The smell of cheap instant coffee and the sound of morning birds chirping outside the dormitory window used to bring a sense of normalcy to Li Xinyue. But this morning, those once comforting details felt foreign—as if they belonged to someone else.
And in a way, they did.
She stared at her reflection again. Twenty-two. Still in university. Back when she was full of idealism, trust, and dreams. The scars of betrayal hadn't etched themselves into her bones yet—but the memory of them remained sharp and fresh in her mind.
She had died. She had fallen. And now… she was back.
Back in the body of a girl who didn't yet know how cruel the world could be. But she did now.
And she would not waste this second chance.
"Hey! Xinyue! What's up with you this morning?" Zhao Lili asked as she sipped from her iced coffee and sat cross-legged on her bed. "You're so quiet."
Li Xinyue studied her.
The long curls. The perfectly manicured nails. That sugary tone that used to comfort her now grated against her nerves. Zhao Lili had been her best friend—her confidante, her sister in everything but blood. And in her past life, she had betrayed her for power, jealousy, and Qin Yichen.
Xinyue's expression didn't change.
She sat at her desk and calmly began reviewing the business competition documents she had once ignored in favor of cramming for midterms.
"You remember that investment club meeting we signed up for?" she asked casually.
Zhao Lili blinked. "Yeah? Why?" "I want to take it seriously this time."
Lili raised a brow. "Wait, what? You hate all that stock market mumbo-jumbo."
"I used to," Xinyue replied without looking up. "But I'm realizing there's a lot more to learn than I thought." She wasn't lying.
In her past life, she had focused too much on the people around her—relationships, loyalty, reputation—believing sincerity was her shield.
Now she knew better.
Power protected people.
And she would wield it, no matter the cost.
Over the next week, Xinyue kept to herself more than usual. She watched her classmates closely—taking mental notes on future betrayals and missed opportunities.
She also avoided Qin Yichen.
At this stage in her past life, she would've been eagerly texting him, waiting for their weekend dinner date. They had met during a university case competition—he had swept her off her feet with charm, intellect, and ambition. She had fallen, fast and hard.
But not this time.
Now, she watched from a distance.
She noticed the little lies already forming: his stolen glances at Zhao Lili, the way he always seemed just slightly too friendly with her. At the time, it had seemed harmless. Now, it was evidence.
She saw through it all.
One evening, Zhao Lili came back from her evening jog, flushed and smiling.
"Guess what! I ran into Yichen just now! He said we should all hang out this weekend—just like old times!"
Li Xinyue smiled. "You two seem to run into each other a lot."
Zhao Lili hesitated. "Oh? Do we? I guess it's just campus life, you know."
"Right," Xinyue replied. She sipped her tea and held back the bile.
By mid-April, Xinyue had already made her first quiet move.
She had approached Professor Wu, her old finance lecturer—the one everyone ignored because of his strange, obsessive stock trading habits.
In her past life, she'd dismissed his teachings. Now, she knew better.
He had predicted the 2024 biotech boom, and no one had listened. But she remembered the articles published years later. The man became a lowkey legend in investment circles—too late for anyone to benefit.
Not this time.
"Professor Wu," she said after class one day, "would you consider mentoring me in stock fundamentals?"
He looked up, startled. "You?"
"I want to learn everything you know."
He eyed her suspiciously. "Most students come to me only after they graduate—and usually when they've already lost money."
"I won't waste your time," she said quietly. "And I won't ask you to sugarcoat anything."
There was something about her tone that made him pause. After a beat, he nodded.
"Fine. Let's start with valuations. Bring a notebook."
Over the following weeks, Xinyue's schedule transformed.
Classes in the day. Night sessions with Professor Wu. And early mornings analyzing IPO reports, historical crash patterns, and cryptocurrency volatility.
She was rewriting her destiny piece by piece.
Her first small investment—a biotech stock she knew would surge next spring—was made through an alias. She opened a hidden brokerage account using her mother's maiden name. Just like she remembered, the company was in its early fundraising phase now. By next year, it would go public at ten times the value. She smiled as she hit 'Confirm.'
One seed planted.
Many more to go.
********
The first real test came during a midterm presentation. Her team had been assigned a mock case involving a fictional tech merger. In her past life, she had stayed in the background—letting Qin Yichen take the lead while she polished the visuals.
Not this time.
As the group gathered in a study room to discuss their strategy, Yichen tried to assert his usual leadership.
"I think we should pitch it as a growth opportunity," he said confidently. "Classic market share expansion."
Everyone nodded. Xinyue didn't.
She tapped her pen on the table. "No. That's the obvious angle. Everyone else will say the same." Qin Yichen frowned slightly. "And you suggest…?"
"We flip it. Emphasize the company's hidden intellectual property value. There's a patent portfolio most people overlook. If we reframe the deal as an IP acquisition, it shifts the narrative. We turn a standard merger into a strategic tech monopoly."
The room fell quiet.
Even Qin Yichen didn't speak for a second. Finally, one of the students murmured, "That… actually makes sense."
Yichen forced a smile. "Good. We'll go with Xinyue's angle, then."
But his eyes weren't smiling. And she noticed.
Later that night, he texted her.
[Yichen]: You've been different lately. Everything okay?
Xinyue stared at the message.
In her past life, this was where she would have poured her heart out. Told him about stress. Opened herself to him again.
This time, she typed:
[Xinyue]: I'm just focused on what matters. :)
No more vulnerability.
No more trust.
By late May, news began to circulate on campus. Xinyue had been selected to intern at HuaRen Investments, one of the most competitive financial firms in the province. Only two interns were selected each year—and in her past life, she had been rejected after Zhao Lili "accidentally" submitted the wrong resume version on her behalf.
This time, she applied in secret. No one even knew she had interviewed. When her acceptance letter arrived, she didn't tell a soul.
Let them wonder. Let them underestimate her.
She smiled quietly as Zhao Lili complained loudly about being waitlisted.
But rebirth wasn't without emotional weight.
One night, Xinyue visited her parents' home. Her mother greeted her at the door, arms wide, eyes full of joy.
"You came back! We missed you!"
Xinyue hugged her tightly. Too tightly.
"Are you okay?" her mother asked. "You're shaking." "I just missed you," Xinyue whispered.
Her father cooked her favorite meal that night. She watched him move around the kitchen, his slight limp from an old accident—one she remembered would worsen in two years.
Not this time, she thought. She would get him treatment early. And she would protect him from the health scandal Qin Yichen had buried him under in her last life.
This time, she would save more than just herself.
*****
June came with summer rain.
By now, Xinyue's name was being whispered in new circles. Professors noticed her insight. Students began to seek her opinion. A quiet confidence began to surround her.
But she kept her circle small. Very small. She'd already identified three people who would become enemies later.
She'd also noticed one person who wasn't part of her old path—Mo Chen, a transfer student from Beijing who had just joined the finance department.
He was quiet. Brilliant. And unlike Yichen, he didn't talk to be heard.
He watched.
And one day, he watched her.
"You handled that derivative pricing challenge well," he said after a class session.
Xinyue turned, surprised. "You noticed?" "You saw something others didn't," he said simply. "You see patterns."
She tilted her head. "What else do you see?" He studied her. "A storm. But not the kind that destroys. The kind that clears the air."
It was the first time in months she was caught off guard.
That night, she wrote in a notebook:
"Enemies identified. Allies unknown. Revenge in motion. Power is coming. But I won't lose myself in it. Not this time."