My family runs a butcher shop. Turns out, I was switched at birth with the daughter of the Blackwells, the wealthiest family in the state. The day they came to take the real heiress—me—home, I figured the fake one, the girl who’d lived my life, wouldn't show her face at my old house. But she did. And she brought her copy of A Guide to Scientific Swine Management with her. I, on the other hand, just shoved my hands in my pockets and slid into the car. The broody CEO brother sent to fetch me shot me a sideways glance. "Where's your luggage?" I answered slowly, "Too lazy to pack. Isn't bringing myself enough?" My new brother, Ryan, was speechless. 1 I settled into the plush leather seat, buckled myself in, and found a comfortable position to sink into. Then I went still. The look Ryan Blackwell gave me was… complicated. Like he was trying to decipher a piece of abstract art. Oh, right. Ryan is my long-lost biological brother. Profession: walking cliché of a CEO. And I’m the real heiress they misplaced. My attitude, more suited for a picnic than a life-altering family reunion, seemed to throw him. He was silent for a long moment before speaking again. "You're not going to say goodbye?" "No—" "Mia! My one and only sister! You can't just leave like this!" My reply was cut short by a theatrical wail. A human missile launched itself at the car, plastering its face against my window and clawing at my hands. "I can't live without you! What am I going to do when you're gone?" he sobbed, shaking my arm with such force I felt like a strand of seaweed in a storm. My soul was about to vibrate right out of my mouth. "Yeah, well, I'm a goner now," I said, closing my eyes peacefully. "If you need anything, hold a séance." My brother, Leo, paused his hysterics for a beat, then cried even louder. "Mia, I finished the diagnostic test for the game! When are you gonna send me an invite code—" He was abruptly hoisted to his feet by an unseen force, and the waterworks stopped instantly. It was Jessie, the girl I’d been switched with. She clutched a thick binder to her chest and pushed a pair of glasses up her nose. A cold glint seemed to flash behind the lenses. "Leo Miller, correct?" she asked, her tone clinical. "According to our parents, you've been in charge of the feeding regimen for the eight pigs in the backyard?" Her serious, interrogative manner made Leo snap to attention, adopting the solemn posture of a schoolboy facing the principal. "Y-yes? Is there a problem?" Jessie flipped open her binder with a crisp thwack and produced a fountain pen from her pocket. She began scribbling furiously as she fired off questions. "What are the daily feeding times? How are the piglets' appetites? What is the duration of their post-meal exercise? Have you observed any abnormalities in their fecal matter?" With each question, Leo's mouth fell open a little wider until he looked completely stupefied. Ryan, however, seemed to have expected this. He merely lifted an eyelid, observing the scene from the sidelines without a word. I shot Jessie a look of genuine surprise. From heiress of a fortune to the daughter of a butcher, she showed no sign of whiplash. In fact, she was adapting faster than I was. Jessie met my gaze and gave me a polite, professional nod. I smirked and pointed at the dumbstruck Leo. "He's useful," I told her. "Whatever grand plans you have, just point him at it." Jessie's eyes lit up. She thought for a moment, then stated a simple, powerful fact. "The Blackwells… have money." Ryan, the Blackwell heir, shifted uncomfortably. Leo, the butcher's son, looked terrified. 2 It was nearly ten by the time we reached the Blackwell mansion, well past my usual bedtime. My eyelids were in a losing battle with gravity; I was about to fall asleep on my feet. But as I stepped through the door, a saccharine, syrupy voice jolted me awake. "Ryan, you're finally back! Auntie Liu, please bring out the chicken and wild rice soup you prepared! My brother must be exhausted after such a long day on the road. He probably didn't even eat properly." A girl in a floaty white dress fluttered over, fussing around Ryan with a perfectly furrowed brow of concern. After a torrent of words, her gaze finally landed on me. She covered her mouth with a delicate hand. "Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about you." She glanced at me timidly, then back at Ryan. "Ryan, is this… Mia? Does this mean that… that Jessie really isn't coming back?" Ryan's face was a stony mask. "Where she goes is her business. From now on, Mia is your sister." He turned to me. "This is Lily. She's a child my mother sponsors. Adopted, more or less." Lily looked at me, her expression a careful performance of anxiety. "Mia… sister… I didn't know you were coming today, so I didn't prepare anything for you. You… you won't hold it against me, will you?" I covered my mouth to stifle a yawn. My body was here, but my soul had already checked out. Are we done yet? I just want to find a bed and pass out. Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose, a flicker of exhaustion crossing his handsome face. "She's tired from the trip. Take her to her room to rest." Lily bit her lip. "…But her room isn't ready yet." Ryan’s hand dropped, his brow creasing. "What do you mean? I told you to have it prepared before I left." His sharp gaze fell on the housekeeper, Auntie Liu. Lily rushed to explain, wringing her hands. "It's not Auntie Liu's fault, it's mine! I thought, since my sister was coming home, I should give her my room. But… but I have so many things, I couldn't get it cleared out in time." As she spoke, she looked as if she were on the verge of tears. Ryan's frown deepened. "There are plenty of empty rooms upstairs. Just prepare one of those." "But my room has the best light! A sister coming home deserves the very best. It's all my fault, I should have moved out sooner. I never should have taken such a nice room in the first place… Maybe she can sleep in my room tonight? I can sleep anywhere, really. Sister…" Lily dabbed at her eyes, turning to me with a look of brave self-sacrifice, but her words died in her throat. Ryan followed her gaze. His own composed expression finally cracked. Leaning against the wall, eyes closed, I was already fast asleep. 3 I slept until noon the next day, waking up in a completely unfamiliar room. I wasn't fazed in the slightest. Once, when I was a kid, I went with my dad on a late-night butchering job. On the way back at dawn, I was so tired I saw a pile of hay on the side of the road, flopped down, and was instantly out. Dad was walking ahead and turned around to find his daughter had vanished into thin air. Scared the hell out of him. Mom nagged him about it for a month, and young Leo was given a new, solemn duty: keep an eye on Mia, and don't let her fall asleep in random places. When I came downstairs, Ryan and Lily were already at the dining table. Ryan looked up at me, a flicker of what seemed like relief on his face. He’d probably never seen someone sleep so much like a corpse—utterly unresponsive. If I wasn't still warm to the touch, he might have called an ambulance. Once I sat down, he asked a few perfunctory questions about how I slept and told me to make a list of anything I needed so his assistant could buy it. Across the table, Lily bit her lip, looking like she was bursting to say something. Naturally, I said nothing. Getting an extra word out of me was a feat of herculean effort. Leo could attest to the number of times he’d practically begged me on his knees just to acknowledge his existence. When the food arrived, I focused on the dish directly in front of me, slowly picking at it. Ryan glanced at me. Then glanced again. Finally, he couldn't hold it in any longer. "There's so much food. Why are you only eating that one dish?" He softened his tone slightly. "This is your home. Don't be formal. Take whatever you want." It was the opening Lily had been waiting for. She immediately began piling food onto my plate. "Sister, you've probably never had any of this before. You should try everything. I know your family… runs a butcher shop…" She let out a little "ah!" and covered her mouth, her eyes wide. "Oh, sister, I didn't mean it like that! I'm not looking down on butchers, really. It’s just, living in a place like that, you must have suffered a lot. But now that you're back with the Blackwells, everything is different. Just tell me what you want to eat, and I'll have Auntie Liu make it for you." She stared at me, waiting for a reaction. I just gave a flat "Oh," and added, "Thanks." She waited, but I offered nothing more. The smile on her face stiffened. After a moment, I turned to Ryan. "It's too far. Lifting my arm is tiring." Ryan blinked, taking a second to realize I was answering his earlier question. A look of mingled frustration and amusement crossed his face. "It's just lifting your arm…" My phone buzzed with a string of notifications. Seeing me ignore it, Ryan prompted, "Aren't you going to check that?" "It's nothing," I said without looking up, continuing to eat. Lily's eyes darted. Suddenly, she reached out, picked up my phone, and put on an expression of thoughtful concern. "What if it's something urgent? Just because you're a Blackwell now doesn't mean you should cut off everyone from your old life." With that, she unlocked the screen. A series of desperate cries immediately filled the room. "MIA, SAVE ME! I'M BEGGING YOU! THIS WOMAN IS A DEMON! SHE STAYS UP ALL NIGHT WRITING BUSINESS PLANS FOR PIGS! THE POSTNATAL CARE GUIDELINES FOR SOWS ALONE ARE A HUNDRED. ITEMS. LONG!" "SHE'S TALKING ABOUT EXPANDING OUR BUTCHER STALL, AIMING TO INCORPORATE IN SIX MONTHS AND GO PUBLIC IN THREE YEARS!" "SHE DRAGGED ME OUT OF BED AT 6 A.M. TO CONDUCT HEALTH ASSESSMENTS ON EVERY SINGLE PIG, AND THEN SHE MADE THEM DO AEROBICS!" "I DON'T WANT THE REST OF MY LIFE TO BE TIED TO PIGS! I DON'T WANT TO BE THE HEIR TO A PORK EMPIRE, EVEN IF IT'S PUBLICLY TRADED!" 4 The string of anguished howls echoed through the dining room, painting a vivid picture of Leo’s mental breakdown. An awkward silence fell over the room. Ryan sat up a little straighter. "I'm finished. Enjoy your meal." He stood up and strode out of the house, heading for work with a sudden, inexplicable surge of energy. As for Lily, who was usually the center of all drama, she was suddenly as quiet as a mouse. A thoughtful expression crossed my face. Jessie. The girl who was supposed to be me, the former Blackwell heiress, and now Leo's actual sister. She was that intimidating, huh? Under Leo's continuous barrage of text-message agony, I learned just how much of an overachiever Jessie was. She wasn't just writing business plans late into the night; she was already renovating the facilities, implementing scientific