My sister-in-law spoiled her son with absolutely no bottom line. When I warned her that "spoiling a child is like killing a child," she ran to my brother and complained that I was just jealous she had a son to carry on the family name. Sure enough, when her son grew up, he turned into a destructive delinquent. Yet, my sister-in-law was incredibly proud: "My boy is so masculine for his age! You guys are just jealous!" Terrified he would end up hurting someone else, I tried my best to discipline him. But my sister-in-law brainwashed him: "Your aunt has wanted to get rid of you since you were in my womb! If you want to torture someone, go torture her!" Later, I was pushed down a flight of stairs by that very child and died. When the police showed up, my entire family played dumb to cover for him. When I opened my eyes again, I was back. My sister-in-law was smugly bragging: "My son is so strong, he'll definitely land a solid, iron-rice-bowl government job in the future." I sneered. Mhm~ Well, how about a lifetime of three square meals in prison? Doesn't get more 'iron' than that. 1 "Are you saying the deceased jumped off the building on her own accord? Did you see it with your own eyes?" "Yes, absolutely! My husband can vouch for it!" My sister-in-law, Chloe, was giving the police a firm, dead-certain answer while subtly shooting glances at my brother, David. David tore his gaze away from my bloody corpse and nodded dumbly. "Yes, we can all vouch for it. When my sister... jumped, my son was inside reading a book. He wasn't at the scene." The police officer turned to look at the twenty-year-old man being shielded by his grandparents. His height and build far exceeded his peers. He was heavily built, with a face full of well-fed fat, single eyelids, and a menacing stare. He had a buzz cut. This was David and Chloe's only child, and my parents' precious, deeply doted-upon only grandson—Tyler. Before the police could even ask a question, my parents shoved him behind them. They kept telling the police how well-behaved and obedient their grandson usually was. Instead, they slandered me, claiming I had a weird personality, saying I studied psychology so much I went crazy, and that I jumped off the building myself. The neighbors watching from the sidelines shook their heads and sighed, but no one dared to step forward and tell the truth. Finding no leads, the police eventually classified the case as an accidental fall. The day my body was brought back to the house, Tyler walked over. Seeing no one around, he raised his foot and kicked my stiff head sideways. "Dead bitch, haha. Mashed up your insides real good, what a rush!" "That's what you get for not letting me play my games, for always telling me what to do!" He kicked and stomped on me until his father, David, saw him and rushed forward to stop him. Chloe also hurried over, pulling Tyler away, scolding him: "Touching a dead body? Aren't you afraid of bad luck?" David straightened my head. "Sister, I'm sorry. I only have one son, I have no choice... Please don't blame me, and don't blame Mom and Dad." 2 Dying with my eyes wide open, my spirit coldly watched the Thorne family cover for a murderer. They knew perfectly well how I died. My brother and sister-in-law wanted a son so badly they aborted two female fetuses. Their third pregnancy finally yielded a boy, whom they named Tyler. A grandson was incredibly precious in this household. From the moment he was born, Tyler became the family's treasure. Under this intense spoiling, he learned at a very young age to throw tantrums and act out to get what he wanted. I couldn't stand watching it and warned Chloe that "spoiling a child is like killing a child." Chloe, who only had a middle school education, didn't understand the depth of that phrase at all. She rolled her eyes at me, turned around, and buried her face in my brother's chest, crying: "She's so vicious! She actually wants to kill our only son!" "Your sister is just jealous that I gave you a boy! She's afraid he's going to get her share of the inheritance!" My parents also pointed fingers at me and scolded: "Can't you ever wish for anything good? Why are you targeting your own nephew? How did we raise such a wicked daughter?" I was only a sophomore in high school then, and no one in the family cared about what I said. Every time Tyler caused trouble, not only did Chloe not discipline him, she clapped and cheered: "My boy is so manly! He'll definitely land a great government job when he grows up! He'll protect his mommy and daddy! Everyone else is just jealous!" Under the relentless spoiling and indulgence of my brother and his wife, Tyler started using violence to solve his problems. I was the only person in the family who would try to correct his mistakes. I went to college to study psychology, knowing full well that wrong parenting methods could ruin a child's future. Because I didn't cater to his whims, he frequently threw things at me, leaving me covered in bruises. My brother and sister-in-law never stepped in to correct him; behind closed doors, they even subtly encouraged him. "Using his aunt as a free punching bag for practice. That way, he won't get bullied when he goes out into the real world!" Chloe calculatingly thought to herself. The year Tyler turned