Chapter 1 : Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Past Life and Present Life
Late at night, two streaks of light tore across the sky one after another and fell into a small town nestled among the Southern Ridge Mountains of the Tang Kingdom.
That very same night, two infants—a boy and a girl—were born in the town at exactly the same time.
“Haha, wonderful! My Ye family has finally produced a male heir. The curse is gone at last. Heaven has blessed us!”
A voice filled with uncontrollable joy rang out from a wealthy household surnamed Ye.
At the same time, however, an entirely opposite wail of despair came from another wealthy household surnamed Lin.
“Heavens above! What terrible sins has my Lin family committed? Are you trying to wipe out my bloodline?”
This place was Qixia Town, a remote settlement under Jiangzhou Prefecture of the Tang Kingdom. The town contained several hundred households.
There were two prominent families in the town: one surnamed Ye and the other surnamed Lin. Nearly all the farmland in the area belonged to these two households.
Both families had remarkable backgrounds within the Tang Kingdom.
The Ye family’s old master had once served as an official in the imperial court, rising to the position of Grand Internal Chancellor. Twenty years ago, he retired and returned to his hometown.
The Lin family’s old master had also served the court. He was a military officer who had risen to the rank of Grand General Who Protects the Nation. Ten years ago, he too retired and returned to his hometown.
Interestingly, the two men came from the same town and had been close friends since childhood. They had entered official service on the same day.
After decades of effort, both men rose to become the foremost figures of civil and military authority in the Tang court.
Their families enjoyed the emperor’s deep trust and were pillars supporting the Tang Kingdom.
Yet after bringing the kingdom to its peak prosperity, they unexpectedly resigned from all titles and official posts granted by the court and returned with their entire families to Qixia Town.
Not only did the two old masters resign from every position, even their sons relinquished all their official duties and noble titles at court.
During the decades when these two men directed the kingdom’s military and governance, they expanded the Tang Kingdom’s territory to more than twice its former size. However, perhaps because they had accumulated too much bloodshed, Heaven punished them.
Both families had only one son; all the rest of their children were daughters.
It was not that the families disliked having daughters. The real problem was that their sons could not produce a male heir.
Rumor had it that the two families once sought out a reclusive master to tell their fortunes. The master said their killings were too great and Heaven intended to punish them.
If they wished to continue their bloodlines, they could only resign from their positions and live in seclusion.
Surprisingly, both old masters chose to believe him.
After all, reality lay plainly before them—neither of their sons could father a male child.
Of course, there might have been other reasons as well.
But even after returning to Qixia Town for twenty years, their sons and daughters-in-law had several children—yet every single one of them was a girl.
Not a single boy.
This time, it was the fourth child of the Ye family head and also the fourth child of the Lin family head.
However, it seemed that the Ye family’s curse had been broken, while the Lin family’s had not.
The next morning, two middle-aged men walked out of their homes carrying their newborns. The two houses stood directly across from each other. The head of the Ye family looked smugly at the house opposite.
After all, the Ye family and the Lin family lived door-to-door.
“Sigh! Brother Lin, another daughter, I suppose? Looks like the curse on your family truly cannot be broken.” The Ye family head laughed proudly.
The Lin family head felt extremely displeased seeing that expression.
“Sigh… my father has already accepted fate. Your Ye family’s old master was a civil official, but our Lin family fought on battlefields. The killing we committed was heavier, so Heaven’s punishment upon us is harsher. He said that since we cannot produce a male heir, we will have to take in a live-in son-in-law. This is the last of our bloodline—we cannot let her marry out. This time, your Ye family wins.” The Lin family head sighed.
“Haha, you flatter me. Oh right, your child is a daughter and mine is a son. Why don’t we—hehe—have your daughter marry my son when they grow up? Our families live across from each other anyway. Better to keep the benefits within the family,” the Ye family head said with a strange grin.
The Lin family head was stunned for a moment. After thinking carefully, he agreed to the proposal.
