I was the unloved eldest daughter in my family. Ever since I was little, every sip of water, every bite of food I had at home was specifically recorded in a notebook by a servant. That notebook tallied how much I owed my billionaire parents. Over eighteen years, it totaled exactly $36,221.06. At our eighteenth birthday party, our parents smiled affectionately at me and my twin sister. "Here are two birthday gifts, one for each of you. It's completely fair." My sister opened her envelope to find countless company shares, luxury cars, a mansion... I calmly took the envelope in front of me. Opening it, I found exactly what I expected: a DNA test proving we had no blood relation, and a legal document severing all ties. My mom smiled coldly. "Chloe, don't blame us for being heartless. Since you aren't our biological daughter, you have to pay us back the cost of raising you for these seventeen years." My dad gave a cold snort. "Starting today, you are a maid in this house. We'll count your wages as $500 a month to pay off your debt. Room and board are not included." I didn't question them about how my sister and I were twins, sharing even the exact same birthmark on our hips, making it impossible for us not to be biologically related. Instead, I calmly nodded. Because last night, I overheard them at the door: My sister, holding our parents' hands, acted spoiled. "Mommy, Daddy, my birthday wish is to be the only daughter of the Sterling family, to enjoy your exclusive love. Let my sister be a maid for a year, please?" My dad looked at her with absolute doting. "Alright, whatever you want." My mom chimed in with a smile, "For this year, Mommy and Daddy belong only to our precious Mia." ... My sister, Mia, covered her mouth and gasped in feigned shock. "Sister, no wonder you're so ugly. You look neither like Daddy nor Mommy. It turns out you really are a fake." She yelled loudly and melodramatically. As if she completely forgot we were twins, bearing an eighty percent resemblance. "Oh no, you're not my sister at all. You're just some wild stray from who knows where." The expression on my mom's face was distant and cold. "Chloe, now that the truth is out and you're not a Sterling, this birthday banquet is prepared solely for our precious daughter Mia. You have no right to be here." I raised my eyes and looked at the triumphant Mia. Dressed in a custom princess gown, wearing a tiara worth the price of a mansion. Then I looked at myself, in a washed-out, faded shirt and jeans, the cuffs frayed. I smiled bitterly. The right. I never possessed it since I was a child. So how could I lose it? My dad raised his voice. "Starting today, move into the maid's quarters. For the sake of our past relationship, until you find your biological parents, you'll work here as a maid. I'll count it as $500 a month, no room or board included, to pay us back for the cost of raising you these seventeen years." The crowd whispered among themselves. Like a pathetic clown, amidst a sea of mocking and derisive stares, I bent down and picked up my backpack. Mia rushed over with incredible speed and yanked my backpack hard. The broken zipper, held together only by a safety pin, burst open immediately, its contents spilling all over the floor. Mia yelled, "Aha! I knew it. You actually stole things from our house." Among the scattered books lay a single pink sanitary pad. My mom looked a bit uncomfortable. "Mia, forget it, it's just a sanitary pad." Mia immediately refused. "Mom, I'm the only daughter of the Sterling family now. What is she? She's freeloaded off our family for so many years and even stole from us. If I say she doesn't deserve it, she doesn't deserve it." Seeing her angry, my mom immediately coaxed her softly. "Alright, alright, don't be angry, my precious. Whatever you say is right. You are Mommy's only sweetheart now; you can do whatever you want." Mia smugly stomped on it, grinding and twisting her foot. "Fine, I don't want it now. It's yours." I stared at the sanitary pad covered in footprints, my throat feeling as if it were stuffed with wet cotton—heavy and suffocating. Chapter 2 In the end, I bent down and only picked up my books. After the banquet, I was led into the storage room by the nanny, Mrs. Zhang. It was a space of about fifty square feet, containing only a wooden plank bed piled with junk and a rusted iron window. Mrs. Zhang stood at the door, hesitating to speak. "Miss... Chloe, the Master and Madam remember your goodness. Once they think things through, you'll still be the eldest miss of the Sterling family..." Before she finished, two cockroaches scuttled out from a corner and scurried away quickly. I pretended not to see the awkwardness on her face. "Thank you, I understand." Mrs. Zhang shook her head and left. Muttering softly under her breath, "Looking so much alike, how could it not be... sigh..." I sat on the wooden plank bed, staring blankly into the pitch-black night outside the window. It's okay. Just wait one more year, and I can leave forever. That night, my lower abdomen cramped terribly. Without a sanitary pad, I had to use wadded-up toilet paper. Coming out of the bathroom, I heard my parents talking in