eighteen, the family scraped together every penny to send him to a low-tier private college after he barely scored 400 on his SATs. During his sophomore year, Tyler threw a lit firecracker into the desk of a low-income student in his class. The explosion blinded the student in one eye, leaving him permanently disabled. The family had to pay out two hundred thousand dollars in a settlement. Later, I accidentally discovered that he had started playing banned, incredibly violent and horrific video games, spending hours every day torturing virtual characters. I very seriously confiscated his games and gave him a furious scolding. He looked at me with pure hatred. My brother, sister-in-law, and parents all stepped in to defend him, saying it was in a man's nature to love video games and that I was sticking my nose where it didn't belong. I didn't want to meddle either, but watching my brother and his wife ruin Tyler with their toxic parenting meant he might go out into society and harm innocent people. Driven by my professional ethics as a psychologist and basic social responsibility, I couldn't just stand by. During summer break, Tyler called me, saying he was being bullied and cornered by a group of thugs at an abandoned construction site. I thought he had messed with the wrong crowd. He was my nephew after all; I couldn't just ignore him, so I rushed to the site. It was an abandoned concrete building on the edge of town, five stories high. When I climbed to the top floor, Tyler suddenly pushed me from behind. He stood on the roof watching me fall, his eyes filled with the thrill of revenge. In that moment, I was just like an NPC he tortured to death in his games. The first person to "discover" my fall was Chloe. After pushing me, Tyler calmly called his mother: "Mom, didn't you say she wanted to kill me since she was in the womb? Well, I killed her first!" 3 I never expected to wake up again. My phone was ringing constantly. I answered it instinctively. Tyler's voice came through: "Aunt Maya, I'm cornered by some thugs over by the old concrete building. They're going to beat me up. Can you come save me?" My blood ran cold. I quickly glanced at the time on my computer—I had actually been reborn back to the exact day I was pushed off the building! Through the phone, Tyler's voice continued. I suppressed my towering hatred: "Okay, I'll be right there to save you." "I'll wait for you!" Tyler's plea for help carried an eerie excitement. In my past life, I hadn't picked up on it at all. Experiencing it a second time, there was no way I was going to let him get away with it! Hanging up the phone, I immediately went to the kitchen and said to Chloe, who was making chicken soup for her son: "Chloe, Tyler says he's cornered by some people at the concrete building. You need to go check on him, quick." "What happened? Who dares hurt my son? I'll kill them!" Upon hearing this, Chloe hurriedly untied her apron. The sun was blazing outside. Before she left, I specifically said: "Chloe, the sun is so strong. You should wear my sun protection jacket. The one that cost sixty bucks. Haven't you been wanting to try it?" A few years ago, my brother and sister-in-law had to pay out hundreds of thousands to clean up the mess their "good son" made. Now, Chloe's life was very tight financially. Every time she saw me wearing nice clothes, she would specifically ask how much they cost. Hearing they were sixty or seventy dollars, she would mutter about me wasting money while unavoidably reaching out to feel the fabric. She wished I would dedicate all my money to her husband and son. In her eyes, as an unmarried sister, I should be supporting my brother's family. Reborn, I saw right through her intentions. Sure enough, hearing the jacket was expensive, she immediately turned back. Muttering that I was finally being sensible, she put on the sun protection jacket I usually wore. I watched her hurry out the door and sneered. If Tyler accidentally pushed his own mother off a building, that would just be karma for the two of them! You reap what you sow; go taste the fruits of your own labor! In this life, I respect this family's destiny and will absolutely not meddle! Less than half an hour later, a neighbor, Jimmy, ran over from the edge of the neighborhood, yelling: "Bad news! Something happened at the concrete building! Someone fell!" I feigned panic and hurried to the concrete building with a light step. I saw blood seeping from a pile of sand at the base of the building, with a person lying on top of it. I stepped closer, and my pupils dilated in shock! What was going on? The person pushed off the building turned out to be... her? 4 Lying on the sand pile was a teenage girl. Her clothes were covered in blood and dirt, and there was a brutal, disfiguring scar over her right eye. My heart sank. How could this be? Why was she the one who fell? In my past life, I landed directly on the hard concrete and died instantly from ruptured organs, beyond saving. This girl was luckier than me. She landed on the sand pile, the soft sand breaking her fall and saving her life. "Look at her pants. She was probably... you know." A harsh male voice came from the crowd. I couldn't find the source, but his comment made me notice that the girl's pants were pulled halfway down, and there was fresh blood on them. A chill ran down my spine. Had she been assaulted before she fell? I climbed up the sand pile, took off my jacket, and covered her lower half, afraid to move her rashly in case of broken bones. The girl's eyes were still staring blankly. I didn't know what I could do for her, so I just raised my hand, gently supported her forehead, and whispered: "Don't be afraid. I'm here." Following her line of sight, I scanned the roof. There was no sign of Tyler, and Chloe was nowhere to be found either. 