In my previous cycle, when I graduated from university, my cousin Laura gave me a gramophone.

But after I received the gramophone, accidents kept befalling my family. In the end, even my boyfriend betrayed me to be with her.

It was only then that I learned that all of this was my cousin’s scheme.

After I got to the current cycle, I pretended to accept my cousin’s present but never used the gramophone. It led to the curse delivering such a vicious backlash to my cousin and her entire family that they died.

When I graduated from university, my cousin Laura gave me a gramophone and told me to put it in my bedroom. She also specifically asked me to position the horn in the direction of my bed.

I did not understand what she meant by that, but I did it anyway. Then, one night, I heard my boyfriend Adam’s labored breathing, along with shameful moans.

But no one was beside me.

In the previous cycle, after I received the gramophone and the record from Laura, I had happily played it for my entire family.

Yet, when half a month passed, my brother got into an accident and died.

My father lost his mind and jumped off from the eighteenth floor. His entire body was smashed to pieces.

As for me, not only did the university forfeit my graduate certificate, but I was also expelled and no longer had the chance to attempt graduating from the university.

I aged by decades overnight. My entire body was covered in sores that gave off a foul stench. Everyone avoided me like the plague.

Adam thought I was disgusting. He said that I was misfortune incarnate, and that was why my entire family died. He then broke up with me.

I complained about it to Laura, only to find that she got an acceptance letter to an Ivy League university, even though she could not even get into a proper high school because her grades were too horrible. Her deadbeat parents also got money from somewhere and became the richest people in their region.

Due to these shocks, I broke down. When I took the elevator to go downstairs, I made a misstep and fell. My body, too, was crushed.

After I died, I learned that the source of all of my problems came from the gramophone. As for Adam, he had already gotten together with Laura a long time ago.

When I opened my eyes again, I returned to the day I graduated.

…

“Anya, I’m so jealous of you for being able to graduate from such a good university. Here’s your graduation gift.”

The dim lights in the room of the restaurant swayed so much that I felt dizzy and could not open my eyes. Laura sat beside me and brought out a beautifully wrapped box.

In it was a really expensive gramophone.

As I saw this familiar scene, I realized that I had returned to the past.

“Anya, Laura went to a lot of shops before she managed to buy this.”

Adam nudged my elbow.

In the previous cycle, after I received the gift, my life took a 180-degree turn, and misfortunes kept coming at me one after another.

When Laura saw that I was not moving, she asked timidly, “Don’t you like it?”

She instantly looked sad, as if she was going to start crying the next second. “I saved up for a long time to buy this, though…”

Adam immediately answered on my behalf, “Of course Anya loves it.”

Under the table, he kicked my leg and hissed a warning at me. “She’s giving you a gift out of the goodness of her heart. You’re crossing the line here.”

I turned to see the righteous look on Adam’s face, and I sneered in my heart. ‘These pieces of trash sure hid their true colors really well…’

“I love the gift, Laura.” I paused intentionally, and I immediately saw Laura and Adam’s faces stiffen. “But your family has a huge debt to repay, right? I can’t accept such an expensive gift.”

With that said, I pushed the gramophone back into Laura’s arms.

Laura instantly acted as if she had just touched a cursed item. She screamed and pulled her hands back. The gramophone fell on the floor with a loud thud.

An awkward look appeared on Laura’s face. “Anya, I bought this with my own money. Just take it.”

In the next second, she took out a record from her backpack. “This is the singer you like. I bought it specifically for you.”

“Oh!” I smiled and said, “Why don’t we listen to it now? Let’s see whether it survived the fall.”

Laura and Adam’s faces turned pale. Right away, they rejected the offer. “No!”

Adam laughed dryly. “This isn’t the right place to listen to this. Why don’t you go home and listen to it with your family?”

Laura nodded rapidly.

They were pale and looked as if they had just seen a ghost. That sight made me raise my eyebrows and smile. “Alright. I’ll do as you said.”

In the previous cycle, I had happily gone back and showed my entire family the gramophone. I also played the record Laura gave me for a few days.

But from that day onward, I felt as if someone was controlling my life. All of the misfortunes that happened after that were things that I could not endure.

While William my brother William was on his way to work, a car came out of nowhere and crashed into him. His entire body was covered in wounds, and his limbs were shattered.

After I finished dealing with his funeral affairs in the hospital, I received a phone call from my neighbors saying that my father fainted due to grief. When he woke up, he lost his mind.

Not only could he not remember who I was, but he also kept mumbling about how we should all die.

One day, while I went out to buy groceries, he slipped and fell from our balcony on the eighteenth floor. His whole body was broken. The police could not even retrieve his full corpse.

Before I recovered from the shock of losing two of my family members, another disaster came knocking on my door.

My university notified me that they were going to forfeit my graduation certificate and were going to expel me as punishment.

The reason for it was that they found out that I cheated during an exam, but I never even took that course!

The university refused to listen to my explanation, and I got so angry that I aged by decades overnight. Sores broke out all over my body, and they let out a vile stench.

I wanted to talk to Adam about my grief, but he refused to open the door for me. “Why won’t you reflect on yourself? Could it be that you’re actually misfortune incarnate?”

For a time, I could not even register what he said.

In disgust, he pinched his nose. “Anya, look at you now. You look like a monster. What’s the point of you coming to me?

“You deserve this, you know? Because of you, William died in a car crash, and Colin fell to his death. You really do bring bad luck to everyone around you.”

