Even if I was obedient, she would bully me at will. That was why she married me off in exchange for money.

"I don't accept it."

I straightened my back, stood up with difficulty, and glared at her.

It really annoyed her. She believed that I would be obedient after being beaten, but unexpectedly, I had such a strong spirit of resistance.

"You brat, how dare you?"

"Kill me if you can!" I provoked.

My brother encouraged my mother. "Mom, hit her quickly. She deserves a good beating."

When he spoke, his expression was exactly like my mother's. Realizing that they looked alike, I was so furious that I reached out and pushed him to the ground.

"I've been displeased with you for a long time."

He was younger than me, so he had no ability to fight back when I hit him. Furthermore, I was stronger than him. After I pushed him down, he was stunned and then cried loudly.

Seeing that I hit him, her darling, my mother couldn't stand it anymore. She slapped me in the face immediately. I felt dizzy, and my vision blurred.

"You are a child abuser."

"You're my child. Of course, I can beat you! If you have the guts, just sue me!"

She added, "Let me tell you. Since I give birth to you, I can beat you however I want. Nobody can stop me."

Later, she patted her butt and went into the kitchen to wash the dishes. Meanwhile, my brother took the opportunity to pat me on the head several times.

I struggled to get up from the ground and looked at myself in the mirror in the living room. I found that my face was swollen and there was blood at the corners of my mouth. Obviously, I had been bullied.

However, I was pleased because I kept evidence.

As nobody paid attention to me, I slipped out of the house and ran to the police station near to our community.

I shouted, "Sir, please save me. I'm being abused."

I was not even as tall as the counter, so the policeman laughed before he saw me.

"How old are you? Do you know what that means?"

Yet, the man was startled by my swollen face as he bent down.

The police took me to the Child Protective Service soon. They all looked solemn while seeing my swollen face.

A woman gently touched my face and asked, "Okay, sweetie. Can you tell me who hit you in the face?"

"It's Mommy."

The woman sighed and took me to the hospital to check my injuries.

Later, she and others took me home with the certificate issued by the hospital.

I witnessed that Carrie, my mother, who had originally looked indifferent while seeing me, suddenly put on a gentle smile after noticing others. However, due to the medical examination report, she was still taken away by the police.

Although I was injured, I didn't suffer a serious injury, so there was no way to file a case. Carrie was released after being detained for three days. Fortunately, people from the Child Protective Service warned her.

I thought that something interesting would happen, for I had asked someone to call Dolcie over early on.

As soon as the door was opened, I saw Dolcie standing next to my mother.

Carrie's expression immediately changed, and she held me in her arms lovingly while seeing the staff accompanying me.

"Thank you. I don't know how she got lost. It should be an accident. Thank you very much. I will definitely take good care of her in the future and not let her run around."

Dolcie came over quickly and pretended to care. "Carrie, what happened? Why is Zoe's face swollen?"

"You know. She is a naughty girl. It's normal for her to fall, and it just happens."

The staff member frowned, not expecting her to lie on the spot.

"Mrs. Floyd, your child has already told us that you beat her."

My mother looked unhappy, while Dolcie next to her tried to hold back a smile.

She said sarcastically, "Carrie, you always say how much you like your daughter, but I didn't expect you to beat her. Most importantly, you never abuse your son, right? You don't favor boys over girls, do you?"

"What do you mean? Are you trying to frame me? I always treat both of them equally. It's just because Zoe likes to run around."

Carrie lied without hesitation, and the staff's face immediately darkened.

"Mrs. Floyd, according to Child Protection Law, if you continue to abuse your daughter like this, we will prosecute you. Once the lawsuit is established, you'll be sentenced to several years in jail."

When it came to the law, my mother immediately became timid and explained obsequiously.

"I didn't mean it. She is my child. How could I bear to hurt her? I really didn't mean it."

Fearing that the staff of the Child Protective Service would be soft-hearted, I moved closer to them. The next moment, I pointed at my face and cried out in pain.

"Miss, my face still hurts."

The staff member became serious again, and then she warned my mother.

"We will make further follow-up visits. Once the little girl is beaten again, we will definitely sue you or deprive you of custody."

"That's right! She is your child, and you have to treat her well."

Long after, my mother finally sent them away. She then dragged me in with a stern face.

"How dare you! You even called the police. Do you think they can keep watching me all the time? Believe it or not, I will beat you up."

Just as I thought, my mother threatened me after they left. So, I opened the door and screamed.

"Help me! My mom is going to hit me again."

The Child Protective Service staff members returned by the same route suddenly. It shocked my mother.

The staff then contacted the people from the community. After that, the news that my mother abused me had been reported for a week.

Besides, the neighbors were asked to supervise my mother.

My mother, who was such a proud person, was completely humiliated. For a long time, whenever we appeared together, people who knew her would stare at her. Also, I could even hear them whispering to one another.

"That's her! Although she is an intellectual with a good job, she favors boys over girls and even beats the girl at home."

