After being released from prison, I started doing risqué late-night livestreams for money. When my stepmother found out, she tried to persuade me to seduce my sister’s boss. I said, “Fine, but don’t regret it!” I want your whole family to pay for what you did to me and my deceased mother. 0 The sales representative called me at noon, reminding me to pay the remaining balance for the two burial plots I had reserved. I opened PayPal to check my balance: $19,654.07. I was still $345 short of the final payment. The sales rep suggested, “Miss Foster, if you’re tight on funds right now, we have two suitable plots in section three. They’re $4,000 cheaper than these two, and if you pay in full today, you’ll get an additional 2% discount.” I knew I couldn’t give up on those two plots. They were at the highest point on the hill, overlooking the entire city. My mother had been buried in a muddy plot in our hometown for most of her life. I wanted her to be buried with me at the highest point in this city. Together, we would watch my father’s family of three face their retribution. 0
I bought a ticket home and packed my meager belongings. On a misty morning, I returned to my father’s city from the place I had been living. By noon, I was standing at my father’s doorstep with my luggage. I hadn’t been back since my release from prison, so I had no memory of this shabby house in the run-down neighborhood. I couldn’t remember my stepmother’s phone number, so I had to tell my dad I was coming home. While waiting for him to come and open the door, a neighbor who recognized me stared at me for a long time. “You’re Mia Foster, aren’t you?” she asked. I nodded awkwardly. The woman glared at me, spat in my direction, and turned away. “Six years in prison and you still haven’t learned your lesson. You’re back to doing that disgusting stuff online as soon as you’re out.” “Robert must be blind to have a daughter like you!” It seemed my stepmother had already spread exaggerated stories about my livestreaming throughout the neighborhood. I couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. Sitting on my suitcase, I said, “You’d better keep a close eye on your son, so I don’t have a chance to seduce him.” “You little slut!” The woman was furious. “You’re nothing but a whore. Why don’t you just die? You’re wasting oxygen by being alive!” I laughed coldly. Don’t worry, I’ll be dead soon enough. The winter in this city was damp and cold. Even the slightest breeze could chill you to the bone. Despite wearing thick thermal pants, the cold wind made my lower body ache and go numb. After six years in prison, it had been a long time since I’d experienced winter outside. I sat on my suitcase, enduring the cold wind for four hours, until lights began to come on in the apartments around the neighborhood. That’s when I saw Chloe post on social media. It was a photo of her cutting a birthday cake in a restaurant with our dad and Stephanie. The warmth of the family scene was almost palpable through the screen. The caption read: “With a sincere heart, I embrace the lessons of time. Many thanks to my dearest daddy and mommy for ushering in my 23rd year.” Oh, so today was Chloe’s birthday. Chloe, my half-sister, the one who had pushed me into the abyss. I looked at my dad’s unanswered message and called the locksmith’s number posted on the wall. 0
In six years, the layout of the house had changed completely. The largest bedroom had become Chloe’s exclusive “princess room,” while what used to be my room, barely larger than the bathroom, had been merged with the balcony. The down jacket my mother had left me before she died was now being used as a dog bed. “Woof! Woof! Woof!” The family dog barked incessantly at me, so I simply locked it in Chloe’s room. My dad, who hadn’t replied to my message, finally called and told me to stay with a friend for now. Lying on the couch, I lied and said I had nowhere to go. Perhaps out of guilt, dad sent me $200 via PayPal, saying, “The house is being renovated, so there’s no place for you to stay. Go find a motel for now, and tomorrow you can go stay with your uncle in the countryside for a few days.” “You’re busy, I’ll figure it out myself!” I replied. Two hours later, I saw Chloe post a video. She was enjoying a luxurious hot spring with our dad and Stephanie. Next to them was my typically weak-willed father and my obese stepmother. This time, the caption read: “Thanks, Dad, for letting me experience a hot spring that only the wealthy can afford.” Below the video was a comment from my dad – three rose emojis. Such a touching father-daughter moment, how enviable! Lying on the couch, I thought it would be nice if they stayed away for a few more days. That way, I could come home, get my family registration document, remove myself from it, and cut ties with this family of three for good. But things didn’t go as planned. At 1 AM, thanks to some neighbor’s “kind” reminder, the family of three returned home with the police. 0