Tears fell from my eyes right away, but I could not say a single thing in response.

Even so, Adam refused to take any pity on me. He gave me a mocking sneer. “And that stench of yours is nauseating!

“Just go, and don’t come to me anymore. I don’t want you bringing your misfortune to me.”

In the next second, he slammed the door in my face.

Dejected, I went back home, only to realize that he blocked my number and all my socials.

As I stood on the balcony, I simply could not understand why things had changed so suddenly. But I had a feeling that something was controlling me, though I had no clue what it was.

…Until I saw my uncle uploading a video of him buying a luxury car in the family group.

Gary Thompson, my uncle, and his entire family were deadbeats. They had no money and usually had to borrow money from their relatives. How could he possibly have any money to buy a luxury car?!

I visited Laura and was just in time to see her open the letter of acceptance to an Ivy League university, even though she was someone whose grades were so bad that she could not even get into high school!

When she saw me, Laura asked smugly, “Anya, why are you in such a miserable state? It’s no wonder why Adam dumped you. If I were him, I wouldn’t want you either.”

I ignored her mockery and went straight to the point. “How did Uncle Gary get the money to buy his car? I thought he’s a deadbeat.”

Laura’s expression instantly changed. She placed her hands on her hips and yelled at me. “What’s the meaning of this, Anya?! Are you jealous of other people living good lives just because your father passed away?!

“What my family buys has nothing to do with you! You’re definitely just jealous because you’re an orphan now!

“I’ve never seen someone with a heart as evil as yours! It’s your own fault that your entire family died!”

Laura’s words cut into my heart like knives. It hurt so much that I wanted to scream.

Once Laura chased me out, I went to the elevator while my head was still swimming, but I made a misstep and fell.

My corpse was only discovered a few months after my death.

By then, Laura had already married Adam. Both of them opened a company and soon became the richest couple in the area.

That thought made me gnash my teeth in anger.

“Anya, I still have some business to take care of. I have to leave now. Enjoy the food. I won’t be bothering you two anymore.”

Laura grabbed her handbag and gave Adam a look.

Adam immediately stood up and said, “Sure, we won’t be keeping you.”

“Anya, I only managed to buy that gramophone after visiting a lot of shops. You have to give the record a listen when you’re back home,” said Laura before she left.

I nodded with a smile.

In less than two minutes after she left, Adam answered a phone call in a seemingly nonchalant fashion. “Do I have to leave now? But I’m in the middle of something.”

That person said something, and Adam gave me a troubled look.

I knew that Laura was actually the one who made the call.

If she left first before Adam, I would not end up suspecting them.

I nodded nonchalantly.

Adam hurried over to hug me. “Babe, you’re the best. I’ll come visit you in a few days, okay?”

“Sure.”

While Adam apologized, I saw excitement in his eyes.

At the moment he left, I even heard Laura’s voice through his phone.

Once they left, I ate and drank to my fill before I went to a music store and bought a gramophone that looked exactly the same as the one Laura gave me.

When I got home, William asked me puzzledly, “Why did you buy two gramophones, Anya?”

I just smiled and said nothing. Instead, I grabbed two records of cliche classics and played them.

Songs that were so common that everyone was sick of them started playing.

I started clapping to the rhythm, and even my footsteps became much lighter.

But William suffered from it since he was a professor in the department of music. He covered his ears.

Just when I finished playing an entire recording, Laura called. She sounded lazy and breathless. I could immediately tell what happened to her.

These two sure were eager.

“Anya, how’s the gramophone? Have you tried it? Is it good?”

“It sure is. William said it’s good too.”

Laura could not help it. She started laughing. “That’s great! At least my efforts didn’t go to waste! Use it often! The record I gave you is a limited edition.”

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Laura ended the call, but I still heard the coughing from the man on her side.

These two pieces of trash were waiting for me to make a fool of myself!

I caressed the lines on the gramophone. It was like a living thing and felt warm under my fingers.

“Why don’t you use up your annual leave, William? You don’t have anything urgent on hand, so you could take some time to keep me company instead.”

Even though I had returned to the past, the memories of the previous cycle still brought me great pain, and I did not want to remember them at all.

After some thought, William agreed to it, even though he did not understand why I would suddenly request that of him.

I also booked an appointment for my father to get a full body checkup from the most famous specialists in the country.

The results showed that my father was fine. In fact, he was in the perfect picture of health.

Because of it, I felt marginally relieved.

Once I was done with those things, I hurried back to the university and asked the academic affairs office about my graduation. I even asked my lecturers about this, and they said that since I was an outstanding student, nothing would go wrong with my graduation.

In order to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, I managed to secure the video that was used to accuse me of cheating in the previous cycle, and I watched it without sleep for three days before I was finally certain that I could not be found anywhere in it.

With a huge sigh of relief, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I found my phone bombarded with miscalls from Laura and Adam.

Apparently, Gary’s lenders had come to him. Since he had no money to give them, they destroyed his house and even beat him up so badly that he was hospitalized.

I took my sweet time to call Laura. The moment the call went through, I heard Laura’s choked-up voice. “Anya, we’re in trouble, and I really don’t know what to do.

“Could you keep me company? I don’t dare to step outside.”

I knew that the lenders were standing guard around the hospital and waiting for Laura and her family to step out.

If this was in the past, I would have hurried over, but I only said in a troubled fashion, “Some problems came up with my graduation, and I have to go back to the university.”