TNSFC – Chapter 1

This was a celebratory banquet, commemorating the further expansion of the Changsheng Group’s territory.

Clinking glasses and rustling silks, a scene of fragrant elegance.

The woman seated at the head of the table wore a long red dress, her figure graceful. Dark lipstick and exquisite makeup made her look like a queen of the night.

She swung her black high heels, the corners of her lips slightly upturned.

The gazes of everyone present at the celebration lingered on her—some blatant, some furtive, some frivolous and disdainful.

Que Yining ignored these stares, smelling the faint, almost imperceptible scent of burning amidst the strong perfume. The smile on her face widened.

Soothing music flowed through the banquet hall, harmonizing with the laughing and chatting crowd.

By the time someone noticed the fire, the situation was already out of control.

The acrid smell of burning and the waves of heat created panic. The people who had just been laughing and reaching consensus moments before were now a chaotic mess in the banquet hall, desperately trying to flee through the doors.

“Where’s the fire extinguisher? Where’s the fire extinguisher?”

“Hurry up and get out!”

“Get water to put out the fire!”

“So hot! It burned my clothes! Ahhh!”

Screams and shouted commands filled the air, noisy and harsh. A dozen or so people ran around like headless chickens in the spacious room.

Que Yining sat calmly in the main seat, watching the high temperature distort the air. She swirled her red wine glass, observing the panicked state of the group.

“The door is locked!”

“They’re all locked!”

“The glass won’t break!”

Only then did the group realize what was happening. They stared furiously at Que Yining, who sat in her chair as if watching their predicament for amusement.

“Que Yining, what are you trying to do?”

An old man in a Tang suit asked in a deep voice, his right hand tightly gripping his cane.

This was Que Yining’s venue; now that the house was on fire and locked, it must have been Que Yining’s doing.

“Third Uncle, the fire is about to reach your clothes, and you still need to ask what I’m doing?”

Que Yining spoke unhurriedly, her voice carrying a natural charm, a somewhat lazy tone drawing out her words, filled to the brim with sarcasm.

“Are you crazy? Hurry up and open the door!”

The man next to Third Uncle questioned, watching the fire burn more intensely, coughing from the thick smoke.

This was a seaside villa. They were in the second-floor banquet hall, which had no separate rooms; even the kitchen was on the first floor. The only exits were two doors, and at this moment, the two steel doors were tightly shut. Flammable items like tablecloths and curtains had already caught fire, leaving them no space to hide.

“Are you going to let us all die here together?!”

The middle-aged woman who spoke already had her makeup smudged by the smoke, her noble lady demeanor completely gone, her voice shrill and sharp.

“I didn’t expect someone as foolish as you, Sixth Aunt, to actually guess correctly sometimes.”

Que Yining placed her wine glass on the long table, feigning surprise and clapping her hands, her face openly mocking.

“Que Yining, you’re crazy! Do you know what you’re doing?! We’ve made indispensable contributions for Changsheng to reach where it is today. Are you trying to destroy everything?!”

The dozen or so guests present were all beneficiaries of the Changsheng Group.

“I’m afraid all you uncles and aunts have forgotten how you got your hands on Changsheng, haven’t you?”

Que Yining’s voice wasn’t loud, but it made everyone freeze for a moment.

“Yining remembers for you.”

Que Yining smiled with a rare hint of obedience, but her eyes were as dark as a long night.

In others’ eyes, Que Yining was a wealthy young lady who grew up pampered, a winner in life born at the top, a beautiful woman who spent money lavishly, the focus of high society’s powerful figures who most wanted a night with her, the head of the group, the happiest person in the world.

The Que family also thought so, so they naturally assumed that Que Yining had also forgotten the fire twenty years ago, which claimed her parents, her newborn younger siblings, and everyone else in that house—a total of ten lives.

“Do you want to die with us too?”

Third Uncle covered his mouth and nose, coughed twice, his eyes fixed on Que Yining.

“You should have burned me to death with you twenty years ago. Isn’t this perfect? Making up for it now.”

Que Yining’s hand touched the burning flames. Facing those venomous gazes, she raised her lips and poured the wine onto the fire.

As the tongues of fire swept through, the air was distorted into a hideous shape.

The fire burned even more fiercely.

Someone anxiously tried to contact the outside world, only to discover in despair that the signal was blocked.

Those people frantically cursed Que Yining, wanting to go up and force her to open the door, or perhaps to vent their anger by beating her up.

Que Yining was prepared. She took out a gun from under the long table and, without her hand trembling at all, shot the leg of the person closest to her.

This deterred them for a moment, but the utter despair of no survival made them even more twisted.

“Madwoman! Que Yining, you madwoman!”

Hearing this, Que Yining’s expression became even more pleased, completely unfazed by her own approaching death.

Not a single one of them was innocent. She was determined to drag them all to hell with her. Although she could have extricated herself from this long-planned drama, she chose not to leave.

Que Yining was very tired. To accomplish this, she had exhausted all means, handled all matters, before finally dealing with these people with a clear conscience.

Third Uncle, being the oldest, was the first to fall. Those who had been shot barely had the strength to wail. The air was filled with the stench of burning and blood. The well-dressed men and women had long lost their spirited demeanor, lying on the ground, dying. Some had crawled to the door, making futile struggles.

Que Yining watched this scene with satisfaction. Twenty years ago, she should have burned to death with them in the sea of fire, but somehow, she had survived. From the moment she learned the truth and began plotting, she had been waiting for this day, every second of every moment.

Now that it had truly arrived, she had no regrets.