"Really? What a pity! Why does the girl have such a mother?"

My goal was achieved, and my mother was humiliated as I expected.

She hated me even more, and I also hated her very much. I decided to move to the second step to seek revenge.

With the Child Protective Service staff watching over her, my mother didn't dare hit me. Instead, she scolded me every day.

Every time this happened, I would deliberately run to my father's study room. It was because he wouldn't allow anyone to enter his study room and make loud noises.

Upon seeing me hiding behind my dad, my mother would shut her mouth immediately.

Although my father noticed me, he didn't take me seriously. He just stared at the computer. But in fact, he was not looking at documents but chatting.

He was seemingly working in the study every day; in fact, he was always chatting with his mistress.

In my prior life, I found out about my father's extramarital affair just before I died. At that moment, he divorced my mother and took half of our belongings. That was why my mother took advantage of me to make money.

Back to reality, I tried to lean towards the computer screen. To my surprise, I saw Dolcie's name on the screen.

It seemed like they were flirting with each other. There was their chat history, including the news they planned to go to the hotel.

My dad's mistress turned out to be Dolcie. I had known for a long time that she and my mom didn't get along, but I didn't expect that it would happen.

I took several photos through with the children's camera in my hand.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm playing."

My father was so nervous that he slapped me on the head and kicked me out.

Certainly, he couldn't imagine that a 4-year-old girl like me would take photos to gather evidence about their affair.

I didn't leave but sneaked back and squatted under the table, just in time to catch their chatting records.

Until now, I realized the reason why the door of the study was usually kept tightly closed. It turned out that my dad wanted to keep it a secret.

My mother used to ignore me, so I took my camera and ran to the printing shop without anyone noticing. Later, I printed out everything and brought it home.

At this time, my brother was watching TV intently. He saw me and made a face at me. I showed no mercy and punched him in the head, trying to kill him while he was young.

In my prior life, he bullied me a lot with his strong strength.

After I punched him, he burst into tears. It surely attracted my mother.

As for me, I ran out in advance and hid on the balcony, waiting to see my mother's expression as she saw the chat history.

The happy marriage that she was proud of was false.

To my surprise, she was not as tough as I thought.

However, I didn't care about it, for there would be a lot of drama to come.

In the end, my mother simply swallowed her pride without showing any sign of it.

On the day when our whole family went to my grandfather’s 60th birthday party, my mother actually bought me a new piece of clothing.

"Don't mention that I treated you unfairly again. Your new clothes are a famous brand."

If I didn't know that my brother always wore this brand since he was a child, I might be really grateful to her.

I was impatient and rolled my eyes. Both of us had been tired of each other for a long time.

My grandfather and my mother both hankered after vainglory. This time, he booked several halls in the hotel, and the banquet was extremely grand. By the time we arrived, the place was almost packed.

My mother carried my brother and managed to sit, but my father, a selfish man, only cared about himself and kept moving forward with his head down. I, little and young, was almost trampled.

After finally sitting down, I didn’t even have time to catch my breath, for I had to sneak backstage and upload the video I had specially made.

On such occasions, my mother wouldn't forget Dolcie. It was no exaggeration that she couldn't show off without Dolcie.

As my mother and Dolcie met each other, they hugged each other, as if they were best friends. "It's been a long time since we last met. Dolcie, what skincare products have you used recently? How come you look younger than me?"

"Nothing special! It's just because my child is obedient and sensible. You're different from me. I guess you should be more hard-working than me. After all, you have two children."

My mother faked a smile. "It's impossible. I'm so happy to have a son and a daughter."

I feel ashamed for her when she said that.

The two exchanged some pleasantries and finally sat down. I looked at them carefully and found that my dad and Dolcie had a lot of eye contact, while my mom was socializing others, just like a fool.

My dad was dissatisfied and spoke out, "It's time to eat, and stop wandering around."

My mother treated her words as sweet talk. "Darling, you care about me too much. We are in the same hall, and are you afraid that I'll get lost?"

Dolcie gave her a meaningful look. My mother wanted to say something more, but my dad stopped her with a frown.

He grabbed my mother's arm and let her sit down.

"The children are watching."

My dad almost pinched my mom's arm so hard that it turned blue, but she still managed to act coquettishly.

My mother was firmly convinced that a happy and harmonious family was an important part of her life. She wanted to maintain her marriage with all her strength. So, I was looking forward to how she would react when she saw the video.

The banquet officially began. The host standing on the stage said a lot of compliments, then asked the people in the backstage to turn on the video they had produced.

The original video was a blessing from the younger generation in the family to my grandfather.

Yet, I replaced it with all kinds of intimate photos of my dad and Dolcie as well as their private chat records.

The background music I had dubbed was the sound of the two of them flirting with each other.

Without exaggeration, I saw my mother's face turn pale so rapidly that it seemed like magic.

My dad was even more restless, and Dolcie ran out with her bag covering her face. I shouted suddenly, "Dolcie, do you want to be my stepmother?"