Chapter One: 'Please, Don't Die'
"Daddy, I don't want to die! Please save me!"
"Jiang Yuanfeng, you have murdered us, mother and daughter!"
In the pouring rain, a beautiful woman with disheveled hair held her child and leapt down from the rooftop.
The thud of a body hitting the ground reverberated. Blood mixed with rainwater, trickling across the ground in alarming, vivid reds.
"Qianqian, Guoguo, please, I beg you not to die..."
Jiang Yuanfeng cried out, suddenly springing up from his sleep.
It was the same nightmare that has tormented him for twenty years!
He's soaked in cold sweat, the pillow wet with his tears. He's still trapped in the sadness of the dream.
The hangover he woke up to was unbearable. His mouth was dry, and he had a splitting headache.
Regaining his senses, he realized that the environment around him seemed rather odd.
A shabby room. The yellowed walls had several damp spots.
There were two empty bottles of liquor on the table, while cigarette butts and nauseating refuse spread across the floor.
Reaching out to grab the cup on the table, he went to the bathroom, poured a cold glass of water, and drank it to feel slightly better.
He looked up, and upon seeing his reflection in the mirror, Jiang Yuanfeng was momentarily stunned.
Although the man in the mirror had messy hair, an unkempt beard, and a pale face, he appeared to be only in his twenties.
Jiang Yuanfeng returned to the living room and glanced at the calendar on the wall. The year was 2001!
Had he been reborn twenty years earlier?
This was a year of lifelong pain for Jiang Yuanfeng. Because of his actions, his wife, Tang Qianqian, committed suicide with their daughter, Guoguo, leaving him alone.
Though he later strived to become a billion-dollar businessman, Jiang Yuanfeng was never happy again.
"Mom, Dad seems to have woken up."
From the room next door, a weak voice of a child could be heard.
Jiang Yuanfeng stumbled and rushed over.
In the damp room, there was a hard wooden bed with a young woman changing clothes for a child.
The young woman, dressed simply with an oval face, was a great beauty. However, there were noticeable bruises on her face as if she had been hit.
The child, appearing to be around three years old, was beautiful—but appeared ill, lacking any signs of energy.
Upon seeing Jiang Yuanfeng enter, she displayed a fearful expression, her eyes filled with terror as she looked at him.
Tears well up in Jiang Yuanfeng's eyes as he stuttered out their names, "Qianqian, Guoguo..."
They were his wife and daughter!
They were still alive.
In his past life, he led a frivolous lifestyle, addicted to gambling, fighting, and drinking, venting his anger on his wife and children whenever he was drunk.
Just yesterday, due to his gambling debts, both he and his child were captured by his creditors.
The creditor demanded money, or else he would set their dogs on them.
With snarling, ferocious dogs lunging towards them, Jiang Yuanfeng was petrified, watching his child being knocked over by the vicious dogs.
The weak and frail child was pinned down, bitten and torn by the ferocious dog, letting out a chilling scream: "Daddy, it hurts... come save me..."
Without a second thought for his child's safety, Jiang Yuanfeng turned tail and ran.
By the time Tang Qianqian found her child, the child's clothes were torn into shreds by the dog, her entire body covered in blood and wounds - barely clinging to life.
Thinking the child wouldn't survive, the brute dumped her in a trash heap.
Tang Qianqian wanted to take Guoguo for rabies vaccinations and wound treatment, but Jiang Yuanfeng disagreed, claiming it was a waste of money.
He even snatched the money Tang Qianqian borrowed from her family for Guoguo's vaccination to gamble, and lost it all.
When he came back, he beat Tang Qianqian before passing out from exhaust.
Tang Qianqian, in front of him, put on the red dress she wore at their wedding - her favourite piece of clothing that she seldom wore.
In her past life, she died in the freezing rain, wearing this red dress.
On Guoguo, she wore her only princess dress.
Without a glance at Jiang Yuanfeng, Tang Qianqian picked up the comb and began to comb Guoguo's hair.
She intends to doll herself and her daughter up, then take her daughter to death with her, freeing her from the misery their family has caused.
"My wife..." Jiang Yuanfeng's voice trembles, still lost in that nightmare.
Tang Qianqian glances at Jiang Yuanfeng, her eyes full of disdain.
Bitterness swells in Jiang Yuanfeng's heart.
"Guoguo, Mommy will take you out to play later, and buy you the most expensive Häagen-Dazs ice cream," Tang Qianqian softly strokes her child's pale face.
