When someone swapped me with her baby, I didn't cry or fuss; I just closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. I watched helplessly as the life of wealth and privilege that belonged to me was traded away from these frostbite-scarred hands. The tension in the woman's face finally eased the moment she held me in her arms. She walked away from the opulent mansion behind her, looking back with every step. She thought her daughter had climbed the social ladder and become the child of aristocrats, oblivious to the fact that she had personally thrown her own flesh and blood into an abyss. After all, for the next ten years, being part of the "poor and lower-middle peasants" would be the best possible identity to have. 1 Feeling the large hands gradually tightening around my neck, I opened my big, round eyes and looked at her. I forced the corners of my mouth up, pulling out a silent smile. The woman seemed to deflate, loosening her grip. She held me and crouched by the muddy dirt road, sobbing uncontrollably. Her tears, mixed with the rain, fell onto my face. It tasted sour and astringent, with a hint of salty bitterness. And just like that, I went from Chloe Sterling to Chloe Vance. In my past life, the name that originally belonged to me, along with the identity of the eldest daughter of a wealthy family, became Chloe Vance's. It was something I had long since discarded like trash, yet I still woke up in the middle of the night, my pillow wet with tears. It wasn't that I missed what I used to have. It was that I couldn't forget the humiliation of being called "capitalist scum." I couldn't forget the agony of being humiliated by malicious people. And I especially couldn't forget the ruthless determination of the Sterling family when they pushed me into the fire pit. Later, when the hardships passed and the Sterling family regained its former glory, perhaps out of guilt, they brought me back and granted my every request. I became the eldest daughter of the Sterling family, envied by everyone in high society. But trauma lasts a lifetime; guilt is only temporary. When Chloe Vance and I were kidnapped at the same time, my brother didn't hesitate to save her, leaving me in the sea of fire. The rising heat scorched my skin. I actually saw a flicker of relief in his eyes. His voice carried a fake apology: "Chloe, I can't live without her. She's my only light. If she dies, I won't survive either. "Then everything you sacrificed for me would have been for nothing. I can't let your efforts go to waste. Don't worry, I'll find someone to save you." The thick smoke in the room grew denser. He carried the rosy-cheeked Chloe Vance and ran out without a backward glance. Near the end, I never saw the rescuers my brother promised. I breathed my last breath, full of indignation. The moment my soul left my body, I saw Chloe Vance, acting delicate and coy, hiding in my brother's arms, her eyes shining. "Arthur, I set the fire. I staged the kidnapping too. I admit I'm not a good person. Do you still love me now?" Arthur smiled indulgently and patted her head. "I love you, so naturally I accept everything about you." Their love finally blossomed, bought with my life, and received everyone's blessings. What an absolute joke. 2 "Chloe, why are you standing there spacing out?" A booming voice pulled me back from my past memories. The old lady, wearing a ragged headscarf and carrying a hoe on her shoulder, walked briskly toward me, moving like the wind. I grinned, showing my teeth, and ran toward her, my little feet going pitter-patter. I wore ill-fitting cloth shoes and baggy, patched grey clothes. But even that couldn't hide my delicate, porcelain-doll face. The old lady bent down and scooped me up with one arm, kissing my cheek with a smile. "My precious girl, Grandma will boil an egg for you when we get home." In this era, having a full stomach was a luxury. A normal meal consisted of watery porridge that went straight through you and scratchy cornbread. Back then, even though Mary, my biological mother, had softened and didn't strangle me, she never fed me a single drop of milk. I was raised by my grandmother, fed entirely on rice water. Later, when rice water wasn't enough to fill me up, the old lady asked around the neighboring villages to see whose goat had just given birth. Every day before dawn, she would walk two miles just to trade for a bowl of goat's milk. She fed it to me drop by drop, and that was how she managed to raise me. The rest of the Vance family was unhappy about it, but they didn't dare say a word. After all, all three of Grandma's sons were blindly obedient to her. And Grandpa Vance obeyed her every command too. You could say the entire Vance family was a dictatorship run by Grandma. Since I was raised personally by Grandma, I was naturally favored over the other children. 3 Grandma dug a piping hot egg out of the ashes of the fire. Afraid I'd burn myself, she peeled it before handing it to me. "Here, the egg is ready. Take it inside and eat it, so those greedy ghosts don't stare at you." As soon as she finished speaking, a crowd of people poured through the door. It was the rest of the Vance family returning from working in the fields. "Grandma, what are you trying to hide from us?" My eldest cousin, Leo, had sharp ears and was quick-witted. He dropped the basket of grass from his back and hurried over. I quickly shoved the egg into my mouth, biting off half of it, and, while Grandma wasn't looking, stuffed the other half into her mouth. Grandma was stunned by my sudden action. She gave me a fond, scolding look, but couldn't hide the pampering affection in her eyes. She swallowed her half of the egg and waved her hand, shooing him away. "Go on, shoo! Stop hovering like a beggar. Go play somewhere else." Leo didn't dare argue with Grandma. His eyes scanned me like a radar. When I wasn't looking, he used his finger to wipe a crumb of egg yolk from the corner of my mouth and quickly popped it into his own. He looked at Grandma resentfully. "Grandma, you're secretly giving Chloe eggs again." Grandma didn't look the least bit ashamed at being caught. She smacked Leo on the back without mercy. "I raised the chickens! I'll give the eggs to whoever I damn well please!" Leo looked at me, smiling faintly on the sidelines, then looked at Grandma, who was chopping vegetables briskly. He pouted and walked away. During dinner, he acted like he was determined to eat the family out of house and home, wolfing down two massive bowls of watery porridge. Grandma rolled her eyes at his pathetic display. 