Chapter 1: Take Action

Gu Xi suddenly snapped her eyes open.

Faint voices drifted in from outside the door, accompanied by bursts of laughter, slowly clearing her sluggish mind.

She… was alive?

Thinking this, she immediately sat up. Because she moved too quickly, her vision darkened in waves, nearly causing her to fall back down. She braced herself with both hands on the bed, taking a while to recover.

She touched her forehead—it felt hot.

Her body was weak and uncomfortable, unfamiliar, making her clearly realize that she was indeed alive again.

Gu Xi turned her head to look around and was momentarily stunned.

This room was very familiar; it was the room she had lived in since she came to the Gu Family at fifteen, a full five years.

The room wasn’t large and didn’t have many belongings. Facing the window was a desk piled with some books. On the yellowed wall beside it hung several well-aged certificates of merit.

There was a worn-out wardrobe, a triangular rack holding a shoulder bag and some clothes, a chair, and a single bed—nothing more.

So simple that it didn’t seem like a place where a girl had lived long-term, as if here she was just a passerby.

After sitting for a while and feeling somewhat stronger, Gu Xi threw back the quilt and got out of bed, staggering toward the door.

When she opened it, the voices downstairs became clearer.

***

“Second Brother, are you really giving me this watch? Mine broke, and I was just thinking of buying a new one.”

Gu Yuanxiang raised her wrist, happily admiring the watch. She recognized it as an imported brand and was very pleased.

“Of course. I saved up more than half a year’s salary to get this high-end one for you. It’s a birthday gift to make up for not being able to celebrate with you last week,” Gu Yuanzheng said with a smile.

Gu Yuanxiang beamed, “Thank you, Second Brother! I love it so much!”

Nearby, Gu Yuanhui was snacking and felt a bit jealous. “Sister, you only thank Second Brother. What about me? I gave you a birthday gift too, but you never thanked me!”

Gu Yuanxiang quickly replied, “Of course I thank Yuanhui too. I really like the Pearl Hair Tie you gave me!”

That pearl hair tie was indeed very much to her liking. Strung with pearls, it was beautiful and fashionable, clearly expensive.

“That’s good. I picked it out at the Baihuo Building with Junzi and the others. It was really pricey—spent all my recent allowance and have no money for meals. Junzi and the others treated me, so I’ll have to pay them back later…”

Gu Yuanhui complained. He was still a middle school student with little allowance. To buy Gu Yuanxiang a birthday gift, he had spent all his pocket money and even borrowed some.

He really didn’t understand how a hair tie with a few extra pearls could be so expensive. Girls were complicated.

Gu Xi walked slowly down to the stairs and saw the three sitting on the living room sofa.

Their volume wasn’t lowered as they examined the items Gu Yuanzheng had brought back from his business trip to Shanghai.

Last week had been Gu Yuanxiang’s twentieth birthday. Although elders these days didn’t emphasize birthdays much, the Gu Family still prepared gifts for her. Gu Yuanzheng hadn’t been home due to his Shanghai trip but still remembered and specially brought a gift from there.

Gu Xi calmly observed the happy siblings downstairs.

If it had been her previous life, seeing this scene would have pained her, even making her feel inferior.

She and Gu Yuanxiang were born on the same day, same birthday. Yet Second Brother Gu Yuanzheng and youngest brother Gu Yuanhui had prepared no gifts for her. Only their mother, Jiang Huijun, had bought her a silk scarf.

Of course, Gu Yuanxiang had the same scarf.

At birth, Gu Xi and Gu Yuanxiang had been switched at the hospital—one raised as a well-off cadre child in the compound, the other as an illiterate girl in the countryside.

Only at fifteen did Gu Xi return to the Gu Family.

The Gu Family had raised Gu Yuanxiang for fifteen years and was reluctant to let her go. Even after Gu Xi returned, they kept her there; she was still their daughter.

Human emotions are strange. Even though Gu Xi was the Gu Family’s true daughter, they preferred the lively and cheerful Gu Yuanxiang, perhaps because of the fifteen years spent growing up together.

