Volume One, Chapter Two: Everything Has Just Begun

Zhao Xinran looked at her in confusion, thinking she must have encountered something upsetting at work.

“Miss Su, I may not be much help, but if you have anything weighing on your mind, you can talk to me. Don’t keep it bottled up inside.”

She gazed at Su Li with the sincerity of a close little sister.

Su Li lowered her eyes, concealing the icy glint within them, and replied softly, “It’s nothing. I just read a novel earlier—the heroine’s fate was too tragic.”

Zhao Xinran immediately understood and teased, “So Miss Su is softhearted, shedding tears over a book.”

Su Li’s lips curved in a faint smile, though her tightly clenched fists remained cold.

“I’ll carry your bag for you. Let’s pick up some groceries on the way.”

Su Li didn’t speak—she simply nodded and followed beside Zhao Xinran.

Zhao Xinran was quite pretty. Not the kind of beauty that stuns at first glance, but one who grows lovelier the more you look. Her white blouse paired with a floral skirt, a light blue kerchief tied in her hair—she stood slender and elegant.

In her past life, how could Su Li have been so blind? How had she failed to see the truth?

Her own husband and her student, the two people she trusted most, would join hands to push her into the abyss.

She wondered how far things had progressed between them now. Had their affair already begun in secret?

“Miss Su, Brother Ting’an doesn’t care for chicken soup, so I’ll make you chicken soup, and fish soup for him,” Zhao Xinran chatted with Su Li as they walked, her brows arched in a gentle smile, her eyes bright with laughter.

Su Li drew a slow breath, lips curling softly. “Xinran, I’m impressed you remember his tastes so well.”

Zhao Xinran paused, then quickly smiled. “Brother Ting’an is good to you, so I’m good to him. If he weren’t, I wouldn’t bother with him either.”

How clever her words were.

In her previous life, Su Li had been deceived by Zhao Xinran’s sincerity, believing her to be simply grateful and loyal.

Now, having lived again, Su Li understood her purpose in this life.

All the humiliation and resentment of her past would be answered in this one.

The pain those two brought upon her, she would return to them a hundredfold.

She would make them taste the agony of betrayal, deceit, and torment.

Everything was just beginning.

Su Li looked at Zhao Xinran and smiled. “Indeed, my kindness to you wasn’t wasted. You’re a thoughtful girl.”

Zhao Xinran, thinking Su Li was joking, hooked her arm through Su Li’s and said playfully, “Of course! With a teacher as good as you to me, how could I ever be ungrateful?”

After the college entrance exams were reinstated, Su Li graduated from the teachers’ university, and Zhao Xinran was among the first students she mentored.

Zhao Xinran came from a poor, remote mountain village. Her family situation was difficult.

Because it was the same village where Su Li and Shao Ting’an had once worked as sent-down youth, Su Li took special care of her.

During school holidays, when the cost of traveling home was too high, Su Li let her stay at her own house.

Zhao Xinran was sharp and perceptive, always taking on all the household chores during her stay.

They were close in age and got along well, with similar tastes. Though teacher and student, Su Li always treated her as a little sister.

When they stepped outside, a wave of summer heat washed over them. Su Li took a deep breath, a faint smile on her lips as she thought to herself: How wonderful it is to be alive.

Ahead of her, Zhao Xinran pedaled the sturdy old bicycle, carrying Su Li on the back, chatting and laughing all the way.

Su Li stayed silent, quietly plotting her strategy, her gaze dark and thoughtful as she watched the back of Zhao Xinran’s head.

...

“Welcome home, Miss Su! Chief Shao just went inside, carrying a bag of big, red apples. Apples aren’t cheap these days—he’s so good to you.”

Downstairs, Aunt Zhang’s face brimmed with envy.

Su Li loved apples. Every couple of days, Shao Ting’an would bring a bag home.

She smiled indifferently. “Aunt Zhang, a bag of apples doesn’t cost much.”

