Following the River Back to Its Source

Past life: a gentle beauty from a small town and a down-on-his-luck young man from a prominent family

Present life: a resilient small-town girl and a gentle, calculating business magnate

As Before:

In the twenty-third year of the Republic, the heaviest snow of the year fell on Wutang Town. On her way home from a friend's house, Shen Qingru met Lu Xiao. With his mother's help, Lu Xiao had fled an arranged marriage and come to Wutang Town. Having just arrived, he got lost. Shen Qingru took pity on him and left him her umbrella.

Eventually, Lu Xiao found the Shen family home, and Shen's father took him in. That was how Shen Qingru and Lu Xiao met. As they spent their days together, Shen Qingru was won over by Lu Xiao's talent and ambition to make a name for himself, while Lu Xiao was captivated by her learning. In the end, they fell in love.

Their happiness did not last. Lu Xiao's fiancée eventually found him. Resentful that he had fled their marriage, she directed all her anger at Shen Qingru and tried to kill her. Lu Xiao took a bullet meant for Shen Qingru and died. Grief-stricken, Shen Qingru made arrangements for his funeral, then went to the reed marsh where they had pledged their love and jumped into the river to join him in death.

"I hope you remain as you were, that everything you long for comes to you, and that all you wish for comes true."

As Before, Again:

Shen Qingru jumped into the river and found her soul inhabiting the body of Ye Jianing, a sixteen-year-old high school student who had fallen into the water. After she was rescued, she remained feverish and unconscious. When Ye Jianing awoke a few days later, she found in the Ye family study a letter left by a young man who had lived with the family six years earlier, along with the original Ye Jianing's diary. From them, she learned who she was.

Two years later, Ye Jianing's mother passed away. A friend of her mother's took her to live in the city, where she met Lu Jinyan, the older brother mentioned in Ye Jianing's diary.

At her new school in the city, Ye Jianing was ostracized by her classmates. She was no longer the weak, insecure girl she had once been. Through her repeated encounters with Lu Jinyan, she realized he was Lu Xiao reborn, and slowly fell in love with him. But by then, there was already someone else by his side. Ye Jianing accepted the Lu family's arrangements and went abroad to study.

"Brother Ayan, I have a secret."

"What is it?"

I'm not Ye Jianing.

After five years abroad, Ye Jianing returned from her studies. Lu's mother told her that Ye's mother's dying wish had been for her to marry Lu Jinyan. To fulfill her mother's wish, Ye Jianing eventually married Lu Jinyan. After their wedding, they treated each other with courteous respect. Believing that Lu Jinyan loved someone else, Ye Jianing had no choice but to hide her feelings.

One evening, Ye Jianing sat at the dining table and interrupted Lu Jinyan while he was on the phone.

"Lu Jinyan, why did you agree to marry me?"

Lu Jinyan froze for a moment, hung up, grabbed his coat, and hurried out, leaving only one sentence behind: "Wait for me to come back."

Lu Jinyan returned in the middle of the night. Ye Jianing was gone, and a divorce agreement had been left on the table in their room.

"Since this marriage was forced on us, we both deserve to be free."

Ye Jianing left without hesitation and took nothing with her. Three months later, Lu Jinyan found her again in the small town and tore up the divorce agreement in front of her.

"I'll tell you the answer to your question that night. I agreed to anything involving you because I love you."

"I followed the winding stream upstream, though the way was long and hard. My love for you will never change."

1. Happy ending.

2. Shen Qingru and Ye Jianing are the same person, and they look alike. Lu Jinyan is Lu Xiao reborn. Ye Jianing will eventually tell him everything.

3. Lu Jinyan has never loved anyone else. It was all a misunderstanding on Ye Jianing's part.

4. All locations in the story are fictional.

Theme: Love can overcome anything