"Sister Yuan, you're not seriously into one of those handsome police officers, are you?"
The young man, Chen Yi, was a junior tech supervisor under Yuan Xin. They'd known each other since school, and he'd been following her ever since.
Half a year after Yuan Xin graduated high school, both her parents died in a car accident. She went from being a little delinquent to inheriting her family's company. The company had been unstable at first but gradually settled down. With all the old employees gone, she had no choice but to pull in her old school friends—the street punks and rebellious girls—to fill the gaps.
They weren't making big money, but at least it was enough to feed everyone.
That was also why the original owner had agreed without hesitation when Ah Xin offered her a body exchange deal. Besides the terms Ah Xin provided, her only condition had been not to fire any of her employees. In truth, the company only had about a dozen people total.
Hearing Chen Yi's nervous question, Ah Xin stubbed out her cigarette and, imitating the original owner's manner, flicked the butt toward him. Chen Yi hurriedly caught it, planning to toss it later—there were cameras everywhere, after all. Getting caught littering by the cops would be embarrassing.
"No."
The moment Ah Xin answered, the group of young men and women around them all gave her the same skeptical look—yeah right, as if any man who wasn't rich or handsome could make her wait this long.
Ah Xin didn't bother explaining. Her gaze stayed fixed on the entrance of the police station. The original Yuan Xin had indeed come here to ogle a new, good-looking police officer.
But Ah Xin wasn't here for that. She was waiting because Lin Siya would be coming out soon.
Lin Siya had once been a rich heiress, but her tragic story began with a playboy named Gu Yan.
You could sum up the entire mess in four words: The Substitute Girlfriend.
And Lin Siya wasn't the substitute.
Gu Yan was a well-born, wealthy second-generation heir—charming, flirty, and popular. When he met Lin Siya, he chased her with everything he had until he finally won over the goddess of his dreams.
Naturally, after getting the girl, he got cocky. One night, he couldn't resist going out drinking and partying with his buddies. He hadn't meant to cheat; he really did like Lin Siya.
But Lin Siya took it as betrayal. Furious, she left the country.
Only after she was gone did Gu Yan realize how much she meant to him. In his attempt to win her back, he cut ties with his party friends and tried to straighten himself out. During that time, he met another woman—Jian Jia—who looked remarkably like Lin Siya.
Maybe because he couldn't get Lin Siya's forgiveness, Gu Yan clung to the resemblance. When Jian Jia's family ran into financial trouble, he offered to "support" her. Desperate for money, she reluctantly agreed.
At first, Jian Jia had been ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of that money—but she soon discovered she was merely a stand-in. Every time Gu Yan called out another woman's name, her heart sank.
And yet, despite herself, she began to fall for this lovesick man.
Then, one night, Gu Yan got drunk and mistook Jian Jia for Lin Siya. They slept together.
When he woke up, he was filled with regret and shoved a pile of money at her, telling her to disappear.
Not long after, Lin Siya returned. She revealed that she had only been testing him and, seeing that he hadn't sought out anyone else for three years, decided to give him another chance.
Overjoyed, Gu Yan forgot all about Jian Jia and proposed soon after.
But on the day of the wedding, a thin, frail woman burst into the ceremony and fell to her knees in front of him, begging him to save her son.
That's when the truth came out—the child was his, born from that drunken night. The child was sick, and only the father could save him.
When everything came to light, only Lin Siya couldn't accept it.
Worse, Gu Yan began showing sympathy for Jian Jia and the child. He argued with Lin Siya constantly over them.
Lin Siya, proud and temperamental as she was, could never tolerate betrayal—especially not public humiliation like that. The scene at the wedding had shattered her pride, and Gu Yan's behavior afterward froze her heart completely.
So she retaliated. Again and again, she tried to drive Jian Jia away, but Gu Yan's constant defense of Jian Jia only deepened his attachment.
Eventually, he realized he had fallen for Jian Jia. Marrying Lin Siya had only been a mistake born of confusion.
Fortunately for him, Jian Jia had appeared that day—otherwise, he would've kept living that lie.
The child Jian Jia bore turned out to be exceptionally smart. Every time Lin Siya tried to retaliate, she somehow ended up on the losing end.
In the end, Gu Yan unleashed his full wrath on Lin Siya. He crushed her socially and financially, while the Lin family, afraid of offending the Gu family, disowned her completely.
Cut off and disgraced, Lin Siya moved into an old apartment she once owned.