4 Life went on like this, ordinary and dull. Soon, it was time for the autumn harvest. With the egg Grandma had boiled for me that morning safely tucked in my pocket, I went to the fields to bring them water. But I unexpectedly bumped into Mary talking to Leo. I quickly hid behind a tree, eavesdropping on their conversation like a sneaky little mouse. Leo looked a bit impatient. He asked the person in front of him, "Aunt Mary, what do you want? I'm busy harvesting the rice." The harvest this year was much better than expected. Barring any accidents, we'd have enough to eat this year. Leo unconsciously licked his lips and swallowed hard. Mary tried to act like a loving aunt, reaching out to pat Leo's shoulder, but he dodged her. She forced an awkward smile, feigning dissatisfaction. "Leo, I saw your grandma boiling an egg for Chloe again this morning. How does a worthless girl like her deserve to eat something so precious? You're the one who should be eating it!" A hint of mockery played at the corners of Leo's mouth, but quickly vanished. He opened his eyes wide, feigning pleasant surprise. "Aunt Mary, you think so too?" Seeing him take the bait, Mary nodded affirmatively. "Of course! Leo, you're the only boy in the Vance family, the one who will carry on the family name." "So Aunt Mary doesn't plan on leaving anything to Chloe? You're leaving it all to me?" Mary wanted to argue, but didn't know what to say. But compared to giving it to her fake daughter, giving it to her nephew in front of her really wasn't a bad idea. She agreed, "That's right. Your uncle and I don't have a son, so everything we have will be yours." Anyway, she and her husband hadn't saved much. When her real daughter came to take them to live in a big house, would they even care about these meager possessions? Hearing this, Leo smiled even brighter. "That's great! Aunt Mary, I've been wanting to eat that half-bag of brown sugar in your cupboard for ages. I'm going back to get it right now!" With that, Leo ran back to the house without looking back. Mary's fake smile froze on her face. How did things turn out like this? Her original plan was to make Leo jealous of me, target me, maybe even get violent with me. After all, who can predict a child's jealousy? But she never expected Leo to play by his own rules and snatch away her only remaining half-bag of brown sugar. She meant she would give him her things later, not now! But Leo gave her no chance to regret it. He immediately boiled the entire half-bag of brown sugar in water and brought it to the fields for the whole family to drink. He didn't forget to repeat what Mary had said. "Uncle, Aunt Mary said that all your property will go to me in the future, and I'll be the one to carry out your funeral rites." My second uncle was a man of few words. He smiled a goofy smile. "I listen to your grandma. Whoever she says gets it, gets it." Hearing this, Mary's face turned beet red with anger, but she didn't dare say a word. After all, she was an expert at reading the room and sucking up to the powerful. Grandma, as the woman at the absolute top of the Vance family's food chain, was naturally someone she couldn't afford to offend. But Grandma acted as if she hadn't heard a thing. She sat on the edge of the field with me, sipping the sugar water in small gulps. She smacked her lips and whispered, "This sugar water doesn't taste like half a bag. Your brother definitely hid some." I took a big gulp of sugar water, my eyes squinting from the sweetness, feeling a second of sympathy for Leo. Trying to hide things right under Grandma's nose was truly like showing off your axe skills in front of the God of War. The next moment, Grandma glanced at me and whispered, "My precious girl, you haven't had brown sugar eggs yet, have you?" I bared my little tiger teeth and said obediently, "No, I haven't, Grandma." 5 Early the next morning, I was woken up by Leo's tragic, high-pitched screams. With one furious roar from Grandma, Leo went silent. I looked at the bowl of brown sugar eggs on my nightstand and couldn't help but laugh out loud. Tears rolled down the sides of my nose and into my mouth. It tasted a little sweet. 6 As the bitter winter approached, I finally saw the exiled Sterling family. Chloe Sterling's hair was a mess, and she wore a tattered, thin winter coat. But her eyes darted around intensely, as if she were searching for something. Arthur Sterling was emaciated, thin as a rail, looking like a strong gust of wind could knock him over. Mr. and Mrs. Sterling, though wearing decent clothes, had sallow, gaunt faces and an aura that screamed they had suffered tremendously. I was a bit surprised. In my past life, the Sterling family hadn't been this miserable. They had even managed to hide away a considerable amount of money to prepare for their eventual comeback. In this life, had something happened? Their arrival added some gossip to the quiet Mountain View Village. Mountain View Village was flanked by mountains on two sides and a river on the third. There was only one road leading out of the village. After the snow fell and blocked the only road, the villagers' only form of entertainment was gossip. I often followed the crowd to the Sterling family's doorstep to watch the show. Following the herd, I threw a few pebbles into the Sterling family's courtyard. Watching a group of kids chasing Chloe Sterling, calling her "capitalist scum." A secret thrill of pleasure rose in my heart. In my past life, after learning that Chloe Sterling and Arthur were in love, I confronted her. I asked her why, after calling me "capitalist scum" all those years, she was so eager to become the sister-in-law of that same "scum." She answered with utter indifference, "It was just kids talking nonsense. You're holding onto something that small for this long? You're way too petty." In this life, I hope she can generously forgive the "nonsense" of these children.
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