I was admitted to a prestigious university, becoming the first university student in our village.

A fifty-year-old widower in our village came with 100 thousand dollars, seeking to marry me. "A son born to a college student must be smart!"

My grandmother smiled from ear to ear and agreed immediately.

The night before my wedding, my mother secretly opened my locked door, giving me all my documents, a cell phone with a SIM card, and 800 dollars.

"Among my three children, I feel the most sorry for you. Emily, run!"

——

My mother gave me the 800 dollars she had saved for nearly twenty years, allowing me to escape from the hell where I had lived for eighteen years.

With the 800 dollars, I took a train for more than ten hours to the capital.

I wore a tattered single garment complete with patches, ate bread for one dollar, and slept on park benches.

Fortunately, it was summer, and I wouldn't freeze to death.

But this kind of life did not last for more than a few days.

I found a part-time job, and my life gradually improved.

I earned enough for tuition by working, attended university, and got a part-time job as a tutor.

With the prestige of the school, the parents paid me 100 dollars per hour.

In less than half a month, I earned the 800 dollars that my mother had saved for over a decade.

I thought studying was really a good thing.

Over four years at university, I saved 100 thousand dollars through scholarships and part-time work.

What does 100 thousand dollars mean? Four years ago, it could buy the life of a young girl.

My mother was the only contact on the old flip phone she gave me.

For ten years, I sent her countless messages, but they all sank without a trace.

I cut off all contact with my family, but fortunately, it allowed me to concentrate on my studies.

That day, I was experimenting in the lab.

My phone suddenly vibrated. It was my mother!

My fingers trembled as I clicked into the message, only to see—

[Mom is dead.]

[She said she wouldn't let you come back.]

[You can call me at 10 p.m. if you have any questions.]

I froze on the spot.

My impression of my mother was still from that night four years ago.

Her face in my mind was already blurred.

I only remembered she waved at me with a smile and tears in her eyes, urging me to run fast.

I called my sister on time at 10 p.m.

My mother said that I was the one she felt most sorry for among her three children.

My grandmother spent 2,000 dollars to have her marry my father.

Grandma said, "After you marry into the Smith family, the most important task is to give birth to a boy."

She hadn't been able to get pregnant for the first two years. Grandma was anxious and angry. She used many strange ingredients to make a lot of fertility medicine, and Mom took it obediently.

After much difficulty, she got pregnant but gave birth to me, a girl.

She had an even harder time than before.

During the day, Grandma scolded her and made her do endless work.

At night, Mom’s screams could often be heard from my parents’ room. There were always scars on her body, and sometimes, there were even wounds caused by cigarette burns.

It was four years later that she became pregnant with her second child.

However, she gave birth to another girl.

The night she let me go, she said, "I've done two outrageous things in my life. One is finding a priest to deceive your grandmother into believing that Wendy can bring good fortune, and the other is now."

But my sister Wendy Smith indeed could bring good fortune. One year after she was born, Mom gave birth to our brother, Joseph Smith.

In our family, life was the most painful for my mother, followed by me.

That was why my mother said she was sorry to me.

The call was connected.

I wiped my eyes and said, "Hello?"

"Is it Emily?"

I asked, "Are you Wendy?"