Chapter 1

My mother was a beautiful idiot.

Everyone in the family doted on her. The bitterest thing she had ever endured was probably an iced Americano.

The moment I was born, they all crowded around her, leaving me alone in the hospital room.

Our nanny seized the chance to switch me with her own daughter.

She looked at the solid-gold longevity lock hanging from my neck and smiled in satisfaction.

“You rich people are no better than us. You were just lucky enough to be born into the right family.”

“From now on, my daughter gets your life of luxury.”

I heard every word without making a sound.

I let her swap our clothes and hospital bracelets, then carry me out.

In my previous life, I had sensed something was wrong and screamed for all I was worth. A nurse grew suspicious and saved me.

After that, my beautiful, empty-headed birth mother insisted on caring for me herself. She would never let me out of her sight.

She mixed my formula with boiling water and burned my throat. I lost the ability to speak.

One “careless” moment while dressing me left my arm broken. By the time anyone noticed, it had healed crooked.

In the end, disabled and unable to defend myself, I was bullied to death by my classmates.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the maternity ward.

As I felt myself being carried away, I couldn't help laughing.

My life of luxury?

I hoped they would live long enough to enjoy what they had stolen.

1

“Don't blame me, little one. It's your own fault for being born in the wrong place and taking the life that should have belonged to my daughter.”

Jiang Hui's voice drifted into my ears.

My eyes snapped open to the hospital's white ceiling.

Thinking I was about to cry, she instinctively reached to cover my mouth.

She needn't have worried.

I wanted her to get me out of there as quickly as possible.

I closed my eyes again and pretended to be fast asleep.

In my previous life, my mother had been beautiful and utterly foolish.

Her parents spoiled her when she was young. Her husband took over when she grew up.

If she had ever suffered at all, it was probably the incision from the C-section she had needed to deliver me.

That was why, as soon as I was born, everyone in the family gathered around to look after her.

A nurse had just taken her away for postnatal care. I was alone in the room.

Jiang Hui used to be our nanny.

She had been fired after carelessly scalding my mother while bringing her water.

She had nursed a grudge ever since.

Then she became pregnant herself, and a vicious plan took shape.

Her daughter would live like a princess, while her enemy's child spent her life at the bottom of society.

Working quickly, Jiang Hui stripped off my clothes and unwrapped my blanket, then dressed her daughter in them.

Last of all, she removed the solid-gold longevity lock from my neck and fastened it around her daughter's.

“Sweetheart, don't hate me. I just want you to have a good life. When you're older, I'll come back for you.”

She dressed me in her daughter's clothes, pulled a little hat down over my face, and carried me out of the room.

All the way down the corridor, she held me tight and walked with exaggerated care.

She was afraid I would wake up and give her away.

In my previous life, I had indeed started crying.

My cries were so loud that a nurse stopped her to check on me.

That was how her plan had failed.

“Jiang Hui? What a coincidence!”

A familiar voice came from ahead.

Jiang Hui stopped short, hardly daring to breathe.

It was my beautiful, foolish birth mother, Ye Zhenyan.

“Is that your baby? A little prince or a princess?”

Jiang Hui gritted her teeth at the sight of her.

My mother seemed oblivious. She came closer, curious to see the child in her arms.

“Stay back!”

As my mother reached to lift my hat, Jiang Hui shouted before she could stop herself.

Ye Zhenyan snatched her hand back.

Hurt flickered in her wide, innocent eyes.

My father, Zhou Guangyao, immediately stepped between them as though protecting a child.

He frowned.

“Zhenyan only wanted to see your baby. She didn't mean any harm. I'm the one who fired you. There's no need to take it out on her.”

Jiang Hui's mind had gone blank.

All she could think about was getting out.

Her arms tightened around me.

“My baby's afraid of strangers. She doesn't like unfamiliar people. We should go.”

Without waiting for a response, she walked around them and hurried away.

My mother glanced back at me, then said to my father, “Doesn't that baby look a little like Chenchen from behind?”

He dismissed it.

“All newborns look alike.”

Resting against Jiang Hui's shoulder, I turned to look at my birth parents one last time.

In this life, we would be better off never seeing each other again.

2

Jiang Hui took me home.

After being fired, she had worked odd jobs to make ends meet.

When her pregnancy grew too advanced, she stayed home to wait for the birth, leaving her husband to earn their living.

We had barely stepped through the door when Liu Zhiqiang came over to play with me.

“Does Qingqing look different to you?”

The longer he looked, the more certain he became that something was wrong.

He opened my blanket and checked my thigh.

