The first thing I did after being reborn was grind two hundred and fifty kilograms of meat and gather my whole family to make meatballs together.

I did this because, in the past life, my stepmother had an affair with an unknown man and got pregnant with his child. Since she did not want my father to know about that, she deliberately caused a commotion at the market over the sale of eggs. As a result, she was pushed to the ground during the chaos and lost her baby.

When she returned home, she wept pitifully and told my father, "If it weren't for Megan insisting we go snatch those discounted eggs, I wouldn’t have fallen and lost our precious baby boy …"

Hastily, I tried to explain, but my fiancé stepped forward and sealed my fate when he yelled, "Megan Foster, I'm so disappointed with you!

"I know you are a greedy woman, who likes to take advantage of others, like eating at restaurants without paying, stealing bulk snacks from supermarkets and so on. However, this time, you've gone too far. You caused Auntie to lose her child just for a few eggs! I can’t marry someone like you. I’m calling off our engagement!"

Hearing this, my father flew into a rage. He chased me and slapped me across the face dozens of times. Then, he tied me up and sold me to an old bachelor in the village. I was locked in a pigsty, tormented until I bleeding out and died.

Only when I had already died, did I finally learn the truth that the person my fiancé was after actually my stepmother. Our engagement was just an excuse for them to be together.

When I opened my eyes again, I was rebirthed on the same day when my stepmother went to the market to get eggs and miscarried.

***

My stepmother’s call came in while I was holding my quilt tightly and crying my heart out. 

Instinctively, I picked up the call. My stepmother, Olivia James’s voice, rang out casually from the other end. "Megan, it's almost New Year’s, so I’m heading out for a walk. I won’t be home to cook today. You take care of the housework and make dinner for your dad and grandparents, okay?"

She spoke as if it was a sure thing. She did not even give me a chance to refuse when she said again, "Don't say anything to your father about my whereabouts. If he knew where I am, he'll searching for me again and I won't have a room to breathe."

"Well, that's settled then! Megan, you’re my good little girl. When I get back, I’ll bring you something tasty!"

After Olivia stated her intention, she ended the call straight away and then rejected my call.

I tried to call her five or seven times, but every time all I got was a busy tone. I suddenly realized that she had blocked me. This made me completely awake and a cold sweat broke out in my rage.

I was actually a reborn person. I went back to the day my stepmother would pretend to have a miscarriage over some eggs.

In my past life, my stepmother married my father in a hurry because she thought he was a rich man. Only after the wedding, did she realize that she married an ordinary old man who did not get any pension. Everything he had shown off to her was actually mine.

Although she was not happy, she did not have any other option than to go through with it.

On that fateful New Year’s Eve, in my past life, my stepmother had called me with the same excuse. She said she wanted some air and asked me to take care of the household.

I had agreed and went back to the company as it was a busy day. I did not come home until evening to eat New Year's Eve dinner.

However, when I walked in, the house was eerily quiet. In the living room, my stepmother was crying, while my father glared at me with fury in his eyes.

Tears streamed down her face as she accused me, "Megan, it’s all your fault. If you hadn’t been greedy and dragged me to that market for those eggs, I wouldn’t have been crushed by so many people at the market and lost the baby …"

I was stunned and scrambled to explain. "Mom, what are you talking about? I was at work all day, even working late there! I never went to the market with you!"

Just as I was about to show my work records as proof, my fiancé stormed over, snatched my phone and smashed it to the ground before stomping on it.

His voice was full of disappointment. "Mega, this is the last time you let me down f!"

"You’ve always been greedy and shameless, but now you’ve cost Auntie her child. I won’t tolerate you anymore. I’m breaking off our engagement!"

It was all it took to convince my father. He finished his cigarette and his furious gaze locked onto me as he roared, "You wretched girl! You’ve doomed our family by killing my son!"

He yanked my hair and slapped me over a dozen times before tying me up and selling me to an old bachelor in the village.

It wasn't until I was tortured to death that I learned the truth that my stepmother and my fiancé, Finn Collin, had been having an affair all along. The baby Olivia lost wasn’t even my father’s, it was Finn's.

The two of them had been careless in their affair and forgot to use protection. Since they were so afraid of being exposed and condemned by many people, they had conspired to frame me.

Their scheming was almost admirable if only it hadn't cost me my life. This time around, I wouldn’t let those two scumbags have their way!

A cold smirk curled on my lips as I decided not to step outside. Instead, I had two hundred and fifty kilograms of ground pork delivered straight to our doorstep.

As for work, I sent my boss a quick message requesting to work from home during the New Year’s holiday. Being a key employee, my boss valued me highly and approved my request without hesitation.

With everything settled, I leisurely got out of bed and washed up. When my family and I sat to eat breakfast, the doorbell rang. It was the butcher. He hauled two hundred and fifty kilograms of minced meat before quickly departing.

My father, grandfather and grandmother all gawked at the sheer amount of meat. They immediately bombarded me with questions.

I casually shifted the blame to my boss. "The company we collaborate with had trouble settling their accounts by year-end and my boss was pressing for payments. They decided to settle with goods instead."

Since they’re in the pork business, my boss just turned this year’s bonuses into mince meat for employees to take home and make meatballs."

Grandma was stunned. "This much meat? It’s got to be at least two hundred and fifty kilograms of meat! At this rate, it will take a long time to make meatballs!

Grandpa sighed. "Well, I guess I’m stuck here today. I was planning to meet my old pals for a chess game, but it looks like that's off the table."

After sending the butcher away, I turned to my father. "Dad, we can’t let all this meat go to waste. Grandma and Grandpa have spoken, so you’d better get to work and make meatballs with us. Wash your hands and start working."

