My parents, who pretended to be poor, spent nearly $800 million on my adopted sister's graduation party. That same day, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The experienced doctor looked at my face, sallow from long-term malnutrition, and sighed. "Kid, this doesn't look good. Where are your parents?" I rubbed my hands together nervously. They were just poor janitors. We couldn't afford the exorbitant surgery costs. But the next moment, I saw them at the fanciest restaurant downtown. With a wave of his hand, my dad gifted my adopted sister a luxury yacht worth $800 million. In the heat of the moment, Mom mentioned me: "Nina graduated too. Maybe it's time we tell her about the family fortune." Dad shook his head dismissively. "What's the rush? Let's test her for another summer. We'll surprise her when school starts!" I scrubbed dishes numbly in the back. Mom, Dad, I have less than a month to live. 1 When the sun went down, Mom and Dad came home in their faded janitor uniforms. Under the dim light, Dad shouted excitedly: "Nina, look what good stuff Dad brought back today!" "Your old man dug through trash cans all afternoon for this!" Looking at the plate of chicken bones picked clean on the table, my stomach churned violently. During the day, he had told the waiter: "Pack up some leftovers for me. I want to take them home." But seeing the packed food, he shook his head in disappointment. "This looks too expensive for a poor family. It'll spoil Nina." My adopted sister, Chloe, winked at the stray dog eating happily in the corner. "Daddy, Big Sister loves chicken bones the most!" So the waiter packed all the bones from the dog bowl into a plastic bag and handed it to my dad. Dad thoughtfully picked a piece and put it in my bowl. "This one has meat on it. My girl has gotten thin; you need to nourish yourself." I looked at their empty bowls and asked, "Why aren't you eating?" Mom rubbed my head gently. "Silly child, it's fine for us to suffer a little. Everything good in the house should go to you." Under their expectant gazes, I picked up a piece of "meat" and put it in my mouth. The moment I swallowed, I couldn't hold it back and vomited everything up. Dad's eyes grew colder, but he restrained himself and had Mom hand me a plastic bag. "This is a reward for our daughter becoming the city's top scholar!" I opened it. A pungent smell hit my nose. It was a pair of tattered, worn-out sneakers. Mom and Dad looked at me with scrutiny. If I showed even a hint of vanity or comparison, they would accuse me of being ungrateful for their hard work. I forced a smile. "Thanks, Mom and Dad. I love them." A wave of pain surged through my stomach. I tentatively asked: "Mom, Dad, can you give me some money?" "I... I'm sick." Hearing this, Mom anxiously hugged me and felt my forehead. "It's not hot. Nina, where does it hurt?" Just as I was trying to figure out how to tell them about the stomach cancer, Chloe came back. Chloe was wearing a beautiful designer dress and the trendiest leather shoes of the summer. Hearing Mom, she pointed at my distended belly, full of fluid, and asked with feigned innocence: "Sister's belly is so big. Is she asking you for money to get an abortion?" Suddenly realizing she "said something wrong," Chloe quickly covered her mouth. Dad's face darkened instantly. He stood up and dragged me out of Mom's arms. Remembering my reaction to the meat earlier, his furious eyes were filled with chilling coldness. "I scrimped and saved to raise you, starved myself to send you to school, and you go behind our backs and get knocked up by some wild man!" "Fine! Looks like you won't learn self-respect without a taste of the family discipline!" I looked at the special whip soaked in mango juice and lined with barbs. I shook like a leaf, trying to explain: "It's not like that..." Before I could finish, my enraged father cut me off. "Now you're lying and talking back! Kneel!" My legs bent uncontrollably. The next second, I was instinctively kneeling on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly. "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I disappointed you." "Don't use the whip, please. I'm scared." My forehead was bleeding from the impact. Dad softened a little. Chloe chimed in, pretending to speak for me. "Dad, stop punishing Sister." "Sister must have just been confused to go to a motel with several vocational school boys at the same time." That sentence was the spark that ignited Dad's explosive rage. "Letting you run wild! I'll beat you until you can't go out and seduce men anymore!" One lash came down, and my skin split open. Hives quickly spread across my body. Burning pain mixed with an maddening itch. I didn't know how many lashes I took. In my fading consciousness, I heard Dad say: "Your mom and I are going to the night shift. No dinner for you tonight. Reflect on your mistakes!" 2 When I opened my eyes, I smelled disinfectant. Leo was reading a book intently, his handsome features glowing in the sunlight. My heart skipped a beat. After a moment, I asked, "Leo, why am I here?" Leo put down the book and walked to my bedside, speaking with a touch of heroism: "My dear lady, you slept for two whole days. If I hadn't broken the window to save you, you'd be dead." "But honestly, that drafty window of yours didn't need much breaking. It opened with a pull." After that, Leo asked casually: "Nina, which college are you planning to go to?" After a long silence, I looked at his face seriously. "Leo, I don't like you. Stop wasting your time on me." He blushed and stammered, "Who... who said I liked you? Don't be narcissistic." As if carried by the wind, my cold voice reached his ears. "Leo, I'm going to marry a rich man." "Your family is too poor. You're not good enough for me." The smile on Leo's face faded bit by bit, the loneliness in his eyes hidden by his bangs. "Just rest. We'll talk later." Watching his retreating back, I hid under the covers and sobbed uncontrollably. Such a brilliant boy. I'm a dying person. How could I hold him back? It was raining when I left the hospital. I walked down the steps. The misty rain fell on my shoulders. I saw Mom and Dad actually out looking for me, which was unprecedented. Dad was cursing heartbrokenly: "The recruiters from Tsinghua and Peking University have been waiting for this unfilial daughter for two days, and she dares to play runaway with me!" Just as I was about to greet them, a large hand suddenly grabbed my waist from behind. I screamed in terror: "Dad! Mom! Help..." The moment my mouth was covered, I met Chloe's cunning eyes. She silently mouthed: "Enjoy yourself." Mom suddenly walked toward me. "I think I heard Nina calling me." I widened my eyes and waved frantically, making muffled noises. Chloe turned and linked arms with Mom. "Mom, you must have heard wrong. If Sister was nearby, she would definitely come home. Let's look over there!" Dad continued cursing me: "Little slut, I'll fix her when she gets back!" "If she was half as sensible as Chloe, I would have told her about our wealth long ago!" I don't know how much time passed. The man pulled up his pants, satisfied, and I was discarded like a broken doll. Rainwater mixed with blood flowed slowly from beneath me. I stared blankly at the sky. At that moment, a dirty stray dog came over and nuzzled my face. I spoke with a hoarse voice. "Were you abandoned too?" The puppy circled me twice, its dark eyes examining me curiously. I adjusted my torn clothes, barely covering myself, and walked out of the alley. The puppy followed me step by step. Counting the few coins I had left. I bought it a sausage. "I have to go now." 3 It was lively at my door. When I appeared, the crowd exploded. Two senior students grabbed my hands. "Nina Zhou, congratulations on being the city's top scholar! We are the recruitment team from Tsinghua University!" Before I could react, another student hugged my arm. "Nina, consider Nanjing University!" "Come to Tsinghua, our cafeteria is amazing!" "Ignore them, I feel a connection with you. Come to Nanjing!" "Tsinghua!" "Nanjing!" Just as the two groups were about to start shoving, Chloe suddenly screamed. "Sister, what have you been doing?!" "Are you out embarrassing Mom and Dad again?!" Seeing my barely-there clothes and the bruises all over my body, everyone fell silent. Dad rushed out with the whip and slapped me to the ground. My ears were ringing, and I spat out another mouthful of blood. "Unfilial daughter! You went out whoring again!" Seeing the strips of cloth hanging off me, he shouted at the recruiters: "You all go back!" "This disgraceful daughter of mine is used