Chapter 1

At the dinner table, I put on a guilty face and apologized to Mom.

“Last time you and Dad took my brother to the amusement park, I shouldn’t have gotten upset and dragged my sister into it.”

As I spoke, I put the other half of the crab I’d shelled into my brother’s bowl. “Here. Have all of mine.”

He picked up the crab and took a bite before Mom could stop him. The moment it reached his mouth, he spat it out. “Mom! This crab’s rotten!”

Mom’s face went livid. She carried him off to rinse his mouth.

Back at the table, she turned her fury on me. “Zhao Zixuan! You think I don’t know what you’re up to? Putting on a show for your father, aren’t you? You’ve been a conniving little flirt since you were born. What do you think you’ll be when you grow up?”

She pointed angrily at the crab she’d thrown onto the floor. “Go on. Pick it up, wash it, and eat it. No wasting food!”

Looking at her vicious, overbearing face, I couldn’t help remembering how she’d threatened the neighbor who’d thrown out the crabs as I lay dying in my previous life. “Who told you to dump your rubbish at my house? If you kill my two daughters, you’ll have to pay!”

By then, my sister had begun projectile vomiting.

I’d vomited until I was barely alive myself. Mom dumped me outside the neighbor’s door and kept threatening her. “You think you can get away with this by not answering the phone or opening the door? I’m telling you, if you don’t come out and take my girls to the hospital, whatever happens to them is your fault!”

The neighbor had actually gone out that evening.

Mom stood there swearing at an empty house for over an hour before she finally took us to the hospital, in no particular hurry.

On the way, she was still complaining. “The two of you! Princesses’ delicate constitutions and servants’ lot in life. You were born just to bleed me dry!”

But my sister was already fading. Her lips grew paler and paler. Even at the very end, she was thinking of me. “When I die, spend all the coins in our piggy bank, okay?”

She never knew that, not long after she died, Mom’s demands and delays cost me my chance at treatment too. I died on the way to the hospital.

Bang!

The sound of Dad slamming down his wine bowl slowly pulled me back to the present.

For the first time, he argued with Mom on my behalf. “Xuanxuan will be sixteen next month. Is it so strange that she’s learned to care about her brother? You’re awfully quick to lash out. What have you been doing behind my back this time?”

Mom flushed dark red, but she didn’t dare argue with him any further.

She had, in fact, spent all of this month’s housekeeping money without telling him.

I stood up to comfort her. “It’s all right, Mom. We’re young. A little expired food won’t hurt us. But Auntie just had a baby, and it isn’t easy for Uncle to support everyone on his own. They should eat well.”

My sister caught on at once. “That’s right, Dad. Auntie came over this morning and told Mom that Uncle wasn’t earning enough. Mom’s a good person. That’s why she gave her our money.”

Another bowl smashed, followed by Dad’s curses. “You ungrateful bitch! Taking from this family to feed someone else’s! You think it’s easy for me to earn that money?”

Mom screamed and tried to run, but Dad dragged her back.

Soon, sharp cries of pain came from inside the house, one after another.

I took my sister into the yard to get away from the noise. Our brother chased after us. I had no idea when someone so young had learned those words. “You filthy bitch! You’re going to get Mom killed!”

In my previous life, my sister and I had been obedient. We’d always kept Mom’s secrets. But she had never cared whether we lived or died. Whatever was cheap and expired went to us. My sister had the weakest stomach; she often lost control of her bowels at school and suffered the humiliation in front of everyone.

Now, looking at my brother’s self-righteous face, I felt nothing but disgust. “Zhao Zixing! Mom’s never made you eat sour rice and rotten vegetables. All you can do is stand here barking at me? Why don’t you go inside and help her? Is this how you repay her? Coward.”

Zhao Zixing couldn’t bear being goaded like that.

He charged inside, full of righteous fury, and shouted at Dad. “Mom didn’t do anything wrong! You’re just stingy!”

Dad had always favored him. For the first time, he turned that terrible rage on his son. “Oh, so you were in on it too?”

A moment later, my brother’s screams joined the jumble of curses coming from inside.

My sister and I sat in the yard, looking at the stars.

The wind had a bitter edge.

But I didn’t feel cold at all. As her icy little hand gradually warmed in mine, all I could think was how wonderful it was that she was alive.

As though she’d sensed something, she looked up at me. “You were amazing today.”

I gave her a warm smile. “From today on, I’ll protect you for the rest of your life.”