They Went Mad After I Faked My Death for Three Years

The fire three years ago burned away my face. The staged car crash burned away my name. I thought that if I “died,” those filthy secrets would be buried forever, and the women in my life could go on living cleanly.

But I never imagined that my “death” would drive them mad.

Jiang Li, a law firm partner, has spent three years taking only one case: proving I’m not dead. Wen Yining, a mute illustrator, had her voice poisoned away by her own father because she saw something she shouldn’t have. Song Zhimiao, a genius hacker, lost her parents to the criminal underworld and fooled everyone with her innocent smile. Jiang Lai, a hostess at a nightclub, put her younger brother through school only to be judged as tainted. Qin Wan, a single mother, had her child after being assaulted.

These five women are the reason I’m still alive.

I’m afraid I’ll never repay what I owe them in this lifetime.

So when they cornered me on a rainy night and tore up my “suicide note,” I knew it was over:

The lie of my self-imposed exile had come to an end.