The heavy thrum of bass reverberated through her chest before her eyes had even fluttered open. Dim lights painted the room in shifting hues of purple and red, bodies moving, laughter spilling, perfume clinging thick in the air like smoke.
For a brief and surreal moment, she thought she was dreaming, because she should have been dead.
The last memory she possessed of her own life was the blare of horns, screeching tires, and a cold emptiness swallowing her consciousness whole. And here she was, slumped on a velvet couch, her body heavy with the haze of alcohol she hadn't even drunk herself.
Her lashes trembled as her vision cleared slowly. Men and women were lounging around her, their designer clothes clinging like costumes rather than garments. Those people looked like your typical rich second-generation heirs, drunk on their families' power, playing at rebellion in the shadows of a private club room.
"Oh, Ruyi, you're awake?" A girl with painted lips leaned close, her giggle sugar-coated and sharp. "Finally. You were supposed to perform for us! You know, something good enough to trend tomorrow. Otherwise, what's the point of you being here?"
Shen Ruyi... Wait, Shen Ruyi?
The name landed heavily in her chest, dragging a tide of memories not her own into her skull. Faces, names, emotions, and fragments of another person's memories came rushing like a river breaking its dam.
The Shen family was a prestigious and wealthy merchant family in the Imperial Capital. And their only daughter, Shen Ruyi, was your typical nouveau riche, spoiled girl.
On top of that, what shocked her the most was that this girl was in a contract marriage with a renowned actor. The fiancée of Jiang Yanzhi.
Jiang Yanzhi?
Even the memory of his name ached. The superstar, idol of countless fans who owned the stage, who turned crowds of girls hysterical with just a glance. The man she, the original her, had once screamed for from the depths of fandom.
Her fingers curled against her skirt, nails biting skin. She was inside Shen Ruyi's body. And this person was his despised and trashy fiancée!
"What are you waiting for? Don't tell me you're going to chicken out?" One of the boys drawled from the other side of the couch, tossing back a glass of whiskey. "Tsk, Jiang Yanzhi's little wife can't even handle this much? No wonder he hates you."
The words sliced deep into her mind.
In the fragments of memory, she already saw everything. Shen Ruyi's reputation that was twisted by gossip and carefully staged scandals. A bumbling, foolish girl painted as a villainess by the people around her. An easy target.
She didn't even realize that she was being manipulated and used by others. What a stupid girl.
Her lips twitched, not in embarrassment or shame, but in something dangerously close to amusement.
So this was the stage she had been thrown onto?
"I see," she murmured, pushing herself upright. Her voice was steadier than she expected, carrying none of the naivety that once belonged to Shen Ruyi.
"What do you mean?" The girl who had giggled earlier was thrown off balance by her change of expression.
But Shen Ruyi's eyes, that was now cool and clear, swept across them all. "I mean, I won't be playing along with your little games. Whatever fun you had planned at my expense, cancel it."
The laughter faltered.
She straightened her posture, smoothing her dress with unhurried grace. "And listen carefully. Don't call me to places like this again. If you do…" her gaze sharpened, a blade hidden beneath velvet, "Then don't blame me for the consequences."
The atmosphere in the room froze as everyone went silent.
These wastrels were used to Shen Ruyi's compliance. Confused, they stared at her as though she had grown horns.
'What is it? How did her mood turn bad? If she were to be like this, how are they going to have fun and make connections?'
"You're joking, Ruyi. Why are you so mad all of a sudden? We didn't do anything to upset you, right?" one boy tried to sneer, but it cracked at the edges.
She smiled faintly. "Try me."
And with that, she walked past them, heels clicking against the marble floor, each step exuding a calm defiance none of them had ever associated with Shen Ruyi. The heavy doors swung open, and she stepped into the cool night air outside.
The sudden rush of wind struck her face, clearing the remnants of the alcohol haze that still lingered in her body. She inhaled deeply, her chest aching from the flood of overlapping memories.
Her head throbbed as the original owner's memories aligned with her own soul. The confusion was dizzying, but it was a clarity that emerged with a painful truth: she was no longer herself. She had died, and now she was going to live someone else's life.
Though her own life wasn't much special, she also had a dream, a job, a shelter, and a place to stay.
She lived for the sake of fangirling, and for her, Jiang Yuanzhi meant something very, very important.
But. what now?
Her feet carried her down the street, though her mind wandered through the wreckage of inherited memories. She sifted through Shen Ruyi's past, searching for the reason why she was hated. What sin had she committed to earn such disdain?
But there was nothing.
The girl had been foolish, yes. Too trusting and naive, someone easy to fool and an easy pawn to use in the schemes of others. Her mistakes had been orchestrated, her image deliberately tarnished until she became a laughingstock by Jiang Yanzhi's side.
Shen Ruyi wasn't a villain as they depicted her to be. Rather, she had been made into one.
Her lips curved, not in sorrow, but in a strange, icy amusement. "So that's it? She was being despised, not for who she was, but because others painted her that way."
To think she also once resented and hated this innocent girl... she really felt bad for the original Shen Ruyi.