Their household is too poor, even ice cream is a luxury for Guoguo.
Already in utter despair about her life, Tang Qianqian wants to fulfill her daughter's wish for the last time, and then take her away from this world.
"Ice cream is too expensive. Guoguo won't eat it," the child responsively says.
Hearing this, Jiang Yuanfeng is moved to tears, his heart aching.
"Guoguo, Daddy is sorry..."
Reaching out to hold Guoguo, she seems terrified and hides behind her mother.
Tang Qianqian glares at Jiang Yuanfeng in anger. "You scum! The child is injured and has a fever, and you still want to hit her? Are you even human?"
Tang Qianqian, bracing for death, charges at Jiang Yuanfeng.
Frightened, Guoguo cries out, "Daddy, don't hit Mommy..."
Jiang Yuanfeng doesn't fight back, he only tightly embraces Tang Qianqian.
Tang Qianqian struggled but could not free herself and bit down hard on Jiang Yuanfeng's arm.
Jiang Yuanfeng allowed her to bite him, he didn't move, but only muttered under his breath, "I was wrong, I was wrong..."
"I was really wrong. Since the heavens have granted me another chance, I'd rather die than let you and our daughter leave me."
Jiang Yuanfeng didn't fight back like he usually did, which surprised Tang Qianqian.
She glanced at Jiang Yuanfeng, tears were streaming down his face, his eyes were filled with sorrow.
She thought, 'Even crocodiles shed tears? Does he have another scheme in mind? Is he trying to deceive me into lending him money for gambling again?'
"Let's go. We will take Guoguo to get her vaccine and treat her wounds right now," Jiang Yuanfeng said.
Tang Qianqian thought she had misheard, she looked at Jiang Yuanfeng in surprise.
Didn't he always say that it was a waste of money?
"The sooner we get Guoguo the rabies vaccine, the better. We have already wasted some time. We need to do it immediately. Let's go to the hospital now!"
Jiang Yuanfeng picked up Guoguo and rushed out.
Scared, Guoguo burst into tears, "Mommy, is Daddy going to sell me..."
Guoguo's words reminded Tang Qianqian. Jiang Yuanfeng had already sold everything valuable in the house – only their daughter was left to be sold!
"Jiang Yuanfeng, you beast, you can't sell my daughter!" Tang Qianqian chased after them.
Jiang Yuanfeng felt a sharp pain in his heart, "I'm not selling Guoguo. I'm taking her to get her vaccines!"
Jiang Yuanfeng hailed a tricycle on the side of the street, holding his child as he climbed aboard. Tang Qianqian hurriedly followed suit.
As the tricycle traveled through the bumpy dirt roads of the slums, high splashes of dirty water wet their trouser legs.
On either side of the road were low-lying houses. A long-missed song echoed from a DVD rental shop: "Accompany you to see the falling meteor showers on this earth, let your tears fall on my shoulder..."
2001, the Olympics succeeded, the national football team qualified for the World Cup, and the country joined the WTO.
It was an era of gold everywhere.
Jiang Yuanfeng silently vowed to make good use of his understanding of future trends, to amass wealth and provide a good life for his wife and child.
"Dad, we've arrived at the hospital," Guoguo's timid voice pulled Jiang Yuanfeng out of his thoughts.
Guoguo was a smart child, and she had noticed that her dad seemed different that day.
He was no longer irritable and aloof but warmer.
Jiang Yuanfeng carried his daughter and went into the hospital.
The doctor examined Guoguo's injuries and recommended immediate vaccination and hospitalization for treatment.
However, each vaccine shot cost fifty yuan, and a deposit of a hundred yuan was needed for hospitalization.
All Tang Qianqian had was thirty yuan she had borrowed from her brother.
Guoguo looked at her father, then at her mother.
"Let's go home. I won't get the shot. I'm afraid of pain. I'll get better on my own," she suggested.
Guoguo knew that they didn't have enough money, so she maturely and proactively suggested not going for the treatment anymore.
Tang Qianqian, silent, bent over to pick up her daughter and began to walk away.
Jiang Yuanfeng knew she was having suicidal thoughts again and couldn't let her leave with their daughter.
"Qianqian, don't leave. I'll figure out something about the medical expenses." Jiang Yuanfeng stopped Tang Qianqian in her tracks.
Tang Qianqian seemed hopeless, her eyes vacant. "You'll come up with a solution? All our relatives and friends who could lend us money, we've borrowed from. We've never been able to repay them, so how can you figure something out?"
