Chapter 1 – A Second Chance in Someone Else’s Shoes

Here is some Characters information MC in Previous Life Name is Han Yuze — gentle, cheerful, kind,calm.

And Mc after reborn or Present Life Name (Original Owner): Rong Xuyao — wealthy, arrogant, cold (before death). After rebirth, Han Yuze takes over his body.

The above information is for not confusing you guys and moving on to the main topic or chapter of the story.

Blinding white light.

Han Yuze’s ears rang with the echo of screeching brakes, the honk of a horn, and the gut-wrenching crash that had stolen the breath from his lungs. The last thing he remembered was the warm smile of the little boy he had pushed out of the road, just before the truck’s headlights swallowed him whole.

Then—darkness.

Now, the darkness fractured into sharp smells of disinfectant, muffled voices, and the faint, rhythmic beeping of a machine nearby.

“Quickly! We’re losing him—no, stabilize the baby first!”

Baby?

Han Yuze’s thoughts swam sluggishly. Why were they talking about a baby?

His chest felt heavy, but lower—his abdomen ached as though someone had carved fire into his flesh. He tried to open his eyes. The world above him was a blur of masked faces under surgical lights. His limbs refused to move.

Somewhere to his left, a voice—aged, trembling, but laced with desperate determination—broke through the fog.

“You must save him! Young Master Xuyao must live! And… and the child too—please, he’s all that’s left of them…”

Xuyao? Han Yuze thought dimly. That wasn’t his name. His name was Han Yuze. He was twenty-four. An orphan who worked hard every day but never minded because life was worth smiling about.

Then something yanked at his soul—a cold pull, a final snap—and when his eyes fluttered open again, the light had softened. The pain had dulled into a deep throb.

He wasn’t dead.

But the body… wasn’t his.

The ceiling was a pale cream, the sheets beneath him silk-soft, smelling faintly of lavender. Han Yuze turned his head, heart lurching at the sight of an IV line in his hand and a gentle old man seated beside his bed. The man’s hair was snow-white, his suit pressed but wrinkled from a sleepless night. His eyes—red-rimmed from tears—lit up the moment Yuze stirred.

“Young Master Xuyao! Thank heavens… I thought—” The old man’s voice broke, and he clasped Yuze’s hand with surprising strength for his age. “I thought I had lost you.”

Han Yuze blinked. “I… I’m not—” He stopped. The words in his head didn’t match the instinct in his body. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

His gaze drifted downward.

A rounded curve pressed against the hospital gown where his stomach should have been flat.

Pregnant. He was pregnant.

“What… what is this?” he whispered.

The old man—Butler Chen, if Yuze’s sudden rush of unfamiliar memories was right—looked stricken. “The doctors said the fall nearly took both of you. They had to operate to stop the bleeding, but they saved the child. You’re three months along, Young Master. The heir… is safe.”

Memories not his own flickered in like a broken slideshow: a sprawling mansion, staff bowing in fear, sharp words dripping from lips he could feel but didn’t recognize as his. Lavish dinners alone. Shattered vases. The butler watching silently from the doorway.

The previous owner of this body—Rong Xuyao—had been rich beyond imagining, the only heir to a fortune in the billions after his parents’ death. But he had been cruel. Arrogant. Despised by nearly everyone in the household, except perhaps the old butler who had raised him since birth.

And apparently… he’d been pregnant.

Han Yuze’s mind reeled. The memories he’d inherited contained nothing about the father. No face, no name, no warmth—only an empty space where that part of the story should have been.

“I…” Yuze swallowed hard, lifting a trembling hand to rest on the curve of his belly. The touch was alien, yet a strange warmth bloomed there. “I don’t remember.”

Butler Chen hesitated. “The accident… perhaps it’s for the best. The young master’s life before was… not happy.” His gaze softened, searching Yuze’s face. “You seem… different now. Calmer. Like you were… a long time ago.”

Han Yuze forced a faint smile. “Maybe I just… realized life’s too short to waste.”

The butler’s lips trembled, but he said nothing more, only patting Yuze’s hand before stepping aside to call the doctor.

When the door closed, Yuze let out the breath he’d been holding.

This wasn’t his life. But it was his now. And inside him was an innocent child who hadn’t asked for any of this.

He wouldn’t be the cold, spiteful Rong Xuyao from before. No—he would be Han Yuze. Kind. Gentle. Someone who smiled, even when life hurt. Someone his child could be proud of.

The quiet hum of the hospital ward was interrupted by muffled voices outside.

“…he should have died in the fall,” a low voice muttered. “Pity that old butler caught him in time.”

Yuze froze.

A staff member? So the fall… wasn’t an accident.

Memories aligned sharply—Rong Xuyao at the top of the grand staircase, a hand shoving between his shoulder blades, the rush of air, the crash—then black.

Someone had wanted this body dead. And they might still want him gone.

Yuze’s fingers curled protectively over his belly.

Not on his watch.

When Butler Chen returned, Yuze’s expression was calm again, though his mind churned with questions. “Butler Chen,” he said softly, “thank you… for saving me.”

The old man looked startled. “Young Master—”

“No,” Yuze interrupted gently, shaking his head. “From now on… I’ll live differently. I won’t make your life harder. And…” He glanced down at his stomach, the curve small but undeniable. “I’ll protect this baby. No matter what.”

Something in Butler Chen’s eyes shimmered—hope, maybe, or relief. He bowed slightly. “Then I will protect you both, with my life.”

That night, when the hospital was quiet and moonlight spilled through the blinds, Yuze lay awake, palm over his belly.

Somewhere out there was the father of this child. Someone Xuyao had known, perhaps loved—or perhaps not. Yuze didn’t know which possibility frightened him more.

But he’d find out.

And when he did… he would make sure the truth didn’t destroy the peaceful life he was determined to build.

For himself.

And for the little life growing inside him.

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