After her dramatic cousin stopped acting up, the aloof doctor got anxious.

The talisman paper was yellow with vermilion patterns, the ink was not yet dry, and there was a faint golden light flowing through it.

"Burn this and give it to her to drink."

The man pushed the talisman paper to Li Hehua.

Li Hehua looked doubtful. "What...what is this? Will drinking it...?"

"It's colorless and odorless, she won't notice."

Li Hehua took the talisman, and the moment her fingertips touched the paper, a cool sensation crept up her meridians.

She shivered and quickly stuffed the talisman into her inner bag.

When I walked out, my steps were unsteady.

The man watched her retreating figure, picked up his teacup, and gently blew away the foam.

The girl in the book was destined to die young.

But she helped him.

He gave it a happy ending.

The male lead is a reclusive tycoon who loves her to the core and can live a life of ease.

This was the only compensation he could offer.

This mistake has finally come to a perfect end.

……

Li Hehua, carrying the talisman, got into the car.

She suppressed her inner turmoil, took out her phone, and dialed the number she knew by heart.

Her voice was as usual, with a smile, "Honey, Mom made your favorite crayfish and fish maw soup. Come home as soon as you get off work."

On the other end of the phone, Shen Ruo's voice was cheerful, "Wow, crayfish! They're all my favorites. Thank you, Mom. I'll be right back after work."

Li Hehua hung up the phone.

His facial expression was inscrutable, like he was both crying and laughing.

Her own daughter doesn't like this dish, saying it's too much trouble to peel it.

Her intuition was right.

Li Hehua leaned back in the driver's seat, watching the traffic lights ahead gradually turn from red to green, her throat feeling choked with emotion.

She knew that after this meal, the soul that had stayed by her side for more than a decade would be gone forever.

She had been looking forward to this day for a long time, but when the moment finally arrived, she felt a void in her heart.

The talisman was hot to the touch in my pocket.

She didn't know if her decision was right or wrong.

But she needs to get her daughter back.

When Shen Ruo entered the house carrying fruit, the aroma of lobster already filled the room.

She kicked off her shoes and ran barefoot to the kitchen, exclaiming, "Mom, I'm home! It smells so good!"

Li Hehua stood in front of the stove, her back stiffening for a moment before she turned around and smiled kindly, "Go wash your hands quickly, the soup will be ready soon."

Shen Ruo stared into her mother's eyes. The smile was familiar, but there was reluctance in her eyes.

Why?

She asked tentatively, "Mom, why are your eyes red?"

Li Hehua turned around and said, "It's smoky, go wash your hands."

Shen Ruo said "Oh" and walked towards the restroom.

The tap was running, and when she looked up at the mirror, she suddenly felt dizzy.

The person in the mirror is her, yet not her.

Same eyebrows, same facial features, but the eyes...

His gaze was as if looking through a layer of mist, as if he were looking at a stranger.

She shook her head and fainted.

"It must be because he's too tired."

She murmured.

At the dining table, Li Hehua served her a full bowl of soup and picked out the largest shrimp.

"Eat more, you've lost weight lately."

Shen Ruo smiled and nodded, peeled the shrimp shell, dipped it in the broth, and put it in her mouth.

Delicious.

He picked up the soup and took a sip, then suddenly stopped.

"Mom, this soup... tastes a bit strange."

Li Hehua gripped her chopsticks tightly. "What's strange?"

Didn't the master say it was colorless and odorless?

She just smelled it, and it has no smell.

Shen Ruo took another sip. "I can't quite put my finger on it, it's a bit...bitter?"

Li Hehua watched as she picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

The talisman is in the soup.

But why does her heart feel like it's being stabbed?

Shen Ruo put down her bowl, rubbed her forehead, and said, "Mom, I'm really sleepy today. Can I take a nap?"

"……good."

Shen Ruo got up and staggered towards the bedroom.

Strange, I wasn't tired when I got off work.

She didn't see Li Hehua behind her, tears streaming down her face like a broken string of pearls.

Li Hehua stood by the bed, looking at her daughter's face.

Her brows were furrowed, and her lips moved as if she were saying something.

She leaned down to listen, but could only catch a faint whisper.

"……mom."

"Mom...I'm home..."

Li Hehua's tears flowed again.

She suddenly remembered that the child was five years old.

Even when she had a high fever and was delirious, she would hold her hand like this and cry out, "Mom, don't go."

She stayed by the child's side for three days and three nights. Finally, the child's fever subsided, and when the child opened his eyes, the first thing he said was, "Mom, I dreamt that you didn't want me anymore."

What did she say back then?

She said, "Silly child, Mom will always want you."

forever?

She touched her daughter's face, trembling, "Mom was wrong... Mom doesn't want you to leave... Come back..."

The person in the bed has fallen into a deep sleep.

Li Hehua broke down in tears.

……

Shen Ruo lay on the bed, her consciousness slowly slipping into a grayish-white halo.

An image appeared before her eyes.

An old delivery room, dimly lit, with yellowish tiles on the walls.

A young woman lay on a hospital bed, holding a toddler in her arms, her face showing exhaustion and tenderness.

That was Li Hehua, much younger than she is now, with no wrinkles around her eyes and jet-black hair.

She looked down at the child in her arms and gently rocked him.

Shen Ruo stood in the fog, looking at the scene, and a strange sense of familiarity welled up in her heart.

The screen suddenly shattered.

They were pieced together to form another scene.

The same Li Hehua, but the child she was holding was in a different position.

Two faint, transparent beams of light floated out from the two children's bodies, crossed in mid-air, and then slowly fell into each other's bodies.

Shen Ruo stood in the mist watching this scene, as if watching a silent film through thick glass.

She saw that tiny version of herself.

Pushed by a beam of transparent light, she fell into the body in Li Hehua's arms.

Meanwhile, another soul entered the body she originally belonged to on the other side.

Shen Ruo: "..."

This is…

When she and another Shen Ruo swapped souls?

It turns out they started switching partners when they were so young.

She always thought she was someone who had traveled into the book.

But it turns out that from the very beginning, the body in the book was her real home.

However, her soul was transferred to the real world when she was very young.

I don't remember because I was too young.

Shen Ruo looked at those scenes in her dream and felt very calm.

In the past, in the real world.

She's been living someone else's life for so long, taking on someone else's mother, someone else's friend, and someone else's life.

Shen Ruo was abused in the world of the book, but she lived a peaceful and free life in the real world.

She thought, "Then let's switch. It's not good to keep taking up someone else's life."

It's time for her to repay what she owed Shen Ruo.

Actually, she's not bad now, at least the male lead didn't follow the author's plot.

At least she won't be abused.

The female lead has become a background character.

Her parents were there too.

Although she only spoke to them on the phone once, she could tell from their voices that they loved her very much.

The images in her dream gradually blurred, and grayish-white light surrounded her from all sides, enveloping her like a tide.