When Xue Mingyi was born, a beggar read her fortune and said she was destined to die young.
As it turned out, she died at the age of thirty-two.
It would have been one thing if her life had otherwise gone well. But the ten-odd years after her marriage were nothing but misery.
She and her husband had known each other since childhood. They were childhood sweethearts from well-matched families, and when they came of age, marriage followed naturally.
But after three years of marriage, they still had no children. A doctor told her there was something wrong with her body and that she would never conceive.
She believed him. At her mother-in-law's suggestion, she adopted a child from a distant branch of the family and raised him as her own. She devoted herself to managing the household, pouring her heart and soul into everything her husband's family needed.
But when she was on her deathbed, her husband brought another woman into their home. The child she had raised with such care followed the woman, calling her mother over and over.
Only then did Xue Mingyi learn the truth. The child was her husband's biological son. They had passed him off as hers to gain the power and influence of the Xue family. Now that she had raised him into a promising young man and the Xue family had fallen into decline, she was of no further use to them.
After she died, her parents were overcome with grief. They were already advanced in years, and within six months, they followed her to the grave.
Meanwhile, her husband prepared a lavish bridal procession stretching ten miles to welcome the other woman into the family, making every woman in the capital green with envy. The child, too, followed the path she had paved for him and topped the imperial examinations. He would soon enter government service.
As a wandering spirit, Xue Mingyi watched it all unfold. Her hatred grew deeper, and her resentment more bitter.
Unexpectedly, when she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the third year of her marriage. Her mother-in-law smiled and said, "Mingyi, this child seems to have taken a liking to you. Why not raise him as your own?"
Xue Mingyi looked at the child, who unmistakably resembled her husband, and gave a soft laugh. "All right. I'll raise him as my own."
This time, she'll ruin the child completely and turn him into a blade in her hand, using him to drag the whole family into the abyss!
Theme: No matter what circumstances you find yourself in, always strive for a better life.
