The woman in the photo had sad eyes.
Jiang Yue surely didn't notice this three years ago. This was the last photo of her mother. Weeks before she died from a car accident. Jiang Yue had avoided thinking about that terrible day. It was the day that her life changed. And no, she was not just talking about the death of her mother. She was talking about her rebirth. Her reincarnation.
You see, Jiang Yue was with her mother during the accident. Everyone thought she was lucky to survive that fatal day. What they didn't know is that the original Jiang Yue did die. She is the Jiang Yue from the future. She didn't know why she came back to her past self. Maybe the gods pitied her and gave her another chance to be happy. She didn't understand why she was reincarnated either. In the first place, she didn't die because someone plotted to kill her. She died because of her own choices. Wrong choices. She didn't die with any grievance nor any regrets. Okay, who is she kidding, she did die with regrets but she didn't think it was enough reason for her to be reincarnated to her past self.
It had been 3 years since that accident and if she would be honest, she really didn't like to go back to her family. 3 years ago, when she realized that she reincarnated, the first thing that she did was to ask her maternal grandfather to send her abroad. She knew her father will marry another woman. Not just another woman, but his mistress. And that will be the start of her doomed.
Her father Jiang Chanming didn't love her mother. He married her out of convenience. However, her mother Wang Rou loved Jiang Chanming like the sunflower loved the sun. She practically worshipped her husband. So when she discovered that her husband was seeing another woman behind her back, she was heartbroken.
Wang Rou was the only daughter of the prestigious Wang family. Her pride can't take the fact that her husband was cheating on her. But, unlike all cliché novel stories, her mother was a smart woman. She didn't try to kill the mistress or her husband's bastard daughter. No, she is smarter than that, so she transferred all her properties and company shares under her daughter's name. As they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
This earned the ire of his father. And since he can't really do anything to his wife because of her family, he choose to vent his anger towards his only daughter, Jiang Yue. He started ignoring her and scolding her. The started to abuse her emotionally and psychologically. This leads her to yearn for fatherly love. She longed for his father's love and attention.
In her past life, she always wanted to make her father happy. She craved for her father's approval. Two months after her mother's death, Jiang Chanming bought Lu Shi into their home. He then announced that he will marry her in a month. Jiang Yue was devastated. Especially after knowing that she had a sister. Jiang Mian, born 2 months after her birthday. When she saw that her father dotes on Jiang Mian too much, she becomes so jealous and unreasonable. She started competing for attention. She would want what Jiang Mian want. She started bullying her and calling her names. When she heard that Jiang Mian had a crush on Yu Chen, she directly asked her Maternal Grandfather to set up an engagement without even knowing the man.
Yu Chen didn't come from a prestigious family. Well, he is from a rich family but not as rich as the Wang Family. Her Grandfather tried to disapprove but Jiang Yue throw a tantrum and threaten to sever her ties with the Wang's. She acted irrationally and started defying her grandfather. When her grandfather suggested a prenuptial agreement, she was enraged. She doesn't want Yu Chen to feel like she didn't love him. She wants to show off to the world, to Jiang Mian rather, that she and Yu Chen were in love.
Jiang Yue wanted to laugh at her previous self's foolishness. How could she even like a man like Yu Chen? Yet she still chooses to marry him in her past life. She thought she won. Little did she know, Jiang Mian and Yu Chen are already long time lovers when they got married. Yes! She became the antagonist of her stepsister's perfect love story. The only obstacle to their sincere love and affection.
After 3 years of marriage, he divorced her so he could marry her little sister. To her dismay, he got half of all her property during their divorce. Thinking about it now, she couldn't help but be angry at her previous self. How could she be so foolish? She wasted her youth because of people like them.
In this lifetime, she will make sure not to spare any time to associate herself with toxic people. Nope, she will not even spare a single emotion to those people. She will not revenge nor get angry because they don't deserve it. They don't deserve her attention. Not her stupid father, not her manipulative stepmother, not her white lotus step sister and certainly not the arrogant and dumb Yu Chen.
"Young Miss, It's almost dark, the old master called to ask where will you stay tonight." A respectful voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked at the man in her 40's standing next to her. He had a short cropped hair and amicable black eyes. He is Wang Bolin. Her trusted bodyguard and personal driver. He was personally picked by her grandfather to serve her. Wang Bolin is a handsome man for his age. However, he choose not to marry. He used to serve as a guard for her mother before she got married. Rumor has it that the reason he never got married is because he loved her mother.
"I'm going to my mother's house. Tell grandfather I will visit him tomorrow." She answered. It was around two hours ago when she landed in Xin City. The place where she was born.
She looked back at the photo in her hands then at the tombstone in front of her. She let out a long sigh and allowed herself a few minutes of mourning.
"I am back mother! I am back" she murmured before walking away from her mother's tomb.