Julian, leaning against the headboard, spoke suddenly: "What they did to you in your past life, the retribution has now fallen upon themselves."

Zoe cut the apple into small pieces and fed it to him: "Not enough."

"Hmm?"

"They still haven't paid back what they owe you." Zoe wiped her hands and took a file from her bag. "The source code for Jasper’s core patents now belongs to you."

Julian raised an eyebrow: "How did you get it?"

Zoe blinked: "Jasper’s personal computer password was the date he first met Susan," she chuckled, "thanks to him being such a romantic fool."

Chapter 19

A month later, the court verdict was officially finalized. The court sentenced Jasper to fifteen years in prison.

Zoe and Julian sat in the last row of the spectator gallery, watching the once-invincible Young Master Jasper being taken away in handcuffs.

As he passed them, Jasper suddenly struggled and lunged over: "Zoe! You clearly loved me the most! Why did you do this to me?!"

Julian pulled Zoe behind him.

While the bailiffs held Jasper down, Zoe said a single sentence.

Only Jasper heard it: "The Zoe who loved you in the past life died on that rainy night when you all stood by and did nothing."

Jasper was struck as if by lightning, stunned in place as he was brutally dragged away by the guards.

As they walked out of the courthouse, the sunlight was perfect.

Julian suddenly took Zoe’s hand: "Are you still hateful?"

Zoe gazed at the azure sky and let out a long breath: "No more hate."

She turned and hugged Julian, burying her face in his chest: "In this life, I just want to love you well."

Julian lowered his head and kissed the top of her hair: "Let's go home, Mrs. Julian."

In the distance, Lucas and the other two, surrounded by reporters, were fleeing in a wretched state, while their cars were headed in the completely opposite direction.

A private jet tore through the clouds, and Jasper looked at the contour of the city shrinking outside the window, the needle marks still lingering on the back of his hand.

The cost of being released on medical parole was leaving China forever, along with those who had once surrounded him.

Lucas lived under an alias overseas, Hugo became an ordinary office worker, and Jude was still serving his sentence in prison.

A flight attendant handed him champagne; just as he was about to take it, he saw Zoe and Julian standing side-by-side on the cover of a financial magazine.

The headline read in bold: 《New Business Elite, The Julian Couple, Acquires Core Assets of Jasper Group》.

Jasper threw the magazine away violently, but triggered the electronic shackle on his wrist, the alarm blaring piercingly.

In front of the blue-domed church in Santorini, Zoe’s white veil was blown into an elegant arc by the sea breeze.

"Nervous?" Julian noticed her slightly trembling fingers and asked in a low voice.

Zoe looked at the man in the well-tailored suit before her, remembering the sight of him kneeling and weeping before her grave in her past life, and her eyes suddenly grew hot: "I was just thinking..."

The priest’s address was suddenly interrupted.

"I object!"

The guests were in an uproar.

A woman wearing sunglasses rushed in, causing an even greater commotion after taking them off.

It was Susan! Her face was pale, and there were unhealed self-inflicted wrist scars on her wrists.

"Julian!" she shrieked, pointing at Zoe, "This woman has been reborn! She is a monster!"

The entire venue fell into deathly silence.

Zoe’s blood froze instantly. She looked at Julian subconsciously, only to see him calmly adjusting his cuffs: "Security."

Four bodyguards immediately seized Susan.

"You will meet your retribution!" Susan’s screaming faded into the distance. "Zoe, you won't end wel—"

Julian covered Zoe’s ears and leaned down to kiss her.

Amidst the applause of the guests, he pressed his forehead against hers and asked softly: "In this life, have I won?"

Zoe kissed him back, smiling: "You won a long time ago."

In the third year of their marriage, the top floor of the Julian building was being renovated.

Zoe, supporting her slightly protruding baby bump, directed workers to hang a painting of Mist and Rain over Spring Mountains.

This was the late mentor’s masterpiece that Julian had spent three times the price to meticulously restore.

"President Julian, Madam hasn't eaten lunch again." Lin Han handed over the tablet helplessly. "I really can't persuade her."

On the monitoring screen, Zoe was secretly dumping the pregnancy meal prepared by the nutritionist into the trash can.

Julian turned off his computer and personally went to buy the spicy and sour noodles she had been obsessed with lately.

On the return journey, he was captured by the media, the Julian CEO who dominated the business world carrying a plastic bag, carefully protecting the steaming paper bowl.

#TheJulianCouple# hit the trending list again.

On the day of the delivery, Julian, who was always calm, almost tore the hospital apart.

"Cesarean section! Do it now!" he roared, grabbing the Dean by the collar. "She's been in pain for twelve hours!"

Zoe pulled his sleeve weakly: "Julian... be calm..."

"How can I be calm!" The man who never wavered at the negotiating table now had a trembling voice. "You..."

When the crying of the infant finally sounded, Zoe saw the business tycoon kneeling before the delivery bed, tears streaming down his face.

The nurse asked with a smile: "What name for the baby?"

"Zhou Nianzheng." Zoe said softly.

Julian kissed her sweat-drenched forehead: "Nianzheng, Nianzheng."

On little Nianzheng’s one-month birthday, Zoe discovered a locked safe in the walk-in closet.

The password was the date she was reborn.

Inside was the investigation report from back then.

"You..." Zoe turned to see Julian holding their daughter, standing at the door. "You knew all along?"

Julian put their sleeping daughter into the crib and wrapped his arms around her from behind: "I started checking since the day your parents suddenly came to find me." He kissed the top of her head. "Rebirth is such an absurd thing..."

"But you still believed it."

"Because it was you who said it."

The cemetery during the Qingming Festival was misty with fine rain.

Zoe placed a white rose before the nameless tombstone.

That was where her past self was buried.

Julian held a black umbrella, and little Nianzheng in his arms was curiously reaching out to catch the falling raindrops.

"Who is Mommy talking to?" the little girl asked in her milky voice.

Julian knelt on one knee, gently stroking the cold stone tablet: "A very important person."

Zoe turned her head with red eyes, seeing the gentle profile of her husband in the rain curtain.

"In this life," he stood up and hugged his wife and daughter, "I will accompany you until we are old."

On the car ride back, little Nianzheng was sleeping soundly in her car seat.

Zoe leaned against Julian’s shoulder, suddenly noticing that his phone screensaver was the first photo of their family of three in the delivery room.

Two lifetimes of reincarnation, finally fulfilled.

【THE END】