Swap Marriage in Ancient Times: Transmigrated to My Stepbrother's Wife

Wang Gege lowered her gaze, trying to keep her expression calm.

She had decided not to tell Bai Ruoxi about Xie Rong.

Not yet...

There were too many things she still didn’t understand, and until she could determine whether Bai Ruoxi was truly her mother or whether there was something else hidden behind all these coincidences, she couldn’t afford to reveal anything about Xie Rong.

Bai Ruoxi seemed to notice her hesitation, but she didn’t press the matter.

Instead, she quietly asked, "You don’t believe me?"

Wang Gege’s fingers tightened slightly. "Would you?"

Bai Ruoxi simply smiled when she heard her answer. "I wouldn’t either... Who would after hearing such an absurd story, right?"

Wang Gege looked at her in silence.

Bai Ruoxi’s smile slowly faded as she lowered her gaze.

"If someone suddenly appeared in front of me and told me that my daughter had been living in another world for eighteen years because our souls had somehow been exchanged, I would probably think they had lost their mind."

A faint chuckle escaped her lips, but there was a trace of sadness beneath it. "So I won’t ask you to believe me immediately."

Wang Gege’s expression softened slightly, though the suspicion in her eyes remained. "Then why are you telling me all of this?"

Bai Ruoxi looked back at her, "Because sooner or later, you deserve to know what happened to you." She paused before adding quietly, "And because there are still things even I don’t understand."

Wang Gege’s brows furrowed. "Such as?"

Bai Ruoxi’s gaze drifted toward the closed door. "Why... even though the path was already clear a year ago, it still took until two months ago for you and the other person to swap back..."

Wang Gege’s gaze sharpened.

"A year ago..." she murmured. "Didn’t you ever feel a different change?"

Bai Ruoxi furrowed her brows, trying to understand what her daughter was asking.

"My husband’s fate..." she began slowly. "He was supposed to die a year ago, on the battlefield. Everyone believed he was dead, but somehow... he survived."

Wang Gege’s expression changed.

"Wait." She stared at Bai Ruoxi. "What do you mean by was supposed to die a year ago?"

Bai Ruoxi frowned slightly, clearly confused by the sudden question.

"According to what the Taoist told us, his fate had already been decided. He was supposed to die on the battlefield a year ago. There were even rumors that he had died, and everyone believed them. But five minutes later..."

She paused, "His eyes suddenly opened."

Wang Gege’s fingers slowly tightened. That strange detail made her heart sink.

She lowered her gaze for a moment, trying to organize everything Bai Ruoxi had told her. The soul swap, the eighteen years, the Taoist, the imbalance, the path that had supposedly opened a year ago, and now Xie Rong’s death that had never truly happened.

Then another possibility suddenly crossed her mind.

Wang Gege looked up.

"Since you’ve been talking about all this soul swapping..." Her voice became cautious. "Is there any possibility that this world’s timeline could return to a certain point?"

Bai Ruoxi’s expression froze.

Wang Gege continued, "Not just the souls being swapped back... but the entire timeline itself."

For several seconds, Bai Ruoxi said nothing. Then her eyes slowly widened.

"Taotao..." Her voice had changed. "You’re saying this world may have already happened once?"

Wang Gege nodded slowly, her expression still filled with uncertainty.

"Like... it could rewind itself..." she murmured. "Return to a certain point, and everything starts again from there."

Bai Ruoxi’s expression turned solemn.

"A rewind..." She repeated the word quietly, as though testing the possibility in her mind.

"If that were true..." Bai Ruoxi’s gaze drifted toward the closed door again. "Then perhaps that is why everything has felt so wrong."

Wang Gege’s heart tightened. "What do you mean?"

Bai Ruoxi was silent for a moment before looking back at her.

"Because if the world truly returned to an earlier point, then the people within it would not necessarily remember what happened before."

Wang Gege’s eyes widened slightly.

"But..." She swallowed, "What if some people ’do’ remember?"

Bai Ruoxi’s face changed. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Wang Gege slowly lowered her voice. "I think..." She gulped, as another thought suddenly surfaced in her mind. "I need to ask them about something that has been bothering me."

"Who?" Bai Ruoxi asked, clearly confused. "Are you talking about the people who remember?"

Wang Gege nodded.

"There are two so far that I know of..." Her fingers slowly tightened around the edge of her sleeve. "Xie An’an and Shen Yurou."

Bai Ruoxi’s expression immediately became serious. "Those two?"

"Yes." Wang Gege nodded again. "They both seemed to know things that happened before, things that shouldn’t have happened in this current timeline."

She paused, her brows knitting together. "Especially Shen Yurou. She once said things that made it sound like she had already lived through certain events before. At first, I thought she was spouting nonsense..."

Wang Gege’s gaze lowered, "But after everything you’ve told me today, I’m no longer sure."

Bai Ruoxi remained silent, carefully listening.

"And Xie An’an..." Wang Gege’s voice became quieter. "After she woke up, she started asking what year it was and whether certain people were still alive. She even said she thought she had already died once."

Bai Ruoxi remained silent.

Wang Gege suddenly looked toward the closed door again.

"And if this really happened..." Her fingers tightened slightly. "Then I think I know who I need to ask next."

"Who?" Bai Ruoxi asked.

"Xie—"

The name was cut off the moment the door burst open.

"Furen..."

Xie Rong stood at the doorway, his breathing slightly uneven. Although his eyes were hidden beneath the blindfold, the paleness of his face was impossible to miss.

Wang Gege immediately stood up. "Husband? What happened?"

"We need to go..." His voice was unusually tense.

"Go?" Wang Gege’s eyes darted toward him in confusion. "Where?"

Xie Rong turned his head toward the corridor.

His father had already left in a hurry.

Then he looked back at Wang Gege, his expression grim.

"Xie An’an..." He paused for a moment, as though even he was struggling to say the words. "She killed herself..." His voice dropped. "She’s dead."