Building 2, Chapter Rebirth

Pain.

It wasn't just a headache, her whole body ached, and the smell lingering around her nose was no longer that of hospital disinfectant, but a musty, moldy odor.

She wanted to open her eyes, but she was unable to move as if trapped in a nightmare when suddenly a conversation near her ear began.

"Aunt, Sister won't go complaining to Uncle, will she?"

"If that damned girl dares, I'll strangle her to death."

"Aunt, why don't we let Sister go to school? After all... she is Uncle's real daughter. If we don't let her, Uncle will definitely feel uneasy about it, and it could affect your marriage."

"A wild brat thinking of turning the house upside down? Siyu, just focus on your studies and don't worry about a thing. Leave everything to your aunt..."

Even if she turned to ashes, Shen Mianmian would remember these two voices.

Zhou Lanfang, Zhou Siyu.

She wanted to get up and bite them to death.

Driven by immense resentment, Shen Mianmian broke out of the prison that held her and suddenly opened her eyes, only to be startled by her surroundings.

Instead of a cold hospital ward, she was looking at dark, dilapidated earthen walls, a small wooden window, a quilt patched several times over, and worn-out cloth shoes... These were all things from the 1980s...

Thinking of the conversation she had just overheard, Shen Mianmian finally confirmed that she had reborn to the December of her ninth-grade first semester, the day before she was expelled from school.

The door creaked open as someone pushed it from outside. Zhou Lanfang walked in, seemingly surprised that Shen Mianmian had awoken so quickly. She wondered if the damn girl had heard the conversation just now. Oh well, even if she had, what could she stir up?

"Get up and wash the dishes and cutlery."

Shen Mianmian looked at Zhou Lanfang, her fingernails digging into her flesh as she barely held back the hatred welling up inside her. To rebel now would be to throw her life away for nothing.

"You damned girl, are you deaf?"

"My body hurts, I can't move, let Siyu wash them!"

She remembered that in her previous life, she had forced herself to wash the dishes and cutlery despite her injuries.

She had always done the household chores, to the point where her hands were covered in cuts, while Zhou Siyu acted like a princess. Only when Shen Jianhua was home would she pretend to do some work, like wiping the table or carrying the dishes and cutlery.

"What did you say?" This was the first time Shen Mianmian had ever refused so forcefully. Zhou Lanfang doubted her own ears and yanked the quilt off Shen Mianmian, her expression turning fierce, "You're just pretending to be dead after being hit a couple of times? Get up and work." As if I couldn't deal with you?

Hit a couple of times?

A cold sneer echoed inside Shen Mianmian's heart. Didn't the bamboo stick thick as an arm break at that time?

Zhou Siyu tugged at Zhou Lanfang's arm, trying to placate her in a calm and gentle voice, "Aunt, let me do it! Mianmian must feel upset after being beaten."

Upset? She was holding a grudge, wasn't she? Secretly cursing her to death, probably. Zhou Lanfang paced around the room, took a bamboo stick from behind the door, and threatened Shen Mianmian, "Are you getting up or not?"

Disgusted by Zhou Lanfang's menacing look, Shen Mianmian felt like she was less than a dog in this house.

Throwing off the blanket, Shen Mianmian endured the pain in her body, put on her mended old cotton shoes, and staggered out of the room. Knowing Zhou Lanfang's temperament, if she didn't get up, she would be met with another vicious beating.

She was only fifteen years old and, due to malnutrition, was just over four feet tall, almost half a head shorter than her peers, and incapable of fighting back.

As she passed by Zhou Siyu, she couldn't help but give her a cold look. If it weren't for living her life over again, who could have guessed that a girl in her teens could be so scheming, joining forces with her aunt to step by step devour her life, driving her to a dead end?

Zhou Siyu felt a chill run through her body as Shen Mianmian glared at her, her face showing a frightened expression, "Aunt, Mianmian's expression just now was so scary, it's like she hates you deeply, as if she wants to devour you."

Zhou Lanfang also noticed that Shen Mianmian was different from before. In the past, whatever she asked Shen Mianmian to do, Shen Mianmian never hesitated.

"That damned girl is getting older and thinking about defying me now. She'll need a good, harsh beating later to bring her in line. You go to school and concentrate on your lessons, there's nothing to worry about."

A sly smile of triumph flickered at the corner of Zhou Siyu's mouth. Every time, she was able to subtly stir up trouble between them, inciting Zhou Lanfang's hatred for Shen Mianmian, while she profited from it.