At first, she still resisted, but every attempt to fight back ended in miserable failure. Eventually, she gave up—shutting herself inside, sometimes not leaving her apartment for ten or fifteen days at a time.
Ah Xin was waiting outside the police station because the neighbors had called in a report: a terrible smell was coming from Lin Siya's apartment, and they suspected a murder.
The police had rushed over, only to find no crime—just piles of takeout boxes and unthrown garbage.
Lin Siya herself, still in her pajamas, was found buried in the mess and brought back to the station for a "friendly warning."
"Miss Lin," a kind officer said at the door, "please try to face life positively. No matter what happens, don't give up—pick yourself back up."
Lin Siya numbly nodded and walked down the steps.
Her once-beautiful face was now thin and bloodless, her bright eyes clouded over with a gray haze. She staggered forward unsteadily, passing right by Ah Xin without stopping.
"What's wrong with staying in my own apartment and leaving trash around?"
Ah Xin watched the disheveled woman kick a nearby pillar again and again, sobbing hysterically. She lit another cigarette and leaned casually against the wall, exhaling smoke into the chilly air.
"Sister Yuan, what's so interesting about that crazy woman?" Chen Yi hesitated, then frowned. "Wait, isn't she from our neighborhood? I heard she never leaves her apartment for weeks, but people say they still hear her door open every night."
To Lin Siya, the world had gone dark.
She couldn't understand it—how could Gu Yan, who had loved her so deeply, suddenly fall for someone else? Someone so painfully ordinary?
Her family, terrified of losing their business ties, had abandoned her.
The people who used to flatter her now called her vicious, saying she even went after a child.
But she hadn't done anything to that clever little brat. The kid had been the one tormenting her, taking advantage of Gu Yan's affection to make her life miserable.
No one believed her. Not a single person.
Everyone had given up on her.
Crying for a while, Lin Siya pushed herself off the pillar and stared blankly at the traffic below. Her eyes drifted up toward the pedestrian bridge.
Dragging her slippers, she slowly made her way up the steps.
Standing on the bridge, she looked down, closed her eyes, and gripped the railing—ready to jump.
"If you die, that's your business. But the poor driver below will be the unlucky one."
The sudden voice startled her. Lin Siya turned her head, her dull eyes flickering faintly with life.
It was a woman—dressed outrageously, with bright wine-red hair in an explosive perm, heavy makeup, and tight leather clothes adorned with tacky chains.
She leaned lazily against the railing, a cigarette held between her pale, slender fingers.
Taking a drag, she blew out a perfect smoke ring right into Lin Siya's face, making her cough.
"You might be done with life, but have you thought about the trouble you'll cause others?"
Lin Siya froze. So I can't even die now? Her gaze sharpened in annoyance—what a ridiculous woman. Non-mainstream fashion in this day and age? Seriously?
"What's it to you?"
"As a contributing member of this city's public order, I'd rather not see our streets polluted," Ah Xin replied blandly. "If you jump, there'll be blood and brain matter everywhere. The driver who hits you will have to take responsibility. The road will be blocked. The police will have to waste their time handling it. After your body's taken away, sanitation workers will have to clean the mess. And the witnesses—like me—will probably be traumatized.
"Think about the kids who might see it. They'll have nightmares, cry all night, and their parents won't get any sleep. The next day, those parents will be too tired to work properly, which will affect their company's performance. One company connects to another, and before you know it—your death causes a chain reaction that disrupts the whole city."
Ah Xin spoke calmly, her melancholy tone oddly persuasive. Lin Siya could only stare, speechless. What kind of overgrown adolescent is this?
But still… her words sank in.
Even dying would be a hassle for everyone?
Ah Xin stepped forward, stubbed out her cigarette, and tossed it toward the dazed Chen Yi, then pulled out a packet of tissues. She took one and handed it to Lin Siya with a faint smile.
"Here. Wipe your face."
Lin Siya blankly accepted it and wiped her tears. "So I'm wasting oxygen while I'm alive and manpower if I die?" she muttered bitterly.
Ah Xin's smile deepened. "I don't know about wasting oxygen—but dying would definitely waste manpower and trouble a lot of people. It'd also ruin the beauty of this city."
Lin Siya couldn't hold it in anymore. She broke down completely, sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming as if to pour out every bit of misery she'd bottled up.
She didn't care if the tacky, non-mainstream woman in front of her laughed—she was just… so damn tired.
Turns out, even dying wasn't easy.