The city of Hangzhou unfolded like a dream dipped in ink and gold.
Elara leaned against the car window, watching the skyline shift from distant hills to glittering glass towers. The streets shimmered with life — bicycles weaving past luxury cars, vendors shouting over the scent of grilled dumplings, and students crossing intersections with textbooks in hand and headphones in their ears.
The air smelled of rain and jasmine. Of promise.
She hadn't realized how tightly she had been holding her breath until now.
This wasn't home. It wasn't the Lin estate with its suffocating elegance and whispered lies.
This was freedom.
A new beginning.
---
Her driver pulled up to the university gates.
Even from the car, the institution looked imposing. Ancient buildings stood shoulder-to-shoulder with sleek modern glass structures. Trees lined the sidewalks in perfect rows, and a massive arch overhead bore the name of the school in bold calligraphy:
Hangzhou Institute of Traditional Medicine and Advanced Biomedical Science
She had memorized every word of its name. Spoken it in her sleep during her second life.
But now, seeing it in person, she realized something else:
She had truly made it back.
---
A student ambassador met her at the gate, holding a sign that read "Lin Elara – Full Scholar."
He was short, round-faced, with energy that reminded her vaguely of a loyal dog.
"You're Lin Elara? Wow, you're even prettier in person," he said without shame. "I'm Qi Ren. I've been assigned to help you settle in."
She gave him a polite nod. "Thank you, Qi Ren."
"Your Mandarin is perfect," he noted as he led her through the campus. "Where did you grow up?"
"Far from here," she replied simply.
Qi Ren didn't press.
Instead, he launched into a practiced explanation about where the cafeteria was, which professors to avoid before their morning coffee, and where to buy the best dumplings on a budget.
As they walked, Elara took it all in — the old tiled roofs, the traditional herbal gardens, the scent of crushed ginkgo leaves in the breeze. This wasn't just a school.
It was a bridge between worlds.
Between lifetimes.
---
Her dormitory was at the far end of the campus — a quiet building designed for scholarship students. She was given her own room on the fifth floor, small but spotless, with a narrow bed, a desk by the window, and a shelf already stocked with required textbooks.
On the desk sat a welcome package: student ID, orientation schedule, keycard, and a handwritten note from the department head.
> "Welcome to your future, Miss Lin. May it be as relentless as you are."
She ran her fingers over the ink. It wasn't signed.
But the handwriting felt familiar.
Professor Ren?
A soft knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
Qi Ren poked his head in. "Dinner's in an hour. I can walk you there if you want."
"I'll be fine," she said.
He hesitated. "If anyone gives you trouble... just let me know, okay? Some of the other students, they... well, they've been talking. About you."
She arched an eyebrow. "Already?"
"There was some post online — people calling you a fraud, saying you only got in because of connections."
Elara almost laughed.
"They don't know me," she said, almost amused.
"They're about to," Qi Ren replied with a grin.
---
She didn't attend the welcome dinner.
Instead, she walked the campus under the soft glow of lanterns. The sky above Hangzhou was cloudy, but the streets were alive.
Near the research wing, she passed a group of senior students in lab coats discussing neuro-acupuncture trials.
In the courtyard, she saw two first-years testing a herbal balm on scraped knees, laughing when the pain faded instantly.
She smiled faintly.
This was where she belonged.
Not because someone gave her a place—but because she had taken it.
---
As she stood at the lotus pond behind the administration building, a breeze stirred the water. Her reflection wavered.
She didn't look like the Elara of her first life anymore.
Or even her second.
She looked... awake.
Her hand instinctively reached for her necklace — a simple pendant shaped like a ginkgo leaf. The symbol of memory.
She had worn it ever since her second life.
To remind herself why she kept going.
For him.
And just like that, the memory returned.
His small hand in hers.
His smile, too pale for a child.
His voice, weak but filled with hope.
> "Promise me, Elara. That you'll learn how to save people like me."
> "I promise. Even if it takes my whole life."
She blinked away the sting in her eyes.
"Not much longer now."
---
She turned to leave, but something stopped her.
A feeling.
Like someone was watching.
She scanned the shadows around the lotus pond, but saw nothing.
Still, the air had shifted.
There was someone on this campus who knew her.
Someone who remembered more than they should.
---
Back in her room, she found a second note on her desk.
No envelope.
Just a slip of paper, folded once, with only four words:
> "We've waited for you."
Her fingers trembled slightly as she picked it up.
No signature.
No context.
Only confirmation of what she already suspected:
She wasn't the only one who remembered.