Su Mother replied before Su Father could, "Of course, it's because of your wedding.
Such a happy occasion! We've already bought the ingredients. We'll invite neighbors, family, and friends for the banquet. It will be wonderful—they'll talk about it for days.
Also, an experienced makeup artist has been called to dress you up tomorrow. You'll be the most beautiful bride, my beautiful daughter."
Su Ran Ran grinned happily.
Su Father said, "Indeed, it's a happy occasion.
But there's even better news. She is dead.
Now no one will compare Su Ran Ran with that mutt without origin."
Listening to this, Su Miao Miao's mind went blank. Her ears rang with a high-pitched "Tiiiiiih" until she couldn't hear anything else.
She saw the excited expression on Su Ran Ran's face.
She saw in Su Mother's eyes: She deserved it. How dare she take the place of my real daughter for fourteen years?
So everything really had been planned by the Su family.
They didn't want her outshining their biological daughter, so they sent her to the far northeast—a place that even by train took seven days to reach.
She had always been hardworking and diligent in her studies. Soft-spoken, with a good background, she was well-liked and praised by everyone.
And once Su Ran Ran returned, comparisons between them were inevitable.
The Su family couldn't openly cast her away—they cared too much about their reputation.
As her adoptive parents, they couldn't abandon her when her biological parents couldn't be found. They wouldn't even search. Why would they?
The family who had raised Su Ran Ran had bought a child from traffickers because they had no children.
Just because she wasn't their biological daughter, all the affection for decades as parents and child had vanished.
They made her feel guilty, accepting her as their "daughter" and hiding her orphan status from the world.
She had felt grateful and promised to treat Su Ran Ran as her biological sister and give whatever she wanted.
But in reality, they wanted to destroy her. To vent their anger over their biological daughter's suffering.
And what fault of hers was it? She had been an infant too. She hadn't asked to be taken to the wrong home.
The last tiny flame of hope Su Miao Miao held for the Su family vanished in that instant.
She realized how much of an idiot she had been.
Why did she ever seek affection from people who wouldn't even spare her a glance?
All her emotions shattered in that moment.
She vowed that if she ever got the chance to live again, she would make this hypocritical family pay.
She didn't want to look at their disgusting faces any longer.
She entered her space.
She looked at the medicinal herbs growing in the black soil. They were precious, expensive, rare. Though planted only a few months ago, they looked as if they had been growing for years.
She went into the cottage house.
Since becoming a soul, she had never felt tired, hungry, or uncomfortable. She didn't need to eat or sleep. All her physical pains were gone.
Yet right now, her heart felt unbearably heavy.
It burned as though on fire.
Breathing grew difficult.
She wanted to cry, but no tears fell.
She sat on the bed in the cottage bedroom and screamed at the top of her lungs.
As if the heavens heard her cries—as if trying to give her a chance to change her unfair fate—thunder suddenly rolled across the clear sky of the space.
Bolts of lightning struck the cottage house, slamming into Su Miao Miao seven times in a row.
Her soul grew more transparent with each strike.
After the seventh, her soul vanished from the bed.
....
Su Miao Miao opened her eyes.
So much had happened in the past few months, she hadn't thought anything could surprise her anymore.
But what she saw left her stunned.
She was lying on a bed.
The room looked exactly like the one she had lived in at the Su family home. She ran to the mirror and froze.
Her reflection was that of her younger self.
Not the twenty-year-old self which she jad been when she had died, but a fourteen-year-old girl.
And this was indeed the Su family house.
What was happening? Had heaven truly given her a second chance?
She could feel it—she was alive again. Not a soul, not a shadow. Her body was whole.
The wounds that had scarred her were gone. She was younger.
She smiled. If this was heaven's gift, then she would live again—gladly.
And she would make many people pay for what they had done.
...
She looked at the calendar on the wall.
Today's date was circled.
She remembered this day clearly. Today, she was supposed to go collect her high school graduation certificate.
And when she returned, she would find her parents with Su Ran Ran in the living room.
She thought to herself: No use trying to make them love me. I will live—better than anyone. They want to make me pitiful? Not a chance. I will return the pain they gave me tenfold.
She looked around her room. It was filled with the things she loved and had collected over fourteen years.
She had a few clothes, and in this era where fabric was expensive, rationed by ticket, and hard to buy, her small collection of unpatched dresses was enviable.
She had completed high school, all through her own effort without burdening her parents with fees.
But even so, she had been grateful for Su parents' fourteen years of care.
But just because she wasn't their biological child, the fourteen years of affection had meant nothing to them.
Only she had held onto hope. How foolish she had been.
She turned to the place where she hid her private money.
She had 265 yuan in total—more than some families had altogether.
And none of it had been given by the Su parents.
She had earned many rewards from school for being top of her class and winning competitions.