My sister was adopted by a wealthy family, leaving me behind to rot in the orphanage. Years later, her adoptive family went bankrupt. Stripped of her pampered lifestyle, she was forced to marry a crippled man just to survive. Meanwhile, after graduating from a top university, I returned to my roots, built a startup from the ground up, and became a highly successful, renowned entrepreneur. When I opened my eyes again, I had traveled back in time to the very day the adoption took place. Before I could utter a single word, my sister, standing right beside me, pointed a trembling finger at me and cried out to the wealthy couple, "Take my little sister instead! Please, take her!" 1 I was adopted. While the paperwork was being processed, my sister, Stella, held my hand tightly, her voice thick with earnest instructions. "Hazel, you're going to have a new mom and dad now. Be a good girl, and please, whatever you do, don't forget your big sister." As she spoke, she wiped tears from her eyes with her free hand, looking entirely heartbroken to see me go. Her acting was impeccable. If I hadn't lived through this once before, I almost would have believed her. 2 In my previous life, the Foster family had chosen my sister. And I was the one left behind at the group home. A few years after my sister left, the land the orphanage sat on was auctioned off to developers, and the rest of us were shipped to a facility in a neighboring city. The director of that new home was a hypocritical monster. Back then, oversight for private charities wasn't very strict. This director used the orphanage as a front, colluding with wealthy, depraved businessmen in a sickening underground trade. I only escaped that nightmare because I was chronically malnourished—sallow-skinned, scrawny, and small for my age. But my sister... She had fair, soft skin and chubby cheeks, looking like a porcelain doll. She was exactly the type those old men preyed upon. I wondered if she would be as "lucky" as I was this time around. 3 Stepping out of the orphanage, my adoptive mother, Evelyn, held my hand. "Don't be scared, Hazel. From now on, you're our real daughter. We're going to give you a wonderful life." My adoptive father, Richard, who was driving, turned around and gave me a warm, goofy smile. "Finally, we have a daughter in the house!" I had never known the warmth of a family. Their words made my eyes sting with unshed tears. I had seen them in my previous life. By then, their business had collapsed, and I had become a successful entrepreneur. The two elderly people, dressed in threadbare clothes, had knelt before me, begging me to save my sister. That was when I learned that after they went bankrupt, my sister despised my adoptive father for his failure and took out a high-interest loan from some shady lenders. The loan sharks took explicit photos of her to use for blackmail. I agreed to pay off her debt, but my condition was that we had to go to the police. "If you go to the police, my whole life will be ruined!" My sister glared at me as if I had murdered our parents. "You're just holding a grudge because they adopted me back then instead of you." "You should be thanking me! If it weren't for me leaving you at the orphanage, do you think you'd have achieved all this today?" "And look at my luck! Stuck with a useless father and a pathetic mother, suffering for years for no reason while you get to be rich!" Her words filled the two elderly people with overwhelming shame. They apologized to me and left. Not long after, I heard the news of my adoptive father's death. They had begged everyone they knew to scrape together enough money to pay off my sister's debt, but she continued to run with a bad crowd. Terrified she would fall back into the same trap, Richard suffered a fatal heart attack while out searching for her at a local dive bar. From that point on, Evelyn fell into a deep depression and passed away shortly after. At their funerals, my sister didn't even bother to show up. Now, her parents had become mine. I squeezed Evelyn's hand back. "Yeah, I have a family now too." 4 On the first day of the new semester, my adoptive parents drove me to high school themselves. Mom helped adjust the hem of my skirt. "Hazel is a high schooler now. Make sure you get along with your classmates, and if anyone bullies you, you must tell Mom and Dad." It had been six years since I came to live with them. As I had expected, they were wonderful people. Over these past few years, they had treated me as if I were their own flesh and blood. But the better they treated me, the less I could accept the tragic end they suffered in my past life. I swore I would protect them this time around. Lost in thought, someone suddenly slammed into my shoulder. "Sorry about that, freshman. I didn't hurt you, did I?" The person speaking was an upperclassman. His jacket was worn loose and sloppy, and a smirk played on his lips as he looked at me. He looked a bit familiar. I stared at his features for a moment before realizing who he was. Lucas Hayes. My future brother-in-law—the one with the limp! What was he doing here? I glanced at his legs. He wasn't limping yet. He stood before me exuding a rebellious, arrogant aura. He was like a completely different person from the gloomy, crippled man I had met in my past life. I didn't want any involvement with my sister's "ex-husband." I was about to walk away when he grabbed my hand. "Don't just walk away, leave me your number. I'm a responsible guy; if I actually hurt you, I'll need a way to compensate you." I didn't stop walking, simply brushing past him. "We're even now." With that, I hurried back to my classroom. Behind me, Lucas let out a scoffing laugh. "Interesting." After