At thirty-eight, Lin Wanqing breathed her last in a hospital bed, her heart full of regret over the arguments, cold wars, and eventual estrangement that had marked her twenty-year marriage to her ex-husband, Lu Mingyuan. When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the summer of 2000. She was twenty-two, back at the beginning, sharing a ten-square-meter rental with Lu Mingyuan, who was still her boyfriend. The hum of an old electric fan mingled with the lively bustle of roadside food stalls. Lu Mingyuan was hunched over an old desk, studying a software development manual by lamplight, his brow furrowed but his gaze unwavering.
This time, Lin Wanqing resolved not to repeat the past. She knew Lu Mingyuan was diligent and reliable but inflexible. In her previous life, his devotion to his technical ideals had left him battered by the bursting of the internet bubble, and his poor people skills had repeatedly made him a target of workplace exclusion. Now reborn, she held the “memory golden finger” of the next twenty years: she knew which companies would rise, which wastelands would become business districts, and even remembered the key moments when their family would face crises. But she also understood that heavy-handed interference and sudden wealth could destroy Lu Mingyuan’s self-respect and the foundation of their bond, built through thick and thin.
So Lin Wanqing chose to become the most steadfast supporter and wisest guide behind Lu Mingyuan. Under the guise of “intuition” or “something she happened to overhear,” she tactfully warned him away from career pitfalls and encouraged him to stick with promising areas of technology. She used her modest salary and her foresight to make tiny but well-targeted investments, such as buying stamps destined to become valuable after demolition and subscribing early to promising company shares. Quietly, she built up seed money for their little family, while also carefully nurturing their relationship: learning to communicate and resolving the problems that arose from being poor and