breeding and butchering protocols. She had even humbled herself to work at Dad's butcher stall for three days, observing and then implementing a complete overhaul. And you know what? Her changes had elevated the humble stall to a whole new level. Business was booming. The only victim was Leo, who had become the sole soldier in Jessie's one-woman army. But that wasn't even the most terrifying part. The butcher shop was just Jessie's side hustle. Her main job was Team Lead in the project development department at Blackwell Corp. She had applied for the job right after she turned eighteen, starting as a junior employee and earning every promotion on her own merit. No one at the company even knew she was the boss's daughter. Terrifying. Utterly terrifying. Suddenly, Ryan's newfound sense of urgency this morning made perfect sense. With a super-hustler like that for a sister, constantly threatening his CEO throne, how could he ever relax? But now he had me, his new slacker sister. He probably didn't have to worry anymore. While my CEO brother was out providing for the family, I was sprawled on the sofa, playing on my phone. Lily finished her piano practice. I was on the sofa. Lily finished her dance lesson. I was on the sofa. Lily was learning to bake with Auntie Liu. I flipped over to my other side. "Sister, you…" Lily approached me with a plate of freshly baked cookies, her words trailing off. My fingers were tapping away on the screen. I hadn't even registered the human-shaped organism standing beside me. A flash of annoyance crossed Lily's pretty face, and her voice rose sharply. "Sister, the Blackwells may be wealthy, but that doesn't mean we should waste our lives. We should strive to better ourselves." She paused, biting her lip before continuing. "Perhaps the environment you grew up in was… lacking. You haven't been exposed to truly exceptional people, so your perspective is limited. You've grown accustomed to that… aimless, day-to-day existence of the lower class, but—" Her tone sharpened, her fists clenching as she stared at me, her face a mask of righteous anger. "That's no excuse for you to be so degenerate!" I looked up, bewildered. "What is she talking about?" Lily frowned, about to speak again, when a familiar voice cut through from my phone. "She's always been like that. Can't make a point, no logical flow, her semantics are a mess." On the other end of the line, Jessie paused, then added with emphasis, "Lily, did you just skip every English class you ever had? Is that what your teachers taught you? Or is there something wrong with the way you learn? How can a grown person be so utterly incapable of articulating a coherent thought?" "Chlo… Jessie?" Lily's face went pale. She tensed, instinctively standing up straight. Jessie's words seemed to hit her hard. She turned and walked away, looking utterly dejected. Over the phone, Jessie thanked me. "Your system is brilliant. Leo was right, you're incredibly good at this." I gave a noncommittal grunt. Before hanging up, Jessie remembered something. "By the way, Mom and Dad… the Blackwells… will be back in a few days. They're very different from our parents at the butcher shop. You should probably brace yourself." Different how? Were they not human? I pondered it for two seconds before dismissing it from my mind. 5 My life at the Blackwells' was no different from my life at the Millers'. It was just a new place to lie down. And damn, the sofa in the Blackwells' living room was comfortable. For the past few days, aside from going upstairs to sleep, I'd barely left it. I'd considered just sleeping on the sofa, but Ryan, down for a glass of water, caught me in the act and banished me back to my bedroom. He even escorted me to the door to make sure I didn't sneak back. "These years with the Millers…" He looked like he wanted to say something, but ended up just pinching the bridge of his nose. "Never mind. Get some sleep." In these few days, Ryan had gotten a full education on the difference between a human and a human sloth. I could hold the same position for hours without moving. The day I arrived, he’d given me a credit card with a $200,000 monthly allowance. Hilarious. I hadn't even set foot outside the front door, let alone spent any money. It was only because Ryan was home from work today that he realized just how… precariously I was living. The kind of existence where one could accidentally perish from sheer inertia. He couldn't stand it anymore and took it upon himself to manually flip me over—no, I mean, to correct my unhealthy lifestyle. One minute he was pulling me up to stretch my limbs, the next he was telling me to look away from the screen and focus on something in the distance. He was driving me nuts. For the first time, I voluntarily asked him why he was home. Ryan paused, about to answer, when the sound of a car pulling up outside made him go silent. Lily, who had been practicing piano upstairs, came bounding down the stairs and threw herself into a woman's arms like a homing pigeon. "Mom! Dad! You're back! I missed you so, so much!" The woman hugged her, cooing "my baby," while the man beside them joined the embrace. The three of them were a picture of familial bliss, their conversation a cascade of warm, effusive endearments. Mrs. Blackwell launched into an excited monologue about their trip, showing off a mountain of gifts, while Lily played her