The sound of a door opening suddenly broke the silence. Lin Xiaoman, leaning over the desk and completely engrossed in her drawing, turned her head in confusion. When she saw who had arrived, her adorable eyes instantly brightened.

"Sister, you’re home!"

The little girl jumped off her small stool, her voice sweet and childish, and ran over excitedly to hug her sister’s leg, nuzzling her head against it again and again.

Looking down at the little child before her, Lin Yanwan froze for a moment. It took her a few seconds to reconcile this tiny girl with the high-school-aged sister she remembered from the future.

’So much time has passed.’

She stroked Lin Xiaoman’s head, her expression softening. "Xiao Man, where are Mom and Dad?"

"They went to work~" came the cutesy, high-pitched reply.

Lin Yanwan nodded, carefully thinking back. At this point in time, the family factory hadn’t gone under yet. But under the shadow of the global financial crisis, it had already started losing money every month. If events followed the same course as her previous life, her father’s toy factory would go bankrupt and close down in just a few more years.

It was an inevitable trend. Even as someone who had been reborn, she couldn’t come up with an effective solution on such short notice.

"What have you been doing at home all by yourself, Xiao Man?"

"Mom and Dad went to work, and there was no one to play with me, so I was drawing all by myself. Sister, look!" Lin Xiaoman held up a piece of drawing paper. It showed a blue sky, white clouds, and a sun. Beneath a tree, a lion was munching on a slice of watermelon.

"You’re such a good artist, Xiao Man," Lin Yanwan said with a gentle smile.

She put down her schoolbag, sat on the sofa, and lifted Lin Xiaoman onto her lap, her heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.

Her little sister had been sensible and obedient since childhood. She got good grades and never gave their parents anything to worry about. Even later, when the family factory went bankrupt, she did everything within her power to help ease their financial pressure.

She, on the other hand, had chased after love, marrying Jiang Xia right after college. The time she’d spent on her own family was far, far too little.

She let out a soft sigh. ’This life,’ Lin Yanwan decided, ’I’ll put family first. Everything else can wait.’

"Do you want to draw with me, Sister?" Lin Xiaoman asked, looking up with a hopeful expression on her little face.

"Of course," she said, smiling as she took a pencil. "What should I draw?"

"Hmm..." Lin Xiaoman cupped her chin in her hands, her big, adorable eyes blinking earnestly. "You can draw anything you want, Sister."

She gave a light laugh and began to sketch casually. With just a few simple lines, the outline of a little rabbit holding a carrot took shape, looking absolutely adorable.

"Wow! Sister, the little rabbit has a bow on its head, just like me!"

"That’s right. You’re a cute little rabbit, Xiao Man. Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Lin Xiaoman beamed, holding up two fingers in a V-shape on either side of her head like rabbit ears.

Lin Yanwan’s smile never wavered. She recalled that she’d actually learned this little bit of drawing skill from Jiang Xia. Even though she’d only scratched the surface, it was more than enough for simple doodles.

After playing with her sister for a while, Lin Yanwan went back to her room. She turned on her computer, ready to look some things up. She had been reborn. If she could leverage her knowledge of the future, she could get a head start in many areas and even pursue dreams she never would have dared to consider in her past life.

Gradually, she realized this world was a little bit different from the one in her memories. Some names that should have been household staples were completely wrong or missing.

After spending hours surfing the internet, Lin Yanwan was forced to accept the fact that she had been reborn into a parallel world.

The world had changed in some ways, but thankfully, the major historical trends were the same.

The bad news was that her knowledge of lottery numbers was now useless. The good news was that, freed from certain constraints, there were even more fields in which she could now make her mark.

To test this conclusion, she searched online for things in her area of expertise. Some famous piano concertos were missing while others remained. But the entire Chinese music scene was a wasteland; many of the stars and masterpieces she knew were simply gone.

Lin Yanwan stared in a daze. ’Is this heaven’s way of giving me a leg up, a special cheat code just for me?’

After all, if Xia Luo could become an overnight sensation by plagiarizing songs after being reborn, a music teacher from a training academy like her could certainly do the same.

She suddenly thought of Jiang Xia. ’What would he do, now that he’s been reborn? Will he ride the coming wave and soar to incredible heights?’

She shook her head, pushing the thought of Jiang Xia from her mind.

Two paths now lay before her. One was a wide, open road leading to the entertainment industry. The other was to use her foreknowledge to become a rising star in the business world.

Or she could just be like a normal person, find a man she loved, get married, and live a quiet, peaceful life. But then, what would be the point of being reborn?

Besides, her marriage to Jiang Xia had just ended. She wouldn’t be falling in love again anytime soon, that was for sure.

Even for a divorcée, there was no guarantee the next relationship would be any happier.

’Now that I see love and romance for what they are, maybe staying single wouldn’t be so bad.’

At this thought, Lin Yanwan closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, her gaze was filled with resolve.

’No matter which path I take, family comes first, career second. Romance... is optional.’

"Sister... Sister..." Lin Xiaoman padded into the room, hugging a teddy bear. She pouted, looking up at her pitifully. "Sister, I’m hungry..."

Shaking off those complicated thoughts, Lin Yanwan smiled, her tone suddenly becoming much lighter.

"I know, I’ll go make us some food. How about some soft, tender steamed egg custard?"

"Yes, please!"

"And how about I take you to the amusement park tomorrow?"

"Hee hee! I love you the most, Sister!"

◇

The evening sun cast an ever-softer glow. As the light streamed through the window, it bathed Jiang Xia’s skin in an orange-red hue.

After finishing the storyboard panel he was working on, he stretched his arms out lazily to relax, kneading his stiff neck.

He had been drawing with intense focus all afternoon, and a thick stack of storyboards now lay on his desk. For the time being, he had managed to storyboard the first episode of *Cat and Mouse* more or less. The drawings were just rough outlines, not finely detailed, but that was all he needed.

Besides, having the storyboards would make creating the actual animation frames much faster.

He picked up the stack of storyboards and riffled the pages. He could clearly see the simple lines begin to move, the story they told gradually overlapping with the scenes from his memory.

Jiang Xia wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that after his rebirth, his mind had become uncannily clear when drawing. As soon as he entered a state of focus, he could rapidly replicate scenes from his memory. While he couldn’t claim to be perfectly recreating a timeless classic, it was pretty damn close.

’Could it be... this is what it’s like to have the body and mind of an eighteen-year-old?’

He chuckled softly. At this moment, his mind was perfectly clear, and he was filled with confidence that he could successfully recreate the masterpiece that was *Cat and Mouse*.