In my previous life, my best friend died in a car accident, and my boyfriend rushed her to the hospital.

By the time I got there, she had already passed away.

I was devastated and fainted.

When I woke up, she had been taken away and buried in her family's ancestral grave.

Her grieving mother asked me to marry in her place.

That was when I found out she had been swapped and married off to the village fool.

The bridal gift was paid, with my name on the receipt.

Ten years later, I was beaten badly by that violent man, selling pancakes on the street.

To my shock, I saw my supposedly dead friend driving a luxury car, chatting with my ex-boyfriend.

She smirked, tossed me five dollars, bought my pancakes, and mocked my aging.

I was livid.

Then, I woke up again, back to the day of my friend's fatal accident.

——

"Lacey, Alice's gone. You have to accept it," my boyfriend sobbed, his hands stained with Alice's blood.

He seemed sincere, recounting how tragically Alice died.

This small clinic was run by my boyfriend's family. It was dimly lit and barely larger than 20 square meters.

He helped me to a chair.

"Alice's in the next room. Don't look. Her death was horrific," he said.

Looking at myself in the clinic mirror, I realized I had no gray hair and my skin was youthful.

There were no bruises on my body. I took a deep breath, realizing I had been reborn.

I glanced at my boyfriend and smiled with my head down.

In my previous life, I had rushed here after hearing about Alice's accident.

I had been in shock, unaware of the absurdity.

Seeing Alice lying under the white sheet, I couldn't stop trembling.

I had held her death certificate with deep regret.

I had seen her leave safely in that car.

Yet when she had an accident, my boyfriend was the first one to find out.

If I had taken her home myself, maybe she wouldn't have died so young.

In that tiny clinic, I cried with my boyfriend until I passed out.

When I woke, he told me Alice had been taken back to her hometown and buried in her family's grave.

I had stared at the place we once shared, unable to eat or drink for days.

A rural woman arrived with her mentally challenged son.

She took out a contract, claiming her son was engaged to me.

Even the bridal gift had been paid.

Weakly, I had tried to explain, but they had asked me to honor the contract and taken me away.

I discovered Alice had used my name, accepting a hefty bridal gift.

I had tried to discuss it with my boyfriend, who accused me of betrayal and sided with them.

Facing the debt and his menacing presence, I felt helpless as they got me into the car and took me to the mountains.

Only after giving birth did they let me work outside.

Returning, I found our shared house, funded by me, now under Alice Archer's mother's control.

Then I saw Alice driving with my boyfriend in a luxury car.

I had confronted them, pulling their hands apart and demanding answers.

Alice had shown no fear, openly admitting her identity.

She had looked disdainfully at my pancake stand.

"Here's five bucks to support your business," she said, mocking my old appearance.

She had thanked me for giving her such a great boyfriend and a house.

I had collapsed in rage, she had left without a glance.

Remembering the hardships of my past life, I shivered.

They betrayed me, and I would make them pay the price.

They would pay with their lives.

My boyfriend, Sanford Hoffman, lost his patience when he saw me sitting still in the chair.

He pulled out a handkerchief, insisting that I use it to wipe my tears.

I snapped back to reality and didn't take it.

I hadn't forgotten that in my previous life, I had felt drowsy after using that handkerchief, mistakenly thinking it was due to excessive grief.

It must have been laced with a drug.

They were waiting for me to pass out so they could swap Alice's body and take her away.

I stood up and walked to the door of Alice's room, where there was better ventilation. Sanford was startled and quickly put away the handkerchief.

He blocked my way.

"Lacey, don't look. Alice's body is broken."

I had to see it. I would also secretly take a photo.

Ignoring Sanford's attempts to stop me, I walked to the bed and discreetly started recording on my phone.

I lifted a corner of the bed sheet, revealing Alice's pale, bloodless face.

The bed sheet beneath her was soaked with blood, and she looked as if she had been drained dry.

I smirked internally. If I hadn't lived another life, I would have believed she was dead.

I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

Her head tilted, and her hair stuck to her face, but she didn't move.

It looked like she had been sedated.

It worked just fine for my plan.

Sanford cried out and hurriedly embraced Alice, shielding her from me.

"Lacey, why did you hit her? She's dead, how could you hit a dead person?"

I gritted my teeth, glaring at the two of them huddled together.

I pretended to be heartbroken, my hands continuously moving.

"I told you to go home, but you didn't listen and ended up in Sanford's car. See? If you had listened to me, you wouldn't be dead."

Feeling guilty, Sanford grabbed and held onto me tightly.

"I just happened to run into Alice on the way. Please, don't be sad, my dear."

His guilt made him try to appease me.

He just let me hit Alice.

"Don't be too sad. Alice wouldn't want to leave you like this," Sanford said.

I stopped and looked at Sanford.

"I told you to take care of my best friend, but you let her die. Why don't you die instead?"

Using my rage, I hit him and then felt much better.

He touched the blood on his lips, angry but silent.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled out my phone and called the nearby hospital.

Sanford quickly tried to stop me.

"What are you doing?"

"This clinic isn't legitimate. Can its death certificate be trusted?"

A doctor hiding in the back immediately jumped out.

"Of course, it's legitimate. We have proper credentials. My certificate is valid."

This guy was one of Sanford's buddies. He was lazy and just hanging around the clinic.

Hearing his assurance, I nodded. Just as he was about to relax, I turned and called the funeral home.

