The Return of the Abandoned (Chapter 1)

Content Warning: abuse, corporal punishment, death

Late at night, beneath the cold flicker of hospital lights and the mournful wail of wind against glass, a young man quietly slipped away from the world.

His name had been Liang Chen.

Life hadn't started kindly for him. His birth mother, more in love with status than motherhood, abandoned him as a newborn.

She didn't even hesitate -- his father was poor, she had a better future lined up, and a baby was simply in the way. She handed him to an orphanage and never looked back.

When he was four, fortune turned slightly. A kind, childless couple -- Yu Feng and Lu Ruo -- adopted him.

They were wealthy, but more importantly, they were warm. For the first time, Liang Chen knew what safety felt like. He called them "Mom" and "Dad." He believed it could last.

It didn't.

At eleven, the illusion shattered.

Yu Feng brought home another child -- nine-year-old Yu Jie, the son of his mistress. That night, Lu Ruo's heart broke. The woman who had loved Liang Chen fiercely, who had protected and nurtured him like her own, found herself betrayed.

Yet even as sorrow consumed her, she clung to her duty as a mother. She rewrote her will, leaving everything to Liang Chen, trying to secure his future one last time.

Soon after, she died. Some said it was the grief. Some whispered darker things.

The mistress moved in, bringing chaos in her wake. Mei Qian, sly and manipulative, joined forces with her son.

Together, they schemed, lied, and tried to claw away everything that Lu Ruo had left behind. But Liang Chen didn't crumble. He fought back with everything he had. Life had taught him pain -- but also how to survive it.

At twenty-four, a car crash ended it all.

Or so the world thought.

Image Description: A photo of a serious car accident between two vehicles in gray and blue tones. Dead trees stand in the background and a puddle sits in a pothole in the foreground.

Credit: Karl Solano / Pexels

But fate wasn't done with Liang Chen.

His soul lingered. Unseen, unheard, he watched the people who ruined his life squander everything he tried to protect.

Mei Qian Yu Jie laughed in his house, sold off his mother's treasures, toasted to a life built on someone else's ashes. All he could do was watch.

Until, two years later, something shifted.

A pull -- deep, invisible, irresistible -- yanked at his soul. Darkness swept in.

And then...he woke up.

Not in a hospital. Not in his bed. But in a cold, crumbling room with a leaky roof, the scent of damp straw in the air, and a rough wooden bed digging into his back.

Pain exploded behind his eyes. Not from the crash -- this pain was new. And with it came memories that weren't his.

This body belonged to another Liang Chen.

A sixteen-year-old boy, born to a noble's wife, now forgotten like yesterday's dust.

His mother had died under suspicious circumstances after discovering her husband's affair. She had argued, pleaded, threatened -- and then, she was gone. Poisoned. Silenced.

After that, the boy had been left to rot in his own home. His stepmother twisted his father against him. Her two sons bullied and beat him without consequence. Sick and overworked, the boy eventually collapsed from fever and exhaustion.

His soul faded.

And Liang Chen -- Liang Chen from the future -- slipped into the broken body.

He stirred on the bed, pain coursing through him. These bruises weren't his -- but they were now.

A pounding knock shook the door.

"You lazy brat! Still sleeping? You think water's going to fetch itself?" a shrill voice snapped.

The stepmother.

A crooked smile spread across his face.

In his last life, he had endured too much. He had swallowed betrayal, choked down grief, lived in the shadows of cruelty.

Not this time.

This time, he would rise.

This time, he'd return everything they gave him -- twice over.

About the Author

I’m a romance and historical fiction writer, and my stories tend to whisper softly but strike unexpectedly. I love creating characters that feel a little too real and weaving endings that don’t always follow the rules.

If you decide to stay a while with my work, you just might find something you’re not quite ready to let go of.

-- Sero987