goods!" "Young and immoral, pregnant with some wild man's bastard!" "Scores don't matter if you have no morals!" The recruiters looked at each other in shock. One senior looked at me with concern: "Sir, could there be a misunderstanding?" Chloe quickly smoothed things over: "It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. My sister didn't come home for two nights, she must have been studying!" Someone muttered, "Studying where for two nights..." "Yeah... her dad said it, it can't be fake..." The next second, the Tsinghua senior stammered, "Um... we have to visit another student." "We won't fight Nanjing for Nina Zhou." The Nanjing senior forced a smile. "Nina, I think Tsinghua is great too. Good food. You should go to Tsinghua." After saying that, they all scattered like birds. Mom looked at me, a flicker of pain in her eyes. But she was dragged inside by the furious Dad. Mom nudged Dad reproachfully. "If you do this, how can Nina go to college?" "What's good about domestic universities? I already contacted a school abroad for her." I suddenly laughed, a tragic sound. A metallic taste rose in my throat. I sat in the corner, unscrewing the cap of the pesticide bottle. A weak whimper came from outside the door. I opened it. The stray puppy rubbed affectionately against my pant leg. I kicked it away, but it came back. I sighed. Fine, I'll wait until I find it a good owner. I took out a chipped basin and put the puppy in it. After washing it clean, I held it in my arms, staring blankly at the wall all day. Besides Leo, I didn't seem to have any friends. Since childhood, classmates avoided me because of the faint smell on me. Behind my back, they called me the kid who grew up eating trash. Puppy, oh puppy, where can I send you? 4 Chloe opened the door and her eyes lit up when she saw the puppy in my arms. "Such a pretty doggy!" "Sis, give it to me. You can't afford to raise it anyway." The puppy shrank back into my arms. Anger flashed in Chloe's eyes. Then she suddenly screamed and fell to the floor. Mom and Dad rushed over hearing the noise. Chloe wiped her tears pitifully: "Dad, Mom, don't blame Sister." "She was just in a bad mood, that's why she let her dog bite me." "I'm fine." Mom quickly grabbed her hand to inspect it. "Where did it bite?" "A girl's skin is delicate, we can't have scars!" I sat on the floor, silent. Dad looked at my silence, and a nameless fire shot up. "I think you've really rebelled these past few days." "You dare give me attitude now!" "If we hadn't worked so hard to raise you, could you be sitting here giving me attitude?" I knelt numbly and kowtowed. "I'm sorry." Mom suddenly burst into tears and shoved Dad hard. "Are you done yet!" "Look at what you've turned my good daughter into!" "Nina, actually..." Chloe suddenly knelt on the floor, kowtowing to me repeatedly. "Sister, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have liked your dog." "It was right for you to let it bite me. As long as you aren't mad at Mom and Dad, it can bite me every day." "Bastard!" "You learned nothing in school! How did I raise such a morally corrupt thing like you?" "Wife, go stew that beast for me!" "I need to teach her a lesson!" Hearing he was going to cook the dog, I trembled and grabbed Dad's pant leg. My forehead smashed into the floor, leaving spots of blood. "No! Dad, I was wrong. I'm kowtowing, I'm apologizing." Dad's mouth curved into a satisfied smile, but his words were ice cold. "Too late. If I don't teach you a harsh lesson, you won't remember!" Saying that, he picked up the puppy and walked toward the kitchen. I stumbled to block him, crying and begging. "No, Dad, I learned my lesson, I really did." "I shouldn't have given attitude. I shouldn't have ignored your hard work." "I apologize to Sister." I quickly knelt towards Chloe, my bleeding forehead hitting the floor again. "Sister, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Chloe's voice was sickeningly sweet. "Sister, Mom and Dad are doing this for your own good. If you don't learn a lesson, it would be bad if you caused bigger trouble later." Dad nodded in agreement. "Chloe is the sensible one." The next second, he raised the kitchen knife high. A scream echoed through the house. I couldn't tell if it was the dog's or mine.
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