The air smelled of iron.
Mei Lin's wrists burned where the rope cut into her skin. Her head throbbed, vision blurring in and out as if the world itself was collapsing around her.
She tried to move.
Pain answered.
The room was dim, the only light coming from a single hanging bulb that flickered like it might give up at any moment. Concrete walls. No windows.
She understood immediately.
She had been taken.
Footsteps echoed.
Slow. Deliberate.
The door creaked open.
A woman stepped inside.
Plain face. Calm eyes. Neatly dressed.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
"…Zhang Xiu," Mei Lin whispered.
The woman smiled.
Soft. Gentle.
Terrifying.
"I didn't think you'd recognize me so quickly," Zhang Xiu said lightly, closing the door behind her.
Mei Lin's fingers curled.
"So it was you."
Zhang Xiu stepped closer, her heels tapping softly against the ground.
"You shouldn't have come back," she said.
Mei Lin laughed weakly.
"I came back too late anyway."
Her voice broke.
"My daughter… my husband…"
Zhang Xiu's expression didn't change—but her eyes sharpened.
"They're living very well," she said calmly.
The words struck harder than any blow.
Mei Lin's breath hitched.
"They… survived?"
"Of course they did," Zhang Xiu said. "Someone had to take care of them."
Silence filled the room.
Then—
"You," Mei Lin whispered.
Zhang Xiu tilted her head.
"I saved them," she said. "When the flood came. When everything was collapsing. I was the one who stood beside him."
Her voice softened.
"And you weren't there."
Each word cut deeper.
Mei Lin closed her eyes.
She had no defense.
She had left.
She had chosen to leave.
"I tried to find them," Mei Lin said hoarsely. "I tried—"
"But you didn't," Zhang Xiu interrupted gently.
She crouched down, meeting Mei Lin's gaze.
"You don't get to come back now," she said quietly.
"You don't get to take what I built."
Mei Lin's heart trembled.
"I never wanted to take—"
"You came near him."
Zhang Xiu's voice turned cold.
"You tried to meet him. Again and again."
Mei Lin didn't deny it.
Because it was true.
She had stood outside buildings.
Watched from a distance.
Turned away every time she saw him… happy.
Or what she thought was happiness.
"I just wanted to see them," Mei Lin whispered.
Zhang Xiu's eyes darkened.
"That's exactly why you have to disappear."
The bulb flickered.
For a moment, shadows swallowed the room.
Mei Lin's breath grew uneven.
Fear crept in—but it was not as strong as the regret that had already lived inside her for years.
"I was wrong," she said suddenly.
Zhang Xiu paused.
"I was wrong from the beginning," Mei Lin continued, voice shaking. "I married him to survive. I left him to chase ambition. I lost everything."
Tears slid down her temples.
"If… if there is another chance…"
Her voice broke completely.
"I won't leave again."
Silence.
Zhang Xiu stood up slowly.
"You won't get another chance."
The words were calm.
Final.
The light flickered once more.
Pain surged.
The world tilted.
And as darkness swallowed her vision—
Mei Lin's last thought was not fear.
Not anger.
Not even regret.
It was a quiet, desperate promise.
If I can go back…
I will stay.
I will protect them.
I will never leave again.
Her eyes closed.
Noise
Loud. Sharp. Familiar.
"Divorce her!"
"She does nothing but eat!"
"Our family cannot keep such a useless woman!"
Mei Lin's eyes snapped open.
Her heart was still racing from the darkness she had just fallen into. For a moment, she couldn't breathe.
Light filtered through a paper window.
The smell of wood smoke.
The rough quilt beneath her fingers.
The small clay room.
She froze.
Slowly… very slowly… she sat up.
Her gaze swept the room.
The same table.
The same cracked wall.
The same wooden chest.
Her hands trembled.
"This… this is…"
Her voice barely came out.
This was the house.
The house she once shared with Ming Li and their daughter.
The house she had left behind.
Her breath grew uneven.
"No… I was…"
Kidnapped.
Bound.
Dying.
Zhang Xiu's voice echoed in her ears—
You won't get another chance.
Mei Lin suddenly lifted her hand—
And pinched herself hard.
Pain shot through her fingers.
Real.
She gasped.
Not a dream.
Not a memory.
Not regret replaying again and again—
Reality.
She staggered out of bed.
Outside, the shouting grew clearer.
Her mother-in-law's voice.
Her father-in-law's heavy tone.
Her elder brother-in-law adding fuel.
And—
Silence from one person.
Her husband.
Ming Li.
The exact same scene.
The exact same day.
The day she received the letter.
The day she chose to leave.
The day everything broke.
Her eyes widened.
"I… came back…"
Not just back to the house.
Back to the moment.
Her gaze snapped to the table.
There—
Lying quietly, as if waiting—
The letter.
Her steps were unsteady as she walked toward it.
Her fingers hovered over the envelope.
Government seal.
Official stamp.
The invitation to join the scientific research team.
The opportunity she once thought was her salvation.
The beginning of her destruction.
Her hand shook.
In her previous life—
She had held this letter like treasure.
Like freedom.
Like escape.
She had looked at her husband, her daughter, this house—
And thought it wasn't enough.
A bitter laugh escaped her lips.
"Not enough…"
Her vision blurred.
She remembered everything now.
The flood.
The separation.
The years of loneliness.
Her daughter's cold eyes.
Ming Li… dying to save her.
Her chest tightened painfully.
"I was so stupid…"
Outside, her mother-in-law shouted again:
"Why are you still keeping her?! Divorce her today!"
Ming Li's voice came, low and restrained:
"…Enough."
That single word.
Just like before.
Just like that day.
Mei Lin closed her eyes.
Tears slipped down silently.
He had never fought loudly.
Never defended himself with anger.
But he had always endured.
For her.
For their daughter.
And she had left him.
Her fingers clenched tightly around the letter.
This time—
Her eyes opened slowly.
Gone was confusion.
Gone was hesitation.
Only clarity remained.
"This time… I won't leave."
Her voice was soft.
But absolute.
Not only would she stay—
She would change everything.
She would protect her family.
She would stop the flood.
She would expose every person who destroyed them.
And most importantly—
Her eyes darkened slightly.
Zhang Xiu.
The woman who pretended kindness.
The woman who took her place.
The woman who destroyed her life in the shadows.
"This time," Mei Lin whispered,
"I'll see through you from the beginning."
She wiped her tears.
Straightened her back.
Picked up the letter—
And held it tightly.
Outside, the voices grew louder.
"Call her out! Let's settle this today!"
Mei Lin took a deep breath.
Then—
She walked toward the door.
Not as the woman who once ran away—
But as the woman who had come back to take everything back.