Reborn Rich: Prices Dropped, My Savings Didn't novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: What a Niche Monetary Unit

「September. Lorcain.」

At "Poison" Coffee in the city center, Cecilia Sterling sat in a corner by the window. She rested her cheek on one hand, staring blankly at the sky outside.

The sun was shining brightly, and she had returned to an age before she was known as a venomous woman.

Just half an hour ago, at the age of 65, she had honorably retired after her last day of work. She had only dozed off for a moment on the bus ride home, but when she opened her eyes again, she was somehow back in her 20-year-old body.

In the prime of her life, curvy and gorgeous.

Her skin was tight, her attitude self-righteous.

She had great assets and didn’t wear glasses.

And she had a boyfriend.

It was all so unbelievable, yet she accepted it quickly and calmly.

As a scientist who had spent years exploring the field of aerospace and had achieved considerable academic success, quickly accepting the unknown was a natural talent of hers.

When she’d woken up, she was on a bus. Distant yet clear memories had surfaced, and she remembered that on this day, Shawn Lane’s mother was scheduled to meet her at a coffee shop.

Shawn Lane. Her boyfriend.

The next moment, the clear glass reflected the graceful figure of a wealthy lady. Cecilia Sterling sat up straight, her gaze fixed on the other woman as she elegantly took a seat.

Before Cecilia could speak, the woman lifted her chin haughtily. She pulled a check from her orange, pebbled-leather Hermes Kelly bag and slapped it down in front of Cecilia.

"Here’s ten dollars. Leave my son!"

...?

Cecilia froze. ’That’s not the right line!’ she thought.

Wasn’t it a hundred thousand last time?

How did it become ten dollars?

And why go to the trouble of writing a check for just ten dollars?

"I know what girls your age are thinking. You want to marry up, take a shortcut. But you need to understand something clearly. You and my son are from two different worlds. People from different social classes can’t be forced together."

As she spoke, Mrs. Lane stared at Cecilia’s beautiful face for a few seconds before letting out a disdainful scoff. "You’re certainly pretty, I’ll give you that. But that’s only good enough to fool a simple-minded boy like my son. It won’t fool me."

Cecilia finally recovered from her shock over the "ten dollars," having only half-heard what Mrs. Lane said.

’Who’s simple-minded?’

’Your son?’

’Shawn Lane is simple-minded?’

Cecilia couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh. Seeing this, Mrs. Lane frowned under her sunglasses, asking unhappily, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking of something funny."

’And about my own laughable former self.’

She, too, had once thought Shawn Lane was simple-minded. What kind of malicious thoughts could a boy who’d grown up in the lap of luxury, coddled by a wealthy family, possibly have?

It wasn’t until he plagiarized and published the academic paper she had spent two years painstakingly writing that Cecilia realized just how badly she had been duped by her weakness for a pretty face.

He had become famous because of that paper, which led to his smooth entry into the country’s most prestigious research institution.

Meanwhile, her appeals and cries for justice were all silenced, vanishing without a trace in the face of the Lane Group’s immense wealth.

Later, through her own hard work, she finally became Shawn’s colleague—and his direct subordinate.

A guilty conscience often breeds paranoia. In Shawn’s eyes, she was a ticking time bomb, one that could go off at any moment.

So, during their time working together, Shawn used his position to make things difficult for her in every possible way. In the end, he used two hundred million dollars in dirty money from the Lane Group’s investment arm to kick her off the team.

That year, she was twenty-nine years old, laid off and unemployed.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify