After being bullied to death at school, I was reborn as a newborn baby.

And then I realized my mother was the same person who had tormented me.

Now she was whispering to me sweetly, “Oh, my precious baby.”

Precious baby?

I immediately started thrashing in her arms, trying to jab my tiny fingers into her eyes.

From this day forward, this ‘precious baby’ would be out for revenge!

“Ah…!”

The pain was unbearable.

Xena Smith poured boiling water directly onto my hand!

My eyes widened in gut-wrenching pain, and I let out a heart-wrenching scream.

“Xena… Miss Smith, please let me go.

“I’m begging you.”

I tried to fight back, but someone held me down from behind.

I looked up at the bright red dress in front of me, desperation in my voice as I pleaded.

Xena’s laughter rang out, clear but crazed.

“Someone like you, a nobody, and you dare to think you’re worth comparing to me?”

At her signal, another splash of scalding water hit my face.

“Xena, look at her face. Doesn’t it look like a cooked lobster?”

One of Xena’s lackeys mocked, and then I heard Xena’s voice, dripping with malice.

“Mia Zeller, you should be grateful. Trash like you doesn’t deserve a pretty face like this!”

She took out a sharp knife and started cutting across my face.

I don’t know how, maybe it was the pain or just a desperate will to survive, but I suddenly broke free from their grasp.

Panicked, I bolted, with Xena and her lackeys hurling curses as they chased after me.

I came to a stop at the edge of a newly dug pit filled with water on campus. I stood at the brink, my heart pounding.

Xena saw this and laughed. “Mia, you’re not actually thinking of jumping, are you?”

She and her group crept closer, the click of her high heels echoing like a countdown.

“If you’ve got the guts, go ahead and jump!”

“Mia, your dad’s just a lowly worker, and your mom’s a janitor. Even if you die, no one would care!”

She laughed again and added, “Now that you don’t even have your face left, let’s see how you’re going to get guys to notice you!”

Her followers sneered, “Mia, you can’t attract guys anymore. Why don’t you just jump?

“Go on, jump! We’d love to watch!”

To them, my life was as worthless as a piece of trash.

My family was poor. My dad was just a laborer, and my mom cleaned houses to make ends meet.

I had nothing, just decent grades and a somewhat pretty face. Maybe that was why I sometimes received random love notes.

But that was enough to make me a target for Xena.

I had not done anything wrong, yet I was labeled a “slut,” a “whore,” and a “worthless piece of trash.”

These insults were just appetizers for Xena.

Every day, I lived in fear, dreading what new torture she had dream up.

Would it be a slap, insect bites, or a whip?

Scenes of past torment flashed through my mind. It felt like my existence was just for their cruel entertainment.

What was the point of living?

I looked at my reflection in the water, blood dripping down my face in a hopeless stream.

The days ahead would only get worse.

I forced a smile, glancing at Xena as she taunted me, snapping pictures with her phone.

“Xena, I’ll see you in hell.”

As their laughter echoed around me, I leaped into the ten-meter-deep water pit. Blood blossomed in the water like a cursed flower.

Their laughter turned into shock, fear, and horror, but I couldn’t see it anymore.

When I opened my eyes again, I was wrapped in a warm embrace.

Did I… time travel?

As I tried to make sense of it, I looked up and met a pair of gentle, loving eyes.

Xena?

She looked exhausted but had a motherly tenderness about her. Yet, that face belonged to the very same Xena who had been my worst nightmare!

“Oh, my sweet baby! You’re my precious little darling.”

I stared at her in shock, my eyes wide with disbelief.

Her voice was filled with warmth, but I felt a chill run down my spine. Memories of her tormenting me at school replayed in my mind like a horror movie.

I struggled frantically in her arms, my tiny hands reaching out to poke her eyes, but I was too small to reach.

Startled by my desperate movements, Xena gasped, “Oh no, don’t be scared, sweetheart!”

Hearing that familiar voice, it suddenly dawned on me.

I had been reborn!

And I was now Xena’s daughter!

“Did the baby pee?” asked a clear, firm voice.

Xena’s face flushed slightly. “Let me check.”

She quickly pulled off the diaper to take a look. “The baby’s fine. No accidents!

“Ah!”

She let out a scream and tossed me onto the hospital bed.

I started wailing immediately.

In a flash, Felix Lincoln rushed over. He scooped me up in his arms and gently soothed me, “It’s okay, don’t cry. Daddy’s here.”

Then he turned to Xena, furious. “What’s wrong with you? Why would you throw her like that?”

Xena pointed at her face in a panic. “She… she peed on me!”

“She’s just a baby. She can’t control herself. But you can, can’t you?

“How are you going to be a mother if you act like this? She’s so little. What if you hurt her? How am I supposed to trust you to take care of her?”

Xena looked both defensive and guilty. “I didn’t mean to!”

Felix’s expression turned cold. “Starting today, I’m cutting off your credit cards. You need to stay home and learn how to properly care for a child. No more shopping sprees, and no going out.”

I glanced at his stern face, then at Xena’s frustrated, teary eyes, and couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction. I burst out giggling.

Who would have thought my dad would be this reliable?

And who would have imagined that Xena, the same girl who was a total nightmare back in school, would be put in her place by her husband. She was not even allowed to spend money freely.

Back in school, Xena was the most defiant person around.

Looking at her now, it seemed like karma had really come back around!