that day, Lucas had his eye on me. Whenever it was break time, Lucas and a few other upperclassmen would stand outside our classroom door. At night, I always felt like someone was secretly following me. If I asked, his excuse was always "I'm just going the same way." He never explicitly said he was trying to pursue me, so I couldn't exactly confront him about it. I just treated him like he was invisible. After all, compared to getting tangled up with this teenage boy right now, there were far more important things to worry about. The land the orphanage sat on was about to be auctioned off. 5 "Hazel, what was that investment project you mentioned to me the other day?" When I got home, Dad walked in wearing his reading glasses and asked. Mom looked at him with sheer exasperation. "You're the businessman, make your own decisions. Why are you bothering our daughter every day? She's been at school all day, let her have some peace and quiet when she gets home." "You don't understand, Hazel is our family's little lucky charm." Dad patted his belly. "Every project Hazel casually pointed out over the last few years has made money. My girl was born with a talent for the market." In my past life, my career was in venture capital. Compared to others, I had a much deeper understanding of industrial development in the region. This time around, my only goal was to use the information gap between my two lives to help my dad make money and alter the fate of their company going bankrupt. Of course, beyond that, I had another, deeper objective. "Dad, are you interested in buying land?" "Buying land?" "I accidentally overheard today that the land where the old orphanage is located is going to be auctioned off." I blinked innocently. "Then won't the kids there have no home? Dad, can we participate in the auction and buy the land? That way, we can save their home." I tried my best to communicate with my father using language appropriate for my age. Hearing this, however, my father shook his head. "That's..." Different industries are like different worlds. A land auction is no small matter, and my father had no prior experience in that field. I could tell he was hesitant. My mother, however, was a bit surprised. "The orphanage is being sold? How come we haven't heard anything about this?" She patted my father. "Why don't you find someone to ask about the situation first? Isn't Hazel's sister still at that orphanage?" My father hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I don't know much about this industry. I'll go ask a friend in real estate about the situation first." I knew he would support it. "Thanks, Dad." "Don't thank me so early. I won't do a deal that loses money. I'm not a foolish king throwing away a fortune just to make his daughter smile." I laughed. "Don't worry, this land will definitely make money in the future!" Although the orphanage's land was currently in the suburbs, in a few years, that area would develop into a new commercial district, and the price would skyrocket. Since my father said he would look into it, I was confident he would participate in the bidding. While my father was investigating the orphanage and hadn't gotten concrete news yet, Lucas sought me out in my classroom and told me something. "A new transfer student just joined our class. She looks a lot like you. Her name is pretty similar too. You're Hazel Foster, she's Stella Bennett. It's quite a coincidence!" I stood up abruptly. "What did you say her name was?" "Stella Bennett. What, do you actually know her?" My mind went blank for a second. When I was at the orphanage, my name was Hazel Bennett. It was only after I was adopted that I took my adoptive father's surname, Foster. Stella Bennett. That sister of mine... What was she doing here?! 6 A few days later, sure enough, I heard people talking about this transfer student in the sophomore class again. Beautiful, approachable, she had become the new goddess of her grade in just a few days. I didn't actually see her until a week later. After morning gym class, we ran into each other in the stairwell. She was surrounded by a circle of people. This couldn't help but remind me of our time at the orphanage. Back then, she was clever and charismatic, and everyone liked her. In contrast, I was the quiet, unlikable one. So when I mustered the courage to tell the staff that my sister had poured water on my bed or stolen my lunch, no one believed me. "Lying at such a young age. If you spilled it yourself, admit it. Why try to blame your sister?" They would always add a sigh, "You're sisters, how can your personalities be so different?" Stella saw me and proactively came over to say hi, "Hazel, do you still remember your big sister?" Hearing her, some students asked in surprise, "Stella, is she your sister?" Stella nodded frankly, "Yes, but later my sister was adopted, and I grew up at the orphanage." With that one sentence, the way everyone looked at me gained a few layers of intriguing scrutiny, while their looks toward Stella gained a bit of sympathy. "Why are you looking at me like that? Actually, I was the one who voluntarily gave up the opportunity." Stella smiled and waved her hand, "You guys don't know, Hazel was so thin and small when she was little. I was worried that if I was adopted, my sister would be bullied at the orphanage, so I gave the opportunity to my sister." In just a few words, she established her image as the perfect older sister. Seeing I didn't speak, Stella covered her mouth as if she had misspoken, "Hazel, they... did they not know you were adopted? I'm sorry, I didn't know..." She had managed to say everything, good and bad, all by herself. I smiled. "How could that be? Being in an orphanage