Absurd.

The only thought in Lu Li's mind was absurd.

If An Baili had told him about reincarnation in his previous life, he wouldn't have believed a single word. But now, he was the one who had come back. He had no choice but to believe it.

Lu Li calmed down quickly. His gaze locked onto that plain, unremarkable heart-shaped pendant.

An Baili hadn't flicked the lighter to die together with him. She'd done it to be reborn...

That reason was unexpectedly convincing. It even shook him a little. If what An Baili said was true, then not only could he not hate her, he had to thank her? Thank her for giving him a chance to make up for his regrets?

He shook his head.

When people do something wrong, they have to pay the price. That had always been Lu Li's rule for life. When a child makes a mistake, the parents bear the consequences. When an adult makes one, they have to foot the bill themselves.

An Baili had always been an immature wife. Willful. Too clingy.

But what about him?

Had he been a mature husband?

Lu Li fell silent.

He had already made this mistake once in his previous life. If you demand too much from others, even try to control who they are, tragedy is all you'll get in return.

No one is God.

An Baili pointed at the four shattered pieces on the pendant. "Every time someone is reborn, one crystal breaks. This time, both you and I came back, so two broke at once. I think this pendant has already lost its power of rebirth. It was my mother's keepsake for me. When I was seven, An Gulai personally gave it to me and told me to keep it safe."

"Wait." Lu Li pointed at the pendant. "You said one piece breaks every time. But by your own story, there were only two rebirths. That should only make three broken pieces. So why are all four shattered?"

In truth, he hoped An Baili was lying. He hoped that if he pointed out the flaw in her story, she'd cover her mouth and laugh, then say, You saw through that too?

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

"Because someone used it before I got it." An Baili solemnly placed the pendant in front of Lu Li. "I don't know who used it, but one crystal had already been broken for a long time."

Mei Jinliu.

An Baili's mother's name flashed through Lu Li's mind.

It could only have been her. That also explained why Mei Jinliu had passed the pendant down to her daughter.

Lu Li couldn't help reaching for that unimpressive little trinket. A sense of awe rose in his chest.

Humans are born with fear of the unknowable.

The instant his fingers touched the pendant, Lu Li's body froze solid. A chill spread through him. An indescribable horror struck him.

"The price has already been paid..."

It sounded like his own voice speaking by his ear. But Lu Li swore his mouth hadn't moved at all.

That bone-deep chill lasted only an instant. The next second, Lu Li picked up the pendant in one smooth motion, as if that brief pause had never happened.

"What is it?" Seeing him space out, An Baili tilted her head and asked.

Was he the only one who heard it?

Lu Li swallowed, but said nothing.

What did "the price has already been paid" mean? Did rebirth come with a cost? Then why hadn't An Baili paid one... wait!

Lu Li's pupils shrank sharply.

He suddenly remembered an unsolved mystery that had bothered him for years in his previous life: he and An Baili had been married for many years, yet they had no children.

If An Baili was telling the truth, and she had been reborn twice, then was the price she paid the first time lifelong infertility?

Then what about this time?

He didn't dare think any further. He wasn't even sure whether the voice he had just heard had really existed. Maybe it was only an auditory hallucination. Maybe An Baili's bizarre story had gotten into his head.

He turned the pendant over in his hand again and again, studying it. That eerie voice never came back. The pendant seemed to have completely lost its mystery. It was no different from an ordinary toy now.

"Li, every word I've said is true. If I've hidden anything, may heaven strike me dead." Seeing that Lu Li still wasn't responding, An Baili thought he didn't believe her, so she hurriedly raised her hand and swore.

Then she suddenly noticed the blood still smeared on Lu Li's right hand. She cried out, stood up at once, and hurried to get a clean handkerchief. As she carefully wiped the blood from his hand, she asked with heartache in her voice, "Does your hand hurt?"

Being cared for so attentively by a beautiful girl was enough to soothe both body and mind. Lu Li's expression softened a great deal, just like it had back then.

Since coming back, this was the first time he had spoken to An Baili in such a gentle tone.

"I believe you."

Did he really?

Lu Li didn't believe in the pendant's absurd mystery. He simply believed in An Baili as a person.

Ever since An Baili had lit that lighter, his mind had been full of prejudice against her. Disrespect for life. Disrespect for love. Disrespect for herself...

But when An Baili had stood in front of the out-of-control An Gulai, screaming herself hoarse, "Don't hurt Lu Li!" something inside him, something that should have long gone silent, had been struck.

He suddenly realized how foolish he had been.

What was he doing?

Was hurting An Baili really what he wanted?

Could running away really solve anything?

