Chapter 1: Reborn as the Doomed First Wife of a Novel's Hero

“Help… please, someone save my baby.”

Ye Taoyao was jolted awake when a tragic, piercing cry echoed through her consciousness.

She was originally a peony spirit. During a full moon, while trying to pass her celestial trial, she had been struck by lightning and trapped in a dark place, falling into a deep slumber. She never expected that when she finally woke up, it would be to the sound of a woman’s desperate wails.

When she opened her eyes, the darkness had finally broken, though her surroundings remained a hazy gray. The only difference was the presence of a strangely dressed woman standing before her. The woman wore her hair in two braids and was dressed in a patterned blouse and trousers, looking exactly like the outfits from the 1970s and 80s that Taoyao had seen in historical television dramas back in the modern world.

The woman was terribly thin, with a sallow, rough complexion. If it weren’t for her large, watery eyes, she could only be described in one word: plain. She wasn’t ugly, and her underlying features were actually quite decent.

As a peony spirit, Taoyao belonged to the royalty of the flower world. Peonies were the epitome of elegance and luxury, celebrated by ancient poets for their noble and grand beauty. Even human queens were often compared to peonies. Taoyao had always scoffed at the comparison. Peonies were proud creatures; why would they ever humble themselves to be the mere consort of a mortal emperor? When it came to the romantic entanglements of the mortal world, Taoyao understood them even less. As a flower spirit, her only goal was to cultivate her powers and ascend to the immortal realm.

Unfortunately, the heavens had not favored her. The celestial lightning trial had blasted her straight into this pitch-black space, forcing her into a deep sleep, and now she could not find a way out.

Feeling out her surroundings, instinct told her that she was likely trapped inside this woman’s mind. She had been asleep here for a very long time, and she could not leave without the woman’s permission.

That meant the desperate cry for help just now must have come from her. Since Taoyao had no desire to harm an innocent mortal, she decided to listen to her wish.

“Were you crying for help just now?” Taoyao asked.

“Are you a fairy?” Ye Yaotao stared blankly at the figure before her. She didn’t have much schooling, but the girl in front of her seemed to be glowing from head to toe.

Realizing she was on the verge of death, she grabbed onto Taoyao as if she were a lifeline, desperate to save her child.

“Yes, yes! Please, I beg you to save my baby. As long as my child lives, I will do anything you ask.” Seeing the immortal girl remain unmoved, tears welled up in her eyes, though none fell likely because she was already dying.

Having managed her household since she was young, Yaotao knew she had to offer something of value. Wiping her eyes, she said, “The baby I’m carrying right now is a boy. He will be incredibly amazing in the future. He will become the greatest soldier in his military unit. He’ll be handsome and dutiful, and he will take care of you.”

“He’s going to be wonderful. I don’t want anything else for myself; I just want him to be a little happier, to learn to love himself, and to grow up safely.”

The more she spoke, the more heartbroken she became. Even in her soul form, she felt as though tears were constantly streaming down her face.

As Taoyao listened, the woman’s intense love for her child poured out, swirling around like a faint golden light. She could feel the power binding her own soul begin to loosen. Taoyao had a nagging feeling that if she wanted to leave this place, she would have to take over this body and fulfill the woman’s wish.

But the woman was pregnant. Taoyao was reluctant to entangle herself in mortal karma. Yet, staying trapped here was a complete dead end, and leaving without a plan was just as dangerous, as her own cultivation powers seemed to be suppressed.

“You want me to go out there and save your baby?” Taoyao asked.

Yaotao nodded vigorously. She quickly explained that her physical body out there was pregnant and had just suffered a fall. If she didn’t wake up soon, the baby would die.

“Why don’t you do it yourself?” Taoyao countered.

“I don’t think I can. I’m dying,” Yaotao wept. “Actually, I was reborn. But I returned too late, and I was already pregnant. That other woman told me that because I have no education and no value, I would only be a burden to my brother.”

