My eight-year-old brother, Max, said he was reborn. He led five-year-old me, the girl with zero sense of direction, to a lost, simple-minded boy picking through garbage in a suburban field. The boy was looking for a rag doll. Max pointed to the doll hairpin in my hair and said, "She is the doll. She's yours now." With that, Max walked away without looking back. I waited and waited. From noon until sunset. My brother never returned. Then, a strange, echoing voice cut through the air: "The villainess doesn't know that the male lead has been reborn. In this life, he will only cherish the tragically deceased female lead of the previous life as his own sister." ... I didn't understand the words. My eyes filled with tears, and I stood trembling in confusion. The lost boy slowly finished flipping the last bit of trash. He wiped his grimy hands on his clothes. Then he tugged the doll hairpin in my hair. "Rag doll, do you want to come home with me?" 1 The end of the road. The silhouette that had walked away never reappeared. I bit down hard on my lip, my eyes red, and pushed the boy's hand away. My voice trembled despite my best effort. "I can talk! I am not your rag doll!" My mother died in childbirth. My father was long gone. My brother had carried me, still a baby, into the orphanage. Since then, he was the only one who had ever been kind to me. He told me children shouldn't follow strangers. I stood rigidly by the stinking pile of garbage, waiting for him to return. Five years. Since the day I was born, he had never once left me behind. I didn't understand why he suddenly left me here. I didn't understand the strange voice in the air, or what "reborn" meant. I only believed that my brother would come back soon. The sky grew dark. The sun slowly sank behind the woods. A wetness blurred my vision. I wiped my eyes furiously and kept staring down the road. The boy stood before me, studying me intently. I stared back, my eyes wide and cautious. "My brother is coming to pick me up! I won't go with you!" The boy looked startled, watching my lips move. He seemed to realize that I wasn't just a doll. He looked disappointed. "Then you stay here. I have to go home now that it's dark." The last edge of the sun disappeared behind the trees. The surroundings grew darker. The boy walked away, leaving me alone. 2 The last light faded. I looked down, barely seeing my own feet. Strange bugs and birds chirped. The grass rustled—I didn't know what it was. I suppressed my tears, afraid to cry out loud. I crouched, curled into a ball, hands clenched, sticky with sweat. It felt like forever. I was sleepy, my eyelids heavy. But I didn't dare to close them. I kept my eyes wide and my ears straining against the dark. Then, a shadow appeared before me. A familiar height, taller than me. The tears I'd been fighting finally burst out. I stood up, finally letting out the breath I'd been holding. My lips trembled violently. I wailed, rushing into his embrace. But the scent was unfamiliar. Not my brother. I immediately stopped crying and stepped back. In the dim light, I recognized his dirty clothes. The boy who was picking through the trash. He looked at me in the dark. After a long pause, he said foolishly, "Your brother definitely doesn't want you." I was furious and ashamed. I clenched my fists. "You're lying!" The boy was serious. "He said he was leaving you for me, like a rag doll. No one picks up something they threw away." I bit down hard. I wanted to argue, but no words came out. I could only make small whimpering sounds. The boy looked around. "No one wants you. If you stay here, the monsters will eat you." He turned to leave. I couldn't hold back the tears, shaking uncontrollably. "You're lying! Brother will come for me!" But my feet moved on their own, chasing after him. I was truly terrified of the monsters behind me. I cried louder. Unconsciously, I reached out and grabbed his sleeve. I held on tightly, sobbing. "Brother is coming! He promised to buy me a cake today! It's my birthday! He saved up for months!" Last night, he had gently held my hand and said, "Little Jane, tomorrow I'm going to give you the biggest surprise!" We walked for a long time. When I hiccuped from crying, I suddenly noticed the light ahead. The strange voice in the air returned: "Isn't this the Military Base? The place where the female lead will soon be adopted and live. How did the stray idiot bring the villainess here?" "I told you he's an idiot. Why are you surprised?" "Trespassing on a military base is a crime. Now the villainess, who caused so much trouble in the past life, might be eliminated at five." I finally saw the light. The wide, imposing gate, topped with a red star. Guards in crisp uniforms stood outside, holding rifles, their faces stern. My crying stopped in my throat. This time, I understood a little of what the voice was saying. I gripped the boy's sleeve. Just as I was about to say we couldn't go in there, a young couple rushed out of the Military Base, looking straight at us. The man wore a military uniform, his face stern and angry. The woman, in a smart dress, rushed towards us, her eyes red with tears. She embraced the boy next to me. "You ran off again! We've been looking all over the base for you! You're trying to worry us to death!" I clutched my skirt, afraid to speak. The woman noticed me and paused. "Who... who is this child?" 