"We need someone for a cremation here."

Sanford rushed to stop me but, seeing my determination, quietly sent a message on his phone.

The funeral home workers arrived quickly, eager not to miss the business.

I pretended to arrange everything for my best friend.

"She's my best friend. Don't spare any expense. Do everything at the highest standard. Did you bring the shroud?"

I glanced at Sanford.

"She's been dead for hours. If we don't take her to the funeral home soon, the body might spoil. How will I explain to her family then?"

The funeral home workers were thrilled to get such a big job and moved to change Alice's clothes.

Sanford hurriedly stopped them.

"Lacey, let Alice's family handle this. It's not right for you to do it."

I slapped him again.

"Alice's been staying at my place. Her family lives far away. If we wait for her mother, she'll start to decompose. Let me handle it."

The workers praised me for being a faithful friend, but Sanford wouldn't step aside.

He was afraid the professionals would discover that Alice wasn't dead.

He kept his distance from me and stuck to the bed.

"Alice's family has ancestral graves. She doesn't need to be cremated. You're being hasty and disrespectful to her," he argued.

A gleam of light shot out from my eyes. I was disrespectful?

'What was she thinking when she signed for me to marry the fool? Didn't it break my heart?' I thought.

While we were confronting each other, a sharp voice rang out.

"Who dares to cremate my daughter?"

It seemed Sanford had already teamed up with Alice, even having her mother's contact to alert her.

I hadn't expected to send Alice straight to the crematorium.

I just wanted to provoke them into revealing the truth.

With more people involved, it only proved that they had been conspiring against me in my past life.

Back then, I had asked Alice's mother to testify, thinking it was her daughter's arranged marriage.

But she had pretended ignorance, blaming it all on me.

She knew everything. She was just pretending.

Then letting her watch as I sent Alice to her death wasn't too much.

Alice's mother rushed over, pushing me aside and standing by her daughter's bed.

Without even looking at Alice, she glared at me with her hands on her hips.

"Who dares to harm my daughter? Alice trusted you the most, and yet you plotted to burn her alive? How could you be so vicious?

"If any of those people dare to touch my daughter again, you and I will have a serious problem."

She still found time to worry about her daughter's innocence.

I couldn't help but furrow my brows.

"Mrs. Archer, Alice always lived off me, stayed with me, and this doesn't count as being her best friend? Besides, she's already dead. How could I want to burn her?" I scoffed.

Only then did she realize her mistake in speaking and shook her head, pushing the funeral home staff away.

"My daughter will be buried, not cremated. Just go."

The funeral home staff grumbled and drove away.

Only then did Sanford breathe a sigh of relief and neatly cover Alice with the sheet.

Alice's mother also sighed with relief and began complaining to me again.

"It's all your fault. If it weren't for you, Alice wouldn't have died. If only she had listened to me and come home earlier to get married, none of this would have happened. It's all because you encouraged her to be independent."

I was indeed wrong to inspire an ingrate.

My life had just begun, and I had worked hard to buy a house for myself.

But she had insisted on moving in with me.

Yet her mother blamed me for corrupting her.

I pretended to cry with a grievance, apologizing, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Archer. I just wanted Alice to rest in peace sooner."

She was sweating profusely, gasping and cursing, "Rest in peace, my foot."

I snatched the handkerchief from Sanford's hand and handed it to her to wipe her sweat.

She used it and then collapsed into the chair.

Sanford's sweat crawled across his forehead as he looked at me.

"Mrs. Archer seems to be overwhelmed with grief," he stuttered

Seeing that I wasn't suspicious, Sanford sat down to catch his breath, feeling like he had exhausted all his intelligence in this lifetime.

I helped Sanford up from the ground.

"Mrs. Archer has collapsed. You should hurry and call the doctor."

He dared not move, urging me, "Or should I watch Mrs. Archer while you go call the doctor?"

Seeing my hesitation, he reluctantly went to find someone else to help.

While he was away, I dialed the cemetery's phone number.

This cemetery had a good location and had someone who could handle the burial.

It was on his family's land.

Sanford pretended to go out for a stroll, returning to ask me anxiously after seeing me hang up the phone.

"Who did you call?"

I calmly replied, "I've thought about it. We should respect Mrs. Archer's wishes. I've found a burial plot for Alice. Everything concerning the coffin and the burial plot won't cost you a cent. After all, we were best friends."

Sanford panicked and paced around, occasionally glancing at the unconscious Alice and her mother.

"Alice was your best friend. Is it necessary to rush her burial like this?"

I looked at him disapprovingly.

"Sanford, you're weird. Alice has been dead for so long. Every time I try to arrange her affairs, you hinder me. Alice once said her family was poor and she wanted to stay in this big city. I'm just fulfilling her wishes."

As time passed, he became as restless as a cat on hot bricks.

He attempted to up Alice's mother.

Suddenly, he noticed something and pointed to Alice's bedside, where her pale hand hung down.

"Look, Alice seemed to move."

I screamed in cooperation, "Sanford, are you crazy? How can a dead person move? This is your clinic. If someone who has been issued a death certificate comes back to life, you and your friends who issued the certificate could be sued by her family."

Sanford opened his mouth wide, unable to come up with a rebuttal for a long time.

The people from the cemetery arrived. Without anyone hindering them, they carried Alice into the car and drove away.

We headed straight for the suburbs.