Chapter 001: She Must Escape

Lu Man lay on the ground, powerless, surrounded by scorching flames, watching her childhood sweetheart, He Zhengbai, holding her stepsister, Lu Qi, in his arms.

"You despicable people!" Lu Man stared fiercely at the couple in front of her.

"Sister, since you've been to prison and have no future when you come out, and your mother is dead, there's no one left in this world who cares about you. Your life is meaningless," Lu Qi said softly.

"You framed me and sent me to prison, and you killed my mother. And now you want my life!" Lu Man's body was weak, her eyes burning with anger.

"You brought this upon yourself," He Zhengbai said. "If you don't die, you'll definitely expose everything. I won't let you ruin what we have now."

"Sister, you can rest assured. Dad knows about this, and he has already bought you a good feng shui burial plot. He remembers everything you did for the Lu family, and he won't mistreat you even after you die," Lu Qi said gently.

"Hahaha!" Lu Man burst into a loud, red-eyed laughter.

Her own father, for the sake of Lu Qi, was willing to kill his own daughter!

The two most important men in her life, her biological father and her childhood sweetheart.

Her father only recognized Lu Qi as his daughter, and her childhood sweetheart cherished Lu Qi and treated her like grass.

Now both of them wanted her dead!

Lu Man saw the glass shards beside her and suddenly reached out to press them against her hand. The intense pain in her palm brought her back to her senses.

Gritting her teeth, Lu Man suddenly lunged at Lu Qi.

"Ah!" Lu Qi screamed as she was tackled by Lu Man.

"Lu Man, let her go!" He Zhengbai shouted as he rushed to save Lu Qi.

With all her strength, Lu Man dragged Lu Qi into the circle of flames and bit down on Lu Qi's ear.

"Ah!" Lu Qi screamed in agony.

Blood flowed from between Lu Man's teeth. "If you want me dead, then die with me!"

"No! Let go of me! Brother He, save me!" Lu Qi screamed in terror, but the flames had already reached both her and Lu Man.

He Zhengbai rushed over, and the flaming wardrobe suddenly crashed down on him.

Lu Man saw He Zhengbai's horrified expression as he was pinned under the wardrobe.

The firelight reddened Lu Man's face. "You will all have a miserable end."

With her last bit of strength, she pushed Lu Qi into the fire.

***

Lu Man opened her eyes with a splitting headache, feeling as if she had just walked out of hell.

As she looked around and took in the situation, she was dumbfounded.

In this hotel suite, a man lay in a pool of blood just four or five steps away on the carpet.

This scene was all too familiar to Lu Man.

Because she had experienced it before.

But that was in a previous life, seemingly ages ago.

In the previous life...

Lu Man remembered that she was supposed to have died in a fire, so how was she still alive?

She raised her hands and found that her right hand was still holding a bloodied table lamp, which frightened her into quickly letting it go.

Her hands and arms were unharmed, her skin still radiant and unblemished.

Looking at the man on the carpet, Lu Man finally realized that she had returned, back to when she was 22 years old.

In the previous life at this time, she was already Lu Qi's assistant, and Lu Qi had entered the entertainment industry at the age of 16, becoming a popular young actress by the time she was 20.

Lu Man's dream was never to enter the entertainment industry, let alone work as an assistant. She wanted to become a fashion designer.

But because Lu Qi, two years younger than her, wanted to be an actress, Lu Qi's stepmother, with the support of Lu Man's biological father, invested in a film and television company to promote Lu Qi. To protect the "naive" Lu Qi from the complexities of the entertainment industry, Lu Man, who was studying fashion design, was forced to drop out of school to become Lu Qi's assistant. And everyone in the company only knew Lu Qi as the heiress of the Lu family, not knowing that Lu Man was also part of the family.

She never complained because she still had to support her mother's medical treatment. If she left in a fit of pique, what would her mother do?

The man lying on the carpet was a famous director. Lu Qi wanted to secure the lead role in his movie, so she had arranged to meet him here.

What could they possibly discuss in a hotel room?

Lu Qi herself knew that it was just that even Lu Qi's father, Lu Man's biological father, couldn't persuade him.

The Lu family was wealthy, but they lacked social status.

Lu Qi asked Lu Man to stay, but after a few words, the director began to make advances on Lu Qi. When Lu Man tried to stop him, Lu Qi, in an attempt to get rid of her, accidentally struck the director with the table lamp, causing a fatal injury.

Lu Man calculated the time and realized that she had about two minutes before someone would come and capture her.

Her lifelong nightmare began at this moment.

She had to escape!

Lu Man was about to climb out of the window when she suddenly saw the table lamp lying next to her.

In the previous life, Lu Qi had wiped her fingerprints off the table lamp while she was unconscious and replaced them with her own.

When Lu Man woke up last time, it was not this early. When the hotel staff came in, she was still unconscious, and the table lamp became the evidence of her crime.

This time, Lu Man carefully wiped off the fingerprints from the table lamp and even checked her surroundings to ensure that not even a strand of her hair was left behind.

With less than a minute left, she climbed out of the window.