No Longer Peaceful

Chapter 1

My wedding day to Jason was the day Tiffany was assaulted in a back alley by a group of men.

Afterwards, Jason held her, blaming me. “Sarah, you wronged her.”

From that day on, his scales tipped completely in her favor.

Later, I was murdered in my home. Gasping for breath, I made a final call to Jason.

He hung up impatiently.

“Can’t you be reasonable? Tiffany’s scared of thunderstorms, I can’t leave.”

This time around, I decided to do as he wished.

To leave.

1

I woke up to Tiffany flinging a bowl of scalding hot pot broth in my face.

“Slut, is it fun seducing a married man?”

As if she were Jason’s legitimate wife.

It was dinnertime, the hot pot restaurant was packed, and everyone stared.

“So she’s the mistress.”

“But that guy called her his wife just now. Guess if a guy’s good-looking, he can have as many wives as he wants.”

“Ugh, mistresses deserve to die.”

Tiffany smirked, giving me a triumphant, defiant look.

That’s how it was in my past life. She delighted in creating scenes and humiliating me.

If I hadn’t known the truth before I died, maybe this time I would have endured it.

After all, her assault and subsequent mental breakdown were partly our fault, Jason’s and mine.

“Sarah, are you alright?”

Jason’s gentle voice reached my ears, surreal.

He carefully wiped the chili oil from my face.

But I couldn’t help but remember his countless reproaches from my past life:

“It’s because of us that Tiffany became like this. Can’t you just be patient?”

This time, I instinctively pushed him away.

Then, I threw the equally scalding hot pot broth back at Tiffany.

“Ahh!” Tiffany screamed, covering her face and dramatically rolling on the floor, her eyes venomously fixed on mine.

“Does it hurt?”

Seeing her pain, I actually laughed, leaned closer, and hissed,

“Tiffany, you know, I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

Jason quickly helped Tiffany up, his face cold as he scolded me:

“Sarah! She’s a patient, why are you bothering with her?”

“A patient?”

I mockingly repeated the words, giving Jason a quiet look.

I slapped him.

“And you too, Jason. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

The restaurant erupted in gasps; some even took out their phones to record.

I pulled out my marriage certificate and raised my voice so everyone could hear.

“Jason, I’m here to divorce you. I’ll be at the courthouse at 3 pm. See you there.”

Jason stared at me, dumbfounded.

I didn’t want to say anything more, straightened my back, and walked out of the hot pot restaurant. A strange feeling washed over me.

2

Jason, Tiffany, and I—we were orphans raised in the same foster home, practically inseparable.

Until Jason was adopted by the Jones family, severing our connection.

Later, Jason and I met in college and fell in love.

Tiffany, studying abroad at the time, joked when she heard the news,

“When you get married, you have to ask me to be your bridesmaid!”

So I never suspected she had feelings for Jason.

Until the wedding day, when my spare ring went missing.

Tiffany went home to get it for me, and was dragged into a back alley by several drunken homeless men…

When she was rushed to the hospital, barely alive, she kept calling Jason’s name.

For as long as she called out to him, he remained silent.

We canceled our honeymoon and took turns caring for Tiffany in the hospital.

But Tiffany would become hysterical whenever she saw me, smashing things and crying into Jason’s arms.

She was like a fragile rabbit, unable to withstand any disturbance.

Finally, Jason rubbed his temples and said:

“Sarah, we wronged her.”

“She only recognizes me now. Can you… stay away from her?”

From then on, his scales tipped completely in her favor.

Whenever Tiffany spoke, he would unconditionally choose her over me.

Every day after work, he drove to Tiffany’s place first, returning home late at night, sometimes not returning at all.

What could I say?

I felt guilty too, unable to say anything, had no right to say anything.

3

After the hot pot restaurant incident, Jason didn’t see Tiffany for a long time.

This continued until my birthday.

Jason promised to stay with me and celebrate properly.

Then Tiffany called.

I didn’t know what happened, but I saw Jason’s growing anxiety, grabbing his coat and running out.

Instinctively, I grabbed his wrist. “It’s my birthday, you promised…”

Jason looked at me in disappointment,

“Sarah, if you had gone through what Tiffany experienced, you wouldn’t say something so flippant.”

Ironically, his words proved true.

Not long after Jason left, several men broke into our house.

I immediately hid in the bedroom and called the police.

Just after I called, the men used a key to open my bedroom door.

How did they have a key to my bedroom?

Before I could think, they pinned me to the ground, tearing at my clothes…

In the chaos, I managed to call Jason.

I knew he was with Tiffany, her house was close, if he could just get there…

But I only heard his cold, impatient voice: “Can’t you be reasonable? Tiffany’s scared of thunderstorms, I can’t leave.”

Thunderstorms, that’s what it was about.

I could only manage a wry smile before the thugs snatched my phone and hung up.

“Bitch.”

I heard an angry curse.

…

In my final moments, I told myself.

If I could do it again, I would stay far away from them.

4

After my soul left my body, I floated to Tiffany’s house.

I saw Tiffany timidly clutching Jason’s arm, like a lifeline. “Are you leaving?”

Jason put down his phone, touched her forehead, and whispered, “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”

A flicker of panic crossed Tiffany’s eyes, she grabbed his shirt and kissed him.

Jason pushed her away. “Tiffany, I’m married.”

A hint of displeasure in his voice.

Tears welled up in Tiffany’s eyes, along with intense resentment,

“If it weren’t for her losing the ring, how would I have suffered like that?”

“Jason, you said you’d atone for her.”

“Anything short of the last step, you’d do anything, didn’t you say that yourself?”

Jason stiffened, then compromised, closing his eyes and letting Tiffany kiss him again.

He even put a hand on Tiffany’s waist, preventing her from falling.

As if this scene had played out a thousand times.

Watching him become increasingly aroused, his eyes filled with desire, and he uncontrollably held the back of Tiffany’s head, deepening the kiss.

A wave of intense nausea surged through me, I began to retch.

The thunderstorm stopped, but Tiffany was still too scared to sleep alone, so Jason stayed with her.

He called me many times, but I didn’t answer. His expression grew darker.

“Is Sarah angry?” Tiffany asked.

Jason’s face was cold, but he said nothing.

In the middle of the night, after he fell asleep, I saw Tiffany carefully get up and go to the balcony to make a phone call.

“Is it done?”

“What? Someone died?”

Tiffany’s face turned pale,

“Didn’t I tell you to just pretend to assault me, record a video, and threaten her, you bunch of idiots.”

“Forget it, I actually believed you. I asked you to just pretend to assault me.”

“It’s over, everything is over.”

…

It turned out that Tiffany hired those thugs.

Even the assault was a staged performance.

…

After my death, perhaps out of guilt, Tiffany bought a plane ticket to leave town.

But she was caught by the police at the airport.

The person who reported her was a tall man.

He looked strangely familiar.

But definitely not Jason.

I tried to see the man’s face clearly, but I lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, I was reborn.

5

Not long after I left the hot pot restaurant, Jason called.

“Sarah, I don’t agree to a divorce. Where are you?”

I held my phone, about to speak, when a car slowly pulled up beside me.

The window rolled down, revealing a stern face.

The face merged with the man who called the police in my past life.

“Jonathan?”

Jonathan gestured for me to get in. “Get in.”

Jason on the other end of the phone must have heard.

His voice grew cold, “Sarah, how come you’re with Jonathan—?”

I hung up.

Jason sent several more messages, saying he wouldn’t go to the courthouse, that he wanted to talk.

And warning me not to get too close to Jonathan.

I laughed.

Jonathan was the Jones family patriarch’s youngest son, aloof and distant from the family.

He had been in the entertainment industry for years, uninterested in family business.

But this year, he suddenly quit, apparently vying for the family inheritance—

Just around the time I got married to Jason, and he repeatedly left me to be with Tiffany.

Looking at the man in front of me, before I could ask why he was here, I heard him say,

“I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Jonathan looked at my face,

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

I froze, instinctively touching my face.

Reborn, filled with rage, I had ignored the pain of the hot pot broth.

Now that Jonathan asked, the pain seemed to arrive belatedly. My face and neck burned.

“Thank you,” I opened the car door and got in.

In this life, my own body was the most important thing. He was being kind, I didn’t need to be dramatic.

At the hospital, Jonathan had a doctor give me a full check-up. Fortunately, the broth wasn’t that hot, and I wasn’t seriously injured.

After the medicine was applied, I half-closed my eyes.

I saw Jonathan standing by the window making a phone call.

“If you’re busy, you can go back to the office. Thank you for bringing me to the hospital today.”

I rarely saw him, almost never.

I was quite surprised by this sudden act of kindness.

“It’s fine.” He hung up.

He asked another seemingly irrelevant question. “You’re divorcing Jason?”

I froze, apparently, he saw what happened at the hot pot restaurant.

I nodded. “I’ll get a lawyer tomorrow.”

He looked at me quietly, saying nothing.

I suddenly felt uncomfortable under his gaze. “I’m thirsty.”

