Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Ye Wan Lan Returns

Ye Wan Lan came back to herself and ended the call without expression.

She and Zhou He Chen were not close—not really. Only while the Transmigrator held her body had she stayed beside Zhou He Chen as a stand-in.

Even without control, Ye Wan Lan had been aware. She had watched everything through someone else’s eyes.

River City sat along the coast of Shen Zhou, a wealthy metropolis where powerful families clustered like wolves around meat.

The Zhou Family was River City’s number one clan. As the Zhou Family’s Second Young Master, Zhou He Chen had looks and status to match. His name was famous in the elite circle.

He had signed a two-year stand-in contract with the Transmigrator. Yet because he wanted to “stay pure” for his cherished first love, he never touched her.

Zhou He Chen was skilled at control—especially the kind that trained a girl to crave his approval. He ran hot and cold until the Transmigrator became hopelessly devoted.

It was one of the few things Ye Wan Lan found even remotely acceptable.

At least her body had not been dirtied by him.

She set the phone on the bedside table and met the man’s gaze.

His eyes were beautiful. But his mind was gone—pupils dark and heavy, like night stripped of moonlight.

Her first kiss…

Ye Wan Lan’s eyes narrowed. Her fingers tightened at his throat. A little more force, and she could—

But the man’s body suddenly went slack. His head dropped, settling into the hollow of her shoulder as if he had exhausted himself completely.

Ye Wan Lan lifted her hand and struck, sharp and clean.

He went limp.

Without the slightest guilt, she tossed him onto the carpet.

He had entertained her. So she spared him.

At midnight, time would reset as it always did. She would be dragged back into the loop. He would forget her. There was nothing to worry about.

—

At the same time, at Yu Ting Club.

Zhou He Chen sat on a sofa, face dark, the air around him oppressive.

The other young masters barely dared to breathe.

That morning, they had heard Ye Wan Lan beat Qin Xian into the hospital and assumed it was an April Fools’ joke.

Then they saw Qin Xian in the ward—both hands wrapped in bandages, a ventilator hissing at his bedside—and realized she had actually done it.

In their circle, Qin Xian and Zhou He Chen were the closest. They had grown up together, closer than brothers.

Now Qin Xian’s condition was uncertain, and Zhou He Chen was furious. He sent people to search for Ye Wan Lan immediately. Even after turning all of River City upside down, they could not find her.

They finally got through to her phone.

And she hung up.

“Brother He Chen, don’t be angry,” one young master said carefully. “It’s not worth wrecking your health over some lowlife vase.”

Another chimed in, eager to soothe him. “You and Sister Yun Yi are meant to be. What is Ye Wan Lan, anyway?”

“I’m not angry.” Zhou He Chen gave a quiet snort, expression indifferent. “I’m just curious when she grew the nerve. Did she suddenly grow a spine, or did she latch onto someone else?”

He knew Ye Wan Lan—at least, the Ye Wan Lan he had kept by his side. A clinging vine that survived by attaching herself to men. Aside from a face that pleased him, she had nothing.

Sheng Yun Yi was different.

They had grown up together, but Yun Yi went overseas to the Xing Man Federation Empire to refine her painting. She had been gone four years.

The flight back to Shen Zhou was only sixteen hours, but distance was distance. He needed something to fill the emptiness in the meantime.

That was what the stand-in was for.

He did not love Ye Wan Lan. He only wanted her obedient, quiet, and within reach.

And she had been good at it. She knew exactly how to soothe his loneliness. Keeping her had been no different from raising an extra pet.

Now Sheng Yun Yi was back. The contract had ended. There was no need for Ye Wan Lan anymore.

Ye Wan Lan should never have expected more from him. She had threatened suicide. She had even hurt Sheng Yun Yi.

And yet…

That muffled, unclear sound on the phone—and the fact that she had hung up on him for the first time—left an ugly knot in his chest, tightening until it was hard to breathe.

As if something had slipped beyond his control.

Zhou He Chen rose abruptly, eyes cold.

One of the young masters flinched. “Brother He Chen—what’s wrong?”

Zhou He Chen inhaled slowly. “President Quan has arrived in River City. I have a reception to attend. I won’t be staying out all night for the next few days. Keep playing—put it on my tab.”

He brushed ash from his shirt, then paused at the door. “Keep looking for Ye Wan Lan.”

He needed her to understand: playing hard to get had limits. Done right, it was flirtation. Done too far, it was asking for trouble.

—

Wind toyed with the curtains. Summer sunlight broke through the clouds in threads of gold, spilling across a clear blue sky. Even the willow branches outside shimmered with light.

Ye Wan Lan had not slept this soundly in a long time.

The moment she realized it, her heart sank.

She snapped her eyes open and grabbed her phone.

May 19, 7:00 a.m.

Ye Wan Lan froze, genuinely wondering if she had woken wrong.

For 999 years, every time she opened her eyes, it was midnight on May 18. Every single loop. Every time, she listened to Zhou He Chen’s secretary lecture her in the same tone, teaching her how to imitate Sheng Yun Yi and win Zhou He Chen’s favor.

But now it was morning.

Ye Wan Lan restarted the phone.

The date did not change.

May 19.

She had reached the next day.

The loop—999 years of identical tomorrows—had broken.

Freedom hit her so hard it made her dizzy.

No one understood what those 999 years had been like. It was as if she had been cut off from the world itself.

Everyone she met forgot her the next day. The antiques she restored were untouched the next. Nothing she did could leave a mark.

She had doubted her own existence. She had nearly gone mad.

But now time was moving.

Now her life was finally flowing forward.

She could return to the world—she could carve her way back in.

No.

Ye Wan Lan’s eyes sharpened, caution cutting through the rush.

She did not know what force had trapped her in time in the first place. Now that the loop was gone, the cause was still unknown.

What had imprisoned her for 999 years?

Could it happen again?

It felt like a god’s hand, playing with ordinary lives on a whim.

Even Ye Wan Lan’s heartbeat faltered. She forced herself to breathe slowly, gaze cooling.

Only then did she remember the other person in the room.

The man was still unconscious.

Ye Wan Lan hauled him onto the bed and stuffed a hundred-yuan bill into the torn shirt she had ripped last night.

She had assumed everything would reset at midnight and they would never cross paths again.

She had miscalculated.

She did not want any connection to this man.

She wiped away every trace of herself, pulled on her coat, and slipped out of the hotel like a shadow.

At 7:30, the city was already awake.

Traffic strangled the roads. People streamed past, rushing to work. From the harbor, sea wind blew in, warm and faintly salty.

After an hour of confirming she had truly escaped the time loop, Ye Wan Lan washed the blood smell from her skin, changed into clean clothes, and returned to the Lin Family home.

She ran straight into Lin Huai Jin on his way out.

Ye Wan Lan paused. Her voice dropped. “Uncle. It’s me. I’m back.”

Lin Huai Jin did not look at her. His tone was as cold as his eyes. “No one told you to come back.”