At our first meeting, I got a taste of this heiress's temper. A server accidentally brushed against her, and she slapped the poor girl without hesitation. I said a few words in the server's defense, which set the heiress off. She went home and told her father I was incorrigible—openly flirting with other women right in front of her.
And so, old Mr. Jansen gave me a tongue-lashing and threatened me with dire consequences unless I went and apologized to her.
I didn't want to go—but I had no choice. I was Joey now, condemned to live a scripted life.
For the first time, I felt a flicker of sympathy for him.
I showed up with a bouquet of flowers to make amends.
"Joey, I know you like to play around. That's fine—I do too. Let's be honest with each other: after we're married, we can each have our fun. But there's one rule—don't bring any diseases home..." The heiress's words shattered my worldview.
In plain terms, this marriage was nothing but a transaction!
17
The wedding date drew closer, and I grew more depressed. Just thinking about marrying that woman made me feel like I was suffocating.
One day, I took a yacht out to sea to clear my head. As I lay on the deck with my eyes closed, a crew member suddenly lunged at me with a gleaming dagger—
At the critical moment, someone intervened and wrestled the attacker down. Working together, we subdued him.
After the danger had passed, I got a clear look at my savior.
He had my face—or, more precisely, Joey's face.
"Who are you?" I asked in astonishment.
"A few months ago, did you receive two strange phone calls? Those were from me." The man gave a bitter smile. "I'm you—from five years in the future."
18
What the man told me next was beyond shocking...
The so-called "life swap" was in fact a meticulously orchestrated conspiracy!
Beneath his polished exterior, Joey was a monster. A girl he'd seduced had thrown herself from a building and died. He'd used his connections to cover it up, but the girl's brother was a formidable man who'd sworn to avenge his sister.
After that, Joey was plagued by danger. He'd survived several assassination attempts by the skin of his teeth.
The brother was a former soldier—not only a crack shot, but highly skilled at evading detection. The Jansens had exhausted every resource trying to neutralize him, to no avail.
He was like the Sword of Damocles, hanging persistently over Joey's head. No one knew when it would fall...
Day after day, the pressure had driven Joey to the brink of collapse! Finally, old Mr. Jansen devised a plan: find a body double to take the hits for Joey...
And that unlucky double was me!
According to my original fate, I would have been stabbed on that yacht by the girl's brother. Though I would have survived, I'd have been left in a coma.
After the stabbing, the brother fled. Without him in custody, the threat remained, and Joey—now living as "Owen"—had no choice but to stay in that identity.
The old man was cunning. He took it one step further and formally adopted "Owen" as a godson, using that identity to usher him back into the Jansen empire...
19
Hearing all this, I was overwhelmed with emotion. There was truth in the old saying: every gift from fate comes with a hidden price tag! I'd been so foolish, so pitifully naive!
"My future self" continued: After falling into a coma, he'd lain in a hospital bed for five years. Recently, he'd suddenly regained consciousness. Once he pieced together everything that had happened, he understood the full picture. To survive, he'd had to keep pretending to be comatose.
One day, he'd gotten hold of a nurse's phone and, by some miracle, managed to call his own number from five years earlier. But before he could say more than a few words, the nurse had returned, so he'd hung up quickly and hidden the phone.
When he tried calling me again later, he was caught. They confiscated the phone, and the person on the other end lied to me—claiming he was a psychiatric patient...
After that, Joey had him locked up.
"How did you get here?" I asked. "Has time travel been invented in the future?"
"No, there's no such thing as a time machine." He shook his head and told me something even more incredible.
After being imprisoned, he'd spent every day in agony, dreaming of nothing but escaping and warning his past self not to fall into the trap. One day, on a whim, he painted a door on the wall—and to his shock, it became real!
When he pushed the door open and stepped through, something even more extraordinary happened: he traveled through time...
And landed right on this yacht!
20
His story was more fantastical than any I'd ever heard. Perhaps his sheer willpower had created a miracle!
Then I thought of something: "What about Vivi? What happened to her?"
At the mention of Vivi, he let out a long sigh. "Joey married her, but he treated her terribly. He fooled around constantly and even abused her..."
"Vivi!" My heart felt like it was being carved with knives. I was the one who'd pushed her into that fire!
"Now you understand why I had to come find you," he said. "I had to stop you from falling into that abyss of misery!"
"I was wrong—I was so wrong!" I beats my chest. "What do I do now?"
21
The Jansens had plenty of underground businesses—nothing they'd want exposed. Using my identity as "Joey," I gathered a trove of damning evidence, then went to confront Joey with it.
I demanded an end to the "life swap" and to have our brains returned to their original bodies.
He didn't dare refuse. If the evidence went public, the Jansen empire would be destroyed.
Before the surgery, I informed him that I'd made copies of everything. If I didn't make it off the operating table, my associates would see to it that justice was served!
Joey's face turned green with rage.
The surgery was a success. I was myself again.
But the dust hadn't yet settled. Not long afterward, all that damaging evidence was leaked. The Jansens didn't just lose their fortune—the father and son both ended up in prison...
The person who leaked the evidence was the girl's brother. He'd found another way to avenge his sister.
Of course, I was the one who'd given him the evidence.
Once the dust settled, I went to find Vivi, my heart racing. But all I found was a letter from her.
It turned out that Joey had told her everything. My actions had broken her heart completely—she never wanted to see me again.
I clutched that letter, drowning in regret...
22
Years later, I finally realized the dream I'd always had.
Shandong Kitchen—this was Vivi's and my dumpling restaurant.
Every day, I was here, making dumplings, boiling dumplings—and waiting for someone.
I believed that sooner or later, she'd walk through that door.
She had to.
(End of Story 14)
*
The Boss finished his story, and everyone fell into a new round of reflection.
"Swapping lives is a fascinating and profound topic," Stan said. "At some point or another, we've probably all envied someone else's life. But the truth is, they might be secretly envying ours."
"Poor people have poor people's troubles, and rich people have rich people's struggles. Nobody's life is perfect. But if I had the chance, I'd definitely want to try living someone else's!" Luke shared his thoughts. "A life like Joey's—who could say no to that?"
"Yeah," Cindy agreed. "I often fantasize about experiencing a different life."
The Boss turned toward me—I'd been quiet all along. "Ma'am, did you enjoy the story? If you were given a chance to swap lives, who would you most want to trade with?"
I started, then smiled. "What if I said—you?"
"Why me?"
"In the middle of a bustling city, quietly running a little shop, with scenery in your eyes and hope in your heart—isn't that a good life?"
"Haha, you're right," the Boss laughed. "But I might not agree to swap with you. I'm quite satisfied with the life I have."
"Then I wish you a life without regret."
"Thank you—I hope the same for everyone."
Outside, the rain had quietly stopped. Chatting about the stories, we'd made it through the long night. The generous Boss comped everyone's bill.
He said every story had been wonderful.
The guests left one by one. In the end, only I remained.
"Boss," I said, "I have one more story I'd very much like to share with you."
"Really? I'd love to hear it." The Boss paused, then walked over and sat down across from me. "Please, go ahead—I'm all ears."
"This story was also written by 'Dumpling,'" I said with a faint smile. "To be precise, it's a continuation of the Heartbreak Doll Shop story..."