Fatal Exchange, Fatal Crisis

Both my sister and I were reborn back to the nursing home.

My younger sister and I were doing our internship assessments at the nursing home, and we had two patients urgently needing our care.

One was a bedridden, partially paralyzed old man in the outskirts of the city, and the other was a young, wealthy, and handsome man living right in the nursing home.

Without a second thought, my sister put on her makeup and went straight into the room of the rich boy, leaving the job of caring for the paralyzed old man to me.

She got pregnant before marriage and managed to marry the rich heir. But just a few days after the wedding, the heir’s family faced a downfall – he and his mother were both sent to prison, and my sister was beaten by enemies of the family, losing the baby in a miscarriage, which drove her insane.

On the other hand, the paralyzed old man whom I cared for left his villa and wealth to me when he passed away.

It took me a lot of effort to find my sister, and when she heard that I had inherited the villa, she was filled with jealousy. She pushed me in front of a speeding truck.

The truck lost control, and she couldn’t escape either. Both of us were hit and killed.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the day when we had to choose the patients in the nursing home.

This time, my sister didn’t hesitate and chose to care for the paralyzed old man.

She couldn’t help but feel secretly pleased:

“The villa will be mine this time! Finally, wealth and fortune have come my way.”

I chuckled.

Oh, my sister.

Do you think that villa is so easy to inherit?

But since you’re so eager to jump into the fire pit, I won’t stop you.

###1

“One patient is a bedridden old man living out on the outskirts, and the other is a young guy in Room 302 here at the nursing home. You two can decide how to split the work. As long as there are no complaints by the end of the assessment, you’ll both be officially hired.”

Head Nurse Lois stood in front of my sister and me with the assessment records in hand.

Before I could say anything, Celina volunteered eagerly:

“I’ll take care of the paralyzed old man. It’s a dirty and tiring job, so it’s better if I handle it. So that no one can say I’m bullying my sister.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she rushed back to her room to pack her bags.

She turned away so quickly that even Lois was stunned.

It was clear that she didn’t understand why my younger sister, who usually fussed over doing extra work, was suddenly so eager to volunteer today.

But from Celina’s secretly pleased expression, I knew she had reincarnated as well.

The staff in the nursing home started to gossip.

“Going so far out to take care of an old man, Celina really has courage and responsibility.”

“Probably because her sister didn’t want to go. She seems nice usually, but who would have thought she’d let her younger sister go instead?”

“Obviously, she’s got her eye on the handsome rich guy in Room 302. It’s always the seemingly harmless ones who have the most schemes.”

…

Listening to the chatter, Celina seemed quite satisfied.

She pursed her lips in a smug smile.

“Sis, let me tell you, Nathan Lloyd may be rich, but he doesn’t look easy to win over. Good luck.”

I waved her off:

“Don’t worry about me, you should just take care of yourself.”

She dismissed my words. “What harm can an old man who’s about to die do to me?”

As she was about to leave, she discreetly rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

“The villa is finally mine, I’m going to be rich, so rich...”

I chuckled.

Oh, my sister.

Do you think that villa is so easy to inherit?

But if you’re so willing to jump into the fire pit, I won’t stop you.

I have more important things to do.

###2

In the last life, my grandmother suddenly had a brain hemorrhage and needed money urgently for surgery.

I was planning to quit and find a job that paid quickly, just as the assessment came up.

Normally, assessments involved caring for patients within the nursing home.

But the original caregiver for the paralyzed old man had an emergency back in her hometown.

The director offered a 2,000-dollar allowance, and whoever took care of the old man would get the money.

My sister didn’t want to suffer hardships, and I thought the money would be enough to cover a few days of hospital stay for my grandmother, so I agreed.

Celina, who chose to care for the wealthy young man, scoffed at me.

“Sis, you’re a college graduate. Don’t you have any sense? Marry a rich guy, and you’ll have everything you want.”

Relying on her looks, she hooked up with that rich heir while nursing him.

But little did she know that the moment the heir was discharged, he’d cut ties with her.

But Celina got pregnant.

In the end, she forced him to marry her because of the baby.

However, just a few days after the wedding, the Lloyd family’s distillery suddenly faced a downfall.