Aunt Zhang waved her hand. “Maybe not, but it’s the thought that counts. In our building, what man puts in so much effort for his wife’s food? Only Chief Shao spoils you like this. It takes forty minutes round-trip to Pingkang Street by bike, yet he still brings you sesame lamb every week.”

The mention of sesame lamb made Aunt Zhang’s eyes light up. She’d never tasted it in all these years; whenever Shao Ting’an brought it home, the aroma would travel down the hall and make her mouth water.

Su Li paused for a moment. After three months of imprisonment, even one meal a day was a luxury.

Meat—she could hardly remember its taste.

“Aunt Zhang, next time we buy some, I’ll let you try it.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! Don’t laugh at me, Miss Su—I’ve never eaten sesame lamb from Pingkang Street all these years.”

Aunt Zhang beamed, her delight obvious. Every household’s ration coupons were limited, and hers had long since been secretly sold.

Su Li smiled, then carried the groceries upstairs.

When Su Li and Zhao Xinran returned, Shao Ting’an hurried over to take the groceries from Su Li’s hands.

“Darling, why did you buy so much? Next time, just tell me what you want and I’ll buy it. It’s too heavy for you to carry.”

He looked at her tenderly, then turned to Zhao Xinran, discreetly taking everything she carried as well.

“Thank you, Xiao Zhao. You’ve worked hard.”

Shao Ting’an nodded slightly—a handsome, gentle man who radiated warmth and kindness.

Su Li had once loved being with him. He gave her a sense of peace and security she couldn’t explain.

But her last memory of him was the moment he fed her that so-called wedding candy.

The man she loved most had personally sent her to her death.

Su Li glanced around the home’s furnishings—everything was just as she loved it.

The black-and-white television was tuned to the news. On the dining table by the kitchen door sat a bouquet she had crocheted herself, lifelike and exquisite.

Though the apartment was small, every corner bore her careful touch, warm and tidy.

This was the family housing unit of Shao Ting’an’s workplace. They lived in a factory-assigned dormitory.

Shao Ting’an was now the chief of the technical section at the state-owned machinery factory. He often worked overtime. For his convenience, Su Li had given up the school’s assigned dormitory to live here with him.

Though it was farther from the school, she was willing to make sacrifices for her family.

In everyone’s eyes, Shao Ting’an was the perfect husband—diligent at work, well-paid, and doting on his wife.

Who would have guessed this perfect husband, to cover up his affair, would conspire with his mistress to imprison his wife and then personally poison her?

Seeing that gentle smile again made Su Li shudder, a dull ache spreading from her heart to every limb.

“What’s wrong? Don’t recognize your own home?” Shao Ting’an, seeing her dazed at the door, patted her shoulder.

Zhao Xinran poked her head out from the kitchen, grinning. “Miss Su just read a book—she’s probably still lost in its world.”

“She’s too sentimental,” Shao Ting’an said with a laugh, turning Su Li toward the washstand at the entrance.

“Go wash your hands and freshen up. I’ll peel you an apple.”

Su Li took several deep breaths to steady herself.

She bent to wash her hands, then gazed at her reflection in the mirror—healthy, beautiful.

Suddenly remembering something, she turned quickly and moved quietly toward the kitchen.

Zhao Xinran, as usual, went straight to the kitchen to cook upon returning, and now Shao Ting’an had joined her to peel apples. How could Su Li not suspect something?

There was no kitchen door, just a half-length white embroidered curtain.

Through a gap in the curtain, she saw the two of them with their backs to the doorway—one washing vegetables, one peeling apples. Everything looked perfectly ordinary.

Only, as Shao Ting’an rinsed the fruit knife, Zhao Xinran brushed her hand ever so lightly across his, and he subtly shifted away.

A second later, Zhao Xinran turned to look at him, her smile coy and sweet.

“Brother Ting’an, you’re so good to Miss Su.”