A Reborn Life in the Nineties

(Abandoned, don't read)

Ming Xi was reborn at the turning point of her previous life. When she saw her emaciated younger sister again, a hint of a smile finally appeared in her usually indifferent eyes.

Ming Xi had suffered greatly in her previous life. Her family, her friends, and the person she loved but never confessed to all left her one by one, leaving her alone to die with regrets in a hospital bed.

Given another life, she swore that none of the tragedies from her past would happen again.

Her younger sister, who had been trapped for a lifetime in her previous life for the sake of her older sister’s happiness, would be free for the rest of her life this time!

The friends who had died tragically while trying to survive, and the ones who had sacrificed themselves for their ideals, would all live vibrant lives this time!

The one she loved, who had searched for evidence to uncover the truth in her previous life, would live with confidence and spirit forever this time!

Ming Xi: Let me ask you, what made you so sure you could just assume I was your girlfriend back then?

Zhou Wenxuan: (Eyes widening in disbelief) We did everything together. Of course you were my girlfriend!

Ming Xi: Who decided that spending one night together meant we were a couple? And I was drunk, okay?

Zhou Wenxuan: (Arguing shamelessly) I don’t care! You were the one who called me over, and you kissed me first. Besides, I even gave you a chance...

Ming Xi: What chance?

Zhou Wenxuan: (Fidgeting, voice as quiet as a mosquito, earlobes bright red, eyes darting around) I asked you who was in front of you, and you clearly called out my name!

Ming Xi: ...

In their previous life, the two stumbled through life, each too afraid to speak their love because of their own past experiences. When he finally wanted to confess after everything had settled, and she had finally convinced herself to accept the past and start over, they discovered that they no longer had the chance.

The person who used to quietly follow behind her in the dark to escort her safely was gone forever, and the sun could never rise in her world again.

(My completed novel, After Successfully Being Pressured into Marriage in the 1980s, is in my column. Feel free to check it out if you’re interested!)

[Blurb for my next novel, The Cold Wife of the Male Lead in a Period Novel Awakens:]

Shu Ying and Li Guyan had been married for two years and had always treated each other with respect. Then she discovered she was merely a supporting character in a period novel starring Li Guyan.

In the book, Li Guyan is a business tycoon with a wife he has already separated from. After meeting the female lead, a series of entanglements unfolds.

Shu Ying is that wife, the one who has been separated from him for years and eventually gets divorced.

Shu Ying: ...

After finishing the book, Shu Ying patted her chest and said sincerely that, given how things were between them now, it really wouldn’t be surprising if they ended up separated.

They had been married for two years without ever raising their voices or having an argument. In a way, they really were a perfect couple: they had an inexplicable understanding, and both made a point of avoiding conflict, hiding every grievance and every unhappiness, then turning around and pretending nothing had happened.

After reading the book, Shu Ying thought it over and over. They had once been deeply in love, so how had things become like this? Perhaps it was because she had turned him down time and again. Perhaps they were both too proud, neither willing to be the first to back down.

But in her opinion, she couldn’t be blamed for rejecting him. She had to work the next day, after all. How could she stay up making a fuss until midnight every night?

Shu Ying wondered: Should they separate and divorce next, or should she take the initiative and break the ice?

*

Li Guyan and Shu Ying met through a matchmaker. Since housing allocations were tight, he had to get married right away if he wanted to secure an apartment. So their second meeting was at the Civil Affairs Bureau.

Shu Ying was the first person he had ever fallen for, which was why he agreed to marry her so quickly. But after marriage, she rejected his advances again and again, and he couldn’t make sense of it. That is, until one day he accidentally learned that Shu Ying had had a first love who got married just two days before she went on a matchmaking date with him.

That explained all her rejections. There was already someone in her heart.

From then on, Li Guyan put his feelings away and treated their marriage as a partnership for getting through life.

[Reading guide: It’s all a misunderstanding]

Theme: Stay positive and work hard at life