Grumbling under his breath about how unreliable the company was, Dad rolled up his sleeves and got to work. Within moments of chopping vegetables and herbs, he was sweating heavily from them.

On New Year’s Eve, while other families were busy putting up decorations and setting off fireworks while adults and children were playing together, ours was working hard in making the meatballs.

As the strongest person in the house, my father ended up handling most of the work. He chopped the vegetables and herbs and mixed the mixture. He spent the entire morning working while sweating.

By noon, we were all starving and that’s when my father remembered my stepmother, who was supposed to be out shopping.

"It’s already twelve-thirty and your mother still hasn’t come home to cook. What’s she doing out there?"

Feigning innocence, I shrugged. "I don’t know. I called her five or six times this morning, but she blocked me."

"Maybe she’s mad at me. Why don’t you try calling her, Dad?"

My father frowned and pulled out his phone to call Olivia.

"Ring... Ring ... Ring ..."

He had made three consecutive calls but Olivia still did not answer.

His face darkened with frustration and anger and he then turned to ask me. "Did you argue with your mother? Otherwise, why wouldn’t she answer my calls?"

"Megan, you’re twenty-five years old already! How can you still be acting like a child and upsetting your mother?!"

I pouted and pretended to be upset then pulled out my phone and played back a recorded all.

"Dad, you’re blaming me unfairly again. This time, it’s clearly you who made Mom refuse to come home."

I played the recording in front of the entire family and my stepmother's voice rang clearly from my phone. The moment my father heard her say she didn’t want him to find her, his expression turned grim.

Silently, he lit a cigarette and smoked for a long time with a sullen face before finally calming down.

Grandpa and Grandma stepped in to console him, while I took the opportunity to order four sets of takeout.

"Dad, Grandpa, Grandma ... since Mom isn’t coming home to cook and we’re all busy making meatballs, let’s just eat some takeout for now."

Grandpa and Grandma praised me for being a good child, while my dad remained silent, he felt upset and depressed. This tense atmosphere lasted until the evening.

After countless hours, we finally finished making two hundred and fifty kilograms of meatballs. By then, our hands were so sore they could barely move.

My dad stepped out to buy a pack of cigarettes, while Grandpa and Grandma went into the kitchen to start cooking the meatball. I sat on the couch while scrolling through my phone, occasionally glancing up at the night sky with a faint smile.

This time, I had stayed home the entire day and never took one step outside. No one could possibly pin my stepmother’s miscarriage on me again or so I thought.

Just as I took a sip of water, the front door burst open. My so-called fiancé, Finn, stumbled in. He was supporting my stepmother, Olivia.

The moment she saw me, her eyes turned red with rage and she immediately started screaming at me, "Megan! You're truly heartless! I have been nothing but kind to you but you deliberately caused me to lose my baby!"

I did not even have a chance to say anything before my fiance, Finn, chimed in. His voice filled with disappointment, “That’s right, Megan. I never thought you’d be this cruel. You’ve really let me down. I can’t be engaged to someone like you so I’m calling off the wedding!”

I blinked innocently. “What are you talking about? Mom, were you really pregnant? Since when? Why didn’t I know about this?”

Olivia's tears fell even harder when she saw me act like this.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know! I only told you just last night that I was pregnant! Then this morning, you tricked me into going to the market for discounted eggs, because you knew it would be crowded. You made sure I got pushed around until I miscarried!”

“I barely survived in the hospital and now you’re standing here acting clueless and asking me about this?” she asked while sobbing.

"How could you do this, Megan? Women should support each other, but you … ugh you don’t even have a heart! She shrieked again.

The whole family still lived in an old courtyard house, despite we owned a new apartment in a modern district. It was tradition, my grandparents insisted.

Since tonight was New Year's Eve, many of our neighbors gathered outside to build snowmen and set off fireworks, so they naturally overheard the commotion at our house. Being busybodies, they started gathering around our door, eager to see.

Olivia purposedly stood at the door and did not step inside. Instead, she yelled at the top of her lungs.

When the neighbors heard her accusation, they looked at her with stinky eyes.

“I always thought Megan was such a sweet girl. Who knew she had such an evil heart?”

“Looks can be deceiving! We watched her grow up, but we never really knew what she was capable of,” they said.

One middle-aged woman shook her head. “That settles it. I need to warn my son and daughter-in-law to stay away from her. Who knows what she might do to my family one day?”

Voices of agreement rose around her. One by one, the neighbors made it clear that they would not let me near their youngsters anymore.

Tears welled up in my eyes. However, this time, they weren’t from helplessness or despair like in my past life. No! This time it was from excitement.

Seeing my reaction, Olivia assumed I was scared of her accusation, so she became even more dramatic and painted me as the evil villain to anyone who would listen.

Meanwhile, my fiance, Finn, didn’t even give me a chance to explain. He grabbed my arm and forced me to kneel before Olivia.

"In the past, children were expected to respect their elders. Not only have you failed to honor your stepmother, but you also caused her to lose her child! You have to apologize to your stepmother and make amends!”

"As a woman, you should obey your father and then obey her husband after she got married. So, as your fiance, it’s my responsibility to teach you a lesson.”

With that, he yanked my hair and forced me to bow my head. He pushed my head and forced me to bow seven or eight times in a row. He held me so hard that my head hit the floor with loud, painful thuds.

Blood trickled down my face, but Finn acted as if he didn’t see it. Instead, he took it even further.

“An apology alone isn’t enough to make up for the loss of a child. There has to be material compensation as well.”

“Megan, hand over your year-end bonus so your stepmother can buy nutritional supplements. And while you’re at it, sign over your new apartment to her so she has a comfortable place to recover.”