hushed tones. "Honey, do you think if we treat Chloe like this, she'll hate us? She is our biological daughter after all." My dad snorted coldly. "Who told her to always bully Mia? As the older sister, she doesn't know how to yield to her younger sister at all. Making her suffer is for her own good." "After a year, when Mia has had her fun, we'll just make an excuse and say the DNA test was a mistake. When she regains her status as the eldest miss of the Sterling family, she'll be too happy to complain." My fingertips went cold. It felt absurd and ridiculous. What makes them think that after trampling me to pieces, I'll still be obediently standing right where they left me, waiting for them? The next day, I went out to buy sanitary pads. At the checkout, I was told my balance was insufficient. But I clearly had two hundred dollars saved on my card. Returning to the villa and pushing open the door, the three people at the dining table were laughing and talking. There was a gift bag on the table. My mom was fondly stroking a silk scarf in her hands. "Our Mia is truly Mommy's sweet little angel. She even knows how to give Mommy gifts now. Mommy is so happy." My dad turned a plastic water bottle in his hands, unable to stop smiling. "Daddy loves his too. Truly my precious daughter." Mia pouted, leaning against my mom's shoulder. "But these two gifts only cost two hundred dollars. Mommy and Daddy won't blame me for buying something so cheap, will you?" My mom shook her head immediately. "Of course not. As long as it's from my precious, even a two-dollar gift is Mommy's treasure." My dad didn't forget to demean me to comfort her. "Exactly. Unlike your sister, who only knows how to spend the family's money and has never bought us a gift. She's just an ungrateful wretch; how could she compare to my Mia..." Noticing my return, they immediately stopped talking. Mia tilted her head to look at me, smiling maliciously. That two hundred dollars. It was the living expenses I had saved up for two months. It was all the money I had. I felt a chill all over. Something in my brain suddenly exploded. By the time I reacted, I had already grabbed Mia and raised my hand. But before the slap could land, I was kicked away by my dad. My spine crashed into the sharp corner of the coffee table. The pain made my vision go black. Mia held up her arm, which had a small red mark. Crying as if the sky had fallen, "Mommy, Daddy, it hurts so much! Is my arm broken?" My mom yelled frantically, "Quick, call an ambulance!" My dad said hurriedly, "No time for an ambulance, I'll drive Mia to the hospital myself." Mia pointed at me lying on the floor. "I don't want to take the car. This wild stray hurt me, so I want her to carry me to the hospital on her back." Chapter 3 The nearest hospital to the villa was over twelve miles away. My mom looked at me with cold eyes. "You fatherless, motherless thing. We fed you and clothed you well for over ten years, and you dare to lay a hand on my biological daughter. We'll do exactly as Mia says." Seeing that I couldn't get up for a long time, my dad grabbed me and hauled me up. "Stop faking it. It was just a light bump. Hurry up and carry Mia to the hospital. If you delay my daughter's treatment, believe it or not, I'll throw you out of the Sterling family right now." I believed it. But I couldn't leave just yet. I had no choice but to carry Mia on my back, stumbling on foot towards the hospital. My dad drove slowly, keeping pace right behind me. He kept yelling, "Chloe, you better carry her properly. If you dare drop my precious daughter, I'll skin you alive." My mom frowned and complained, "Walk faster, didn't you eat? Don't delay my baby's treatment." Mia, resting on my back, smiled triumphantly. "See that? In this family, no one loves you at all! You're just an unwanted, mangy dog." Such words, in the past, would have easily stung me. But now, perhaps having accumulated too much pain, I had become numb to it. Seeing I had no reaction, Mia stopped talking too. But just as we were nearing the hospital, the safety pin she had hidden in her pocket stabbed deeply into my back. I stumbled in pain, falling flat onto the ground. My parents immediately pulled the car over, ran over quickly, picked up Mia who was pressing down on me, and rushed towards the hospital. Following behind, my mom glanced back at my deathly pale face. She impatiently tossed out, "You're already at the hospital, go find a doctor yourself. We don't have time to deal with you." In the end, I didn't enter the hospital either. Because I had no money. Without the strength to walk back, I sat on the hospital steps until night fell before returning to the villa. They were already back. Standing in the villa was also a cowering, filthy middle-aged couple. "You're back just in time." My dad pointed at the man and woman. "These are your biological parents. Go with them right now." The air was dead silent. My mom walked over and took my hand, but her eyes avoided mine. "Chloe, we were mother and daughter after all, and I'm very sad too. Since your biological parents have been found, there's no reason for you to leech off the Sterling family anymore." I