isn't something to be ashamed of. Besides, I'm very happy to see you, sister." "That's good." Stella seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then said properly, "If you ever have any problems, come find me. We're at the same school now, so we can look out for each other. No matter where you go, you're always my sister." I lowered my eyes to hide my overwhelming hatred, smiled, and replied, "Okay." No matter where I go, I'm her sister. I chewed on that sentence, finding it laughable. In my past life, I had begged Stella. I knelt on the ground and begged my sister to save the children at the orphanage. But what did she say? "Hazel, people have to accept their fate. You were born with this kind of cheap life. If you want to blame someone, blame your bad luck." "Your last name is Foster, my last name is Bennett. We're not family anymore. Don't come looking for me in the future, and I won't acknowledge you as my sister." A cheap life from birth. But I refused to believe in fate. Within a day, the whole school knew I was Stella's sister, and they also knew I was adopted. People whispered behind my back. "She's Stella's sister? They don't look alike at all. She's way uglier than Stella." "I heard the family originally wanted to adopt Stella, but Hazel threw a fit, so Stella gave up the chance to leave the orphanage for her." "Stella is so genuine. Even though she came from an orphanage, she never tries to hide it. Unlike Hazel. I asked her classmates, and none of them even knew she was adopted." "Just insecure and vain. What's the point of having good grades if you have a terrible personality?" And so, overnight, I became the foil to Stella's strong, kind persona. But to my surprise, just when the whole school was looking down on me, Lucas started coming to our floor even more frequently. Like a dedicated security guard, he stood in the hallway looking at the view every time there was a break. When he heard people whispering about me, the senior would walk over, "What are you little gossips talking about today? Tell me, let me hear it too." Lucas was a tough guy you didn't want to mess with, and he was an upperclassman. No one wanted to ask for trouble. Slowly, people became quite hesitant to discuss me. At least around our classroom, I never heard anyone talking about me again. "Don't take those words to heart." Lucas shoved a box of something into my arms. I looked down; it was a bag of Skittles. Was he comforting me? I closed my palm, "Thank you." 7 Honestly, I didn't care about the public opinion at all, just continuing to do my own thing. Studying hard, plus helping my dad evaluate some investment projects. One day after school, I came out and noticed a luxury car parked at the school gate. I hadn't paid it any mind, but after taking two steps, a man got out of the car and blocked my path. "Excuse me, miss, do you know where the sophomore classrooms are?" The familiar face and voice sent a shudder through my entire body. The dark room, the heavy shackles, and the terrifying heavy breathing all felt like invisible hands gripping my throat. In that instant, I couldn't even make a sound. Seeing me not speak, the man spoke again, "I'm looking for Stella Bennett from your school. Do you know her?" "I don't know her." I lowered my head and tried to walk forward, but my right hand was grabbed. Every hair on my body stood on end. I swung my arm, broke free from him, and desperately backed away. The man took a half step forward, "Sorry, I was too abrupt. I just thought you looked a bit like Stella..." "She said she doesn't know her, are you deaf?" Lucas rushed over, pulled me behind him, his eyes fierce. "Sorry, I mistook her for someone else." Vincent Caldwell glared at him and got back into his car. Lucas pulled me away. That night, I had a nightmare. I dreamed again of the days in my past life when the kids from the orphanage and I were locked in the basement. Vincent Caldwell was a VIP. He came several times a week. I was small and weak, failing to catch this VIP's eye, so I became a prop locked in the corner to watch them perform, meant to add to the entertainment. If Vincent was in a bad mood, then I was the tool used to vent his frustration. There, we kids with no one to rely on were pets, toys—anything but human. I thought that in this life, as long as I could buy the orphanage's land, I could save it and change the fate of those children. But Vincent had appeared early, and he had even gotten involved with Stella. What exactly happened during this time? The next morning, I arrived at class and saw Stella waiting outside for me. "What did you say to him yesterday?" I was baffled, "Who?" "Vincent Caldwell, the one who came looking for me." The corners of my mouth turned down, "I have no idea what you're talking about." "Stop pretending. If you don't know what I'm talking about, would he send me to bring you something for no reason?" Saying that, Stella slammed something in her hand onto my desk. The Chanel logo was right on top. One look and you knew it was expensive. "He asked me to apologize to you on his behalf." Stella's eyes were red, and she raised her voice, "I know the Foster family's business hasn't been doing well the past few years, and your financial situation has gotten worse. You want money, but you shouldn't, you shouldn't think of these shady methods." It was right during the morning rush. People coming and going in the hallway all stopped when they heard Stella's words. Stella looked heartbroken, "You're my sister. I don't want you to go down the wrong path." The people around started whispering. And the Chanel on my desk seemed to become ironclad proof. I looked at Stella's one-woman show and let out a cold laugh, "You