Chapter 1: Waking Up

    The dream this time was extremely intense. She was in her luxury car, driving along a dark road at night after deciding to stay at a mountain vacation home. Tomorrow would have been her grandfather’s birthday, but he had already passed away.

    A truck that had been trailing behind suddenly sped up and overtook her. For safety's sake, she let it pass. However, after overtaking her, the truck slowed down unexpectedly.

    She decided to speed up and overtake it. But just as she pressed the accelerator, another truck coming from the opposite lane crashed into her car.

    The last thing she remembered was the blinding headlights of the truck before the impact. Then, everything went dark.

    When she opened her eyes again, she was surrounded by darkness. Her body was racked with pain, every part of her aching as if it would break into pieces.

“Big sister, give me your hand.”

    A young girl’s voice echoed, accompanied by a beam of light shining toward her. The girl, a beautiful teenager, smiled warmly at her.

    She didn’t know how her hand, which she thought must have been severely injured, managed to reach out and let the teenager pull her along.

    Suddenly, the scene changed. They were standing in a vast, white expanse, where nothing was visible.

    “It's plain and simple, right? This place,” the teenager’s voice broke the silence, bringing her back to her senses.

It felt like a strange dream.

“What is this place?” she asked.

“A peaceful place,” the girl replied.

    Perhaps it was the girl’s youthfulness, or maybe the tone was just playful. She didn’t seem to mean any harm, though.

“Can’t you name it?”

    The teenage girl smiled and shook her head, her expression giving no clue as to what this place could be called.

“What’s your name?”

“Li Yifei.”

“That’s funny, we share the same name. I’m Tang Yifei.

    The girl grinned again. Although she considered herself quite beautiful, she felt that she couldn’t compare to this teenager. Even though she had just turned 25, she had a feeling that when this girl reached her age, she would be stunning beyond comparison.

“No wonder I heard your voice. That’s how I was able to find you.”

Yet, something about young Yifei’s words sent a shiver down her spine.

    Before she could ask anything more, a tall, slim man dressed entirely in black appeared. It was as if he had emerged from the white expanse, and she hadn’t even noticed him.

    The man was incredibly handsome, as if he had been sculpted to perfection. If someone this good-looking wasn’t a movie star, maybe it was because he simply didn’t want to be.

What was today, anyway? Why did so many beautiful people gather before her?

“You found her?” His deep, soothing voice drew their attention.

“Yes, and we have the same name too,” the younger Yifei replied.

    The man in black merely nodded in response.

    “Big brother, you have to give the abilities from the novels I’ve read.”

    The young Yifei said excitedly.

“Are you really going to do this?” The handsome man asked again.

    “Yes. I’m not capable enough to stay on, but the big sister can. She will do much better than me, and there’s still a connection that will carry on after this. It’s much better this way. Besides, I’ve been longing for Meng Po’s soup for a while now.”

She began to feel even more chills, especially down the back of her neck.

Meng Po's soup? What’s that about?

"What you’re doing is running away," the man said.

    "But isn’t this choice predestined? It’s more like a transition, isn’t it? I have the right to choose," the young girl retorted.

    The more these two talked, the colder the chill creeping down her neck became.

    "Then, let’s proceed."

    Li Yifei smiled brightly, her expression lovely and radiant, like a flower in bloom. She turned to look at her, and the warmth in her smile was palpable. Slowly, the girl approached her.

"I’ll leave this to you, big sister. Don’t worry, I’ll find someone to help you," she said.

    With that, the girl’s small, slightly calloused hand—one she remembered touching when they first held hands—gently pushed her. But it felt as if an immense force was pulling her upward. She could see the two figures before her shrinking from view, becoming smaller and smaller, until they were just tiny dots, and the white space vanished. Her consciousness faded along with it.

    When she regained awareness, a series of images flashed before her eyes. It started with a beautiful woman carrying a baby as she walked down a road. The woman’s expression was deeply sorrowful.

    She cradled the child, looking utterly lost while standing before a large pile of garbage.

She knew instinctively that the baby was Li Yifei.