Celina’s mother-in-law and husband both ended up in jail, sentenced to life.

She tried to flee home overnight, but the family’s enemies beat her until she miscarried.

Terrified, she became mentally unstable, too ashamed to return home, and ended up scavenging for food on the streets.

And the paralyzed old man I cared for during those forty-plus days left his villa and remaining wealth to me when he passed away.

By the time I got the money, my grandmother was already gone.

Her dying wish was to see my sister one last time.

I went through hell to find my sister who was living on the streets.

When she heard that I had inherited the villa, she was consumed by jealousy.

She pushed me in front of a speeding truck.

The truck swerved out of control, and she didn’t escape either. We both got hit and died.

Sadly, my dying grandmother didn’t get to see her, nor did she get to see me one last time.

…

Now, I didn’t have time to deal with Celina.

My only goal was to gather 300,000 dollars for my grandmother’s surgery within 43 days.

###3

Nathan Lloyd, the rich guy, was staying in Room 302.

When I entered, he was sitting with his leg in a cast, frowning at his laptop.

The moment he noticed me, his expression turned to one of annoyance.

“Great, just when I was finally making some progress, you had to interrupt,” he snapped. “This room doesn’t need cleaning. Get out!”

I had heard about Nathan’s temper.

In the previous life, when Celina walked in all dolled up, he didn’t even bother looking at her before kicking her out.

But the new bed linens, mop, and bucket I had struggled to drag up three flights of stairs were sitting right there.

And now he wanted me to leave just because he said so?

Ignoring him, I continued changing the pillowcases.

“Didn’t you hear me? Are you deaf or something?” he shouted, slamming his mouse on the desk.

I paused and glanced at his laptop screen.

He quickly blocked my view with his hand.

“What are you staring at? Didn’t you hear me? Do I need to repeat myself? You really don’t take a hint, do you?” he sneered, glaring at me.

I met his gaze calmly. “I just need three minutes.”

Seeing that his attitude wasn’t getting through to me, Nathan finally sighed in defeat. He picked up his laptop and, with great reluctance, dragged his cast-covered leg over to the desk by the window.

I finished changing the sheets, mopped the floor, and was about to take out the trash when he called out, “Hold on.”

In the bright light from the window, Nathan’s chiseled face looked striking, but his superior attitude was less than appealing.

“Elsa Hamilton, right?” he asked. “You said you’d be done in three minutes, but you took twenty. That’s inefficient and has disrupted my work. You can expect a complaint.”

Wait, he was going to complain because I followed standard cleaning procedures?

I smiled calmly. “When did I say I’d finish cleaning in three minutes?”

His jaw clenched as he realized I wasn’t backing down. “I didn’t expect to meet such a shameless person in a nursing home,” he muttered. “Forget it, I’m not going to complain. You can just wait to be fired.”

The more irritated he became, the calmer I felt.

Seeing him so riled up made me smile inwardly.

“Oh, right. I just remembered,” I said, snapping my fingers. “When I said three minutes, I was talking about this.”

I pointed at his laptop.

###4

After typing a quick string of code, I hit enter, and the program ran perfectly.

Two minutes and three seconds.

Throwing the bedsheets over my shoulder, I grabbed the trash bag and mop, and walked casually out of the room.

Nathan was left behind, pointing at his laptop and then at me, his mouth open in disbelief, unable to form a single word.

When he had slammed the mouse earlier, I had been ready to leave.

But one glance at his screen, and I knew I had this under control.

The problem he had been struggling with all night? I had solved it back in high school.

I should have mentioned, I had been interested in programming and Java since elementary school.

In college, I even developed an antivirus software.

When my grandmother fell ill, I tried to sell it, but no company was willing to take a chance on a female college student’s work.

So, it was pure luck that I ran into Nathan and his problem.

As the door clicked shut behind me, I thought, “Nathan, just you wait. You’ll be the one investing in me soon enough.”

…

Over the next few days, Nathan kept asking me about this and that, and was clearly puzzled by how a girl could be so skilled at programming.

I was equally puzzled as to why a rich heir like him didn’t just hire a tutor.

But I didn’t ask.

After all, he started taking over tasks like making the bed, sweeping the floor, and taking out the trash, even dragging his injured leg around to do them.