5 Police cars and ambulances soon arrived. When the paramedics loaded the girl into the ambulance, I followed. The attending doctor asked me while performing emergency first aid: "What's the victim's name?" "Lily." She was the low-income student whose eye Tyler had ruined with a firecracker a year ago. I didn't know why she was in that building, or why she was pushed off in my place, ending up covered in blood! After waiting outside the ER for three hours, the attending doctor finally came out: "Are you a relative?" "I'm her sister," I blurted out. The doctor sighed: "Your sister suffered head trauma and ten fractures across her body. She's out of immediate danger after emergency surgery, but there's a high probability she will fall into a vegetative state, a coma." I was thankful she was still alive and asked urgently: "And the blood on her pants?" "I know what you're worried about. Don't panic. That blood was from her menstrual cycle. There are no signs of sexual assault on her body." The doctor looked thoughtful. "If there were, there might be DNA evidence, which could actually help us find the perpetrator. Now that she's in a coma and can't testify, finding the culprit will be very difficult." Just then, a middle-aged man reeking of alcohol barged in, demanding to see his daughter. I instantly recognized him as Lily's stepfather, Gary. Years ago, when my brother and his wife paid the settlement for Lily's eye, I looked into her family background. Her mother had remarried this alcoholic and passed away early from illness. Lily was left living with her stepfather, barely scraping by, unable to even afford basic menstrual products. After paying the two hundred thousand dollar settlement, the court also ordered my brother and his wife to pay Lily five hundred dollars a month for living expenses. That was the only reason Tyler didn't go to jail. Doing the math, it was the beginning of the month, exactly when Tyler was supposed to give Lily the money. Gary, seeing his daughter severely injured and comatose, immediately asked the doctor how much money he could get. The doctor told him the perpetrator was still under investigation and Lily's medical bills needed to be paid. Hearing that he not only wouldn't get any money but had to pay the hospital, Gary immediately used his drunkenness as an excuse to leave, grumbling: "She's not even my flesh and blood, why should I care if she lives or dies!" I asked the doctor what the chances were of Lily waking up. "Given her family's financial situation, the hospital can only use cheaper medications to maintain her basic vitals, so the chances of her waking up are low. There's a new drug available overseas specifically for this kind of condition. If we use that new drug, there's a chance she could wake up within six months," the doctor said, looking troubled. "But as you saw, her father absolutely cannot afford this." "Use the new drug on Lily," I said. "I'll cover all the medical expenses." The doctor kindly reminded me: "I must inform you, her medical bills will be roughly ten thousand dollars a month. That's not a small amount. You should think it over carefully." "This expense is nothing to me," I said firmly. "I want Lily to wake up and personally send the person who hurt her to prison." The attending doctor looked at me. He pulled down his mask, revealing a handsome, youthful face: "Alright, I will pay special attention to this patient. My name is Dr. Evans, Julian Evans." I smiled faintly: "Hello, Dr. Evans. My name is Maya, Maya Thorne. Hoping for a miracle." "Please keep the fact that Lily might wake up a secret, Dr. Evans." Julian didn't ask too many questions and solemnly agreed. I transferred twenty thousand dollars to the hospital's account in one lump sum to cover Lily's medical bills. On the drive home, I thought about a lot of things. I didn't know if what happened to Lily today was a butterfly effect caused by my rebirth. Because I escaped, did she become the victim in my place? There was that possibility, but I wasn't stupid enough to blame myself for Lily's injuries. The real culprit was someone else. As soon as I reached the front door, I heard Tyler and his mom talking: "I didn't think she'd actually fall! Falling from that high up, blood really does splatter everywhere, just like in the game!" Chloe grabbed Tyler, confirming: "Are you sure you didn't touch her?" "I didn't. Her pants were covered in period blood, who would touch that? I thought it was gross! She came looking for me today to get that five hundred bucks. I saw her pants were dirty, so I pulled them down from behind. She got scared, screamed, lost her footing, and fell." Chloe said self-righteously: "Then she fell on her own! It has nothing to do with us! Not even knowing how to use a pad, this girl isn't just blind from the firecracker, she must be brain-damaged too, right?" 