Yaotao had been given a second chance at life, but after her rebirth, she felt completely lost, consumed by worry for her child. For so many years, she had quietly kept that one man in her heart. She only ever wanted him to be happy and have a bright future, rather than letting herself become a drag on his life. Since the child in her belly would only hold him back, she chose the same path she took in her past life and ran away alone.

Yaotao spoke calmly now. Heavily pregnant, she had slipped away in secret. She had fled to a remote village far away. Without a travel permit or proper registration, and with no money to her name, she was in a dangerous position, especially since the local authorities were incredibly strict about relationships between men and women. Her only option was to find a man who would take her in.

However, few decent men wanted to become a stepfather. After searching around, she ended up with the same ex-husband who had been willing to accept her in her previous life.

As Yaotao spoke, the profound, bone-deep love she held for the man radiated from her soul. This intense devotion surged with golden light, allowing Taoyao’s soul to move a bit more freely.

Ah, Taoyao thought, the pure love of a mortal actually carries golden light. This will help me break free.

Still, she truly could not comprehend this kind of behavior. After a moment of thought, Taoyao asked, “Since you love your brother so much, and your relationship is perfectly legal, why did you choose to leave?”

“But he doesn’t love me,” Yaotao replied. “We only had this child because of an accident, and my brother doesn’t even know about that night. I’ve always stayed in our hometown. We were betrothed, and his family raised me since I was a child, so I was essentially their child bride. But I’ve always known he doesn’t love me.”

“He is so outstanding, with a brilliant future ahead of him. Now, even a high-ranking commander’s daughter has feelings for him. I’m uneducated and have no family background to support him. I’ll only hold him back.”

As Yaotao spoke, a faint sense of peace and genuine well-wishing appeared in her eyes. “Do you know what it means to love someone?”

As a peony spirit, Taoyao could never understand the romantic follies of humans. This woman seemed both foolish and plain, yet her soul was remarkably pure and clean. Curious, Taoyao asked, “What is it?”

“To love someone is to respect them and wish them well,” Yaotao said softly. “As long as he is happy, nothing else matters.”

She truly meant it. As long as this immortal girl took good care of her child, she only wanted her brother to be happy. Her love had always been a solitary affair; her respect and her blessings were the greatest gifts she could offer him.

She did feel a bit guilty for imposing on the girl. Yaotao had only realized after wandering around this space that this girl was trapped inside her mind, meaning the girl would have to use her body to survive.

Taoyao listened quietly to the woman describe her deep affection. As the golden light continued to spread, the force binding Taoyao’s soul loosened further. Seeing that she could finally move, she smoothed her skirts, sat down, and continued to listen to the tale of devotion.

However, the more she listened, the more familiar the story sounded. It felt remarkably like a historical web novel she had read back in the modern world, titled The Second Wife of the Hero’s Foil Wins It All. Because Taoyao was a cultivator herself, she usually took an interest in these “chosen heroes” who possessed absurdly good luck, so she skimmed through it. However, that book wasn’t about immortal cultivation; it was a romance novel about military families in the late twentieth century.

In the original novel, the male lead’s first wife was a mere plot device. Deeply insecure about her lack of education, she always felt unworthy of her childhood sweetheart, the story’s main hero. Her insecurities grew worse after her mother-in-law passed away and she went to the military base, where she met the reborn female lead. Constantly consumed by regret and the fear of ruining the hero’s future, she discovered she was pregnant, left a divorce agreement behind, and vanished.

She ended up moving to the countryside and marrying a hunchbacked, widowed older man who turned out to be abusive. Her brilliant son was raised in that environment, growing up to be deeply insecure and unstable. Meanwhile, the reborn female lead stayed by the hero’s side, nursing him through an injury. After the hero searched for his first wife to no avail, he and the female lead eventually ended up together. They had successful children, while the first wife was reduced to a mere memory, defined by a conversation the female lead remembered: You are plain, uneducated, and have no family background. You will only ever be a burden to Commander Gu, which is why I left him long ago.

The more Taoyao listened, the more she realized the woman in front of her matched that tragic first wife perfectly. She just needed to be absolutely certain.