It helped build a rapport, and it took some of the workload off my shoulders, so why not?

More than half a month passed.

I didn’t pay much attention to the gossip around the nursing home.

After all, they weren’t wrong – I was in it for the money.

Seeing how close I was getting with Nathan, I planned to talk to him about investing right after my lunch break.

The sooner I could arrange for my grandmother’s surgery, the sooner she could recover.

As I was heading downstairs for lunch, I ran into Nathan’s mother, Gloria.

She looked much thinner in person than she did in photos, bending over to tie the straps of her high heels.

She tied the laces swiftly and precisely, with the ends perfectly aligned – showing she was someone who valued efficiency.

While waiting in line for food, I overheard some of the staff gossiping about Gloria.

“After her husband passed, she took over the family’s distillery and made it even more successful.”

“She’s a real power woman. That’s for sure.”

“Yeah, but what does it matter? I heard she doesn’t get along with her son. If he hadn’t gotten injured, she probably wouldn’t even be here.”

That last comment made sense.

Nathan had been in the nursing home for over twenty days, and this was only Gloria’s second visit.

Figuring they had a lot to talk about, I decided not to go back upstairs right away.

Instead, I stayed downstairs to hang some laundry.

I had just finished hanging a sheet when the sound of hurried high heels on the stairs caught everyone’s attention.

We all looked up to see Gloria, gripping the handrail with a stern expression.

“Who here is Elsa?” she demanded.

###5

When Celina returned to the nursing home to grab her toiletries, she walked right into a scene where Nathan’s mother was berating me.

“If you want to pursue my son, do it openly. I don’t mind your background. But if you think you can manipulate your way into the Lloyd family, you might as well give up now.”

The director shot me a look, signaling me to keep quiet.

Humbly, he tried to placate the sharp-tongued Gloria, apologizing profusely. After a while, she finally seemed to calm down and left.

As soon as she was gone, Celina couldn’t resist taunting me.

“Well, well, looks like your plan to get close to him backfired, didn’t it? Actually, I should take some blame here. I only told you that getting close to Nathan wouldn’t be easy. I forgot to mention his mom despises anything related to coding.”

It became clear to me that Celina had timed her return to witness my embarrassment, knowing Gloria would show up today.

She wanted to see me humiliated.

But I barely listened to her muttering. As I watched Gloria’s figure retreat into the distance, I made a decision.

If Nathan didn’t have the final say in his family’s affairs, why not aim to win over his mother directly?

Celina, mistaking my silence for frustration at being unable to enter high society, leaned in and “helpfully” whispered a suggestion in my ear.

“Hey, sis, want me to teach you a trick? Slip him something, and once the deed is done, there’s no going back... He’s the son of a public figure, after all. That’ll guarantee you a spot in the family.”

Her smug grin made everything clear.

No wonder she managed to marry into the Lloyd family so quickly in our previous life.

She had used underhanded tactics.

Nathan might have a bad temper, but he also had a soft heart.

Just a few days ago, a stray cat had somehow wandered into his room.

Though he grumbled and cursed, he still limped around, giving it water and even asked me to buy some cat food.

When a patient’s family adopted the cat later, he couldn’t stop mentioning how much he missed the little thing.

I couldn’t understand before.

How could someone so kind-hearted towards animals turn his back on a person?

Now, it was clear Celina had gone to great lengths to secure her future.

After offering her suggestion, she couldn’t resist bragging about her own situation.

“Sis, you wouldn’t believe how filthy that old man is. Sometimes, the whole bed reeks, but I still take good care of him. He probably won’t last much longer. Who knows, maybe when he dies, he’ll leave the villa to me. What do you think?”

Mr. Marshall, the paralyzed man, had actually treated me well in our previous life.

At least Celina was motivated by the prospect of inheriting his villa, so she would take care of him properly.

I put on an envious face.

“Oh, you better take good care of him, sis. If he leaves the villa to you, you’ll be sitting pretty.”

“Of course, I will!” She beamed, her face full of pride. “Let’s hope I get the villa, and you manage to marry into the Lloyd family.”

Hearing her speak so confidently as if everything was already in the bag, I couldn’t help but click my tongue.

She probably didn’t realize that the moment she received that will, her nightmare would just begin.