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.”

“Only then can you truly show your sincerity in making amends to Auntie!”

Hearing Finn’s self-righteous speech, I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

The absurdity of the situation hit me, but at the same time, everything became crystal clear, that it was obvious Finn and Olivia had teamed up against me. Not only did they want to get rid of me, but they also had their eyes on my year-end bonus and my property!

Everything had finally made sense. It was now clear why Finn suddenly obsessed with me and pursued me relentlessly just after my stepmother had just married my father in just a few days.

Before, I found it strange. When did our Foster Family become so popular in the matchmaking market? Now, I understand everything!

When I realized this, I did not hesitate anymore. I leaned forward and spit directly at Finn's face.

"Pfft, she only lost her bastard child and now you think you can take my year-end bonus and property? Where do you get the audacity?”

Both Finn and Olivia were momentarily stunned, but soon their shock turned into fury.

Olivia started sobbing dramatically. “Finn, stop talking. Megan has never liked me as her stepmother. She’ll never listen!”

“Forget it. A stepmother is unwelcome no matter where she goes. Outsiders despise me and now even my own family wants to harm me. If I had known this would happen, I would have rather died!”

Seeing Olivia make a show of running towards a tree to bang her head, Finn immediately grabbed her and comforted her in a soft voice, “Auntie, don’t be sad. I already called Uncle Thomas. He’ll be here soon to set things right for you!”

"After all, Uncle Thomas is the head of the family. Everything he says is the law. Megan has to obey him."

The gathered neighbors nodded in agreement. They stopped what they were doing brought out their stools and sat in front of my house. They were waiting for my dad to arrive.

“I tell you, Thomas Foster needs to teach that girl a lesson. She’s gotten too bold, even daring to bully her elders. Didn't you hear what she said? She called Olivia's baby a bastard!”

“That’s just outrageous. Having such an evil daughter is truly a punishment!”

Hearing the neighbors’ words of condemnation, Olivia’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction. She threw me a quick, triumphant glance, thinking she had me cornered.

However, she was in for a disappointment.

Meeting her gloating gaze, I merely curled my lips in a mocking smirk. I didn’t even bother responding.

She must have never expected that, at that moment, the person who wanted my dad to arrive the most wasn’t her, it was me.

It didn’t take long for him to arrive. My dad had only gone out to buy cigarettes and before long, he returned with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Seeing the large crowd gathered outside our home, he hesitated for a moment, confused. However, before he could ask anything, Olivia rushed forward, pressing herself against him like a fragile flower in the wind.

Tears welled up in her eyes, her face full of sorrow. “Thomas, you have to stand up for me! Megan killed our child! “The doctor said ... it was a boy. He would’ve been a chubby little kid!”

My dad’s expression darkened instantly. He stiffened, his face stormy as he turned to me and roared, "Megan, get over here! What the hell is going on?”

Before I could respond, Finn stepped in front of me and blocked my way as he added fuel to the fire, "Uncle Thomas, it’s all Megan’s fault. You have to seek justice for Aunt Olivia!”

“That’s right, Thomas! You have to punish Megan severely and avenge our son!”

Olivia clung to my father's arm and wailed, "This morning, Megan insisted I go with her to the supermarket to grab some discount eggs. I told her I was pregnant and didn’t want to go, but she dragged me to go there anyway.”

“When we got there, the place was packed. Megan refused to go into the crowd herself, so she pushed me in instead.”

“There were so many people ... someone knocked me down and then the crowd just kept pushing and I ... I lost my baby.”

She broke down in sobs. “Wu wu! Thomas, our precious son! He never even got a chance to be born before Megan took his life!”

She kept on wailing. She was completely oblivious that my dad’s face was growing darker and darker.

By the end of it, his face was a mixture of red, black and green. A real festive touch for the New Year.

Yet, Olivia remained completely oblivious. She was too caught up in demanding compensation for her "miscarriage."

“Thomas, you've spoiled your daughter rotten! That’s why she disrespects her elders and deliberately harms her own brother! You should beat her … beat her hard!”

“Oh, and while you’re at it, tell her to hand over her year-end bonus and the house! What does a girl need so much money for anyway? If she’s obedient, she should have at least a few tens of thousand dollars she saved up!”

She was getting more and more excited, speaking faster and louder. However, after a while, she finally noticed something was wrong because the entire courtyard had gone silent. Even the neighbors, who had been munching on sunflower seeds like they were watching a drama, had stopped.

Slowly, she turned to look at my father, only to meet his dark, murderous glare.

Olivia instinctively shivered and hesitated before speaking again, "Thomas, why aren't you saying anything?"

My father clenched his teeth, his jaw tightening. “So, are you saying that early this morning, Megan dragged you out to fight for discount eggs and that’s how you lost the baby?”