As the woman continued to pour out her deep love for the man and her intense devotion to her baby, more and more golden light flowed into Taoyao, making her soul feel incredibly comfortable.

Taoyao brought her thoughts back to the present and asked, “Is your name Ye Yaotao?”

Yaotao blinked in surprise, then nodded. Dropping to her knees before the girl, she pleaded, “Please, fairy, save my child.”

Taoyao pressed a hand to her forehead and gestured for the woman to rise. “I can send you back out there. Do you still want me to take your place instead?”

“I feel like I’m already dying.” That was Yaotao’s honest reaction.

Taoyao checked her own soul and confirmed that sending the woman back was possible. “Yes, I can send you back.”

For once, the flower spirit was trying to do a good deed, but the woman only began to cry harder than before.

“Does that mean I won’t live long anyway?”

Taoyao nodded.

Yaotao wept bitterly. “Then please save my baby. I know you can’t get out of here, so I willingly give my body to you. Just please save my child.”

She felt she had no other choice. She had taken a bad fall and probably wouldn’t survive on her own. She understood what the girl meant, but if she died, her child would be left entirely alone and miserable. If she gave her body to this girl, she trusted that the child would be well cared for.

Taoyao had never met anyone so stubborn. Since she was stuck here anyway and her powers were suppressed, she thought about it for a moment and said, “Alright.”

“But if I go out there, I will definitely call your brother to come save us. You two are legally married after all. If something happens between us, can you really accept that?”

Yaotao shook her head. “Of course I would want my body to belong to my brother, but he doesn’t care for me. If you can bring him happiness, that would be wonderful, and I would want you to be with him. But if that’s not possible, then that other woman is fine too.”

Taoyao touched her forehead again, amazed by her selflessness. “Is it really worth doing all this for him?”

“As long as he likes it, and as long as it’s what he wants, I will give him everything I have,” Yaotao replied.

She truly felt her time was up. She didn’t mind her body being near her brother, but she didn’t want to be unfair to this immortal girl either, so she decided to leave things to fate. She trusted that her brother would always choose what was best for himself.

Taoyao held out her hand. “Give me his phone number.”

Yaotao hesitated for a moment, as she had run away precisely because she didn’t want to disrupt his life. But the girl’s intentions were clear: she needed the number to save the baby. Ultimately, her desire to save her child overrode everything else. Sensing that her soul was about to fade, Yaotao gave the phone number to Taoyao and pleaded, “Please save my baby, and please don’t become my brother’s enemy.”

Taoyao felt the bonds around her soul completely dissolve. Recognizing that she had received shelter from this woman, and seeing that Yaotao’s soul was on the verge of vanishing, she shared a small fraction of her flower spirit cultivation to protect the remnants of the woman’s spirit.

“I will give you a peony petal,” Taoyao said. “The Lord of the Underworld will grant you his protection so that in your next life, you will find someone who loves you deeply for a lifetime. You can also use this peony to watch this world. If you let go of the petal, you will pass on; if not, I will see if I can bring you back later.”

“Thank you.”

Yaotao bowed tearfully before she began to fade. Just before she vanished completely, she murmured, “My feelings for my brother have always been my own business. He doesn’t know, and I don’t need anything in return. If that other woman is his happiness, then I wish them well. Thank you on behalf of my child. Please name him Gu Leijun.”

With those final words, Yaotao disappeared entirely.

The moment Taoyao felt her soul break completely free, she woke up inside the body. Instantly, a sharp, severe pain flared through her abdomen. Gasping, she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her as a flood of unfamiliar memories rushed into her mind.

The name of the original owner, the name of her brother, and the name of the woman who had driven the insecure, pregnant original owner away, combining all of these with the owner’s childhood memories, Taoyao was absolutely certain.

She had actually traveled into a book and become the doomed first wife of a historical military romance novel.

Finding herself three months pregnant and on the verge of being forced to marry a widowed older man, Ye Taoyao could only think: This is an absolute mess.

Fortunately, she had the foresight to ask for that phone number, or she would have been completely stranded.