better watch yourself." Daring to get involved with Vincent Caldwell. It seems she still doesn't know what kind of person she's messed with. This incident blew up so big that even the teachers were alarmed and called me into the office to understand the situation. "Hazel, your grades have always been good. Why did you suddenly change like this? Tell the teacher the truth, did you really get involved with an older man from outside for money?" "Haven't you already made up your mind? Why are you asking me now?" "What kind of attitude is this! At such a young age, doing this kind of thing for money, and now the necklace has been delivered, and you still want to argue!" Stella stood by, playing the good guy, "Teacher, please don't be angry. Hazel is still young and doesn't know any better. It's probably because she's so scared of being poor that she saw someone driving a luxury car and went to talk to him." Stella now seemed convinced my father had gone bankrupt. She kept bringing up money. Just as she finished speaking, a rough voice shouted from the doorway, "Who is ruining my daughter's reputation?" It was my dad. The moment he arrived, all the accumulated grievances spilled over. The teacher explained the situation to my dad. "What did you say? Over a thirty-thousand-dollar trinket, he has the nerve to give it away? I'd be worried my daughter would get an allergic reaction wearing it!" He looked at the teacher, "You're questioning my daughter's involvement with older men outside, saying it has a bad influence on other students. I'd like to ask you, a luxury car parked at the school gate, with a middle-aged, greasy man harassing high school girls—why didn't anyone stop him? What are the school security guards doing? If my only daughter gets hurt, can you take responsibility for that!" Then he looked at Stella, "You must be my daughter's sister. You're quite an interesting little girl. I heard that man was looking for you? The one involved with men outside is clearly you, so why are you blaming our Hazel?" "Taking a step back, even if our Hazel had an interaction with him, it was because of you." My father unleashed a barrage of rapid-fire retorts, and everyone present panicked. Especially my so-called sister, who seemed surprised by my father's change in demeanor. She looked at me, then at my dad, and couldn't manage to say a word. In the end, this incident concluded with a personal apology from the school administration. My dad was still cursing as he took me home, "What a garbage school. I'm transferring you tomorrow!" I curled my lips into a smile. In this life, having my dad protect me... feels really good. 8 After that day, my classmates' attitudes toward me changed. They came to ask me, "Hazel, is your adoptive father really Richard Foster?" "Yes." "The one who does venture capital? He's super famous domestically, known as the undefeated god of investing!" I hadn't expected high schoolers to actually pay attention to business news. That person defended me, "I knew you weren't that kind of person. Why would Richard Foster's daughter try to suck up to an old man for a little bit of money? There's absolutely no need." Of course, there were also people making snide remarks behind my back, "Actually, Stella should have been Richard Foster's daughter. What is she so smug about now?" When comments like that reached Stella's ears, she felt even worse. A few days later, Stella proactively apologized to me, "It was my fault before. I was just too worried about you." Then she tentatively asked me, "Is the Foster family really as powerful as they say? But I heard..." "My dad's company did go bankrupt." I smiled, "So he switched industries. Now he earns even more. Don't worry, sister, I'm not short on money. I don't need your financial help." After I finished speaking, I turned and left. Leaving Stella standing there in a daze. After that, I saw Vincent a few more times, always driving different cars to pick up Stella. If Stella wanted to court death herself, I wasn't going to stop her. I only cared about the well-being of the other children at the orphanage now. A while later, there was finally news about the orphanage's land. My father had someone do a background check, "That land definitely has potential for appreciation in the future. I'm discussing with a friend to partner up and buy the land. As you requested, we'll keep the orphanage project running for the next few years, and when the land value goes up, we'll figure out a way to relocate the kids." "Thank you, Dad!" My mother teased him, "Who was it that said he wouldn't be a 'foolish king' for his daughter?" My dad glared, "This isn't just for my daughter. I can make money and do charity at the same time. I'm spreading love to the world!" I watched my parents' usual bickering, feeling an unprecedented sense of fulfillment. I originally came from the orphanage, and my father never shied away from that fact. He constantly taught me to be grateful. When handing over the land paperwork with the orphanage, my father brought me along. However, when I arrived at the orphanage and went looking for Lily to play, the director told me, "Lily is no longer at the orphanage." "What do you mean she's no longer at the orphanage? Was she adopted?" I immediately dismissed that answer myself. When I visited last year, Lily was still there. Kids our age are long past the conditions for adoption. "She left with your sister," the director told me with a smile. "An entrepreneur started a sponsorship program. Stella and Lily were taken away to study outside." "That entrepreneur... is his name Vincent Caldwell?" "How did you know?" My heart sank completely.
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