part perfectly, gasping with a "Wow!" at every item and providing a geyser of enthusiastic reactions. The chatter continued all through dinner, with Mr. Blackwell smiling indulgently at them. It was a perfectly harmonious scene. Which made Ryan and me stick out like sore thumbs. Ryan was especially quiet today. He glanced at me, a look of what might have been sympathy in his eyes. Me: "?" Ryan's gaze shifted to Lily, who was joyfully displaying her gifts. His voice was firm. "Alright, that's enough. We're eating. You can open your presents in your room later." Then he turned to Mrs. Blackwell, his tone softening slightly. "Mom, this is your first time meeting Mia. Shouldn't you have a gift for her, too?" Mrs. Blackwell let out a long, theatrical "Ohhh" of annoyance, as if she'd just remembered my existence. She slapped her forehead, looking for something to give me, but all the gifts she'd brought back had already been claimed and opened by Lily. Without much thought, she simply snatched a gift from Lily's hands. "Mia, this is for you. Mommy forgot to buy you something, but I'll make it up to you next time." Mr. Blackwell added, "Just take what your mother is giving you. We didn't forget you on purpose, you just… slipped our minds." If Jessie were here, I thought, she'd definitely say Mr. Blackwell's grasp of language was also subpar. Or maybe he just majored in saying absolutely nothing of substance. I didn't take it. "I don't want presents someone else has already opened." My words dropped the temperature at the table by twenty degrees. Mrs. Blackwell looked lost and hurt. "Mia, are you angry with Mommy? I didn't mean to, I'll make it up to you, okay?" Mr. Blackwell slammed his chopsticks on the table, his face darkening. "Where are your manners? Is that any way to speak to your mother?" Ryan rubbed his temples, the irritation practically radiating off him. Into the suffocating silence, Lily spoke up timidly. "I don't want the gifts anymore. You can give them all to sister." This immediately triggered Mrs. Blackwell's protective instincts. She pulled Lily's hand into hers. "Oh, my darling, you're always the thoughtful one. You just tell Mommy what you like, and Mommy will buy it all for you." "Okay, thank you, Mommy." The two of them resumed their affectionate chatter, and just like that, the storm seemed to pass. 6 After dinner, the family settled in the living area to chat. Mostly, it was Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell chatting with Lily. Ryan had his laptop out, dealing with work. I, naturally, reclaimed my designated spot on the sofa with my phone. Mrs. Blackwell shot disgruntled looks at both Ryan and me, clearly feeling we weren't as filial as Lily. She and Mr. Blackwell had been traveling for days, and upon their return, we couldn't even be bothered to ask about their trip or sit and chat with them. Me: "…?" Mr. Blackwell nodded along, in full agreement with his wife. He even mentioned that Jessie used to be the same way—cold, a workaholic just like her brother, completely inconsiderate of her parents. That, he explained, was why they adopted Lily in the first place. Now their biological daughter was back, and she wasn't fawning over them either, more attached to her phone than to her own parents. Thank goodness they'd adopted one good one, or they’d never know the joy of a child's affection. Listening to this, I was at a complete loss for words. I glanced at Ryan. His expression was placid. This was clearly a well-worn lecture he'd learned to tune out. Somehow, the conversation shifted to my schooling. They asked me where I went. Lily, my age and a senior, attended the prestigious Northwood Preparatory Academy. The mere mention of the school brought a proud, irrepressible smile to her face, and Mrs. Blackwell looked equally pleased. My fingers didn't stop moving on the screen. I answered casually. "Oh, I'm a homebody." Mrs. Blackwell was still muttering, "Homebody? Is that a magnet school?" when Lily let out a small "pfft" of laughter. When everyone looked at her, she covered her mouth. "I'm sorry, sister, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just the way you said 'homebody' instead of 'homeschooled'…" She looked like she was about to laugh again. Mrs. Blackwell's voice turned sharp. "You're not in school?" "Nope," I replied without looking up. I couldn't be bothered with school. I'd always taught myself. The one day my parents tried to send me to kindergarten, I managed to make the teacher and the entire class cry. After that, the idea of traditional schooling was permanently off the table. They worried endlessly about it. It was Leo who eventually said, "There's a wall between gods and mortals. Forcing a deity to mingle with commoners just makes everyone uncomfortable." He got a beating for that. So, I'd never spent a day in a classroom. Though for the past two years, the old principal of Northwood Prep had been trying to persuade me to enroll, especially with the SATs coming up. He wanted me to take them as an official student of the school. Right now, however, Mrs. Blackwell's face was a thundercloud. She was already in a hushed, urgent conference with her husband about getting me into Lily's school. The Blackwells couldn't have a dropout for a daughter. It would be a laughingstock. Where would she hide her face?
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