Chapter 1

A nauseatingly sour stench rushed into her nostrils, causing the unconscious girl's eyebrows to wrinkle tightly. There was also a spicy taste in her mouth, accompanied by lewd laughter.

The bald old man trembled with excitement as he reached out to the girl, trying to unbutton her top, his flushed red face and thick neck showing his arousal.

An ZhiXia suddenly opened her eyes to see the man grinning, baring his rotten yellow teeth as he tried to kiss her. The disgust was so extreme that she nearly threw up.

Seeing that she was awake did not scare the old man at all, it actually excited him more. "Little darling, it's good that you're awake. It's better than being a dead fish with no vigor."

The old man lunged at An ZhiXia, but she kicked him hard in the chest, knocking him flat on his face.

This familiar scene inevitably reminded her of the tragic scene before her death.

An ZhiXia, who had just turned eighteen, was sold by her parents to an old widower in the deep mountains for twenty dollars.

Without even consulting her, they had drugged her. When she woke up, she saw an old man groping her.

Resisting led to An ZhiXia being strangled to death by the old man. After her death, her body was dismembered and buried in the mountains.

Perhaps because she died such an unjust death, her soul did not dissipate. Instead, it floated back to her original home, only to find out that her death had been premeditated all along.

She heard her adoptive parents discussing, "Don't worry, I asked around for that man on purpose. He's ugly and vicious. His former wife was beaten to death by him. That wretched girl Xiao Cao already has a weak constitution. She definitely won't last more than a few days before she's dead. Then no one will know what we did... MeiYun can properly become the precious daughter of the family..."

An ZhiXia was still called Xiao Cao at the time. It was not until decades later when her fourth brother figured out the truth and came here, that she was given the name An ZhiXia. By then, her body had long decayed with no one knowing where the pieces were scattered. Her brother could only grab a handful of soil from the deep mountains and make a symbolic grave for her, and give her a proper name. To understand An ZhiXia's background, one has to go back eighteen years.

In 1952, the wife of the Gao family had difficulties giving birth, so she was sent to the next village over to the midwife's home to deliver the baby. Coincidentally, the midwife's daughter had a miscarriage from falling over at her own home. The two women gave birth at the same time - one was from an impoverished rural family, the other had married into a family with public employment in the city, the difference in their circumstances was huge.

So Mrs. Gao devised a plan to switch her newborn daughter for the other family's newborn twin girls.

And so, An MeiYun, who should have been a rural girl, became the precious daughter of the city family. Meanwhile, An ZhiXia, who should have had a good life, became the wild grass "Xiao Cao Gao" in this little village.

Originally, the Gao couple only favored boys over girls, and did not mistreat her too badly. But two years ago, when they reconnected with An MeiYun, and An ZhiXia grew to resemble her birth mother more over the years, the Gaos became worried their secret would be exposed. So they began abusing An ZhiXia, not allowing her to leave the house, and finally directly sold her off to her death in the deep mountains.

Because she was unwilling to die, An ZhiXia's spirit followed An MeiYun for decades after her death, and heard with her own ears An MeiYun saying she was reborn. In her previous life, An ZhiXia's true identity was exposed so the An family took her back. Burdened by guilt over An ZhiXia, An MeiYun could only lower her status and be oppressed by An ZhiXia for a lifetime.

In this new life, she wanted An ZhiXia to die, so no one could take away her parents and brother again.

In the following decades, An MeiYun built her own successful life by stepping on the An family, leading to their ruin.

Only her fourth brother eventually uncovered the truth, but it was too late. He erected a tombstone for An ZhiXia at her family's gravesite, then went to take revenge on An MeiYun but was imprisoned. He later died in prison.

Did An ZhiXia hate An MeiYun?

Of course she did.

She wished she could flay An MeiYun's skin and dismantle her bones, eat her flesh and drink her blood.

But as just a wisp of a soul, she was powerless against her.

She watched as the An family declined into ruin under An MeiYun's sabotage. She watched An MeiYun build a successful life by stepping on the An family, marrying and having children - seemingly living a happy and peaceful life.

After everyone died, An ZhiXia thought her grudges would disappear, but she did not vanish. She could only exist in the world as a wandering ghost, unable to reincarnate.

For a whole century, she did not encounter any other beings like herself. In 2070, one hundred years after her tragic death, there was a meteor shower that had the whole nation watching eagerly.

At the time, An ZhiXia was following a chef to secretly learn cooking skills. The chef and his girlfriend went to the mountain peak to watch the meteor shower, so she also floated to the peak.

She heard that making wishes when meteors fall is very effective, so every time one passed, she would make a wish for herself, from originally wishing for An MeiYun to meet a horrible end, to later wishing for the An family members to live well. None of the wishes came true.

Now, she only hoped that she could forget the past and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation.

Whether by misfortune or luck, a meteor flew straight at her. No matter how she desperately floated away, it still hit her and knocked her back to the 1970s, the year she turned eighteen.

"Damn you, you little bitch, how dare you attack me! I will make you know your place today..." The man cursed as he climbed to his feet, face twisted in anger as he grabbed An ZhiXia's hair.

The intense pain nearly tore her scalp off, instantly clearing An ZhiXia's mind. She reached up to claw the man's eyes.

After being a ghost for a hundred years, she had seen all kinds of things. She was no longer that timid, helpless victim.

The old man was caught off guard as An ZhiXia jabbed his eyes. He immediately howled in pain as his hands released her hair to cover his temporarily blinded eyes.

At this moment, An ZhiXia was filled with the urge to kill the man, but heat surged through her drugged body, making her dizzy and limp.

"You damn slut, how dare you scratch me. I'll be waiting for the drugs to kick in, then you'll be throwing yourself at me begging me to f**k you..."

The man covered his eyes and laughed manically, "You're lucky I'm willing to sleep with you. Don't pretend to be shy, just satisfy me well and I may show you some mercy, comfort you a bit. If you keep acting coy, I'll break your legs tomorrow and make you lay there like a beast..."

His vulgar curses were cut off as An ZhiXia grabbed the coarse ceramic bowl from the table and smashed it on his head, instantly splitting his forehead and making blood gush out.

Taking advantage of the man's panic, An ZhiXia groped her way to the door, opened it and rushed outside.

The sound of barking dogs came from behind, but An ZhiXia, who had finally regained a chance at life, absolutely could not give in - she would face the same fate as her previous life if she did.

She had to live. She had to properly live this life.

Live to expose An MeiYun and the Gao family's true natures, and take back the life that belonged to her.