Part 1The Reborn Social Climber

When the chauffeur's son brought home an unidentified girl and asked me to take care of her, rows of bullet comments suddenly floated before my eyes:

"Amazing! The male and female leads are both reborn, meeting early! This time, they won't be separated by worldly obstacles for so many years."

"If it weren't for the wicked female antagonist meddling, this sweet romance novel would be even more addictive."

"The wicked female antagonist, relying on her father being a General, never gave the male lead a good look. She's simply bullying him by flaunting her power."

"She even self-righteously believes her family single-handedly raised the male lead to power, forcing him to pamper her without dignity. But honestly, without her help, the male lead could still become an unattainable magnate on his own."

At this moment, the chauffeur's son looked at me, his eyes devoid of their usual respect and politeness, replaced by arrogance and disdain, gleaming with the greedy light of a venomous snake. I wanted to see how, with this "double rebirth" setup, an adopted orphan and a girl of unknown origin would claw their way up through the currents of time to become revered figures of power.

* * *

Jared Starkwood sat on my living room sofa, popping open a can of lychees for Lucy Astor, pouring them into my special white porcelain bowl. Seeing me staring at Lucy, his eyes immediately filled with defensiveness, and he shifted to block my view: "Eleanor Patton, this is Lucy Astor, my girlfriend. You'll personally take care of her from now on. Her skin is delicate, so the bedding must be Soviet-made. She's not used to small rooms, so she'll sleep in your room from now on. You move out."

He brazenly tore open a rationed 'October Factory' chocolate, military-issue, handing it to Lucy. When he turned to me, his face was filled with contempt: "Eleanor Patton, I'll stay by your side, but I won't love you. If you can continue to help me wholeheartedly climb the ladder, I can spare your life." Lucy leaned weakly against Jared, wearing the thick wool felt slippers my father had specially brought back for me from the Soviet Union. The bullet comments on my screen surged with excitement:

"Wow! His attitude is so strong! He just throws shade at the rich lady from the get-go. This is how a true sweet romance should start!"

"The double rebirth setting is so good! The wicked female antagonist wants to force the male lead to marry her using her family's influence and even plans to make the female lead lose her innocence at the dance hall. That's impossible this time around!"

"In the previous life, the wicked female antagonist forced the male lead to study abroad in England for four years to break up the couple, completely tearing them apart. So heartbreaking!"

"Thank goodness the male lead met a benefactor after returning from abroad, eventually ruining the wicked female antagonist's family, branding them with treason, never to recover!"

My brow twitched, reading these scrolling words. Jared straightened up, chest puffed out, his face surprisingly bearing the open confidence and nobility he had cultivated from power in his previous life. "Mom Eleanor, peel me a Beijing white pear, the fresh batch from Men Tou Gou, North Gate."

The bullet comments were furiously scrolling. I finally understood—the world I was in was a modern sweet romance novel, and the "wicked female antagonist, the rich young lady" in the comments, was me.

In the plot, after Jared brought the homeless Lucy back to my house for me to care for her, the two of them developed a growing intimacy. Unwilling to have my childhood sweetheart stolen, I resorted to manipulative tactics: to give him a taste of power and wealth, I continuously helped him rise, even using my family's connections to send him to study abroad, severing his ties with Lucy. After returning to the country, Jared married me, becoming a model husband in the eyes of outsiders, but in his heart, he always longed for Lucy, his unattainable 'white moonlight.' And Lucy, after losing his help, was forced to work in a dance hall for a living and lost her innocence. After gaining power, Jared supported Lucy, spending lavishly and cavorting with her, blaming all of Lucy's suffering on me. Later, he conspired with outsiders to frame my family, accusing us of treason. My parents, after clearing their names, died of grief, and I was poisoned to death by them. They then ostentatiously squandered my family's fortune, only to drown and be reborn on a seaside trip, waking up on this very day—the day Jared first brought Lucy to my house. My expression was cold, finding it absurd: these two, an adopted child of a chauffeur and an abandoned girl of unknown origin, actually think they can turn my family upside down? This plot trajectory was utterly preposterous.

Jared still thought he was the influential son-in-law of the Patton family from his previous life. Seeing "Mom Eleanor" motionless, he angrily rebuked me: "How can your Patton family have such an ignorant servant?" Facing his contempt, I raised my hand and slapped him. "Who do you think you are, raising your voice in my house?"