“No! This isn't Qingqing! Qingqing has a dark mole on her leg!”

“You stupid woman! You brought home the wrong baby!”

He grabbed his phone to call the police, but Jiang Hui caught his hand.

“I know she's the wrong baby! I did it on purpose!”

While he stared in disbelief, she calmly explained her plan.

“If Qingqing stays with us, she'll be poor all her life. I did this for her.”

“When she's older, we'll find her and tell her we're her parents. The Zhou family is so rich. Surely she'll look after us?”

Liu Zhiqiang still objected.

“She's your own daughter! How could you?”

Jiang Hui went straight for a threat.

“Then call the police. Have them throw me in jail.”

“Your daughter's birth mother will have a criminal record. See if she can ever hold her head up after that!”

His hand slowly lowered.

He said nothing more.

“I've just found another nanny job in the same villa compound,” Jiang Hui continued. “I might even get to see Qingqing every day.”

There was nothing left to do but go along with it.

I became Jiang Hui's daughter, Liu Qingqing.

The real Liu Qingqing took my place as Zhou Chen.

Because I wasn't their own child, neither Jiang Hui nor Liu Zhiqiang cared much about me.

Some days I ate; some days I went hungry. When they did feed me, it was the cheapest rice cereal they could find.

All my clothes were castoffs from relatives and friends.

As soon as I could walk, I was expected to help with the housework and wash everyone's clothes.

Jiang Hui kept working as a nanny.

Her new employers were clearly much harder on her.

Whenever they upset her, she came home and took it out on me.

Sometimes she slapped me.

Sometimes she jabbed me with a sewing needle.

Sometimes she made me kneel outside the door.

Every time, she hissed through gritted teeth, “What's so special about you? You were just born lucky!”

“Look at you now. Don't I have you right where I want you?”

Only when she beat me could she enjoy the feeling that rich people were no better than anyone else.

Once she had vented her anger, she could happily go back to being a nanny the next day.

I gritted my teeth and endured it all.

It hurt, but I could bear it.

Compared with being scalded with boiling water and having my limbs cruelly broken in my previous life, this was nothing.

A few years passed in a blur.

I was old enough for kindergarten.

At first, Liu Zhiqiang didn't want to waste the money.

But Jiang Hui found out which kindergarten her own daughter attended and decided to send me there too.

Tuition at that school for rich children was exorbitant.

Every penny they had saved by skimping on me over the years went straight into the fees.

On my first day, Jiang Hui took me to school.

We had just reached the gates when a Rolls-Royce pulled up.

A family of three got out.

At last, I saw my birth parents again.

Ye Zhenyan and Liu Qingqing wore matching mother-and-daughter outfits. They made quite a sight.

Jiang Hui recognized her daughter at once.

Her grip tightened involuntarily around my wrist.

She stood rooted to the spot, staring as though she meant to burn Liu Qingqing's image into her memory.

3

I watched with her.

Liu Qingqing wore expensive designer children's clothes. The schoolbag on her back cost as much as Jiang Hui earned in a year.

But she didn't look well.

Her face was unnaturally pale, and she was even thinner than I was, despite the years of abuse I had suffered.

Jiang Hui noticed none of that.

All she saw was the glittering surface.

“Thank goodness I switched them. How else could Qingqing ever have had a life like this?”

Her eyes filled with tears as she murmured to herself.

Only after the family went inside did she seem to wake from a dream and hurry me through the gates.

The exclusive kindergarten had very few pupils.

Liu Qingqing and I were put in the same class.

That made Jiang Hui even happier, though her happiness soon gave way to worry.

I had inherited my birth parents' looks. I was the prettiest girl in the class.

Afraid they might recognize me, she threatened me viciously.

I was to keep away from Liu Qingqing.

“Stay away from Zhou Chen! Especially her parents. A rich family like that is out of your league!”

I nodded obediently.

Even without her warning, I had no intention of approaching them.

On the first day, our teacher asked us to come up one at a time and introduce ourselves.

When Liu Qingqing spoke, her voice was so hoarse it sounded like two sheets of coarse sandpaper scraping together.

The children covered their ears.

A few mischievous boys even shouted, “That sounds awful! Like an old witch!”

Liu Qingqing stood helplessly in front of the class.

Boiling water had burned her throat.

In this life, however, my father had hired a nanny for her. My mother hadn't done everything herself, so at least Liu Qingqing could still speak.

“Zhou Chen hurt her throat. Don't make fun of her.”

The teacher hurried to restore order.

After that, Zhou Chen became even less willing to talk.