It all began in J City, which is part of the Chi Kingdom.

“Bang!” The prison’s gate was pushed open, and a scrawny and brittle woman emerged from the inside. With only a layer of thin clothes, she was obviously underdressed for the cold, windy weather.

Looking hollow-cheeked and bony, her seven years in prison clearly did not do her well. It was apparent that her skin had lost its usual radiance as the years went by. There was also no trace of her once alluring glamour, as her beauty had withered like a rose that was dry and shriveled.

Dark clouds came rolling in that dark gloomy day. Then, it soon started to drizzle with harsh blustery winds in the background.

Alas, the woman had regained her freedom but had nowhere to go, no one to see, and nothing to move on to. No one even came to see her. Perhaps, the treacherous weather was apt for her.

“I deserve this,” she thought to herself repeatedly.

The woman had wandered the streets for a while now until a jeep suddenly showed up and stopped next to her.

She stopped, too, in bewilderment, clearly puzzled by the presence of this foreign vehicle.

Soon, a tall, strong man appeared from the car. The lady could not help but ponder the identity of the stranger.

“Oh, it’s you. Hi Xu Yi!”

“Sister-in-law, let’s talk in the car, shall we?”

With arduous effort, she climbed into the tall car and stared blankly at Xu Yi who sat next to her. It had been years since they last met. The many years in prison had all but blurred her memory. Nevertheless, she remembered that Xu Yi was the youngest member of Blood Wolf; he was also a man that was highly valued by ‘him’.

Speaking of ‘him’, the character suddenly came alive in her memory; the man of a resolute and steadfast disposition. Uncontrollably, she looked to the ground as tears started rolling down the sides of her cheeks.

She thought she would never cry again after being hardened by the hard knocks of prison life, but there she was, weeping for the man named Lu Beixiao.

Lu Beixiao – the man was her husband who passed away seven years ago.

“Sister, don’t be sad. Now that you are out, you should move on with your life. You are still young. With the property and money that Leader Lu left behind for you, you can always start over,” he tried to ease her grief as soon as she started crying.

Seven years ago, she was arrested right after Lu Beixiao’s death. The experience left such a scar on her that Xu Yi’s effort to cheer her up only made her feel worse. Feeling depressed and guilty, she continued to grieve for the man even more.

“Sister, this is a letter that carries Leader Lu’s last words. It has been kept in the force for a while now. I am glad that I can finally hand this over to you.” Xu Yi presented the letter to her from his pocket whilst explaining.

With tearful eyes, she gazed fixedly at the letter.

“It is a tradition for us to write our last words on a letter before every mission. Leader Lu was the God of War, as we called him – always strong and invincible. He never felt the need to write one, except for that one time. He finally penned his words down on the letter, not knowing that those were going to be his last,” Xu Yi hoarsely said, overwhelmed by the sad ending of the man’s life.

Shakily, she lifted her bony hands and accepted the letter with a gentle nod.

...

In a cemetery, a woman could be seen standing in front of a tombstone alone, unmoved by the downpour.

She looked thoughtfully at the picture inscribed on a tombstone and her fingers then softly traced the face of the person’s perfect features, as though the man in the picture was still alive.

“I took you for granted when you were alive. I deserve this. I should have listened to you. Instead, I chose to trust Li Yun and Shen Xichuan, who eventually got me chained and thrown into prison,” she said with a tremble in her voice.

The man in the picture stared back at her with a wry smile, as if mocking her for her terrible misjudgment. However, that was all only in her head. Lu Beixiao loved her more than he loved himself, so he would never jeer at her for any reason at all.

It was only moments ago that she found out how deep his love was for her. He said in his last letter, “Ye Qiao, from now on you must live your life to its fullest. I bought the house that you liked, the one with a yard. You can stay there if you wish to, or turn it into a lodge and rent it out. When we meet again in our next lives, you ought to fall in love with me all over again, understand? My love for you will carry on, for more lives to come.”

“I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve your love, Lu Beixiao! The embarrassment is too much to bear! How can I live on with such grief?” Overwhelmed, she knelt down and touched the picture with her forehead. With both arms hugging the tombstone, she finally let out a shuddering sob.

