Lin Qianxue lay perfectly still in her bed, eyes closed, breathing slow and steady. To anyone watching, she appeared to be sleeping off the effects of her suicide attempt.
But behind her closed eyelids, her mind raced at a speed that would have made her corporate analysts jealous.
The coincidences were too perfect. A broken engagement. A female relative stealing her fiancé. The destruction of everything she'd built. The same pattern repeating across four hundred years.
Unless it wasn't coincidence at all.
Lin Qianxue's eyes snapped open.
If Xu Mei had been reborn as Huiyin, then Zhang Wei would also be here. Souls didn't travel alone through time, at least, that's what every transmigration novel she'd ever skimmed during sleepless nights had taught her. If this was real, if multiple people had come back, they'd be connected somehow.
Chen Ziyang. Her former fiancé in this timeline. The man who'd broken their engagement to be with Huiyin.
She needed to see him. To test her theory.
A soft knock at the door made her close her eyes again, resuming her 'sleeping' act.
"Miss?" Xiao Lan, a younger servant, peeked inside. "Lady Wang says if you're awake, you should come to the garden. Young Master Chen has arrived to... to formally apologize for the broken engagement."
Lin Qianxue's heart rate spiked. Perfect timing. As if the universe wanted to confirm her suspicions.
"Tell Mother I'll be there shortly," she said, sitting up slowly and making a show of weakness. "I need help dressing."
Twenty minutes later, properly clothed and with her hair arranged in a simple style, Lin Qianxue made her way to the garden with Xiao Lan's support. She made herself appear weak enough to be non-threatening, but strong enough to not raise questions about her recovery.
The garden was beautiful in its decline, like the Lin family itself. Overgrown flowers, cracked stone paths, a pond with murky water that hadn't been cleaned in months. Standing beside that pond, looking uncomfortable in expensive robes, was Chen Ziyang.
He was handsome in a conventional way, strong jaw and refined features, the build of someone who practiced martial arts but never saw real combat. Twenty years old, heir to a prosperous merchant family, exactly the kind of match the old Lin Qianxue would have been grateful for.
But it was his mannerisms that made her breath catch.
He shifted his weight when nervous, left foot to right. Zhang Wei had done the same thing during board meetings when his proposals were challenged.
His hand moved to his collar, adjusting it unnecessarily. Zhang Wei's tell when he was lying and his eyes flickered to the left before speaking, Zhang Wei preparing to deliver rehearsed lines.
"Miss Lin." Chen Ziyang bowed, formal and distant. "Thank you for agreeing to see me. I know this is... uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable?" Lin Qianxue kept her voice soft, playing the wounded girl. "You ended our engagement with a letter, Young Master Chen. You didn't even have the courtesy to tell me in person. And now you come to apologize? Why?"
His jaw tightened, another Zhang Wei mannerism. "My family insisted. They felt the manner of the break was too abrupt. We should have handled it with more delicacy."
"How considerate." She took a few steps closer, watching his micro-expressions. "Tell me, was it truly about incompatibility? Or did you find someone more... suitable?"
A flash of guilt crossed his face. "I... Miss Lin Huiyin and I discovered we share common interests. I never meant to hurt you."
"Common interests," Lin Qianxue repeated. "How modern of you to marry for compatibility rather than duty. Some might even say it's progressive thinking. Almost as if you come from a time when love matches are more valued than arranged marriages."
She'd deliberately used "modern" and watched his reaction carefully.
Nothing. Or almost nothing. Just the tiniest flinch, so brief she might have imagined it.
But she hadn't imagined it.
"I should go," Chen Ziyang said abruptly. "I've delivered my apology. I hope you can find happiness, Miss Lin. Truly."
As he turned to leave, Lin Qianxue spoke again, her voice casual. "By the way, Young Master Chen, what do you think of my cousin's new style? Very trendy, wouldn't you say? Almost ahead of its time."
He paused. "I'm sorry?"
"'Trendy.' It's a word I picked up from a merchant who traveled from far away. Means fashionable, current. Do you know it?"
"No," he said slowly. Too slowly. "I don't know that word."
But his shoulders had tensed. His hand had gone to his collar again.
He was lying.
"Of course not," Lin Qianxue said sweetly. "My mistake. Safe travels, Young Master Chen."
Zhang Wei. It was definitely Zhang Wei's soul inside that body.
Which meant both of her betrayers had returned. Both were working together again. And both were destroying the Lin family just as they'd destroyed her company.
Lin Qianxue returned to her room, dismissed the servants, and began to pace despite her body's protests.
In the modern timeline, they'd killed her and taken her company. In this timeline, they were... what? Destroying her family's finances, stealing her marriage prospects, isolating her.
They were going to kill her again. Not immediately, that would be too suspicious after her suicide attempt. But soon. Once the family's reputation was destroyed and she had nowhere to turn.
She needed allies. Resources. Information.
The ledger. Father had always been meticulous with accounts. If money was being stolen, he would have noticed. Would have made records.
But he was bedridden now, his mind clouded by illness. Unable to speak coherently or…
Lin Qianxue froze.
Illness. Sudden illness that came on six months ago, right when the engagement started falling apart. An illness that affected his mind but not his body. That left him conscious but unable to communicate clearly.
Her father wasn't sick. He was being drugged.
She had to get to him. Had to find those records. Had to…
Voices in the corridor outside her room made her stop mid-thought. Two servants, speaking in low tones as they passed.
"Did you hear? The master drank his evening medicine already."
"Poor man. Cook says he won't last the week at this rate. The physician increased the dosage again."
"Lady Wang's orders, I heard. Says he needs stronger treatment for his condition."
Their voices faded as they moved away, but Lin Qianxue stood frozen, horror washing over her in cold waves.
Evening medicine. Increased dosage.
They weren't just keeping him incapacitated anymore.
They were going to kill him and it was happening tonight and if she didn't act immediately, her father would be dead by morning.
Lin Qianxue grabbed her outer robe and moved toward the door.
Her body was weak. Her enemies were everywhere. She had no weapons, no allies, no plan beyond desperate hope.
But she'd escaped death once already today by refusing to drink poisoned tea.
She could do it again.
Because if her father died tonight, she'd lose the only evidence that could prove the conspiracy. The only family member who might actually be worth saving.
Lin Qianxue stepped into the darkening corridor, heading toward the east wing where her father's chambers lay, and prayed she wasn't already too late.
Time was running out.
Her father was dying.
And she was the only one who could save him.