Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Mom, mom, are you okay… Brother, is mom okay…?”

“It’d be better if something happened to her. Don’t call her mom anymore, she’s not our mother.”

A sharp intake of breath. Her head throbbed.

Yan Xue heard two small boys talking around her even before she opened her eyes. Their voices weren’t close by; they sounded distant, like they were coming from a TV.

With that thought, Yan Xue rubbed her Taiyang acupoint, ready to roll over and go back to sleep.

She’d definitely learned her lesson about staying up late; she’d remember this in the future.

“Brother, why did mom just roll over? Is she okay or not?”

“Don’t go near her. I told you not to call her mom, she’s not our mother. Haven’t you had enough of her hitting you?”

Just as she’d rolled over and settled down, Yan Xue heard the two little boys talking again.

Suddenly, even in her uncomfortable and sleepy state, she felt a jolt that made her hair stand on end. The two boys were talking, but now there were footsteps too. The TV effects couldn’t be that realistic, could they…?

Then it hit her: she lived alone, and she’d only looked at her phone before bed, not turned on the TV. This was starting to feel like a horror movie…

Yan Xue collected herself and slowly opened her eyes.

Water stains mottled the yellow mud-brick walls. A single electric wire ran overhead, connecting to a yellow light bulb in the center of the small room. A chimney jutted through the roof in the middle of the room, revealing visible poverty.

Even in broad daylight, the room wasn’t bright. The dim room had only a closed door and a crooked little window that didn’t seem to shut properly, its glass fogged with condensation from the cold.

The two little boys who had been speaking were standing by the door. Their large, watery eyes were striking, and though their clothes seemed expensive, they were filthy.

“Brother, what… what do we do, brother? Mom’s awake…”

The shorter boy hid behind the taller one, peeking out with half his head and a pair of eyes. Seeing her look at them, the boy in front, who was holding a broom, instantly adopted a wary expression.

Yan Xue’s facial expression gradually fractured.

She had to be dreaming. This absurd scene had to be a dream. It definitely wouldn’t be like this when she woke up.

“Brother, why did mom faint again? Should we check on her?”

“Don’t go. I told you not to call her mom. Who knows what she’s trying to do now? She’s definitely trying to trick us.”

The more she listened, the more real it sounded. Yan Xue closed her eyes and secretly pinched herself hard. The pain made her grimace, almost bringing tears to her eyes. This was actually real…

But still, why were these children calling her mom?!

She was only 25, unmarried, and childless. She was just a recent graduate student interning in a biology lab…

Glancing around again carefully, Yan Xue rubbed her head and got out of bed. The boy standing in front quickly raised the broom, his dark pupils filled with a mix of wariness and fear. The boy behind him was visibly terrified, unwilling to show his face, his small hands clutching his brother’s clothes as he retreated step by step.

“You fell when you were hitting us. It has nothing to do with us. You, you stay away…!”

Listening to the two boys and taking in her surroundings, Yan Xue’s mind was already forming a vague guess.

To confirm her suspicion, she swallowed, a knot of anxiety in her throat, and asked, “Are you… Wei Siao and Wei Sixiang?”

The two boys exchanged a look. The boy behind him, full of doubt, said timidly to his brother, “Brother, did she hit her head too hard?”

After speaking, he peeked out from behind his brother, half his face visible, and looked at her. “Don’t you recognize us anymore?”

“…”

For the next half hour, Yan Xue sat silently on a rickety wooden stool, a headache brewing from the suddenness of her transmigration.

Last night, Yan Xue had been too tired after returning home from the lab. She ate a quick bite and then climbed into bed to relax by reading a novel.

The novel was about the wealthy Wei family. The male lead, Wei Heng, was the Wei family’s illegitimate son. After being persecuted by relatives and the Original Owner, his originally kind nature completely transformed. After years of biding his time, he turned the Wei family upside down.

Wei Heng had two children, and these two little rascals later grew into powerful, ruthless villains who could do anything.

She had started reading it as a satisfying revenge story, but the more Yan Xue read, the angrier she became.

A long section in the early part of the book described how the two children were subjected to all sorts of bizarre bullying, the most egregious perpetrator being the vicious stepmother who shared her name. Although the wicked stepmother eventually met a terrible end, Yan Xue still didn’t feel it was enough.

She even thought, before falling asleep, that having the same name as that wicked stepmother was incredibly unlucky.

Who would have thought that she’d wake up and find herself transmigrated into the book, landing just a few chapters in, as the evil stepmother of the two villains? She not only shared the same name as the wicked stepmother but also the same appearance…

She remembered the Original Owner’s miserable fate: tormented by a severe illness, then abandoned in a deserted mountain to die and rot… And her scalp suddenly prickled with dread.

No sooner had the thought crossed Yan Xue’s mind than she heard the rumbling of the two children’s stomachs from behind her. She turned, following the sound, wanting to ask if they were very hungry.

She saw the two little ones shrink back silently. The taller Wei Siao didn’t speak, while Wei Sixiang behind him, scared, began to explain.

“…It wasn’t on purpose. My stomach won’t make noise again, it really won’t.”

Both of them pressed their stomachs, faces flushed red, trying their best to control their hunger, but how could anyone control gnawing hunger?

Yan Xue felt distressed just watching them. Even as an adult, she often became dizzy and weak from hunger after long hours of experiments, let alone two children who were only about five years old.

“Come here. I won’t hit you. Shall we find something to eat?”

She took a step forward, and the two children recoiled a step. She took another step, and they retreated further. Their shadows stretched on the dirty, grimy wall, her outstretched hands making her look like a ghoul.

Finally, the two children were backed against the wall. Wei Siao’s small hand, clutching the broom, trembled uncontrollably. Suddenly, he swung with all his might, hitting her twice.

The broom carried some unknown sharp dirt, brushing across Yan Xue’s face and neck, leaving a small, faint trace of blood on her pale skin.

The two children naturally saw it, and they trembled even more violently.

Wei Siao’s lips quivered in fear, but his eyes were fierce as he stared directly at her. Finally, he threw the broom aside and spread his arms, shielding his brother. “I hit you. If you want to hit someone, hit me. Don’t touch Little Xiang.”

Wei Sixiang clung tightly to his brother from behind, trying to share the blow if they were to be hit.

Brother had already been beaten once today, and his arm was still swollen high.

Yan Xue wiped away the trace of blood with her hand. She wasn’t concerned about such a minor injury.

But these two little ones…