The antique girlfriend of a chaebol heir

With a "ding," the elevator stopped on the twelfth floor.

The corridor was long, and the motion-activated lights turned on one by one with Shen Ci's footsteps, then quietly went out behind her.

She stopped in front of 1201, her fingertip hovering above the fingerprint lock, pausing for a moment.

The original owner's memories told her that this was "home".

With a "click," the door opened, and warm yellow light leaked out from the crack.

Shen Ci stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and before she could even change her shoes, she heard a soft cough coming from the direction of the living room.

"long?"

The voice was low, tinged with weariness and uncertainty.

Shen Ci froze.

She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a man sitting on the sofa in the living room.

In his forties, with slightly graying temples, his handsome features remained undiminished.

His eyebrows and eyes were deep and sculpted, his nose was high and straight, and his jawline was sharp and distinct. Even with two buttons undone on his shirt and his tie askew, he still exuded a heroic air that had been tempered by the passage of time.

But those eyes were now bloodshot, with dark circles under them, clearly indicating that they had been staying up for a long time.

"Dad..." Shen Ci blurted out, his voice hoarse.

The word seemed to rise automatically from the depths of this body, carrying a moist intimacy.

Shen Xiaoming stood up and glanced at her.

"You didn't..." He frowned, his voice filled with confusion, "say on WeChat that you're staying at a female classmate's house tonight?"

Shen Ci's heart skipped a beat.

Fragments of the original owner's memories flooded back: The original owner planned to stay overnight at the male lead's place, so she lied to her father in the evening, saying that she was attending a female classmate's birthday party and would sleep with her classmate that night.

"I..." Shen Ci opened her mouth, her throat tightening.

She's really bad at lying.

Shen Xiaoming's gaze fell on her fingers, which were clutching the hem of her clothes. The fingertips were white and trembling slightly.

He suddenly sighed.

The sigh was very soft, like a fallen leaf drifting into a deep pool, yet it made the air in the entire living room seem heavy.

He walked over, without asking any questions or blaming her, and simply patted her shoulder gently.

"Go wash up," he said in a low voice. "After you're done, get some rest."

……

The story is told from the first-person perspective of the female protagonist, Su Zijing, and does not mention the original owner's family background.

According to the original owner's memories, the family had already fallen apart when the original owner had just started elementary school.

The original owner's mother, who pursued the ultimate romance, could not tolerate her husband's dullness and lack of charm. After signing the divorce agreement, she remarried and went abroad to live the life she had always dreamed of, and then disappeared without a trace.

Over the years, Shen Xiaoming has been both a father and a mother, busy with his business to support the family while also taking care of his daughter's daily life and studies.

This taciturn father endured all the hardships alone; it was truly remarkable.

late at night.

Shen Ci closed her eyes, expecting to toss and turn all night.

—After all, this isn't her bed.

But sleepiness came much faster than she had expected.

There was no heart palpitation, no metallic taste in the throat when I woke up in the middle of the night, and no dull pain under my ribs when I tossed and turned.

No.

There was nothing there.

The heart of this body beat so steadily, like the distant sound of a morning bell and evening drum, neither too fast nor too slow, calm and powerful.

Shen Ci was on the verge of falling asleep, and tears almost welled up in her eyes.

miracle.

She could only repeatedly ponder this word in a hazy state.

It wasn't medical skill, it wasn't medicine, it was a miracle—

Some force beyond her comprehension gently lifted her soul from a broken body and placed it into this intact vessel.

She didn't even have time to be panicked, nor did she have time to think about where the original owner of this body had gone.

Sleepiness washed over her gently like a tide, and she finally allowed herself to succumb to it.

In the moments before she drifted off to sleep, she thought to herself:

thank you.

I don't know who to turn to.

Perhaps it was the last vestige of consciousness remaining in this body, perhaps it was some unseen hand manipulating fate, or perhaps it was simply a matter of the healthy body itself—

Thank you for accepting me. Thank you for letting me know for the first time that breathing can be so free, falling asleep can be so peaceful, and living... can be so easy.

Shen Ci drifted off to sleep, a slight smile playing on her lips, a smile she herself was unaware of.

The moonlight streaming through the window fell softly on her gently heaving chest.

Below, a heart was beating strongly, steadily, as if to make up for all the sleep she had missed in the previous twenty years.

When Shen Ci opened her eyes the next morning, there was a minimalist ceiling light hanging on the ceiling, its rounded outline like an inverted full moon.

The long-awaited, pure sleep left her momentarily dazed.

She is still in this body.

This understanding is clearer and more certain than it was yesterday.

Shen Ci sat up, her movements so swift that even she herself was unaccustomed to it.

Looking around, she finally saw the bedroom clearly—

It's very spacious, a fully-equipped suite filled with the advanced technology of this era.

As the warm water washed over her body, Shen Ci looked at her delicate, rosy face in the mirror and finally let out a long breath.

She stopped worrying about why she had come here, and she no longer doubted whether this was a dream that could end at any moment.

Since God has given her this healthy body, she should live life to the fullest and with all her might.

After washing up, Shen Ci changed into a comfortable set of loungewear, opened the door, and went out.

The outer room was the living room, brighter than the bedroom. A faint fragrance wafted in the air, mixed with a certain sweet, crisp aroma.

Shen Xiaoming was busy in the open kitchen with his back to her.

"Awake?" He didn't turn around, his voice gentle, with a slight morning hoarseness. "The coffee's just finished, and the waffles will be ready soon. Youyou, go sit down, I've set the table."

Shen Xiaoming is not good at cooking, but he always makes some simple meals according to his daughter's preferences.

Shen Ci walked to the edge of the kitchen and watched her father plate the freshly fried eggs and waffles. She subconsciously reached out and took the warm bone china plate, naturally placing it on one side of the already set dining table.

"Try this, I just ground it with the new coffee beans I bought."

Shen Xiaoming pointed to the steaming black ceramic cup on the table.

Shen Ci nodded, her gaze falling on the cup of coffee beside her. In her memory, this was a tea-like drink commonly consumed in this era. The original owner seemed to have a particular fondness for it.

She picked up the cup and took a sip.

His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

— Bitter.

The taste was strangely familiar.

In her previous life, she was bedridden with illness and spent years with bitter Chinese herbal medicine. The bitterness that went from her throat to her stomach was ingrained in her very being.

The coffee in front of me, with its intensely bitter taste that hits right to the bone, is remarkably similar to dark, murky Chinese herbal medicine.

Unexpectedly, the original owner had a taste for this.

Shen Ci looked down at the dark brown liquid in the glass again, remained silent for a moment, and then gently placed it back on the saucer.

Respect, but not understanding.