Chapter 209: The Threshold of Life and Death: Leng Wanqiu Awakens Her Past-Life Memories

Although he had long anticipated Leng Wanqiu's decision.

Yet the old man still sighed.

His eyes showed a look of approval.

"Good girl, better to die as a phoenix than live as a barnyard hen."

It seemed Leng Wanqiu's choice aligned with some of the old man's life principles.

In fact.

Any carp would want to leap the Dragon Gate if there was the slightest chance.

Especially for Leng Wanqiu, wasn't this a lifelong obsession?

Leng Wanqiu lay down on the straw mat, and the old man began inserting needles.

Tiny, hair-thin needles, under the old man's masterful technique, quickly covered her entire face.

So sleepy, so I just want to sleep, never wake again, forever sinking into darkness.

The treatment isn't over yet.

There's no turning back now.

Sleep, sleep…

Leng Wanqiu's head was now completely covered in hair-thin needles.

The acupuncture had reached its most critical stage.

This part, she must endure alone.

Good.

And.

The old man closed all doors and windows, leaving only a tiny air vent.

This was what kept her from surrendering to the collapse of will.

She even felt a searing, burning pain.

After finishing, the old man frowned as he observed Leng Wanqiu.

She felt her whole body burning.

The old man's expression grew grave.

Perhaps, only a three-tenths chance?

…

Causing the room's temperature to rise rapidly.

The old man had done everything he could.

So hot.

But this didn't mean Leng Wanqiu's situation wasn't dangerous—she was still teetering on the brink of death, held alive only by the fierce willpower of her obsession.

Her mind was gradually growing foggy.

So a subconscious thought kept echoing in her mind.

Then he set up a small brazier filled with burning coal.

But Leng Wanqiu felt a lingering resentment.

The rest depended on Leng Wanqiu herself.

The sweat on his forehead was no less than hers.

He had done all he could.

The acupuncture had begun.

Like being dropped into the Flame Mountain after Sun Wukong overturned Laojun's alchemy furnace.

Her mental resolve began to unravel.

After inserting all needles into the key acupoints on Leng Wanqiu's head, the old man exhaled slightly—then immediately tensed again.

Wake up, look in the mirror—what do I look like now?

If I fall asleep and never wake, will I never see my transformed face?

Unexpectedly, it was precisely because she hadn't looked in a mirror all this time that her longing for her transformed appearance remained intense.

And precisely because the brain is the most critical, yet also the most vulnerable and dangerous part of the body, the old man said that if anything went wrong, Leng Wanqiu would likely die.

In truth, the five-tenths chance he mentioned referred only to his own needlework having a five-tenths success rate.

The brazier continuously radiated heat.

As for the trial Leng Wanqiu must endure herself.

Wake up.

Dense, terrifying.

She still hovered on the edge of life and death.

Leng Wanqiu's face flushed red, her brain rapidly filling with blood, sweat pouring out in greasy streams as if it cost nothing.

In the chaos.

Leng Wanqiu had a long, long dream.

The dream felt distant, as if it had happened long ago.

Yet it also felt close, like something that happened yesterday.

In the dream.

Her life's first twenty years were identical.

Until she met Song Mo—then her life diverged slightly from the present…

She felt as if standing from the perspective of an observer, or as if her soul had taken residence within another person named "Leng Wanqiu," reviewing her entire life.

Leng Wanqiu saw her younger self.

Identical experiences to this lifetime.

Due to her strange illness, she could not exercise; even running two steps made her sweat, her face always greasy, and she was fat as a pig.

That time was the darkest period of Leng Wanqiu's life.

She was shunned, bullied, and isolated by children.

Since childhood, she had been pointed at and mocked, even called to her face "dead fat pig," "dead fat witch," "stinking hag," "idiot."

Even the children among Leng Family relatives.

Showed her no pity.

They all felt it shameful to know Leng Wanqiu or to be related to her.

And adults constantly mocked her physical flaws.

At that time, Leng Wanqiu was insecure, sensitive, and cowardly; after watching idol dramas, she desperately longed to meet her white prince who would save her.

But she knew well.

People sympathize with the weak only because the weak are cute and evoke their affection.

The so-called perfect "victim."

In films, a sweet-looking mute girl being bullied stirs audience outrage;

but if replaced by a mute girl with extreme emotional instability, who becomes as prickly as a hedgehog from pain and is ugly, few can empathize.

She was this fat, swollen by her illness into a pig.

Even if a white prince truly existed.

The prince would care for more lovely girls, like Cinderella in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale—though born lowly, she was exquisitely beautiful.

Fortunately.

Leng Wanqiu discovered that when studying, even if ugly, if her grades were good enough, she could protect herself from bullying.

Later, when she entered society, she realized that with money and ability, even if ugly, people must bow and grovel before you.

So she studied hard, worked hard to start businesses.

She wanted to become strong, to protect herself.

In this process, she funded a boy named Chen Xi; when he saw her, he did not show disgust, and even praised her as cute.

Though she knew it was false, Leng Wanqiu was still happy.

She quickly fell into secret love.

Chen Xi was very delicate-looking, and his persona was that of a gentle, quiet beautiful youth.

Leng Wanqiu thought he was truly beautiful.

She finally could not resist confessing, though she had given Chen Xi vast sums to fund his education, and even met his excessive spending demands with full compliance.

But.

After her confession, Chen Xi's expression visibly darkened.

Chen Xi said he needed time to think, asking for one night.

Leng Wanqiu agreed.

What she received instead was the next day: Chen Xi fled with all the wealth she had given him, leaving behind a note filled with abuse and insults.

The insults on it were far more vicious than those she endured as a child.

"Ugly sow," "dead fat pig," "go find a boar to mate with," "you don't deserve to live," "every time I see you I feel like vomiting, but I can only vomit after you're gone," "when your sow heat comes, go to the pig farm to mate."

Leng Wanqiu's heart shattered.

Piece by piece, crushed into glass shards.

She was deeply wounded, fell into despair, sank into daily gloom, and lost all interest in her career.

Until she met a boy named Song Mo.

He was extremely handsome.

But not the effeminate kind like Chen Xi.

Cold and clear as a noble lord—no, he truly was a noble lord.

Yet, in company, he was gentle…

In the endless darkness of her life, Chen Xi was a phantom mirage, glowing only because of Leng Wanqiu's illusions.

But Song Mo was the true one in her life.

The first ray of light.

(End of Chapter)