“Officer, this little bitch was just released from prison. You’d better take her back and teach her a lesson,” my stepmother’s shrill voice echoed through the building as soon as the door opened. “Robert, look at your good-for-nothing daughter. She’s been in jail for years and hasn’t learned a thing. Now she’s breaking and entering!” “You little slut, why couldn’t you have died in prison?” The police officer approached me and asked, “Let me see your ID. What’s your relationship to the owner of this house?” “I’m his daughter. I couldn’t find my key, so I called a locksmith to open the door to my own home. Is that a crime?” I handed my ID to the officer. The officer looked at my dad, expecting him to say something. But my dad looked at Stephanie and finally muttered, “Didn’t I give you money to stay at a motel? Calling someone to open someone else’s door like this, aren’t you just causing trouble for yourself?” So, in my father’s eyes, I was already an outsider? Dad pulled the officer aside and explained something, finally sending him away. Stephanie glared at me with hatred. “Robert, check if anything’s missing. Even if it’s just a pair of chopsticks, I want to send this little bitch back to jail for a few more days.” Chloe, who had been standing nearby, suddenly remembered something and rushed into her bedroom. “Mom, she locked Buddy in my room! There’s pee and poop everywhere!” Chloe angrily chased the dog out and stood at the door, crying pitifully. “Mia Foster, what have your father and I ever done to wrong you? Do you want to tear this family apart before you’re satisfied?” Stephanie demanded. “Where’s my room?” I asked. “You went to jail, why would we keep a room for you?” Stephanie was furious. She grabbed an ashtray from the table and threw it at me. I didn’t dodge. The ashtray hit my head, causing a wave of dizziness. I vaguely felt blood trickling down. “Looks like six years in prison didn’t teach you anything. Look at yourself, you’re just like your dead mother!” “Like mother, like daughter. Expecting a whore to give birth to a phoenix, what a joke!” I remained silent, but my gaze was fixed on Stephanie. If it wasn’t for her seducing my dad in the city, he wouldn’t have spent the money meant for my mom’s treatment on her. In the end, my mom died next to a dying fire in the cold winter. “After your mom died, I wanted to sell the house in your hometown and buy a new one in the city!” After my mother’s simple funeral, dad set his sights on the house my grandfather had left my mom in our hometown. He didn’t even let me refuse. I secretly went to the hill where my mother was buried, thinking about her lying in the mud, and cried my eyes out. But I was powerless. To survive, I had to follow my dad to the city and live in the new home he had built with someone else. “Do I need to remind you how we got this house?” I tried to argue. Stephanie sneered, “The money from selling that house was all spent on you.” “All these years, your schooling, food, clothes – which of these didn’t cost money? You have the nerve to bring this up?” Right, a person who could only wear her sister’s hand-me-downs and lick empty snack bags on the rooftop in summer must have cost the family a fortune. I looked at my dad comforting Chloe and thought about the medical diagnosis in my bag. I had wanted to use it to evoke some final genuine care from my dad before I died. Forget it, there’s no point in showing it now! 0
I ended up sleeping at home that night. Stephanie wanted to thoroughly check if anything was missing, afraid she wouldn’t be able to contact me if I left. “I’m going to check every inch of this house tonight. If even one thing is missing, I’ll personally drag you to the police station,” she threatened. “That’s enough. The bankbook is still here, isn’t it?” Dad rarely spoke up. “What about the watch I bought for Chloe? It cost thousands!” Stephanie persisted. “It probably just fell somewhere,” Dad replied. Since there was no longer a room for me, I had to make do with the couch. Because I needed to raise the remaining balance, I waited until they were asleep and opened my livestreaming app. I changed into a thin, low-cut nightgown and started streaming on the balcony. Men love this kind of thing. Although I tried to be as quiet as possible, I still woke up Stephanie. She stood in the living room, cursing. “If you want to act like a whore, do it somewhere else. Don’t pollute my home.” I had no choice but to end the stream and lie on the couch, wrapping myself in the down jacket from my luggage. Yes, not even a blanket in this house belonged to me. Early the next morning, I took my family registration document to the police station to process my removal from it. The police told me that without proof of property ownership, an unmarried person couldn’t remove themselves from their family’s registration. I was devastated. I couldn’t afford to buy a house! And marriage? Who would want to marry a “bad girl” who had “killed” someone, and was now in the late stages of cervical cancer with little time left to live? I returned home dejectedly. The couch was full of people, and the down jacket I had used as a blanket last night was bundled up and thrown onto the balcony. “Stephanie, did anything go missing from the house?” someone asked. “Haven’t found anything yet!” Stephanie called from the kitchen where she was busy making porridge. She deliberately raised her voice when she saw me come in. As soon as I entered the house, the pain hit me again. My lower body started to ache. “Isn’t it said that people who’ve been to prison are well-educated by the state?” a sharp-faced woman stared at