Chapter 1

Chapter 1

This life couldn't have been worse—

Abandoned at the doorstep of an orphanage right after birth.

Frail and sickly, struggling along until he was six, when the Ning family found him; he thought he was finally going home.

However, just three months after "coming home," he was told it was all a lie. The Ning family wasn't his home after all; the real young master had been found, and he... was a scheming fake young master who had clung to a wealthy family.

The fake young master, despicable and shameless by nature, continued to cling to the Ning family even after the real young master returned—whether a six-year-old was too enamored with wealth to return to the orphanage, or whether the Ning family wouldn't let him leave for the sake of their reputation, outsiders didn't care.

In the eyes of others, the fake young master had stubbornly attached himself to the Ning family, shamelessly clinging on for over a decade, and then, by drugging the He family's Sixth Young Master, climbed into his bed.

The He and Ning families had a marriage agreement from their ancestors. It was said that the two families intended for the Sixth Young Master to become engaged to the young master of the Ning family—the real one, in contrast to the fake young master.

With the fake young master's act of climbing into bed, the originally arranged marriage agreement between the two families naturally became void.

But that wasn't the end of it—the fake young master, a man, actually became pregnant!

Not only did he get pregnant, but to force the Sixth Young Master to marry him, he threatened suicide by slitting his wrist, taking the opportunity to publicize the pregnancy. In the end, he actually succeeded in leveraging the pregnancy to marry into the family.

Such a scheming, shameless fake young master, who had been disliked since childhood, ultimately died early from a difficult childbirth—wasn't that a cause for celebration?

A cause for celebration... for others, that is.

Anyway, Ning Yichu, the fake young master, lay alone in the hospital room in his final moments. With his life flashing before his eyes as he reviewed his short and laughable life, he couldn't find any joy in it at all.

Dazed and confused, the thought of dying so pitifully and helplessly filled him with resentment.

Why...

Suddenly, as if his perception had crossed some mysterious dimension, Ning Yichu learned the complete plot of a wealthy family novel.

Upon realizing that he was merely a short-lived cannon fodder in the book, whose existence was meant to be abandoned, doubted, compared, and despised... serving as a stepping stone for the protagonist's happy life, Ning Yichu felt even more like laughing.

But... he thought, if given the chance, he still wanted to live.

Even if this world didn't welcome him, he still wanted to live.

Holding onto this lingering thought, Ning Yichu completely lost consciousness.

The voices echoing in his ears, whether mocking or hypocritical, could no longer be heard.

However, in the river of life that should have eternally ceased, Ning Yichu, as if drifting within it, suddenly opened his eyes again.

Like a fish that had dehydrated, nearly died, and fainted, only to struggle back to life upon returning to the water.

The fish flicked its tail, stirring ripples of vitality in its heart.

Ning Yichu sat in his bedroom late at night, looking at the surroundings, and instinctively touched his chest.

Through the thin chest wall, the heart inside was beating.

Ning Yichu's mind was still somewhat confused, but his hand had already instinctively reached for the phone beside him.

Turning on the screen, he saw that the time had gone back half a year—to half a year before he died in the hospital room from premature birth, difficult labor, and complications, despite rescue efforts.

Ning Yichu lifted the hem of his pajamas and looked at his abdomen.

At this time, he was just three months pregnant, not yet showing. His abdomen still appeared flat, without the hideous scar left by the cesarean section for childbirth...

Ning Yichu blinked, lowered his clothes, and looked back at the date on the phone screen.

Although he didn't know what kind of opportunity this was, he had been reborn. Unfortunately, the date of his rebirth was really unlucky.

He remembered this day. It was the day after he and He Shixia had registered their marriage, the first night he had been brought back to the He family by He Shixia and moved in...

Thinking of He Shixia, the He family, the Ning family... and the original book's plot, Ning Yichu felt somewhat unhappy.

But looking at his now intact self, who had been given a second chance, Ning Yichu couldn't bring himself to feel too downhearted.

He was amazed by the fact of his rebirth and didn't want to think now about whether he would still die half a year later as in the original plot—that would be too depressing.

Having lived so many years, very few good things had happened to him. Although rebirth came after dying once, it could still be considered a good thing, and a good thing that belonged solely to him. He should be happy.

Ning Yichu pushed himself up from the carpet—he had been sitting on the floor beside the bed—and walked to the water dispenser in the bedroom to pour himself a glass of water.

His complexion was fine at the moment, but the emotions in his heart were far more turbulent than his expression.

He felt a rising tide of desires—thoughts about life, about everything—so broad and vague that they floated in his heart, neither here nor there, unclear, only the feeling was real.

This chaotic surge of emotions stirred him, urging him to do something to release them, leaving Ning Yichu unsure how to handle it.

So he could only drink some water to calm his nerves, hoping to soothe his emotions, swallow those feelings back into his stomach and settle them, so he could free his mind to calmly and carefully consider what to do next.

Just after drinking half a glass of water, the bedroom door was suddenly hurriedly opened from the outside.

Ning Yichu instinctively looked toward the door, where He Shixia stood, breathing rapidly.

Upon seeing Ning Yichu himself, He Shixia froze, no longer in a hurry, but simply stared straight at Ning Yichu, not speaking for a long while.

Ning Yichu blinked lightly.

As someone who had just been reborn and hadn't yet settled his emotions, Ning Yichu keenly realized... He Shixia might have been reborn too.

Because, in his previous life, this hadn't happened.