    The beautiful woman stood there for a long time, hesitating, and rain began to fall. She didn’t move until a man walked up and held an umbrella over her.

"Are you having a difficult time?" the man asked.

    The woman nodded.

"Come with me. I’ll take care of you."

He offered.

    Perhaps because she had no other choice, the woman accepted his help.

    She felt relieved, at least Li Yifei wouldn’t have to lie in this huge pile of garbage.

    The next moment, she woke up. Her vision was still blurry, and she couldn’t see clearly, but the smell told her she was in a hospital, and the sound of medical equipment confirmed it.

The sound of a door opening reached her ears.

    Her vision remained hazy, and all she could see were wires connecting to various devices. Then, she heard a woman in a white uniform shout.

    "Go call Doctor Mi! The patient is awake!"

    She felt overwhelmingly fatigued and drifted off again. When she woke up this time, the room had changed. An unfamiliar elderly woman was sitting beside her, and surrounding her were hospital beds occupied by other patients.

    Maybe her family didn’t know she had an accident, which was why she wasn’t assigned to a private room, she thought.

The old woman stared at her, her face filled with worry.

"Nurse, nurse! My granddaughter is awake!" the elderly woman shouted.

    "Grandma Li, just press the button by the bed and the nurse will come, no need to shout."

    Someone else said and walked over to press the button for her.

    Though her mind was still foggy, she caught on to the fact that this Grandma Li had referred to her as her granddaughter. Before she could think further, two nurses entered, pulled the curtain around her bed, and began checking her vitals.

Soon after, the doctor arrived, asking questions and performing another round of checks.

    She overheard the doctor telling the nurses.

    "The patient is responding well. Let’s monitor her for one more week. If there’s nothing wrong, she can finally go home."

The female doctor smiled proudly, clearly pleased that they had managed to save her.

    After the curtain was pulled back to the corner, Grandma Li came to the bedside, listening attentively as the doctor explained. Her voice was filled with relief.

"Good, this is really good. Thank heavens! So, can she eat anything yet?"

    "Not yet. She’ll need to start with soft hospital food for now since the patient was in the ICU for seven days. We’ve just moved her to the general ward. In two days, if there are no complications, you can start nourishing your granddaughter," the nurse responded.

    Grandma Li nodded in understanding.

    Once the doctor and nurses left, Grandma Li looked at her, raising her hand to gently hold hers, as if cheering her up.

“The bad times are over. Good things are on their way.”

Grandma Li said reassuringly.

    Grandma Li’s hand had warmed her heart, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes. The touch reminded her of her own grandfather.

    Grandma Li gave her hand a light squeeze.

    “Don’t cry. You cried so much when you were little, and now that you’ve grown up, you’re still being a crybaby? How troublesome you are.”

Despite the scolding tone, she could feel the love and concern in Grandma Li’s words.

    “Rest now. Sleep helps you get stronger. This old lady needs to call your parents and let them know,” Grandma Li added.

    Even though she was feeling emotional, she didn’t question Grandma Li’s words. As soon as she was told to rest, she closed her eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.

    When she woke up again, a man and woman were standing beside her bed—people she vaguely recognized from her dreams, though their faces had changed with time.

    “She’s awake, Mom,” a rough voice said from the other side of the room. Turning toward the sound, she saw a young boy, likely in middle school based on his uniform.

The woman, who had been called ‘Mom’ looked at her and smiled through her tears.

“What a relief.”

    “Yes, it is. Yifei, from now on, you must cherish this life,” the man added, his gaze finally relieved of worry.

    Looking at their tired faces, with dark circles under their eyes and expressions worn with exhaustion, it was clear they had been very concerned about her.

    But how could they be so affectionate toward her when she didn’t even know them? Something wasn’t right.

    Then, the name ‘Yifei’ that the man in her dream had mentioned echoed in her mind, standing out sharply.

    No... it couldn’t be like those novels that the servants liked to read, the ones she occasionally read as well, right? Then she immediately dismissed the thought, assuming it must be some kind of misunderstanding.

Yet, the image of Li Yifei’s wide smile remained vividly clear in her memory.

And then there was Grandma Li—her surname was also Li.