was stunningly beautiful. But despite it being a wedding photo, the woman's face showed no trace of a smile—only cold indifference.

Every time Jiang Hai saw her icy expression, he felt a headache coming on. This wasn't the life he had dreamed of.

"What's the point of overthinking? At least things have finally calmed down lately. I need to focus on finding a job and making money. Once I pay back what I owe her, I can apply for a divorce." With a self-deprecating smile, Jiang Hai muttered to himself, then summoned his courage and stepped into the kitchen. He grabbed the knife and scissors he had prepared earlier and got ready to clean the fish.

Jiang Hai was born in 1988, making him 27 years old this year. He was from Ice City, the capital of the northernmost province of China.

Looking back, his life had been relatively ordinary, with a few exciting moments. Before he turned 26, his life was pretty standard. Like most people, he had been a mischievous child. As the only child in his family, he was spoiled by his parents. His father and mother were both regular employees at a state-owned enterprise. While they weren't wealthy, they never worried about making ends meet.

He went to primary school, middle school, then high school. After graduating from high school with poor grades, he enrolled in a random, unremarkable university, majoring in financial management—a so-called "universal" degree.

During his four years at university, he barely attended classes after the first year. Over the next three years, he probably attended a total of thirty classes. Most of his time was spent watching anime in his dorm or playing games at internet cafés since the university's internet connection was terrible.

Fortunately, it was a less reputable university, so exams could be passed with bribes—200 yuan per subject—which saved him a lot of brain cells.

At 23, after graduating, his family arranged for him to work at a trading company.

Life was simple and uneventful, even fulfilling in its own way. But everything changed when he turned 26, during his third year at work.

First, his father died in an accident. His mother, unable to cope with the loss, fell seriously ill. His girlfriend, upon learning about his family's situation, decisively broke up with him and ran off with a department manager from his company. Devastated by the series of blows, Jiang Hai quit the job he had worked three years to secure.

In order to cover his mother's medical expenses, he sold their family home. But even that wasn't enough. At a critical moment, his current "wife" appeared, offering him a "loan" of 400,000 yuan to pay for his mother's surgery—on the condition that they "get married."

The surgery was a success. However, his mother had lost the will to live. A year after the operation, she passed away—just last month, in fact.

Her death left Jiang Hai grief-stricken, but life had to go on. The world doesn't stop for anyone's loss—that's an unchanging truth.

Now, if he wanted to truly start over, he needed to pay off the debt he owed her.

His "wife," Qi Li, wasn't just anyone. They had grown up together.

Their fathers worked at the same factory, so the two families were close. However, Qi Li's father quit his job to start a business in 1992. There were ups and downs, but by the year 2000, his business had flourished. He moved his wife and daughter to Beijing.

From that point on, the two families drifted apart, except for occasional holiday phone calls. Today, the Qi family's company was worth billions of yuan. Although they didn't own the entire company, they controlled a significant portion. Qi Li herself was stunning—she could easily rival any celebrity.

She graduated from a prestigious American university and was the epitome of a modern, successful woman. However, she had made one mistake in her life—a mistake that led to her marriage to Jiang Hai.

Jiang Hai learned about it through gossip. The exact details remained a mystery, as Qi Li never shared them with him. But it felt like something straight out of a prime-time soap opera.

Back in school, Qi Li had a boyfriend. After returning to China, she discovered he was the heir to a rival company. Despite the conflict of interest, they continued their relationship in secret. At some point, Qi Li accidentally leaked information about her family's investment plans. Her boyfriend betrayed her, passing the information to his father.

As a result, her family suffered losses of over a billion yuan. Their company's value was nearly halved overnight. Qi Li's father, upon learning of the betrayal, suffered a heart attack and died.

Her once-loving relationship turned into a bitter feud. Determined to take over her father's company, Qi Li faced resistance from the company's old guard. They didn't believe a woman could run the business, especially one they blamed for her father's death.

To secure her position, her mother came up with a solution: marriage. Even if it was a fake marriage, it would sever any remaining ties with her ex-boyfriend in the public eye.

Jiang Hai became her fake husband. Since their wedding, Qi Li had only spent one night at their shared home. They slept in separate rooms. The next day, she left for the company and never returned.

Over the past year, she had stabilized the business, but Jiang Hai's romantic dreams had long since faded.

Now, his only goal was to pay off the debt and restart his life.

"Damn!" Jiang Hai winced as he cut his finger while cleaning the fish. Distracted by his thoughts, he hadn't noticed the sharp object.

The fish he caught were small wild ones from the river—mostly tiny carp and dace. He preferred to remove the innards before cooking them.

As he was cleaning one fish, he found a small white sphere inside its gut. Curious, he picked it up, but the sharp edges cut his finger.

"Ouch! What the hell…" he muttered as blood trickled from his wound. He picked up the white sphere to inspect it, but before he could take a closer look, it disappeared into thin air.

Jiang Hai's vision blurred. Before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

As he lay there, the cut on his hand healed completely. A faint white glow emerged from his body—the same glow as the mysterious sphere.

The glow hovered in the air, then cracked like an egg. A white, worm-like creature emerged and wriggled into Jiang Hai's body.

Suddenly, a serpent tattoo appeared on his skin.

In his unconscious state, Jiang Hai experienced a vivid dream.

He dreamed of being a powerful dragon—an awe-inspiring creature capable of shaking the heavens and the earth. In the dream, he led his kind against phoenixes and qilins in endless battles, ravaging their world.

Eventually, the war drained the strength of all three races. Just then, a group of daoists appeared, accusing the dragon of countless sins and subduing him.

One daoist, stronger than the rest, sealed him beneath a mountain. Over time, his power faded, leaving behind only a trace of his essence—a glowing sphere that drifted into the river.

When Jiang Hai woke up the next morning, the fish had already begun to rot. But he was too stunned to care, staring in disbelief at the serpent tattoo on his body.

"Could the dream… have been real?"