The bedroom He Shixia had in the He family's old residence was very large, more like a sizable suite. After entering the door, there was first a small living room, and then three doors, leading to the bedroom, study, and bathroom respectively.

Although the two had registered their marriage, the union was absurd, so they didn't sleep together. After Ning Yichu moved into the He family, He Shixia gave him the bedroom and slept in the study himself.

On this night in his previous life, He Shixia hadn't suddenly come to his room so inexplicably urgently and without knocking.

Ning Yichu even saw a kind of joy in his panicked gaze, almost like "regaining something lost."

So, he wasn't the only one who had been reborn?

Indeed, unique things never seemed to fall upon him.

Did He Shixia also know about the original book's plot? Upon learning that he, He Shixia, was also just a stepping stone for the protagonist couple's life, ultimately dying young, what did he think?

In the few seconds Ning Yichu lowered his gaze and drifted off, He Shixia walked in.

"I... there's no place to lie down in the study. Can I sleep in the bedroom too?" He Shixia almost stumbled over his words.

Knowing that he wasn't the only one reborn, Ning Yichu's earlier turbulent emotions seemed to deflate all at once. Lacking interest, he put down the water glass, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and simply sat down on the carpet.

Leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window, pressing his cheek against the cool glass, Ning Yichu looked out at the night scenery without making a sound, as if He Shixia didn't exist.

He Shixia received no answer. His gaze followed Ning Yichu's movements, and seeing him sit motionless on the floor, He Shixia hesitated for a moment before continuing to walk over.

He squatted down in front of Ning Yichu and softened his voice: "Was my suggestion too forward? If you're unwilling, just reject it outright... Don't sit on the floor. Go back to bed; it's late. I'll go back to the study first. You can lock the bedroom door... I won't barge in without knocking again. I'm very sorry."

Ning Yichu gazed at him in silence.

There was a tiny red mole at the outer corner of his left eye, so small and close to the eye that it was barely visible from a distance. But up close, it looked as if a tear of blood was about to seep out, making you hesitant to look too long—just like his eyes.

Ning Yichu's eyes were very beautiful, with exceptionally dark pupils. When he looked at someone, it seemed as if he could reflect all their thoughts, making people inexplicably afraid to meet his gaze for too long, as if they would lose their nerve to speak.

Yet those pitch-black eyes concealed their owner's emotions completely, not revealing the slightest hint.

Just like now, He Shixia looked at Ning Yichu's pale yet strikingly beautiful face, at his eyes, and felt as if his own thoughts were laid bare, while what Ning Yichu was thinking remained uncertain to him.

He gave a soft cough and asked again: "Or is it because you just moved in today and aren't used to it yet, so you can't sleep?"

Ning Yichu still didn't answer, only staring unblinkingly at him.

Unaccountably, He Shixia felt his palms begin to sweat. He didn't even know why he was nervous. He hastily averted his gaze, no longer daring to meet Ning Yichu's eyes.

"Don't want to talk to me? That's normal too... Then I won't disturb your rest—" As He Shixia spoke, he made as if to stand up and leave.

But just as he began to rise, before he could finish his sentence, Ning Yichu suddenly lunged toward him, crashing into his arms.

He Shixia instinctively caught Ning Yichu, losing his balance and falling onto the carpet with the momentum. Then Ning Yichu's lips pressed against the side of He Shixia's neck.

He Shixia froze slightly, and the next moment, he felt a sharp pain at his neck—Ning Yichu had bitten down with his teeth.

Ning Yichu himself didn't know what he was doing, but his heart was filled with pent-up frustration with nowhere to vent. The more he looked at He Shixia, the angrier he felt.

He clenched his teeth and soon tasted blood.

Only then did Ning Yichu, who had no vampire-like preferences, snap back to reality. He released He Shixia's neck, turned his head, and spat out the blood.

A fresh bite mark remained on the side of He Shixia's neck, with blood seeping out and dripping onto the collar of his pajamas, glaringly conspicuous.

The bite naturally hurt, but He Shixia paid it no mind.

He raised his hand and gently stroked the hair of Ning Yichu, who was still half-lying on him: "I'm sorry..."

Ning Yichu also raised his hand, casually wiping the remaining blood from his lips with his sleeve.

Then he lifted his eyes and, in a calm tone, spoke his first words to He Shixia since his rebirth: "I don't think I ever told you—when we signed the marriage certificate, I was thinking at that moment, 'If only you would drop dead the next second.'"

He Shixia's fingers paused briefly, then he continued to stroke Ning Yichu's soft hair: "Mm, after all, we didn't sign a prenuptial agreement, and I haven't made a will. If I died right after the marriage, you could inherit my estate."

Ning Yichu chuckled lightly: "Right. But later, I stopped thinking that way."

The phrase "later" made it sound as if a long time had passed since they got married, yet according to the current timeline, it was only the second day after their marriage.

But He Shixia didn't dwell on this slight anomaly, simply following Ning Yichu's words: "Because there are too many people in the He family, and you're afraid of trouble?"

"No," Ning Yichu replied. "I felt that kind of thinking was too petty."

He looked at He Shixia, the corners of his lips curling up: "Since it's all just a dream anyway, why not dream bigger? Just you dying alone is too little. Of course, it would be better if everyone from both the Ning and He families died—following the order of inheritance law, leaving only me to inherit all the assets of both families. Just thinking about it feels wonderful."

Author's Note:

----------------------

New story is here, thanks for your support! [Let me see]