The missing fifteen years weren’t something blood ties could easily fill.

But after dying once, all loves, hates, and grudges seemed clearer, no longer craving what wasn’t hers.

Supporting herself on the stair railing, Gu Xi slowly descended.

Seeing her, the three suddenly stopped laughing mid-sentence.

Gu Yuanzheng glanced at her, the smile fading from his face as he raised a cup to sip water.

Gu Yuanhui clicked his tongue, sneered, and said, “Lazy woman, it’s this late and you’re still sleeping? You can’t even come out to greet Second Brother when he’s back. What kind of attitude is that?”

Gu Yuanxiang said nothing, pretending to busy herself adjusting the watch’s strap.

The Gu Family had seven members: Gu Maowen and Jiang Huijun, the parents; eldest son Gu Yuanyang serving in the military; second son Gu Yuanzheng working at the Steel Factory; eldest daughter Gu Xi, just graduated high school; second daughter Gu Yuanxiang, attending university; and youngest son Gu Yuanhui, sixteen this year.

Except for Gu Yuanyang in the army, the rest lived here.

Summer vacation had just started, so Gu Xi, Gu Yuanxiang, and Gu Yuanhui were all home.

Gu Xi ignored them and went to the bathroom to wash her face.

Looking into the mirror, she stared at her own face and felt a bit dazed.

Perhaps because she had been dead too long, it had been a while since she saw her own reflection. It felt otherworldly, everything unfamiliar.

After washing, she finally felt more awake, with a deeper, clearer sense of being alive again.

Since she had a second chance at life, she vowed to cherish it.

After decades of drifting as a Ghost, loneliness was unbearable—being truly alone in the world was terrifying, endless, like enduring until the end of the world.

Gu Xi straightened up and left the bathroom.

Ignoring the three in the living room, she returned to her room, changed clothes, and grabbed the shoulder bag from the rack.

When she came downstairs again and was about to leave, Gu Yuanxiang suddenly called out.

“Xi Xi.”

Gu Yuanxiang smiled brightly.

“Where are you going? Looking for a job?”

Gu Xi stopped and turned to look at her.

Gu Yuanxiang smiled gently.

“Actually, you don’t have to rush. You just graduated high school—you can rest at home a while. Mom and Dad don’t mind supporting you. You don’t have to work as hard as Second Brother.”

Gu Xi said nothing, simply looking at her as if pondering what she really meant.

Her cheeks flushed an unnatural red, highlighting her confused, watery eyes. Her thick black hair was simply tied at the back. Wearing a white blouse and black pants, she stood there fresh and poised, like a lotus blooming in summer—a quiet, elegant beauty.

Gu Yuanxiang’s smile faltered, feeling a bit uneasy inside.

Gu Xi was undeniably beautiful, though she didn’t resemble the Gu Family. It was said she looked more like Jiang Huijun’s mother, Gu siblings’ grandmother, Jiang Laotaitai.

It was said that Jiang Laotaitai had been a breathtaking beauty in her youth, but none of her children looked like her. Only her granddaughter Gu Xi inherited her looks, which was why Gu Xi was discovered and accepted back into the family five years ago.

No woman is indifferent to her appearance; Gu Yuanxiang was no exception.

She envied Gu Xi’s looks, but even more, she envied that Gu Xi was the Gu Family’s true daughter, while she was just a mistaken pretender.

When Gu Xi was recognized and brought back, she was a country bumpkin—thin, dark-skinned, short, with dry, yellow hair and malnourished. Only her face had a good foundation, but it wasn’t exactly pretty.

Who would have thought after years of care, her figure had stretched, her skin whitened, and her superior features fully emerged. Truly, a girl changes much as she grows.

Every time Gu Yuanxiang saw Gu Xi’s dramatic transformation, she felt a painful jealousy that made her want to do something.

Fortunately, although Gu Xi was the real daughter, the parents and brothers still favored her more.