An Baili noticed the tiny cut on Lu Li's index finger. She gave the distracted Lu Li a gentle glance, then parted her lips slightly and took his finger into her mouth. Her warm, wet tongue softly licked the wound, and her delicate body unconsciously leaned closer against his arm.

Lu Li had been moved by her.

How could she not have been moved by him too?

"I'm sorry... I really didn't think that much that day. When I heard you wanted a divorce, I-I..." Her voice trembled. "My mind just went blank. I only wanted to make you change your mind as fast as possible. If you still hate me, then I really don't know what to do... H-how about... you smash a beer bottle over me too."

That actually made Lu Li laugh.

An Baili was still An Baili. She had never changed.

"If you'll forgive me, then take my virginity." Her voice was full of guilt. "It was always yours..."

Lu Li neither stopped her nor went any further.

"Baili, can you promise me one thing?"

"Mhm..."

"Respect yourself. Don't treat your body like an object."

He had held those words in for a long time. He had wanted to say them to An Baili for ages.

He wanted her to be a girl who could stand on her own. Independent, self-directed, strong, and self-loving. Not some pitiful person so insecure that she could only trade her body for love.

Inferiority was the original sin humanity could never escape.

"Okay."

An Baili's body was soft and limp. She felt the sincerity in Lu Li's heart. Warmth and sweetness filled her chest. She couldn't say a word, and could only melt bonelessly against him.

What she didn't tell Lu Li was this:

Only in front of him would she become this humble.

In her eyes, Lu Li was like a meteor streaking across the sky. Bright. Dazzling. Destined to stay in her world for only a moment. He should belong among the stars and moon, not be forced to depend on wild grass like her.

As long as she could keep Lu Li by her side, she was willing to pay any price.

The room fell quiet.

After a long silence, Lu Li asked, "Can you tell me about your first rebirth?"

So it had finally come.

An Baili's delicate body trembled. Even though she had prepared herself for this, when the request truly came, fear still rose in her uncontrollably.

She was afraid that once Lu Li learned the truth, he would hate her all over again. He would see through her false mask, then become a meteor crossing the heavens, gone forever.

"I'm a thief."

That opening caught Lu Li off guard.

"I stole the you who belonged to Wen Amber."

The girl's shoulders were shaking.

Was she crying?

Lu Li couldn't help pulling An Baili into his arms. His chin rested against the top of her head.

"Don't cry, okay? Remember what I told you? The past can't be changed. The future isn't ours yet. The only thing I value is the present."

The gentler Lu Li was, the more painfully An Baili cried.

"I-I'm sorry... If I hadn't interfered, you should've had a happy family with Wen Amber... y-you should've had a pair of lovely children..."

Wen Amber...

Lu Li held her even tighter.

He had to admit it. In his previous life, he had liked Wen Amber.

He liked her calm temperament, so much like his own. He liked that they shared the same values. He liked her looks. He liked her little sense of humor...

But in the end, he chose to walk with An Baili.

Because if Wen Amber didn't have him, she would still have family, career, and status.

If An Baili didn't have him, then she truly would have nothing.

"You and Wen Amber got married in college... I-I was always miserable. I used some awful methods to keep clinging to you... and then you started hating me..." An Baili sobbed. "I remember when you heard Wen Amber was pregnant, you were so happy you jumped up... That day, I was in absolute despair. I felt like I had lost you forever... You were so good to me. You helped me so much. But I was greedy. I wanted to have you forever..."

"I'm a thief..."

"That day, I drank for the first time. I drove by myself and plunged into a river. When I woke up again, I had been reborn into my first year of high school. That was the previous life." An Baili said it lightly, but Lu Li listened with his heart in his throat. "Then... then I just redid everything Wen Amber had done. I got ahead of her and made you grow closer and closer to me first..."

Countless details from his previous life suddenly surfaced in Lu Li's mind.

No matter what he did, An Baili's shadow was always there.

Whenever he was alone with someone, An Baili would appear at just the right time to interrupt.

Whenever he went out, he would often run into her by chance...

So that was it.

So that was it.

Had all of it been deliberately arranged by An Baili?

"Li... do you hate me like this?" An Baili buried her face in Lu Li's chest as she asked. Her body shook. She didn't dare lift her head. She even covered her ears.

Lu Li's gaze lost focus, as if he were staring into a void he could never touch.

He was thinking.

He was peeling away the paper-thin layers wrapped around his own heart.

After a very, very long time, the boy finally made his decision.

Lu Li gently stroked the girl's head.

"Do you want me to hate you?"

"...No..."

"Then I won't."

His answer was utterly calm.

"Ugh..." The moment she heard his answer, An Baili broke into sobs. She clutched Lu Li's school uniform tightly, deciding that she would never let go again.