The woman was drenched in the torrential downpour. Like a mindless walking corpse, she then exited the cemetery through its side gate.

The strong winds swayed the branches in the vicinity, causing numerous leaves to flutter to the ground.

Her thin, weak figure was already teetering in the rain, as unsteady as the dead leaves that clung hopelessly on the branches in the trees nearby.

“My love for you will carry on, for more lives to come.” The man had spent his entire life loving her, truly and deeply. How could she not know it before!?

She was misled by her own stupidity and lack of trust, which was further spurred on by Li Yun’s malicious statements. The lady was her best friend in the past. Blinded by her feelings for Shen Xichuan, her estrangement with Lu Beixiao, which originated from a misunderstanding, began to grow over time.

Unaware of her surroundings, she did not see a fast-approaching dump truck that was driving too speedily to stop and unavoidably hit her! The massive collision caused her body to tumble down the road in the blink of an eye. In a panic, the truck was brought to a screeching halt.

Passively, she looked up at the sky with a big smile on her face. “Perhaps death would be a better ending”, she thought to herself as she lay on the damp road helplessly in her own pool of blood. No one even seemed to approach her.

In possibly what would appear to be one of her last gasps, she caught the sight of a stranger with a mask over his face who came checking on her. “Boss, there’s nothing to worry about. She is going to die for sure,” the stranger’s voice rang in her ears.

It was a homicide by a faceless stranger with shades. But more importantly, who was the boss behind this act of murder?

...

Her frail and hurt body continued to bleed, making her look as if she was lying on a mass of blooming red roses from afar. She looked up at the sky again and Lu Beixiao’s handsome face came to her sight this time.

She had one more question for him. “I am a stupid woman who is unworthy of your love. Why did you love me at all?” However, there was no chance for her to say it because soon, the face had faded away. All she could feel now was the cold.

“Meng Po, please don’t let me drink the waters of Lethe. I must not, and I wish not to forget him,” she pleaded. She wanted to see him again in her next life and find her way back in love. She must.

...

“Thank you for tuning in to J City Radio, FM94.6. The time now is 2 o’clock in the afternoon.”

The girl slowly opened her eyes and a ceiling that she did not quite recognize came into view. A hint of alcohol floated in the dry air as she took in a conscious breath. Tears were still present at the corner of her eyes, indicating to any onlooker that she was clearly hurting.

“Hey, giddy girl. Stop crying or we can never sort this out!” On a hot, sunny day, there was a boy and a girl in a room together, alone.

The boy by the bed had a buzz cut, with a smirk on his charming face. He was wearing a sleeveless top with camouflage army prints to show off his well-toned, bronze-colored arms. That was how Lu Beixiao looked when he was 21 years old.

She wondered if she was in heaven. Maybe they finally got to meet again. However, she was too weak to say anything or swing her arms around to hug him. She could only weep bitter tears in an attempt to show her desperation.

“Hey, giddy girl. Is it too hot? Why aren’t you talking?” Lu Beixiao merely raised his eyebrows at her due to her prolonged silence.

Suddenly, the girl smiled back at him, which was confusing, for he had no clue what she was thinking or trying to do. He thought that the girl must have been having a heat stroke and thus, became unable to think straight.

The temperature was as high as 39 degrees Celsius that day, and yet, she was fully dressed in an attire that was meant for spring or autumn. In fact, she should be thankful that the heatwave did not kill her right away under her thick layers of clothes.

“Good afternoon, fellow listeners. Today is the 20th of July 1995, Thursday, which is also the 23rd of June of the lunar calendar. Thank you for tuning in to FM94.6.”

The sound from the radio slowly faded, as he turned the volume down to mute it. “1995? That was 20 years ago.” Utterly confused, Ye Qiao looked around and saw the NBA posters that were pasted all over the walls. Those were mostly of Michael Jordan at the very height of his career. Back in those days, he was the idol of most boys.

Didn’t she just die in a car accident? How did she end up in 1995?

“Hey, bro. This is where you’ve kept the pretty girl hidden, I see!” As soon as Lu Beichi walked through the door, a pretty, little girl on the tiny bed immediately caught his attention, but he could not see her face. He thought the girl was a stranger.

