Chapter 1

Nora was sixteen when she could no longer endure my mom's torment and decided to take me with her to run away from home.

When my mom found out, she grabbed me by the neck and sneered, "Want to leave? Pay up! I'll just pretend I never gave birth to you two worthless brats. Otherwise, I'll strangle her!"

So, Nora scraped together three thousand yuan to "buy" me out.

Later, when Nora and I opened a branch overseas, Mom appeared at my door with a bag of fried fish: "Sweet daughters, let Mommy in. I've come to see you!"

Nora looked shocked, "Auntie, you’ve got the wrong people. We've been orphans since we were kids. How could we have a mom?"

When we were kids, our family was very poor.

How poor were we? Before I was seven, I had only seen what a watermelon looked like. I never knew how it tasted.

When someone in the village threw watermelon rinds into the pig slop bucket, Nora and I would wait until they left to fish them out. Even if there were unknown things stuck to them, I still thought the crunchy stuff was delicious.

When I got burned by hot water, we couldn't find any ointment, so I used shoe polish instead. The next day, the skin and flesh on my foot were rotting. My mom slapped me six times, blaming me for wasting the shoe polish, and I still had to limp and weed the field.

Nora started maturing at twelve and saved money for half a month to buy a vest. My mom went crazy, beat her until her eardrum ruptured, and called her a slut, kicking me a couple of times too.

In such harsh conditions, my brother lived quite comfortably at home.

My name is Nora, and my sister's name is Phoebe. My mom often said if her first child were a son, we wouldn't have been born, so we should thank our brother.

Meat and vegetables were luxuries, but my brother got to eat drumsticks every day. When he ate, my mom would poke my shoulder with chopsticks.

"What are you looking at? Isn't there rice in your bowl? You hungry ghost, if you keep looking, I'll gouge out your eyes!"

The pickled vegetables in front of me had been there for years. I could even see little bugs wriggling inside, and I couldn't swallow it.

I wasn't convinced. I knew my brother had a lot of snacks, like Taffy and instant noodles, and I wanted to eat those too.

So, I sneaked a seasoning packet from the instant noodles when no one was looking. My mom caught me and grabbed a bamboo stick to beat me.

The bamboo stick was of excellent quality, and it whizzed through the air. That day, I fainted and woke up multiple times. My back and arms were covered in blood. I cried and kowtowed to my mom, saying I wouldn't dare to steal from my brother again. Only then did she show mercy, letting me kneel until dawn before going back to sleep.

After that, I had a psychological scar, obediently eating my pickles with stale buns.

But Nora didn't accept it. Like me, she had rebellious genes in her bones.

She slammed the table and shouted, "I want meat!"

My mom quickly moved the plate away: "Boys eat meat to grow strong and help at home. What does a jinx like you need meat for? Get lost!"

"I’m the one hoeing the fields, pulling the weeds. I do all the housework. My brother does nothing, but I want meat!"

"You ungrateful girl still dare to talk back! Your brother is still young, so what if he eats more meat? Would it kill you to let him have it?"

Nora exploded, picking up the plate and pouring it into her mouth. My mom rushed over and kicked her in the stomach, following with a feather duster.

"Try to grab it! You dare to challenge me with your wings not fully grown. Do you not remember who gave you this worthless life?"

Nora didn’t cry but jumped up and fought my mom fiercely.

"I want meat!!!"

In the chaos, the table was overturned. I crawled on the ground, quickly stuffing rice into my mouth. Nora scolded me, "You coward! Spineless!"

I looked at her impatiently, "Are you eating or not? If you want some, I'll save you a bit, otherwise, there won't be any rice left."

My brother sat there calmly, watching us fight over a piece of meat, then casually tossed a few drumsticks to the family dog.

You see, when people are degraded to a certain point, even a dog lives better.

In the end, Nora lost. I dragged her back to the room, and suddenly, she silently rushed out. I shouted after her:

"Hey, are you not eating the rice? If not, it's all mine!"

I vaguely heard a roar from outside. Moments later, Nora returned, showing me the drumsticks in her arms.

I swallowed hard, "Impressive, where'd you get them?"

"Snatched from the dog's bowl."

"You killed the dog?"

"No, I knocked it out with a stick."

Alright, I admit I was a bit wicked. My first thought was actually about eating dog meat.

Moonlight shone on our faces, illuminating the wounds on Nora's face. She stared at the moon outside, lost in thought.

"Sooner or later, I'm getting out of here."