Chapter 10 My Hidden Past
My childhood memories are hazy.
I just remember my parents favored my brother in everything.
If he fell, I got hit. If I scored poorly, I got hit.
If he lied about me, I still got hit.
Countless bamboo strips broke across my back.
I thought it was because I wasn’t good enough.
So I studied harder, took on every chore, big or small.
Still, they never spared me a smile.
Then, in ninth grade, I brought home prize money from a provincial competition.
My mom immediately used it to buy my brother name-brand sneakers.
I overheard Zhao Weiye’s mother whispering to mine.
“You really lucked out with this girl—earns money for you and works like an ox. Just don’t let her study too much. Too much education gives girls ideas. Marry her to our Weiye when she’s older. We’ll make sure your bride price is generous.”
That was when I understood why they treated me like trash.
I wasn’t their real daughter.
But I wasn’t the only one who overheard.
My so-called brother, Jiang Hong, heard too.
Once he knew I wasn’t blood-related, his gaze changed.
He started looking at me like prey.
He was big and strong. I knew I couldn’t fight him.
So I kept playing the obedient daughter in front of my foster parents while pretending to string him along.
At school, I got close to the biggest bully—Zhao Weiye.
I sweet-talked him into protecting me, keeping Jiang Hong at bay.
It made me sick.
But I still forced myself to eat the buns he offered, copy his homework, even take the spare change he tossed me.
I never spent it.
I saved every cent.
My only goal was to escape—go to college, find my real parents.
After the college entrance exam, my foster parents refused to pay tuition.
They wanted to marry me off to Zhao Weiye.
His mother didn’t want to pay bride price, so she told him to get me pregnant first.
I was ready for them.
I made sure they caught him trying something, then convinced them a college-educated bride would bring a higher price—enough to cover my brother’s own bride price and even buy a house in town.
Greedy, they paid one year’s tuition.
They had no idea I didn’t need their money.
I’d been working secret jobs since high school, hiding every competition prize.
I even lied about which university I attended so they couldn’t track me.
By junior year, they panicked—I was slipping out of their control.
They tricked me into coming home, planning to marry me to an old widower in the village.
I pretended to agree.
I’d already gathered evidence and hidden recorders on me.
The moment they took the money, my friend would bring the police.
I would finally be free.
But then my real parents showed up.
Over a decade of steel armor crumbled the instant I saw them.
I forgot every plan.
I stood in the corner, crying like a lost child.
I’d dreamed countless times of my real mother hugging me, whispering that she would protect me, that she loved me.
Instead, when she saw my torn shoes and faded pants, there was only faint disgust in her eyes.
Still, I hoped.
I thought if I wore pretty clothes in the Gu family home, they would finally love me.
But Gu Qingqing shed a few tears, and they pushed me straight into a marriage alliance.
For over twenty years I survived by calculating every step, doing whatever it took.
I was filthy.
Unworthy.
And in the end—still unloved.
Someone like me had no right to stand beside Shen Zhiye.