3 The boy lifted his head proudly. "Someone gave her to me. She can talk and cry." The woman's face froze. The stern man behind her stepped forward, his face dark with anger. "Nonsense! You've caused trouble!" He controlled his anger and knelt down, speaking gently to me. "Little girl, do you remember your family and where you live? Uncle will take you home immediately." I was too scared. I stammered, "I'm from the orphanage. I have a brother. He lost me by accident." The couple handed the boy to the guard and offered to drive me back to the orphanage. Outside the orphanage, I immediately recognized my brother. He was talking to the director under the streetlamp. My eyes welled up. I urgently pushed open the military jeep door and ran toward him. The couple saw I found my family and stopped following. I ran to the gate and met my brother's eyes. I saw shock, quickly followed by disgust and warning. I thought I was mistaken. Then I heard his urgent voice talking to the director: "You always said she was stupid, that she couldn't remember the way even after walking it a hundred times. She's sickly and causes the orphanage so much trouble." "I accidentally lost her this time. It has nothing to do with you." "The Colonel's wife was considering Jane but also Sarah. Let them adopt Sarah. Sarah is smart and will remember to come back and thank you..." I stood rigid, unable to believe what I was hearing. The Colonel and his wife had visited the orphanage recently. They said Sarah and I were the best behaved and they wanted to adopt one of us. My brother tried to make me look good, and the Colonel's wife decided on me. Sarah was the daughter of an acquaintance of my mother. Her father got into trouble, and she came to the orphanage. She often tried to get close to my brother, but he ignored her. Yesterday, when she came to wish me a happy birthday, my brother angrily sent her away: "Jane's birthday has nothing to do with you!" Now, just one day later, he was changing his tune. I didn't know why. Just like I didn't know why those strange voices kept appearing in the air. The director listened to my brother, then smiled with satisfaction. "Boy, remember what you said. You lost your sister." "Sarah is clever. If she gets adopted by the Colonel, she will definitely come back to thank me..." I stood there, gripping my hands, unable to process the words. When the director left, my brother walked toward me, his face dark. He asked coldly, "How did you find your way back? Did that idiot teach you the route?" My eyes ached. I fought back tears, but my voice cracked with misery. "Why did you abandon me?" "Why?" My brother sneered. His eyes were filled with a strange, intense hatred toward me. "If I hadn't been softhearted and remembered our sibling bond, I would have killed you the moment I saw you!" 4 I stared at him, bewildered and terrified. He moved closer, his hateful gaze stabbing me. "In the past life, Sarah just joked about selling my Harvard acceptance letter. You created a huge scene at the college and the military base, humiliating her and sending her to jail, where she killed herself..." I barely understood his words. He stopped talking, sneering with rage. "Why am I wasting my breath? Jane, I spared your life. That's more than enough. You live or die on your own terms!" "Never appear in front of Sarah and me again, or you'll regret it!" My whole body trembled. Instinctively, I reached for his arm. He violently pushed my hand away. He turned and shoved me hard. I didn't know he could push so hard. My body flew backward. My vision blurred. My forehead hit something. Blood flowed, dripping into my eyes. Through the bloody haze, I saw my brother's cold, resolute back as he walked away. I finally understood. He truly didn't want me anymore. Because of some confused, incomprehensible reason, he was gone. The young couple who had brought me back led me back to the Military Base. I saw the idiot boy sitting on the sofa in the foyer. He was staring at the door, looking anxious. When he saw me, his eyes brightened. He rushed over and grabbed my wrist. He looked furious, staring at the couple. "She is mine! Don't you dare take her away again!" He turned to me, carefully checking me over. "Are you hungry? Are you tired? I'll take you to eat and sleep." He spoke to me like I was a genuine rag doll. The woman sighed. "That's my son, Alex. He had an accident six months ago and... lost his mind when his sister died." So, he wasn't a stray. He was looking for a doll because he missed his sister. The woman took my other hand, speaking softly. "He won't hurt you. If you're afraid, I'll move him to another room..." I remembered how he came back for me at sunset, even though I drove him away. I looked at her, shaking my head firmly. "I'm not afraid." The woman's eyes reddened. She stroked my hair. "Good. Since he brought you back, this is your home now, as long as you want to stay."
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