originally thought I wouldn't cry anymore. But tears still uncontrollably soaked my face. These were the parents I had kept in my heart for over a decade, viewing them as heavily as life itself. Yet they wouldn't even allow me to stay in this house, even if it were just in a tiny corner. My mom felt guilty seeing my tears. She reached out to wipe them away, but Mia linked arms with her. "Sister, congratulations! You're finally not a fatherless, motherless stray anymore." Seeing this, the middle-aged woman standing to the side hurriedly grabbed my hand. Her dirt-encrusted fingernails dug into my flesh as she wailed melodramatically. "My daughter! Mom has finally found you! Come home with Mom quickly." The man claiming to be my biological father dragged me towards the door. "Yes, yes, yes. Let's go home quickly. We've troubled Mr. and Mrs. Sterling for so many years already, we absolutely cannot overstay our welcome." "Wait." Mia rolled her eyes, smiling brightly. "Sister, finding your biological parents is such a big deal. It wouldn't make sense not to kneel down, kowtow, and acknowledge them, right? Or is it that you despise your parents for being poor and look down on them from the bottom of your heart?" I froze, turning to look at my mom and dad. "Do you also think I should kowtow and acknowledge them?" Chapter 4 They instinctively avoided my gaze. Mia kept urging, "Hurry up and kneel, we're all watching." I smiled. Something inside me shattered completely at this moment. I knelt down, but I kowtowed heavily towards my mom and dad. "The bond of parent and child ends here. From now on, I have absolutely no relationship with the Sterling family." My parents exchanged a glance, both seeing a trace of unease in each other's eyes. But I had already stood up and left with my "biological parents." My mom chased after us, shouting with false bravado, "We're not even unless... unless you return all the money spent on you over these past dozen years." I stopped walking but didn't look back. I replied softly, "Okay." They thought they had spent a lot of money on me over the years. But they forgot. The daughter who was favored, the one who was raised in luxury with lots and lots of money, was Mia. And I only had an allowance of three hundred dollars a month. And I even had to be exploited by Mia, who got thirty thousand a month. If I didn't give it to her, she would go home and cry. Saying that I banded together with classmates at school to isolate and bully her. I was locked in solitary confinement and starved countless times. Even on a night of torrential rain, because Mia said I was driving her to the point where she couldn't live anymore. I stood in the rain all night. With a high fever of 104 degrees, no one cared. From childhood to adulthood, it was always like this. One sentence from Mia could decide my right or wrong, my happiness, my life, and even my dignity. My defense, my tears, my grievances. In this family, they were worthless. Just like me as a person. Very cheap. That night, I moved into my "biological parents'" rental apartment in the slums. Because there was no spare room or blankets, I could only curl up in the single bathroom for the night. The windows, patched with newspaper, were dilapidated and constantly let in the cold wind. The next day, I was groggy with a high fever. In my hazy consciousness, I heard the woman's anxious voice on the phone. "Mr. Sterling, Mrs. Sterling, the l-little... the young miss has a high fever, it's already 104 degrees." "Then what are you waiting for? Hurry and take her to the hospital!" The phone on the other end was on speaker, and Mia's voice came through clearly. "Mommy, Daddy. Sister only left last night, and today she has a high fever. There's no such coincidence. It must be a trick to test you guys. You'll only fall for it if you believe her." After a long silence, my dad's cold voice sounded, "Leave her be. She said it herself, she has nothing to do with us anymore. Let this ungrateful wretch learn her lesson well." My mom was full of impatience, "She's your daughter now. Don't call us if it's nothing important. We still have to take our precious daughter on a trip around the world. Hanging up." No one cared about me anymore. I was abandoned in that neglected rental apartment. Desperately prying open the front door and crawling out into the hallway, I couldn't hold on any longer and passed out. When I opened my eyes again, there was only a nurse by the bed. "Little girl, you're finally awake. 107 degrees. If a kind passerby hadn't brought you to the hospital, you would have been in danger if you were ten minutes later." "Alright, hurry up and contact your family to come over, and pay the bill while you're at it." I was silent for a long time, my voice very soft. "I don't have any money, and I don't have any family." The nurse was stunned. I stared at the IV tube on the back of my hand and pursed my dry lips, "But, I have blood." After school started, I became a high school senior. I started running errands for classmates: getting food, delivering packages. One dollar per run. I could save over twenty dollars a day.
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