"Ah, Kathy, what could possibly make you so distraught? How could you be at such a loss? Doesn't this just upset your parents?" In the dimly lit room, a middle-aged woman draped in patched-up hemp clothing kept persuading the young girl lying on the bed.
The girl on the bed looked quite young, around sixteen or seventeen. It seemed like she was not listening to the middle-aged woman. She simply lay there motionlessly with her eyes closed, giving no response.
Seeing she was being ignored, the middle-aged woman could only sigh and say, "Oh well, Kathy, I have to leave now. But, please, think about what I said and consider your parents' feelings."
After she left, Katherine opened her eyes. She looked around and found the scene in front of her eyes startlingly familiar, resembling the home of her childhood. It was like a déjà vu.
Katherine checked the calendar hanging on the wall – it was August 5, 1977.
She recalled that during this time in her previous life, her cousin Lisa snatched away a great job opportunity that Allen, her father, had found for her in the county.
Though Kathy was still angry, there was nothing she could do. Lisa got the job and was about to start working, and everything had been set in stone. There was no turning back now.
In those times, finding a job in the county was not easy, and it was only due to her father, Allen's multiple connections from his days in the army that he could secure a job for Katherine.
But unexpectedly due to various reasons, this job ended up going to her cousin, Lisa.
The more Katherine thought about it, the angrier she became. She could not image having a bright future, which led her to attempt suicide.
Indeed, it seemed that starting from around the age of eight, Lisa suddenly turned extraordinarily lucky, and whatever she wished for seemed to come true.
In contrast, Katherine's family faced an endless string of misfortune, starting with small health problems that gradually escalated to a complete family breakdown.
In the end, Katherine found herself alone, dying in an old little house.
It was only at that time, she discovered that her life was being penned in a novel where her cousin Lisa was the protagonist. The entirety of the book depicted Lisa's life filled with continuous good fortune and happiness.
Katherine thought everything would have ended when she died. But unexpectedly, she found herself transported to another world where she lived for several more years.
Following the principle of ‘take things as they come’, Katherine managed to learn divination and geomancy in the Divine Reckoning Sect of the alien world she lived in. She was about to become the sect leader when she suddenly got knocked out by a bolt of lightning from the sky.
Before she passed out, Katherine thought she was going to die this time. However, to her surprise, when she opened her eyes, she found herself back in her first life at the age of 17.
With the realization that she was merely a supporting character in a book, and her cousin Lisa, who had been called 'Lucky Koi' since childhood, was the heroine of the book, Katherine felt disheartened.
Since childhood, Lisa was incredibly lucky, she was simply a favored child with heaven-defying luck. Whatever she desired, she would eventually get.
In contrast, even though Katherine, as a supporting role, had never thought of going against Lisa, her life was depicted as miserable.
Katherine didn't know if this was the author's intentional choice to use her as a contrast to highlight the perfection of Lisa's life.
However, to her, all these were not important. In her past and present life, she never had the intention to compete with Lisa. Now that she knew Lisa was favored by fate, she just had to avoid her.
Katherine thought to herself that in this life, with her abilities from the alien world, she will help her family to escape the sad fate from her previous life and start a new one.
"Kathy, why don't you rest some more?" As Katherine was deep in thought, Wendy walked in.
Seeing Katherine up and about, Wendy was slightly panicky, wanting her to take more rest but not daring to make significant movements, fearing it might stress Katherine.
Wendy stood cautiously by the bed, not knowing how to persuade Katherine.
"Mother." Even though Katherine knew she had been reborn to her 17-year-old self, she still couldn't believe it when she saw Wendy again.
Seeing Wendy looking younger than she remembered, Katherine flung herself into her arms, tears streaming down her face. "Mother, I thought I'd never see you again."
“Kathy, my precious girl, mother is always with you.” Katherine's words brought tears to Wendy's eyes. Over the past few days, Wendy had been deeply concerned as she noticed Katherine's spirits were low, fearing that something might happen to her daughter.
Sure enough, the moment she failed to keep a close eye on her, Katherine tried to harm herself. As soon as Wendy knew Katherine had attempted suicide, she collapsed in shock.
Katherine was her and Allen's only child. She absolutely could not imagine what they would do if anything happened to Katherine.
"Since your cousin has already taken the job, and her application has been approved, let's just let it go this time. Let's wait for a better opportunity in the future," said Wendy, soothingly. It seemed Katherine was finally coming to terms with it. "If all else fails, your father can leverage his connections again."
"Alright, Mom, I'll listen to you," Katherine nodded. But she was very clear in her heart that if this opportunity was missed, there would not be another one. The relationships in the county were incredibly complex.
Fortunately, she was reborn from the future and knew that the college entrance examination would be reinstated in three months’ time. This time around, she vowed to seize the opportunity and study hard with the aim to make it into a university.
She remembered looking at those highly educated individuals with admiration and yearning in her past life. And now, she intended to seize the opportunity right from the beginning.
Wendy had no idea that Katherine had thought so much in such a short time, but she was still very happy to see that Katherine had finally seen the light.
"Kathy, you rest a little longer. I am going to cook something delicious for you," said the overjoyed Wendy, thinking of treating her daughter to something good.
Katherine nodded, just about to say something when noisy sounds came from outside.
"Wendy, get the hell out here! Hurry up, stop hiding inside!"
Katherine could recognize those shouts from outside even after several decades. They came from her grandmother Nicole.
Quite obviously, Wendy recognized them too. Her face flushed with embarrassment, but she still managed to smile at Katherine, "Kathy, lie down for a while. Let me go out and see what's going on."
As soon as Wendy turned around to step outside, Katherine got up from the bed, slipped into her shoes, and followed her out.
It was only at that moment she suddenly recalled that the biggest tragedy of her past life had actually originated from this incident with Nicole.
This time, she was determined to prevent it, no matter what.
