Chapter 1: The Older Husband
A huge, round orange moon hung above the treetops, bathing everything in amber light. The world seemed frozen; not a sound could be heard.
Li Tian’er turned around and looked up once more at the antique sign above her head. The six carved characters of You’an Gynecology Hospital looked even more peaceful beneath the orange moonlight.
She stepped on her slender shadow, watching it grow shorter and shorter until it vanished in the bright light spilling from the entrance to the first-floor lobby.
What a joke the Wealth System was!
Only a moment ago, she had been the Peach Blossom Fairy of Little Crow Village, a healer with miraculous hands who specialized in difficult gynecological cases. Now she had become a critically ill patient in a private gynecology hospital!
She had clearly pushed open the door of the red-brick building at Little Crow Village’s ginseng cultivation base. She could even remember seeing An Changlin looking up as she entered...
Sigh!
“Li Ya, where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Li Tian’er was still trying to make sense of which door she had just opened when a man called out behind her. She turned and saw a man in his forties hurrying toward her.
She didn’t know him...
“Did you go outside?”
As Tang Songyuan spoke, he reached for Li Tian’er’s arm, intending to help her back to her room.
Li Tian’er quickly dodged. She refused to be escorted by a man whose looks were on a par with her father’s.
Tang Songyuan froze at her reaction. With an awkward grimace, he lowered his hand and cleared his throat twice.
She had to admit, the man’s voice was exceptionally pleasant—on a par with the narrator of a documentary, refined and elegant, with a distinctive quality all its own.
“Go back to your room first. I’ll let the nurses’ station know. I asked the nurses to help me look for you.”
Tang Songyuan opened the door of a nearby room and gestured for Li Tian’er to go inside. Then he turned and headed for the nurses’ station by the elevators.
That was it. This was the door!
The number on the plaque beside it read 515.
Li Tian’er shut the door, opened it again, pushed it open and shut it, repeating the ritual several times. At last she gave up. It seemed she was fated never to return and become Li Taohua again...
Sigh!
Life as Li Taohua hadn’t seemed bad. She had her own plantation and land, and An Changlin and Chen Yunchao both adored her. The villagers looked up to her, too. Given a little more time, she was certain she could become the mayor of Little Crow Village and lead it toward a more prosperous future. As for An Changlin and Chen Yunchao, perhaps time would help her choose which of them would make the better husband.
What a pity...
Sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, Li Tian’er sighed. When she turned her head, she saw the man from before approaching with a nurse.
Being transported into the body of a dying patient made no scientific sense!
She clutched the last life-restoring golden pill she had redeemed with limited credits at the Wealth Base. Before the nurse could come closer, she slipped it into her mouth as casually as she could and swallowed it in one gulp.
A hundred thousand popularity points had bought her three golden pills. She had given one to Chen Jiangchao, turning him from a fool into Little Crow Village’s top student. She had given the second to Chen Haichao, and his strange skin disease had vanished in an instant. But she had no idea whether this last pill could save someone with terminal gynecological cancer.
“Sorry to trouble you.”
“It’s no trouble. But the patient is emotionally unstable right now, so her family needs to keep a close eye on her. Please make sure she doesn’t disappear again before the operation.”
“I understand. I’ll stay with her around the clock for the next few days.”
The nurse didn’t come any closer. She glanced at Li Tian’er lying on the bed, delivered her sober warning, and turned to leave. Tang Songyuan followed her out.
With no other choice, Li Tian’er lay down and quickly absorbed the original owner’s memories. She could at least enjoy the sound of the man’s voice as she listened to him. Then a question suddenly struck her: what exactly was wrong with her? Why had she been admitted to the gynecology ward?
As Li Taohua, she had read quite a few medical books on women’s health so she could treat the women of the village.
Her gaze fixed on the small card beside the call button on the wall above the bed:
Name: Li Ya
Age: 40
Diagnosis: Breast tumor
Nursing level: II; semi-liquid diet
Admission date: June 16, 2028
What?
Forty? How could that be? Li Tian’er nearly leapt out of bed.
“Li Ya, why are you getting up again? Your operation is tomorrow morning. You need to rest.”
Li Tian’er had no patience for the man’s endless chatter. All she wanted was to find a mirror and see what kind of person she had become.
She had thought the Wealth System had taken her to another world. She never imagined she would end up in the body of a forty-year-old woman—with a husband named Tang Songyuan!
Li Tian’er tossed the little mirror into the bedside table drawer. Tang Songyuan stepped forward and gently pushed the drawer shut.
“It’s late. You should get some sleep. Tomorrow morning I’ll comb your hair properly and put on some of that serum I bought for you the day before yesterday. It’ll brighten your complexion. Don’t make yourself miserable. I’ve never thought you were ugly.”
Tang Songyuan bent down to pull the blanket, which Li Tian’er had drawn up to her chest, beneath her chin. She quickly raised a hand and blocked him.
Li Tian’er gripped the edge of the blanket and pulled it up to her chin. Lips pressed together, she sank into thought. How was she supposed to deal with this situation? How could she face Li Ya’s middle-aged husband? She would sooner die than share a bed with him.
The man was reasonably good-looking, but she couldn’t convince herself she was a married woman. Apart from the time she had been Li Tiantian and been intimate with Chen Bo, becoming Li Taohua had restored her maidenly modesty and purity. She had no desire to share so much as a touch with another man while traveling through time.
Let me return as pure as I began. Better to be the wealthy Li Tian’er of Harbor City again, clean and untouched.
“Are you uncomfortable? Would you like me to read you a magazine? You love poetry. I could read you your favorite poem... Hmm, which one should I choose, my love?”
Clearly, Tang Songyuan and the original owner had been a loving couple!
Li Tian’er turned over to face the window and cursed the damn Wealth System a thousand times in her heart. There was no way she could accept this identity: an old woman with an old husband! The thought made her skin crawl. For all she knew, they might even have children in their teens...
Damn Wealth System, say something! What kind of joke are you playing on me? I’ll kill you! Or I’ll just die on the operating table tomorrow and show you! If I die, you’re finished too, aren’t you?
Li Tian’er gave a faint shrug. Somehow, taking the Wealth System down with her didn’t seem worth it.
Tang Songyuan gazed at her thin back beneath the blanket and sighed to himself. This was the second time a woman had pushed his hand away, and in their eighteen years of marriage, she had never made her disgust for him so plain.
Could she have found out something?
No, she couldn’t have. He had been careful and cautious in everything he did for the past ten years. There was no way he’d let her catch even the slightest clue...
Tang Songyuan pressed a hand to his chest, where his heart was racing, and soon regained his composure. He sat down beside the bed and rested one hand on Li Tian’er’s shoulder, speaking softly.
“The doctor says that if tomorrow’s operation goes well, you’ll be able to leave the hospital in seven days. When we get home, I’ll hire two housekeepers for you so you can focus on recovering. You’ve never wanted outsiders working in the house, but it’s time you gave yourself a break. At least someone will be there to keep you company, and I won’t have to worry when I’m away on business.”