me as she spoke. “How a person turns out depends on their mother’s upbringing. Wouldn’t you agree, Mrs. Pay?” another chimed in. “Absolutely. You can’t expect a phoenix to hatch from a chicken’s egg!” The living room erupted in laughter. “Mrs. Pay, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Just for that comment, I’ll make sure to give you an extra-large bowl of my Laba porridge,” Stephanie called from the kitchen. Oh, so today was the Laba Festival. Since I got sick, I’ve forgotten so many things – memories, friends, even dates. Ever since I came to the city with my dad at the age of six, Stephanie had been calling me “little bastard” behind my back and telling others that my mom was lazy and just waiting for dad to make money. She spread rumors that my mom was cheating on my dad. She’s been saying these things for over a decade, and she still seems to enjoy it. Fighting through the pain in my body, I deliberately bumped into the woman who had just spoken to Stephanie and sat down on the edge of the sofa. Looking at her, I said, “Auntie Pay, you were already pregnant when you married my uncle. Did you ever tell him the child wasn’t his?” This was a piece of gossip I had overheard Stephanie sharing with others behind closed doors thirteen years ago. “You little bitch, what nonsense are you spouting?” Stephanie, who had been busy in the kitchen, rushed out and slapped me across the face. I pretended to be wronged and said, “Mom, isn’t that what you said back then? You said Auntie Pay had been used and discarded by someone in the city, and she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to have children if she had an abortion, so she secretly slept with Uncle next door while hiding her pregnancy…” Since I didn’t have much life left anyway, I decided I would no longer hold back. “You little bastard, I’m going to beat you to death today!” Mrs. Pay was furious and lunged at me. Faced with everyone’s stares, Stephanie didn’t know how to explain. She could only run back to the kitchen and tell my dad to come home quickly. 0
The lively pre-Christmas gathering turned cold and quiet because of my few words. Stephanie told me to pack my things and get out, never to return to this home again. “Don’t worry, once I get my name removed from the family registration, I’ll never come back to disturb your perfect family of three,” I promised her. I shamelessly lay down on the couch to sleep. The physical pain almost made me pass out, until I heard my dad’s voice in the living room. Dad came back and lectured me, saying I shouldn’t have spoken ill of Stephanie in front of the neighbors. “Mia, it’s dad’s fault for not raising you properly all these years, but Stephanie is innocent in this,” he said. “You were only six or seven at the time, and I was always out trying to make money. If it wasn’t for Stephanie taking care of this home and looking after you and Chloe, this family would have fallen apart long ago.” He tried to comfort me: “What’s done is done with the prison thing. Now that you’re out and not getting any younger, and with the family’s tight finances these past couple of years, why don’t you find someone suitable and get married?” My heart felt like it was being stabbed! No matter what he said, I didn’t respond. “Mia, I hope you’ll consider things from my perspective. Dad’s getting old now, don’t make things difficult for me.” I curled up tightly, controlling my emotions so I wouldn’t cry out loud. Robert Foster, I will leave. I won’t make things difficult for you anymore. 0
I still couldn’t resolve the issue of removing myself from the family registration. I really couldn’t find anyone to marry. And I couldn’t afford to buy a house! Without these two conditions, I had no way to remove myself from my family’s registration. Fortunately, I managed to scrape together the remaining three thousand dollars for the burial plots. I transferred the final payment to the cemetery company’s account. Only after confirming that the two plots truly belonged to me did I feel some relief. As I was preparing to sleep that night, Stephanie came out of the bedroom with an envelope and stood in front of me. “What is it? It’s late,” I said, thinking she wanted to settle scores with me. She threw the envelope on the coffee table. “I’ve asked around. A woman like you is only worth this much for a night. Take the money and come with me tomorrow night to meet someone.” “What do you mean?” “Chloe has been in the dance troupe for over a year but hasn’t had a chance to perform a solo. You’re single anyway, so go spend a night with their dance troupe director. The money will be yours.” “I’ve raised you since your mother died. I’ve provided for you all these years, and I’m not asking for you to repay me in the future. Just do me this favor, and we’ll call it even for all the years I’ve taken care of you.” “Since you’re already in this line of work, just consider it me looking out for your business.” “If you please this director well, he might even be willing to keep you as his mistress. Then you won’t have to beg for a few dollars from men through your livestreams every day.” 0 Ever since I went to prison six years ago, my stepmother had labeled me as a bad woman. I coldly replied, “Take your money and get out!”
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