chapter 3

Oh, 1.

Fuck you, 1.

[Yuan: Thank you.]

Breathing a sigh of relief, I exited the interface.

Just as I was about to uninstall WeChat, my phone suddenly vibrated a few times:

[Lu Jiajia: Sis, I’m sorry… I’ll ask Mom, Dad, and the brothers to go back now.]

[Lu Jiajia: Eldest Brother is busy with work, let’s not trouble him.]

[Third Brother: Go back my ass!]

[Third Brother: Isn’t all this drama because it’s your birthday today, but we went on a picnic with Jiajia?]

[Third Brother: We already said we’d come back tonight to celebrate with you, Lu Siyuan, what more do you want?]

[Third Brother: Will you only be satisfied if the whole family is unhappy? Will you die if you stop pretending for one day?]

My chest tightened sharply.

I pressed my lips together and let out a bitter laugh:

[Yuan: Sure, see? I’m about to die.]

Lu Jiajia, the adopted daughter brought home from the orphanage in the third year after my parents accidentally lost me.

She was meant to carry their longing and guilt for me.

By all accounts, she was my replacement.

But ever since I returned to the Lu Family,

I’ve always envied her… for being the sunshine that pulled the whole family out of the shadows.

Unlike me, burdened with all sorts of aftereffects from being abducted and abused:

Uneducated, rustic, timid, crude and awkward…

While they always felt guilty towards me,

They also kept a repressed distance and restraint.

So polite that I felt like a permanent guest in this home.

Unlike Jiajia, who could joke, act spoiled, and mess around with them like real family.

All these years, I’ve been trying so hard to get close to them, to fit into this family.

Trying to erase the estrangement brought by those seven missing years.

Trying… to make them love me.

But no matter how much I tried to please them, they always favored Lu Jiajia more.

They even started to think I was jealous, bullying, and deliberately competing with Lu Jiajia for their affection.

They grew more and more disgusted with me.

Until that day, everything shattered:

“We already checked, your pill bottle only has vitamins!”

“So what exactly is hurting your stomach every few days?”

“Are you using our guilt to trick the whole family into catering to you? Is it fun?”

“Is competing with Jiajia for affection fun?”

No, it’s not fun.

So now I have Stomach Cancer, and I’m going to die.

I’ll never bully their precious Jiajia again.

This family, I don’t want it anymore.