"No... please... don't..."

Vivian Harper felt icy river water flooding her chest, every breath slipping away. She was sure she was dying.

Then suddenly, she jerked awake, gasping like she'd just been dragged out of drowning.

She was... alive?!

Before she could even settle her breathing, voices drifted in from outside the door.

"...Mom, please let Vivian stay."

That soft, trembling voice—Jasmine Montgomery. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "I've lived in the countryside for over ten years. I'm used to it. Vivian's always been fragile. How could she handle the work out there? Let me go."

"Jasmine, don't say that. You're my real daughter. You've suffered enough all these years..."

"Mom, it’s really fine," Jasmine whispered, her voice barely holding together. "Back in the village, I'd get up before dawn to work. In the winter my hands cracked and bled, in the summer my back peeled from the sun. Once I had a 40-degree fever and still had to go pull weeds. I almost..."

"Mom, just let me go."

"..."

Vivian felt the room tilt—her whole body shaking uncontrollably.

She and Jasmine were never real sisters. Their mothers gave birth in the same hospital, and the babies were mixed up by accident.

Now Jasmine had come home. By all logic, Vivian should leave the Montgomery family—but Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery refused to let her go.

They felt guilty toward Jasmine, but they also couldn't bear losing Vivian.

Everything was exactly like the dream. And remembering what came next made cold sweat slide down Vivian’s spine.

In that nightmare, Vivian had felt she owed Jasmine, so she gave in to her about everything. Jasmine wanted something? Vivian handed it over without a word.

At first, things looked fine...

But later, Jasmine began scheming behind Vivian’s back: framing her for stealing, spreading rumors that she had “bad morals,” even hurting herself and blaming Vivian for it...

Vivian Harper had fallen for their tricks over and over, and everyone at home grew more and more fed up with her. In the end, they literally kicked her out.

With nowhere left to go, Vivian decided to head to Changling Village to look for her real parents.

But halfway there, someone shoved her hard into the freezing river. She drowned, helpless and terrified.

Vivian saw it clearly—the one who set her up was hired by Jasmine Montgomery.

And that wasn’t even the worst part. Only after her death did Vivian learn that the identity swap between her and Jasmine hadn’t been some random mistake. Mr. Montgomery had planned it from the start.

All because he once met a fortune-teller who claimed Vivian was “born lucky,” and the better they treated her, the more wealth she’d bring. Then, once she turned eighteen, they could switch the kids back and steal Vivian’s fate for themselves.

Back then, when Mrs. Montgomery had just given birth and was still unconscious, Mr. Montgomery secretly swapped the babies.

In the dream, Vivian had been thrown out exactly on her eighteenth birthday.

Yet right now, in reality, Vivian still had more than three months before she turned eighteen.

Even now, the icy sting from the dream clung to her skin as if she’d just crawled out of that freezing river.

Outside her door, voices kept murmuring.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” Mrs. Montgomery said, soothing Jasmine. “I know these years haven’t been easy for you. I won’t let you suffer anymore. About going to the countryside…I’ll think of something.”

“Mom, Vivian’s the older one. I should be the one giving way to her…”

“Don’t be silly. You two were born in the same year—there’s no ‘older’ or ‘younger.’”

Footsteps headed straight toward Vivian’s room.

She scrambled back onto her bed and shut her eyes, pretending to be fast asleep.

The door creaked open. Mrs. Montgomery walked over and gently touched Vivian’s forehead.

“Mom?”

Vivian blinked her dry, aching eyes.

"Did we wake you?" Mrs. Montgomery sat down beside the bed. Seeing the sweat on Vivian Harper’s forehead, she reached over to gently wipe it away. "Nightmare? You’re drenched."

Vivian pushed herself upright, her slightly wavy hair falling over her shoulders. She didn’t bother hiding anything. "Mom… I heard it."

Mrs. Montgomery paused. "Heard what?"

"I heard what you told Jasmine."

"Don’t overthink it, sweetie, I just—"

"Mom, let me go to the countryside. I want to."

Mrs. Montgomery blinked hard. "What???"

She had only wanted to comfort Vivian, tell her she’d find a way to sort things out.

Who could’ve imagined Vivian would suddenly volunteer to go down to the countryside?

A girl who had everything at home—how could she survive out there?

"What are you even saying?!"

"You know your own body, right? Do you think you can handle that kind of work?"

"I can. Really, I can."

Vivian had already made up her mind. No matter how she felt about rural life, she couldn’t stay in this house anymore.

Right now, the Montgomery family still cared about her. But if she waited until their feelings soured, it’d only hurt more. Better to leave early.

"I may not know anything, but I’ve got hands and feet. I’ve never done farm work, yeah… but I can learn. Slowly."

"Jasmine suffered all those years in the countryside. I can’t let her keep suffering."

"This is on me."

Mrs. Montgomery never expected those words to come out of Vivian’s mouth.

A girl who’d never had to touch a single dish at home… now saying she wanted to go suffer in the countryside.

It seemed like all those times she clashed with Jasmine had just been her own momentary confusion.

“Vivian, sweetheart… Mom really can’t bear to let you go…”

“Mom, please. Just say yes.”

Vivian Harper meant every word. Over the years, Mrs. Montgomery had treated her with such steady, genuine affection that Vivian could feel it down to her bones. From the dream, it was obvious Mrs. Montgomery had no idea the babies had been swapped; everything was Mr. Montgomery’s doing.

But Vivian knew what she had now was like the moon reflected on water, a flower trapped in a mirror—beautiful, but never truly hers to hold. The only way to break free was to leave.

Mrs. Montgomery finally exhaled and gave in. She pulled out a thick wad of cash and stuffed it into Vivian’s hands. “Keep this safe. Once you’re over there, use whatever you need. Don’t you dare shortchange yourself.”

“Mom, I really don’t need—”

“You’re taking it!”

Mrs. Montgomery practically shoved the money into her pocket.

“Hold on, I’ll grab some food coupons and fabric tickets too…”

Vivian’s throat tightened as if something was blocking her voice. In the dream, by the time she stepped out of the Montgomery house, she’d already fallen apart, and the little money she had barely covered a ticket home.

“Mom… thank you.”

The words scraped out of her, rough and shaky.

When dinner time came, the whole family sat around the table like usual.

Afterward, Vivian went back to her room. Since she’d already made up her mind to head to the countryside, it was time to get everything she needed in order.

She vaguely remembered Jasmine Montgomery snatching a piece of jade from her in that dream. After that, Jasmine’s life just took off, like she’d been given some kind of cheat code, and she ended up living the kind of life everyone envied.

But the real question was—Which jade was it?

Vivian Harper dumped out all her jade pieces and lined them up, checking each one carefully.

They were all gifts from the Montgomery elders over the years. Some looked crystal clear, some felt warm and smooth in her hand. The quality ranged from pricey to pretty average, all mixed together.

Maybe she should try that whole “drip blood to see if it responds” thing?

She had no better plan anyway. Might as well give it a shot.

Vivian grabbed a sewing needle, took a deep breath, and poked her fingertip.

The moment a small bead of blood welled up, she quickly let it fall on the first jade.

Nothing happened.

She moved on to the second. Still nothing.

Third, fourth…

She was almost done checking them all when she picked up the sixth piece—an icy light-green one. And right then, the jade flickered with a faint green glow.

It was just a flash, gone in a heartbeat, but Vivian saw it clearly.

Her heart jumped straight to her throat. She was about to take a closer look when noise suddenly erupted outside.

A second later, someone knocked on her door.

"Vivian, still awake? Come out for a bit."

Vivian hurriedly stuffed the jade into the inner pocket of her clothes and went to open the door.