Chapter 3

In my previous life, Lily didn't like to eat, and the whole family would follow her around trying to feed her.

This life, she doesn't want to eat? Fine.

I dumped out all the food in her bowl right in front of her.

Eat it or don't. If you don't eat, you'll go hungry.

Lily cried and said, "Grandma, mommy won't give me food and she hit me."

Lily was lying again.

I asked her quietly, "Lily, how did mommy hit you just now?"

Lily put her little hand to her face to show me: "Like this."

"Oh, really?" I raised my hand and slapped Lily's face hard.

A red mark immediately appeared on Lily's cheek.

I said sternly, "This is hitting."

Lily started crying loudly.

I shouted, "Is this how I hit you earlier?"

"Tell grandma, did mommy hit you like this before?"

Lily shook her head, crying, "No."

"No? Then why did you say mommy hit you like this? Why are you lying?"

Lily cried without saying anything.

My mother-in-law came over to stop me: "What are you doing? She's just a child."

"I know she's young. That's why I'm helping her understand what 'hitting' really means, so she doesn't go around saying it carelessly in the future."

My mother-in-law crouched down and wiped Lily's tears with the back of her hand.

"It's all mommy's fault. Mommy is bad. Lily, don't cry, okay?"

Hearing this, I got angry.

It was the same in my previous life. My mother-in-law was always telling the child "It's all mommy's fault" and "Mommy is wrong."

When I tried to discipline the child, they all accused me of being too harsh. But when Lily really went bad, they jumped out to say I had spoiled her.

I tried to control my anger and said, "Mom, from now on, don't interfere when I'm parenting. Otherwise, if the child turns bad in the future, it will be your fault."

My mother-in-law said sarcastically, "You're like a loaded gun every day. Lily is so good, how could she possibly turn bad?"

"You're so fierce, aren't you afraid the child will pull out your oxygen tube when you're old?"

I laughed. She would kill me long before I needed an oxygen tube.

After this incident, I sent my mother-in-law back to her hometown. If I let her continue to spoil Lily, she would end up on the same path as before.

I quit my job to focus on teaching Lily at home.

I bought a ruler, and whenever I was sure Lily was lying, I would hit her palm with it.

After a few times, her lying improved a lot.

The way she looked at me was often full of fear and trepidation.

Whenever I was about to soften, I would think of the knife plunging into my chest in my previous life.

But I didn't know then that she was just scared, not changed.

When her preschool teacher criticized her, she still made up stories about the teacher molesting her.

I took her to the preschool and made her stand in front of all the teachers to point out which one had touched her.

She was scared and cried, admitting she had lied.

She smashed the piano at home again. I gritted my teeth and bought another one.

Every day I stood behind her with a stick, supervising her practice. She had to practice for two hours a day.

Since we agreed she would learn, even if she didn't want to, she had to practice.

Lily wasn't a very smart child. I attended extra classes with her and checked her homework every day. Under my strict discipline, her grades improved a lot compared to my previous life.

I finally managed to get her into a good high school, but then she started saying she was depressed.

She said she didn't want to go to school and held a knife to her throat, threatening suicide.

In my previous life, every time she did this, I would practically get on my knees begging her.

This life, hah.

"You want to die? Go ahead, just don't get blood on me."

Lily was stunned. She hadn't expected this reaction from me. She put down the knife sheepishly.

She didn't really want to die. It was just a tactic to threaten me.

"You don't want to go to school? Fine, then don't. Tomorrow I'll withdraw you from school, and you can go get a job to support yourself."

Lily left.

Two months later, she came back on her own, carrying her bag.

Working was too hard. She wanted to go back to school.

After this episode, Lily's attitude towards studying finally improved a bit.

Unfortunately, she didn't do well on the SAT and only got into a second-tier college.

Although it wasn't a great school, I was still satisfied.

Compared to her middle school education in the previous life, my efforts this time had finally shown some results.

But after starting college, she completely reverted to her old ways.

In her first year, she failed nine out of fifteen major courses.

I called her, but she stopped answering my calls.

One month, two months, three months passed with no news. I was so angry I cut off her living expenses.

The next time I saw her, she was standing in front of me and my husband with a big belly again.