The Real Miss Rich of a Wealthy Family Is Back!

After the SAT, I hadn't even recovered from the tense exam atmosphere when I got home and was immediately greeted by a tirade from my foster mother, Sienna Lark.

"As soon as you get home, you just flop on the bed like a dead fish. What kind of girl lazes around like you do?" she scolded.

"Come on, get up and help me pull weeds in the field. No dinner until you're done!"

Ignoring my frail state, Sienna yanked me out of bed, handed me a tattered straw hat with several holes and a heavy, blunt hoe, and dragged me to the sweet potato field to weed.

Watching Sienna's short, stout, and muscular silhouette, I sneered coldly.

In the past, Sienna's attitude would have hurt me.

I thought it was because I was naive and spoiled that she was harsh and abusive to toughen me up, to give me a taste of life's hardships.

Now, I not only knew I wasn't Sienna's biological child, but I had also found my birth parents!

I realized that Sienna's cruel treatment stemmed from her envy—her daughter lived in my home while I was the child she had swapped in secret, a hostage she had taken.

What right did Sienna have to be proud? Her daughter wasn't even hers by blood.

She was just a woman who had been used as a surrogate.

Did she really think her unrelated daughter would take her back and elevate her status to the heavens?

As much as I hated her, I couldn't immediately expose Sienna's scheme.

I was waiting...

I was waiting for my biological parents.

If they came for me, good. If not...

I would make my way back.

Following Sienna to the sweet potato field, I fought back the dizziness, squatted down expertly, parted the thick vines, and started weeding.

Weeding was the chore I'd done most since I could remember.

Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, no matter how harsh the winter or how scorching the summer.

Whenever I was free at home, Sienna would have me out in the fields weeding.

Weeding was as natural and familiar to me as eating, and I was quick and thorough.

My obedience and diligence didn't earn me Sienna's praise. Instead, she swatted the tattered straw hat off my head and yanked me up from the ground.

"Why are you weeding so fast? Are you in a hurry to die or afraid of going hungry?

"You think taking the SAT means you can escape me, that you can just fly away, huh?

"You're just a bastard with a life but no one to raise you!

"Even if you get into the best universities, I won't spend a dime on your education!"

Sienna's rough, mud-caked fingers jabbed at my forehead, her face twisted in rage, spitting curses at me as if she wanted to poke a hole in my head.

I hadn't eaten breakfast, let alone lunch.

Already dizzy with hunger, I lost my balance and fell into the sweet potato patch beside me.

A sharp snapping sound came from behind me as my body crushed a large swathe of sweet potato plants.

Seeing this, Sienna had even more reason to blame me. She raised her hand to slap my face.

"You little bastard, you did this on purpose!"

"You deliberately wanted to make me angry, deliberately wanted to ruin the sweet potatoes I worked so hard to grow!"

The fierce wind of her palm rushed towards my face. I closed my eyes in resignation, waiting for Sienna's next round of beating.

I was not a masochist; I didn't enjoy being beaten.

I wanted to fight back, but I was too hungry to move. Once I lay down, I didn't want to move an inch.

As Sienna swung at me, her face was full of triumph and malice. She cursed under her breath as if I were just a stray dog waiting to be slaughtered.

I heard a faint sound...

The expected slap didn't come. I opened my eyes in confusion.

Suddenly, my eyes lit up!