In truth, the final approval for the marriage came from the Lin family’s old master.
Right there and then, they decided on the children’s names.
The Ye family’s fourth young master would be named Ye Liuyun.
The Lin family’s fourth young lady would be named Lin Aoxue.
Time flowed on, and the years changed.
Five years later…
Beside a small stream outside Qixia Town.
“Liuyun, wait for me! Isn’t it bad for us to sneak out like this?”
A lively and adorable little girl wearing a light-blue dress chased after a delicate-looking boy.
The handsome boy darted here and there, deliberately trying to avoid her.
He clearly did not want the girl in blue to find him. Looking around, he suddenly noticed a pool nearby and plunged straight into it.
He hid himself inside the water.
“Huh? Liuyun, where are you? Stop hiding—I saw you!”
When the girl in the blue dress reached the area and realized the boy had vanished, she immediately began searching carefully.
Meanwhile, the boy was holding his breath at the bottom of the pool.
Just as he was struggling to hold his breath, a faint golden glimmer appeared within the water.
“Huh? What is that?”
After a moment of surprise, the boy reached down and grabbed the golden object from the bottom of the pool.
When he looked closely, he discovered that it was a simple, pale-gold ancient ring.
The ring emitted a strange glow that seemed to captivate his mind.
“A ring?” the boy muttered.
At that moment he was still underwater. The brief distraction caused him to swallow several mouthfuls of water, forcing him to surface.
“Cough, cough, cough… damn it.”
After breaking the surface, the boy coughed violently before climbing onto the shore.
Naturally, his hiding place was exposed.
“Found you! Honestly, hiding underwater is too much.”
The girl in the blue dress immediately ran over after spotting him. Seeing her approach, the boy turned and ran again—this time straight toward the town.
“Ah… Aoxue, spare me!”
Seeing the blue-dressed girl chasing after him again, the boy could not help but beg for mercy.
“Nope!” the girl named Aoxue replied angrily as she continued chasing him.
These two children were the same Ye Liuyun and Lin Aoxue who had been born on the same day and at the same hour five years ago.
However, both of them had been somewhat unusual since birth.
They each possessed memories of their previous lives.
They still remembered who they had been before.
In their previous lives, they came from a world called Earth.
Moreover, Lin Aoxue had been Ye Liuyun’s girlfriend in that previous life.
While traveling together, they had both encountered an accident. When they woke up, they discovered that they had transmigrated into another world.
The strangest part was that when their consciousness fully awakened and they met each other, they realized that the other had also arrived in this world.
Of course, they only truly confirmed each other’s identities when they were two or three years old.
All things considered, it was a blessing in disguise. After all, at least there was still someone deeply connected to them by their side.
“Ah… how annoying. Heavens, just strike me with lightning and kill me already,” Ye Liuyun pleaded toward the sky.
Lin Aoxue was simply too clingy.
In their previous life they had been childhood sweethearts, and in this life they were still childhood sweethearts.
Ye Liuyun wanted freedom. He did not want to be controlled again in this life. In his previous life he had already been a man completely dominated by his wife.
Under Lin Aoxue’s relentless pursuit, another playful day finally came to an end.
Fortunately, the night belonged to Ye Liuyun.
At least Lin Aoxue did not cling to him at night. However, she had already grown accustomed to this.
After all, she simply liked staying close to Ye Liuyun.
But in truth, men needed a certain amount of personal space. No matter what the relationship was, a sense of distance was necessary. Without that distance, even affection could begin to feel suffocating.
Then, around eleven or twelve at night, the pale-gold copper ring Ye Liuyun had placed on his table— the one he had picked up during the day—suddenly began to glow.
After the golden light flickered for a moment, a transparent figure emitting a faint radiance appeared beside Ye Liuyun’s bed.
“Hehe…”
The mysterious figure looked at Ye Liuyun and gave a strange smile.
Who would have thought that the ring he casually picked up would contain such a secret—and certainly not a small one.