Chapter 1 Rebirth

The production team leader of Xujia Village's beloved daughter had fallen into the water.

The entire Xu Family was as gloomy as if shrouded by dark clouds, yet the villagers were all gathered with gossiping faces, discussing fervently.

One story passed to another, and by the time it reached the Youth Corps, it had become:

"The team leader's darling daughter had a fever so bad it fried her brain, and she died!"

"What, Xu Ying is dead?" exclaimed a female member of the Youth Corps. Her already frail body seemed as if it would collapse at any moment, like a kite in the breeze.

She steadied herself and rushed non-stop to the team leader's house.

Xu Ying couldn't die, if she did:

Wouldn't her life-saving efforts have been in vain?

Xu Ying was awakened by the noisy sounds. After several years in the apocalypse, she had developed the habit of keeping a weapon under her pillow when sleeping.

She heard footsteps by the door and reflexively reached under the pillow.

But she grasped nothing. She opened her eyes and sat up on guard.

Looking around at her surroundings, Xu Ying was instantly stunned; the room was clearly her boudoir from her previous life!

The decrepit clay house's walls were peeling, ready to fall off at any moment, and the wall by the bed was papered with newspapers.

Across from the bed stood a cabinet that had come as part of her elder brother's wife's dowry when they married.

Back then, she had been envious of her sister-in-law's new cabinet, had pressed her sister-in-law until she agreed to give it to her. Thinking of that, she felt a pang of guilt.

At this moment, a familiar voice came from outside:

"Auntie, has Yingying woken up?" A frail girl stood in the courtyard, her anxious face peering into the house.

Mrs. Xu's love for her daughter was intense; her eyes were red and swollen from recent tears.

She sat in the courtyard, wailing and slapping her thigh: "Oh, my dear daughter! If anything happens to her, I might as well die too.

It's all your fault, you old fool! Why on earth did you send her to buy soy sauce? If she hadn't gone to buy it, she wouldn't have fallen into the river!"

Mrs. Xu scolded Xu Jian Country, snot and tears streaming down her face.

Xu Jian Country's old face was covered with guilt: "It's all my fault. If I'd known that Yingying would fall into the river, I would never have let her go."

"Uncle Xu? Has Yingying not woken up? She's not really dead, is she?" Chen Yanran was now frantic with worry.

Mrs. Xu leapt from her chair with a swoosh and lunged at Chen Yanran: "You shameless woman! What nonsense are you spouting?

You're the one who's dead. My daughter is just unconscious, and you're already cursing her death? You little harlot, I'll beat you to death."

Xu Jian Country, seeing his wife going berserk, felt overwhelmed and hurriedly followed: "Stop the nonsense! Chen Zhiqing saved our daughter; how can you repay kindness with malice?"

"She said our daughter was dead." Mrs. Xu stomped her feet in anger. She only scratched Chen Yanran a few times because she had saved her daughter.

If it weren't for the fact she was their savior, she would have floored the wretch and given her a good thrashing.

Chen Yanran, her face scratched several times by Mrs. Xu, wailed tearfully: "I heard it from people outside. I didn't believe it; that's why I came to see Xu Ying."

"Chen Zhiqing, thank you for caring about my daughter. If it hadn't been for your help, she might indeed be gone now.

But now, Yingying is just unconscious. Please don't say such things again in the future." Xu Jian Country, usually imposing, now seemed somewhat haggard.

"No need to thank me, Team Leader Uncle. It was just what I should have done, and I would have helped whoever fell into the river," Chen Zhiqing said, enduring the pain and managing a polite smile.

Xu Ying, without anyone noticing, had arrived at the doorway. She watched the scene before her with intense irony.

"Chen Zhiqing means—you're saying you saved me?"

Chen Yanran immediately turned to look behind her upon hearing the voice, a flicker of jealousy crossing her eyes.

The woman's black hair spread out like clouds, and from her curved willow eyebrows, a pair of eyes as deep as autumn waters and beautiful like the stars showed a cold and arrogant expression.

Despite her paleness from weakness, she still exuded an overpowering aura.

Chen Yanran bit her lip as she looked at her. No matter how beautiful she was, what did it matter if she was just a brainless pretty face?

"Yingying, have you forgotten how fervently I pulled you from the river?"

Xu Ying felt nauseated by her pretentious act.

Just look at those sincere eyes; anyone who didn't know any better would think she had been ungrateful.

But of course, Chen Yanran's acting skills were unparalleled; otherwise, in her past life, she wouldn't have been deceived by her and Dong Wenzhong to her unfortunate end.

"Chen Yanran, how shameless can you be? It was clearly Lu Daya who saved me, not you. Do you really think I was unconscious and didn't know what happened?"

Xu Ying's lips parted slightly as she looked at Chen Yanran with scorn.

At those words, Chen Yanran's face turned pale in an instant. Indeed, she hadn't been the one who saved Xu Ying, but Xu Ying had only opened her eyes once in the middle of it all, and it was she who was by Xu Ying's side.

"Yingying, what do you mean by that? You clearly saw me save you and then you fainted.

Even if you don't like me, you shouldn't make a fuss over something like this!" Chen Yanran's face was filled with sadness as tears rolled down her cheeks one by one.

Xu Jian Country was getting angry too. This was not the time for tantrums; the matter of a lifesaver was not to be taken lightly. If it weren't for Chen Zhiqing's desperate efforts to save her, this girl would probably be dead by now.

"Yingying, you can't be throwing a tantrum at a time like this."

"Dad, do you really believe she was the one who saved me? Chen Zhiqing is frail. She wouldn't have been able to save me, let alone get out of the river herself if she had fallen in."

Chen Yanran was a Youth Corps member who came from the big city, having never done any heavy work at home. On the first day she arrived, it was Dong Wenzhong who helped carry her luggage.

After that, whenever it was time to work in the fields, she either couldn't lift this or couldn't carry that, always complaining about one discomfort or another, her frailty resembling Lin Daiyu.

Upon hearing this, Xu Jian Country's expression paused as he remembered how the girl had been unable to carry her own luggage when she first arrived.

His daughter weighed over ninety pounds; how could she possibly have pulled her up?

Chen Yanran saw the team leader's doubt and began to cry even more pitifully, like flowers drenched in rain: "Yingying, I may not be strong at work, but human life is of paramount importance.

You falling into the river gave me such a fright. I was afraid something would happen to you, and then I summoned all my strength to pull you out."

"If you don't believe this, you can go ask Dong Zhiqing."

Upon hearing the name Dong Zhiqing, hatred flared in Xu Ying's eyes.

Dong Wenzhong, she had irreconcilable enmity with him.

In her past life, she mistook a scoundrel for a good man and argued with her father to marry him.

Later, Dong Wenzhong coaxed her, leading her to beg her father in desperation, going to the lengths of creating a fuss and threatening suicide, so that her father would give up his chance to return to the city just for him.

Who would have thought that once Dong Wenzhong made it back to the city, he simply vanished without a trace.

Her father was resented for giving up the spot to Dong Wenzhong and was once ambushed with a sack over his head and beaten brutally, his body left in the back hills where, "cries to heaven went unanswered, and pleas to earth heard by none."

It was the beginning of winter when they found him, his body bloodied and mangled, eyes wide open, stiff and breathless.

It was pouring rain that day, and in his grief, her brother lost his footing while carrying their father down the mountain, rolling down the incline, breaking his leg on the spot!

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This story is a sweet romance with a professional twist; the female protagonist will eventually start her own business and make a fortune.