Lu Beichi was Lu Beixiao’s cousin. Just when he was about to get a better look at the girl, he was distracted by the sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs.

“Qiao Qiao! Qiao Qiao!” A girl called out Ye Qiao’s name anxiously while charging up the stairs.

At this point, Ye Qiao had already regained her consciousness and had a grasp of the situation. It was Li Yun’s voice that she heard, a girl whom she had an intense hatred toward now.

“Ye Qiao!” All of a sudden, the door burst open! Shen Xichuan was the first to enter, followed by a group of people who were mostly from the houses next door.

“Shen Xichuan, how dare you come into my house!?” Shen Xichuan was Lu Beichi’s bitter rival, so his presence was obviously not welcomed. A fight seemed unavoidable as the boys needed to find a way to discharge their raging hormones. They were always fighting and brawling, anyway.

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Two boys instinctively stepped forward to shield Shen Xichuan. They lived in the same neighborhood too, and their names were Zhang Yaojie and Chen Damao; both of them looked very fierce and their actions had displeased Lu Beichi even more.

“Bastards! We are going to sort this out right now!” Lu Beichi exclaimed.

“Qiao Qiao!” Soon, a girl with a graceful demeanor emerged from the group of boys. Her long, white dress stood out in stark contrast to her silky black hair. Her facial expression made it look as though she was worried.

“Mister Lu, please don’t take it the wrong way. We are here to see Ye Qiao.” The girl was Li Yun.

Lu Beichi was known as the bully of the Lu family, so she intentionally stepped forward to try to pacify the situation. With a timid gaze, she tried to play the role of a peacemaker.

Li Yun did not hesitate for a second to act innocently in order to get her way. Besides, Ye Qiao’s presence was truly her excuse for coming.

However, a strong, tall figure suddenly entered the room from behind the group. The man’s name was Lu Beixiao.

All of them looked at him anxiously as if they had just seen the God of Death. Intuitively, they took a few steps back, just to be safe.

In fact, they never really had the chance to see him up close before. Nevertheless, he was known as an authoritative figure in the area. The boys definitely did not expect him to be present.

Meanwhile, Li Yun’s heart began to thump wildly.

Lu Beixiao possessed all the ideal male attributes of a man – broad shoulders, a firm waist, and long legs. His bronze-colored skin complimented his well-toned muscles that added to his impeccable charm. Most importantly, he had an absolutely handsome face. He was the prime example of masculinity!

Contrastingly, Shen Xichuan and Lu Beichi were no match to his unparalleled charisma.

“Lu...” Li Yun bit her tongue in an anxious attempt to speak to him while casting sheepish eyes at the man of her dreams. Unfortunately for her, he did not return her longing gaze.

At that moment, Lu Beichi stood quietly in a corner while waiting for Shen Xichuan and his boys to leave the house.

Despite being seniors, the boys had to regard Lu Beixiao with reverence and awe. They referred to him as the Incarnate Fiend. Everyone had to pay him the same respect.

Taking advantage of his cousin’s presence, Lu Beichi proudly assumed Lu Beixiao’s authority as his own and looked at Shen Xichuan with an unwelcoming squint.

In fact, Lu Beixiao’s powerful influence sent Shen Xichuan trembling on the inside, but his outer appearance remained firm.

“Qiao Qiao, are you in there?” Ye Qiao was the granddaughter of Mister Ye, a man of noble character and high prestige in the neighborhood. Looking for an opportunity to stay, Shen Xichuan planned to use Ye Qiao as his excuse.

Sounds coming from the room made it sound like someone was astir in response to Shen Xichuan’s call. From the inside, Ye Qiao slowly walked to the door and was seen wearing a very loose t-shirt. Both her arms and legs had been wiped with alcohol to regulate her body temperature and quickly cool it back to normal.

“Qiao Qiao! You are here!” Li Yun exclaimed in excitement. Nevertheless, her expression changed slightly as soon as she saw Ye Qiao’s slender figure. Without a pair of thick, black-framed glasses on her face, she looked rather stunning.