***

It was as though a fire was burning inside her stomach, burning up all her internal organs. Her stomach felt like someone was vigorously stirring inside it with a sharp knife. So death wasn’t a relief after all, it was but merely more sufferings and tortures.

Gu Ye, fighting the starving sensation in her stomach, slowly opened up her eyes. What she saw was a forest of trees that looked like vicious monsters in the dark night, and the light from the stars that shown through their leaves.

She hadn’t have the time to try and recall how she ended up where she was. She could hear wolves howling nearby. Turning her head, she saw pairs and pairs of blue eyes sparkling ominously in the dark night.

Beast-repelling powder! When the thought flashed passed her mind, immediately a clear bottle appeared in her hand. She quickly poured them all over her body. The wolves stopped in their tracks, then, following their wolf leader, turned and disappeared into the forest.

“Mei mei! Mei mei!” A familiar voice, the body instinctively felt joyful from hearing the voice. It’s her older brother! The older brother of this body. In the blink of an eye, she figured out her relationship with the person coming toward her.

“WOOF! WOOF WOOF WOFF!!” A large but skinny yellow dog stopped not too far from her and continued to bark at her, but wouldn’t dare get any closer.

“We found her! We found her! Gu Ming! Your sister is over here!” The boy appearing in front of her with a torch in his hand was Li Hao, the grandson of the village chief, a friend of the brother of the original owner of this body.

“Mei mei!!” A young boy in rags rushed and stumbled forward and pulled her into his arms. Hot tears hit Gu Ye’s neck. The normal strong young boy bawled like a helpless little kid.

After crying for a while, Gu Ming looked up and down his sister’s body, examining her. He finally felt better after seeing that she was unhurt, “It’s all ge ge’s fault. I shouldn’t have left your side. I didn’t expect that wicked woman would just leave you in the forest like this and lied to us that you have already stopped breathing.

“Ming’er, what do you mean by that? Who are you calling wicked? That’s your mother! You will be strike by lightning for being so impudent toward your own mother!” The loser father of their scolded with a frown.

“If she could pull something like this, why can’t I call it as it was? And she’s not our mother! What kind of mother leaves their daughters in the mountain to feed the wolves? If lightning is going to strike, it should surely strike her first. Why would it be me?” Gu Ming had lost all faith in his father.

The mother was their stepmother, but this was their real father! He always looked the other way when Mrs. Gu mistreated the two of them. All he did was called her “wicked” and he scolded him for that? Did he and his sister really still have a place in this household?

“SMACK!” Gu Ming was struck heavily with an open palm and he immediately felt the unmistaken taste of blood in his mouth. His ears rang and feeling dizzy, he landed next to his sister.

“Gu Qiao, even if the kids are wrong you’ve got to be patient with them. There was no need for that. You don’t want to hurt him now,” said the patriarch who was in his fifties. He tone noticeably judgmental.

“Patriarch, a junior should never insult a senior like that. Spare the rod, spoil the kid. I must teach him a lesson before he walk all over his own father!” Gu Qiao stared at his son angrily, never once looking at Gu Ye the entire time.

“Dad!” Gu Ming, covering his now swollen cheek with his hand and with tears in his eyes, said, “All you ever do was scold us. Could you really not see how she treats mei mei and I?”

***

Notes:

Younger sister. Not her name, but the actual relationship.Older brother. In Chinese there are different terms for older sister, young sister, older brother, younger brother. It’s annoying, I know.J