Annual Heatstroke Incident

Jiang Xi is a makeup artist living in a sweltering city who suffers from severe insomnia and memory gaps regarding her childhood. Her life is haunted by the ghost of her younger sister, Jiang Xiaochan, who died years ago and now appears as a faceless white figure whenever Jiang Xi sleeps. On her birthday, during a heatwave, Jiang Xi meets a striking man named Lin Jia at a bar. Although she does not remember him, he insists he has been looking for her. They spend the night together, but the encounter is tense; Lin Jia repeatedly asks if she remembers him, and Jiang Xi, confused and intoxicated, dismisses him. The next morning, Lin Jia reveals he knows the name Jiang Xiaochan, triggering a traumatic realization for Jiang Xi.

Shortly after, Jiang Xi collapses from heatstroke and experiences a vivid transmigration. She finds herself inside the body of eight-year-old Jiang Xiaochan in a different timeline located in Maocheng. In this past, she witnesses a young Lin Jia attempting to murder his abusive father, Lin Dongguang. Jiang Xi, inhabiting the child’s body, intervenes and is stabbed while protecting Lin Jia. She wakes up in a hospital where she learns that in this timeline, Lin Jia is a neighbor and a classmate of her older sister, Jiang Daxi. Jiang Daxi is possessive and cold toward the younger sister, hoarding resources and affection. Jiang Xi, determined to improve her sister’s fate, navigates this complex family dynamic while trying to understand the rules of her time travel.

During her time in the past, Jiang Xi forms a bond with Lin Jia, helping him care for his bedridden grandfather. She discovers that Lin Jia harbors deep resentment toward his father and a tragic past. After recovering from her injury, Jiang Xi returns to her original body, only to find that her reality has shifted. She wakes up in Lin Jia’s house, where he has cared for her after she fainted. Lin Jia reveals that he has known her since birth and that they were neighbors, but Jiang Xi has no memory of him due to her trauma-induced amnesia. She finds a photograph from the past with cryptic messages written on the back, suggesting a dark connection between Lin Jia and her sister’s death.

The story escalates as Jiang Xi realizes she can travel back to the past again, this time inhabiting the body of her older sister, Jiang Daxi. In this new perspective, she learns that her father has died and that the original Jiang Xiaochan was sent away to live with a wealthy uncle. Jiang Xi must now navigate the lives of both sisters, uncovering the truth behind Jiang Xiaochan’s death and the nature of her haunting. The ghost of Jiang Xiaochan grows more aggressive, indicating that Jiang Xi’s interventions are altering the timeline in unpredictable ways. Lin Jia remains a central figure, his affection ambiguous and his past shrouded in violence and loss. Jiang Xi faces the challenge of reconciling her memories with the changing reality, as the boundary between the living and the dead becomes increasingly blurred.

As Jiang Xi delves deeper into the past, she uncovers secrets about her family’s history and Lin Jia’s role in it. The narrative explores themes of grief, memory, and the consequences of altering fate. Jiang Xi must decide whether to continue changing the past to save her sister or accept the tragic outcome that led to her current existence. The story builds toward a confrontation with the truth of Jiang Xiaochan’s death, revealing that Lin Jia’s actions in the past may have been driven by love and desperation rather than malice. Jiang Xi’s journey is one of self-discovery and redemption, as she seeks to break the cycle of haunting and find peace for herself and her sister’s spirit.