6 The mother and son seemed to find this hilarious, so much so that when I appeared at the door, they jumped: "When did you get back?" "Just now." I remained composed, looking at Tyler, who was being shielded by Chloe. "Didn't you say someone was bullying you? Your mom went over to sort it out for you?" Chloe looked a bit guilty meeting my gaze: "S-sorted it out!" Tyler yelled at me: "I asked you to come save me! Why did you send my mom?!" I sneered: "Your mom is still alive, why should I be the one looking after you?" Chloe got defensive: "Maya, what kind of way is that to speak?" I glanced at her: "Chloe, where's my sun protection jacket?" Chloe froze for a second: "It's gone. When I went to save Tyler, it got snatched by those thugs. It's just a jacket, right? Are you really going to make a fuss over it? I'll just pay you back!" "Great. That jacket was sixty bucks. Venmo me." Seeing I was serious, Chloe immediately slapped her thigh and started wailing: "We're family, and you're nickel-and-diming me? I'm going to tell your brother tonight and let him see what a stingy bitch his sister is!" Her tantrum brought my mom out. Hearing what happened, my mom first anxiously checked if her precious grandson was hurt, then scolded me for being obsessed with money and making a fuss over a jacket with Chloe! "You have money and a good job now, you should be thinking about helping your brother's family! You need to focus on your brother buying a house! And Tyler is taking the civil service exam soon. He's the hope of our family. You need to find a way to get him a position at your agency! Otherwise, you're just ungrateful!" These words might have worked on me in my past life. Now, listening to her spew this garbage, I really wanted to slap her across the face! But I didn't show it. I just glanced at Tyler and noticed his watch was missing. "Tyler, where's your watch?" Tyler immediately covered his wrist: "None of your business!" I casually mentioned: "Tyler, didn't you say you were at the concrete building? A girl fell off that building. I went to take a look, and it seemed to be your classmate. Didn't you see anything?" Tyler and his mom exchanged a glance. He rolled his eyes at me brazenly: "I don't know what you're barking about! Mom! Didn't you say you made chicken soup for me? Where is it? I want it right now to calm my nerves!" Chloe and my mom immediately hurried to the kitchen to get the chicken soup. He just pushed someone off a building, leaving them covered in blood, and now he's in the mood for chicken soup? I coldly stared at Tyler's back. If I don't send him to prison to suffer, I would be doing a disservice to my tragic death in my past life! 7 After drinking the soup, Tyler sat in the living room playing his violent video games. My dad, woken up from his nap, came out and said nicely: "Tyler, your exam is only a few months away. We can't waste time. Why don't you read a book for a bit and play games later tonight, okay?" Tyler stared intently at the screen, not even glancing at my dad. My dad walked in front of the screen, blocking his view. "Go read a book..." Before he could finish, Tyler threw the game controller right at his grandfather's forehead. With a dull thud, it instantly drew blood. My dad clutched his forehead in pain, but he couldn't bear to scold his precious grandson. Instead, he directed his anger at me, sitting on the sofa playing on my phone: "Didn't you see your father bleeding? Hurry up and get a Band-Aid! Tyler is your nephew! As his aunt, shouldn't you discipline him?" Discipline? In my past life, I really did put effort into disciplining him, and what did I get in return? Tyler throwing various objects at me, leaving me covered in bruises. Being hit by a game controller was nothing. Once, when I was urging him to do his homework, he threw a vase at me. The shattered pieces cut my cheek, almost leaving a scar. Yet no one in the family stood up to reprimand Tyler. At the dinner table, they even made passive-aggressive comments about how I lacked boundaries and shouldn't provoke their precious boy. I still remember what my dad said at the time: "Tyler is your nephew. As an elder, you should be tolerant and unconditionally yield to him! That's the grace and refinement someone highly educated like you should have! Even if your face is scarred, it doesn't matter. You're not using your face to seduce men, so what are you afraid of?" In this life, now that the controller hit his head, he finally knows what pain is. I smiled and said to my dad: "Dad, Tyler is your precious grandson. As an elder, you should be tolerant and yield to him. Being hit and bleeding by him is your honor!" I slammed my bedroom door, shutting out their cursing, happy for the peace and quiet. My MMA coach texted me on my phone, saying training could start tonight. After being reborn, I spent a thousand bucks to sign up for a crash course in kickboxing. I had taken some boxing classes in college, so I had a bit of a foundation. Talking back feels good, but against evil people, fighting violence with violence is also a valid strategy!
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