I realized I was ordering this decisive, stern man to get me water.

He glanced at me and actually went.

At the hospital entrance, I was lost in thought.

I ran into Jason rushing in with Tiffany.

“Doctor!”

In that instant of eye contact, Jason froze.

I turned without expression.

After waiting in the ward for a while, Jonathan hadn’t returned. I was about to message him, when there was a sound at the door.

“Sarah.”

It was Jason.

“You splashed hot soup on Tiffany at the hot pot restaurant. She thought she’d be scarred and had a relapse, grabbing a kitchen knife and cutting her wrists.”

“She’s hemorrhaging, but the hospital’s blood bank is short. You have the same blood type, can you, help her?”

I looked at Jason, his eyes full of worry, and said calmly,

“Her life or death has nothing to do with me.”

“Can’t you see? I’m injured too.”

“Are you still making a fuss?”

Jason strode over, grabbing my wrist, his voice不容拒绝, “Come with me to donate blood.”

6

I had a wound on my wrist, freshly bandaged, and he pulled it hard. The searing pain made me gasp.

But he didn’t notice.

“Jason, you have no right to force me to do something I don’t want to do.”

Jason’s face darkened,

“Sarah, do I have to make it so clear?”

“If you hadn’t lost the ring, Tiffany wouldn’t have suffered. Why did I need to take care of her?”

“If you hadn’t lost it, Tiffany wouldn’t have cut her wrists?”

“People are responsible for their actions.”

Jason looked at me coldly.

In his mind, I was always the culprit.

I tried to suppress the rising frustration and said sarcastically,

“Jason, you don’t need to make your infidelity sound so noble.”

“Have you forgotten that Tiffany threw the soup at me first? She went crazy, not me.”

“Tiffany’s afraid of being scarred, but I’m supposed to be okay with being scarred?”

“Besides, I have a heart condition, blood donation could endanger my life. Oh, right, your memory must be quite selective.”

“Your heart has completely turned to her, what’s the point of deceiving yourself?”

Jason froze, his face pale, wanting to refute, but unable to.

“Jason, if I said Tiffany’s assault was a staged performance, would you believe me?”

“Think about it, why did she refuse to report it?”

“Enough.”

Jason interrupted roughly. “Sarah, you don’t have to make up such absurd excuses to avoid responsibility.”

“Believe what you want.”

I violently shook him off, pulled out my phone and called the police, saying someone was forcing me to donate blood.

Ignoring Jason’s dark face.

I calmly gave the police the hospital’s address, then looked at the man I had loved for so long.

“Jason, I’m serious about the divorce.”

“If you don’t agree, I’ll sue.”

7

A nurse rushed over to tell Jason that they found a spare blood bag, and before he left, he said,

“Sarah, I was wrong today. But I really only see Tiffany as a sister. The only person I love is you.”

Meaning, he wouldn’t agree to the divorce under any circumstances.

Jonathan came in just as Jason left.

“They ran out of hot water, I bought some wontons and porridge downstairs.”

He was explaining why he was gone so long.

I didn’t mind; he seemed to sense my discomfort and offered to go back to the office.

Seeing him finally leave, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Then I received a WeChat message.

Jonathan sent me a business card.

“A divorce lawyer specializing in divorce cases, with a high win rate; no losses.”

Me: ???

I politely thanked him, “Thank you, Uncle Jonathan.”

He was silent for a while, then sent a message, “Since you’ve decided to divorce, don’t call me Uncle Jonathan anymore.”

…

During the divorce proceedings, I stayed in the hospital to recover.

Jason came to see me many times.

His tone was soft, his attitude sincere, promising to send Tiffany abroad for treatment and not contact her again.

I simply called security to throw him out.

That night, Tiffany suddenly messaged me:

“Do you think you’ve won? Let me tell you, he was drunk last night, and we slept together.”

“Maybe I’m already pregnant with his child.”

Then she quickly deleted the message.

I looked at the screen for a few seconds and replied:

“Remember to use protection next time, if you give birth to a child with the same brain damage as you, that would really be your fault.”

The day I was discharged, Jason came to see me again, saying he was willing to discuss the divorce, but with one condition—

To attend his mother’s birthday party.

“Mom always liked you, she’s not been well lately, and wants to see you. We’ll talk after the party.”

I agreed.

His mother’s party was lavish, with extended family members in attendance.

“Sarah is getting even more beautiful, if only my family had such a virtuous daughter-in-law.”

Amidst the compliments from relatives, I noticed Jason hadn’t told his family about our impending divorce.

“Hey, is that Jonathan?!”

“He never attends these gatherings, why is he here today?”