This life, seemingly magnificent but actually crawling with filth, was finally coming to an end.

The entire banquet hall was a mess. The thick smoke stung people’s eyes, making it impossible to open them. Que Yining had inhaled too much smoke and barely had the strength to lift her hand.

Before Que Yining closed her eyes, her mind was filled with the image of that unchangeable sea of fire, and her parents and younger siblings who had perished in it.

It was over.

---

The twilight at the horizon had long since faded. Winter nights arrived exceptionally early. Cold air clung to the glass window, forming a layer of mist.

On the wide bed, the quilt was strewn about haphazardly. The overly quiet environment made the ringing cell phone sound incessantly noisy.

It was heavy metal music unfamiliar to Que Yining, like being in a field of noise, making her extremely agitated.

Wait…!

How could there be music?

Que Yining abruptly opened her eyes and sat up in bed.

Everything she touched was unfamiliar, whether it was the room within her sight or the feel of the bed her palm touched.

Could it be that she hadn’t burned to death and had been rescued again?

Que Yining subconsciously frowned. What about those people? If they were all rescued too, wouldn’t everything she had done be in vain?

Que Yining’s eyes were cold and gloomy, but soon she felt something was wrong. She felt no pain in her body, not like someone who should have been rescued from a fire.

The cell phone beside her was still ringing incessantly. Que Yining picked it up and saw the note on it.

‘Xiao Qiao’.

When Que Yining saw this name, a heavily made-up face, somewhere between a girl and a woman, quickly flashed in her mind. At the same time, the identity of this person also emerged: her good friend, Qiao Yuchu.

Que Yining was slightly stunned. She pressed her temples. She was sure she had never met this person.

A ridiculous idea suddenly formed in her mind. She stood up from the bed and, barefoot, went to the side of the bed to turn on the light.

Everything in the room was revealed before her, including the full-length mirror by the wall.

The girl in the mirror looked to be in her early twenties, her hair dyed chestnut, her face showing an unconcealable weariness, and her eyes filled with astonishment.

Que Yining touched her face, and the person in the mirror also touched her own face.

This was a version of herself from a few years ago, familiar yet strange to Que Yining. Her thoughts were chaotic. Was this rebirth? Or a parallel universe?

Her mind was blank. She tried to recall something specific, but it seemed she couldn’t remember anything.

The phone finally stopped ringing. Que Yining held it in her hand, and an impression of this phone surfaced in her mind—she remembered when and where she bought it.

The feeling was somewhat strange, like playing a game where touching an item triggered a memory.

Que Yining checked the time: October 19, 2023.

But when she died, it was still 2019.

Que Yining searched for terms related to Changsheng Group and everything she knew from her previous life. There were some minor overlaps, but overall, it was completely different.

While Que Yining was thinking, the phone rang again, as if summoning her to her doom. The noisy song made Que Yining frown. Seeing the words ‘Xiao Qiao’ flashing on the screen, Que Yining answered the call.

“Eldest Miss Que Yining, did you sleep like the dead? What’s going on? I just called you several times and you didn’t pick up!”

Qiao Yuchu’s background noise was somewhat chaotic, making her voice sound a bit muffled.

“What is it?”

After Que Yining spoke, she subconsciously touched her neck. Not only her name, but even her voice was exactly the same as before.

Qiao Yuchu seemed to have moved to a quieter place, her voice becoming clearer: “Come to Chun Chao to hang out! There’s drama to watch. The Gu family’s Little White Lotus has set up a ‘Hongmen Banquet’ and invited her own sister for dinner. It’s obvious she’s trying to assert dominance.”

Que Yining: “Her sister?”

Memories quickly surfaced in Que Yining’s mind. The person Qiao Yuchu was talking about was Gu Qianqian, the Gu family’s daughter. Because she always wore white dresses and looked pitiful, Qiao Yuchu nicknamed her ‘Little White Lotus’. However, Que Yining had no impression of Gu Qianqian’s sister.

Qiao Yuchu: “You don’t pay attention to these things, so it’s normal you don’t remember. Isn’t Mrs. Gu in poor health and recuperating abroad? Her daughter went with her. Uncle Gu then brought his mistress and illegitimate daughter home to raise. It’s been almost ten years now, right? A while ago, the legitimate wife passed away, and her daughter came back from abroad.”

Qiao Yuchu sneered: “Little White Lotus herself is just an illegitimate child who can’t make it to the big stage. After staying in a golden cage for ten years, she thinks she’s a phoenix. Now that the legitimate eldest miss is back, she’s losing face and will definitely cause trouble. Look, the person just landed today, and she immediately arranged a ‘welcome dinner’.”

Qiao Yuchu’s voice was full of anticipation for the drama: “Come quickly, let’s watch the fun together. I wonder how the Gu family’s eldest daughter will respond to Little White Lotus. I heard she has a cold personality, and her name is quite cold too, it’s ‘Gu Shanxue’.”

These three words were like a switch, making Que Yining recall some past events.

Her friend’s younger sister loved reading novels and had a good relationship with her. Once, while at her house, the younger sister was reading and getting angry. Que Yining thought she was angry because she saw a plot point she didn’t like. But the younger sister told her that there was a female supporting character in the book who was obsessed with the male lead, had the same name as her (Que Yining), was brainless and malicious, and had a terrible reputation, which made her furious to read.

Que Yining rubbed her head to calm her down and glanced at the book, coincidentally seeing the three words ‘Gu Shanxue’.

The younger sister said, that was the female protagonist.

So, she had transmigrated into this book?

Que Yining chuckled thoughtfully. A bit interesting.