Perhaps it was also because of Gu Xi’s strange personality.

What good was it being the family’s real daughter if she had been worn down by fifteen years of poverty and hardship in the countryside?

She had grown timid and shy, rarely speaking, quiet and awkward—hardly endearing. Elders usually didn’t like children like that.

As Gu Yuanxiang comforted herself, Gu Yuanhui clicked his tongue and crossed his legs.

“What job? With her cowardly look, who’d hire her? No one respects her. Better stay home and do chores, serve us well! Serve well, and we’ll even pay her a salary. After all, she’s used to this kind of work from the countryside.”

“That’s unfair,” Gu Yuanxiang said.

“Xi Xi just graduated high school. That’s impressive.”

When Gu Xi was taken in, she had been an illiterate child. Now she had graduated high school—that was quite an achievement.

Gu Yuanhui sneered, “Back then at fifteen, she was cramming into classes with elementary school kids. What a disgrace. I don’t know why Mom and Dad took her back—disgracing our family.”

Gu Yuanxiang scolded him, telling him not to talk about Xi Xi like that.

But Gu Yuanhui liked to go against people. The more she pleaded, the harsher he was, tearing Xi Xi down completely, as if her existence was a mistake.

Gu Yuanzheng didn’t speak, glanced at the time, and said to Gu Xi, “Go make dinner. Mom and Dad should be back soon.”

The Gu Family used to have a housekeeper—distant relatives helping with chores. But after the housekeeper’s grandson was born, she returned home. When they looked for a new one, they learned Gu Xi could cook, so they never hired anyone new. Whenever she was home, it was her job to cook.

Gu Xi stared at them expressionlessly.

Seeing her stand still, Gu Yuanhui grew annoyed and bossily said, “Hey! Second Brother told you to cook! He just got back from Shanghai—go make something for him.”

Gu Yuanxiang pulled out a box of cookies and handed it over, teasing, “Second Brother, why didn’t you say you were hungry? Have some cookies first! How about Xi Xi makes you a bowl of noodles? Her noodles are pretty tasty.”

“Alright,” Gu Yuanzheng said tiredly and hungrily. He wasn’t picky right now.

Gu Xi still didn’t move, her gaze dropping to the items on the table as she asked, “Is there a birthday gift for me?”

Gu Yuanzheng was momentarily stunned, surprised even. He hadn’t expected her to ask for a gift herself. Usually, if they forgot, she never asked—probably to avoid troubling them.

If she didn’t ask, naturally, they wouldn’t bother.

“No,” he said indifferently. “Not enough money now. I bought one for Xiangxiang first. I’ll get yours next time.”

When that “next time” might be, no one knew.

The Gu Family habitually ignored Gu Xi—not only because of the lost fifteen years but also because of her silent, introverted nature. She never took initiative. Feelings are mutual and require effort.

Even blood relatives won’t automatically come to you or care about you unconditionally. Without initiative, no one notices you, and you get forgotten.

That was the case between Gu Xi and her family.

Perhaps when she first returned, they felt some guilt, but guilt doesn’t last—it fades over time.

In the end, she was just a blood relative stranger, even one who embarrassed the Gu Family.

Gu Yuanhui hadn’t expected her to ask for a gift and scoffed, “Never seen someone shameless enough to ask for gifts. What, you want a watch too? Can you even afford one?”

He glanced at Gu Xi and suddenly recalled something, his face twisting with disdain.

“I heard some shady young men came looking for you at school recently, and you went out with them… You’ve already brought shame to our family. Don’t do anything worse to disgrace the Gu Family. What if someone reports you as a loose woman…”

That crossed a line.

Gu Yuanzheng frowned, about to reprimand him, when Gu Xi strode over, grabbed Gu Yuanhui by his collar, and punched him, knocking him off the sofa.

Gu Yuanhui cried out in pain, tears welling.

Gu Yuanzheng and Gu Yuanxiang froze, unable to believe she had actually hit someone.