“Yeah. He’s always at odds with Jason, he’s probably here to cause trouble.”

“How can he cause trouble? Is he going to steal his brother’s wife?”

I just took a sip of wine when I saw Jonathan surrounded by people.

He was tall and handsome, standing out in the crowd.

When his eyes swept over me, they were emotionless.

I nodded politely.

He just stared at me, his expression unreadable, then coldly looked away.

…What a strange guy.

What was he angry about?

8

“Sarah.” A voice sounded beside me.

Jason was impeccably dressed, a gentle smile on his handsome face.

He extended his hand. “Mom’s waiting for you in the hall, let’s go.”

Suddenly, a figure appeared and skillfully wrapped his arm around him, “Jason, I’ve been looking for you.”

It was Tiffany.

I was surprised Jason brought her.

Did that mean the Jones family had also accepted her?

Jason’s smile vanished, he quickly pulled Tiffany’s hand away, and nervously explained, “Sarah, don’t misunderstand.”

I simply smiled, “Jason, we’re about to get divorced, it’s your prerogative who you bring to a family gathering.”

Tiffany’s displeasure was evident, but I changed the subject,

“Just bringing an idiot here was quite a surprise.”

Tiffany’s face turned green.

She glared at me fiercely.

Her gaze fell on my wine glass, and she smiled strangely,

“Sarah, have fun tonight.”

My gut told me something was wrong.

So after exchanging pleasantries with Jason’s mother, I found an excuse to leave.

Jason probably wouldn’t talk about the divorce today; he just wanted to lure me here for his mother’s birthday.

As I went to the restroom, a strange wave of heat came over me, and I understood what Tiffany had done.

My legs gave way, and I stumbled against the wall.

In a daze, a hand covered my mouth, and I lost consciousness.

I woke up in a strange room, my mouth taped shut, my hands and feet bound.

I could faintly hear voices:

“I’ve drugged her, you guys just… you know… and make sure to record a video.”

“Remember, I’ll bring everyone here to catch them in the act, make sure there are plenty of marks on her.”

I struggled to open my eyes; Tiffany was talking to several men at the door.

Their faces…

They were the same men who murdered me in my past life!

This was supposed to happen years later, why so much earlier?

And this was the Jones family mansion, had Tiffany gone mad?

9

Tiffany left, but the men seemed to argue among themselves.

Footsteps were heard outside, I seized the opportunity, picked up an ashtray, and smashed it at the door.

“Bang!”

The thud made the footsteps outside hesitate.

“Damn bitch.”

This enraged the men, they came charging in, just like in my past life, but before they could do anything, the door was burst open.

In a blur, I saw Jonathan’s furious face.

“Jonathan…”

When I opened my eyes again, my restraints were gone, and only Jonathan was in the room.

I struggled to stand, but my legs gave way, and I fell forward.

Instead of pain, I fell into a warm embrace.

I grabbed his collar, supporting myself,

“…Help me.”

I saw his Adam’s apple bob.

“…Sarah.”

I tried to calm myself, finishing my sentence, “Take me to the bathroom.”

Jonathan stared at me for a while, seemingly deep in thought, then quickly pushed me into the bathroom.

The cold water poured over my head, barely suppressing the heat in my body.

“…Done?”

Jonathan asked from outside.

I opened the bathroom door, indicating I was better, but still a little embarrassed.

The atmosphere was awkwardly charged.

Jonathan seemed to casually ask, “You came to the party today, intending to forgive Jason?”

I immediately denied, “Of course not. He and I are over.”

Then I told him what happened.

Perhaps it was my imagination, but I noticed a hint of subtle pleasure on his face.

Suddenly, voices and many footsteps were heard outside.

“I saw Sarah go into this room with a man…”

“I didn’t miss it.”

The voices grew closer.

In a panic, without thinking, I pushed Jonathan into the bathroom.

The door was thrown open.

Jason was the first to burst in.

Followed by Tiffany and almost every guest.

And me, flushed, still wet from the shower.

With marks from my struggle with those men.

It was hard not to imagine something else.

Everyone was looking with shocked expressions, whispering:

“Oh my god, what’s going on, no one will believe it didn’t happen…”

“The Jones’ good daughter-in-law, turns out to be a slut.”

Someone whistled at Jason, “That’s one hell of a green hat.”

Jason seemed furious, eyes locked on the red marks on my neck and wrists.

Without asking anything.

The next second, a slap landed hard on my face.

Knocking me to the ground.

Jason’s cold, hateful voice seemed to be squeezed out through his teeth,

“Tell me, who is that man?”